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It's June! Summer is Here!!!!!!

June 19, 2011

...March, April, May, where do I begin?

Nashville has been quite a whirlwind the past few months. After I last wrote I signed up to run my first marathon. The past 4 months have been spent learning about nutrition, waking up at 5 or 6 am to run, and training for the most intense challenge of my life.

During training I made two trips to Florida, once for my cousin’s bachelorette celebrations, and another for her wedding. What a beautiful wedding it was! It was my first time being in a wedding party, and to top it all off, I was the maid of honor with a lot of responsibilities J I loved being there for my best friend, Jody, on her big day!

I began working for Nashville to You, LLC. A music management company right in the middle of music row. It’s a multi-faceted job that brings on new challenges and I am completely immersed in the music industry. I love to learn new things and I love being surrounded by country music. My job includes CMA Fest Fan Appreciation Parties, jumping on tour buses at the last minute and calling on radio stations all around the Southeast. Our roster includes Chuck Wicks, Jordyn Shellhart, Emma Jacob, and my older brother’s duo, The LiNE. I’ll include links to all of their music at the bottom of this blog. They’re all incredibly talented.

During the month of May I shot some local commercials and catalogues, continued teaching at Barbizon Modeling and ActingSchool, and made another trip to Las Vegas for Vienna Girardi’s Birthday! It was a wonderful weekend full of quality time with one of my dearest friends, and a much needed break from the non-stop schedule I love to keep.

June 5^th was the day of the San Diego marathon. The day I trained four months for. It was an amazing experience to raise money and run for The Leukemia/Lymphoma Society. What an exhilarating feeling to cross that finish line with so many people and to complete one of the hardest physical challenges I’ve ever taken on. After returning from San Diego, I headed back out to Las Vegas on June 17^th to watch the Miss USA pageant, and to celebrate my 24^th birthday in style. J

I’m gearing up for another three weeks of intense travel. I’ll be in Wisconsin this weekend on the Nashville to You campground tour, then the tour heads to New York for four days. When I return I’ll be headed straight my home state of Florida for some family time and to host one night of the Miss Florida 2011 pageant. I’m so excited to see everyone in Florida!

I’ve got plans to continue growing my inspirational speaking tour to a National level, hosting events and shooting commercials. I’ve also got some other plans in the works and I will update you soon!

Until Next Time,

Rachael Todd

Check out:

Chuck Wicks –

www.ChuckWicks.com

Jordyn Shellhart –

www.JordynShellhart.com

Emma Jacob –

www.EmmaJacobMusic.com

The LiNE – www.TheLiNEofficial.com

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February is short, I'm tall.

February 28, 2011

What an awesome month! This was the first month that I literally stayed put in Nashville since I moved here last October. Being in the city for a solid month allowed me to really immerse myself into all that this city has to offer, yet I only feel like I’ve scratched the surface.

February brought new challenges, which I call opportunities. I am now a instructor at the Barbizon Modeling and Acting school. I absolutely love this position. Working with girls between the ages of 9 and 17, and getting to share with them how to put their best foot forward in this world is an opportunity to change their lives. I teach subjects such as public speaking, runway modeling, poise/posture, make up application, wardrobe styling for your body shape and so much more. What lies underneath all of these lessons is the fact that I’m teaching these girls from a young age what it means to represent yourself in this world confidently with all of the tools necessary to succeed.

I have met some incredible, amazing, and talented people here in Nashville and I am so excited to see what these new friendships and relationships develop into over the upcoming years. I’m looking forward to Spring and I am planning a ceremony for the day that I box up the winter clothes. Something along the lines of a rain dance, but more of a warm weather/sunshine dance.

I’m making progress in the way of graduate school and I will probably be enrolling in Lipscomb University’s Masters of Business program very soon. There are more exciting things waiting in the wings, I just can’t write about them at this time J

My friend Michelle and I started the Daniel fast yesterday. It’s a 21 day fast based on the story of Daniel at the time when the Israelite people were taken into captivity in Babylon. When one kingdom takes over another, the talented up-and-comers from the defeated kingdom were corralled for special training and indoctrination into the ways of the ruling kingdom. For Daniel, this meant being treated to the best food and drink to be had from the king’s own table. This violated the kosher dietary practices which were central to his understanding of his identity as one of God’s people. So Daniel decided to eat less than what was offered, only fruits, vegetables and water. He passed on the offering of the King’s wine. Daniel’s spiritual influence is closely associated with his choice to abstain from the riches of a powerful culture and to honor God first and foremost. We too are partakers of a powerful culture which can at times compromise our identity as people of God. Like Daniel, we can choose to abstain from aspects of this culture for a season, for the purpose of spiritual growth and development.

As in the Daniel story, the goal of this fast is not to rail against the surrounding culture, but rather to connect more powerfully with God in order to reengage with that culture with greater spiritual clarity and godly influence.

I just received a box with all of the new books that I ordered! I’m so excited for one book in particular entitled, Millennials Rising. It’s all about the Millennial generation. So interesting!!

Until next time – Rachael Todd

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January was fun, let's keep this going.

January 24, 2011

Since returning home from Las Vegas I have been even more inspired to continue on my path of becoming a nation wide motivational speaker. I have laid out the outline of what my message, up to this point in my life, will be, and I’m sure that it will evolve and grow through out the next year, or even month for that matter! I heard a lot of great speakers while I was in Las Vegas, at the Arbonne conference, and their life stories were so inspiring. With what I have experienced thus far in life, I feel like I should share it with others in order to awaken passions, stir up desires, and light people on fire to find their purpose, find their calling and run to it.

Next week I start training to be an instructor for Barbizon modeling and acting. Contrary to what most people think, including myself, it is not a modeling agency. In fact, it’s a great program! I am going to be teaching girls between the ages of 9-17 years of age about self confidence, image, how to carry yourself, how to apply make up properly (Thank you Miss Florida Organizaiton), how to dress for your body shape and more. Essentially, I am going to be helping these girls to get started in life on the right foot. Before the opportunities I was blessed with, as Miss Florida, I might have argued that this is not a necessity in life, and I would have told you to let girls play outside all day, and go camping and fishing. Now, having experienced and learned what I did in the past year, I realize how vitally important it is that someone presents themselves in the best way possible. Don’t get me wrong, I am still a big advocate for 4-wheeling, camping and fishing, there just needs to be a balance.

I have also joined the Nashville Irish Step Dancers and we have been rehearsing for a big show on March 5^th and 6^th! I’m so excited to be performing again. The classes and rehearsals are kicking my butt, literally.

I have also decided to run a marathon for my friend, Bailey. She was diagnosed with leukemia last May and finished her chemo at the end of last year. Bailey is the most inspiring little girl I have ever met. She was being poked with needles and going through chemo treatments every day in the hospital, and every time I would see her, her sprit could not be broken. She beat leukemia and started kindergarten this year and her hair is growing back! Did I mention that when she had no hair she sported a hot pink wig?? I love that! She is such a beautiful soul. I love her and I cannot wait to train for this marathon to raise money for leukemia and lymphoma, and for my hero, Bailey.

Until next time,

Rachael Todd

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One Week Until Vegas!

January 7, 2011

I love January. It’s a fresh start, a whole year calling my name tempting me to strive for more than I did last year. I’m going to take a statement from my friend Miss Indiana 2009, Nicole Pollard, and say,

“2009 was life changing, 2010 was an adventure, what is 2011 going to bring?”

I can tell you what I hope it brings. I want to seek more opportunities to make a difference. I have been avidly researching the Peace Corps, as well as volunteering at various organizations in Nashville. I was just informed from my friend Rachael about an organization called WWOOF. It’s gives individuals the opportunity to work/volunteer on organic farms all over the world. Giving back to the environment, to this planet we all call home, and to the people who inhabit it. It is organizations like these that tend to overwhelm me, I want to give my time to all of them, and yet, time is really the only thing I have a limited amount of.

I am also anxiously awaiting my response from the Owen Vanderbilt Graduate school of management. I applied in November, had my admissions interview in December, and I should find out before the end of February whether or not I will be starting graduate school in the fall. I have truly learned to leave things in God’s hands and not worry about what I am supposed to be doing. Don’t get me wrong, I do make an effort in my every day life, I strive to be the best at every thing that I do, but I don’t worry about whether or not something will work out. I know that if it is supposed to happen it will, and I just keep walking along the path that he has laid out for me.

As for what is on my plate at this moment, I am sitting on a plane headed back to Nashville from shooting the Beall’s (aka The Florida Store) Spring commercial in Daytona Beach. I have been blessed to have been booked by Bealls for two commercials now and I could not say one bad thing about that job. I feel so lucky to have been selected again and to have the opportunity to meet such an amazing crew on the set. As I build my resume in the modeling/entertainment/television world I realize how much of an opportunity there is in that field to become someone of influence. My goal in the modeling industry is to be the red head that you see in Sports Illustrated, Victorias Secret swimwear catalogue etc. Have you seen a redheaded supermodel lately? I would like to be the next Angie Everhart.

As far as television goes, I would like to be a part of the movement of positive news. There is so much good going on in this world, and as much as the negative news is featured, I think there should be positive news too. I don’t believe that we should ignore the negative, or be mindful of bad things occurring, but I do wonder how the world would be different if instead of always turning on the tv and hearing about the latest drug addict who murdered their children we could hear about people like Ryan and Kassidy Brown who have started Journey of Action. Journey of Action is a brother and sister duo who are currently traveling over 15,000 miles with a mission to educate, entertain and inspire social activism within the Millennial Generation. You can read all about their work at www.JourneyofAction.com

I will be flying to Las Vegas on Thursday January 13^th to work with TMG Entertainment as they launch their Pageant Network branch of their company. I have been asked to be the 90^th anniversary, Miss America 2011 correspondent. I have been busy researching all of the 89 former Miss Americas, the 53 contestants, and the judges as well. This is my first time as a correspondent at a pageant, I am excited about the opportunity! To get daily updates from Las Vegas about the pageant, the preliminaries, the press conferences etc follow my twitter account @MissFlorida2009 or check my facebook profile.

I will be blogging from Las Vegas as well, so you can check here at www.RachaelTodd.com for pictures and information.