Life Challenge

An interview with one of the Nations leading Relationship Educators, Julie Baumgardner shares her views of whether corporate America should be investing in relationship education for employees. The answers she gives are very eye-opening for CEO's and employees alike.

Julie Baumgardner is the President and Executive Director of First Things First,a one of a kind, grassroots organization dedicated to strengthening families in
Chattanooga, Tennessee. The success of the FTF initiative has sparked interest in duplicating the FTF model in cities across the country. Mrs. Baumgardner, along with the First Things First team have provided technical assistance to hundreds of communities nationwide in their community initiative model.

Mrs. Baumgardner has worked in the fields of marketing and counseling for more than 20 years. Prior to joining First Things First, she was the regional marketing manager for a group of hospitals. She has also worked as a social worker and program director for the child & adolescent program at Valley Psychiatric Hospital.

As a passionate advocate for healthy marriage and family, Mrs. Baumgardner frequently speaks on these issues both locally and nationally. In addition to her weekly column on family issues in the Chattanooga Times-Free Press that reaches thousands, she also hosts a monthly talk show on public television discussing topics relevant to marriage and family.

She was invited by President and Mrs. Bush to speak at the White House Conference on Helping America’s Youth, has testified in front of a senate subcommittee about the benefits of marriage for Senator Rick Santorum and currently serves on the steering committee for the Marriage Co-Mission, which is a group of people working in conjunction with many in the marriage movement to help provide resources and information to communities across the country interested in starting community healthy marriage initiatives. Mrs. Baumgardner has presented for the Philanthropy Roundtable and First Things First was featured on the front cover of their magazine. She served as co-chair of the County Mayor’s Parent Involvement Task Force and provided leadership in the implementation of the Hamilton County Schools Character Education Program.

Mrs. Baumgardner’s leadership extends into many organizations in her community and across the country including: the Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education National advisory board, the Mayor’s Faith-based and Community Partnerships advisory board, the Chattanooga Association for the Education of Young Children board, chairing the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Chattanooga curriculum committee and assisting other not for profit organizations in board development, fund development, coalition building, and strategic planning.

Mrs. Baumgardner has been honored with the Smart Marriages Impact Award, the Frist Humanitarian Award, the Chattanooga Bar Association's Liberty Bell Award and the Forty Under Forty Community Service Award in addition to being recognized as a Woman of Distinction by the American Lung Association.

Learn Life Puzzle directly from it's creator, counselor and educator Ann Kramer!!!

Read More about Life Puzzle below from www.LifePuzzle.com:

What is a Life Puzzle?

You, me….we are all Life Puzzles. Life Puzzle is a framework on which to build your whole life. The Life Puzzle model will guide you through the process of putting your pieces together!

Imagine at birth you’re handed a box with 10,000 pieces in it. That’s your Life!
Now the question is, are you going to jam them all together or take your time and put the pieces together in a way that works to ensure a healthy, whole and dynamic Life Puzzle?

A piece at a time with the whole YOU in mind.

All of us have the same 16 core areas, 5 edges that make up our Life Puzzle—yet no two of us will put these pieces together in exactly the same way. Thus we all have a common bond to help us understand each other, but at the same time, we each have a unique soul essence that makes each of us our own special Life Puzzle.

In an ideal world, the journey of your childhood would have prepared you to put together your whole Life Puzzle. But the reality is that many of us walk into adulthood missing so much of the information and awareness we need if we’re going to create lives, families and communities that work!

Here at Life Puzzle…we’re all about helping people learn the information they need in the 16 core areas, 5 edges that create the SELF so they can put together a really wonderful Life Puzzle. Whether you choose to take an online class, read the book, Life Puzzle…putting the pieces together, or simply check the blog regularly, you’ll find lots of great information you can put into action in your Life Puzzle-making!

I know, you thought you were going to get this at school….

Every time I present the Life Puzzle model to groups, organizations, social service agencies, etc., inevitably someone asks, “Why wasn’t I taught this in school?” There's no simple answer to this because schools are a very complex system and in their defense, schools are often expected to do everything in our society--and that's simply not fair either.

But, now, when our world economy is an information/service economy and the greatest asset for any company is to have employees who are fully-developed human beings--using the Life Puzzle model as a framework within the academic setting would prove very beneficial. We could weave Life Puzzle learning through many of the academic classes, making the curriculum come alive. For example--teaching history using Life Puzzle--The journey of Lewis and Clark is really the journey of two Life Puzzles under construction! What did they put into their nutrition piece? What level of thinking development was necessary to have the audacity to hop in a boat and head west without a map? What kinds of relationships did they have while traveling for over two years? In an academic setting--any place there are people provides a way to teach Life Puzzle to our students too! As they learn about the Life Puzzle of historical figures, cultural groups, even in a nutrition class--it all relates back to their own lives too.

But for now, Life Puzzle isn't in the school system--so you will have to teach your SELF! Lots of great information available here at the sight!

Distinguished professor, Certified Love Educator, Pat Love, Ed.D. is known for warmth, humor and commitment to learning. For more than twenty-five years, she has contributed to relationship education and personal development through her books, articles, training programs, speaking and media appearances. Dr. Love has published several professional articles, been featured in many professional books and developed relationships education media and materials being used nationally and internationally. Her ever-popular books Hot Monogamy and The Truth About Love have literally taken her around the world spreading the good news about marriage and committed relationships. She released her new book in February 2007,, co-authored with Dr. Steven Stosny, and entitled How to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It.


Pat is in demand as an expert presenter at national and international conferences. She has appeared numerous times on Oprah, The Today Show and CNN. Pat also has a new university level Love Education DVD course Love: What Everyone Needs to Know. She is a regular contributor to popular magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Men's Health, Good Housekeeping, Men's Magazine and Woman's World. Pat has co-hosted two video training programs: Living Love and Parenting with the Experts. She is faculty Emeritus, Imago Institute for Relationship Therapy and a recipient of the Smart Marriages Impact Award. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, an Approved Supervisor in AAMFT, and a past president of the International Association for Marriage and Family Counseling.