Ep. 95: MaryLiz Bender - A Journey From Homelessness to Mars

Dear Life with Christina Rasmussen

I’m thrilled to introduce you to today’s guest, MaryLiz Bender. She is one of the people in the space world that can combine space and humans really well. Her documenting and her journalistic storytelling, and the way she captures everything is, I believe, the way that we bridge the worlds between space and the people on earth that ask the question - why should I care?

MaryLiz is an example of resilience, creativity, and following your dreams. She also happens to be a dear friend of mine. I am touched and inspired by the way she has navigated some very hard years and the way that she shows up now, using her voice and her talents to serve the greater good.

She has performed music on her dream stage in Nashville as a professional recording artist, taught herself coding and programming through the public library while she was couch surfing and homeless, and has now gone on to co-found Cosmic Perspective with her partner Ryan Chylinski, where they connect people to space through story, film, and outreach. Be sure to visit their YouTube page to see some of their beautiful films.

She has such a warm and engaging energy about her, and so many amazing stories to share. I hope you listen as MaryLiz shares some of her life stories, including how she went from a hard youth to finding herself standing between Bill Nye and Buzz Aldrin watching her first rocket launch!

Just before we recorded our conversation in February, MaryLiz participated in a 6 week mission to Mars simulation which was built on top of a dormant volcano in Hawaii. She shares what she learned during that experience and how it reinforced even deeper her mission to keep the connection between space and humanity, as she says, the exploration of space is the pursuit of what it means to be human.

“It’s not going to be easy, and you don’t want it to be. Easy is boring and you don’t learn anything.” ~ MaryLiz Bender

I am blown away by the way that MaryLiz is in her life today. It’s hard for me to see the losses that happened in her early years. MaryLiz was a recent participant in my Life Reentry Class and she shared some of the way that her Survivor Self shows up and how she has been able to lean into her Thriver Self more and more.

My hope that this episode encourages you to follow your dreams and not be afraid to re-enter your life again and again. Maybe you’ll even find yourself on a rocketship to the moon one day! I’d love to hear what you thought of this conversation. Please comment below or share with me on social media. Please share it with your friends and family, and be sure to tag me if you share it on social media so that I can say thank you. I’m @christinarasmussen7 on Instagram and @ChristinaRasmussen2014 on Facebook.

More About MaryLiz Bender

MaryLiz is a futurist composer and space-age storyteller, on a mission to inspire hope, elevate empathy, and unite through experiences of awe and wonder.

She co-founded Cosmic Perspective with her partner, Ryan Chylinski, where they connect people to space through story, film, and outreach. MaryLiz founded Zero-G Music to design music for space travel and ensure we take our humanity with us to the stars. As a professional recording artist, she makes music with her bands Twin Limb, Kwieta, and she composes film scores as Star Travel.

Driven by bright visions of the future and inspired by the fact that we “protect what we love,” she aims to help humans fall in love with life and the pursuit of meaning.

You can connect with her via her website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Things We Mention In This Episode

• Website: Cosmic Perspective
• YouTube: Cosmic Perspective
• Podcast Episode: Dear Life Podcast episode #90 with Frank White
• Class: The next Life Reentry class with Christina starts on March 30th
• Book: Where Did You Go? by Christina Rasmussen
• Book: Second Firsts by Christina Rasmussen
• Newsletter - Message In a Bottle: Sign up for Christina’s weekly letter

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