Shows
Rise From The Ashes20-Minute Errand, Lifetime of Grief: A Mother's Fight Against Mental Illness🎧 Listen now: https://risefromtheashespodcast.com/home - Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and iHeartRadioWhat happens when a 20-minute errand becomes a lifetime of grief? Carol Hodges thought she was picking up her daughter from acting class. She came home to find Corinne hanging outside the kitchen window.This isn't just another mental illness story. It's a mother's brutal journey through gaslighting, failed systems, and the devastating reality that "tough love" doesn't work when suicide is real."I didn't think she'd do that. I thought she was too selfish." ...
2025-10-1337 min
Rise From The AshesThe Mom Building the Largest Youth Mental Health Summit in US HistoryChanda Spates went from needing a babysitter for her suicidal son to building the largest youth mental health summit in US history.Every 11 minutes, someone dies by suicide in America. One in four are children.Chanda's solution? Do something every 11 minutes to save them.Her Olympic Stadium event on May 23rd-24th will be streamed globally on gaming and music platforms—meeting kids exactly where they are.This is how one mom's crisis became America's mental health revolution.Send us a textSupport the show...
2025-10-0818 min
Rise From The AshesThe School System Failed Her Son So She Built Her Own SolutionChanda Spates needed a babysitter for her 17-year-old son.Not because he was immature because severe bullying had led to a suicide attempt and she was terrified to leave him alone.Her desperate Facebook post asking for help went viral and revealed a shocking truth: she wasn't alone.Today, Chanda's Flourish Foundation Project is revolutionizing suicide prevention by meeting kids where they actually are—spending 7-8 hours a day on social media and music platforms.This is how one mom's crisis became a movement that's saving lives.Send us a...
2025-10-0531 min
Rise From The AshesWHow Chronic Illness Became This Doctor's Superpower (And Changed Everything)Dr. Eugene Manley was hospitalized 20-30 times a year until he was 10.Chronic asthma. Anaphylactic allergies. A father battling emphysema.Most kids would be broken by this. Eugene was forged by it.Today, those brutal experiences became his superpower driving him to revolutionize healthcare access for underserved communities through his award-winning SCHEQ Foundation.This is how pain becomes purpose, and struggle becomes strength.What You'll Discover:• How 20-30 hospital visits a year shaped his mission to save lives• Why he chose lung cancer despite the stigma and...
2025-10-0116 min
Rise From The AshesThe STEM Crisis No One Talks About (And How One Doctor Is Fixing It)Dr. Eugene Manley has three degrees and couldn't get a job.This mechanical engineer, biomedical engineer, and molecular biologist discovered the brutal truth: academia teaches you everything except how to succeed outside academia.Growing up first-generation in Detroit, watching his family struggle with healthcare, he saw the devastating gaps in medical access for underserved populations.Now he's fighting back through the SCHEQ Foundation, exposing why diverse scholars can't find work and why minorities don't get equal healthcare information.This conversation will shatter everything you think you know about higher education and...
2025-09-2819 min
Rise From The AshesThis Social Impact Model Actually Works (And It's Disrupting Everything)Steven Clarke's mother died broke.But before she left, she whispered something that would dismantle billion-dollar industries: "Always give first."Impossible advice from a woman who had nothing to give.Today, that death-bed wisdom is feeding millions, housing the homeless, and proving that the most revolutionary business models don't come from Harvard MBA programs they come from the brutal classroom of poverty.Steven isn't building another charity. He's not launching another "social good" startup that sounds nice but changes nothing.He's weaponizing his mother's final lesson into the first...
2025-09-2422 min
Rise From The AshesShe raised him poor but taught him to give first - now he's changing the worldSteven Clark grew up so poor that some days, his family "did without."But his mother taught him something that would eventually change everything: "Always give and help other people first."It seemed impossible. How do you give when you have nothing? How do you help others when you can barely help yourself?Steven didn't understand it then. He was too busy escaping poverty through hockey, building a successful advertising empire, and accumulating the wealth his childhood lacked.Then his mother died. His rock. His foundation. The woman who raised him...
2025-09-2125 min
Rise From The AshesAI was supposed to kill her business - it brought her back to life insteadAfter 16 years in business, Kim Speed was getting bored. The entrepreneur who had transformed from corporate creative director to successful brand builder was feeling stagnant, looking for "something new that I'm interested in."Then AI arrived. And everyone said it would destroy small businesses like hers.Instead, it made her feel like superwoman."As a small business owner, it has made me feel like superwoman," Kim reveals. "It has helped me to research, expand my learning, build my business, become more visible and stay visible."But Kim's AI transformation wasn't just...
2025-09-1723 min
Rise From The AshesThe recession destroyed her life - and gave her peace for the first time in 20 yearsWhat happens when losing everything you've worked for becomes the best thing that ever happened to you?Kim Speed spent 20 years building her dream career as a creative director for global brands like Coca-Cola, Ford, and Toyota. She had the title, the salary, the recognition - everything she thought she wanted.Then 2008 hit. The recession destroyed her agency. Her corporate identity vanished overnight.But something shocking happened in the wreckage: "There was this new calm. Calmness and joy," Kim admits. "For the first time in a very long time, there was no more...
2025-09-1426 min
Rise From The AshesShe became nobody when her children died then butterflies taught her who to beWhat happens when losing your children means losing yourself completely? After four devastating deaths, Vickie Menendez faced something even more terrifying than grief - she became nobody."When my kids passed away, it's like that identity was dissolving," she admits. "Even though I still had my son with my second husband, it's like when you lose those things, like you lose your home, you lose your job, you lose a relationship, you lose your children. Then you start asking these questions, who am I?"The woman who had been defined as "mother" for decades suddenly...
2025-09-1020 min
Rise From The AshesFour DEAD children later, she discovered why she was still aliveWhat happens when the universe takes everything from you, not once, but four times? Vickie Menendez thought losing her first child - a full-term stillborn at 20 - was the worst pain imaginable. She was wrong.In 2017, she found her son dead from a drug overdose. Decomposed. Alone. A sight you don't unsee.A year later, she lost her father the exact moment her husband was having heart attacks.But the universe wasn't finished with her yet.Then came the ultimate test: losing two children just 12 days apart. After 48 days in the...
2025-09-0722 min
Rise From The AshesBullied for being holy, moved before making friends, never safe anywhereWhat happens when you spend your entire childhood learning that nowhere is safe and no one stays? Janice Debo was the preacher's kid who got picked on for being "different" - bullied for being holy in a world that punished goodness.But just when she'd start to find her place, just when she might make a friend, her family would move again. Six different schools. Always the new kid. Always the preacher's daughter. Always the target."I think I went to six different schools growing up," Janice remembers. "I was always having to make new...
2025-09-0318 min
Rise From The AshesShe announced she was a coach, but had no idea what that meantWhat happens when you announce you're an expert in something you know absolutely nothing about? Janice Debo had built multiple businesses - transportation, nightgowns, event planning, nonprofit work - but never found her true calling. Then someone told her she should become a coach.There was just one problem: Janice had no idea what coaching actually was."I announced that I was gonna become a coach. And at that point I didn't know exactly what that meant," she admits. But she'd already put it out there. Already told her networking groups. Already committed publicly to...
2025-08-3124 min
Rise From The AshesThe woman who carries 1000 traumas while the system keeps failingWhat happens when you survive your own hell, only to become everyone else's lifeline while the same broken system keeps destroying lives? Garcia thought the hardest part was over after surviving her double attempted homicide and building Confronting Domestic Violence.She was wrong.Now she carries the weight of thousands of other survivors' traumas. Every day, her phone rings with stories that mirror her own nightmare. Women with nowhere to go. Families with no resources. Children in danger. All turning to her because the system that failed her is still failing them."I...
2025-08-2718 min
Rise From The AshesShe had 45 days to save two lives and nobody to help her do itWhat happens when you're facing the impossible and there's literally no one coming to save you? Garcia was 8 months pregnant, 1,000 miles from home, with an 8-year-old daughter by her side. No family. No friends. No support system.Then came the double attempted homicide that changed everything.Choked and beaten while 8 months pregnant, Garcia escaped with her daughter to a neighbor's house at 11:30 PM, barefoot in pajamas. The police gave her a piece of paper with 1-800 numbers and said "do your thing."She had exactly 45 days until her due date to figure out...
2025-08-2422 min
Rise From The AshesSuccess felt like failure - when winning meant everyone lost connectionWhat happens when you achieve everything you set out to accomplish, but it feels like you've failed at what really matters? Phil Herrington built exactly what he envisioned - a thriving network, 300 members, successful connections happening daily. By every metric, he was winning.But something was devastatingly wrong."I noticed no one's connecting," Phil realized. "Why are they not connecting?" He'd created the perfect system, followed all the rules, hit all his targets. Yet the very people he'd brought together to build relationships were still sitting alone, isolated, unable to truly connect with each other.
2025-08-2020 min
Rise From The Ashes33 years trampling hearts for sales. Then his own heart got trampledWhat happens when the very tactics that make you successful in business destroy everything that matters at home? Phil Herrington spent 33 years perfecting the art of aggressive sales - cold calling, door-to-door, trampling over objections and people alike. He called himself "a rhino" because he bulldozed through relationships for quick wins."30 calls a day keeps poverty away" was his mantra. He made millions by treating every interaction as a transaction, every person as a target, every relationship as disposable.Then his marriage became the casualty.The divorce hit him like a freight train...
2025-08-1726 min
Rise From The AshesHe taught America to listen, but none of them knew his painSuccess can be the loneliest prison of all. Royce Blake's voice reached millions across America's biggest radio markets for 30 years. Phoenix. San Diego. Portland. Kansas City. Everywhere he went, audiences fell in love with his authenticity, his ability to connect, his gift for making strangers feel heard.But here's what they never knew: He was living out of a U-Haul truck.Every few years, another station would flip formats or get sold. "Guess what guys? We're going country" or "They don't need voices anymore." And Royce would pack up his life again, leaving behind favorite...
2025-08-1020 min
Rise From The AshesHe made Sir Paul McCartney cry, but couldn't reach his dying wifeWhen you're responsible for leading others, personal grief becomes a performance you can't escape. Radio legend Royce Blake spent 30 years getting celebrities to reveal their deepest truths - he made Paul McCartney cry on air. But when his brilliant wife Lisa was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, his greatest communication skills meant nothing.Watch a woman who ran a law office with three lawyers deteriorate until she didn't know what a doorknob was for. Experience the crushing weight of "putting on the happy face" every day because, as Royce learned, "nobody cares" - everyone only asks "what's in it...
2025-08-0625 min
Rise From The AshesWhat happens when you sacrifice everything for love - and still lose it all?Cloe Xhauflaire was living her dream. A classically-trained Belgian actress performing on stages across Europe, she had built the career she'd always wanted. Then love changed everything.When her partner was diagnosed with cancer, Cloe made the heart-wrenching choice that millions face: sacrifice her dreams to save someone she loved. She put her flourishing career on hold, dedicated her life to his healing, and watched helplessly as he slipped away.In that devastating moment of loss, Cloe faced the brutal reality many know too well: she had lost her sense of self
2025-07-3120 min
Rise From The AshesWhat if the permission you've been desperately seeking was always yours to give?In Part 2, Rachael Resk reveals the brutal truth most people never realize: we spend our entire lives waiting for someone else to give us permission to be authentic , when we've been holding that power all along.Through her revolutionary "Reclaim" framework, Rachael shows why successful people with good jobs, relationships, and homes still feel stuck they're seeking approval from everyone except the one person who matters most: themselves.Her game-changing revelation: "You are the permission slip. Nobody else."If you've been waiting for the "right time" or...
2025-07-2713 min
Rise From The AshesWhile actors fear AI, she discovered what robots can't replicateWhat if the thing that makes you most human is your greatest weapon against AI?While actors everywhere panic about artificial intelligence taking their jobs, Cloe Xhauflaire discovered something that stopped her cold: robots can replicate technique, but they can never replicate a broken heart.In Part 2, Cloe reveals why the acting industry's AI crisis isn't about better technology it's about human authenticity becoming the ultimate competitive advantage.Her game-changing insight: "You're gonna compete with machines, you're gonna compete with robots that are gonna do...
2025-07-2722 min
Rise From The AshesLost everything in real estate - then discovered her biggest assetRachael Resk thought she had it figured out. After a childhood of raising herself and her brothers, she built a real estate empire to finally feel secure. Then the market crashed. Every property. Every safety net. Gone.But in that devastating moment of financial loss recovery , Rachael discovered something that changed everything: "I realized I am my biggest asset."This raw conversation takes you through her journey from financial setback to unshakeable inner strength. If you've lost everything and need hope for starting over financially , Rachael's story...
2025-07-2325 min
Rise From The AshesWhat if your pain is worth millions?Most of us spend our lives running from our pain, burying our trauma, pretending it never happened. We think healing means forgetting. We think success means leaving the past behind. But what if that's the biggest mistake we could make? What if your deepest wound is actually your greatest wealth waiting to be unlocked?April Wyett discovered this truth the hard way.Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, April's home wasn't safe. Her mother, disabled by rheumatoid arthritis since age 19, was shut down on prescription medication, barely able to get out of bed. Her father...
2025-07-1619 min
Rise From The AshesShe Forgave the Unforgivable, Then Built Her EmpireWhat would happen if you forgave the person who hurt you most?Most of us think forgiveness means letting them off the hook. We think it makes us weak, that we're giving up our right to be angry. But what if forgiveness isn't about them at all? What if it's the secret weapon that unlocks everything you're meant to build?April Wyett thought forgiveness was impossible until her journey into energy healing work freed her from the illusion of forgiveness and helped her truly forgive.Growing up in the Pacific Northwest with a...
2025-07-1324 min