Shows
Bold BecomingEp. 133 One Conscientious Physician’s Journey to Finding Functional Medicine with Mohammad Mahboob SiddiquiMohammad was on his first job out of medical school when he realized it wasn’t going to work out. Working as a radiologist, one day he took matters into his own hands and began what would, decades later, be his job—giving lifestyle advice. That day he also recognized his need for a job with human relationships. He was reprimanded for his misdeed, he shared it with his father, and resigned without a plan of what to do next. Fast forward 21 years, Mohammad left his physician title behind with his corporate job, during COVID, after discovering functional medicine coaching and...2024-07-111h 18
Bold BecomingEp. 132 Struggling to Embrace Her Femininity with Donna StarDonna’s mom had breast cancer in the late 60’s early 70’s, right when Donna was coming of age. Right as her mom “lost her femininity,” Donna’s journey into embracing hers was nipped in the bud. Her identity, moving from a girl to a woman with breasts, was eclipsed by her mother’s ongoing struggle for her life and failed reconstruction surgery. She even felt a little like she should hide her body change to protect her mom’s feelings.
Learn how Donna weathered the stormy nine years of her mother’s illness. Find out how an ongoing mortality moment and anticip...2024-07-031h 07
Bold BecomingEp. 131 Ben Ankrom’s Journey with His Down Syndrome Son: Giving It All You’ve Got, and then SomeBen and Nicole were in their mid twenties when they had their first child. The pregnancy was normal. So when Ethan, now 25, was born and the doctor told them he probably had Down syndrome, caught totally off guard, they “bawled” with grief. Ethan’s parents kicked into high gear very quickly to learn and do everything possible to make his life as fulfilling as possible.
What was the one thing Ben and Nicole had in spades that many families don’t, that’s made all the difference throughout their parenting journey? Learn about the importance of a parent’s role as their chi...2024-06-271h 20
Bold BecomingEp. 130 Against All Odds: Jeremy Schall’s Path to Freedom and PurposeFifty-four percent of incarcerated people in the United States have mental illness. Eighty-five percent of the prison population have an active substance use disorder or were incarcerated because of drugs. Jeremy Schall is one of these individuals. Coming from a family history with addiction and having his first psychiatric hospitalization at age seven, his name was written all over the prison walls.
What happened to liberate Jeremy from his own mental prison while he was stuck for four hours in a prison shower filled with black mold? How did Jeremy turn his life around with so many cards stacked against...2024-06-191h 19
Bold BecomingEp. 129 Forced Migration and Assimilation: Diana Restrepo’s Journey from Colombia to SafetyDiana lived in Colombia, South America, and was a pawn in a power control scheme that could have ended in kidnapping or death. A thriving 16-year-old, returning from an immersive, week-long community leadership training retreat, Diana found out she had to leave her home, community, and country immediately. She migrated to the USA.
What is forced migration like and what impact does it have on one’s identity? Find out how Diana managed and why grieving all she lost didn’t have a place on her journey. Discover what resilience looks like when survival and adaptation are your only choices. Lear...2024-06-121h 18
Bold BecomingEp. 128 Life on the Edge: A Mother's Story of the NICU and Far Beyond with Kristen “Kiki” WilkinsonAt 7+ months gestation, Kiki had a “super normal pregnancy” and she jumped on a plane across the country to attend a wedding. But her baby came early. Things went south from there and back in California, Kiki spent the next 6 months saving her son’s life. He didn’t have an immune system and had to have a bone marrow transplant.
Find out what it’s like for a mom to go through that ordeal, and why she still had a hard time after her son got on the other side of his life threatening event. What about the journey produced p...2024-06-051h 23
Bold BecomingEp. 127 Persecution, Refugee Status, and Identity Transformation: Masha Malka’s Journey to Find HerTwo years before the USSR’s downfall, something unusual and unexpected happened. Masha’s family was given permission to leave. Because they were Jewish. Seventeen-year-old Masha left all she ever knew behind, forever, and lived the next five years as a refugee in Florida. Identity loss hit hard, while good fortune graced her with mentorship from the pioneers of personal development.
Bio
Dr. Masha Malka is a Holistic Success Coach, best-selling author, and founder of The One Minute Coach™️ educational system.
She is specialised in success mindset, practical change management, and emotional mastery.
With over 20 years of experience as an executiv...2024-05-301h 12
Bold BecomingEp. 126 Addiction, Divorce, and a Wife’s Refusal to Abandon Herself Any Longer with Marci HawkinsonMarci, a mother of three, made a pact with herself: by her next birthday, she’d throw in the towel if her husband didn’t shape up. His unpredictability was unbearable and she couldn’t figure out what was causing it. Until he finally admitted to being addicted to drugs. Since he also refused treatment, Marci divorced him. She couldn’t betray herself and her children by continuing with the status quo.
Why did Marci feel freedom instead of the common overwhelm many feel when becoming a single parent? How did divorce during COVID lead her...2024-05-2358 min
Bold BecomingEp. 125 Psychologist’s Journey through Depression, Anxiety, Suicidality, and Healing with Ardeshir MehranWhat happens when a Columbia-trained psychologist, working with high performers, cannot find a way to cure his own depression? He thinks of suicide. He wishes the train would take him out as he crosses the tracks some day driving home from work. And then one day doing his morning journaling, he asks a couple of different questions and a new answer lands in his lap. It gives him a way to move forward while also getting better outcomes for his patients.
Why is psychotherapy so inept in actually helping people feel better? What part...2024-05-161h 10
Bold BecomingEp. 124 A Migraine, a Suicide, and a Stroke: Heidi’s Story of Resilience with Heidi Lippold ChurasHeidi had her life planned out and was well on her way to her dream of working in the film industry. At 20, she was a straight A college student who went through every door opened to her. She was acing life and enjoying it. Until a friend died by suicide. And she cried so hard she got a migraine. Then the next day, Heidi had a stroke.
Hear about Heidi’s journey post stroke…how she eventually let go of college, how the stroke is still impacting her decades later, and how she manages to ke...2024-05-091h 05
Bold BecomingEp. 122 From a Bumping and Reacting Pinball Childhood to Peace through a Teen Pregnancy with Danielle ThompsonDanielle grew up in a chaotic environment with a low income family that moved almost every year, and a dad who drank and was verbally aggressive. Danielle was the one who fought back, and she carried her rebellious nature into adulthood, always standing up for the underdog. And in between all this, Danielle chose to keep her baby when she was 16 with an unplanned pregnancy. It was during her transition to motherhood that she found out who she really was and proved everyone else’s predictions wrong.
Find out what it’s like to be 1...2024-04-251h 16
Bold BecomingEp. 121 Following the Breadcrumbs of Motivation: Keeping Promises I Made to Myself with Annette ReidAnnette grew up with more “Don’ts” than you can shake a stick at. Her mother, diametrically opposite personality-wise than her father, never ceased instilling fear into her. It seems that in Mom’s book, life had no room for error. So rather than exploring and discovering who she really was, Annette grew up cautiously sticking to the rules laid down for her. Also, she was sent to live with a distant relative for a few years. Alone, without her siblings or friends to play with, she focused on learning, another value instilled in her by her mother.
Hear about growing...2024-04-171h 30
Bold BecomingEp. 120 You Can’t Knit with One Needle: Wendela’s Story of Learning to Crochet during Widowhood…and Their Family Journey with AutismWendy and her husband were very happily married when they found out that her husband, and two of their three children, were autistic. Around the same time, her third child was also struggling with disabilities connected to fibromyalgia. But rather than the autism diagnoses devastating her, they did the opposite. Liberated and joyful, they explained why life had been so challenging. They gave them the understanding they’d always needed to celebrate their differences and ardently advocate for accommodations. But when Wendy lost her husband to a heart attack, she had to piece herself back together to find a wa...2024-04-111h 11
Bold BecomingEp. 117 The Price of Using Ego as a Façade with Spencer JonesSpencer grew up riddled with guilt and shame, so he did what he could to counter that—he inflated his ego. But keeping his ego inflated, to fill the void of feeling unworthy, required telling lies, even to himself, and hurting people he loved. From the outside he appeared successful in his career, and he’d married a wonderful woman, but eventually his pretense fell apart, landing him at his rock bottom. Up against a complete void inside himself .. hopeless and with a suicide plan, he believed the world would be better off without him.
Find out how...2024-03-2058 min
Bold BecomingEp. 116 How a Dolly Parton Figure Impacted Corbie’s Identity and How Her Mom Made it Exponentially Worse with Corbie MitleidCorbie’s had more than her fair share of challenges, beginning with a substance abusing mom who envied her for her intelligence and, from age eleven on, her Dolly Parton figure. Add to that, when her mom thought she’d had sex in high school, she called her a slut and told her she was only worth anything because of her looks. It was decades later when Corbie finally got the chance to find out who she really is, after her third bout with breast cancer and a double mastectomy.
Learn about how being large-busted, in addition to h...2024-03-1442 min
Bold BecomingEp. 115 Reclaiming Herself After Her Husbands’ Narcissistic Personality Disorder Invaded Every Cell of Stephany Ann’s PsycheStephany Ann grew up in a family with healthy marital role modeling from her parents. She was also smart, capable, ambitious, successful, educated, became an attorney, and even won the governor's award for her work in domestic violence. So then, how did she end up in two abusive marriages with men with narcissistic personality disorders (NPD)? And why didn’t she recognize what was going on (the power-over dynamic in both relationships) and at least get out of the second one faster?
Learn about how brainwashing and trauma-bonding resulted in her turning into a pe...2024-03-061h 11
Bold BecomingEp. 114 Parenting a Child with Seizure Disorder: How it Doesn’t Have to Define Who You Are with Roz ClarkRoz was making her big dream come true. In the spotlight, sharing her voice as a singer on stages the world over, her world changed when her 8-month-old son came down with seizure disorder. She gave up her career dream to become the advocate her son needed to ensure he received the medical care and academic services he needed. Roz hit the ground running and powered through, taking care of everything…except herself.
Witness how being strong, determined, and competent can take a person down... How it can leave you in a toxic marriage for far too long... How not as...2024-02-291h 05
Bold BecomingEp. 113 Teeter Tottering on Death’s Doorstep: Surviving a Stroke & Leukemia x3 with Casey Kang HeadBarely making it over the hospital threshold, at 31, Casey almost died. She had an aggressive form of leukemia with no great treatment protocol, and they got it into remission. And they did it the second time, but causing a stroke from the meds. And they did it a third time. Loss of control over her daily life, along with pain and discomfort, made her journey almost unbearable and she was ready to throw in the towel.
Find out what it feels like to be at peace with dying. Witness what an awesome support system did for Casey. Learn what it’s...2024-02-211h 15
Bold BecomingEp. 112 Vision Beyond Sight: Jay Walker's Journey Through DarknessTwenty-year-old Jay Walker has been in and out of hospitals all her life. Despite her health challenges, Jay was a regular person enjoying life. But when she was 15, she almost died due to intense swelling and left the hospital blind. She endured being in a no man’s land during the years it took to find an effective medical treatment that would keep her undiagnosed problem with swelling from becoming another emergency. During this same time she completely rebuilt her life and identity from the inside out.
How did Jay cope with the adjustment to being blind? What dreams went up...2024-02-141h 23
Bold BecomingEp. 111 Beyond Silence: The Road to Vulnerability and Healing with Simon RinneSimon started losing his true identity when he was eight. By thirteen, he was “full-blown” out of sorts with his mental health. But instead of talking about how he wasn’t okay and seeking help, he did what he’d learned boys do — suppress and try to ignore the parts of him that didn't fit the criteria of being strong and brave. He held out for decades, coping, until burnout took him down.
Find out why it was so hard for Simon to seek help, even when he knew he needed it. Discover how he integrated his younger self back into who h...2024-02-071h 10
Bold BecomingEp. 110 Reclaiming Self: A Story of Rediscovery and Resilience with Elizabeth Soto-BaezWhen Liz married, she was on top of the world—happy, energetic, a go-getter, with all the right boxes checked off to launch the ideal life. She was fully alive, then turned into a shell. Shortly into the first months of marriage, Liz saw things clearly going in the opposite direction of her life vision.
What was her wakeup call 13 years later that got her out of an unhappy marriage? What did all those years of enduring emotional abuse do to Liz? What needed to happen so she could take action on what her heart always knew but eyes couldn’t se...2024-01-311h 14
Bold BecomingEp. 109 Surviving War, Losing Self: Layla’s Odyssey with Layla RahmehLayla Rahmeh enjoyed her life, tremendously, until she had to escape it. She came from a loving family, was well educated, and after surviving cancer, no longer took everything life has to offer for granted. But then war broke out in her country, Syria, and being who she was made her a target for detention, torture, and death. So she chose to escape to save her life, and lost who she was in the process.
Find out what it’s like to not even be as much as a refugee, but a refugee claimant. Hea...2024-01-241h 18
Bold BecomingEp. 108 Uncharted Healing: Jacqueline's Divine Detour with Jacqueline GoodwinJacqueline was a school counselor, going about a pretty regular life. Everything changed on a dime when she got an HIV+ diagnosis. She decided to use God, rather than modern medicine, with the results ending up in her favor. Not only did she get cured from HIV, her life blossomed in ways she never would have expected.
Hear about how Jacqueline’s perspectives changed around so many things as a result of how she was healed. Find out what unconditional love looks like. Witness what can happen when a person follows God’s messaging.
Bio
Jacqueline Goodwin is an ordained past...2024-01-1751 min
Bold BecomingEp. 107 Harnessing Pain for Growth: Alex's Journey to Authenticity with Alex EmbreeBetween 2019 - 2021, “I lost nearly every adult identity I had.” Meet Alex, who shares her transformation story through marriage, divorce, and a layoff, to come out overflowing with enthusiasm for life. This is the first time Alex shares her story publicly—her insights into harnessing pain, growth, and opportunity to become who she really is. Enjoy in articulate transparency, a behind the scenes view of what the work looks like to access and become that potential which might not have been tapped, had events not conspired to force her to find it.
Find out the force behind her courage to stop s...2024-01-1056 min
Bold BecomingEp. 106 Beyond the Wave: Raju's Journey from Tsunami to Transformation with Raju PanjwaniRaju has more unexpected identity loss events than you can shake a stick at. Today we talked about surviving the 2004 tsunami—the deadliest tsunami in history—while in Sri Lanka. Fortunately his whole family survived, but he’s had to work through a lot of trauma to come to terms with letting go of his two-year-old child to use his hands to save his own life. The tsunami would be his third of six near death experiences, and the one creating the most personal transformation.
Find out about the ultimate survival instinct—saving yourself even at the cost of your child. Le...2024-01-031h 12
Bold BecomingEp. 105 Whisked Away: A Family's Odyssey Through Medical Uncertainty with Sarah DeschampsSarah only knew her baby was alive because she cried at birth. But then everything unraveled. In a rundown hospital in foreign country, without her husband allowed to be there for the birth, her baby was instantly whisked away with only a sentence of explanation. Sarah details her family’s journey to keep their child with a catastrophic medical diagnosis alive. “The hard part is to have to adjust your identity over and over because the trauma never ends.”
Hear about what it’s like to spend every waking hour with thoughts of how to keep your child alive…every day, ongoin...2023-12-281h 20
Bold BecomingEp. 104 From Darkness to Light: Debbie's Odyssey Through Trauma and RecoveryRamming worthlessness into her head morning, noon, and night, Debbie’s father figure nipped her true identity in the bud. How wrong he was: Debbie became a pretty well functioning adult. Until a series of unwelcome, huge events, including surviving a mass shooting, turned her world upside down. She recognized that she’d not been doing so well for some time but didn’t do much to address that, until one event set her moving in a better direction.
Find out what it took for Debbie to turn things around before she broke. Learn about different kinds of activities that got her...2023-12-211h 02
Bold BecomingEp. 103 Beyond the Surface: Trauma, Eating Disorders, and Body Image with Stephenie FarrellFor decades, Stephenie never knew who she was. She grew up in a home with addiction and abuse, and since birth, her mother struggled to figure out Stephenie’s unexpected weight gain. This sowed the seeds for Stephenie’s focus on weight and body image. By age 11, she was anorexic, and eating became the one thing she could control. This morphed into anorexia and bulimia and she struggled for decades until she addressed the underlying cause—trauma.
Learn about how one person landed on the hamster wheel of eating disorders and how it impacted her life and identi...2023-12-131h 03
Bold BecomingEp. 102 Andrea's Bully Boss: What it Looked Like, How She Managed, and How She Exited with Andrea PassAndrea was really good at her PR job before she started working for her bully boss, during, and after. But working for him took a huge toll on her self-perception, to the point where she questioned whether he was right that she wasn’t any good. Andrea endured 8.5 years of chronic tears and a “living hell” until her breakthrough moment.
Ponder with us, the many reasons we stay in abusive, power-over relationships. Learn how resilience can sometimes be antithetical to our wellbeing. Hear about how Andrea stood her ground against a man who tried to bre...2023-12-071h 01
Bold BecomingEp. 101 Adapting through Dissociation to See Where It Delivers You Amid a Zero Sum Rat Race Mentality on Wall Street with Sara RoccisanoBe careful what you ask for. Sara’s friend invited her on a trip. She said she’d only go if she got laid off and the rest is history. Sara began a journey away from abuse and bad behavior caused from stress, pressure, ego, and the drive for money and accolades. Leaving sunk costs behind her, she embarked on many trips, including with psychedelics.
Hear about toxic work cultures impacting Sara’s identity and how they lead to a breaking point. About how the mighty dollar erodes quality and function. And how one woman stepped away from i...2023-11-301h 10
Bold BecomingEp. 100 What Do You Do When You’re Told Your Child’s Going to Die? with Andy BrowneI’m adding a new format where I interview parents of children with catastrophic medical diagnoses. These episodes won’t focus on identity loss, but rather parents’ journeys as they navigate this specific challenge. While identity loss is still inherent in many of these stories, it won’t be the focus.
We kick off with my dad’s story. I’m number three of four kids, and throughout my early childhood, Phil, my eldest brother, was always supposed to die. He had a rare disease that caused horrific problems and he was constantly in and out of hospitals.
Hear about Dad’s experi...2023-11-2357 min
Bold BecomingEp. 99 Life Beyond Roles: Iryna's Odyssey of Self-Rediscovery with Iryna Ishchenko
Iryna went from being on an all-consuming academic tract to motherhood, wife, caretaker of her mom with cancer, and divorcee, and in the process found herself in a hopeless dark hole. “It felt like burned out land. Nothing alive there, like dry land with the cracked bottom when there’s no water and the tumbleweed is rolling there. This is how it felt inside.”
Witness how Iryna’s life roles came out of her values, regardless of what it cost her. Discover what it's like to feel like nothing is alive. How did Iryna move past that...2023-11-161h 14
Bold BecomingEp. 98 When a Layoff Becomes a Magic Carpet Ride: One Woman’s Transition Story to a Better Life with Eugina JordanEugina Jordan’s been through some tough identity transitions. She immigrated from Russia to have a better life, survived an emotionally abusive marriage, and most recently, transformed after an unexpected layoff. Surprisingly, this last identity loss catalyst, rather than feeling like the rug was pulled out from under her, was an experience of flying away on a magic carpet.
Find out how she used her forced transition from the sudden job loss to help others as she helped herself and among other things, became an author. Learn about the kinds of things an immigrant must do to adapt. And check ou...2023-11-0957 min
Bold BecomingEp. 97 Routines and Rules During COVID: How a Young Woman Beat the Downtime Blues After Being Furloughed with Jess DiamondJess was a typical twenty-three-year-old getting to know the contours of living independently. An interior designer, she was less than a year into her first job out of college when COVID hit and she was promptly furloughed. Unable to support herself and unsure of what to do next, she started a self-discovery journey that turned into a personal transformation.
Find out what discovering personal development did for Jess. Discover how rules and routines helped her regain a sense of stability and made it possible to start putting a new life together—a life on her own terms. See how Jess us...2023-11-021h 05
Bold BecomingEp. 96 Broken to Transformed: A Journey to Reclaim Herself After Her Brother’s Death by SuicideThis is Part 2 of a two-part interview.
Part one is about being the mother of a medically fragile child.
Part 2 is about Stacey’s transformation around her brother’s death by suicide.
Stacey wasn’t bent…she was broken. Her brother, who had bipolar and drug addiction, died by suicide in a jail cell. After his death, Stacey was in the darkest place of her life and contemplated suicide herself. But she stayed because her children needed her.
Hear about her brother’s journey through life with bipolar disorder and addiction, coupled with a broken health care system and ending in the ult...2023-10-261h 15
Bold BecomingEp. 94 with Nisanka Wickramarachchishow notes coming soon!
Bio
I’m an average human being, a mother, a poet, a writer, a trauma survivor, and a coach and healer.
I help parents who parent with a narcissistic partner or ex to preserve sanity, take their life back and support their children.
My experience of growing up in highly narcissistic environments, and later being in narcissistic relationships, led me to reflect on my own life at a point when I was severely depressed and suffering from C-PTSD. Since then, I’ve been healing from in...2023-10-121h 05
Bold BecomingEp. 93 Trailer Wife's Odyssey: Navigating Identity Abroad and Repatriated with Linda MuellerWhen her husband got a job in Japan and she became a trailer wife, Linda was already a globetrotter. But now she gave up a successful corporate career to live in Japan with her husband. And she quickly found out how much of herself was wrapped up in her own career status. She was at a loss when people asked what her husband did and didn’t ask what she did. The move to Japan was the beginning of many more international moves, Linda discovering what was happening to her identity, and intentionally reinventing who she was becoming.
L...2023-10-051h 14
Bold BecomingEp. 91 Unearthing a Jewish Refugee from Nazi-era Germany Family Story and Why it Didn’t Work to Protect Terry from Knowing the Truth with Terry MandelAs a very young child, Terry had a sixth sense about her reality as it related to her family history. Growing up in LA, she sensed there was something missing from her family’s immigration story and her family vehemently prohibited questions on this topic. As an older girl, when she learned of the Holocaust, her family story made even less sense—things just didn’t add up.
Now in her 60’s, Terry recently had a mind boggling and soul wrenching experience she’s adjusting to, after learning that a dozen family members were murdered in...2023-09-2145 min
Bold BecomingEp. 90 Amanda's Coping Evolution: Surviving to Thriving and Making Tough Choices with Amanda KirklandAmanda didn’t get the emotional support she needed growing up or for decades into adulthood. In fact, she was treated as if she was the source of her problems. In her twenties she became bulimic. In her thirties she estranged herself from her family and has been feeling better ever since.
What does it take to turn your life around to being one that works for you, regardless of whether others approve? How can you start seeing relationship toxicity and responding differently when it’s all you’ve known and haven’t been able to see it for what it is? Fi...2023-09-141h 00
Bold BecomingEp. 89 Breaking Free from "Genetic Destiny" and Statistical Prognoses with Ornela MaricAt eight years old, Ornela Maric became a child living with a parent with a life-threatening illness. In 1980, her mom got breast cancer. The years that followed dramatically impacted Ornela’s identity, and who she grew up to become. The most profound impact would be on the power of mindset, and in particular, how her mother role modeled responding to a prognosis by not accepting it as reality.
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How did her mother’s condition and perspective inform Ornela’s formative years? Discover how she shifted from victimhood and fear ot the power of “genetic destiny” to a sense of freedom over her l...2023-09-061h 15
Bold BecomingEp. 88 Researching Disease or Disease Reversal? Leaving Modern Medicine Behind to Cure Cancer with Patricia LoffPatricia Loff remembers her first sign of illness: she got bags under her eyes when she was 10 years old. When she was about 15, she recognized something physical holding her back from reaching her pinnacle as an athlete. In her 20’s she was diagnosed with cancer. Patricia went through more surgeries than you can shake a stick at until she called it quits. And that’s when her life turned around for the better ever after story.
Discover how stopping to resist death opened up new avenues for healing and health. Find out a little bit about thought contr...2023-08-311h 04
Bold BecomingEp. 87 Unraveling Identity: Quintina's Journey Through Sexual Exploitation and Survival with Quintina Sonnie - Part 2This is Part 2 of a 2-part series. Be sure to listen to Part l.
In Part 2, Quintina discusses how she’s in the 2% of people who don’t return to The Life (sex trafficking). She offers ideas around what we all can do to change this statistic and includes her educated opinions on the movie Sounds of Freedom, currently in theaters.
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Quintina grew up in a dysfunctional family. She escaped the fate of her brothers—foster care and adoption. But by the time she was 20, she got caught be...2023-08-231h 05
Bold BecomingEp. 86 Unraveling Identity: Quintina's Journey Through Sexual Exploitation and Survival with Quintina SonnieThis is Part l of a 2 part series. Be sure to listen to Part ll next week.
Quintina grew up in a dysfunctional family. She escaped the fate of her brothers—foster care and adoption. But by the time she was 20, she got caught between a rock and a hard place when she had to deal with untrue, serious legal charges levied against her, causing her already fragile house of cards to collapse. A man trafficking humans saved her and she began living under his spell: turning tricks, working full-time as a hairstylist, and giving all her earnings over to hi...2023-08-171h 04
Bold BecomingEp. 85 Unraveling Loss: Christina’s Journey Through Suicide and Heartbreak with Christina Ulrich-JonesChristina Jones has more losses than you can shake a stick at. Today she talked about losing her son, Benjamin, to suicide. She speaks of her sense of guilt around signing the consent for him to join the military when he was 17 ½ and her sense of helplessness as he isolated himself more and more, masterfully keeping his suicide plans to himself. To top it off, her older son cut ties with her after the suicide, making it a kind of two-for-one loss.
Hear what the hole left in her is like, and how suicide leaves a different kind of hole th...2023-08-091h 33
Bold BecomingEp. 84 Beyond TBI: Navigating an Uncertain Future with Daniel GospodarekDriving with high school friends, the car rolled four times. Fate intervened to save his life when his friend’s mom, and nurse, diverted the ambulance from bringing him to the nearest hospital, getting him straight to one that could properly treat his trauma. With a TBI (traumatic brain injury), Daniel began stepping into his uncertain future.
Hear about what it’s like when your life might never get back on track. Learn what kind of support made all the difference. Find out how Daniel discovered inner resources to overcome his prognosis, and how that journey created new...2023-08-0357 min
Bold BecomingEp. 83 From Victim to Survivor: Shannon's Path to Recovery and Resilience with Shannon WatsonTRIGGER WARNING—Rape
Shannon is a self-admitted under-assertive woman. And life’s given her enough low blows to force her to become a different version of herself. When she was 20 she was raped by an acquaintance. It was the kind of incident where she knows how many times she said “No,” but it still took two years before she realized it was rape.
Find out how deep and long lasting the damage from this kind of violation can be. Discover how Shannon’s coping and healing, still decades later. Learn why it’s so important for men to check themselves to prevent l...2023-07-271h 13
Bold BecomingEp. 82 Healing is a Crockpot Process not a Microwave Fix with Jyoti DhanotaJyoti is a young, smart, high-performing, American born and raised Punjabi woman. Depression and anxiety were foreigners to her until an uncle from India migrated to the USA and lived in her family’s home. He quickly went from being tolerable to an unbearable tyrant. Jyoti protected herself by working three jobs to stay away from home. His emotional abuse eventually lead her to becoming suicidal.
Find out how journaling, as part of therapy, and later writing her first (of many) fiction books, helped her healing process. Learn about the impact emotional abuse can have on a pe...2023-07-201h 14
Bold BecomingEp. 81 A Desperate Mother's Journey to Reclaim Her Relationship with Creativity with Leeanne BrennanLeeanne Brennan is an artist who realized she’d left part of herself behind after becoming a mom and making it big as a commercial artist. Not only had she lost touch with her internal drive for art—the drive that’s disconnected from anything other than personal desire—motherhood wasn’t cutting it either. She landed in a dark and desolate place with no hope and no idea where the way out was. She didn’t even believe there was a way out.
Find out what sparked the beginning of regaining her full identity agai...2023-07-121h 07
Bold BecomingEp. 80 You Can Go into the Deepest, Darkest Places and Still Be Okay with Shell Lightning Spirit MualemFrom the age of two, Shell Lightning Spirit didn’t think about regular stuff kids think about. Now was she allowed to talk about what she was thinking. Add to this, drowning when she was seven and seeing what it was like on the other side. Shell lived between a rock and a hard place as she grew up and tried to make sense of life. To cope, she withdrew into a tight, tiny ball of a person until one night, in her first year of college. Struck by lightning, she fast-forwarded the process she’d already begun of recl...2023-07-051h 10
Bold BecomingEp. 79 Redefining Possibilities: An Inspiring Story of TBI Resilience with Tina BrandauTina Brandau 1.0 was a high-achiever loving life in the corporate fastlane and a jet-setting mover and shaker. But one day she became Tina 2.0. She went from a 40-year-old to functioning like a 3-year-old and it took ten years to become Tina 3.0. Tina was going to be in a marathon when one day, out on a run, a tree fell on her and she got a TBI (traumatic brain injury).
What impact did this have on her identity? How did she manage to lower expectations and keep her goals itsy bitsy instead of what she w...2023-06-2959 min
Bold BecomingEp. 77 Beyond Survival: Embracing a New Mission After Breast Cancer with Angela McCulloughAngela McCullough was a smart, successful, and happy high achiever. She made it her mission to break the stereotypes about her life trajectory and potential as a Black woman from Detroit. But when breast cancer in her early thirties brought her face-to-face with her own mortality, priorities turned into mirages as new ones became the foundation for the next version of herself.
Find out how Angela used her mindset, community, and faith to survive. Discover what kind of support was fundamental to healing and how the possibility of death changed her daily lifestyle. Learn how this experience g...2023-06-141h 06
Bold BecomingEp. 76 Overcoming Odds: Alcohol, Divorce and Her Daughter’s Paralysis with Jennifer Grass D'AgostinoJenny had addiction in her family but didn’t know it when she was little. She became an alcoholic herself, then stopped during her marriage. But after the divorce, as a way to deal with the pain of shared parenting and single parenthood, Jenny started drinking again.
Find out how her thirteen-year-old daughter caused her to stop cold turkey. And then how three years later, Jenny was able to step up to the plate full force when that same child had a spinal cord injury. And discover how both of them are succeeding with fl...2023-06-071h 02
Bold BecomingEp. 75 Rebirth on Wheels: Small Town Susan's Story of Transformation with Susan BrownSusan Brown grew up in a small town in Mississippi. She made her escape after leaving college with enough credits for 1.5 degrees but not enough in one area to graduate. She and a friend went to Florida, shared an apartment, worked, and explored independence. But when her friend left, Susan couldn’t pay the rent on her own and made a bold decision after soul-searching for the right answer. Instead of moving back with her parents and risking getting stuck in her small town, she chose to live in her car.
Learn how the pursuit to keep mo...2023-06-011h 11
Bold BecomingEp. 74 Finding Your Identity Beyond Your Career: A Stay-at-Home Mom’s Journey with Dr. Leonaura Rhodes
Leonaura has always been ambitious: good at setting and achieving goals. She became a doctor. She became a mom before her age deadline. But then she stopped working because her son was critically ill. This all made sense and she managed these unexpected changes.
But after her second son also required her to stay at home because of critical and chronic health problems, Leonaura reduced her self-identity to simply “a mother of two sick kids.” And depression kicked in full force.
How did she pull herself out of depre...2023-05-2558 min
Bold BecomingEp. 73 Breaking the Stigma: Schizophrenia Unveiled with Michelle HammerMichelle Hammer began to sense that things were off in her teens. Her inner voice conversations took a turn and became more problematic. She got on some meds and didn’t tell her mom exactly what was going on. She was misdiagnosed as having bipolar when actually she has schizophrenia. Once she was properly diagnosed in college things became easier for her, knowing what was actually going on.
Find out how schizophrenia impacts her identity and how she manages to live a pretty normal life with it. Learn about one person’s journey to reach...2023-05-1752 min
Bold BecomingEp. 72 From Abandoned to Empowered: A Woman’s Journey Through Adoption and Widowhood with Laverne McInnisVerne McInnis is proving to be true the words she heard God speak: “I give my toughest battles to my strongest soldiers.” She had a pretty good childhood and was even happily married to her best friend. But at age twenty-one her world began to unravel. Her mom told her that she was adopted, then died before Verne could ask all the questions she needed to ask. Less than two years later her husband, and father of their four children, died unexpectedly.
Find out what it’s like piecing yourself together with huge missing pieces as an adoptee. Learn how Verne m...2023-05-1153 min
Bold BecomingEp. 70 Breaking the Mold: A Physician Leader’s Journey to Prioritizing Family with Erin Hurley
Life in the fast lane as a mom woman leader in medicine wasn’t working out so well for Erin Hurley on the homefront. Charting on her own patients from the room where her four-year-old was hospitalized wasn’t the kind of mom she wanted to be. Demands on time, energy, and the impact on family relationships and finances are significantly different for women than men in medicine. The extra time, and emotional and physical energy women physicians put into their jobs sacrifice other areas of their lives. And the fact that their patients have better outcomes didn...2023-04-261h 13
Bold BecomingEp. 68 From Darkness to Healing: A Story of Narcissistic Abuse and Triumph with Jennifer Standish
TRIGGER ALERT: suicide attempt description
The day Jennifer attempted suicide every single body part hurt. Even her eyelashes. Growing up in a family with a narcissistic mother, her identity was nipped in the bud. Jennifer’s every thought and action was predicated on how it would impact her mother rather than herself. Later, as an independent, working professional, she realized she couldn’t even think for herself and had a nervous breakdown. Then one day a straw broke the camel’s back and she tried but failed to suicide.
Find out wh...2023-04-121h 08
Bold BecomingEp. 67 Managing Disability When Purpose Still Calls with Marla Green
Marla Green had a calling: become a nurse practitioner. She specialized in oncology until in an accident, her life changed on a dime. She lost her career to disability and has been struggling to regain a sense of meaning and purpose while also to regain financial independence. Wracked with unbearable pain she can’t count on herself the way she used to. She’s also found it disconcerting and surprising to be on the other end of things in health care settings.
Find out how Marla copes with her losses. Learn what it’s like t...2023-04-051h 06
Bold BecomingEp. 66 Life-Threatening Illness and Mortality Motivation are Great Bed Partners — with Jen Kline Clark
Both Jen Kline Clark and her husband’s work was going well. Their kids were also doing well and they’d finished reading all the Harry Potter books. But then at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, out of the blue her husband needed a wheelchair. Things went from bad to worse and he averted an amputation and death. Because of this, mortality motivation kicked in. Jen changed her attitude about her business. She decided to make sure that she, alone, would start earning what was needed to maintain and improve upon her lifestyle.
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Bold BecomingEp. 65 - Losing a Child to Stillbirth is an Ongoing Event with Shawn WhittemoreIt’s been eight years since Shawn Whittemore and his wife, Cynthia, had their world turned upside down. They lost their son, Noah, when he was 32 weeks gestation. He stopped moving when the umbilical cord strangled him. Once at the hospital, Shawn and Cynthia had to make a million on the spot decisions. Thus began their journey of being parents of a deceased child.
Learn how Shawn’s parenting role shifted from anticipation of a healthy baby to being the father of a baby that’s passed. And how he has a sort of dual i...2023-03-221h 03
Bold BecomingEp. 64 — How to Feel Like a Whole Person when You’re “Just a Mom” with Arielle Martone
Motherhood catapulted Arielle into questioning everything and filled her with self-doubt. Postpartum depression and pelvic floor pain catapulted her onto a journey to discover her true self. Postpartum rage added fuel to the fire. Physical pain kept her from doing things she loved, things that also protected her mental health like running and a passionate relationship with her husband. Postpartum depression affected every aspect of life, to the point she believed her family would be better off without her.
Find out the impetus for regaining her spark for life. Listen to how A...2023-03-161h 10
Bold BecomingEp.63—How a Heart Defect Impacted the Trajectory of Russell’s Life with Russell SmithRussell’s heart was missing a valve. He had surgery at twelve-days-old, and a few more over the years. This condition kept him from doing many things kids do. He had strength and endurance challenges. He lived with fear of getting hurt. His physicality revolved around protecting his chest and not damaging anything internally. His identity loss was the form of an identity nipped in the bud. Instead of the weak, slight kid with some academic confidence, he’ll never know who he would or could have been, had he been born with a normal heart.
The flip...2023-03-091h 06
Bold BecomingEp. 62 From Remorselessness Gangbanger to Heartbroken with Empathy, Part 2, with Jorge BautistaThis is a double feature episode. Part 1 is about growing up and how he landed in prison. Part 2 is about prison life and how he became a new man in prison, and got paroled, with the help of prison staff attesting to his transformation. Jorge tells his story with spectacular clarity and it’s filled with a treasure trove of takeaways. A sequel is forthcoming, to cover his reintegration into civilian life.
Fifty-year-old Jorge Bautista never intended to return to freedom. At age 18, he was given 30 years to life and sent to Pelican Bay State Penitentiary. This sup...2023-03-011h 19
Bold BecomingEp. 61 From Remorselessness Gangbanger to Heartbroken with Empathy, Part 1, with Jorge Bautista50-year-old Jorge Bautista never intended to return to freedom. At age 18, he was given 30 years to life and sent to Pelican Bay State Penitentiary. This supermax prison houses those the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation labels “the worst of the worst.” He’d taken the life of a rival gang member after one of them killed his best friend. He quickly adapted to the inner rules of prison life. He didn’t repent his crime. He spent many, many years in solitary confinement.
This is the first interview Jorge’s done since being released six months ago. He said he was nerv...2023-02-221h 01
Bold BecomingEp. 60 With Schizophrenia, Will My Son’s Life be Empty? with Liz RebensdorfEighty-one-year-old Liz worries about what will become of her son when she and his father die. Eric, their son, has schizophrenia. He got ill when he was 17 and has been disabled ever since. He cannot function independently in society and needs people to look after him. The beginning years were “very rough.” Liz and her husband tried all help available, and Eric never came back to himself. He’s a sweet, gentle and funny man, but the thought disorder makes his life impossible to manage alone.
How did Liz know her son had a problem? Learn how Liz ad...2023-02-151h 03
Bold BecomingEp. 59 Conversion Therapy in a Highly Regulated Religious Community with Elena Joy ThurstonThirty-seven-year-old Elena Joy Thurston was a married mother of four living in Gilbert, Arizona. She was also Mormon, choosing to join the religion when she was sixteen. She loved all the checkboxes she could check off that would make her good in the eyes of God, and the promise of an eternal family. She was a model mom involved in school, church and community activities. Until she had to take care of a personal problem — she loved a woman.
Elena Joy voluntarily went to conversion therapy, four days a week for months on end, to try to so...2023-02-081h 14
Bold BecomingEp. 58 Who Am I Without Being Told Who I'm Supposed to Be? with Terina MaldonadoTerina Maldonado’s identity formation was thwarted in childhood through a cascade of intertwining factors.She took on parental responsibilities, endured child abuse and her father had narcissistic personality AND bipolar disorders. She was forced to adapt to survive. Layered on top of that was living within the norms of the Mormon church. Until one day she discovered a lie in the historical teaching of the church and lost faith in her religion.
Listen to how she rebuilt herself starting from the ground up, discovering who she was by learning what she liked, and didn’t like, what...2023-02-021h 01
Bold BecomingEp. 57 Altruism and Burnout Aren’t Good Bedfellows with Miriam ZylberglaitMiriam is a high achiever. She went through medical school. Twice. She has a non-stop “GO!” button for earning any title or diploma dangled in front of her. She’s also altruistic. But she didn’t see that she was leaving herself and her family behind while helping others. Until her 7-year-old’s wake up call — “Mom, why did you have me if your phone is more important?”
Miriam’s priorities didn’t fit her values. But it took her four months into teaching others about burnout, in tears, for her to realize that SHE was burned out. The tipping poi...2023-01-2550 min
Bold BecomingEp. 56 Burnout and Suicidality Forced Me to Change with Hannah AustinOn the bathroom floor, high achiever Hannah Austin was contemplating suicide. Twenty years as an executive in the healthcare industry had sucked her dry. Knowing self-care inside and out, she wasn’t implementing it and burnout almost took her out. In the solitude of the bathroom a voice said two words that saved her.
Find out how Hannah pulled herself up and began taking care of herself, including letting others know what was going on and asking for help. How did she find out what’s most important and start investing in that? Hear about Hannah’s journe...2023-01-1857 min
Bold BecomingEp. 55 Learning Disability’s Influence on Identity with Michelle SteinerMichelle was ostracized by her peers and held back in kindergarten. She struggled with learning, understanding, physical coordination and social interaction. Luckily, she was diagnosed with learning differences and got lots of needed support. But that didn’t stop kids and others from treating her as dumb, and she internalized that identity. And, ambition didn’t let her stop chasing her dreams.
Hear how Michelle learned how to compensate with a disability. Find out how she moved away from believing she was equivalent to how she was perceived and treated to land in a place of self-love and...2023-01-111h 09
Bold BecomingEp. 54 Rebuilding Yourself After Traumatic Brain Injury with Trevor JonesTrevor not only survived two traumatic brain injuries, he also became a medical doctor. At age 13, apart from the TBI and its impact on memory and eyesight, Trevor suffered a broken pelvis, numerous broken vertebrae, and his legs were paralyzed. He had to learn to walk, talk and read again. His prognosis was that he might be able to work greeting people at Walmart. He blew that prognosis to smithereens, but then at 28, didn’t fare much better physically from the second accident, AND he lost his career in medicine because of it.
Is it easier to fa...2023-01-041h 19
Bold BecomingEp. 53 Military to Civilian Transition Can Be Brutal with Krystalore CrewsWhen Krystalore Crews met and married the love of her life, she was in a leadership role in the military. She’d joined to help with the cost of college, right after 9-11. A high achiever, she steadily moved up the ranks. But when her husband got transferred to a new state, Krystalore’s life fell apart. She left everything and everyone behind, including her status role. Answering the “So, what do YOU do?” question became her nemesis. Learn how Krystalore went from fetal position, crying almost daily, to finding her voice, becoming an entrepreneur and owning multiple businesses.
Bi...2022-12-2859 min
Bold BecomingEp. 52 — Mortality Motivation on Steroids with Dr. Pamela Jackson-SmithDr. Pam was living her best life, super duper happily married for 18 years, engaged in satisfying work lifting people up. But in 2019, a series of events turned her world upside down, delivering mortality motivation on the scale of shock treatments. Her husband died. She had a traumatic brain injury (TBI) (and didn’t die…). Then open heart surgery, with a near death moment recovering from that. And let’s throw in catching COVID, landing her 10 days hospitalized in isolation. Her oldest brother died. And her youngest. And her brother-in-law.
With a background in mental health, Dr. Pam knew t...2022-12-211h 04
Bold BecomingEp. 51 — Juggling Roles as a Sandwich Generation Mom with Christy Byrne YatesChristy had an identity transition when her aging parents needed caregiving. She became a sandwich generation mom. Her mom used to be her pillar of support. She helped with the grandkids while Christy and her husband worked full-time. But when signs of concern became too noticeable to ignore, Christy took on the role of protecting her parents’ wellbeing.
She describes the journey of becoming and surviving being a sandwich generation mom — caring for her kids and parents simultaneously. With astute insights and needed compassion towards everyone involved, including herself, Christy shares her wisdom in the interview and her...2022-12-141h 06
Bold BecomingEp. 50 Bart’s Tumultuous Journey to Finding Self-Love with Bart MilatzWith a suicidal mother, Bart Milatz’s identity got nipped in the bud. Parenting responsibilities for his younger siblings expropriated his childhood. Eighteen years old and on a plane to Australia, Bart felt free for the first time. He left behind the “empty, no identity, in prison,” version of himself. He began discovering who was under that burden, including exploring and embracing being gay. Until, always using protection, he got infected with HIV and was kicked out of the country.
In Thailand, trying to find love in the gay community that also discriminated against HIV, he became an add...2022-12-071h 13
Bold BecomingEp. 49 When Extreme Crisis Leads to Healing with Laura HansonTRIGGER WARNING — this interview describes an active shooter scene.
Laura Hanson struggled with identity loss from day one in life. She was adopted. Her family gave her the best life they could, but they couldn’t fill the black hole of anguish and despair where abandonment lived. As a young girl she suffered immensely, using the only coping methods she knew of.
At 22 she became a police officer, and later served on her department’s SWAT team. After going into a building during an active shooter scene, Laura used mortality motivation to begin redesigning her life a...2022-11-301h 19
Bold BecomingEp. 48 From B*tch with a Capital B to Incomprehensible ChangeKreed was a kind and generous person. With the intention of serving and protecting, she became a police officer. But two quick years of service turned her into a suspicious and angry person. Her wife gave her an ultimatum — “Me or your job” — and Kreed chose her wife. After no longer having power over others, it took years for Kreed to find out who she was without that.
But when her wife left her anyway, grief broke Kreed. Regularly sobbing on the floor in fetal position, she managed the pain one minute at a time until an offer fr...2022-11-241h 18
Bold BecomingEp. 47 When Disability Takes Away Who You Are with Amy Lee PinneoThe worst day of her dad’s life was when Amy told him she wasn’t going to become a doctor. Coming from a family of wildly respected doctors, she was slated to carry on the tradition. Instead, Amy became a weaver. She never told her dad why she decided against medical school. But she thought it would contribute to her problem with headaches.
Regardless, Amy’s headaches got worse and she finally stopped working. Now she was no longer a weaver. Nor a mother, which she yearned to be. So who was she? Find out how Amy de...2022-11-161h 15
Bold BecomingEp. 46 When Mental Illness Robs Your Identity with Marie HannamanIn 2010, Marie was a high functioning, ambitious woman in her mid 30’s. Married with two kids and working full time outside the home, she venerated her super power — math. But things in the marriage weren’t going so well and at work, she was asked to do unethical things with numbers. Then on March 3rd, her life went over a cliff.
Marie had a mental breakdown and became disabled and dependent on her husband and parents to be safe. Hear about what it’s like to lose control of your mind, and how her support system was critical...2022-11-091h 18
Bold BecomingEp. 45 “Had Enoughness” — Cringing at Your Soul … with Brandon LaughinghouseBrandon Laughinghouse lost himself to grief. Happily married, his business growing by leaps and bounds, and his dad — his rock — dies. Then his mom. Then his sister. Grief, depression and ADD took over and he didn’t know who he was anymore. He couldn’t look at himself in the mirror or spend time with family the way he wanted. He burned out on his job and became so scattered he couldn’t even write a check.
Unhappy with who he was becoming, wanting something better for himself and his family but spending his time partying and overworkin...2022-11-021h 07
Bold BecomingEp. 44 When You Don’t Let Your Condition Define You with Gail BoenningIn an extra frisky moment, Gail Boenning’s sweet puppy jumped up and bumped her chest. That’s how she found out she had breast cancer. But while her diagnosis and treatment is one hell of an experience, she gets an A+ with how she’s handling it. Still in treatment, even during these tenuous moments, she's able to say it’s been a gift.
Learn how Gail’s generosity and contribution put her in the driver’s seat and set the tone for her experience. Hear how serendipity showed up so that she could meet her challenge with empowerment rather than...2022-10-2656 min
Bold BecomingEp. 43 When Mortality Motivation and Grief Have a Baby with Robert PardiComplacency gets cracked open when one’s mortality is on the line. Often when confronted with death, life becomes more vivid, valuable, even extraordinary. We start seeing what we’ve overlooked and taken for granted. We become grateful for everyday things and if lucky, find where joy resides. That’s what happened to Robert Pardi and his young wife Desiree during their 11 years with metastatic breast cancer.
But how can we both live with the reality of dying and experience the joy of a life fueled by motivation? Isn’t that an oxymoron? Find out how Robert and Desire...2022-10-191h 10
Bold BecomingEp.42 Family Abuse Beyond Comprehension Is Alive and Well — with Rai MaestroWho do you become when you believe that every family physically, psychologically, emotionally and sexually abuses their children? Who do you become when you’re a 4, 5 and 6-year-old being threatened with murder if you’re gay? Who do you become when you grow up in a white, US neighborhood, your ancestral roots are Amazonian and Euro-Latin American, but you’re told that has nothing to do with who you are?
Rai Maestro survived too many suicide attempts to count. He now shares his story of family tragedy in the hopes that others seek the help that may keep t...2022-10-121h 16
Bold BecomingEp. 41 Reclaiming an Identity Without One to Reclaim with Heidi HenyonHow do you reclaim your identity if it was nipped in the bud by age one? And then ground into dust at age 4? If you never knew who you were to reclaim in the first place because survival meant becoming someone you weren’t?
Heidi Henyon’s childhood was filled with developmental traumas, including child sexual abuse. She doesn’t go into detail about what happened, but rather discusses trauma’s many impacts on her identity. In a stained glass storytelling fashion, Heidi pieces together her early childhood into a display of the awe and beauty of the huma...2022-10-051h 10
Bold BecomingEp. 40 — Human Adaptation Is A Precision Art with Mark MatthewsJuxtaposition is the best description of Mark Matthews’ early childhood. His mother smothered with love and protection. And his parents were managing hell on earth. They had one son in prison for a violent crime. Another was 100% disabled with cerebral palsy. And they were both rotting in the bowels of addiction.
But when he was nine his mom died. As Mark coped with his status change, he now fended for himself. His childhood died the day she died. Witness the brilliance and depth of human adaptability as Mark describes his identity transformation after his mother’s passing.
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Bold BecomingEp. 39 I Googled How Do I Not Be Transgender?! with Shuli ElishevaShuli Elisheva was a transphobic, homophobic Orthodox Jewish man. Except she wasn’t a man. Except she was in a man’s body. Married to a Jewish female rabbi and the main caretaker for their child, to the outside world she was successful. But inside, things were all mixed up.
All her life, until she transitioned into a woman’s body, when she looked in the mirror she didn’t see herself. Then she knew she was not a man. Fighting this truth for more than a year, she finally succumbed to it and transitioned into the woman she was. She neve...2022-09-211h 18
Bold BecomingEp. 38 Confidence, Competence and a Tanked Identity with Nurzhan Sterbenz“I felt like an 8-year-old that someone brought in from Kyrgyzstan and put it in an adult body, and it was asked to perform all the adult duties.”
Nurzhan (pronounced Nurjan) Sterbenz lost her sh*t when she arrived in the USA for her graduate program. At home, she was a confident 21-year-old high achiever. She never could have fathomed how unprepared she would be for studying abroad. She rebuilt her plane while flying it, and succeeded in school and a career.
But then she lost her sh*t again. What she was sure she’d be good a...2022-09-151h 18
Bold BecomingEp. 37 On Becoming a 9/11 Refugee with Inez RibustelloOn 9/11, Inez Ribustello was a happy 25-year-old who’d never had anything really big and bad happen in her life. At 22, she’d found her “forever job” at Windows, which was like a tight knit family. It was on the 107th story of One World Trade Center.
Inez wasn't at work on 9/11. She was at a wedding in her hometown in South Carolina. At first, she wished that she’d died, as hard as it was to process what happened — “It’d be easier.” Besides co-workers who died, on 9/11 she lost her community. “That day, we all went our separate ways...2022-09-081h 01
Bold BecomingEp. 36 Musings on Motherhood - Surviving The Empty Nest with Glynis GermanGlynis German lost her identity upon taking on the role of motherhood. She regained her bearings and raised two happy and kind sons. Adjusting to the separation from her husband, she preempted the empty nest syndrome. She learned early on how to live apart from her children. Now with them in their 20’s, she enjoys her close connection with them and is preparing for one son to go away to college. Listen to Glynis’ philosophy about parenting and children, and how she makes the most out of her relationships.
Bio
60 years young, of mixed heritage, born in Jamaica to a Jama...2022-09-0143 min
Bold BecomingEp. 35 Not Every Disaster Has to Be Traumatic —with Boog HighbergerBoog Highberger, despite his nickname, was a pretty regular guy. He had his high school sweetheart. He was above average in smarts. He wanted to be liked and have friends. He loved playing baseball. But one winter day, on the way to watch basketball, his life changed forever.
He and his friends stopped to take advantage of a snowdrift, back in the days when it still snowed in Kansas. His friend jumped in and Boog did the same. Only “I didn’t notice how the other person jumped.” Boog dove in, hit his head, cracked his neck and at...2022-08-241h 05
Bold BecomingEp. 34 Challenges Blocking Access to Sherry's True IdentitySherry Richert Belul never remembers being happy as a child. Three things troubled her. Feeling out of place because she was different. Her father’s abandonment. And the tremendous amount of heartbreak in the world. Sherry hated herself and thought she was “born wrong.” Depression invaded her life and kept her from joy for years, causing her to contemplate suicide ongoingly.
Her reality was that of living in absolute darkness, feeling like a “solid iron wall was closing in on her.” Until one day in a meditation, on one in-breath, when she saw a “pinprick of light.” For that half...2022-08-181h 04
Bold BecomingEp. 33 Blindsided and Left Out In the Cold with Robert MurrayAt age 15, Robert Murray joined a study group. The leader wanted to see if they could make a business that was a “force for good.” They would use a management model based on respect, safety and consensus-type decision making. A company was born and it became wildly successful for 20 years.
During this time, Robert worked at the company and it was so much fun "it didn’t feel like work." But then one wrong question led to a hostile takeover. Robert and many others lost their jobs and with this, he lost his sense of who he was and where he fit...2022-08-1156 min
Bold BecomingEp. 27 — Goals Fueled by False Beliefs with Damiun MooreDamiun Moore was a typical kid who needed a close and satisfying relationship with his dad. As a 12-year-old boy, he had a strategy to get just that. He’d become a pro basketball player like his cousin, who had the level of connection and dedication with his own father that Damiun so craved.
That plan fizzled out as soon as it began when his father’s role fell short of expectations. But reality didn’t deter Damiun. He kept the dream alive until at the doorstep of going pro. At a crossroads, Damiun released himself from his qu...2022-06-291h 03
Bold BecomingEp. 24. From Career Disillusionment into the Unknown with Bandz MabuseBandz Mabuse was a driven young man with high ambition. All set to deliver on his and his parents’ expectations, a few mortality motivation moments piled onto each other and changed his trajectory. A channel to his inner whispers opened up. One day, he lost track of time reading personal development books instead of his law books. That was when he decided law wasn’t for him, landing him in an identity crisis.
He finished his degree but didn’t pursue it further. Getting a 'very good job in banking,' he still paid attention to the feelin...2022-06-081h 04
Bold BecomingEp. 23 Stuck in the Muck with Susan McDonnellThis story’s about identity loss because of “vaccine” mandates. It describes angst due to a decision backed by the Nuremberg code and other moral, ethical and legal concepts. The story focuses solely on identity transition. We do not discuss views about the context itself. We recorded a few weeks before Thanksgiving 2021.
When she lost her job because of “vaccine” mandates, Susan McDonnell’s life trajectory derailed. She lost access to the main pillar of who she was and that provided fulfillment. Catapulted to a place she never in a million years imagined being, she’s questioning her value in s...2022-06-011h 09
Bold BecomingEp. 22 From Trauma to Triumph with Susan Deitrick“I’m screaming with everything in me that I need help and nobody can hear me.“ That sums up Susan Deitrick’s first 20+ years. Susan's the epitome of the rebound effect. No matter how many times her identity is stripped away, she builds back stronger and better.
Growing up in a family with violence and addiction, at the age of two she wanted to build an igloo, got to sleep in it and never wake up. During that same time she fell in love with God, where she learned what love was.
In the refuge of God’s...2022-05-251h 09
Bold BecomingEp. 17 Moral Injury with Andy Browne (Dad)What happens when administration gets in the way of doing your job? Not just how you do your job, but eviscerates the very core of what you're there to do… On one of his teaching jobs Andy Browne, (Julie’s dad), was thwarted from his life’s mission of passing on his values of curiosity, learning and growth.
The administration treated students more as criminals than young learners, with futures full of options for them to delight in, discover and explore. After just one year, this environment “crumpled” Andy, so much so that an acquaintance didn’t recognize hi...2022-04-201h 13
Bold BecomingEp. 12. Sari Green - ID Loss Catalyst - RelationshipUnexpected identity loss comes in many forms. Some strip you bare to the core. Such is Sari Green’s story, when everything she thought was reality didn't even exist. In less than a heartbeat, an email from an unknown person upended Sari’s perfectly staged and manicured life.
Four months pregnant with their first child, she learned about her husband’s double life. Tornadoes and tsunamis dragged her, gasping, through a divorce, leaving her in an abyss of fear, uncertainty and overwhelm… Until she landed on the other side and wouldn’t change where she is now...2022-03-161h 09
Bold BecomingEp. 11. Malik Deirdre - Child Abandonment, Abuse and Mental HealthMalik Deirdre’s an author, father, husband, eldest brother of four, and survivor of the American foster care system. He shares raw details about the impact of serial abandonment, child abuse and neglect, and being cut off from his roots. With his books and interviews, he’s raising awareness about mental health and suicide.As he navigates the challenges of mental health to stay alive, he reveals what might be unexpected tenderness and compassion, given what’s happened to him, and how he’s well on his way to reaching his goal of being the cool...2022-03-091h 30