The Empowered Women Life Leaders Podcast

This week on the Empowered Women Life Leaders podcast, host Karen Bashford talks with Paula Ralph, a sports therapist and ultra-endurance cyclist whose story embodies courage and commitment. What started as a spontaneous decision to cycle the world’s longest route, from Cape Town towards Russia, turned into a solo, unsupported ultra-ride after sponsorships fell through and her plans were up...

In this week’s episode of the Empowered Women Life Leaders podcast, host Karen Bashford is joined by David Margo, former City lawyer and founder of Divorce Solutions, the UK’s first dedicated divorce consultancy. After nearly 40 years in commercial law, David transitioned into helping individuals navigate the complex and often confusing divorce process. He explains how a chance conversation...

In this episode of Empowered Women Life Leaders, host Karen Bashford reflects on the first Being You Circle, an intimate women’s gathering built around her Sloth or Beaver self‑coaching and wisdom cards. Drawing on stories from the circle and her own journey through a nervous breakdown, Karen explores themes of validation, inner wisdom, and inner child healing. She shows how trusting intuition, revisi...

In this episode of Empowered Women Life Leaders, host Karen Bashford is joined by Rebecca Pate, a leadership mentor and career coach who left an 18-year career in corporate tech to champion women in the workplace. Rebecca shares how building a gender equality network took her from male-dominated boardrooms to Buckingham Palace, and how she now uses dance and yoga to help women heal, lead, and thrive.

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In this week’s episode of Empowered Women Life Leaders, Karen explores what real courage looks like when you stop abandoning yourself. She shares candidly about her nervous breakdown, the decision not to seek quick external fixes, and the daily acts of bravery involved in setting boundaries, listening to your body, and choosing yourself—even when it feels uncomfortable. This is an invitation to pause, reflect, and ...

In this episode of Empowered Women Life Leaders, Karen Bashford talks with JJ DiGeronimo, author, speaker, and host of the Together We Seek podcast about the crossroads that led her from a 30-year tech career in Silicon Valley to a life rooted in spiritual awakening and energy work. JJ shares how personal and professional collapse became a doorway to inner work, the six phases of spiritual awakening, and why “f...

Welcome to this week’s episode of the Empowered Women Life Leaders podcast with your host Karen Bashford.

In today’s deeply personal and sensitive conversation, Karen shares the story of “Sophie”—a woman navigating the heartbreak of menopause, the grief of lost motherhood, and the crushing impact of feeling abandoned by those meant to support her.

This episode explores fertilit...

In this episode of Empowered Women Life Leaders, Karen speaks with inner peace specialist Meryl Hayton, who pivoted from a 28-year career as a successful salon owner into the healing arts. Meryl shares how the loss of her father, career burnout, and a wrist injury became catalysts for honouring her inner knowing, creating her CLEAR method, and helping women release deeply stored stress so they can finally trust themselves...

This week on the Empowered Women Life Leaders podcast, Karen Bashford explores how to stop living on autopilot and start consciously leading your life. Drawing on her own experience of a nervous breakdown and recovery, she talks about the power of pausing, asking better questions, and reclaiming your time, energy, and boundaries from family, work, and constant demands. If you’ve been giving everything to everyone else and fee...

This week on Empowered Women Life Leaders, Karen Bashford welcomes Angeline Constantinou, founder of Let’s Break the Silence. Angeline shares her powerful journey from a seemingly “perfect” marriage hiding verbal and physical abuse, to reclaiming her identity, financial independence, and personal power. In this honest conversation, she talks about the fear, shame, and guilt that kept her silent, the pivo...

In this week’s episode of the Empowered Women Life Leaders podcast, Karen Bashford explores the most important relationship you’ll ever have: the one with yourself. Drawing on her own journey through nervous breakdown and recovery, Karen unpacks why so many women abandon their own needs, fall into people-pleasing, and struggle to set boundaries. She invites listeners to reflect on how they treat themselves, recognise th...

This week on Empowered Women Life Leaders, Karen Bashford is joined by financial well-being coach JD Rose, who shares how a chaotic childhood, financial instability, and a bipolar parent shaped her relationship with money, safety, and self-worth. JD reveals how boarding school became a turning point, why many women feel deep shame around money, and how healing trauma, regulating the nervous system, and grounding in spiritualit...

In this episode of Empowered Women Life Leaders, host Karen Bashford reflects on the period in her life when she became homeless with her beloved cat Saffy and had her sense of safety stripped away. Drawing on a recent article she wrote for TransformReads, Karen explores what “home” truly means, how losing everything challenged her foundations, and how she moved from fear to acceptance and genuine contentment through pr...

In this week’s episode, Karen explores the conversations we avoid and the cost of staying silent in our relationships. Drawing on her own experiences of trauma, marriage, and money, she unpacks why so many women don’t feel seen or heard, and how that shapes confidence, intimacy, and future plans. Karen shares practical ways to start deeper, honest conversations about finances, dreams, and needs so you can build relation...

In this episode of Empowered Women Life Leaders, Karen Bashford talks with business owner and former corporate project manager Maria Newman about thriving as a woman in a male‑dominated environment, burning out twice, and finally choosing a life she leads on her own terms. Maria shares how childhood conditioning, corporate culture, and the pressure to “prove yourself” can quietly drive women to exhaustion, and...

Welcome to the Empowered Women Life Leaders podcast with host Karen Bashford. In this episode, Karen explores the power of a “life review” to uncover hidden fears, especially around visibility and rejection, and shares how her own recent review helped her move past resistance to being seen. She also offers practical questions and real client stories to help you spot what you’re tolerating, so you can finally start...

This week on the Empowered Women Life Leaders podcast, Karen is joined by Tammy Waldron, who shares her powerful story of being adopted and living with the “primal wound” of abandonment. Tammy talks about discovering she was adopted, the impact of her birth mother’s age and circumstances, and the generational patterns of not feeling wanted or worthy.

Through her healing journey, Tammy shows how understanding our e...

In this episode of the Empowered Women Life Leaders podcast, host Karen Bashford explores why insight alone isn’t enough to create lasting change. She explains how unconscious beliefs, fear, and the “masks” we wear keep us stuck, and why true transformation happens when we align mind and body. Through personal stories, practical questioning techniques, and her Sloth or Beaver Toolbook, Karen shows listeners how to...