Find Your Voice, Change Your Life

Today, I interview Robin Goad who grew up believing that if her own mother did not love her enough to protect her, then she must be unlovable. From a young age, she learned to perform. Achievement was praised. Expectations were high. On the outside, she looked confident and capable. On the inside, she was hiding pain and building a life around approval.

That pattern followed her into adulthood. She excelled in corporate America, ris...

Today, I interview Shelly Grimm, who reflects on growing up alongside chronic illness and learning, from a very young age, how to take care of herself and others.

Much of Shelly’s childhood unfolded in hospitals, financial strain, and ongoing uncertainty. She learned how to manage, decide, and keep going without much protection or guidance. Confidence developed through necessity. Speaking up was less about expression and more about ...

Today, I interview Katrina van Oudheusden, who reflects on how early family dynamics, expectations, and learning to be capable from a young age shaped the way she learned to push through, stay productive, and quiet parts of herself.

Growing up in a large family with strong values around stability and responsibility, Katrina learned to perform well and do what was expected. As an adult, those early patterns followed her into high-ach...

Today, I interview Desislava Dimitrova, who grew up learning to stay quiet in order to keep the peace. She shares what it was like growing up in a strict home where it did not feel safe to speak, and how being quiet became a way to protect herself from a very young age.

A major turning point came later in her life through a serious illness that divided her life into before and after. The long healing process forced her to slow down,...

Today, I interview Manya Gittel who lost her voice during a stroke and woke up to something far more unexpected than the crisis itself. She describes that moment as an inner awakening she didn’t see coming, one that shifted her sense of who she was and how her voice lived inside her.

Manya shares parts of her early life, shaped by her parents’ history and the roles she learned to carry as a child. These patterns became so natural to...

Today, I interview John Kippen who spent years hiding after a surgery left half of his face paralyzed. His story is one of deep courage, transformation, and learning what it really means to be seen.

As a child, John grew up in a successful family and learned how to perform, achieve, and seek approval. But beneath that confidence was a longing to be understood for who he truly was. When a brain tumor led to facial paralysis, everythi...

Today, I interview Robin Humphreys, who once felt her voice caught in her throat and her body tense with fear. She shares how creative expression became her lifeline, helping her release what she couldn’t say out loud.

Growing up sensitive and full of imagination, Robin later faced experiences that taught her to hold back her voice. Years of silence led to a deep disconnection from her own safety and expression, until art and body-b...

Today, I interview Heidi Fischbach who grew up in a strict, high-control environment where fear and rules shaped how she learned to speak and exist. From an early age, she carried the weight of right and wrong, heaven and hell, and learned to stay small to stay safe.

As she grew older, this constant vigilance became anxiety and self-silencing. Her turning point came when she began to understand how the body holds old fear-based patt...

Today, I interview Catherine G. Lucas who opens up about losing her voice in the midst of a painful breakdown. In her late teens she was already standing on stage for public speaking competitions, but by the time her parents divorced during her university years, the weight of family wounds caught up with her. Instead of enjoying summer with friends, she found herself in an acute psychiatric ward, her world shattered and her voice s...

Today, I interview Liz Sweet, who spent years feeling the pressure to be polished and perfect, even when it left her exhausted. Growing up in Los Angeles, she was encouraged to use her voice, but only her polished side was welcomed, while her vulnerable self was seen as “too much.”

As she built her career leading trainings around the globe, Liz created a confident persona that looked successful on the outside but drained her on the ...

Today, I interview Renee Zukin who spent years caught in fear and intrusive thoughts that silenced her voice. For much of her life, anxiety and self-doubt made her question whether she could ever step into leadership or express herself authentically. She carried the weight of comparison, believing that courage belonged only to those who could do the big, bold things she thought she couldn’t.

Her turning point came when she redefined...

Today, I interview Michael Grant and Lee Glickstein. Michael once struggled with stage fright, from freezing in high school to facing the daunting role of speaking at his uncle’s memorial service. His voice, long held back by anxiety and fear, often felt locked away.

Everything began to shift when he discovered Speaking Circles, created by Lee. Instead of relying on performance or technique, Michael experienced the power of pauses, ...

Today, I interview John Briggs, who once believed that working harder and earning more was the ultimate measure of success, until the cost of that belief showed up at home.

He grew up as the youngest in a religious family, often singled out and bullied in his childhood. Making himself small felt like the only way to stay safe. Even in the workplace years later, that pattern repeated. His voice silenced under systems that rewarded ov...

Today, I interview Eric Atwood, who spent decades trapped in self-doubt, believing he had nothing of value to say. Labeled as the “shy, scared, stupid kid” after a traumatic moment in school, he carried that identity into adulthood, silencing his voice, hiding from connection, and believing he wasn’t enough.

He grew up across seven countries, constantly moving because of his father’s humanitarian work. From the outside, his childhoo...

Today, I interview Jonathan Reynolds, who learned that voice isn’t something you perform, it’s something you live from. Growing up in a small town shaped by rigid roles and quiet expectations, Jonathan learned early on to silence parts of himself. But beneath that silence was a longing for truth, for freedom, and for something more real than what the world around him seemed to offer.

In this conversation, we explore how those early ...

Today, I interview Junie Moon, who grew up bright and bubbly, until one look from her mother made her feel unloved. Her free spirit met a controlling household where even a glance could silence her. By eight, she had learned to dim her light just to stay safe. Being cheerful and expressive got her labeled, and rejected.

Bullied through middle school, silent in high school, Junie carried this fear of being seen well into adulthood. I...

Today, I interview Elisa Negroni, who grew up silenced—not just by family secrets and trauma, but by a culture that told her to stay small, stay quiet, and never question authority.

Raised in Puerto Rico and Jamaica, Elisa learned early that speaking up came with consequences. A teacher once told her she wasn’t “college material,” and a cruel stepmother punished her for simply existing.

The silence followed her into adulthood. For ye...

Today, I interview Kristina Milosevic, who once struggled with shyness and fear of speaking up. As a child growing up in Serbia, she often felt more comfortable staying in the background. She was the responsible older sister, creative and observant, but hesitant to be fully seen. That shyness stayed with her into adulthood, where the pressure to meet expectations in a corporate marketing job built up over time.

Eventually, that pres...

Today, I interview Patty de Vries, who grew up in a challenging environment where she felt the weight of constantly meeting expectations, pushing herself to succeed while disconnecting from her own needs.

She learned early on to stay quiet and observe, taking her mother’s saying, "children should be seen and not heard," to heart. She also pushed herself to meet high expectations as an athlete, training with intensity from ...