Find Your Voice, Change Your Life

Today, I interview Catherine Bell who grew up painfully shy and afraid to speak, while also having to start over again and again as her family moved every two years. Making new friends, finding her place, and speaking in front of others overwhelmed her. Even later in life, she let others speak her words for her because she worried about how she would be received.

Her breakthrough came gradually. One of the clearest moments happened ...

Today, I interview Kayla Middleton who spent much of her life speaking up for other people while finding it much harder to speak up for herself. Growing up in the UK, she was outgoing, expressive, and often seen as the responsible “good girl,” yet years of bullying and expectations shaped how she saw herself.

As she moved into adulthood, Kayla found herself settling for a life that felt limited. She believed struggle was...

Today, I interview Riana Malia, who grew up through repeated family breakups, broken promises, and the belief that she had to earn love. The instability left her feeling unsettled, too much in some ways and not enough in others, while also teaching her to become deeply resourceful.

Those early beliefs followed Riana through marriage, motherhood, financial hardship, betrayal, and relationships where she tried to manage outcomes and b...

Today, I interview Beth Erlander, a grief expert and therapist who spent years believing she had to stop being a caregiver before she could truly support other caregivers. Although she had helped people through grief for more than 26 years, Beth hesitated to focus on this work because she was still living it herself. 

In our conversation, she didn't think she was ready, and she wasn't sure she had enough distance from her own e...

Today, I interview sisters and business partners Amy and Nancy Harrington, who both grew up shy and spent years navigating environments that made it hard to be heard, until they decided to leave their high-powered Hollywood careers and build something that could give other women the voice they had to fight for themselves.

Amy rose to vice president at Warner Brothers at 27, often the youngest and only woman in the room, quietly doin...

Today, I interview Lizzie Siegel, who came into this world deeply connected to her gifts but spent years learning to suppress them, until a series of accidents, illnesses, and a relationship where she felt completely invisible forced her to stop abandoning herself and come back to her voice.

Raised with a heightened sensitivity that others around her often misunderstood, Lizzie spent nearly two decades as an international school tea...

Today, I interview Fabio da Silva Fernandes, who has always known his voice mattered but faced moments throughout his life that tested that conviction, from a humiliating childhood experience on stage to navigating corporate spaces where he felt he did not belong, to a pandemic burnout that forced him to completely change direction.

Raised with a deep sensitivity and awareness, Fabio spent more than 20 years in the fintech industry ...

Today, I interview Andrea Horvath who struggled to speak up for most of her life due to a fear that using her voice would lead to rejection. She followed expectations, stayed quiet, and avoided conflict, which affected her confidence and ability to express herself.

Raised in a strict environment, Andrea learned that questioning the norm could mean being labeled “crazy” and risking connection. She built a stable life with...

Today, I interview Rachel Radway who spent years in corporate leadership, showing up, performing, and doing what was expected, while quietly carrying the sense that something about it did not fully fit. Like many who struggle with confidence and speaking up, she learned how to adapt, even when it meant holding parts of herself back.

As she was growing up, she was creative and expressive, using her voice freely. But after moving freq...

Today, I interview Karen Rudolf who believed she wasn’t enough and learned early on to stay quiet, especially after being told as a child to stop asking questions. That moment shaped how she saw herself. She became very quiet, carried that into her relationships, and continued to feel small and unheard into adulthood.

Growing up, her curiosity was shut down, and with a mother who was also timid and a people pleaser, she learne...

Today, I interview Dori Eversmann who grew up in a family where speaking up could lead to disconnection, learning as a young girl to stay silent, watch people’s faces, and only speak when it felt safe.

That pattern followed her into school and adulthood, where she became the quiet, compliant, invisible one, often freezing when asked to speak and doubting her own voice. For decades, she lived this way, until in her 40s she felt...

Today, I interview Mikki St. Germain who grew up being told to “keep your mouth shut” and made to feel like her voice didn’t matter. At 14, her mother left, and she stepped into adult responsibility, working, caring for her siblings, and eventually becoming an emancipated minor at 16.

When a guidance counselor told her, “Girls like you don’t go to schools like this,” something inside her woke up. ...

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 ...

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 s...

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 ...