On paper, Katie McDonald had it all. She was an international sales rockstar who beat the competition and crushed her goals in the U.S., Europe, and Canada. But Katie’s relentless drive for productivity came at the expense of everything that mattered: her relationships, her time, her health, and her emotional well-being. The demands of her corporate career occupied her every waking moment. Then, one day, she missed one meeting. One. Her mental health was already precarious; that’s all it took to push her over the edge. Facing life-threatening mental and physical health crises, Katie’s have-it-all-together world was quickly crumbling. She had to take action for herself – immediately. Katie left her corporate career behind…and life started to get better. As she started to move past her self-destructive patterns, Katie made meaningful investments in her well-being. Then, something incredible happened: after years of trying and failing, Katie conceived a child. By letting go of her perfectionist habits, she started making intentional choices. For the first time in her adult life, Katie started implementing what she knew about self-care but had never practiced. Today, self-care is at the center of everything Katie does. Fully recovered from years of self-neglect, she now coaches fellow-doers to embrace self-care so they can lead healthier, more intentional, and more nourished lives. As a speaker, Katie leads with tough love to inspire, empower, and challenge audiences. She dispels the myth that self-care is an obstacle to productivity and teaches that self-care is, in fact, a tool to create a more powerful and impactful legacy. In this week’s learn more about Katie’s journey: Katie created to give anyone, anywhere, who’s ready to leave their detrimental habits in the past a day-by-day, step-by-step guide to practicing self-care. She will be the first to tell you “thriving” isn’t a permanent state of being but an everyday journey of small triumphs and setbacks.   Learn more and connect with Katie here:

Kay Allison has been living alcohol-free since 1999. She is a successful entrepreneur, author, and leader of an alcohol-free community. Through her company,  Kay helps woman transform their lives by stopping the drinking spiral and creating a rich, rewarding, joyful future to get free – free from booze, shame, and anxiety. Growing up, Kay felt like she was the fifth wheel in a family of scientists and teachers, having arrived five years after two older sisters who were close in age. Kay comments that her home environment felt like ‘fifty shades of beige’ while she was creative and colorful. She sang and studied cello all the way through her major at Northwestern University. Her parents supported all of her creative endeavors; they simply could not relate to them. In 1999, Kay was a Senior Vice President at a global ad agency and a single mom of two children. Her drinking escalated to the point that she decided to go alcohol-free. Since then, Kay has helped hundreds of women face their struggles with alcohol and come out the other side to live amazing lives. She increased her income 6x, married a man she’s still crazy about 21 years later, helped Fortune 200 companies generate $2 billion in new revenue, adopted a child, invented successful businesses, traveled around the world, and moved to her dream hometown in Colorado. Kay is the author of two books,  and . Most importantly, she is happy with herself. Kay truly lives a Juicy AF life. In this week’s  learn more about Kay’s journey: Kay co-founded two successful companies, Farm & Oven Snacks, Inc and Energy Infuser. She also created and taught a Marketing Innovation course at Northwestern University’s Medill School. Learn more and connect with Kay here:

Dr. Gena Cox is the CEO of Feels Human, LLC. She is an organizational psychologist, executive coach, and award-winning author. After a decades-long career advising leaders in some of America’s largest companies, Gena felt that the pace of progress in workplace inclusion was unacceptably slow. She harnessed her experiences, expertise in organizational psychology, executive coach insights, and understanding of C-suite dynamics to write her book, . It is a comprehensive guidebook for building inclusive organizations from the top down. Gena helps leaders to connect the unfamiliar dots to drive inclusion from the top of their organizations. She asks her clients to remember one simple idea: inclusion tops diversity. Throughout her career, Gena has looked through a global lens, sensing that the world is actually small and humans are more alike than different. She was born in England, and at three years, her parents split, and Gena went to live with her grandparents in Barbados. She had a wonderful childhood and later attended college in the United States, where she studied psychology. Gena had also wanted to be a journalist, so she worked at a newspaper for two years, covering the business beat. To this day, when she sees reporters on television, Gena is fascinated by how they get to the core of a story. Interestingly, her father, who had worked at The Guardian newspaper in England, encouraged her to study something other than journalism and then write about it. Ultimately she pursued her interest in psychology. In this week’s  learn more about Gena’s journey: Before starting her own business, Gena advised leaders in the Fortune 500 and other large global companies to build psychologically healthy and engaging organizational cultures that drive business outcomes. Her work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Fast Company, Business Insider, Market Watch/Barrons, BBC Worklife, and The Telegraph (UK). Learn more and connect with Gena here:  

Etta Jacobs is an executive career transition coach and facilitator who supports mid-level and senior managers to become more effective, confident leaders. Powered by 20 years of senior-level corporate experience and an intuitive insight into her clients’ strengths, she guides them to navigate the ambiguities and complexities of their organizations and the world around them. Etta inspires her clients to cultivate compassion and consider divergent perspectives as they envision the impact they want to have in their careers. Etta began her career as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator in New York City. She quickly learned that the most important factor in building a sustainable business was nurturing her relationships with clients and colleagues. It was these relationships that opened the doors to each successive phase of her career—first as a corporate design director and today as a coach and facilitator. Etta gained her corporate expertise as an award-winning executive at two Fortune 500 companies, where she coached cohorts of managers and directed teams of creative professionals working on innovative instructional design products. She shepherded teams through many technological changes and corporate reorganizations, nurturing their resilience and cultivating their creative problem-solving skills. In this week’s learn more about Etta’s journey: Etta earned her Graduate Certificate in Executive Coaching and Master's degree in Organizational Psychology from William James College. She is a Certified Coach through the International Coach Federation (ICF). When designing and facilitating leadership training for corporate and non-profit organizations, she draws upon her experience to teach teams to foster a culture of psychological safety to become more innovative, collaborative, and productive.   Learn more and connect with Etta here:  Websites: Email: [email protected] Social: 

Grant Tate helps people learn how to thrive in our unpredictable world. He is a servant leader, transformational coach, and business consultant who challenges leaders and emerging professionals to answer the questions: Who am I? What am I called to do now? Who am I going to work with to get it done? Grant is the CEO of  and the author of . Grant grew up in a small working-class town in Virginia. He started school early, the smallest and youngest in his class. Grant quickly developed strategies to use his brain to survive conflicts on the playground and became friends with one of the tough kids who taught him a few jiu-jitsu moves. At 15, Grant got a job at the local furniture store, where he was tasked with cleaning and other physical jobs. Within a week, the store’s owner realized Grant could not sweep a floor if his life depended on it and offered to teach him bookkeeping skills which he continued to do there while attending the University of Virginia. At 16, Grant graduated high school and studied electrical engineering in college. By 25, he was a line manager at IBM with 100 employees working under him. He remained with IBM for 30 years in 15 different management and leadership roles. He has also taught engineering at universities in Connecticut, New Mexico, and New York. After two failed marriages, he moved to Europe to find himself and started a distance education and ed tech company with two partners. Five years later, he returned to the US and started his coaching and consulting business. In this week’s  learn more about Grant’s journey: Grant was part of the original personal computer team at IBM when they were starting from scratch. He also earned a Master's degree in Electronics at Syracuse and a Doctorate in Management, International Business, and Finance at Pace University while teaching there. Learn more and connect with Grant here:

Alicia Butler Pierre is the CEO of Equilibria, Inc, an operations management firm she founded 17 years ago. She designs scale-ready business infrastructures for fast-growing small businesses. At Equilibria, she invented the KasennuTM System for business infrastructure and software by the same name. Alicia has successfully applied this system in over 30 different industries. She is also an adjunct instructor of lean principles at Purdue University and the author of . A chemical engineer turned entrepreneur, Alicia has advised, designed, and optimized processes for enterprises, including Shell Oil, Coca-Cola, and Home Depot. She hosts the weekly, which ranks in the top 2% of the world with listeners in 60 countries. Alicia attended private Catholic school through 8th grade, where there was a methodical, process-oriented cadence to everything. Her father was in the Air Force, and her mother was a health inspector. She sees how these foundations informed her work with clients today. Interestingly, when Alicia entered high school, she planned to become a journalist. She loved English, the arts, and writing. In 11th grade, she took chemistry, discovering she loved it so much that she opted to take the advanced course the next year and studied chemical engineering in college. In this week’s  learn more about Alicia’s journey: After many years in technical roles as a chemical engineer at Monsanto, Alicia was encouraged (more than once) to pursue the managerial track as she was recognized for her outstanding communication skills. Alicia’s online content has over a million views and downloads across various platforms committed to doing the right things in the right way. Her mantra is “to leave it better than you found it.” Learn more and connect with Alicia here:

Author, futurist, and speaker George Chanos served as Nevada's 31st Attorney General from 2005 to 2007. As a young child, George was struck by the outpouring of admiration and grief when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. From that moment onward, he was determined to serve, and during his most formative years, he aimed for the highest office in the land. His role as Attorney General was one step closer to his goal, but after spending a few years deep in the political arena, he determined there were ways to serve the greater good that would better align with his values, so running for elected office was no longer a goal for him. George is the author of two books, and . His original intent in writing his first book was to leave a legacy for his daughter and nephew after suffering a heart attack in his early 50s. Once he recovered, he realized that there was more he wanted to do to help prepare the next generation for the rapid changes that he saw emerging in our culture, business world, and society at large.  George serves on several boards, including as Chairman of the Board, Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop, Inc., with over 200 stores in 20 states. He also speaks to large groups regularly on a variety of topics: Think and Thrive: A Mindset for the 21st Century, How to Surf the Technological Tsunami, Change is Coming: Are You Ready?, and Finding Opportunity in Adversity. In this week’s learn more about George’s journey: Before serving as Nevada's AG, George had a robust legal career representing individual and corporate clients on the growth and management of their businesses.  As Nevada’s AG, he successfully argued (9/0) Whorton v. Bockting, 549 U.S. 406 (2007), before the United States Supreme Court.  George’s parents divorced when he was very young. Dividing his time between rural Wisconsin and Las Vegas, he learned to adapt and live in both environments. He felt it prepared him well for all of life’s changes. Learn more and connect with George here: Books mentioned in this podcast: By George Chanos Millennial By George Chanos By by , , et al.

For most of his career, Nir Eyal has worked in the video gaming and advertising industries, where he learned and applied (and sometimes rejected) the techniques used to motivate and manipulate users. He helps companies create behaviors that benefit their users while educating people on how to build healthful habits in their own lives. Nir is the author of two bestselling books,  and , which was named one of the Best Business and Leadership Books of the Year by Amazon. As a child, Nir was clinically obese. Growing up in Florida, where kids spent lots of time at swimming pools, he was often the object of bullying. Nir managed to transcend those early years in his teens by reading nutrition books and changing his food choices, although he blamed the fast food industry for creating the problems he struggled with. Then he turned the blame into fascination, a critical factor in his ability to transcend the challenges inherent in his obesity. Eventually, Nir became interested in how companies like General Mills could grab customers’ attention and change behaviors. Today, Nir writes, consults, and teaches about the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. Previously he was a Lecturer in Marketing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford. Since 2003, Nir co-founded and sold two tech companies. The M.I.T. Technology Review called him “The Prophet of Habit-Forming Technology.” As an active investor, Nir puts his money where his mouth is by backing habit-forming products he believes improve lives. Some of his past investments include Eventbrite, Anchor.fm (acquired by Spotify), Kahoot!, Canva, Homelight, Product Hunt, and Byte Foods. In this week’s  learn more about Nir’s journey: Bloomberg Businessweek wrote, “Nir Eyal is the habits guy. Want to understand how to get app users to come back again and again? Then Eyal is your man.” In addition to blogging at , Nir’s writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Harvard Business Review, Time Magazine, and Psychology Today. Learn more and connect with Nir here:

In her late 50’s, Barbara Pagano and her daughter Elizabeth set out for a six-month sailing adventure on a 42-foot sailboat. Even though neither woman was an experienced sailor, they sailed alone for more than 2,000 miles. Two weeks prior to their departure, Barbara failed navigation school. Fortunately, Elizabeth earned her certification from a one-week sailing school. Pushing a little boat through water was hard work, especially for two inexperienced sailors. Barbara learned how by just doing it.  Eight years later, that ‘learn-by-doing' approach yielded significant returns as Barbara faced the challenge of creating a post-retirement life. The transition should not have been so difficult, but it was hard for her. Her experience and motivation to help others inspired the launch of . She gives post-50 individuals the tools and strategies to design and live fulfilling lives in the last third of life. With graduate degrees in counseling and human behavior as her base, Barbara curates research on aging, retirement, productive longevity, well-being, and happiness to produce content with groundbreaking clarity and a refreshing experienced voice.  Her most recent book, , was released in July 2022. As an executive coach and seasoned speaker, Barbara has motivated thousands of senior leaders and middle managers to higher levels of performance in work and life. Her previous book, , written with her daughter Elizabeth, a business journalist, was chosen by Fast Company Magazine as a book of the month.  In this week’s learn more about Barbara’s journey: Barbara’s work has been featured in Fast Company, Investor's Business Daily, Healthy Aging, The New York Times, and American Executive. She is a speaker, past president of the Georgia Speakers Association, and previously named one of the top three speakers in Atlanta. Learn more and connect with Barbara here:

Resilience expert Deborah Gilboa, MD, aka “Dr. G,” works with families, organizations, and businesses to turn stress into an advantage. Known for her contagious humor, Dr. G works with people across generations to rewire their attitudes and beliefs to create resilience through personal accountability and a completely different approach to adversity. She is the author of the recently released book . Dr. G is a board-certified attending family physician at a community health center whose practice includes making house calls. As a child, Dr. G suffered from seizures. When asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” her answer was a pediatric neurosurgeon since she had a female doctor in that specialty who she liked. Dr. G changed her mind, when in 9th grade biology lab, she had to dissect a fetal pig. Around that time she discovered the fun of theater, finding social acceptance and learning that people can have careers in theater. She decided to study theater in college. After earning her BFA in stage management, Dr. G worked in theater for six years, including two years at Second City, the famous improv company in Chicago. She also volunteered as an emergency medical technician and got certified as a paramedic. At 26, Dr. G decided to apply to medical school, but she needed two years of pre-requisite coursework to qualify. She mapped out a plan to ensure she could make it happen. Dr. G had also worked at Deaf West Theater in Los Angeles, founded by the deaf actress Marlee Matlin. She had learned some American Sign Language (ASL) and a lot about deaf culture. Dr. G heard that ASL interpreters were needed in health care, so she enrolled in ASL classes and began to work as an ASL interpreter while she prepared for medical school. Today, Dr. G practices family medicine on a part-time basis and speaks regularly to audiences in every sector on a variety of topics pertaining to resilience, mental health, and effective communication. She says, “Resilience is not given… it is choice and action.” In this week’s learn more about Dr. G’s journey: Dr. G’s message is straightforward and essential: Do stress better. Be resilient.  She appears regularly on TODAY, Good Morning America, and The Doctors. Her work is featured frequently in the Washington Post, The New York Times, Forbes Magazine, and many other digital and print outlets. Learn more and connect with Deborah here:

At age 18, Richard Newman started his mission to discover core communication principles. He took a gap year after high school and went to the foothills of the Himalayas to teach English to Tibetan monks, who spoke no English. They had to communicate non-verbally to understand each other. Richard had to learn it all from scratch as he is highly introverted. As a young child, he was painfully shy. Richard has high-functioning autism. After returning from the Himalayas, Richard was drawn to learn more about non-verbal communication rather than attend a traditional university, so he studied acting. He learned how to walk, move and speak to increase his impact on an audience. Richard worked as a professional actor and then fell into teaching communication workshops. He became a keynote speaker, coach, author, and speechwriter, winning the coveted Cicero Grand Prize for Best Speechwriter of the Year. Richard is the Founder of Body Talk. Over the past 22 years, his team has trained over 120,000 business leaders around the world to improve their communication and impact, speaking on the biggest stages. His book, , chronicles the story of how he overcame his own fears of public speaking and showcases his communication strategies. In this week’s learn more about Richard’s journey: Richard’s research on non-verbal communication was published in the Journal of Psychology. His study proved that you could increase your leadership ratings by 44% and win 59% more votes in an election by changing a few simple behaviors. His upcoming book, due out in May 2023, draws from his research.  He arrived in the Himalayas after traveling for several days and went to five different monasteries before he found the right one he was assigned to work with. It was the first time in his life he had traveled alone. Learn more and connect with Richard here:   

Annie Leib was born an empath. As early as her toddler years, she felt things from other people. She even found adults relatable. It was not until years later that Annie realized the other kids did not experience people in the same way. To be so attuned to other people’s feelings could be draining, yet Annie always enjoyed meaningful connections with people. For many years, Annie worked in sales and business development for large pharmaceutical companies. She was married with two children, then Annie and her husband divorced. She was at an auto body shop one day signing her divorce papers (that's where she found a notary). On the wall, a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson caught her attention. It was about breath. Annie thought to herself, you can strip me of everything, but you can't take my breath. Breath became the framework she created in her coaching practice a few years later. After her divorce, Annie left her corporate role and enrolled in an executive MBA program, which was a transformative experience. Annie’s classmates encouraged her to become a coach, referring to her as the “glue of their cohort.” She had been doing some consulting work on the side, so Annie added coaching to her business, and it evolved from there. She earned her coaching certification and eventually changed her consulting business into a coaching firm. Today, Annie’s sole purpose is to align leaders with their most authentic selves and unlock their ability to impact the world. She helps companies see that “when you take care of your people, your people take care of your business.” Her coaching has been acknowledged for the change it has created. Annie’s clients become “changed leaders that lead change.” Her unique methodology is captured in her trademark BREATH Framework, which focuses intensely on identifying a person’s life purpose, value system, and core leadership traits. In this week’s learn more about Annie’s journey: Annie’s methodology is captured in her book,     She helps clients realign their actions and mindsets, unlocking their hidden potential. They then recognize and manage the emotional barriers that keep them from it. Learn more and connect with Annie here:  

Growing up in Portugal, Ana Melikian was always curious about personal development, trying to understand herself and the rest of the world. In college, she studied psychology and spent two years in England learning English. After earning her master's degree in Spain, she returned to England for her Ph.D. in Psychology and became a psychotherapist. Several years later, Ana moved to the US, prompting a career shift as her clinical credentials were not recognized in the American market. She then became certified in life and business coaching. Today she is inspiring people to achieve their best potential as a coach, speaker, and podcast host. Building on her 20+ years of experience working in human potential, Ana is the host of the podcast. She breaks down complex topics to help you master your mindset and expand the realm of possibility in your life and work. Ana engages in insightful conversations with world-class guests in the psychological, entrepreneurial, and business arenas every week. Ana is also a sought-after speaker. In her keynote, “The Happiness Fallacy,” Ana uncovers and explores the psychological blind spots that hold us back. Her engaging presentation moves audiences to re-envision and revitalize how they live their lives for both the personal and collective good. In this week’s learn more about Ana’s journey: When she was diagnosed with cancer, Ana came to a stark realization: as long as her goal was merely the pursuit of happiness, she’d never fully obtain it—and she’d never come to embody the power of now. She dives into the research and investigates some of life’s most complicated and challenging questions Learn more and connect with Ana here: 

This week I hit a milestone in my podcast journey, reaching episode 200! My friend, trusted advisor, and accountability buddy, Jenny Lisk joined me this past Friday for a live stream broadcast of today’s podcast episode. Jenny and I have been on this journey together since we started our podcasts on the same exact day four years ago in November 2018. We have supported one another as we developed our podcasting muscles and later, as we each authored books. During this special episode, Jenny and I discussed the importance of consistency, persistence, support, and accountability as keys to success along with having a clear sense of your goals. Several people tuned in during the live event offering words of encouragement and asking us great questions which fueled our conversation. We discussed: How and why we each got started in podcasting What it takes to keep a podcast going How we recruit and select guests, preparation for interviews Some of the technical aspects such as software requirements, equipment, etc. Production details such as audio engineering and related elements Writing a book and the decisions related to getting started on a book project The various ways we supported and challenged each other to keep going … and so much more In this week’s learn more about my and Jenny’s journey: It took me two years to write and publish my book, .  Jenny is the host of the and the author of . Her story of personal loss and career transition is featured in Chapter 9 of my book, Uncertainty is a Fact of Life. Learn more and connect with Tammy here:  Connect with Tammy on @TammyGoolerLoeb on @TammyGoolerLoeb on https://www.tammygoolerloeb.com/

Liz Brunner is an Emmy award-winning journalist who co-anchored the number one rated 6 pm newscast at WCVB-TV 5, Boston’s ABC network affiliate. In 2013, she became the CEO and founder of Brunner Communications and launched Brunner Academy.com in 2020. A certified professional coach, expert communications coach, and motivational speaker, she is also the host of the multi-award-winning podcast, with Liz Brunner. She is the author of the book , which  Forbes described as a teaching memoir.  Liz says she’s in the fourth chapter of her career. She grew up in a family that was very involved in music, performing in her church choir and with her family in front of their congregation. Liz attended Lawrence University's Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin, became a high school music teacher, and sang semi-professionally for a time. After a few years of teaching, Liz felt there was something else she was supposed to do. While working a retail job to pay the bills, she considered many career options by reading books and taking self-assessments. Then, one day she bravely cold-called the NBC and CBS affiliates in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois,  where she had been living, to request informational interviews. It took about six months of conversations, but one of the stations actually created a role for Liz. The rest, as they say, is history. Thus began Liz’s career in communications and TV news broadcasting. In this week’s learn more about Liz’s journey: Liz won the title of Miss Illinois in the Miss America Scholarship Pageant in 1979. This enabled her to pay for her college education, a proud achievement. She was the only Boston reporter to land an exclusive interview with President Barack Obama in the White House. It took her four years to get it! Learn more and connect with Liz here: 

Neuropsychologist helps recovering perfectionists and high achievers stop the cycle of overwhelming to-do lists, procrastination, and self-doubt so they can achieve their goals without burning out.  "I’m a bit of a neuroscience nerd, and I’ve spent years learning how your brain works and what mental habits tank your productivity (including ones you probably don’t even notice!)" When Nicole started university many years ago, she had no idea what she wanted to do or which direction to take. She didn’t like her first-year psychology classes at all. In her third year, Nicole began to connect the dots. She took a course called Introduction to Human Neuropsychology and found the professor to be such an excellent instructor that she volunteered to work in the professor’s lab. Later, Nicole convinced the same professor to be her mentor. She continued to work in her lab through graduate school, earning her master’s degree and a doctorate in clinical psychology.  Initially, Nicole worked in a hospital, part of Canada’s public health system, a pathway on which many with her credentials would spend their entire careers, but after several years she left to pursue private practice. This was not an easy decision, yet it was what she needed to do. In this week’s learn more about Nicole’s journey: Nicole is an Adjunct Research Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary. She has published articles in professional journals on the topics of brain health and neuroscience. She is the CEO of in Calgary, Canada, and the host of podcast. Learn more and connect with Nicole here: 

Dr. Chris Johnson says we need new ways of working with each other, in our businesses, and with our own stresses. And she maintains that can be built on intentional, deliberate practice which … starts with a Pause. Chris grew up on a farm in a small town in central Illinois. Both her parents built successful small businesses and were actively engaged in their community. Yet conflict was a daily staple in their home. While Chris felt completely loved by her parents, their relationship was filled with tensions that often turned into yelling. From a very young age onward, Chris wondered how she could help people get along better with one another. Chris studied psychology in college. She went on to earn a master’s in social work and worked in community mental health with children and families for eight years. During that time, Chris’ sister was sexually assaulted by an intruder in her home. That event changed Chris’ life. She devoted the next twenty-plus years to helping people heal from severe trauma.  At thirty, Chris wanted to deepen her clinical skills, so she enrolled in a Psy.D. program in clinical psychology. In this five-year program, she was able to expand her facility with trauma treatment and mindfulness techniques. She also had an interest in business and wanted to apply her clinical skills in professional settings to help leaders thrive. Today, Chris is the founder of Q4 consulting, where she partners with individuals and organizations to design and implement training programs that access intuition, surface internalized patterns and mindsets, and address roadblocks inherent in change. Chris and her team support professionals at all levels to build the capacity, compassion, and resilience needed to thrive as leaders. Chris challenges and supports leaders ready to embark on integrating life and work in sustainable, fulfilling ways.  In this week’s learn more about Chris’ journey: Chris is the author of the new book, . When she isn't working, you'll find Chris in her garden, making art, hiking or skiing the slopes, listening to jazz or at the aikido dojo practicing the art of peace. Learn more and connect with Chris here: 

Marion Spears Karr has over 30 years of experience in executive recruiting and talent acquisition in healthcare. He has led successful recruitment teams specializing in nursing leadership, c-level, VP, senior director, and physician executive searches. But don’t let that fool you; Marion is not your typical recruitment talent acquisition leader. As with everything he has done well in life, Marion digs deeper, goes the extra mile, and so much more. Marion was raised in a blue-collar family with a strong faith in the hills of Piedmont, North Carolina, below the Appalachian mountains where his family originated. His parents worked in the local Cannon textile mill. He credits his grandmother as an influence in his life, a skilled storyteller who lived with them, for her ability to capture a moment. At an early age, Marion fell in love with skateboarding, and European bike racing, neither of which were typical activities of his peers. By high school, he went to Europe as an exchange student to train and compete as a bike racer. To support his activities, Marion worked at the textile mill and other jobs and had sponsorships that provided his equipment. He also planned to attend college as his parents required him to achieve educational goals to continue bike racing. A week after his high school graduation Marion was hit by a car while on a training ride. He suffered a traumatic brain injury. Marion went through trauma care and rehab, and did attend college though he had to approach learning in new ways. Needless to say, his bike racing career was over. Marion married while in college and upon graduation returned home to enter a management training program at the textile mill. He did well there but he wanted to explore other options. An opportunity to join a management recruitment firm came through a former colleague from the textile mill and Marion felt it was a risk worth taking. He has not looked back. Today, Marion focuses his work on helping healthcare organizations build leadership teams that are aligned and mission-centered. He also does motivational speaking, leadership coaching for individuals, and team development for a vast array of audiences. In this week’s  learn more about Marion’s journey: Marion is involved with several organizations that support Brain Injury Research and recovery programs. He is the developer of the  model for team and individual leadership growth, founded on the principles of positive psychology. Learn more and connect with Marion here:

After returning to a full-time law practice from maternity leave, Lori Mihalich-Levin discovered that she did not have the resources she needed to manage her life in the ways she wanted. Once her second child was born, her stress multiplied. Lori decided to do something about it and help other parents who had many of the same issues. She created to help parents transition back to work after parental leave. Mindful Return offers a multitude of resources for new working parents, including e-courses, programs that employers can offer to their employees, and chapters based in the US, UK, India, and South Africa.  Lori has been committed to promoting women’s equality and leadership throughout her career.  As a Partner at Dentons US LLP, Lori founded and Co-Chaired Dentons’ Parent Professional Network for two years. In her prior role at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), she founded the Returning to Work Community (RWC) for mothers returning to work from maternity leave and a D.C. Health Policy Lean in Circle. At Princeton, Lori wrote her undergraduate on immigrant women in France who experienced domestic violence. At Georgetown Law, she was co-President of the Women’s Legal Alliance and represented clients through the Domestic Violence Clinic. She is the author of , and co-host of the podcast.  In this week’s learn more about Lori’s journey: Lori’s thought leadership has been featured in publications, including Forbes, The Washington Post, New York Times, Parenting, and Thrive Global.  Today, Lori advises clients in her law practice on issues relating to Medicare graduate medical education payments. Learn more and connect with Lori here:

Eleanor Beaton is the founder of , an education & coaching company for women entrepreneurs. Through SafiMedia and her podcast , Eleanor and her team are committed to advancing global gender equity and a model of economic growth that nourishes the planet, one woman-owned business at a time. Eleanor grew up in Nova Scotia, Canada, although she was born in England. Her father was an economics professor at a university in Nova Scotia, and previously, her Mom was a teacher in her native Fiji, where Eleanor’s parents originally met. In fact, in those earlier years, Eleanor’s mother earned more than her father, owned her own home, and was living very comfortably, fully supporting herself when they began dating. Once they moved to England and had Eleanor, they decided that her mother would stay home and raise her, which she did for eighteen years.  Eleanor’s parents had a good relationship, yet her mother regretted not having her own finances to manage. Her message to Eleanor: make your own money. Money is power. Eleanor started her career in PR and advertising, but something was missing. She decided to attend journalism school and, then, started her own communications firm. Eleanor was drawn to content about women’s independence and financial equity. She trained in coaching and shifted her business model to support female entrepreneurs in their growth and development. In this week’s learn more about Eleanor’s journey: Eleanor's work has been published or quoted in publications including The Globe & Mail, The Atlantic, CBC, Chatelaine, and more. She’s on a mission to double the number of women entrepreneurs who scale past $1M in revenue by 2030. Learn more and connect with Eleanor here: Free gift from Eleanor: https://safimedia.lpages.co/selling-with-stories-list/

Gustavo Razzetti’s favorite question is “what if?” That simple question has helped him on his quest for continuous exploration and experimentation. As the fifth child of seven siblings in his family, he learned early to look for new ideas and solutions and to challenge the status quo. Growing up in Argentina during the civil war added to the context in which he valued freedom and independence. What began as responsibilities he took on as a child, such as cooking meals for his siblings when his parents were traveling, has translated into a lifetime of continual experimentation, learning, and discovery. Change has always been a constant to Gustavo. His diverse background is at the intersection of change leadership, marketing strategy, innovation, and design thinking. He has led and transformed six organizations in different scenarios over 20 years: start-up, high-growth, and turnaround, and has worked in diverse places: New York, Argentina, Chicago, Puerto Rico, and Los Angeles. He loves advising CEOs from both Fortune 500 and startups alike. The author of hundreds of articles on change leadership, innovation, and self-improvement, Gustavo released his most recent book in June 2022: . He addresses multiple areas of company cultures, from keeping teams connected and improving remote collaboration to managing asynchronous communication, facilitating courageous conversations, and defining the right hybrid model for your organization. In this week’s learn more about Gustavo’s journey: He was invited to participate in the cutting-edge Innovation Leadership Program at Stanford University. Gustavo is the author of three books prior to his current publication:  , , and . Learn more and connect with Gustavo here:  

Connie Steele grew up as a first generation Chinese-American with the traditional pressures to excel academically as the pathway to success. Her Dad had a Ph.D. in economics and statistics, so there was an emphasis on excellence in math. Connie studied statistics in college. In her junior year, she sought out vocational books in the library to figure out what she was going to do next. She read about marketing research, then took a marketing class and loved it. Connie went to the University of Michigan for a master's degree in applied statistics where she was also able to take classes in the business school. Later, she earned a doctorate in statistics.  Today, Connie is passionate about helping leaders build fluid organizations to adapt and thrive in a world where uncertainty is the new certainty. She is on a mission to help professionals and companies get unstuck to achieve their goals confidently. With over twenty years of working at Fortune 500 companies, such as AOL and General Mills, start-ups and scale-up organizations, and high-growth tech companies, Connie shared with me the full range of how businesses have had to become more collaborative and fluid.  Connie has always been intrigued by the “why” behind companies and careers that thrive. Her goal is to help people discover their portfolio career or super job, their “career mashup”, her term for the career of the future in which they merge their skills, passions, and values. In her best-selling book , Connie shares future work trends that explain how people’s motivations and expectations are changing with respect to work and life. She couples this with a five-step long-term strategic planning framework to help readers take greater control of their careers, personal and leadership development. Connie just published "What Workers Want," the second annual State of Work and Career Success survey. Connie is conducting this survey annually to understand what does it take to be successful now in this new world of work? What holds us back as individuals (not employees) from reaching our goals? What does it take to reach one’s career potential, and what is that relationship with their company’s potential? In this week’s learn more about Connie’s journey: Connie is the host of the podcast, devoted to meaningful work-life fit in an ever-changing world through inspiring stories, actionable tips, and pragmatic advice from those that found their fit. Her perspectives and advice have appeared in Forbes, Authority Magazine, TechRound, and Thrive Global. Learn more and connect with Connie here:  Book “ Podcast: @conniewangsteele (Instagram) @conniewsteele (Twitter)

Deb Coviello is an introvert who likes to talk. As a child, she often wanted to express herself and enjoyed participating in activities such as the school play. Deb was a good student and even skipped fifth grade, heading straight into middle school. Yet, throughout her early years and even into her professional career life, Deb found that teachers, bosses, and others did not always want her to speak, so there were periods of time when she would clam up. This created misperceptions of her abilities. Teachers assessed she was not too bright and bosses perceived she was not aligned with the team.  In college, Deb found a zone where she could offer her voice and became a natural leader. She studied biomedical engineering (at a school her guidance counselor told her she would not be able to get admitted to!) and upon graduation entered a manufacturing management development program with her first employer.  From there she built a 30 plus year career in strategy, quality and operational excellence roles, primarily in the flavors and fragrance industry. Today, Deb has struck out on her own as an advisor, author, podcast host, and founder of Illumination Partners, a consulting firm for CEOs navigating change. A trusted partner to C-suite leaders, Deb supports her clients as they work together to identify, assess and solve the issues that may be preventing their business growth.  Deb has developed powerful programs devoted to helping CEOs identify emerging leaders. She hosts a weekly show, . And she is the author of the book, In this week’s learn more about Deb’s journey: Deb is certified as a Lean and Six Sigma Black Belt in process improvement. She is a board member of Women in Flavor and Fragrance Commerce. Deb is an avid curler with the Cincinnati curling club and won a silver medal in a national tournament. Learn more and connect with Deborah here: Website: Linkedin: The CEO’s Compass: Drop in CEO Podcast: Facebook: Twitter: @DropinCEOInstagram: dropinceo

Julie Schechter danced her way through childhood into college, focusing on ballet. When she wasn’t dancing, she might be hanging out with her dad in his editing room as he spliced film for his documentaries. Mom was a child psychologist. Needless to say, Julie had a front-row seat to entrepreneurism and passion-connected careers. It came as a bit of a shock when Julie announced that she was going to Harvard Law School. There’s more to that story… After studying dance in college, Julie spent two years in Americorps, a national program that engages Americans in intensive community service to meet needs in education, the environment, public safety, health, and homeland security. Julie worked with nurses going into preschools in the San Juan Capistrano, CA area, near the Mexican border, doing wellness checks on children, and trying to identify health needs because English was not their first language. She was inspired by that experience and decided she wanted to be like Atticus Finch, from To Kill A Mockingbird.  Upon entering law school, Julie intended to pursue a career in public interest law, and like many in her shoes, she had a huge debt load at graduation. So, she joined a large law firm and became a litigator, an experience she values to this day. Yet, she is no longer practicing law. Julie in her heart is a serial entrepreneur. Once she left law, she leveraged her background as a ballet dancer to create the successful fitness company fitBallet, which ran for three years in New York City’s hyper-competitive fitness market.  Today, Julie is the co-founder and CEO of . Her curated care packages help busy people maintain their friendships despite the pressures of physical distance. In this week’s learn more about  Julie’s journey: Julie took a day job counseling attorneys while she was building fitBallet to support herself.  Small Packages has been featured in NYT Wirecutter, CNN, Good Morning America, and awarded a Visionary Women Grant by Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran. Learn more and connect with Julie here: Instagram: @smallpackages Twitter: @smallpackagesco Website:

RJ Singh has lived a double life more than once. He loved it in some respects because it was dynamic, yet he chooses to live quite differently these days.  Born in Australia, RJ and his family moved to the San Francisco Bay area when he was four years old, where his Dad joined his uncle in a cleaning business. He describes those early years as a “typical immigrant family with lots of big gatherings and cousins to hang with,” yet RJ  reports that he felt as if he did not know who he was. He was a very active, high-energy kid and a talented soccer player in the Olympics development program. RJ was also intellectually bright, yet his active behavior in school was considered to be disruptive, and by seventh grade, he was getting suspended from school regularly. In high school, RJ was getting into alcohol and drug use. Thus began his double life between athletics and drug use. By 14, he easily fell into addictions, which continued into his twenties, along with many run-ins with the law, jail time, and periodic stays in rehab.  RJ started to deal drugs to support his addictions. He says this was the first time he felt a solid sense of identity. Again, he was living a double life. After more than a decade of involvement in the juvenile justice system and struggling with his addictions, he continued to deal drugs while attending a private university to earn his college degree. Eventually, he quit drugs but not alcohol while still selling drugs. Several years later, he became completely sober by committing to a 12-step program.  Today RJ lives in Australia with his wife and two children. He has his MBA and works as a chief revenue officer, consultant, and advisor to many start-ups and businesses. He is an ultra-endurance athlete who is dedicated to the pursuit of self-mastery.   In this week’s learn more about RJ’s journey: RJ’s mission is to lead by example and share the ultra habits needed to achieve ultra performance in all areas of your life. He says that becoming sober required a lot of structure, and once he met his partner and they started a family, he had to learn to let go and be more flexible. Learn more and connect with RJ here:  

Jill Griffin has spent her career leading innovation, digital and media strategy, content development, and marketing programs for many of the world’s top brands. Advertising Age recognized her as one of the "25 Women to Watch" and she was named one of the "50 Most Influential People in Content Marketing" by NewsCred. She’s also a two-time winner of AdWeek-Mediaweek's Media Plan of the Year. Whether she's working with startups, thought leaders, or renowned global organizations, Jill has sat on all sides of the table. She works with organizations to create strengths-based cultures to increase performance, retention, and well-being. And yet, her road to success was not quite as smooth as it may seem. When Jill’s career started to pick up steam, she was involved in an accident that led to head trauma, forcing her to rethink, reset, and reboot her career and her life. The injury forced her to live on purpose rather than in reaction. She felt compelled to consider how much of an impact her thoughts played in creating her results. And it forced Jill to adjust her own career trajectory.  While she still spent many years consulting with big brands like The Coca-Cola Cola Company, Microsoft, Hilton Hotels, and Samsung, Jill also became a certified coach passionate about helping others create fulfilling careers and lives. Today, Jill works with busy clients to achieve results by clearing out their old B.S. (belief systems). This necessary work gets them clear on what they want to create, and it rewires their thoughts so they can see the results they desire and be confident it’s within their reach. In this week’s learn more about Jill’s journey: Jill has written for Fast Company, HuffPost, and Metro UK. She has been quoted by leading media outlets like Adweek, Advertising Age, Forrester Research, The New York Times, NewsCred, Newsday, Media Week departures, and the Wall Street Journal.  She is a Gallup® Certified Strengths Coach and has helped hundreds of clients amplify their strengths, increase visibility, create career clarity, and design a brighter future. Learn more and connect with Jill here:    

Kelli Thompson is a leadership coach and speaker who specializes in helping women advance to the rooms where decisions are made. She is the founder of the and a Stevie Award® winner for Women in Business Coach of the Year. Kelli’s book, , will be released in November 2022. Kelli characterized her early years as sheltered. She grew up in a small Midwest town, attending a Catholic school in a homogenous environment where most people shared the same values and followed common rules and social norms. Kelli described her emerging adulthood as checking off the boxes on a list and staying on track with the expectations she was raised to fulfill. She went to college, earned a master's degree, married, and had her daughter by age 24. Kelli presumed that these accomplishments would bring her happiness and success, but that is not what happened. She divorced and worked in banking for 14 years, getting experience in a variety of areas from sales to human resources. From there, she built a career in training and development in technology companies until 2019, when she started her own coaching practice. Kelli has coached and trained hundreds of women to trust themselves, lead more confidently, and create a career they love. She has served as an adjunct management professor and has more than 10 years of senior leadership experience in financial services and technology organizations. In this week’s learn more about Kelli’s journey: Kelli opened up and shared some of her personal challenges while attempting to start her coaching business shortly before the pandemic hit. She experienced some major losses and candidly spoke about how those experiences impacted her decisions. Her thought leadership has been featured in Forbes MarketWatch, Parents Magazine, HuffPost, and Working Mother. Learn more and connect with Kelli here:    

Vice Admiral Sandra Stosz, US Coast Guard retired, was the first woman to command an icebreaker on the Great Lakes and to lead a US Armed Forces service academy. She served for 40 years in many leadership roles on land and at sea. Sandy, as she asked me to call her, is the author of .  When Sandy was considering her post-high school plans, she learned about the option to attend the U.S. Naval Academy, thanks to the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and the implementation of Title Nine, which required the military to open their service academies to women. Sandy was immediately intrigued by the potential opportunity to see the world and be a part of something bigger than herself while securing a free post-secondary education. Just a few years prior, this would not have been possible for a female. In order to apply to the Naval Academy, Sandy needed a nomination from a member of Congress, which she was able to secure for admission. Her guidance counselor suggested that she not put all of her eggs in one basket, however. Sandy received a Coast Guard Academy flyer in the mail, and their admission process was based more directly on her merits. She was accepted into the Coast Guard Academy and decided to attend it because “I wanted to go to a school and join a service that values me for what I know, not who I know.” Sandy started out in the US Coast Guard as an ensign, serving aboard polar icebreakers conducting national security missions from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Her 40-year career was filled with leadership lessons. Sandy served for 12 years at sea, commanding two ships and led large Coast Guard organizations during times of crisis and complexity. She finished her career as the first woman assigned as Deputy Commandant for Mission Support, directing one of the Coast Guard's largest enterprises. In 2012, Newsweek's The Daily Beast named Sandy to their list of 150 women who shake the world. In this week’s learn more about Sandra’s journey: Sandy volunteers in leadership roles, including as chair of the Coast Guard Academy Sailing Council and as a trustee for the Coast Guard Academy Institute for Leadership. She lectures widely on leadership and has been featured on C-Span and in other media. Learn more and connect with Sandra here:

Dr. Amanda Crowell is a cognitive psychologist, speaker, author and creator of the Great Work journals. She educates future teachers, coaches accidental entrepreneurs, and speaks about how to make progress on great work to colleges and corporate teams. She is the author of the book, . Amanda said her early years were both lovely and complicated. At two years old she was diagnosed with a developmental seizure disorder, meaning that once her brain was further developed, the seizures would stop. Until she was nine, she took medications that affected her motor skills and general alertness. In this week’s podcast episode, Amanda shared her experience of those critical developmental years. She had difficulty functioning in school and in social interactions, but she did have friends, was able to watch TV and knew her teachers’ names. Once she discontinued the seizure medication, everything opened up. At times it was an overwhelming experience. It also sparked a tremendous sense of wonder and curiosity about people and social dynamics as the world unfolded in front of her. Today, everything Amanda does as a coach, author, speaker and podcast host of , points to doing the work that matters the most to you, what she refers to as YOUR Great Work. It might involve building a business, inciting a movement, creating breathtaking art, writing world-changing books, or helping other people to heal and grow into their potential. YOUR Great Work is a combined fascination with human achievement and a passion for helping others in order to explore how to get YOUR work out into the world where it belongs.  In this week’s learn more about Amanda’s journey: Amanda’s TEDx talk “Three Reasons You Aren't Doing What You Say You Will Do” has received more than a million views, and has been featured on TED's ideas blog and TED shorts.   Her career took a few twists and turns from continuing legal education, event planning to communications, and a potential admission to law school. Amanda teaches psychology at Hunter College School of Education in New York City in their teacher certification program. Learn more and connect with Amanda here: Her book:  

Lisa Fain grew up in a family of lawyers and while there was no obvious pressure, she ended up going to law school. She had envisioned a career in public interest law, but upon graduation, she had significant student loan debt which she wanted to clear before moving forward. Fortunately, Lisa was able to work in an area that interested her, labor and employment law, while squaring away her loan, working for a large law firm. She enjoyed counseling clients, using her negotiation and mediation skills while focusing on matters pertaining to EEO, diversity, and compliance. Yet, still, Lisa knew this was not the way she wanted to work. The turning point came after she had pulled an all-nighter preparing for a litigation case. She saw a blinking light on her phone indicating she had a voicemail. It was a message from her four-year-old daughter. She said “Mommy come home. We need a mommy, not a lawyer.” Lisa shared, “It was the worst best gift I ever got because I recognized that I wasn't living my values. Although I was doing great work, I wasn't able to be the kind of mother that I wanted to be.” Lisa left the large firm and transitioned to an in-house role at a company where she developed workplace policies, eventually focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion. She loved the work and demand across the company grew. Lisa was asked to create a mentoring program so she reached out to Lois Zachary of the Center for Mentoring Excellence to provide consultation on how to set it up. Full disclosure: Lois is Lisa’s mother!  Fast forward to today: Lisa is the CEO of the Center for Mentoring Excellence. She is a global speaker with expertise in cultural competency and mentoring. Her passion for diversity and inclusion fuels her conviction that leveraging differences creates a better workplace and drives better business results. In this week’s learn more about Lisa’s journey: Lisa is the co-author with Lois Zachary of and the 2022 revision (3rd Edition) of She is an Executive Coach who guides leaders to create better workplaces and is known for her frank, kind, and holistic approach to helping leaders help themselves. Learn more and connect with Lisa here:

Christina Eanes’ first career took an entrepreneurial path just as she was about to enter middle school. Living near a golf course, she would retrieve stray golf balls and set up a lemonade stand at the ninth hole, selling golf balls and ‘cold ones’ to thirsty golfers. How enterprising! While in college, Christina did an internship doing crime data analysis, and upon graduation, she was hired full-time at a local California Police Department. A few years later, she joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a crime analyst helping local law enforcement agencies solve complex crimes. She thoroughly enjoyed this work describing it as solving a series of complex puzzles. In more than 15 years of public service, Christina worked on an array of programs, including the FBI’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, and the FBI’s Leadership Development Program where her team helped to train thousands of leaders.  Christina enjoyed the professional development work with the FBI so much that she joined a consulting firm offering training and development programs and services to a variety of corporate and organizational clients. After several years, she decided to establish her own training company. Today, Christina is on a mission to help others achieve more in life, mainly by getting out of their own way.  Christina inspires others to take responsibility for their success at work and home. She has designed and delivered an array of professional development programs, providing strategies that lead to better professional and personal relationships, improved communication skills, and, increased productivity in accomplishing personal and organizational goals. In this week’s learn more about Christina’s journey: Christina has written several books, hosts a YouTube channel and speaks to groups and organizations on a regular basis. She hosts a podcast, , dedicated to helping individuals achieve more in life – to own their inner superachiever! Learn more and connect with Christina here:

Emma Arnoff told me that helping others has always been in her blood. As a young child growing up in New York City, she had strabismus, a condition that caused her to have crossed eyes, requiring her to wear large glasses. Her physical coordination wasn’t too good and she never felt as if she fit in with other kids. Emma’s antidote to this feeling was to befriend the school bully as she felt he was misunderstood and needed a friend. Or when a new student arrived from a different country, she wanted to help them learn English. Graduating college with a degree in sociology and women’s studies, Emma worked for several years with children and families in schools, residential treatment centers, and the foster care system. She then pursued a master’s degree in social work. Today, Emma is the owner and director of in Poughkeepsie, New York. At The Sensory Space, children can use sensory supports while participating in play therapy and psychotherapy in a safe environment. Emma has a team of 11 clinicians who work with children, adults, families, and groups. Supportive services are also offered including occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy.  In addition to working with clients individually, Emma facilitates programs and groups on inclusion, bullying, and social skills. As a parent herself, she understands the skills needed for child-rearing, working with parents individually and in groups on developing the parenting approaches needed for different developmental stages. Emma has also presented workshops at schools and colleges on supporting neurodiversity in schools and organizations.  In this week’s learn more about Emma’s journey: Emma is a certified children's yoga instructor and loves to incorporate yoga and movement into therapy sessions. She facilitates discussions on sensory integration, emotional regulation, and inclusion.   Learn more and connect with Emma here:

As the Founder of , Tracy Hooper helps people elevate their personal and professional presence, communicate with clarity, and work together better. She leads dynamic presentations for high-achieving teams and advises executives and professionals in a wide variety of industries. Tracy has been a TV news reporter, anchor, producer, and voice-over professional. She draws on the best of her background in TV news and storytelling with actionable takeaways for her clients and audiences.  Tracy is the author of and her just-released book, , which answers the big question: What's the confidence playbook now in the world of work? We discussed current-day matters such as how do you eloquently communicate your discomfort about shaking hands, if you are not yet ready to make contact with people in that way? One of my favorite topics we discussed was the topic of eye contact in communication. Tracy offers her advice on how to convey a sense of respect and connection (as eye contact is viewed in American culture) if you are uncomfortable looking at people directly in the eye.  Yet, Tracy’s career started in a very different place. She went to college to study nursing and discovered that she did not have a proclivity for science. Instead, she loved reading and writing. After graduation, she landed a job in college admissions where she enjoyed interviewing prospective students and writing summaries of those conversations. A few years later, a friend suggested that she consider news reporting since she enjoyed interviewing and writing. Tracy started small by borrowing some video equipment on the weekends, writing her own news stories, and creating her own demo reels. She sent the demo reels out to small-town TV stations and eventually was offered a job as a “weather girl”.  In this week’s learn from Tracy’s advice: Based on a quote from Elizabeth Gilbert, she shared:  Passions are hard to quantify. There's a lot of pressure to follow your passion. Follow what you're curious about. There may be opportunities there. Surround yourself with people who believe in you. If you don't, other people will pull you down. Cultivate a personal board of advisors of people who know you well and have your interests at heart and have people who think differently than you–they could give you ideas that you hadn't thought about. Learn more and connect with Tracy here:  

Laura Spero told me that she was an intense kid who gave her all to everything she did. She played soccer, competed in Tae Kwon Do, swam competitively, and rowed crew in college. As a kid still living at home, she would spend hours, hyperfocused in her basement doing art projects in a space she set up for herself. Most of the art she created was items she made for other people. Laura is a mission-driven person who values making the day-to-day moments of life meaningful. Growing up in Bethesda, Maryland, Laura was surrounded by a family of entrepreneurs, and advocates. Dinner table conversations were lively with people trying to solve problems by debating them around the table. Laura was so accustomed to the lively dynamic of throwing ideas around that it took her a long time to learn that not everyone needed to be that energized to hold a conversation at the end of the day. Mom was a consumer advocate attorney and Dad ran his own tech company. Coincidentally, he had been an Olympic rower in his younger years. After graduating from college, Laura went to Nepal to do volunteer work. She was motivated by her adventurous spirit, and fascination with Eastern cultures and had a yearning to break away from her advantaged life. What began as a brief stint in Nepal has become a lifelong connection to the people and culture of Nepal. Over the past 22 years, Laura established and grew a dental health program, the for people in rural areas of Nepal. She encountered many people suffering from toothaches who assumed they would eventually lose their teeth and she set out to do something about it. While Laura is not a dentist, she has tirelessly raised funds and provided administrative oversight to grow and sustain the organization. Not unlike many people who begin their career in one arena during their twenties, she has explored other pathways while remaining dedicated to running the Jevaia Foundation on a part-time basis. Laura has been able to travel and live in the US and Nepal over the years.     Today, Laura is a clinical social worker based in the Boston area working as a medical social worker in a hospital setting and as a clinical social worker and therapist in a women's prison reentry program. In this week’s learn more about Laura’s journey: Laura has worked as an oral history facilitator for the NPR program StoryCorps, as an arts consultant in the New York City public schools, and in a holistic physical therapy practice.  She also earned her MFA in writing during the time she was working with StoryCorps. Learn more and connect with Laura here:     

I recently sat down with Antuan Magic Raimone to learn about his journey to become the first male universal swing for the five US companies of the popular musical, Hamilton. It’s a remarkable career story for someone in his field as he has been able to make a solid living as a performer from the start, without compromising his values. That is not to say that he did not experience some bumps in the road. Yet, he learned from those experiences, kept his ego in check, while maintaining his love for his craft and his confidence in his talent.  Antuan grew up Blue Springs, Missouri, a small suburb near Kansas City. He was raised by his mother, a single parent and for a period of time, they lived as a family with his two older half-sisters until they became independent. Antuan stated that his sisters had vocal talent and while each aspired to pursue entertainment careers, their lives went in other directions. His mother sang in the church choir. He sang in the choir there since he was a little boy and joined his school choir in middle school. As a kid, Antuan was a fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme and dreamed of making movies as a  martial arts actor. At ten, he took Tae Kwon Do, earning his black belt in just two years. His instructor, recognizing his talent, offered him a scholarship to increase his class time. This led to competing in the Junior Olympics, with an eye toward the US Olympic team, expected to open up to Tae Kwon Do a few years later, but Antuan burned out. At the risk of disappointing his mother and instructor, he decided to stop. Mom was very supportive. His instructor tried to offer accommodations to make it work, but Antuan stood his ground. MTV was coming onto the scene. Antuan loved Janet Jackson’s music videos and would mimic her moves. He aspired to become one of her backup dancers. He got involved in school plays, musical theater to be exact. Antuan loved it, although he learned about how unfair the world could be, especially to a young black male trying to get cast in musicals that were originally written for all white characters. Throughout high school and college, he learned how to navigate numerous disappointments, painfully and yet, with hope. As the author of , a TEDx speaker, and Soldier of Love, Antuan has more than 20 years of experience in musical theater. He champions light, love, and joy for others. His passion and purpose are to empower people to live a whole life, where mistakes can exist, fear isn't debilitating, and vulnerability is not a weakness. In this week’s learn more about Antuan’s journey: Antuan has worked as a singer, dancer, choreographer, and actor on cruise ships, in theme parks, regional theater, and on Broadway. A sexual violence survivor, Antuan is on the Advisory Council for the Office of Victim Services of New York, has given many keynote addresses, spoke on a panel at the Men's Sexual Assault Summit, and at the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Learn more and connect with Antuan here:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/antuan-raimone/ https://www.facebook.com/antuan.raimone/ https://twitter.com/AntuanRaimone https://www.thesoldieroflove.us/

This week’s Work from the Inside Out podcast is a little different than usual. Two of my previous guests, Corey Blake and Gen Georget, returned to share the work they have been doing to help people clarify their purpose through the transformative powers of storytelling. Corey and Gen lead The Roundtable Storytelling Academy, which offers a series of transformational online courses that helps participants find their superpowers and articulate their origin story so they can step into their purpose, and redefine the relationship they hold to the narrative of their lives. I recently completed the 11-week storytelling course myself and can testify that it was an enlightening learning experience on so many levels.  Together, Corey and Gen, and RTC are on a mission to share how powerful telling your story can be.  Corey began his storytelling career as an actor, starring in one of the . In 2006, he created (RTC). Corey spearheaded the conversion of best-selling business books into comic books with authors like Tony Hsieh, Marshall Goldsmith, Chris Anderson, and Robert Cialdini. That effort landed him in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Wired, Inc., and Forbes magazines. RTC’s clients have included Microsoft, Workday, Magoosh, Zappos, and ADP. Gen Georget is an executive editor at RTC and a successful author in her own right. She is the coauthor of with Earthkind CEO Kari Warberg Block. Gen’s own book, , was named 2020 Book of Year for the Ottawa FACES Magazine Awards. Gen’s writing and photography have been featured in The Good Mother Project, Oprah.com, Simplify Magazine, Her View from Home, The Good Men Project, Real Leaders Magazine, and Addicted2Success and she boasts her own online community of more than 35,000 followers.  In this week’s learn more about RTC’s Storytelling Academy: RTC is also offering four mini-courses open to the public: My Powerful Purpose, Asking Powerful Questions, Heroes Journey Crash Course and Beyond Active Listening. Corey and Gen have facilitated storytelling courses with in-tact teams in corporations,  resulting in significant business, interpersonal, and individual growth. Learn more and connect with Corey and Genevive here:

When Fran Hauser was just 6 years old, she would prepare the invoices for her father’s landscaping business. Her mother was a seamstress and had a tailoring shop where she spent a lot of time. The oldest of four children, she would provide translation for her parents, both small business owners, as neither of them spoke English. Fran observed the way her parents warmly engaged their customers using nonverbal communication and gives them credit for shaping her own development as a compassionate leader. Fran studied public accounting in college and climbed the corporate ladder in finance roles, eventually moving into leadership roles in the media industry. Today, she is a startup investor, long-time media executive, author, and champion of women and girls. Through her investing, writing, and speaking, Fran works to level the playing field for women. Her list of accomplishments is impressive but as you’ll hear, what’s most impressive is how she’s navigated her career while staying true to herself and inspiring others to do the same.  Fran has invested in over 30 female-founded companies, written two books to help women realize their full career potential, and delivered over 200 talks. Much of her current work is informed by the 20 years she spent in corporate as both a C-suite executive and a mentor to hundreds of women. Fran’s new book, an engaging workbook,  is quickly becoming the go-to resource for women seeking more joy and fulfillment in their careers. In fact, I found it so compelling that I included it in the resources section of my book. In this week’s learn more about Fran’s journey: Fran’s first book, has been translated into six languages and was named “Best Business Book of the Year, 2018” by Audible. She suggests that when you are feeling hesitant to engage in the networking process just think of one person you believe is really interesting and reach out to that individual to get started. Learn more and connect with Fran here:

Sonja Price did not know what she wanted to be when she grew up, yet she was always a curious person who enjoyed learning new things. When the time came to attend college she studied psychology because she was interested in people. Then Sonja transferred to a school in Tennessee and studied music management. A variety of interests and seven transfers followed in which she studied, architecture, photography, and video. Sonja began creating documentary films and started to think about pursuing it as a career. She was about three-quarters on her way toward earning her bachelor’s degree and was considering her next steps. As much as she loved filmmaking, Sonja had to face the reality that she had no solid plan for making money to support herself. Rather than just finish college without a plan, Sonja decided to take a ‘professional break’. She got a job working for a tech start-up and this opportunity opened her up to a whole new world. She stayed there for five years and learned more than she could ever imagine as she was able to fill a variety of roles there as the company’s needs changed rapidly. From there, she went to work for a larger company doing usability engineering and product testing. Within those years, Sonja completed her undergraduate degree and earned a master's degree in leadership and organizational development as she was fascinated by the dynamics of people within the workplace. Sonja has since worked in several industries, including management consulting. All these professional experiences culminated in her decision to become a career coach.  “I just like to see life as this very exciting adventure. And that's constantly this evolutionary process of what's the growth path in front of me right now? What are the skills that I can be working on? What's the next thing for me? What do I want to be working towards? We found through research that when you have something out on the horizon to look forward to, that actually can help create a greater sense of happiness and satisfaction in your life.” Today, Sonja is the Chief Career Strategist and Founder of Dynamo Careers. She is passionate about empowering people to become financially free, achieve every item on their bucket list, and make a positive impact on the topics that matter most to them.  In this week’s learn more about Sonja’s journey: Sonja has worked with a wide range of clients including Amazon, AT&T, Microsoft, Nordstrom, Starbucks, and a number of growing start-up organizations. She is a Certified Career and Executive Coach. Learn more and connect with Sonja here:

I begin each of my weekly podcast conversations by asking my guest about their early years. They often share a story about their childhood aspirations or talk about an influential person who made a special impact on their life. This week’s guest, Michael Wenderoth, offered a different twist on the theme. His recollection was of something that he didn't want to be. Michael is half Chinese. He grew up outside of Philadelphia, in the 70s-80s, not wanting to be half Chinese, and this sentiment lasted through high school. Ironically, he’s now fluent in Chinese, despite years of going to Chinese school and rejecting it. Then, during college, Michael met people who felt more like him. He said it was as if a switch was turned on inside him. He also had the opportunity to go to Taiwan and realized how the culture and values there were familiar to him. After college, he started his career in China as a journalist.  Within a year, Michael realized that his future in journalism was unlikely to grow the way he had expected, so he began exploring other options by speaking with a network of very interesting people, the ex-pat community in China. He met Roberta Lipson, who had a small medical equipment company that was doing business in China. She had the vision to set up a private hospital and decided to give Michael a chance to be on the leadership team that set up the first such hospital in China. He was open to something new and the mentoring that Roberta offered him. After four years, the hospital opened its doors. Michael was ready for his next move. He moved back to the US to attend business school at Stanford. Graduating with his MBA in 2000 was a humbling experience for Michael as this was in the midst of the dot com implosion. Pushing through self-doubt and keeping his motivations up, he persisted and landed a marketing role in the tech industry in California. Eventually, he was moved to senior roles in Europe and Asia. Later, he joined the company that developed the invisible braces, Invisalign, where he worked for many years and grew their Asian markets. Today, Michael is an executive coach who challenges leaders to re-examine their assumptions about power, politics, and authenticity, so they can break through and ascend. He is the author of . His focus is on  POWER, a word with negative connotations – a topic most people mistakenly shy away from. In this week’s learn more about Michael’s journey: Michael’s contrarian views have been featured in Harvard Business Review and Forbes. He trained as an executive coach at Columbia University. Learn more and connect with Michael here:

Megan Leatherman is the founder and director of A Wild New Work, an ecological career development agency based in the Pacific Northwest. As a career coach, mother, writer, podcast host, and amateur ecologist, Megan has helped thousands of professionals reconnect to their strengths and to what deeply matters to them. She has a Master’s degree in conflict resolution, and a background in Human Resources, and believes that our work can be a spiritual practice. Megan grew up in Oregon, the oldest of 5 siblings. She recalls being observant of the dynamics all around her in her large family and taking in the environment of the large property her family lived on in the country. She loved wandering in the woods and taking in the natural environment. Today she blends the theme of the seasons with her coaching model to guide clients through the process of change and growth. In this week’s learn more about Megan’s journey: Megan worked in HR and found herself bone-tired all the time working in an open office environment. She came to realize that she is a highly sensitive person which means she processes stimuli very deeply and it was taking a toll on her nervous system. She practices meditation and journaling consistently in order to remain grounded and focused in her work and relationships that lead to productive engagements. Learn more and connect with Megan here: ()

As far back as he can remember Travis Scott has always called himself a plant nerd. Growing up in a small town in Indiana, he loved spending time outside in nature and in the public library where he would pour through books about plants and science. Travis thought he would pursue a career in landscape architecture but in college, he decided to major in environmental science.  Travis’ career has been anything but linear. He has taken several diverse turns along the way into environmental consulting with the Department of Defense, sales and account management, corporate recruitment, and, for the past decade-plus, marketing - specifically marketing and sales operations. The kinds of companies Travis has worked at are equally diverse including startups (Jobster), Fortune 500 companies (Microsoft, Comcast, and Booking.com), and private companies (technology, steel, hospitality, supply chain and distribution).  Today, Travis is the Founder of RainierDigital, a consultancy helping companies solve interesting operational problems in marketing and sales.  In this week’s learn more about Travis’ journey: Travis is currently enrolled in Washington State University's Master Gardener Program.   He is the author of .  Learn more and connect with Travis here:

As Deepa Purushothaman grew up, she always felt different. Being one of a few students of color amongst the 500 in her school in White House Station, New Jersey, she felt challenged to belong. Each summer, Deepa would go to India to visit family, and she didn’t fit in there either, because she was ‘very American’. At home, race was not discussed. She had an inner drive and a competitive spirit, that propelled her through her different-ness. Deepa was the only girl on the boys soccer team. Later, she realized that breaking boundaries and navigating unfamiliar spaces were the paths on which she was to travel. Deepa went on to earn degrees from Wellesley College, Harvard’s Kennedy School, and the London School of Economics, consecutively. She followed her interests in politics and policy, spending her junior year in Washington, D.C. interning at the White House and the U.S. State Department. Upon graduation, Deepa felt private sector experience was important, so she joined the consulting firm, Deloitte, intending to stay for a few years. Two-plus decades later, Deepa was a senior partner at Deloitte, focusing on women’s leadership and strategies to help women of color navigate corporate structures. She was the first Indian-American woman and one of the youngest people to become a Partner in the firm's history. Deepa spent many years growing Deloitte's Social Impact Practice and served as the National Managing Principal of Inclusion and the Managing Partner of WIN, Deloitte's renowned Women's Initiative. In these roles, she advised Fortune 100 clients on inclusion strategy and focused on acquiring and retaining diverse talent in the US firm. Leaving Deloitte in 2020, Deepa co-founded , a company created for women of color by women of color. nFormation is a membership-based community for professional women of color, offering brave, safe, new space and helping place women of color in C-suite positions and on Boards. Deepa wrote a book, , published in March 2022.  In this week’s learn more about Deepa’s journey: Deepa practices what she preaches. She is a founding board member of Avasara, India's first leadership academy exclusively for young women. She has also served on the Board of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce and as a member of the UN WEP’s Leadership Group. Deepa is a Women and Public Policy Program Leader in Practice at the Harvard Kennedy School where she concentrates on research to combat systemic racism in corporate structures to help Women of Color rise. Learn more and connect with Deepa here: 

Shari Leid’s life started out “a little messy” as she refers to it. Born in Seoul, South Korea, she was abandoned as a baby and has never known her actual birth date, birthplace, or birth name. After being moved to approximately four different locations, Shari was adopted by a Japanese American couple from Seattle. They were older parents, both had been interned in camps during World War Two. Shari reflects on her identity struggles resulting from her own adoption by parents who had their own unresolved issues. Yet, she sees her glass as half full. Shari is grateful for the opportunities she has had, assuming that if her life had not started as it did, she would have grown up under very different circumstances. She studied psychology in college, expecting that she would go on to pursue a graduate degree. Finding that she was moved by her sense of justice, Shari decided to go to law school. She became a litigator because she wanted to have a voice for those who could not speak for themselves. Shari practiced law for 14 years as a criminal prosecutor and as a defense attorney on civil cases for an insurance company. She reached a point where she did not feel as if she was living her purpose. At the same time, Shari was starting her own family by adopting a baby from China who was soon after identified as having developmental delays. Two weeks after bringing the baby home, Shari discovered she was pregnant. She decided to take a break from the law and dedicate herself to being at home with her children. Shari said this was the hardest work she has ever done. During this time Shari got into fitness and became a trainer. Once her kids were in school she opened a fitness studio but decided to close it when she had to have double hip replacement surgeries in her 30s. In her 40s, she went through a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. She asked herself, “What am I doing here?” This led her to start a coaching practice and writing. Today, Shari operates An Imperfectly Perfect Life, LLC, a professional mindset coaching business serving clients who are in those tricky middle-age years, helping them create the life of their dreams. In this week’s learn more about Shari’s journey: Shari is the author of the Friendship Flow transformational book series, which includes and She is a certified Life Coach, a Core Dynamic Specialist, and a graduate of the Happiness Studies Academy. Learn more and connect with Shari here: 

The oldest of four sisters, Anwin Mbah always thought she should set the example as the responsible one. Growing up in a sheltered diplomatic household, her father worked for the Cameroonian embassy and her mother was a homemaker, who received a stipend to run the household wherever they lived across the globe. Anwin shared that her parents slotted her and each of her sisters into four careers. She was the designated medic, her next sister was the designated lawyer, the one after that was an engineer, and the last one was an architect. Anwin went to university in London, and began her studies in medicine. Since she was 18, Anwin could apply for a credit card, her first taste of freedom. Unfortunately, she took more than a few bites, applying for multiple cards, and maxing out every one of them. It all caught up with her when her car was repossessed and she had to borrow money from her younger sister to pay her electric bill.  She was supposed to be the big sis. How low could she go? Thus began her financial education. Anwin also admitted to her parents that she was not interested in becoming a doctor.  Today, she helps successful driven businesswomen who are struggling with the overwhelm of gaining control of their finances to attain financial independence.  Anwin is a certified Business Wealth Strategist, Gender/Racial Wealth Gap Advocate, and founder of . Having 10 years of experience with major banks in Europe to implement systems that make them a lot of money, she's uniquely placed to help women understand their finances and develop systems that help them build wealth, achieve financial security, and the freedom they are looking for. In this week’s learn more about Anwin’s journey: Anwin finished university with a degree in biomedical research and then pursued her career in finance. She attended boarding school in Italy and only visited Cameroon to see family so it never felt ‘like home’ there. Today, she lives in Florida. Learn more and connect with Anwin here: 

Janine MacLachlan is on a mission to get ideas heard. She’s a communications strategist with deep experience in brand positioning and business storytelling. Janine works with executives and aspiring leaders in the areas of executive visibility, thought leadership and essentially helps them get out of their own way. How many of us would like a little help with that? Growing up in Saginaw, Michigan with three siblings, she admits that they have different childhood memories than she does because while they were outside in the yard playing ball, she was in her room absorbed in her reading. Janine loved books. She also wrote lots of stories and sketched pictures to go along with them. In fact, when her parents downsized their home a few years ago, they gave her a box full of the stories she authored as a kid. In college, she majored in journalism, working as an editor for the university newspaper. Upon graduation, Janine went to work for a public relations agency where she was able to get a wide range of experience.  After several job and geographic moves, Janine became the Director of Marketing and Communications for the American Dental Association in Chicago. She remained there for nine years when she decided to start her own communications firm.  Today, Janine is a regular contributor to in the area of leadership strategy, where she has interviewed executives from AbbVie, Microsoft, and 3M, as well as authors, and academics. In this week’s learn more about Janine’s journey: Janine is an activator at SheEO, a multi-national organization that provides loans and mentoring to women-owned businesses that support the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. An advocate for women at work, she is president of the Chicago chapter of Ellevate, a global network of professional women. Janine authored a book published by the University of Illinois Press, called where she traveled to eight Midwestern states to visit farmers' markets, meet farmers, interview chefs, and food artisans. She did all the photography, too. Her background in public relations enabled her to put together the book in a way that she could tell stories about sustainable food production, as well as the people who sell beautifully grown food at farmers' markets. Learn more and connect with Janine here:

Gaurav Bhatnagar and Mark Minukas are the founders of Co-Creation Partners, a firm that advises, consults, and coaches senior leaders and their teams on how they can design improvement programs and harness the talent and creativity of their people to achieve better business results. They focus on how people show up, communicate, problem-solve, and lead to determine how large the gap is between strategy and execution.  Together Gaurav and Mark researched and authored a book, . They suggest we have two superpowers: the power of imagination, and the power of language, which we use to craft our future. In our imagination, we see fear as something bad that we need to protect against, and as a result, we show up in a certain way. Yet, if we imagine it as an opportunity for learning, shifting the language to ‘unfear,’ it gives us a whole new avenue, partnering with fear to explore new ideas, opening a way for making choices and decisions. Gaurav and Mark had each been helping organizations transform their business performance for over 15 years prior to working together. Previously, Mark served in the Navy, working as an engineer, and then joined McKinsey as a business analyst, progressively elevating his role for several years. He and Gaurav first met partnering on a project there. Gaurav was an external vendor who did mindset and organizational culture work, while Mark brought operations expertise to the project. Initially, Mark was very skeptical about Gaurav’s work, concerned that he might actually harm their project. Interestingly, Mark’s view of Gaurav’s contributions to their work quickly changed. Soon after they completed the work, Mark left McKinsey to start his own consulting firm, and periodically, he and Gaurav would collaborate on projects. A few years later, they officially joined together at Co-Creation Partners. In this week’s learn about Gaurav’s and Mark’s journeys: Gaurav and Mark each bring their strengths to combine into a cohesive team at Co-Creation Partners. They see that there are two parts to everything: there's a being part and a doing part. Mark is very good about creating discipline around systems and the corresponding implementation. Gaurav’s strength is helping people shift their mindset, and presence, into solid behaviors. Learn more and connect with Gaurav and Mark here:

Eric Vernsten was a kid when the OJ Simpson trial was on TV. He and his older brother would watch it daily and on Friday nights, along with his family, he consumed a lineup of crime programs, such as Dateline. Eric was a talker. He liked to tell jokes and argue with people too. It occurred to him that law school might be in his future, but as he moved through high school, and then college, he turned his attention towards pro sports management. During the summer between his junior and senior college years, he got an unpaid marketing internship with the Austin Toros (now the Austin Spurs) after sending his resume to every NBA minor league team. His parents gave him $500 to get settled in Austin and he jumped into it, as he put it. In the off-hours, he worked as a wine sampler in liquor and grocery stores and waited tables. The following summer, after graduation, he was invited back to Austin to do season ticket sales, a paid role. Within a few weeks, Eric realized he hated the work. He still had law school on his mind and pivoted in that direction, moving back to his college town to live with a friend and study for the LSAT. Like the experience of many 20-somethings, Eric reflects on these decisions as big life lessons. He didn’t get into law school the first time–another life lesson. Eric was not easily deterred. He applied again and earned dual JD/MBA degrees. After graduation, he landed in the wealth management field at a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs and while it sounds glamorous, it was not without its bumps and scrapes. He passed the bar exam but he was not getting any legal experience so he started to do volunteer legal work. Then a friend suggested he apply to the Army National Guard for a legal role. Eric got an offer and took a leave from his wealth management job to train with the Army. Once on board, he was one of a few lawyers who was tapped on January 6, 2021, to be on-site in Washington D.C. to deal with the aftermath of the insurrection.  Eric did not return to his corporate role. Today, he is a prosecuting Assistant State’s Attorney in Winnebago County, Illinois. His newest job is father to a nine-month-old baby boy. In this week’s learn more about Eric’s journey: Building off his earlier career in wealth management Eric recently opened his own business as a Financial Advisor. This is a side gig for him. He dabbles in stand-up comedy and improv in his “spare” time. Learn more and connect with Eric here:

Devon Harris is a founding member of the first Jamaican bobsled team, which competed in the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary, Canada. Their exploits inspired the Disney movie Cool Runnings. Devon competed again in 1992 and 1998 as captain of the Olympic teams.  His very early years were spent in rural Jamaica with his grandmother, an amazing storyteller. Her stories had a great impact on him, especially those about soldiers and their extraordinary abilities. He then moved to Kingston, Jamaica to live with his Dad and attend school. He describes it as a challenging, rough, violent, ghetto environment. Early on, Devon focused on school and sports as he knew that excelling in these areas was his ticket out of the ghetto. At 15, he discovered the Olympics ABC Wide World of Sports series on TV.  “When you think of Olympic athletes, I think of these superhuman beings. What I saw in those series were very average people but they had extraordinary dreams. And they had an equally extraordinary desire to make those dreams a reality. So that's when it dawned on me, wow, anybody could become an Olympian, within reason you need a talent. But outside of that, if you dare to dream that extraordinarily, then backed up that dream with work ethic, sacrifice, and commitment. That's when I decided that I wanted to become an Olympian.”  Of course, bobsledding was not on Devon’s radar as his dream Olympic sport. Listen to our conversation to learn how that came to be. While Cool Runnings tells the story of how the original bobsledding team was formed, Devon shared that the movie is highly fictional.  Today, , author, and philanthropist. He shares his lessons about persistence over obstacles to living one's best life. He wrote a children's book and a semi-autobiographical book, .  In this week’s learn more about Devon’s amazing journey: Devon is a graduate of the prestigious Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in England. He served as an officer in the Jamaica Defense Force retiring as a captain. He is a philanthropist creating the , which supports the education of kids in disadvantaged areas and his original schools in Jamaica. Learn more and connect with Devon here: