The Honest Mic

Steve Gamlin blew up his life at 35. Radio career. First marriage. Financial stability. All of it. He found himself standing in a thunderstorm, hitting a $3 bucket of golf balls, daring the lightning to hit him. It didn't. And two questions from a coach started him on a path to rebuilding — better than before. Since then, he's found the love of his life, published four books, spent seven y...

Bradley Aman spent decades building companies from the ground up. He became a millionaire by 40 and eventually sold his primary business after growing it into a national leader in its industry. That's a real exit built on real years of grinding. Now he's focused on a new challenge: helping everyday Americans succeed in an AI-driven world. His latest book, American Dream: Success in an AI W...

Tony Tenaglier says most people are winning at work but losing themselves. They're climbing ladders that don't lead anywhere meaningful, grinding through burnout they've been told is just part of the deal. Tony is an aerospace Quality Manager, a PhD researcher in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, a 500-hour Registered Yoga Teacher, author, and host of two podcasts — Work Sucks, But...

Ed Franklin has spent more than 33 years in the sports information industry. He holds an MBA in Finance. He's established one of the most successful and consistent records in the business — a 96.4% client retention and renewal rate and more than 30 consecutive years of long-term profits. His approach is rooted in sound financial principles, statistical analysis, disciplined bankroll management...

Victoria Noethling spent 40 years in corporate America, including 17 as a project manager on large-scale programs at a Fortune 500 company. Then she retired in 2018. And instead of slowing down, she launched a podcast, co-authored six books, built coaching programs, and devoted the last decade to a youth leadership program helping kids 8 to 17 find their voice. That's not retirement. That'...

David Ebel was dying at birth. He was exposed to a medical experiment that kept him alive — but the side effects were so severe that it became illegal to do to humans just months after it was done to him. Birth defects. Sterility. 100% mortality by age 20. He was in chronic pain from his earliest years. By age 20, he was trying to end his life. Then he went to church and found hope. David was the...

Noah May has battled mental health struggles since he was 13. Depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, feeling like an outcast, never feeling good enough. He kept going. He's now the host of three podcasts, including Lethal Venom, where he and his guests speak nothing but the truth, as well as Southern Reads and Music Talks. He's an Auburn University graduate with a degree in journalism. Bu...

Robbie Mould says most coaches are doing all the right things — posting on LinkedIn, speaking at events, appearing on podcasts, writing books, networking — and still not getting the clients they expect. The problem isn't that they need to work harder or become better at selling. There's simply a gap between someone becoming interested in them and knowing what to do next. Robbie is the Mana...

Katharine Giovanni says you don't want to forgive them. You want them out of your head. That reframe alone changes the conversation. And coming from someone who has lived through childhood trauma, stage 3 breast cancer, and over three decades of sobriety, it's not a clever saying. It's something she actually had to figure out. Katharine is a three-time award-winning bestselling author, internation...

Julian Chapman retired as a Brigadier-General after more than 30 years in the Canadian Armed Forces. That means he spent his career actually managing managers at the highest level of accountability there is — life and death stakes included — before ever setting foot at Forrest and Company. That is not a theoretical framework. That is leadership tested under conditions most executives will never fa...

Dennis McCurdy graduated eighth from the bottom of his high school class. He drove a canteen truck, tended bar at night, and failed in real estate at 24. And by 36, he had a net worth of over a million dollars. That's not a motivational arc. It's a specific sequence of decisions made by someone who refused to let the early scoreboard be the final one. Dennis is a financial advisor, entrepreneur, a...

Ross Thorpe says 71% of images uploaded to social media every day are now made by AI. Some platforms have over 45% of their users as bots. You are not interacting with people anymore. The 'social' has gone from social media. Ross is the CEO of Rooverse — a social media platform that blocks users from uploading any AI-generated content. Just people interacting with people. It's also the only social...

Sara Im grew up in Cambodia. In 1975, the Khmer Rouge took over. For four years, she was held captive in a harsh labor camp — starved, exhausted, severely sick. During that time, two million people died. A quarter of the Cambodian population. She survived. She escaped. She built a life on the other side of it. Today, Sara is a speaker and author of the award-winning book How I Survived the Killing...

Anouk Brumfield spent more than 30 years climbing the corporate ladder at IBM, eventually becoming an Executive Vice President and Senior Partner. She led global teams, billion-dollar portfolios, and game-changing strategies. And then she stepped away. Not because she failed. Because she had to figure out who she was when the title no longer defined her. Raised by her grandmother, driven by a desi...

Susan Gooch is a true Southern storyteller. She writes about strong women, friendship, and second chances. Her novels are set in her beloved hometown of Searcy, Arkansas. She's been married to her high school sweetheart for nearly forty years. She has three grown children and four granddaughters. And she still reads more than 150 books a year. Susan spent years as an educator sharing her love...

Kenneth Webb served 33 years in the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, with combat deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo. He retired, completed a second career at American Airlines, and then walked away from a six-month contractor job to finally live, not just exist. He moved to Peru to write his first novel. After decades of making life-and-death calls under pressure, he...

Jobert E. Abueva grew up between worlds. Born in the Philippines, raised across Nepal, Thailand, and Japan. He spent his career learning that the hardest threshold to cross is the one inside yourself. He was a global marketing executive at ETS. His career spanned Fortune 500 leadership and international brand building. He ran one of the world's most recognizable beauty brands, Clairol Herbal E...

Pesa Shayo says couples don't have to keep turning against each other when outside pressure rises. They can learn to face it as one team. He's the co-founder of Live Your Best Marriage, an author, and someone who helps cross-cultural Christian couples build a United Front through in-law pressure, loyalty conflicts, and culture clashes. His work is shaped by his own cross-cultural marriage...

Teri M Brown chose to ride a tandem bicycle 3,102 miles across the United States in 2020, the same year the world stopped, while healing from a 14-year emotionally abusive marriage and finally giving herself permission to write fiction. That's not just an adventure story. It's a story about someone who decided, at a pivotal moment, to find out what she was actually made of. Today, Teri is an award...

Dean Taylor has carried a sense of purpose from a young age. He wanted to make a difference, encourage others, and help people believe more is possible. But like so many people, life had a way of quieting those dreams. Responsibilities grew. Setbacks came. Doubt crept in. And for a season, the dreams he carried as a young boy were buried beneath the pressure of real life. Then he arrived at a powe...

Lauren Fay says alcohol wasn't the problem. It was revealing the problem. That reframe alone opens a conversation most high-performing people have never been invited into, because they don't see themselves in the traditional addiction narrative. But they know something is quietly costing them. Lauren is an award-winning author, keynote speaker, life strategist, former collegiate athlete, and Reiki...

Ralph Kellogg built a successful leadership career while privately carrying the weight of perfectionism and isolation. He survived a suicide attempt. And then he rebuilt his life through radical honesty, personal reflection, and years of journaling that became the foundation for his book, Leading While Human: Notes I Wish Someone Had Given Me. Today, Ralph is an HR executive, TEDx speaker, author,...

Steve Anderson spent decades in the insurance industry building his career around risk — how to assess it, manage it, and protect against it. Then he read Jeff Bezos' 21 letters to Amazon shareholders and saw something nobody else had noticed. Through a risk lens, Bezos wasn't just a visionary. He was the master of intentional, calculated, strategic risk-taking. That insight became The Bezos Lette...

Larry Robertson has helped client organizations win over USD 9 billion in new business. That's not a vague leadership claim. That's a number someone can actually check. Over 30 years and 30 countries, he's worked with chairmen, presidents, CEOs, and executives across a broad range of organizations, as well as politicians, academics, and private families. He grew up in the Scottish Highlands, studi...

Bruno Pesec says most innovation budgets are being incinerated. Companies talk about innovation constantly. Very few actually profit from it. He's one of the rare advisors who has helped senior leaders unlock €1 billion in new revenue and open doors to €28 billion in new market opportunities. Not by preaching theory. By rolling up his sleeves inside organisations across defence, manufacturing, fin...