Choose Courage Inc.

Welcome to Choose Courage Inc.  where we skip the boring intros and jump straight into reimagining business and workplace experiences with we-ain't-afraid-to-go-there conversations. This week, we're going back to where it all started. We're revisiting our very first episode, featuring Vivianne Castillo, Founder and CEO of HmntyCntrd and moonpaws, in conversation with Ash Coleman Hynie, Founder and...

If you've been quietly wondering who owns the work you made with AI's help… this episode is for you. Vivianne sits down with Patrice Perkins, founder of Creative Genius Law and her business attorney of six years, who has spent 16 years protecting the contracts and IP of creatives and thought leaders. It's the Wild Wild West, and the real question is what you hand to a machine, and what stays yours...

If you've ever built something that looked right on paper and still wasn't landing, this episode is for you. Vivianne sits down with Elizabeth Anne Burke, founder of Collective Expansion, who helps purpose driven entrepreneurs turn their existing work into courses, curriculum, and content that actually serves people. Together they untangle the real difference between a marketing problem, an offer...

Vivianne keeps a short list of phrases she returns to, not affirmations, more like operating instructions for the moments she's scared, deciding something big, or losing track of her why. In this episode, she walks through five of them and the real work underneath each one: noticing that the language we repeat to ourselves quietly becomes the pace we work at. YOU WILL LEARN Why the phrases we abso...

If you've been telling yourself you have to keep enduring, this episode is your permission slip to stop. Vivianne gets honest about being tired, heading into Rest and Resist Week, and what it's meant to close one business to build a life she actually wants instead of one she's just gritting her teeth through. It's a reflection on the difference between growing old and growing, and what it costs to...

If you've ever felt that itch to build something of your own but couldn't quite picture the first step, this one's for you. Vivianne sits down with Phillip Hunter, a longtime voice and conversational AI product leader who left corporate life behind to build something new. Together they talk about what it actually looks like to stay steady while you're figuring things out, one small step at a time....

If you've ever sat in the silence between sending a proposal and hearing back, wondering if you did something wrong, this episode is for you. Vivianne sits down with Ray Knickmeyer, a former corporate leader with 20 years at places like Verizon and Capital One, now running their own consulting business, to unpack what three months of B2B procurement actually felt like from the inside and how to ho...

If you've ever wondered whether the second pivot is supposed to feel easier than the first, this episode will complicate that. Vivianne sits down with Michael Davis, founder of Tiny Cup Coffee and author of Coffee Rest Rituals, and a former participant in Choose Courage's From Corporate to Entrepreneurship cohort. This time, the shift isn't about escaping something broken. It's about protecting a...

If you've been sitting in that in-between space, numbers pulled up on a spreadsheet, trying to talk yourself into or out of the leap, this episode is for you. Vivianne sits down with Nathaniel Deal, who left a director-level corporate role to bet on himself, to talk through what actually happened in his first 90 days of full-time entrepreneurship. Not the highlight reel. The real math, the real fe...

If you've been stuck on "what would I even do?" every time you think about leaving corporate, this episode is for you. Vivianne opens season four by naming the advice everyone gives before you leave, pick your niche first, and why that sequence keeps good people frozen instead of moving. She traces her own path across three careers, counseling, UX research, and Choose Courage Inc., to show that cl...

This is the season three finale of Choose Courage Inc., and it's a live panel recording from The Walkout. Vivianne sits down with Rachael Dietkus, Behzod Sirjani, and Vincent Brathwaite to move through the questions people were too afraid to ask out loud: about fear and risk, about readiness, about money, about identity, and about the weight of where we come from. This is a conversation that ends...

In this replay from The Walkout, Vivianne sits with the question underneath so much corporate exhaustion: is the problem you, or the system you're trying to survive? She names the real tension at the center of staying stuck, the difference between what you genuinely can't change and what you've simply stopped believing you can. This is a reframe of what security, hope, and walking out actually mea...

If you’ve left corporate but still feel stuck thinking like an employee, this replay is for you. Vivianne breaks down the hidden habits corporate trains into us and how those same patterns quietly sabotage entrepreneurship, creativity, pricing, boundaries, and growth. Because leaving your job is one thing. Detoxing from the mindset is another. In This Episode: The difference between leaving corpor...

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s actually like to hire support while building a business, this episode is for you. Vivianne sits down with her longtime assistant, Annie, for an honest conversation about delegation, systems, boundaries, and the mistakes founders make when they hire too early. This is a real behind-the-scenes look at what healthy support inside a business can actually look like. In...

If you’ve been using AI but feel like everything it produces sounds generic, flat, or not quite you , this episode is for you. Vivianne sits down with AI expert Ovetta Sampson to break down why AI outputs feel “off,” what it’s actually costing your creativity, and how to take back control so your work reflects your voice and values. Ovetta Sampson is a 15-year veteran of designing intelligent expe...

If you think leaving corporate is the hard part … this episode will challenge that. Vivianne sits down with Rachael Dietkus LCSW to unpack what actually happens after you leave: the patterns, grief, and identity shifts no one prepares you for. This is a conversation about what it really takes to heal, rebuild, and trust yourself again. In this episode: The invisible patterns you carry out of corpo...

If you’ve been telling yourself you just need a little more time, a little more savings, or one more “right moment” before you leave … this episode is for you. Vivianne breaks down the real cost of staying in misaligned work and why the riskiest decision might not be leaving, but waiting. This is a reality check on what your spreadsheet isn’t tracking. In This Episode: The truth behind the “two tr...

If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed, distracted, or unsure what to focus on next, this episode is for you. Vivianne shares what happened when she removed the noise, got quiet, and finally created space to hear herself again. What came up wasn’t just clarity, it was grief, honesty, and a different way of building. This is a reset. In This Episode: •What happened when Vivianne deleted social media an...

If you’re building something (or even thinking about starting) this episode is for you. Vivianne sits down with her attorney and longtime business partner, Patrice Perkins, to break down the legal side of entrepreneurship in a way that actually feels practical, not overwhelming. From protecting your brand to navigating AI and ownership, this conversation will help you take your work more seriously...

If you’ve ever sat at your desk doing work that feels circular, performative, or pointless, this episode is for you. Inspired by the book Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber , Vivianne explores why so many people feel disconnected from their work and why that feeling might not be a personal failure at all. Sometimes the problem isn’t your motivation. Sometimes the problem is the system. In This Episode...

If you’ve been telling yourself “someday” about the life you actually want, this episode is for you. Vivianne challenges one of the most dangerous stories we tell ourselves: that there will be more time later. Because for many people, someday becomes a coping mechanism that keeps them tolerating work and routines that no longer fit. This episode is a wake-up call to stop postponing your life. In T...

Welcome to Choose Courage Inc. — where we skip the boring intros and jump straight into reimagining business and workplace experiences with we-ain’t-afraid-to-go-there conversations. And for this episode we’re going to skip the sugarcoating and get real about the messy, uncertain, and liberating journey of rethinking work and creativity. Vivianne Castillo sits down with Lauren Celenza, software de...

Welcome to Choose Courage Inc. where we skip the boring intros and jump straight into reimagining business and workplace experiences with we-ain’t-afraid-to-go-there conversations. In this episode, Vivianne Castillo, Founder and CEO of HmntyCntrd and moonpaws, and Ash Coleman Hynie, Founder and CEO of CountrPT, talk about the uncomfortable, the unspoken, and the unapologetic realities of money, po...

If you’ve been telling yourself you’re “too deep in” to change, this episode is for you. Vivianne and Vincent unpack the fear hidden inside responsibility, the psychology of sunk costs, and why staying put is often just practiced survival, not alignment. This is a conversation about identity, agency, and what becomes possible when you stop confusing familiarity with safety. In This Episode, We Exp...

If you’ve been feeling stuck in a career that looks stable on paper but quietly feels misaligned, this episode is for you. Vivianne and her guest Vincent unpack the subtle narratives that keep designers frozen, stories that sound responsible, wise, even grateful… but are often just fear in disguise. In this honest conversation, Vivianne and Vincent explore the hidden beliefs that keep so many desi...