Born without a choice

How do we find direction when we don’t have all the answers about our future? In this episode of Born Without a Choice , Ara C. Trembly explores the relationship between faith, psychology, dreams, and the search for purpose. Ara is a licensed counselor, practicing psychotherapist, Christian counselor, and author with 19 years of experience in the mental health field. Drawing on his background in p...

What happens when the person asking the questions starts realizing that the answers are changing them too? In this special listener episode of Born Without a Choice, Victory steps away from the usual guest format and reflects on the personal journey behind the podcast—and the lessons learned through conversations with the remarkable people who have shared their stories. From resilience and purpose...

What happens when the person asking the questions starts realizing that the answers are changing them too? In this special listener episode of Born Without a Choice, Victory steps away from the usual guest format and reflects on the personal journey behind the podcast—and the lessons learned through conversations with the remarkable people who have shared their stories. From resilience and purpose...

What if wellness was never meant to be something we figure out completely on our own? In this episode of Born Without a Choice , Dr. Maria Van Der Maaten explores the connection between individual wellbeing and the communities around us. As a sociologist, community development practitioner, parent, and partner, Maria brings both professional insight and personal experience to the question of how w...

What happens when you become so good at being who everyone expects you to be that you lose touch with who you actually are? In this episode of Born Without a Choice , Julie Heaton shares her journey from more than 30 years in the corporate world to a deeper calling centered on transformation, self-compassion, healing, and authenticity. Her story is about stepping beyond achievement and external ex...

How do you keep living when someone you love is no longer there to live alongside you? Mark Stackpole joins Born Without a Choice for a deeply personal conversation about grief, gratitude, family, resilience, and learning to move forward after unimaginable loss. Mark shares the story of his daughter, Corinne, who died at 22 following her battle with leukemia. Rather than allowing her illness and d...

What happens when we stop seeing people through labels and start seeing the person underneath? Jody Zarn joins Born Without a Choice to share the unexpected friendship that changed her understanding of homelessness, mental health, trauma, empathy, and human connection. What began with something as simple as buying a man named Leroy a cup of coffee grew into a two-year journey of friendship, trust,...

What happens when you become incredibly good at functioning—but forget how to simply be? Katharine Chestnut joins Born Without a Choice to explore survival mode, self-trust, mindfulness, nervous-system awareness, and the journey of reconnecting with yourself beneath the expectations and pressures of everyday life. After nearly three decades as a successful corporate executive, Katharine experience...

What if the story you were given was never the whole story? Peter Gunn joins Born Without a Choice to explore service, transformation, mythology, creativity, and the stories we inherit before we ever have the chance to choose them. A 20-year U.S. Air Force veteran, bodybuilder, guitarist, poet, and creative storyteller, Peter has spent his life moving between discipline, service, art, and personal...

Margaretrose Cox joins Born Without a Choice for a conversation about identity, confidence, decision-making, communication, and finding direction when you don’t yet know what comes next. A certified DISC and emotional intelligence trainer, author, and upcoming TEDx speaker, Margaretrose helps teens, parents, coaches, and athletic directors better understand how people are wired and how that unders...

Norbert Heuser joins Born Without a Choice for a thought-provoking conversation about addiction, health habits, technology, curiosity, and the hidden influences that can shape our everyday lives. A German-born inventor, entrepreneur, public speaker, life and health coach, management consultant, philosopher, and author, Norbert’s journey into health began with a serious personal health crisis decad...

Kathryn Riordan joins Born Without a Choice for a conversation about neurodiversity, burnout, executive dysfunction, time blindness, nourishment, and learning to work with yourself instead of constantly fighting against yourself. A National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach and founder of For The Sensitive, Kathryn supports neurodivergent women, including those with ADHD, Autism, AuDHD, an...

Kirana Sidin joins Born Without a Choice for a thoughtful conversation about philosophy, purpose, intentional living, and the everyday choices that shape the lives we create. An author and strategic life coach based in Jakarta, Kirana explores one deceptively simple question: What does it really mean to build a good life? Her debut book, Cheers for a Good Life , became an Amazon #1 New Release in...

Leslie Draffin joins Born Without a Choice for a conversation about nervous-system regulation, trauma, self-trust, embodiment, anxiety, and finding your way back to yourself. A trauma-informed somatic practitioner and former television news anchor, Leslie spent 15 years building a successful career while privately navigating anxiety and chronic stress. Her own experience eventually led her toward...

Marit Welker joins Born Without a Choice for an honest conversation about family estrangement, motherhood, forgiveness, faith, healing, and the complicated path toward reconciliation. A coach, speaker, and podcaster, Marit works with Christian mothers experiencing estrangement from their adult children. Her perspective is deeply personal: she has experienced estrangement from both sides, first as...

Carrie Davidson joins Born Without a Choice for a powerful conversation about complex trauma, addiction, survival responses, healing, and the journey toward intentional living. A registered nurse, CPTSD survivor, trauma-informed coach, and author of Addicted to Trauma: A Memoir of CPTSD, Addiction, and Taking My Life Back , Carrie brings both professional knowledge and lived experience to the conv...

Nancy Jasin Ensley joins Born Without a Choice for a conversation about faith, family, service, memory, and the stories that shape who we become. An author, legal nurse consultant, hospice specialist, teacher, and lifelong storyteller, Nancy has spent her life working alongside people during some of their most vulnerable moments. Those experiences have shaped the way she sees resilience, compassio...

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, Vicz sits down with Savio P. Clemente, keynote and TEDx speaker, journalist, board-certified health and wellness coach, and bestselling author, to explore what happens when life changes in ways we never planned for. Savio shares insights shaped by more than 2,000 interviews with leaders, experts, and thought leaders, as well as his own experiences navigati...

Sedric Horn joins Born Without a Choice for a deeply personal conversation about childhood, family dysfunction, identity, resilience, and finding a way forward after difficult beginnings. As one of the authors of The Land of Four Seasons, a semi-autobiographical series inspired by his and his sister’s childhood experiences, Sedric explores what happens when young people grow up in circumstances th...

Parenting doesn’t come with a manual, and sometimes the everyday responsibilities of raising children can leave parents feeling like they’re simply trying to survive the day. In this episode of Born Without a Choice, Vicz sits down with Craig Parks, a camp director, children’s musician, family entertainer, parenting educator, and proud father of two. Craig shares what decades of working with child...

Tara Collins joins Born Without a Choice for a conversation about creativity, career choices, artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, family, and adapting to a rapidly changing world. With more than 25 years in the creative industry, Tara has worked in both agency and corporate environments, helped build two agencies, and now mentors creatives and founders. We explore the changing role of creat...

Anthony Silard joins Born Without a Choice for a powerful conversation about emotional pain, forgiveness, loneliness, relationships, and learning to lead ourselves from within. As a professor of leadership and organizational psychology, researcher, coach, and author of Love and Suffering , Anthony explores how resentment, judgment, unresolved emotions, and loneliness can affect the way we connect...

What if your past doesn’t have to define who you become? In this episode of Born Without a Choice , I’m joined by Leo Dulay, a transformational coach, hypnotherapist, NLP practitioner, and author of You Are Not Your Past . Leo shares how being laid off after 22 years at AT&T forced him to question an identity he had built around his career. We explore emotional patterns, the subconscious mind, ide...

What happens when parents, adult children, grandchildren, and multiple generations decide to share one home? In this episode of Born Without a Choice , I’m joined by Carmen and Rocky Drew, who bring firsthand experience to the realities of multigenerational living. For three years, they co-owned a home with their son, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren, gaining valuable insight into what it...

What if there’s nothing wrong with you—and you’re simply trying to grow in the wrong conditions? In this episode of Born Without a Choice , I’m joined by Mary Rothwell, a licensed therapist, podcast host, speaker, author, and Essential Nature mentor with more than 35 years of experience in the mental health field. Mary combines her experience in mental health with her deep knowledge of nature as a...