Celebrate Your Story

At 23, Amy Morin lost her mother unexpectedly. Three years later, her 26-year-old husband died of a heart attack. Even as a trained therapist, Amy found herself questioning everything she thought she knew about grief and finding the strength to carry on. In this episode of Celebrate Your Story, I sit down with Amy, a bestselling author and TEDx speaker, to explore how those experiences transformed...

Jackie Quan spent 25 years in oncology drug development, working alongside scientists, physicians, and clinical teams on some of the hardest problems in medicine. Over those years, she noticed a pattern: The highest-performing teams were often the ones where people knew how to help one another. They handled conflict constructively and built environments where everyone could do their best work. Pro...

Jennifer Wallace has spent years studying that question and what she discovered may change the way we think about parenting, success, relationships and even our own lives. In this conversation, Jennifer explains why mattering goes deeper than belonging. It's about feeling valued for who you are while also having the opportunity to add value to the people and communities around you. We talk about t...

What happens when the career you thought would last forever suddenly disappears? Marysol Castro knows. She lost jobs, raised two boys as the sole provider, and found herself wondering what came next. In this episode of Celebrate Your Story , Marysol and I talk about the setbacks that forced her to reinvent herself and the relationships that helped her through them. We also discuss 0the importance...

Alex Rodriguez knows what it means to reach the top. Over 22 years in Major League Baseball, he became a World Series champion and one of the most recognizable athletes of his generation. But his story didn't end when his baseball career did. In this week's Celebrate Your Story , Alex talks about the two B's that have shaped his life — baseball and business — and how the lessons he learned as an a...

For years, Dr. James Ellis treated patients who were doing everything they were supposed to do, yet some still weren't getting better. The clinical psychologist noticed something important: The people who struggled most often lacked the strong social connections that others had. That realization changed the way he practiced.   In this episode of Celebrate Your Story , James and I explore why relat...

Medical breakthroughs rarely happen overnight. They begin with an idea, grow through years of research, and eventually reach the patients whose lives they may change. Andrea Lopez has spent her career helping make that journey possible. In this week's Celebrate Your Story , Andrea shares how a childhood fascination with medicine led her from Ecuador to New York, where a professor's encouragement o...

To mark National Friendship Month, this week's episode of Celebrate Your Story is dedicated to the incredible reflections shared by our Celebrations Pulse community. Spanning decades, these stories show how the bonds we build are often our deepest sources of strength and joy. The letters include stories about childhood friends who feel like family, the healing power of showing up when life gets to...

Jason Eichenholz built a remarkable career as a technology entrepreneur, earning more than 85 patents and leading groundbreaking innovations. But his most important work began at home. Inspired by his son Jonathan, Jason is creating Jonathan's Landing — an inclusive community designed to help adults with autism and other neurodiverse individuals build meaningful careers, live with greater independ...

In this special Father's Day episode, Jim McCann shares stories from listeners and Celebrations Pulse readers about the dads who shaped their lives through resilience, kindness, sacrifice, and unwavering dedication.  From single fathers overcoming extraordinary challenges to parents pursuing lifelong dreams while putting family first, each story reveals a powerful truth: being a an Amazing Dad isn...

What happens when the one thing that defines your identity suddenly disappears? In this week's episode of Celebrate Your Story , I speak with Jake Moscato, whose life changed in an instant when a football injury ended the identity he had spent more than two decades building. For years, Jake knew exactly who he was: a Division I athlete. When that chapter closed, he found himself facing something m...

What happens after you build something people love and realize your biggest work is still ahead of you? Eliza Blank spent over a decade turning The Sill into a category-defining brand, bootstrapping for five years before taking outside capital, and learning everything from brand strategy to financial modeling on the fly. Then, at the height of her success, she pivoted to FarmLink, a nonprofit resc...

What makes an Amazing Mom? In this moving episode of Celebrate Your Story, I return to that question through the words of the Celebrations Pulse community. I read stories about single mothers, military families, and women who carried their families through illness, loss, uncertainty, and everyday hardship with strength, faith, and love. I also share the story that helped inspire our Amazing Moms c...

In this week's Celebrate Your Story , I sit down with Dr. Dale Atkins, renowned psychologist, relationship expert, and author of The Turquoise Butterfly, for a conversation about grandparents, grandchildren, grief, and the rituals that help shape a family. Dr. Dale shares how the book was inspired by her late mother, a loving presence who helped her see that relationships do not simply end when so...

What if one of the most pressing challenges in modern life isn't money, power, or even technology, but our growing disconnection from one another? In this week's Celebrate Your Story , I speak with Allison Gilbert about loneliness, friendship, community, and the simple but powerful habits that help us stay connected in a world that too often pulls us apart. Drawing on her work with the late Dr. Ru...

In this week's Celebrate Your Story , I sat down with Haresh Tharani, who came to the United States in the early 1980s and built a career that began in apparel manufacturing and grew into global business and investing. His journey includes time spent working across countries and through periods of instability, along with years of building and leading businesses. Today, he focuses on a life grounde...

In this week's Celebrate Your Story , I speak with Josh Schneps, CEO and co-publisher of Schneps Media, one of the largest networks of community media brands in the New York region. The company began in 1985 when his mother, Vicki Schneps, started a neighborhood newspaper at their Queens dining room table. Today it includes nearly 100 publications and sites serving communities across New York and...

Cesar Millan has spent decades working with dogs. What he's really learned is how humans behave. In this episode of Celebrate Your Story, Cesar shares why dogs reflect our emotional state, why leadership begins with calm confidence, and why loyalty is stronger than love. We discuss the hidden hierarchy inside every pack, the mistake families make when they lead with affection, and how discipline a...

What happens when heartbreak becomes clarity, and resilience becomes a calling? In this episode of Celebrate Your Story , Emily Goodson shares the journey that led her from a childhood brain injury to becoming an author and advocate for disability inclusion. She reflects on what it meant to grow up in a body that felt different, the years she spent wrestling with self-doubt, and the moment she cho...

This special Valentine's episode explores the deeper meaning of love, connection, and appreciation through the stories shared by the Celebrations Pulse community .   Jim McCann reflects on how small, thoughtful gestures can make a difference, especially during moments of grief or uncertainty .     You'll also hear Jim's personal reflections on relationships and the widening scope of Valentine's ,...

In this episode of Celebrate Your Story , I sit down with Ed Mitzen, founder and CEO of FingerPaint Group and Business for Good Foundation for a conversation about what it takes to build a company that lasts. Ed walked away from a stable career at 30, with young children at home and no guarantees ahead. He started his business in a basement, pushed through years of uncertainty, burnout, and person...

What if the real secret to happiness isn't success, money, or achievement—but love, relationships, and how we show up for one another? In this episode of Celebrate Your Story , I sit down with Professor Arthur Brooks, a Harvard professor and behavioral scientist who has dedicated his life to studying what makes people happy. Arthur is a best-selling author and one of the most thoughtful voices on...

In this special Celebrate Your Story , I revisit my early years working at St. John's Residence for Boys, a home for boys who couldn't safely live with their families. It was a place where structure created stability and relationships created possibility. At the time, I was a young counselor, learning the job alongside the boys themselves. My days were shaped by schedules, shared meals, hard conve...

As the holiday season unfolds, we're reminded that the most meaningful traditions are often the simplest ones. In this Holiday Edition, I share heartfelt stories from our community about ornaments passed down through generations, small rituals that spark laughter, and traditions born from love, creativity, and sometimes even necessity. These moments, whether painted by little hands, forgotten cran...

December birthdays come with their own unique challenges — and their own unexpected joys. It's a month when celebrations can feel overshadowed by holiday plans, winter weather, and the rush of the season. In this special episode of Celebrate Your Story , Jim reflects on the notes and memories Celebrations Pulse readers have shared about what it's really like to have a birthday in December.  Commun...