Introducing Me

In closing out the podcast, Sarah hands over the microphone to her husband, Coleman, to guide her in conversation about ending the podcast. Sarah talks about the last four years of podcasting and what she hopes for in 2025.   Connect with Sarah: https://www.instagram.com/slportal7/   Donate to the podcast: https://ko-fi.com/introducingmepodcast   Contact Sarah, email: introducingmepodcast@gmail.co...

Julia Davis is back on the podcast to share updates about her life which now includes fostering kittens. Julia happened to move into a house with a cat living in a chicken coop and now in a new home, she has five cats in addition to a group of foster kittens. Julia’s community on TikTok has always been supportive of Julia giving back to her community and supporting the kittens’ journeys.    Connec...

A professional genealogist, Mica L. Anders stumbled into this career while earning her MFA in Visual Arts. She helps her clients dig deeper into their family histories and also creates exhibits for African American history. Working professionally for the last decade, Mica enjoys solving family mysteries and staying creative.    Connect with Mica: https://www.instagram.com/andersgenealogicalservice...

Ann Russo founded a private practice, turned into a larger corporation, AMR Therapy, to provide mental health services for marginalized communities. She has researched and studied religious trauma and how that intersects with mental health. More recently, she has created trainings for other mental health professionals surrounding trauma with Christianity and has gotten a book deal to focus on reli...

Linda Henderson’s daughter, Andrea, was only 27 when she died suddenly in a car crash. For three years Linda waited for two trials to end, one for the driver who caused the accident, and one to remain connected with her grandson. During this time Linda was existing outside of her body, but she eventually found a larger support network and authored her memoir. Now Linda wants to help support other...

Lisa Cox loved her job as a copywriter in advertising when nearly twenty years ago, as a fit, healthy, non-smoking 24-year old, she had a stroke. After a year in the hospital, Lisa came out with multiple visible and invisible disabilities. She has come to learn what her “new normal” is, including life in a wheelchair and living with brain injury and neurodiversity. Lisa now works as an inclusive a...

Arden Coutts is a trans non-binary self-published indie author with a few releases under their belt with more to come. When growing up, they loved to read and hoped to one day publish a book. After a career in archeology and going to therapy, Arden has turned to writing and publishing in hopes to make community for those who find their identity later in life.   Connect with Arden: www.ardencoutts....

Born a lesbian and raised Mormon, Kyleigh Weathers was taught to pray the gay away. Being so closeted made accepting her sexuality difficult. Leaving the Mormon religion meant squaring up with the self abandonment she had done for so many years. She began healing her attachment wounds, started to date herself and discovered her worth. Now in a good co-parenting relationship with her son’s father a...

While an industrial engineering student at Cornell University in 1970, Ken Kunken sustained an injury that left him a quadriplegic, nearly fully paralyzed. After spending more than nine months in care, just eleven days after his release, Ken was back at school continuing his studies. He continued on with his studies, earning degrees in counseling and eventually working to be an assistant district...

Growing up in Peru, Catherine Gairard didn’t have the financial means to pursue her musical passions, but at fifteen she started playing the guitar and from there and has since developed a passion for music composition. With a goal of becoming a cinematic composer, Catherine has a wide array of talents. Half-French and half-Peruvian, Catherine enjoys traveling and spending her time exploring other...

Cherish Amber identifies as queer, gay, and a lesbian and prioritizes safe spaces for queer folks. She loves her job as a sex and relationship coach and focuses on clarity, communication, consent, and connection. Based in the UK, Cherish shares her experiences being part of the queer community and the differences around the world and being out for less time than her partner.   Connect with Cherish...

Not sure how it’s been four years of podcasting, but here we are! In this episode, Sarah gives some life updates and shares what she has gotten up to in the last year as she gets ready to take on married life and year five of podcasting.   Connect with Sarah: https://www.instagram.com/slportal7/ https://www.tiktok.com/@introducingsarah     Donate to the podcast: https://ko-fi.com/introducingmepodc...

In this episode, I’ve included highlights from four episodes from the third year of Introducing Me. These episodes were recorded between October 2022 and March 2023 and thoughts or opinions may have changed since the time of recording.  Check out their entire episodes in the archives.   Markus: Raising a Gender Neutral Child in a Three Parent Family; https://www.mharwoodjones.com Melanie: Former D...

In this episode, I’ve included highlights from five episodes from the second year of Introducing Me. These episodes were recorded between October 2021 and July 2022 and thoughts or opinions may have changed since the time of recording.  Check out their entire episodes in the archives.   Michael: An Intellectual Disability and a Dream; https://a.co/d/htOHKiM   Vera: Immersed in the Deaf Community;...

In this episode, I’ve included highlights from five episodes from the first year of Introducing Me. These episodes were recorded between February and July 2021 and thoughts or opinions may have changed since the time of recording.  Check out their entire episodes in the archives.   Kelly: Former and Future Political Candidate;  https://www.tiktok.com/@kellykrout Kevin: Strength & Conditioning,...

Mandee Bowsmith spent twenty four years working in human resources for municipal and state governments. Having a wonderful mentor that she could see herself in, Mandee continued to show up as her authentic self in the workspace - a gay woman who is medicated for ADHD. More recently, Mandee started her own business to consult and coach others in professional development.   Connect with Mandee: http...

At a young age, Aiden Gabor entered the family business being associated with a well-known crime family. Once in college, he was approached by two members of the Department of Justice, threatening to send his mother to jail. Aiden flunked out of college and joined the police force to report back to the DOJ members at their request. Aiden ended up in quite a dark place and has since found peace in...

Neil Laird travelled the globe as a historical documentary producer and now brings ancient history into his adventure books. As a queer filmmaker and novelist, he understands the importance of representation that he is able to showcase in his novels, Prime Time Travelers, that he wasn’t able to make on the television screen. Outside of publishing, Neil loves to travel especially wherever he may be...

When JD Mass’s parents had children, they wanted to raise their kids surrounded by Black culture and intentionally be anti-racist. JD grew up with predominantly Black friends and wanted to understand the roots of racism that he saw. From working with Nelly, to finding an accepting community in Israel, JD shares about many life experiences in this episode including more on his book “Race for What?”...

Jason Tuttle is the father of two special needs children with mental and physical disabilities who lost his fifteen-year-old son Zachary. Zachary had Eagle-Barrett syndrome and when he was two, Jason left work as an elementary physical education teacher to become a stay at home parent. After Zachary passed away, Jason’s counselor recommended journaling which eventually led Jason to creating his Le...

Luaskya Nonon is a first generation Afro-Latina American whose parents empowered her to navigate different spaces while staying true to herself. Growing up in Brooklyn, Luaskya was used to diverse communities until she went to college and then law school at predominately white institutions. A corporate lawyer for twenty years, she more recently founded her consultancy Equity Principle Consulting w...

A disabled Army Veteran, Zorina's retirement hasn’t been quite what she expected. Retiring from Veterans Affairs in 2020 didn’t mean that Zorina stopped helping her fellow veterans and a few months prior, Zorina had become a caregiver for her brother who had a brain stroke. In December 2021 she was inspired to create a children’s game, ZomadicShift, to help combat digital balance. Since then, she’...

Growing up, Karen Anne Coccioli experienced a lot of trauma and turned to writing when she developed a stutter. Her writing truly saved her and now in her seventies, she has published her memoir, Paradise, to help others who have experienced such hardships. Karen has always known she was gay and ultimately, began to live authentically. She also publishes gay erotica under her pen name, Annie Moon....

Michael Fosberg grew up in Chicago with his Armenian mother, step-father, and half-siblings, but didn’t wonder about his biological father until he was in his 30s. Armed with a name and potential location, Michael quickly found his father and learned about his previously unknown Black heritage and family. He published his memoir Incognito: An American Odyssey of Race and Self Discovery which he al...

Jack Schaefer was only five or six-years old when he took his first judo class. Since then, he has learned more about the culture and language of Asian countries. First training and teaching martial arts, he was guided to learn medicine and went on to study Chinese medicine in both the US and China. More recently, Jack's lifelong interest in Daoism led to the co-creation of Parting Clouds to furth...