Empowered Conversations

She's an Obie Award-winning theatre director and a transformation practitioner. She's worked in rehearsal halls with actors and in sessions with clients—and she'll tell you the work has never changed, because the source we're accessing is always the same. Leah C. Gardiner is the founder of QSLHealing and the creator of The Quantum Soul Level Healing Integration Framework™. As an ad...

He gave up his career as a partner in a Beverly Hills commercial law firm to join USAID. He spent 27 years overseas—living through civil chaos, military coups, and moments of genuine impact. And he wrote a book about what he saw. Clifford Brown is a former USAID Mission Director and the author of Inside USAID: An Odyssey of Foreign Assistance. His book is an insider's view of the absurd bureau...

She's a retired forensic psychologist with over 40 years of experience helping others heal from trauma. And she's written a memoir about her own experience: We Were a Nice Normal Family—a powerful story of surviving childhood sexual abuse and narcissistic trauma, breaking silence, and reclaiming personal power. Patricia Grenelle is 74 years old, and she's proof that healing can happen...

Twenty-five years ago, Matthew Cossolotto made a promise to his dying mother to finish writing a book she had been encouraging him to write. He kept that promise—and it changed everything. Matthew is the author of Harness Your PromisePower, with a foreword by Jack Canfield of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame. He's a former speechwriter for the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, NATO,...

She lost her sister to suicide in 2022. At the same time, she was helping her own children navigate depression and anxiety. Those two experiences—loss and hope—changed the trajectory of her life. Saroni Kundu is a mental health advocate, speaker, author of Hope Starts at Home, and owner of an Ellie Mental Health clinic in Missouri. She helps families recognize the signs of struggle earlier and cre...

She survived repeated childhood sexual assaults and an attempted murder. She spent 35 years healing—and 20 years studying trauma affects and healing techniques. She is a psychotherapist specializing in trauma recovery and a thriver who lives a full life with manageable trauma symptoms. Donna Donahue is the author of the healing memoir Witness Awakening and a passionate advocate for trauma survivor...

He survived a head-on collision at 18 that left him in a wheelchair for six months. He gained more than a hundred pounds in his 30s, then lost 135 pounds. At 40, he suffered with severe back pain that led him to look for a better way. Butch Phelps is a functional massage therapist, award-winning author, and creator of the Stretch n' Release Technique. After 20+ years studying how muscles actua...

He didn't wake up one day motivated. He woke up tired of repeating the same pain with better excuses. Hakeem Bourne Mcfarlane is a speaker, coach, and storyteller whose work was forged through collapse, addiction, loss of identity, and the slow, humbling work of rebuilding a life from the ground up. His "Choose Yourself" philosophy is not a slogan—it's a survival principle. In th...

He's spent over 30 years helping overwhelmed Christians stop striving to be good enough and start living deeply rooted in the love of God. Dr. Bill Senyard is an experienced pastor, church revitalization specialist, and author of twelve books, including the Good Enough Series. He blends biblical truth, pastoral wisdom, attachment theory, and neuroscience to help people move from shame-driven f...

After almost 30 years in education, Scott Maderer and his wife Carrie founded Inspired Stewardship to help Christian men and couples master their time, their talent, and their treasures so they can live out their calling. Scott is a certified Human Behavior Consultant, a member of the John Maxwell Team, and the author of Inspired Living: Assemble the Puzzle of Your Calling by Mastering Your Time,...

She graduated from Brown University, earned her Master's and Doctorate in Special Education, and won a Westinghouse Science and Talent Award for her research on reading comprehension. Dr. Emily Levy is an education expert and the founder of EBL Coaching, a specialized tutoring program that offers individualized one-on-one instruction using research-based, multi-sensory techniques. She's th...

She survived a near-fatal collision with a wrong-way driver on the interstate. Doctors told her family she would never wake up—and if she did, she'd be a vegetable. She learned to walk again after twelve surgeries and six years of recovery. Then she escaped a twenty-year abusive marriage to a narcissist. Skye Bellarmine is the author of the Breaking Solace book trilogy, a psychological thrille...

He escaped an abusive childhood at 13 to become a homeless runaway. He worked alongside migrant workers and earned three degrees by 25—including acceptance to Harvard MBA. He pioneered early-stage AI at Occidental Petroleum, supported deals worth billions, and worked with IBM, Oracle, and Microsoft. Now he's a multiple award-winning author of intelligent thrillers, most often compared to Dan B...

She spent more than 20 years leading technology and business transformation projects in the energy industry. Then her own life was transformed by trauma. The executive who once managed multimillion-dollar initiatives suddenly struggled with everyday tasks. Instead of asking "What's wrong with me?" Tiffany Sharp began asking, "What's wrong with the systems we've built to...

She was a Silicon Valley CEO. She climbed mountains. She knew how to push through. Then a medical crisis on Mount Kilimanjaro led to a fifteen-year journey through misdiagnosis, chronic pain, opioid dependence, and identity collapse. Nancy Deyo is a former Silicon Valley CEO and Stanford Distinguished Careers Institute Fellow. Her forthcoming memoir, Perilous Ascent, traces her journey through chr...

She never set out to become "Scripture Girl." She was just a woman whose life had fallen apart—reeling from a painful divorce, betrayed, broken, and gripped by fear. Then she reached for God with everything in her—and realized He had already been reaching for her. Then came the miracle. Doctors told her healing was impossible, but God had the final word. Kathleen Johnson is an author, sp...

Is Bible prophecy real? Myth? Conspiracy? What does the future actually hold—and why does it matter? Branch Isole is an author, poet, storyteller, and podcast host who writes and speaks about choice and consequence, accepting or avoiding personal responsibility, and the power of truth. He is the author of twenty-two books, including works on end-times prophecy, and holds an Oxford M.A. Theology de...

He spent more than 20 years studying the Bible, reading translations in Greek, and digging deep to find out what's really there. And he's convinced of something remarkable: God has been speaking with you—you just didn't have a clue. Rev. Dr. David Chotka is the Founder and Director of Spirit-Equip Ministries, a trans-denominational equipping ministry focused on developing spiritual dis...

She spent decades masking who she really was—performing versions of herself to fit in, to succeed, to survive. She was diagnosed with dyslexia at 25 and ADHD at 44. And she finally understood that different doesn't mean wrong. Ania Hulsman is a Peak Performance & Inner Alignment Coach who works with leaders and high-achieving adults who think in patterns, feel everything deeply, and are br...

We live in a time of escalating hatred, divisiveness, and violence. And we're all wondering: Is there hope? Can we heal? What can we possibly do? Phyllis E. Leavitt believes the answer lies in something we rarely consider—bringing the principles of the best psychotherapy and inner development to heal our nation. She is a retired psychotherapist with over 34 years of experience treating childre...

She spent over 40 years in corporate America, with the last 17 as a Project Manager for large-scale programs. Then she retired and made it her mission to help entrepreneurs have greater impact by improving their delivery—both in person and online. Victoria "Vicki" Noethling is a speaker, trainer, coach, and podcast host who helps leaders and entrepreneurs find their confidence and share...

For 27 years, Ransom Kong has sat across from court-mandated men—violent, in denial, sometimes dangerous. And almost every time, underneath it, he's found a man who was worn out, hurting, yet still curious and capable of love. Ransom is a former perpetrator who broke his own cycle. At 33, he looked within and found his father. From that moment, he's been relentless in his goal of holistic...

He led his company through the Great Recession—five years of fighting to survive in a tough business climate. And just when it looked like they were going to be able to breathe, another storm hit: an incurable blood cancer called multiple myeloma. Bill Derrick is a family business leader with over 50 years of experience in the construction industry. Through these storms, he was given a gift—the ab...

For the first twenty-some years of her life, Leah Chrest followed a faith of convenience. Then her grandfather—a man with rock-solid faith—challenged her to go deeper. That challenge led her to read more than five hundred near-death experiences, write At the Edge of the Jordan, and cement her faith. Then, the day after her book was published, her husband of thirteen years passed away suddenly. Tha...

She binge ate for 30 years. She spent decades dieting, starting over, and blaming herself. She looked disciplined on the outside but felt out of control with food at night. Then everything changed. Nadege "Nan" Saysana is the One Bite, Done coach. She helps women who lift weights stop binge eating after dinner so they can enjoy food without losing control. Her approach is simple, kind, a...