Empowered Conversations

What if everything you've been told about mental illness—about diagnosis, about medication, about being broken—was only part of the story? What if healing isn't about fixing what's wrong with you—but about remembering what's already right? Dr. Fred Moss is a psychiatrist, healer, speaker, and restorative coach who has spent over four decades working inside nearly every corner of mo...

Have you ever felt like you have a story inside you—but you're not sure if anyone would want to read it? Or maybe you've wondered if your voice matters, if your experience is worth sharing, if you have anything to say that could actually help someone else? If so, you're not alone. Teresa Rodriguez is a TEDx speaker, bestselling author, and the founder of Liberté Press, a boutique publi...

What if I told you that the answers you've been searching for aren't outside of you, they're already inside you, waiting to be accessed? Ali Christos spent more than 15 years in business and real estate before a divorce, an encounter with mortality, and years of Vipassana meditation pulled the floor out from under the life he had built. That unraveling became the doorway into his curre...

Some wounds are visible. Others are hidden—buried so deep that even the person carrying them may not have a name for them yet. Today's conversation is about those hidden bruises. Arlene Lehmann has spent more than 30 years helping women recover from domestic violence and abortion trauma. She has facilitated support groups for battered women and post-abortive women, served on the leadership tea...

Have you ever felt like your faith and your politics have become tangled up in a way that doesn't feel right? Like the fear, the outrage, and the need to win have started to shape you more than the love, the grace, and the peace of Jesus? If so, you're not alone. Brian Drinkwine is a pastor, author, and former political partisan raised in Nashville, Tennessee, who now pastors in California...

Do you remember when you were a child—when creativity flowed as naturally as breathing? For most of us, somewhere along the way, we lost that. We were told to grow up, to be practical, to stop daydreaming. And we believed it. But here's the good news: creativity can't be lost. Misplaced, maybe—but never lost. Patrick Williams is the founder and president of Satori Innovation, a TEDx speake...

What happens when you let go of the need to be perfect and start experiencing the presence of God in everyday life? Marcia McFarland West is the award-winning author of Perfect Glory: 21 Spiritual Insights for the 21st Century. Her book is a deeply personal guide to Christian spiritual growth, blending real-life experiences with timeless truth. It's filled with humor, relatable stories, and pr...

There's a conversation we all avoid. We don't know what to say. We're afraid of saying the wrong thing. So we say nothing at all. It's the conversation about grief. Lisa Rites spent over 40 years as a Respiratory Therapist before becoming a Certified Grief Educator, Certified Grief Coach, and Author . She met people at the end of life—and saw firsthand how families struggled not ju...

What does it mean to come home—not to a place, but to yourself? Angel Willard is the author of Fighting to Come Home, a powerful memoir about trauma, survival, motherhood, incarceration, and the long journey toward healing. Her story is deeply personal—she's survived life-changing trauma, chronic pain, loss, and incarceration. She's been separated from her children and had to fight to rebu...

Why do so many successful people feel like they're winning at work but losing themselves? Tony Tenaglier is an aerospace Quality Manager, PhD researcher in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, 500-hour Registered Yoga Teacher, and host of two podcasts—Work Sucks, But I Like It and Yoga is a Practice, Not a Performance. His work bridges science, psychology, engineering, and yoga philosophy to...

What if I told you that someone knocked on heaven's door three times and was turned away each time? That's exactly what happened to Joe Gonzalez. Joe is a disabled Navy Seabee who has survived tragedy on and off the battlefield. He's battled depression, rage, PTSD, and addiction. He's sat with Ayahuasca. He's practiced Vipassana meditation. And through it all, he's learned...

What happened to respectful disagreement? When did we lose the ability to talk to people who think differently than we do? Elias Martin is a New York-based thinker, researcher, and history enthusiast who hosts the Politically High-Tech podcast . He explores the roots of America's increasing tribalism, why so many people have become disengaged from politics, and how the two-party system has con...

What happens when you combine a mechanical engineer, a wedding DJ, a film critic, a podcast host, and someone who's worked as a tour guide, Uber driver, and janitor at an industrial bakery? You get someone with a lot of stories and an endless supply of questions. Houston Pierce is the host of 1000 Crazy Questions, a podcast that explores everything from pop culture to philosophy with a healthy...

There are moments in life that stop us in our tracks. Sometimes it's a crisis. Sometimes it's a quiet realization. And sometimes, it's a single word from someone we love. For Kirana Sidin, it was her youngest child calling her "jobless." That stung—not because it was entirely wrong, but because it made her realize she had been drifting. She had a full life, a happy one—but sh...

What happens when the body you've always counted on starts to change? When the identity you've built feels like it's shifting beneath your feet? Jennifer Chassman Browne was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis at just six years old. She was active, athletic, and full of life—and over time, her body began to change. She's had to redefine her sense of self, accept limitations, and fi...

what if the most important quality in a therapist isn't their credentials or their techniques—but their ability to be genuinely present in the room? Dana Singer is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and the owner of Trailhead Wellness. She specializes in trauma work, blending traditional talk therapy with EMDR and equine-assisted therapy to help clients heal in ways that go beyond the...

I've heard it said that "every person has a book in them"—but I think it's more accurate to say that every person has a story. The problem is, most people don't know what to do with it. Louise Harris has spent 30 years helping people find the words—whether they're writing a book, launching a business, or trying to get their message across in a noisy world. She's the o...

What if you looked fine on the outside—but didn't feel fine on the inside? What if you were capable, responsible, successful, and the person everyone else relied on—but underneath, you were running on anxiety, perfectionism, and an exhausting need to stay in control? Sally-Anne Haug is an EMDRIA Approved Consultant and Certified EMDR Therapist specializing in trauma, attachment wounds, and the...

At some point in life, many of us start hearing messages about what we're supposed to do. Slow down. Be careful. Act your age. Nancy Ensley doesn't seem particularly interested in any of that. Nancy has lived many lives: nurse, educator, hospice specialist, consultant, mother, grandmother, volunteer, and writer . Through every chapter, one passion remained constant—writing . She believes w...

If you've been paying attention to the news over the last decade, you know the feeling—the whiplash, the division, the constant sense that the ground is shifting beneath our feet. Andrea Ledew has done the opposite of tuning out. She's spent ten years chronicling it all—through poetry and prose. Andrea is the author of Polemics: Political Poems & Prose, a collection that lays bare a de...

Do you ever wonder why some people are a pain in the neck and others are a song in your heart? Are you curious to know why some of your team members behave like gold medal winners and others function like aliens from another planet? Sheila Glazov is a best-selling author, award-winning personality expert, and creator of the What Color Is Your Brain?® methodology—a simple, memorable approach that h...

What do you do when your brain becomes your most unpredictable sidekick? Jane Rogers has spent more than three decades asking that question—and she's learned to laugh at the chaos, the cringe, and even the curveballs. Diagnosed with epilepsy at 13, Jane's life took a wild turn full of seizures, specialists, and some seriously strange hospital adventures . She's had brain surgeries, gra...

She was born with cystic fibrosis. Her life expectancy depended on how well she could negotiate for treatments that didn't exist yet. Today, she's one of the world's longest-living people with CF—and she's redefining how sales is taught, experienced, and executed. Klyn Elsbury is a sales strategist, author, keynote speaker, and creator of the Deliver the Dream framework. She helps...

Have you ever sat through a training session or an online course that felt like watching paint dry? That's because information alone isn't learning. Learning happens when information is designed in a way that actually connects with people. Jackie Pelegrin is an award-winning instructional designer, college professor, consultant, author, and podcast host with nearly 20 years of experience i...

Have you ever logged into your bank account hoping to see a zero balance—because that would actually be a relief compared to the overdraft? Dwight Heck knows what that feels like. As a single father of five, he spent years buried in financial stress, emotional exhaustion, and what he calls "quiet desperation" . Everything changed in 2001 when a serious health crisis forced him to reevalu...