BECOME Empowered

How do you keep going when loss knocks you off your feet, and the voice in your head says you’ll never recover? Three months after losing her husband to cancer, Holly Sweat Raper woke at 3 a.m. shaking with fear. You’re alone. You’ll lose everything. You’re 57 and nobody will want you. Every thought felt like a fact. None of it was the truth. In this episode, psychotherapist and bestselling author...

What if courage isn’t something you wait to feel, but a question you ask? In this solo episode, Sabine takes you on her journey through Germany and Italy, a trip she called Traveling with Gumption . She walked into the Frankfurt Book Fair with no appointments, no roadmap, and one copy of her memoir in her bag. She left with a stack of publishing contacts and an offer to translate GUMPTION into Ger...

What if the biggest thing standing between you and more clients isn’t your budget but your willingness to be seen? In this episode, Sabine (recording from Germany, fresh from the Frankfurt Book Fair!) sits down with Jill Lublin: publicity strategist, international speaker, consultant, and four-time bestselling author. Jill went from law school to the rock-and-roll world of independent record label...

AI is moving at lightning speed, and the pressure to keep up is real. New tools every week, new programs promising to future-proof your business, new "opportunities" that look brilliant on paper. But here's what I've learned the expensive way: fast isn't the same as forward. In this episode, I take you backstage to one of my most personal lessons, what I call my "$35,000 Harvard experience." It wa...

He had it all. He had a suit and tie and an office on the 15th floor of the most recognizable building in Rochester, New York. Inside, though, Ben Albert was quietly miserable. Then the pandemic hit, and overnight he was laid off, broke, and officially "non-essential." In this raw and generous conversation, Ben takes us backstage to the months when he was lost. He talks about binge drinking, losin...

What are you still waiting to feel ready for? The book you haven't written. The stage you haven't stepped onto. The bold move you keep postponing. Waiting feels safe, but it's costing you more than you think. I know, because I waited too. Until one sentence on a Hamburg sidewalk changed everything: "What a shame, Sabine. You are so talented." Within a week, I had auditioned for acting school. In t...

Sandra Bargman popped out of the womb singing, dancing, and acting — and never stopped. But underneath three decades on Broadway, national tours, cruise ships, and cabaret rooms, she carried a quieter question: how could she be of service in a bigger way? One day, scrolling a life-coaching website, she saw two words stacked in the corner — life coach and interfaith minister — and a light bulb went...

What do you do when life falls apart at 54 and you're convinced there's nothing left for you? If you're Teri M. Brown, you climb onto a tandem bicycle and ride 3,102 miles across America. In this episode of Become Empowered , author and speaker Teri M. Brown joins Sabine to trace an extraordinary arc — from an emotionally abusive marriage that left her doubting her own worth, to a cross-country ta...

There’s a stage somewhere in your life with your name on it — a talk, a camera, a Zoom box, a conversation you keep rehearsing but never walk into. And every time you get close, you slip back into the wings and whisper, “not yet.” In this solo episode, Sabine takes you back to opening night in Hamburg, where she stepped out as Pippi Longstocking with her mind gone completely blank… and the lines c...

When Emma Victoria Johnson sat across from her surgeon in March 2025, the script had already been written for her: stage 4 breast cancer, no surgery, no chemo, no radiation — just two tablets and roughly 18 months. She tore that script up. Connect with Emma: https://www.instagram.com/emma_victoriaj/ Connect with Sabine: SabineKvenberg.com https://liveyounger.com/healthyandwealthy In this deeply mo...

What if the problem isn't that you need more stages — but that your message isn't clear enough to earn them? In this episode of Become Empowered , Sabine sits down with speaker, author, and coach Marta Spirk — a fellow performer who traded the entertainment stage for a mission of guiding women to find their voice and own the spotlight. Marta shares her remarkable journey: growing up singing in her...

Imagine walking into a state government internship, handing them an evaluation that says you read and write at a first-grade level — and walking out having earned fifteen credits of A-minus. Now imagine a university committee looking at that same work and flunking you to fifteen credits of F. That's the moment Russell Van Brooklyn stopped waiting for permission and decided to solve dyslexia himsel...

Some people find their turning point in a boardroom. Fenix Shepard found hers in a jail cell — where a total stranger looked at her with compassion and asked one question that cracked her life wide open: "Don't you think it's time to heal?" In this episode, Sabine sits down with Fenix Shepard — spiritual mentor, Navy veteran, trauma survivor, and author of Loved Unconditionally — for a conversatio...

Thirty-five years ago, Sabine met an 18-year-old dancer in West Africa — talented, a little naïve, and not yet sure she belonged anywhere but the stage. In this episode, that young woman returns as Sabine's guest: Dorina Malcheva, now Artistic Director of MJ – The Michael Jackson Musical in Hamburg, Germany, leading a team of 34. It's a conversation that moves like a memory: the smell of the airpo...

Jeremy Knauff spent nearly two decades building a successful marketing agency — until a severe health crisis nearly killed him and took the business down with it. In this raw, unfiltered conversation, the U.S. Marine Corps veteran and founder of Spartan Media shares what it was like to lose everything, the autoimmune condition that brought him to the edge, and the moment a fellow Marine's suicide...

You don't find courage — you build it, one bold step at a time. In this episode, Sabine unpacks why courage is forged in the moments when everything in you screams "stop," and why the difference between a wish and a whisper might be the thing standing between you and your next chapter. Get Your Free Bold Move Kit: https://sabinekvenberg.com/get-your-bold-move-kit Connect on Social Media: YouTube: ...

Jeff Luther collapsed mid-workout in front of his 16-year-old son — no pulse, no breath. Two AED shocks didn't bring him back. The third did. In this raw, unfiltered conversation, Jeff walks us through what actually happens in the space between life and death, the paralyzing fear that followed a second cardiac arrest, and the exact moment — 30 seconds at a time — that he started rebuilding his lif...

At almost 85 years young, Nancy Jasin is proof that the ending is never written until you write it. A retired nurse who "never really retires," Nancy joins Sabine to share a life shaped by resilience — from a violent childhood spent hiding in a closet, to 42 years of sobriety, to building three businesses and becoming an author who now sends out two poems a week. Nancy opens the doors most people...

What if the wisdom you're searching for has been inside you since childhood? In this Saturday Live conversation, Sabine Kvenberg sits down with visionary strategist and three-time #1 international bestselling author Joanne Weiland to explore the moments that quietly build a courageous life. Sabine opens up about the day — at just nine years old, alone in a Hamburg park — when an inner voice told h...

What happens when staying authentic costs you everything… but opens the door to something even bigger? In this inspiring episode of Become Empowered , Sabine Kvenberg sits down with author, voice actor, musician, and storyteller Aaron Ryan to talk about resilience, reinvention, creativity, and the courage to stay true to yourself—even when it comes at a cost. Aaron shares his remarkable journey fr...

What if your money problems have nothing to do with money? In this episode of Become Empowered, Sabine sits down with Scott Maderer — host of the Inspired Stewardship podcast with over 1,800 episodes — to unpack a truth most people avoid: financial stress is a symptom, not the source. The real problem is alignment. Scott opens up about his raw personal story: $60,000 in debt on a $40,000 teacher's...

What if manifestation isn't something you do — but something you live? In this episode, I'm sharing something personal. For my birthday, I ended up on a race track — behind the wheel of a race car — and I never planned it. What unfolded that day became one of the clearest examples of manifestation I've ever experienced in my own life. Not because I followed a formula. Because I was aligned. I also...

He grew up in East New York, surrounded by violence, and believed he wouldn't live to see 25. Today he's sailed every inhabited continent, coached leaders around the world, and built a media company helping others find their own way. This is Josh Valentine — and this episode will stay with you. Connect with Josh: https://javalentin.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@UCK-1WRXSdXRTnZKqUAzAP2g   Connect w...

In this powerful episode, Sabine Kvenberg sits down with Dr. Angela Mulrooney to explore the hidden realities behind success, burnout, and rediscovering purpose. Dr. Mulrooney shares her journey from building a thriving dental career to experiencing deep burnout—and how that pivotal moment became the catalyst for transformation. Together, they unpack the pressure of high performance, the identity...

Feeling stuck, uncertain, or afraid to make your next move? This episode is your permission slip to rise. Discover what gumption really means — and why it’s the missing link between where you are and where you want to be. Learn how to tell the difference between fear that protects you and fear that’s holding you back, why failing forward is a success strategy, and how to stay focused on your bolde...