Make Life Less Difficult

Send us a message! My guest today is Natasha Smith. I met Natasha through the kindness of Shannon Cochran-Yzquierdo.  Thank you, Shannon!  You are connected with so many amazing people and I’m honored to get to meet some of them! Natasha is a firm believer that we can all create positive change.  Regardless of the industry in which she works or the title behind her name, her passion is to inspire...

Send us a message! My guest today is Diana Buikel. Diana is a world traveler, photography enthusiast, and a person with deep compassion, profound resilience, and a remarkable inner fortitude and faith. I was introduced to Diana by Shannon Cochran-Yzquierdo – thank you so much, Shannon!! Diana works in the Intel, Physical, and Personnel Security fields within Deloitte and the Industrial Security In...

Send us a message! My guest today is Neta Ein-Gil Glassberg. Neta is a certified leadership coach and leverages her background as an experienced business development manager to help leaders and teams foster creative thinking, develop interpersonal communication strategies, and embrace diverse perspectives. Neta was born in Thailand to an Israeli diplomat.  She’s lived in Singapore, the Philippines...

Send us a message! My guest today is Alorah Bliese. I met Alorah through Shannon Cochran-Yzquierdo, a well-known guest on the podcast, and I’m so grateful for the connection! Thank you, Shannon! Alorah is a queer, neurodivergent scientist.   They work as an interdisciplinary researcher, specializing in molecular marine biology. As a bisexual+ and non-binary person that is cisgender and heterosexua...

Send us a message! My guest today is Andrea Barton. Andrea is the author of The Godfather of Dance , A Jade Riley Mystery . The second book in the series will be out in late 2024. I met Andrea through Nicole Webb who has been on my podcast and am so grateful for the connection! An electrical engineer turned career consultant, Andrea spent 12 years enjoying the exhilaration and dislocation of life...

Send us a message! My guest today is Joan Fletcher. Joan is the founder of Winning Ways and as an executive leadership coach, she’s dedicated more than 30 years of her life to empowering high performing leaders and their teams to achieve remarkable personal and professional outcomes. I met Joan through a kind introduction made by Shannon Cochran-Yzquierdo, who’s been on my podcast several times, s...

Send us a message! My guest today is Bethany Cerella. Bethany is a stay-at-home mother, Pilates instructor and lifelong learner. Growing up in a Navy family and later a military spouse, Bethany has spent half of her life outside the United States, living in South Korea, Australia, Germany, England and now in Italy. Bethany homeschooled her twins until they were ten, teaching her kids to read and t...

Send us a message! Today’s conversation is a delight to share with you. It’s a conversation with four of us talking about health, fitness, nutrition, and the challenge of figuring out what makes it all a little less difficult. One of the things that makes this conversation unique is that my friend Hillery Midkiff is hosting and asking the questions.  This entire conversation was originally Hillery...

Send us a message! My guests today are Kris Burbank and Dr. Linda Hoopes. Kris and Linda are the authors of the book, Embracing Another Normal: Resilience Stories and Strategies for Raising Children with Disabilities . Kris is a returning guest on my podcast.  You can hear more of her story on episode 39.  She is a Leadership Coach, who among many other things, works with parents of children with...

Send us a message! My guest today is David Lapin. David is the founder of Lapin International.  He’s one of the world’s leading thinkers in the fields of leadership and business transformation. I was honored to meet David through Susan Sjolund, a dear friend and colleague who has also been a guest on the podcast (episode 122).  David is a scholar, speaker, columnist, and author of the book Lead by...

Send us a message! My guest today is Kim Brundage. Kim is an award-winning headshot and branding photographer on a mission to deliver a truly transformative experience that assures her clients feel nothing short of beautiful and confident, both on and off camera! I first saw Kim’s work when my friend (and amazing podcast guest) Shannon Cochran-Yzquierdo told me she was getting new headshots taken....

Send us a message! My guest today is Vandana Allman. Vandana is an experienced chief executive with a demonstrated history of working in professional services industry.  She’s a gifted leadership development coach and practitioner, and a powerful advisor to her clients. I was honored to meet Vandana through the kind introduction from Noel Bulger, who has been a guest on my podcast.  I am so gratef...

Send us a message! My guest today is Shannon Cochran-Yzquierdo.  Shannon is returning to the podcast and I’m so grateful to welcome her again. If you haven’t listened to episodes 13 and 79, you’ll find amazing pieces of Shannon’s story there. Shannon is the founder of Coaching Courage, a coaching firm working with leaders, teams, and organizations to reframe the way they see themselves.  Shannon i...

Send us a message! My guest today is Maya Harris. Maya is a Learning Manager, a Facilitator, and a Coach.  She has spent the past 8 years of her career in global consulting, and before that worked at Unilever.  Her educational journey was focused on engineering and she has her masters from the University of Cambridge.  Maya is also a trans woman and our conversation today focuses on her journey of...

Send us a message! Today’s guest is Paulo André. This is a super special episode for several reasons.  First, Paulo is incredibly thoughtful and has inspiring stories and reflections that he shares. Second, I am not the host of this conversation. This podcast is hosted by Russ Watts!  Russ has been a guest on the podcast multiple times and has also been kind enough to host me.  So, a couple months...

Send us a message! My guests today are Elizabeth and Jakob. This is my first time having two guests and it’s a complete delight to share this conversation with you. Elizabeth was first recommended to me for the podcast by Jakob.  Then, after meeting and chatting with Elizabeth, she had the idea of also having Jakob on to build out their story and journey in a way that reflects how they do life – t...

Send us a message! My guest today is Julie F. Julie and I met through a wonderful organization we both work for a company  where Julie is the Operations Manager. Prior to her work with Educe, Julie worked at McKinsey & Company for almost 6 years. Originally from the US, Julie and her family have lived in Munich Germany for almost a decade.  In our conversation, she shares the journey of how sh...

Send us a message! My guest today is Deiadre Rauch. Deiadre has a degree in engineering from Purdue University.  She’s a structured thinker and kis keenly interested in how the way we think impacts how we feel and what we do as leaders.  Deiadre’s unique blend of business experience, cultural awareness, and a love of helping people to get what they want out of life, prompted her pursuit of coachin...

Send us a message! My guest today is Kelly Kienzle. Kelly is a returning guest to the podcast, after being a guest on episode 14, in October 2021. It’s a sincere treat to have her back and enter into this conversation. Kelly is the founder of Open Circle Coaching.  She provides leadership coaching and facilitation to individuals and teams to improve organizational performance.  She believes that b...

Send us a message! My guest today is Retired Lieutenant Colonel Tony Cerella. Tony has been on the podcast two times previously and has graciously agreed to talk with me again as a bookend to our conversational theme of his retirement from the US Army after 23 years of service. If you haven’t listened to our other conversations, you can find them at episodes 99 and 121.  The first conversation was...

Send us a message! My guest today is Dorcas Cheng-Tozun. Dorcas is an award-winning writer, editor, speaker, communications consultant, and former Inc.com columnist. She is the author of several books including Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul: How to Change the World in Quiet Ways, which we discuss today. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Christianity Today, Image Journal , a...

Send us a message! My guest today is Crystaline Randazzo. Crystaline is a returning guest and was first on episode 69 in July of 2022.  Crystaline is a story excavator and a media creatrix.  She empowers women to catalyze change in their life through the power of storytelling.  She uses the science behind storytelling to help people connect with themselves, excavate their own truths, and craft new...

Send us a message! My guest today is Cassandra Ross. Before I tell you about Casey, let me first say, happy 2024!  This is the first episode to release in the new year and I’m thrilled to be sharing Casey’s conversation with you.  If you are waiting to take action on something in your life, you may find just the inspiration and motivation you need here in Casey’s story and reflections. I have lots...

Send us a message! My guest today is Anne Blunden. Anne has served as the Executive Director of Nursing at both the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre and the King Abdullah Bin Abdelaziz University Hospital in Saudi Arabia.  She also served as the director of nursing at the King Fahad Medical Center. Originally from South Africa, much of her career has been dedicated to the medica...

Send us a message! My guest today is Cherise Tuttle. Cherise is a returning guest and I’m so delighted to get to share this conversation with you.  First, let me say if you haven’t heard our first conversation, I recommend taking the time to listen to Episode 73, where Cherise graciously shares pieces of her journey of grief and loss after losing her husband, Cody, in a paragliding accident. Cheri...