Pockets of Knowledge

What do you want to be doing at 8:00 on a Saturday night? For years, Kate Kayaian’s answer was on stage with her cello. Then one day she wanted dinner parties, vacations, a good book. Anywhere but that stage. This week’s guest is Kate Kayaian, author, career strategist, and founder of the Creatives Leadership Academy. She’d built the career most musicians only dream about. Then the nagging started...

When was the last time you knew exactly what you liked? Not what your partner liked. Not what your kids needed. You. If you had to think about it, you're in good company. This week's guest is Kristen Crabtree, author, Certified Divorce Coach, and creator of Paramour Paradox. After 22 years in a psychologically abusive marriage, Kristen got out with no plan and no clarity. Just the knowing...

Ever walk away from a conversation and think of the perfect thing to say ten minutes later? In the car. In the shower. Stirring something on the stove. You had those words the whole time. You just couldn't reach them. This week's guest is Diane McDowell, therapist, speaker, and founder of Powerful Questions Coaching & Counseling. After 25 years of watching human behavior, nearly two de...

If you have ever felt yourself burning the candle at both ends and calling it dedication, this conversation is your permission slip to stop. Desiree Stanley sits down with Dr. Melanie Gray, PhD, RN, registered nurse, wellness strategist, and creator of the STOP-IT™ Method, who brings a 42-year career, more than 20 of it in healthcare leadership and higher education, to a hard truth most of us know...

If you have aging parents, this is a conversation you will be so glad you had before you needed it. Desiree Stanley sits down with Nicole Hilgenkamp, founder of Your Parents Keeper, who spent 30 years fixing broken systems for Fortune 100 companies before turning that same skill toward the one system that fails almost every family: caregiving for aging parents. There is no manual, no checklist, no...

In this thoughtful, uplifting conversation, Desiree Stanley sits down with Deborah Small, internationally recognized author, holistic healing expert, and creator of the Integrative Reprogramming Technique. Deborah shares how the "program" we absorb in our first seven years quietly runs on autopilot for the rest of our lives, and why simply becoming aware of it is the first taste of real...

Knowledge is power, and when it comes to divorce, it can also protect your future. Desiree Stanley sits down with MaKaela Carter, founder of Her Financial Restart and creator of The Divorce Team Method, who shares the hard-won wisdom she gained after a 28-year marriage ended and she found herself signing away her home and retirement in a three-hour arbitration, without truly understanding what she...

In this candid, honest conversation, Desiree Stanley sits down with Caroline Hood, certified sex therapist, licensed clinical social worker, and author of Sex Begets Sex, who brings 25 years of clinical expertise and a warm dose of humor to a topic most of us were taught to tiptoe around. Caroline makes a compelling case that desire doesn't have to disappear with age, motherhood, or the passag...

In this thoughtful, encouraging conversation, Desiree Stanley sits down with Nami Prakash, scientist, former corporate leader, author, and founder of The Mind Quotient, who is on a mission to make human skill development as essential as anything we learn in a classroom. Nami pushes back on the term "soft skills," and makes a compelling case that these are actually the essential skills th...

In this warm, energizing conversation, Desiree Stanley sits down with Jennifer Kornoely, creator of She Reads She Leads, an online collaborative book group where women read, discuss, and grow together. Jennifer shares how losing her corporate job and six-figure salary as a single mom led her to start her own business, teach herself everything through audiobooks, and eventually discover the one ing...

A gentle heads-up: This conversation includes a brief mention of attempted suicide. Please listen when you feel ready. Support is available at 988 (call or text) in the US, or findahelpline.com internationally. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ You've read the books, done the affirmations, maybe even booked the retreat—so why does the way you handle money, ask for what you're worth, and let yourself be...

What if the intuition you've been taught to second-guess was never a "sixth sense" at all, but your very first one? In this warm, soul-stirring conversation, Desiree Stanley sits down with Debra Driscoll, founder of The BeHER Collective and creator of the Intuitive HERoine archetype, who helps women reclaim their intuitive wisdom and step back into the role of heroine in their own li...

If you've ever been told "everything looks normal" while sensing deep down that something feels off, this conversation may resonate with you. Desiree Stanley sits down with Beth Mielbrecht, a self-described Health Detective and Precision Healing Expert who works with health-conscious women tired of trial and error. With a background in mechanical engineering and years in the healing...

The hardest moments of your life weren't wasted. They were working on you. In this rich, grounding conversation, Desiree Stanley sits down with Tori DaCosta, executive coach, speaker, and founder of Journey Stone LLC, who developed her signature CMI framework while leading teams inside a Fortune 50 organization. Her Amazon bestselling book, No Name Bastard: How Our Lives Teach Us What We Can C...

In this warm, practical conversation, Desiree Stanley sits down with Kate Vanden Bos, creator of The Growth Cycle, who helps professional women stop the daily energy drain and get more of what they actually want out of life without doing more or sacrificing everything to get there. Kate offers a reframe most of us have never considered: true burnout is the dead battery with nothing left to give, a...

The version of you showing up in every meeting, every pitch, every email... is it actually you? In this candid, thought-provoking conversation, Desiree Stanley sits down with Chanoa Inez, author of Dream On and creator of Magnetize Your Personal Brand™, who shares how losing her partner suddenly became the unexpected catalyst for everything she now teaches about inner transformation, authentic vis...

What happens when a tenured professor finally sleeps through the night for the first time in years—and wakes up with a clarity so unfamiliar it makes her angry? In this honest, wide-ranging conversation, host Desiree Stanley welcomes back Dr. Sarah L. Glasco—late-diagnosed ADHDer, author, publisher, activist, and co-host of the ADHD Peri Punks Podcast—who shares how one miraculous night of sleep a...

What would it feel like to finally hand off the tasks that are keeping you buried—and actually trust that they'll get done right? In this warm, energizing conversation, host Desiree Stanley sits down with Renee Hastings—President and CEO of Executive Help Now and host of Renee Speaks—a woman whose mission is to help entrepreneurs, executives, and content creators reclaim their time so they can...

Most of us spend years trying to change our lives from the outside without ever realizing the program running the show is buried somewhere we've never thought to look. In this rich, eye-opening conversation, host Desiree Stanley sits down with Melissa Deally and Billie Aadmi, co-founders of Amplify Impact Academy, who combine backgrounds in corporate leadership and law enforcement with two dec...

If AI has you feeling anxious, confused, or left behind, this conversation is exactly what you need to hear. Host Desiree Stanley sits down with Stephanie Sylvestre—CEO and co-founder of AvatarBuddy.ai and a barrier-breaking leader in technology and social impact—who has spent over a decade building AI solutions that amplify human potential rather than replace it. Stephanie's take is both prac...

In this rich, soulful conversation, host Desiree Stanley sits down with Lauri Smith—speaker, author, coach, and host of the Untamed Leader Podcast—who helps wild-hearted leaders stop performing and start transforming the energy of the room when they speak. Drawing on decades in theater and coaching, Lauri's work is rooted in a simple but radical belief: the most charismatic, compelling version...

What if getting lost is exactly how you find yourself? In this warm, adventurous conversation, host Desiree Stanley sits down with Tracy Smith—memoirist, solo traveler, and author of The Purpose of Getting Lost—who at 49, after divorce and decades of people-pleasing, booked a one-way ticket to Iceland and never really stopped. What began as an impulsive yes became a four-year journey across contin...

Most of us know we should be better prepared financially—but few of us know what "prepared" actually looks like until it's too late. In this warm, practical conversation, host Desiree Stanley sits down with Paula Harris—co-founder of WH Cornerstone Investments, TEDx speaker, and author of Rise Up: A Widow's Journal—who brings both the financial expertise and the human compassion...

What if the work of finding the right relationship has nothing to do with finding the right person—and everything to do with becoming the right person for yourself?  In this candid, eye-opening conversation, host Desiree Stanley sits down with Chaya Garcia—dating and relationship expert, CEO, and host of the 100% Podcast—who shares how a painful breakup at 26 became the catalyst for two decades of...

What if the exhaustion you're carrying isn't from doing too much—but from doing too much of the wrong things? In this lively, no-BS conversation, host Desiree Stanley sits down with Anne Karber—entrepreneur, author of The Life Hack Playbook, and host of the Let's Get Naked Podcast—who shares how she went from living on autopilot, people-pleasing, and giving from an empty shell to build...