The Perfectly Imperfect Journey

Rebekah Rotstein has always been interested in athleticism and movement: she began ice skating as a 3 year old, she took up ballet soon thereafter, worked as a student athletic trainer in college and developed a deep passion for Pilates in her 20’s. There were many times in her young life when Rebekah was away from those closest to her and she had to learn early on how to advocate for herself. Whe...

Which is more important?  Passion or Purpose? If you Google how to be happy in work and life, you’ll find LOTS of articles about each of them. Both can be important and useful. And they’re not the same.  Passion is like a fire starter - it can get things moving. However, ultimately we come down on the side of Nietzsche: “He who has a why to live for can bear almost anyhow.”  We think purpose is yo...

Marney Sullivan’s earliest memory is of the big open sky of Idaho. That experience began her journey toward embracing the mantra “be free” as she works to let go of the “shoulds” in her life. Marney has suffered some incredible tragedies which gave her a deep appreciation for the importance of leaning in with friends who are suffering and being present to her own truths.  Join us as we hear about...

Sound healer and business consultant. Spiritual practitioner and innovation expert. American born and adopter of Balinese culture. Kristen Firpo, all of this and so much more, joins us this week and shares her “inside out” journey to well-being and growth through walking in both the eastern and western worlds. Please listen in as Kristen shares how she has developed freedom within the structure an...

Valentine’s Day got us thinking … we have a special day dedicated to showing our love for others, but we rarely take time, and there’s certainly no Hallmark card, focused on taking care of ourselves and tending to our well-being. And yet, it’s critically important. Please join us this week as we talk about what self care means (spoiler alert: it’s  something different to everyone), why it’s import...

Donna Rhode spent her early years feeling like a misfit. Her teachers did not like that she had a mind of her own, her father struggled with bouts of depression, and she lacked strong role models to connect to. Combined with early and recurring trauma, Donna believes she may have ultimately dropped out of school if not for her second grade teacher, who saw her gifts, helped give her a voice, and b...

Aisha Ponds joins us this week and shares her story, from her beginnings in a segregated neighborhood, to experiencing direct and indirect racism growing up and throughout her career, to her deep dedication to her work.  Aisha has an infectious laugh and an unwavering sense of optimism, but it is ultimately her faith, in herself and her god, that guides her perfectly imperfect journey. One of our...

It’s the beginning of a new year, and you’ve probably spent some time reflecting on the previous year and considering what 2022 might bring. We’ve been thinking about this too, but unlike most of what you’re reading, seeing, or hearing in the media, we are suggesting that you actually ditch the New Year’s resolutions.  Why?  They can actually do more harm than good…and they usually end up making u...

What do Jeff Spicoli, Willy Wonka and The Price is Right have in common?  They are all inspirations for our guest this week, Forrest Wright.   Forrest grew up on the East Coast, and then found himself at UCLA in the late 80’s where he believed a simple move across the country could unlock his “true self” that he had been partially hiding.  What he learned was it would take a few more twists and tu...

Join us as we welcome Jill Santa Lucia, founder and owner of Raleigh, NC based Catering Works, to the podcast. Since launching Catering Works in 1989, Jill has been through both good times and hard ones. But losing millions of dollars all but overnight when the pandemic hit was by far the most difficult professional situation she’d ever navigated. Through incredibly hard work and steely determinat...

Gratitude can change your life, in ways both small and profound. With the US Thanksgiving day coming up soon, it felt particularly timely to focus on gratitude. Being thankful is a powerful tool for all of us - it makes us healthier, happier, and increases the positivity of all of our relationships. There’s very little that gives us such a big return on something that’s accessible to everyone. Joi...

Chris Tsakalakis is (among many other things) the son of Greek Immigrants, a CEO several times over and a recovering perfectionist.  Chris told us:  “perfectionism is a deep level of insecurity...because deep down you feel imperfect.”  But he didn’t start out with that level of wisdom.  Early in his career, Chris struggled with receiving constructive feedback, was tough on his colleagues, and gene...

When we asked Chris Pierce to join us on the podcast, we already knew he was an amazing musician.  His music has been nominated for awards, he’s been featured on NPR and the TV show This is Us; you only have to listen to him sing a few bars to really appreciate the depth of his craft.  What we did not know, but will quickly be obvious when you’re just a few minutes into the episode, is what an ama...

What started as a little seedling of an idea while walking down the beach in San Diego has now blossomed into our 20th episode!  Both of us deeply believe that reflection is an important part of being on a perfectly imperfect journey. And reflection is the core of this episode. We’ve taken some time to pause and reflect on what we’ve learned, how we’ve grown and how lucky we feel to have been join...

One would think riding your bike 5000 miles across the country would be all about the physical experience, but in the case of David Richman, the true poignancy of his story is the emotional journey he took.  David interviewed 15 people about their experiences with cancer - either as a survivor, a caregiver or a practitioner.  He then rode his bike across the U.S. to meet with many of them while he...

Cara Jones was born into a family who belonged to the Unification Church, popularly known as the Moonies.  Her family didn’t just belong to the Monies - they were very senior in the church's hierarchy and her memberships in both the church and her family were inextricably linked.  She grew up as a very active member of the Moonies and ultimately found herself standing in the Olympic Stadium in Seo...

When we figured out we could finally be in the same place at the same time, after 2 years of not being able to connect in person, we decided to ditch the virtual world and record an episode together, in real life.  And what better topic to discuss than Friendship.  We discuss our own friendship, include the voices of some of our other friends, and some advice from a friendship expert, Shasta Nelso...

Ali Ingersoll had a somewhat charmed upbringing, attending boarding school abroad, going on amazing adventures and taking advantage of every opportunity that showed up.  Then a life-changing accident happened when Ali took a head-first dive into shallow water.  Feet First not only describes Ali’s plea for anyone jumping into shallow water, but also how she has lived her life, both before and after...

This week Mary Lin McBride, a mindfulness practitioner and teacher, joins us to talk about the power of meditation and how to be more intentional in your life.  Earlier in her career, Mary Lin found herself moving from city to city as her husband’s career would dictate.  While she enjoyed her work as a fundraiser, it was a serendipitous moment standing in front of a yoga studio that propelled Mary...

Join us this week as we welcome musician Bridgette Corridan to the podcast. While Bridgette has many titles in her life: recruiter, mom, wife, athlete, spiritual seeker, friend, sister etc, in our discussion we focused on Bridgette’s perfectly imperfect journey from fear to freedom as she releases her music into the world. Bridgette shares how she believes it is through tapping into her heart and...

Carl Jung said: “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are”  and that’s what we’re talking about in today's episode.  Authenticity is a somewhat overused word today, but that doesn’t mean we are overachieving in being our authentic selves.  There’s so much that can get in our way - the suit and floppy tie dress code during Sherry’s early career, the imposter syndrome Anne experien...

Nichelle Tramble Spellman joins us this week and shares her journey from being an aspiring writer as early as grade school, to published novelist,  to Hollywood writer, producer and showrunner. Join us as Nichelle shares her thoughts on the importance of lifelong friends, listening to mom and how being true to yourself is the key to success.   We hope you love this interview as much as we do.  Nic...

In this episode, we speak with Susan Olesek, Founder of the Enneagram Prison Project (EPP). Early in her journey of learning the Enneagram, Susan was invited into a prison in Texas to work with a group of incarcerated individuals. She was both inspired and blown away by the power of the work and the life-changing impact of the participants. She knew she’d found her purpose and she EPP was created...

All of our recent guests have talked about times in their lives when change was either thrust upon them, or they consciously undertook some kind of transformation.  And, all of them shared that the work process was often  challenging and uncomfortable.  In today’s episode we talk about why choosing to get a bit more uncomfortable can actually be good practice for when those big waves of change are...

In his early 20’s, it looked like Mike Robbins’ lifelong dream of being a professional baseball player was set; a recent graduate of Stanford, Mike was drafted by the Kansas City Royals and started playing with one of their minor league teams. However, after a couple of seasons, Mike injured his elbow in a game against the Durham Bulls and his baseball career was suddenly over.  Everything Mike ha...