A Category of One

Somewhere between childhood and retirement, play gets treated as something you're supposed to grow out of. The decades in the middle are for being productive and serious. Lara Galante doesn't buy that. In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Lara Galante, the founder of Find Your Inner Parakeet, where she runs creative workshops that help grown adults remember how to play. Her events...

In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Grace Secker, a somatic trauma therapist and nervous system coach who healed herself from years of chronic pain and fatigue before building the work she does now. We start with the nervous system, the part of you running in the background of every symptom and reaction, often saying no before your mind has caught up. Grace's view is that most ch...

Most marketing advice assumes you already have something exciting to sell. Shawn Teasley is a marketing and social media strategist and the founder of Social Tonic, and some of her most interesting projects are the ones nobody would call flashy. One of her clients sells energy efficient building products, the kind of thing that lives behind the drywall where no one ever sees it. No drone footage,...

In this episode I sat down with Vivian Butler, a licensed therapist turned event planner and founder of Vivian Butler Events. We started with how a counselor ends up running an events business, but it kept circling back to something bigger: what it actually takes to build a room where people feel safe enough to be themselves. Vivian's path didn't follow a plan. She moved through restaurants, socia...

I met Janne Robinson years before this podcast existed. Then, back when I joined the first cohort of her year-long program, Your Truth Is Your Medicine, I was rebuilding myself after a codependent marriage, and she was the first person who truly gave me permission to be who I am. Janne is a poet, author, facilitator, and keynote speaker, and she has built a business by refusing to narrow herself d...

In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Jessica Millhiser, the founder of J.Mills Consulting and an operations strategist who helps service-based entrepreneurs build businesses that are clear, organized, and intentional. Jessica's work sits at the intersection of structure and intuition, and that combination is rare. We talked about what it actually takes to build a business you can...

In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Kelly O'Connell, founder of the brand studio Kind & Funny, to talk about creativity, self-expression, and what it looks like to stay connected to the version of yourself that existed before the world started shaping you. Kelly is one of those people who walks into a room and gives everyone else permission to take up more space. She runs a b...

In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Paula Friedland, licensed counselor, certified life coach, actress, singer, and creator of Soul Speaks, a program she's been teaching in some form for nearly 20 years. Paula's work starts with public speaking but doesn't stay there. It opens into something most people don't expect: a practice of being fully yourself, with one person, in any roo...

Gabby Jockers is a boudoir photographer based in Colorado, but that description doesn't really cover it. What she actually does is help women figure out what's standing between them and feeling at home in their own bodies, and then create an experience built around that. Not around what a boudoir shoot is supposed to look like. Around what each person actually needs. This conversation goes a lot o...

Marie Mack showed up to one online networking event, and that's where Leslie met her. One time. The universe was paying attention. In this episode of A Category of One, Leslie sits down with Marie Mack, a business strategist, partnerships expert, and operations consultant who runs two complementary businesses entirely remotely. This conversation covers a lot of ground: how Marie went from blogging...

In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Sadie Hessing, a curly hair specialist based in Boulder, Colorado, whose work goes far beyond hair. This conversation started with curls, but it quickly opened up into something deeper. Sadie shares how so many people grow up seeing their hair as something to fix, and what begins to shift when that narrative changes. Not just in how it looks, b...

In this episode of A Category of One , I sit down with Danette Shaifer, a coach and certified Why Discovery facilitator through Simon Sinek’s Optimism Company, to explore what it actually looks like to get clear on your why—and then live from it. This conversation started from a shared experience. Danette guided me through my own why discovery process, and what stood out wasn’t just the clarity—it...

In this episode of A Category of One , I sit down with Emily Garcia, keynote speaker and founder of Tribe Mind Body Wellness, a counseling practice that has grown far beyond what she originally set out to build. This conversation starts with what happens when you pay attention to what’s pulling you, even when it doesn’t make logical sense. Emily shares how her business evolved from a solo practice...

In this episode of A Category of One , I sit down with Maria Gabriela Guevara, an Ayurvedic practitioner and former pharmacist, to talk about what it looks like to support your body and mind in a way that actually feels sustainable. We start in an unexpected place—Mercury retrograde, the equinox, and the feeling that something is shifting—and move into a deeper conversation about intuition, midlif...

In this episode of A Category of One, I sit down with Ben Albert, owner of Balbert Marketing LLC, founder of GrowGetters ONLY, and host of the internationally recognized podcast Real Business Connections, to talk about what it actually looks like to grow a business through relationships. This conversation moves beyond the surface-level idea of “networking.” Ben shares how people approach relations...

In this episode of A Category of One , Leslie sits down with chiropractor and lifestyle medicine practitioner Dr. Rachel Kapustka to explore health, burnout, and what it actually means to heal. Dr. Rachel’s work centers on the nervous system and the understanding that no amount of discipline, optimization, or mindset can override a body that doesn’t feel safe. Through her own lived experience—incl...

What if scaling your business didn’t require hiring a team, working more hours, or chasing endless clients? In this episode of A Category of One, Leslie Silverman sits down with entrepreneur, author, TEDx speaker and NoBS Mastery founder Pia Silva to talk about a different way to build a business centered on expertise, leadership, and freedom. Pia shares the philosophy behind her new book Scale So...

If you’ve ever felt the tension between who you really are and who you think you’re supposed to be in business, this podcast is for you. In this short introduction, Leslie Silverman shares why she created A Category of One — a podcast built around deep, honest conversations with entrepreneurs about authenticity, identity, and the courage to do things differently. Each week, Leslie sits down with f...

In this episode of A Category of One, Leslie Silverman sits down with copywriter and messaging strategist Rachael Johnson, founder of Rachael Johnson Creative, to talk about authentic messaging and what it really takes to build a brand that stands out. Rachael shares her approach to copywriting through brand voice clarity, messaging strategy, and deep customer research. Instead of trying to sound...