Ask It Like You Mean It, with Aaron Barlin

That's a wrap on Season 1! Many thanks to our wonderful guests this season: together, they offer a robust range of different and in-depth expertise. We asked them hard questions like we meant it -- and they all answered like they meant it, too! Presented by Elynndí , and hosted by Aaron Barlin . See elynndi.com to learn how we "think like a teacher" to create the show.

Sarah Kagan , grief coach and consultant at Keriah Grief Coaching & Consulting , helps people and organizations rebuild the capacity to grieve together—openly, skillfully, and with ritual. Sarah examines what our loss of common grief practice reveals about community and emotional life today. Sarah shares insights on: How her lived experienced called upon her to become a grief coach What distin...

Maria Morukian , founder and CEO of MSM Global Consulting , has spent over 18 years guiding leaders and organizations through culture change, intercultural competence, and leadership development. Maria reframes leadership not as a position of power but as an act of loving stewardship —setting the tone for what organizations and people can become when they work alongside each other, rather than &#3...

Wallis Mills —Founder & Principal Advisor at Modern Enterprise —helps C-suites separate real modernity from trend-chasing. Drawing on executive roles at AMD and NVIDIA , she advises on AI readiness, go-to-market, and narrative strategy that builds durable advantage instead of “shiny object syndrome." Wallis shares insights on: Why she left her previous roles to build an independent strateg...

Ellen Raim , founder of People Matter LLC , is a "generational interpreter" in the workplace, helping companies and young professionals bridge the divide between Gen Z, Gen X, and all in-between. In this episode, Ellen invites us to rethink how age-based differences in the workplace are about more than just our years of life: they’re about how we handle change and difference in general, a...

Rachael G describes herself as a “Big Law refugee,” and she joins us to pull back the veil on some of the most toxic workplaces in her industry (while keeping the most sensitive details confidential along the way). Our conversation is about how walking away from toxicity is the start, not the end, of a new and more fulfilling phase of work and life. A former attorney at one of New York’s billion-d...

Charlotte Safran , Program Manager at Vermont Department of Health , has built her career around transforming healthcare into a system of genuine partnership. Her work bridges hospitals, families, and communities—grounded in both her lived experience as a parent and her professional mission to center empathy, equity, and collaboration in care. Charlotte shares insights on: What “patient- and famil...

Lani Matsumura , Director of Social Services Training & Development at The Salvation Army , brings her background as a teacher, instructional designer, and believer in lifelong learning to this conversation. In this episode, she offers a fresh perspective on embracing a learning lifestyle—one rooted in growth, rest, and integrity, not in pressure, perfectionism, or burnout. Lani shares insight...

Business and executive coach Ianna Raim, MBA, PCC of Ianna Raim Coaching helps leaders and professionals stop sabotaging themselves and build careers that feel authentic, resilient, and fulfilling. In this episode, she breaks down how to get out of our own way and grow in both business and life. Ianna Raim shares insights on: What it really means to “get out of our own way” in career and leadershi...

Think of the show “Hot Ones,” but instead of pop icons, we’re putting industry leaders in the hot seat to ask them spicy questions about their expertise—from consultants, to educators, to healthcare professionals, and more. The first 3 episodes of Season 1 drop on Monday, October 6, with new episodes released on Mondays after that. We start with our "deepest" question—a question that makes...