Confident You - Raw Conversations

In Day 4 of this life-clarity series on Brave Moves, Julie DeLucca-Collins tackles the area most people quietly deprioritize until it forces its way to the front: health and body. She explores why health rarely feels urgent enough to compete with deadlines and inboxes, and why "after this season" is often a permanent postponement disguised as a plan. Julie reframes the conversation away...

In Day 3 of this life-clarity series on Brave Moves, Julie DeLucca-Collins tackles the area most people default to first when figuring out what they want: career and work. She breaks down the three competing voices in every career decision — what pays, what looks impressive, and what actually energizes you — and makes the case that real clarity comes from getting honest about which voice has been...

Ask most people what they want out of life, and you'll get silence — or a vague answer borrowed from someone else's script. Ask them what they don't want, and they can usually answer in seconds. In Day 2 of this life-clarity series on Brave Moves, Julie DeLucca-Collins makes the case that your "no" list is actually the fastest path to your "yes." Julie walks thro...

"What do you want to do with your life?" is one of the biggest questions we ask ourselves - and one of the hardest to actually answer, because most of us try to answer it as if life is one single thing instead of several areas running in parallel. In this episode of Brave Moves, Julie DeLucca-Collins kicks off a week-long series by mapping out the core areas of life worth examining: care...

A butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, and weeks later, there's a tornado in Texas. In this episode of Brave Moves, Julie DeLucca-Collins takes the butterfly effect out of chaos theory and into everyday life, making the case that small, seemingly insignificant actions can create an outsized impact over time. Julie explores why we underestimate small moves — sending the email, making the intro...

What if the things you surround yourself with are either supporting the life you want to build or quietly taking up space in it? In this episode of Brave Moves , Julie shares an unexpected lesson she learned from her father, a man who grew up in the projects of New York City but believed deeply in investing in quality. He owned custom suits, designer shirts, great golf clubs, and carefully chosen...

Melinda French Gates has spoken candidly about losing her own voice while working alongside a strong, dominant partner, and the panic attacks and unsettling dreams that eventually forced her to listen to herself again. In this episode of Brave Moves, Julie DeLucca-Collins explores Melinda's journey: the dream of her house crumbling, her need for solitude to hear her own truth, her belief that...

What do you do when the experts tell you one thing, but everything inside you is telling you something else? Do you trust their experience? Or do you trust yourself? In this episode of Brave Moves , Julie shares the powerful story of IT Cosmetics founder Jamie Kern Lima and the high-stakes decision that helped change the future of her company. Jamie had spent years building a beauty brand based on...

We all carry labels we never chose. "The quiet one." "The shy one." "The one who isn't good at this." In this episode of Brave Moves, Julie DeLucca-Collins explores a phrase from her friend, weight loss coach Corinne Crabtree, that changed how she thinks about her own history: "Your past is your teacher, not a fortune teller." Julie breaks down the diff...

Ever leave a conversation thinking "I should have said that"? Julie DeLucca-Collins breaks down why women default to silence, why confidence is the outcome of assertiveness rather than a prerequisite, and the exact language shift, starting with banning "I'm sorry," that can change how you show up in every conversation. Long description (SEO-optimized): Confidence and asser...

What if one hormone was quietly influencing your sleep, blood sugar, mood, immune system, and even where your body stores fat? That hormone is cortisol , often called the body's primary stress hormone. Cortisol isn't bad. In fact, we need it. It helps us respond quickly when something demands our attention, whether that's slamming on the brakes or powering through a deadline. The pr...

What happens when someone believes in you before the rest of the world can see what is possible? In 1977, Dick Hoyt wasn't a runner. But when his son Rick, who had cerebral palsy and used a wheelchair, wanted to participate in a five-mile benefit race, Dick agreed to push him. They finished next to last. That night, Rick typed a sentence that changed everything: "Dad, when I'm runni...

Can Reading 30 Minutes a Day Add Years to Your Life? What if one of the simplest habits you could build was sitting on your bookshelf? A social media post claimed that reading just 30 minutes a day could add nearly two years to your life. As someone who has loved books since childhood, I definitely wanted that to be true. So I went looking at the research behind the headline. In this episode of Br...

Social media can help you grow a business, build your visibility, connect with potential clients, and share a message that matters. It can also drain your energy, trigger comparison, and make you question whether your voice is good enough. For women in midlife, women navigating a transition, and business owners building something meaningful, walking away from social media completely may not feel r...

Happiness is not reserved for people with easier lives, better circumstances, or fewer problems. The happiest and most grounded people often face the same challenges as everyone else. What sets them apart is how they choose to live, where they place their attention, and what they refuse to give their energy to. In this episode of Brave Moves, Julie shares six habits she has noticed in genuinely ha...

What is your “one thing”? In the movie City Slickers , Curly famously holds up one finger and says the secret of life is one thing. When asked what that one thing is, he simply replies, “That’s what you’ve got to find out.” But finding your one thing is not always about discovering the perfect career, reaching a revenue goal, earning a new title, or finally arriving at some imagined destination. S...

A racing heart. Shallow breathing. A clenched jaw. Cold hands. A nervous stomach. Thoughts that will not slow down. These sensations can make you feel as though something is wrong with you. But your body is not broken. It is trying to protect you. In this episode of Brave Moves , Julie DeLucca-Collins explains what happens when your body enters the fight-or-flight response and why everyday stresso...

What if the things that come most naturally to you could change someone else’s life? In this episode of Brave Moves , Julie reflects on two deeply moving stories she discovered on TikTok. One is about the loss of a beloved dog who helped rehabilitate animals others had given up on. The other is about a woman facing early-onset Alzheimer’s who chose to share her diagnosis, difficult decisions, and...

At 70 years old, Julie’s grandmother lost her leg to a rare cancer. After surgery, chemotherapy, and rehabilitation, she faced the difficult task of learning how to walk again with a wooden prosthetic leg that weighed nearly 30 pounds. She could have decided that she had already lived a full life. She could have accepted that this was where her independence ended. Instead, she installed parallel b...

Before someone makes success look effortless, they spend time being uncertain, imperfect, and brand new. In this episode of Brave Moves , Julie shares the beautiful memory of a hot pink polka-dot dress handmade by her grandmother, a talented businesswoman, educator, concert pianist, philanthropist, and master seamstress. Without using a pattern, her grandmother could transform a simple piece of fa...

The night sky is not a live telecast. That light you're looking at when you stargaze? It left those stars hundreds of years ago. Some of those stars might not even exist anymore. You're looking at an echo of light, and it's still one of the most beautiful things you've ever seen. I think about this a lot when I'm out in the woods at night, looking for the moon, tracing con...

 Julie DeLucca-Collins shares a personal story from a recent trip to Montana, where she and her travel companions found themselves searching for cell signal in the middle of breathtaking natural beauty. This episode explores what our reliance on constant connectivity costs us, and why being unreachable might be the bravest move you make this week. A reflection on presence, technology, and reclaimi...

Positive affirmations can be powerful, but during difficult seasons, repeating something you do not believe can create even more pressure. When your words do not match what you are experiencing, an affirmation may feel less like encouragement and more like another expectation you are failing to meet. In this episode of Brave Moves, Julie shares how to use affirmations without ignoring your emotion...

Travel is a universally rewarding experience, whether it's a week-long vacation at a resort or a backpacking trip through the Mountains. You have the opportunity to meet people, hear incredible stories, expose yourself to new cultures & languages, and ultimately grow as a person. Traveling has been the thing that has changed me and helped me recalibrate in life. A common theme – related t...

Everyone sees the finished TEDx talk — the red carpet, the polished nine minutes on stage. Almost nobody sees the first time the speaker applied and got a no. In this episode of Brave Moves, Julie DeLucca-Collins shares the real story behind becoming a TEDx speaker, including her first rejected application and what she did next. Julie breaks down why a rejection from one specific TEDx event isn&ap...