In Her Words

Jackie Harwood is sweet, pretty, and soft spoken, a suburban working wife and mom to two sons. So acquaintances are often shocked to hear she once went to prison for forging prescriptions to support her addiction to opioids. But when you hear her whole story, the most surprising thing is that she got clean, kept her marriage intact, and renewed a loving relationship with her husband and two sons....

Jeanne Hall was on the same plane with MLK when someone phoned in a bomb threat. First hand experience with a moment in history of The Albany Movement. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sis Kaplan is a broadcasting pioneer. Her father signed WBBM Radio in Chicago on the air (from her grandmother’s ROOF)! She and her husband Stan brought Rock N Roll Radio to Charlotte, NC in the form of “Big WAYS Radio”. Now almost 90 years old, she’s living history. Meeting her was a revelation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Peg Robarchek grew to become a great ex-wife. I really admire her. Tell her I said so.  Peg has just come out with her first memoir, WELCOME TO THE CHURCH OF I DON’T HAVE A CLUE. After writing dozens of books, this one is different. It’s brave. It’s bold. It’s real. It’s raw. And you should read it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stuart Watson <stu@voicelocket.com>6:10 PM (2 hours ago)to meIn my home town of Albany, Georgia a family owned candy cane company became synonymous with Christmas. Bob’s Candy Company was run by Bob McCormack.  Bea McCormack was there. Bob was her brother. And she recalls how they did something unusual for the time in the Deep South: paid Black workers the same wages as Whites. See omnystudi...

Robyn Norwood went from a dirt road in West Virginia to an Executive Producer in Hollywood films . Oh and BTW she’s a mom to three great kids and grew her own real estate business to sell it for millions. Yet she still has regrets. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sarah Knight felt lost and invisible. She was a teen and her big sister’s crisis took all her parents attention. It takes just a few questions to open up a fully formed young woman and to realize - WOW - there’s a lot here. The cool aunt to a niece “Nugget” who is TOTALLY into sharks - and a young woman who practices meditation on the daily just to protect her own mental health and stave off depre...

Shirley Fulton was born in the low country of South Carolina and picked cotton with her mother as a child. She graduated high school at 16 and went to an HBCU (NC A&T, Greensboro) for college and another HBCU (NCCU, Durham) for law school. The first time she set foot in a classroom with white students was when she transferred to Duke Law. There were 10 Black students there - total. She became...

Hannah Wilson serves up eggs and bacon and biscuits for tips but she has dreams. This is what happens when you actually get to know a little bit about what’s going on in the life of a waitress. Stuart talks to Hannah on her break at the diner.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sarah Blake Morgan never got to meet her father, but no doubt he’s beaming somewhere, bursting with pride at the brilliant and accomplished daughter born two months after he died. Starting life as the only child of missionary parents, Sarah grew up as a little girl in Tampa rolling down the car window and greeting homeless men by name (since she brought them meals with her Mom). She’s gone on to b...

Lorah (loo-RAY) Gerald was given up by her birth mother to be adopted. She understood that. What she did not understand was her birth mother’s desire to never speak with her again. TRIGGER WARNING: EXPLICIT DISCUSSION OF SUICIDE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sydney Cummings Houdyshell has drawn more than one and a half MILLION subscribers to her YouTube channel featuring regular workouts aimed at real women. Sydney offers a refreshing dose of authenticity and unabashed encouragement. She went to WVU on a track scholarship and has worked her butt off (literally) to get where she is. And my sense is… she ain’t done yet! COUNT ME AS A FAN!  See omnystudi...

Emily Swann breastfed her own cooing baby boy while talking about her classes for new moms. She says moms are off the charts anxious about feeding their infants and finding some time for sleep.  Emily’s public parenting has drawn plenty of side eye from people critical of her approach. Emily is a bona fide lactation expert (an RN with NICU experience) who comforts young mom’s awash in anxiety over...

Alice Yu moved from NC to the big city of Chicago and competed in the Miss Asian Chicago pageant uplifting Asian Women and SHE WON! She’s the QUEEN! I met Alice Yu through my youngest two kids when they were at Chapel Hill and she was musical director for an a cappella group. She went to UNC undergrad, Duke for Med School and then off to Northwestern for her internship. For episode 199 - our first...

Julie J is half of the mom comedy team “The Family Jewels” (check out their new podcast on the Queen City Podcast Network ). She talks candidly about growing up raising calves on a Virginia farm, her decision to have kids, her “surprise divorce” and her reluctance to be a comedy partner! A quality conversation! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shelby Perry lost an eye three years into her sober journey. She had to be thinking “And I got sober for THIS???” She gained a whole new outlook, launching a business EYEHESIVE.COM  AND finding a whole new community THE ONE EYE GANG. She is a walking talking inspiration! Just listen!   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kim Matone desperately needed good mental health care as a teenager with Type One Bipolar Disorder. She needed it again as a young mom with Post Partum Depression. And thank God she got the help she needed! She is now a mental health professional herself helping girls and women who are right where she was. TRIGGER WARNING:  FRANK TALK OF SUICIDE. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. See omnystudio.com/listener...

Jaime Lane always loved and respected her elders. She was always close. When her grandparents died, holidays were hard. So she launched her own non-profit charity to connect with seniors right in the height of COVID isolation. SEASONS OF GIVING took off like a big ole rocket, growing exponentially. She’s made SOOOO many friends. Just listen! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Julia Barno describes herself as “culturally Jewish” after growing up with a divorced Mom in Buffalo NY. She went to a decidedly Jewish summer camp where she once met Larry David. Her family turned to her for reliable laughs to defuse tension. Julia was a natural. Now comedy is a calling she dares to answer. We sit down in her office in her Plaza-Midwood home in Charlotte and the conversation take...

I became friends with Dr. Margaret Brennan decades ago in Nashville because she graduated from Vanderbilt University Medical School and practiced as a cardiologist.  I met Margaret through my dear friend Dr. Maggie Stolz. Both women are devoted Irish Catholics who practice their faith through their kindness in helping others heal. Now Margaret’s own cancer has reoccurred and she has to trust other...

Carline Watson was born in London, raised in Jamaica and educated at Columbia University in NYC. She and I and her wonderful husband Walter Ray were in the same seminar taught by the late great Charles Ogletree who knew Barack Obama at Harvard Law School. But enough name dropping. The most fascinating stories in her rich beautiful voice speak to the simple joys of growing up in Jamaica, going to t...

Maura Sullivan took out equity from her home. Then she sold it. All to pay for two sons with profound autism. She went to the statehouse as part of a grass roots movement to get insurance to cover needed services for autism. They asked lawmakers for help. And they got it. Tens of thousands are benefiting from this law. With distrust of politicians running high, Maura’s story offers hope. See omnys...

Amy and her sister each won little Miss Ashe County NC so of COURSE their mother moved them to NYC for careers as child actresses. She did a pudding pop commercial with Bill Cosby and a film for Gary Marshall and a film with Matt Dillon. Then she moved home. Amy and I bond over stories of WRAL and our crush on CBS’ Jim Axelrod. (We’re both big fans!) Amy had quite the career in radio in Chicago. S...

Allison Modafferi is a great daughter, sister and mom who took the helm at Be Yoga Collective and applies it’s principles of movement and breathing to live a peaceful life in a loud world. She is a delight, the daughter of a teacher who went on to become a teacher herself. Listen and learn! I know I did. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Larissa Miller Honeycutt had a fundamental problem. A great career at the Billy Graham Evangelical Association but she knew in her heart she was gay.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.