Joy Found Here

What if showing up online with integrity starts with the peace you carry inside? In episode 282 of Joy Found Here, visibility strategist Elizabeth Honeycutt shares how a childhood of heavy responsibility, years of self-sacrifice, and fifteen years of meditation taught her that peace is a daily practice. For Elizabeth, inner calm keeps visibility honest and shapes how she handles hard emotions, onl...

What if your body has been blocking what you keep asking the universe for? In episode 281 of Joy Found Here, somatic coach and author Ani Anderson shares how a longing for deeper conversation led her to love, and how a passing comment on her couch became Manifestation for Dummies within 24 hours. For Ani, manifestation is a partnership with the universe, rooted in the nervous system, the subconsci...

What do you do when the career that defined you leaves you running on empty and your body says enough? In episode 280 of Joy Found Here, coach Erin Dougherty shares how burnout and a tough perimenopause pushed her out of an 18-year teaching career, into clinical research, then coaching midlife women. She covers whole-person health, finding comfort in Reiki after loss, building a community of 100+...

What happens when a near-death childbirth experience becomes the wake-up call that launches a six-figure wellness empire? In episode 279 of Joy Found Here, Cassandra Sonma Ukaobi, known as Cass UK, shares how an emergency C-section and postpartum depression pushed her to leave a stable NHS career and go all-in on Tolicious, her wellness brand. For Cass, the journey wasn't about waiting until thing...

What happens when trauma gets distilled into fifty-five letters to a mother who couldn't hear them? In episode 278, Kim Cook shares how a shelf collapse and old records cracked open years of grief, unlocking the letters behind her memoir, What Remains Is Love. For Kim, healing meant compassion for an imperfect mother and choosing joy at every age. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (03:34) How Kim's...

What if the only difference between a listener and a published author is hitting record? In episode 277, Michelle Glogovac, THE Podcast Matchmaker®, shares how a 2018 layoff pushed her from corporate aviation into a career built on other people's stories — one nudge, one ask at a time, into a business, a book, and a following she never saw coming. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (00:13) Introduci...

What if the loudest truths in your life have been arriving as whispers all along? In episode 276 of Joy Found Here, transformational mindset coach Kathleen Huebner shares how a difficult divorce and a mysterious moment on a walk in the woods led her to write her bestselling book, Whispers Within Us. For Kathleen, the real work isn't chasing constant noise or forcing outcomes—it's learning to slow...

What if the biggest obstacle to becoming who you're meant to be isn't outside circumstances, but the boxes you've been checking your whole life? In episode 275, executive coach and bestselling author Tori DaCosta shares how a pause in her corporate career led her to write No Name Bastard—and reclaim ownership over the one thing she could truly control: herself. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (05...

What happens when a search for identity across continents ends in healing an old childhood wound? In episode 274, singer-songwriter and educator Machan Taylor shares how a culture-straddling upbringing fueled a music career alongside Sting, Pink Floyd, and Foreigner—and became the seed of her memoir, Naked Out Loud. For Machan, it's the journey from never belonging to finally feeling whole. In Thi...

What happens when your body starts speaking in symptoms—and it takes rock bottom to finally listen? In episode 273, Amber Romaniuk, Emotional Eating, Digestive and Hormone Expert, shares her battle with binge eating that had her gaining and losing over 1,000 pounds. For Amber, healing wasn't willpower or a quick-fix diet—it was uncovering the hormone imbalances, gut issues, and emotional wounds dr...

What if what you call self-sabotage is really your nervous system doing what it learned to keep you safe? In episode 272 of Joy Found Here, somatic healing practitioner Lori Montry explains why mindset and willpower alone can't create lasting change, and why the body must be part of the process. Drawing on her own journey out of high-achieving overwhelm, she introduces her Freedom Formula and make...

What happens when a storyteller who's lived on five continents realizes reinvention is a skill, not something that happens to you? In episode 269, Laura G. Patac joins Stephanie to unpack how our own stories and unconscious strengths quietly shape the ceilings we hit in life. For Laura, the answer isn't more credentials, but recognizing your patterns and repositioning what you already have. In Thi...

What happens when a Gen X president and a millennial account director decide to run a marketing agency—and start a podcast—together? In episode 270 of Joy Found Here, Deanna Dolecki and Ashley Ruggeri of Blue Duck Agency share what it's like building a boutique, fully virtual agency across two life stages—from Deanna's empty-nest reinvention at 50 to Ashley's whirlwind days as a hockey mom. They t...

What if the secret to getting everything you want is simply having the nerve to ask for it? In episode 269 of Joy Found Here, Dr. Jen Fry shares how a career built on bold requests carried her from college volleyball coaching to becoming a sports geographer, tech founder, and conflict literacy expert. For Jen, success was never about having all the answers — it was about betting on herself with ju...

What happens when an architect's structured world collides with the freedom of art—and grief becomes the bridge between them? In episode 268, Ksenia Merck shares how illustrating Ghost Flower, the novel her late husband Bill left behind, turned heartbreak into a sweeping collaboration of love, art, and legacy. For Ksenia, the journey wasn't about letting go—it was about discovering that connection...

What happens when a cancer diagnosis turns out to be the beginning of a mission, not the end of a story? In episode 267 of Joy Found Here, Tim McDonald shares how a stage IV colorectal cancer diagnosis in 2020 led him through chemo, a search for a living liver donor, and ultimately a transplant that changed everything—and how that journey turned him into a research advocate, author, and podcast ho...

What if the quiet feeling that you're not enough isn't a character flaw — but something your nervous system learned long ago just to keep you safe? In episode 266 of Joy Found Here, psychotherapist and author Kristine B. Jensen unpacks one of the most misunderstood and under-named emotions we carry: shame — and how the stories we've been telling ourselves for decades may finally be ready to be set...

What happens when a woman who spent decades holding everyone else together finally has no choice but to let go? In episode 265 of Joy Found Here, Florence Acosta — former Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, healthcare executive, and the person everyone leaned on — shares how a stroke at 50 became the moment that shattered her old identity and cracked her wide open. Her story is a powerful remi...

What if burnout isn't a sign you're doing too much — but a sign you've forgotten who you are? In episode 264 of Joy Found Here, Dr. Rebecca Hubbard, licensed clinical psychologist and TEDx speaker, brings her own hard-won burnout story to the table — from a thyroid diagnosis to burning out again despite doing all the "right" things — and reveals why the real fix isn't another self-care routine. It...

What if the reason you can't stick to diets has nothing to do with willpower and everything to do with how your brain is wired? In episode 263 of Joy Found Here, Lizzie Merritt, bestselling author and certified weight loss coach, reveals how a daily 4:37 PM snack spiral became her wake-up call. From middle school science teacher to coach, Lizzie shows that weight loss isn't about food or willpower...

What if the life you were always meant to live was hiding inside the one you were already living? In episode 262 of Joy Found Here, Katie DeBonville — writer, musician, and first-time memoirist at 53 — shares how a pandemic-era MFA, a lifelong love of music, and the quiet courage to finally call herself a writer converged into her debut memoir, Grace Notes: A Musical Memoir. For Katie, the story w...

What if the psychologist sitting across from you has faced the very same darkness she's spent 40 years helping others through? In episode 261 of Joy Found Here, Dr. Celeste Birkhofer — Stanford faculty member and author of the forthcoming Beyond Quick Fixes — opens up about her own mental health struggles and the devastating loss of her son to bipolar disorder, and why she believes mental health i...

What if the most powerful tool for healing and transformation has been beating inside your chest your whole life? In episode 260 of Joy Found Here, Puran and Susanna Bair, co-founders of iamHeart, reveal how Heart Rhythm Meditation uses the science of breath and the electromagnetic power of the heart to unlock emotional resilience and deepen connection. From Susanna's personal story of hitting roc...

What if work-life balance feels impossible not because of your schedule, but because of what's happening inside your head? In episode 259 of Joy Found Here, international life coach Rebecca Olson unpacks why so many ambitious working moms are stuck — and it starts with asking better questions. From her own motherhood identity crisis to coaching thousands of parents through theirs, she makes the ca...

What if the most powerful life lessons you carry were handed down by the woman who raised you — and it took 40 years to realize it? In episode 258 of Joy Found Here, serial entrepreneur and action coach Amy Goober shares how a lifetime of her mother's wisdom became a book and a blueprint for women ready to stop waiting and start living. Amy is living proof that the best chapters don't always come...