Live Well. Be Wise

Send us Fan Mail In today’s episode we do our very first interview with a non-profit organization to highlight a program. Elder Speak.  Part of the Ripple Foundation, centered in the Upper Wenatchee Valley led by Deb Pobst, Robin Boal, Theresa D-Litzenberger and Dzhan Wiley.  Deb and Theresa share the bones of the program and the personal and community-based impacts, over the 12-years they’ve been...

Send us Fan Mail Today we warmly welcome Frank Cone. A Wenatchee man who with humor and heart tells us what it’s like to have a son with a developmental disability.  You’ll hear what it was like to get the news hours after Evan was born, at 3-pounds, 2 ounces and 11-weeks early, “we believe he has Down’s Syndrome.” You won’t hear Frank talk about sacrifice or being a hero, instead you will hear ab...

Send us Fan Mail Meet Naomie Peasley. She is a Survivor. A Teacher. And a beacon for Hope. She shows us how it’s possible to move from victimhood to accountability one day at a time.  In today’s episode we sit down with Naomie Peasley, a Colville Tribal member from the Okanogan Valley. She shares about her life growing up on the reservation, surviving abuse, poverty, generational trauma, and her o...

Send us Fan Mail Today Dorrinda and I sit down to give our thanks to each other, our listeners, and this community of incredible storytellers! To celebrate the first year of Live Well Be Wise. We reflect back on the year, and share what we're learning through hearing and sharing people's stories of healing through hardship. Additionally what we feel the wisdom process is shaping up to be...

Send us Fan Mail We sat down today with Jamie Johnson, a new friend and neighbor in the Upper Valley. She shared with us about how she came to leave the vocation that she loved, teaching. Suffering from overwhelm and demoralization, Jamie says she was no longer willing to be the face of success in an education system that was failing to give it’s students what they needed. We talk about how system...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back friends for Season 2!   Dorrinda and I are profoundly grateful for your support (listening & sharing) and are thrilled to be back with a full year worth of episodes that aim to inspire hope, connect us across the divide, and foster learning & growth for ourselves and our communities. Today we kick off Season 2 with an incredible story as told by community memb...

Send us Fan Mail In episode-11 Briseldy Hernandez - Ramos tells us how growing up Latina in a white world had her constantly wondering what it meant to belong.  Facing the challenges of growing up in a migrant farm-working family, moving from school to school, in environments of racial bias and prejudice, she struggled to see herself in the spaces she found herself in. After years using heavy cosm...

Send us Fan Mail In episode 10, we sit down with community member Zoe Jaspers to talk about the very real intersection in his life between Christian faith and being transgender (someone whose gender is different than the gender they were assumed to be at birth).  Just as a trans-Atlantic journey crosses the Atlantic Ocean, the trans-gender journey crosses gender (from that assigned at birth). How...

Send us Fan Mail Join us today for Episode-8 as we sit down with Jaime Donegan, a neighbor and creator in the Wenatchee Valley! His story begins and ends with this statement, "this is your day..." "How do we get off the hamster wheel of life, motivated solely by other people's demands, and return to our own rhythm and pace?"  Jaime tells us how to do just this! With purpos...

Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to heal at the deepest layers possible, question everything, leave integral parts of yourself behind, and come out the other side with a smile on your face, you must meet Blake Suzelis . His story of hardship begins at birth, when he is born with his intestines on the outside of his abdomen, a condition called gastroschisis. He has not only su...

Send us Fan Mail In episode #7 we are honored to sit down with community member and healthcare provider, Kelly Condefer. You may never get this much authenticity from your own doctor, but you will in this episode! She tells about her experience of seeking happiness in achievement and her life-long battle with depression. With humor and humility she shares what she found at the top of "the lad...

Send us Fan Mail Part II of II in this Series! If you've missed Part I, please go back and listen to that in Episode-5 when we first met Juan Pablo Suarez. Today you will hear us deepen the conversation we began in Part I.  Juan Pablo shares with us how part of his journey to Wellness was realizing the dream of becoming a father. He shares his "domino effect" and how it all came int...

Send us Fan Mail This interview takes place in 2 parts: Part I is here & Part II coming soon! Today we hear from community member Juan Pablo Suarez.  He shares about learning to live in the present moment and how living in the past or in the future keeps us from being happy.   We talk about what it means to live an authentic life. He says, “One day I woke up and decided to be myself.” Juan Pab...

Send us Fan Mail "My heart believed I was a mistake."   Join us as we sit down with Linda Congdon, longtime Wenatchee resident, to learn about the inspiration for her first book, "Planted by Love."  We hear first-hand, how she transforms this false belief, of being a mistake, and ultimately finds her way home to a loving heart.  For herself and for the biological parents she ne...

Send us Fan Mail In today’s episode we sit down with friend and neighbor Scott Kreiter. He shares his story about helping his mom remain independent to the last moment--to choose death with dignity. (And no he didn’t kill anyone!)  Scott calls himself a neanderthal, not someone who is a deep thinker, but honestly we decided this show proves him wrong! With humor and depth he walks us through the s...

Send us Fan Mail Dorrinda and I sat down with community member, Ana Gonzalez, who tells about living with severe childhood mental health issues and how she came out the other side.   Ana was raised in a Mexican household, facing significant barriers of poverty, trauma and cultural assimilation at a young age.  An experience that profoundly impacted her path to healing and instilled a deep belief i...

Send us Fan Mail WARNING: graphic language around suicide loss in this episode Join us as we talk with friend and healthcare provider, Chandra Villano, for a richly engaging and awe-inspiring story of surviving suicide loss and near death experience.  Hear how these events profoundly shaped her life and her personal path to wellness.   She explains how her "... deep dive into drugs, alcohol a...

Send us Fan Mail