Make Life Less Difficult

Send us a message! My guest today is Arianne Rice. Arianne is back on the Make Life Less Difficult podcast for conversation #3.  Arianne first shared pieces of her story on episode 17, then came back to explore grief, sadness, and difficult times around loss on episode 49. Arianne is an Episcopal priest, Certified Daring Way Facilitator, and Leadership Coach. Since we first met, Arianne has also b...

Send us a message! My guest today is Bechara Abi Assi. Bechara describes himself as a “humble student traveler on this journey of life.” Bechara is driven by a deep curiosity to understand how people make sense of their inner and outer worlds, and a wonder at the possibilities that opens up for them. He is committed to helping himself and others build close-knit groups and cultivate meaningful rel...

Send us a message! My guest today is Alex Tonsberg. Before I share more about Alex, let me apologize for the background noise and poor audio quality for this introduction.  I’m in Nepal at the moment and there’s not a quiet place to be found! But about Alex… There are two things that are certain in life - death and taxes. But for Alex there was a third certainty.  While still in elementary school,...

Send us a message! My guest today is Sue Harvey. Sue established Riverwise Leadership, previously New Direction Strategy, to help leaders and organizations do change better.  Working at the intersection of leadership coaching, team effectiveness, and change management, Sue guest leaders and teams to unlock their creativity and innate wisdom to deliver meaningful, lasting change.   Sue serves emerg...

Send us a message! My guest today is Thiago Hanken. Thiago supervises a high impact team at the US Consulate General in Recife Brazil.  He’s also a trainer and workshop facilitator for the US Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute Adjunct Faculty program.  He teaches leadership skills, communication strategy, cross cultural understanding, conflict management, change management and more ut...

Send us a message! My guest today is Beatrice Redi.  Beatrice is a Positive Leadership Facilitator, an Executive Coach, and a Chief Happiness Officer.   Before turning to full-time coaching and leadership development, Beatrice worked for 28 years in global corporations in the Pharmaceutical sector as a leader in Marketing and Sales functions, both industry and consulting side.   While working in g...

Send us a message! My guest today is Noel Bulger.  Before I tell you more about Noel, I want to take a moment to recognize this as the 100th episode of the Make Life Less Difficult podcast!  This is an exciting and humbling milestone to reach.  What started as an experiment has developed into an amazing journey of connection, growth, learning, and deep gratitude.   Occasionally someone will ask me...

Send us a message! My guest today is Lieutenant Colonel Tony Cerella.   Tony was born in Texas, raised in Colorado, Germany, and Virginia, and currently lives in Como, Italy.     Tony graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 2000, after which he was commissioned as an Army officer and later transitioned to the Ordnance Corps.  He swore he would serve just for 4 years and be done.  Twenty-...

Send us a message! My guest today is Charmetra Guess, better known as Meme.   Meme is a scientist turned content creator and the mother of an amazing teenage daughter (wait until you hear Meme talk about her daughter – it’s beautiful and inspirational!).  She has loved science since very early in life, as it gave her consistency as she moved around the world as the daughter in a US military family...

Send us a message! My guest today is Becky Tibbitts.    Becky is a professional certified coach with a passion for mental fitness which leads to 10x productivity, joy-filled connected relationships, and overall life satisfaction.  She helps professionals avoid energy drains that can lead to burnout.  She helps them create time and financial freedom, and also to experience more joy in life and work...

Send us a message! My guest today is Valerie Brown.   VALERIE BROWN is a Buddhist-Quaker Dharma teacher, facilitator, and executive coach. A former lawyer and lobbyist, she is a co-director of Georgetown’s Institute for Transformational Leadership as well as founder and chief mindfulness officer of Lead Smart Coaching.    She is an ordained Buddhist Dharma teacher in the Plum Village tradition, fo...

Send us a message! My guest today is Chris Thyberg.   It’s a pleasure to have Chris back on the show after our first conversation on episode 44.    Chris is the founder and principal of The Serving Way, a leadership coaching practice dedicated to partnering with experienced and emerging leaders in all sectors as they pursue great purposes for results that really matter. It is his calling and privi...

Send us a message! Lisa shares her reflections on the year ahead along with her word of the year: Focus. In this episode, Lisa refers to the article, For better health this year, keep it simple , from the Washington Post. Please feel free to reach out if you are interested in sharing your story on the Make Life Less Difficult podcast in 2023! Email Lisa: lisa@makelifelessdifficult.com Support the...

Send us a message! Lisa shares how she finishes out the year with these three reflections: 1. What am I proud of from the past year? 2. What are my regrets? 3. Recommit to Progress not Perfection  Thanks for all the support and love during 2022! It’s been an amazing journey and we are looking forward to 2023!!! Support the show Make Life Less Difficult ~    Support: buymeacoffee.com/lisatilstra

Send us a message! My guest today is Cameron Smoak. Cameron is an executive coach and a respected trainer and facilitator of leadership workshops around the world for companies in multiple industries.  Cameron has degrees from Yale University, Oxford, and Harvard.  He combines experience from being a manager at McKinsey & Co with his masters in psychology to support his clients in the results...

Send us a message! My guest today is Brigi Perez.   Brigi is a Digital Business Manager.  She supports heart-centered and Highly Sensitive entrepreneurs tame the overwhelm of organizing their business processes by setting up smart databases and systems in Notion so that the entrepreneurs can focus on what they do best – working with and for their clients!   Brigi is one of the most organized peopl...

Send us a message! My guest today is Srikanth Seshadri.   Srikanth is originally from India, moved to the US for school and work, married a US diplomat, and now lives in the Washington DC area.  But I’ll let Sri tell you more about his story and journey in a minute!   Sri holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering and an MBA.  He’s a graduate of Georgetown University’s Leadership Coachin...

Send us a message! My guest today is Michael Koehler. Michael is the CEO and co-founder of Konu, a leadership development organization focused on helping businesses and leaders manage complexity and take responsibility for change, with offices in the US, Germany, and Israel.   Michael is an executive leadership coach, a former national champion in rock ‘n’ roll acrobatic dance, a first generation...

Send us a message! My guest today is Ana Cristina Lapera. Ana is a successful executive coach with over 30 years of experience working with teams, individuals, and organizations.  She helps them clarify their vision and establish a plan of action to achieve business and personal results. Ana was born in Venezuela and has spent her professional career in the United States, working initially in Info...

Send us a message! My guest today is Dr. Eric de Nijs. Eric is an executive coach with over 30 years of experience helping people and organizations achieve improved performance and capability.  His background includes experience in diverse industries such as food, consumer products, manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, defense, military, energy, and county and federal go...

Send us a message! My guest today is Emily Cornell. I’m grateful to have Emily back for another conversation.  She first shared pieces of her journey on Episode 54 and I highly recommend listening to that if you haven’t. Emily and I connected through the network of the Foreign Service, in which we are both spouses of US Diplomats.  Our paths also overlap at coaches and business owners finding crea...

Send us a message! My guest today is Rebecca de Reht. Rebecca designs and facilitates coaching and learning solutions that adapt organisational, systemic, team and national cultures. She has more than 20 years experience, has worked in more than 55 countries; and is a mentor, accreditor and trainer of other coaches and facilitators.  Rebecca began her corporate career in IT, holding a variety of g...

Send us a message! My guest today is Baktash Ahadi. Baktash is a communications strategist, executive leadership & transformational coach, facilitator, and multidisciplinary storyteller who helps leaders, companies, and organizations solve their most complex human-centric problems. He specializes in strategic communication, leadership development, narrative storytelling, conflict resolution, a...

Send us a message! My guest today is David Achata. David is an author, coach, trainer, facilitator, and speaker. He brings over twenty years of leadership experience to organizations, team development, and training. He holds a master’s degree in Spiritual Development and is an ICF Certified Executive Coach at the PCC level. Over the years, David has worked in a wide array of capacities from high s...

Send us a message! My guest today is Rebecca Scott. Rebecca is a leadership coach who is passionate about helping people living with chronic conditions live full, purposeful, and joyous lives. She believes in the transformational power of meaningful conversation, celebrating all your victories, and feeling all your feelings. She also believes in kindness, including to oneself... which is much easi...