Motivation N'at

A year ago, I left a job that had shaped seven years of who I was, and I thought the hardest part was already behind me. It wasn't. This is what a year of hosting more than 50 conversations with over 40 guests on the Motivation N'at Podcast has taught me about myself. Josh, my husband, was the very first guest on Motivation N'at when this show launched. A year later, he's back to i...

If one more person tells you the answer is a new system, a new tool, or a new platform, you might lose your mind. Because you've watched the stack grow and the problems stay, and nobody seems to want to talk about what's actually broken underneath it. Dr. Shannon Gregg is the president of Cloud Adoption Solutions and holds a PhD in CRM user adoption. She has spent her career inside the gap...

Motherhood didn't break Samantha's career, but instead, it taught her everything the rulebook missed. It's something all of us, parents or not, should take some time to think about. This week I sat down with Samantha Swan, a senior manager in healthcare strategic planning and a mom of two, who has lived the tension between ambition and motherhood in real time and brought her insights a...

"I hear chains rattling above me when I sleep." That's how Sean Martin described the psych ward he ended up in after his Humvee exploded overseas. Survival can look like a lot of different things. So can the road back. Sean's road back was a journey back into his love of music and combining it with renewed intent. The Quarantined is his grunge/punk/metal project, and it tackles a...

Guest: Alana Cheeks-Lomax | Co-Founder & CEO, Untold Impact What Does It Really Mean to Lead Through Chaos? The chaos leaders are feeling right now often isn't accidental. The workforce is shifting, the table is changing, and most leaders are navigating the noise without ever really having been prepared for what this looks like. On this episode of Motivation N'at, Natalie Bulger sits down with Ala...

Your career has been telling you something for a while now. The question is whether you're listening. Lis Doggett, career coach and founder of Hanai Career Solutions, joined me for this honest discussion which handed out some tough pills to swallow. We get into: 🔷 Why burnout isn't about how many hours you're working 🔷 The difference between running from a job and moving toward somet...

Gabbi Myers built Bella Day Spa around three words on her mission statement, come as you are, and spent ten years making sure every person who walked through the door actually believed it. Gabbi and I had a rapid fire chat where we pulled apart all of the layers of spa ownership and about the services offered as spas and salons. We cover🔹 The stigma around trade school and why her staff out-earns...

What actually separates a confident leader from a cocky one? Dr. Sara Ann Todd says it comes down to one, main thing: clarity. Sara Ann, founder is the CEO of Leadership Investments and a certified coach with over 22 years across the military, federal government, and private sector. We connected after both leaving the federal government and our discussion allowed us to look back and what we say du...

Healing isn't one therapist, one yoga class, one breakthrough moment. It's messy, it's layered, and it is absolutely not meant to be done alone. I sat down with Kristy Joy Weidner, licensed clinical social worker, trauma specialist, mindfulness teacher, and founder of two Pittsburgh spaces built around exactly that idea to talk about what community really looks like as a part of our he...

Acceptance doesn't mean something is okay. It means it's real. I sat down with Sarah Ludwig, LPC — a therapist specializing in sexual and intimate partner violence — and we finished what we started in part one. We get into: The difference between domestic violence and intimate partner violence, and why it matters What power and control actually look like in healthy vs. harmful relationship...

Intimate partner violence is is far more prolific than we probably realize, and that's because of the shame, stigma and shadows it involves.   I sat down with Sarah Ludwig, LPC, a certified EMDR therapist and trauma-focused counselor with over a decade ofexperience working with survivors of sexual violence and intimate partner violence to educate myself and to bring the discussion to listeners of...

Jessica and Elizabeth of the Grieving Sisters Podcast are back. If you caught Episode 38, you know we barely scratched the surface. This is where we finish what we started.  We get into: --- The shame of moving on and why grief makes you feel guilty for living your life --- Survivor's remorse and how it shows up long after the lossitself --- How identity shifts when the world starts to define...

At 26, Trajan Jones is running for a Pennsylvania House seat in the 62nd district — and he didn't wait for someone to hand him the opportunity. Nobody else was stepping up. So he did.   I sat down with Trajan, a local urban planning specialist and candidate for Pennsylvania's 62nd House district, and we touched why now, what was important in the community, how to have a voice for change, and more....

Bre Keith spent ten years in healthcare before a hobby that got completely out of hand turned into Obsessions Coffee Roastery in Homer City, PA. She'd never worked in a coffee shop, never roasted a bean — she just thought it looked cool and started anyway. We talk about the ADHD brain behind the business, the trailer from Alabama that was an absolute disaster, the local collaborations that hel...

Nobody designs activewear for how women actually live. Jordan Lansdown decided to fix that. I sat down with Jordan Lansdown — founder of J.Luxe. Fit. Once I was done fangirling because I LOVE this brand, we got into the details of how J.Luxe. Fit came to be. She built J.Luxe. Fit from her living room floor with limited budget, no corporate backing, and one very clear mission: solve real problems f...

In 2003 I lost my dad to cancer. On that same day, I miscarried a pregnancy that resulted from an assault. I was barely 18. Fifteen years later I would lose an ex to a horrific accident and not long after a friend to addiction. With every loss, the grief got more complicated, and I got more numb. I sat down with Jessica and Elizabeth of The Grieving Sisters podcast — both navigating sibling loss,...

Nobody gets to the other side of fear without walking through it first. I sat down with Joseph Schmitt — Navy veteran, nonprofit founder, beekeeper, and author of arc of HUMANITY — and we talked about what it actually takes to stop letting fear make your decisions for you. We got into why fear is hardwired into us as a survival mechanism, how we've been trained to compromise because of it, and...

Organizations love the idea of continuous improvement. But what happens when improvement becomes the thing preventing change? In this conversation, I sit down with  Jim F. Jordan , a healthcare innovation strategist who has spent years working at the intersection of technology, systems thinking, and organizational change. We explore a tension many leaders are feeling right now. AI is accelerating...

Mindy Wiseman’s work focuses on real moments — not polished ones. In this episode, we talk about the mindset behind that approach and the life experience that shaped it. This is a conversation about recovery, self-honesty, and the small, often invisible wins that actually sustain change. We talk about identity, image, and why progress starts with being honest about who you are — not who you’re try...

Innovation doesn’t start with answers. It starts with better questions. In this episode of  Motivation N’at , Natalie Bulger talks with Joe Babarsky, Director – Not Impossible Institute , about creativity, storytelling, and why real impact depends on embracing uncertainty instead of avoiding it. Joe unpacks the idea of staying in “beta,” learning through failure, and developing the internal listen...

Bonding keeps us alive. Love is something we choose. In this episode of  Motivation N’at , Natalie is joined by  Dr. Catherine Gildiner , clinical psychologist and author of  Good Morning, Monster , for a deeply human conversation about healing, attachment, parenting, and culture. From overprotective parenting to cross-cultural bonding conflicts, this episode unpacks how our earliest relationships...

☕️  More than coffee — Commonplace is about connection. In this episode of  Motivation N’at ,  Natalie Bulger  sits down with  TJ Fairchild, Owner of Commonplace Coffee , to talk about building a business rooted in gathering people, fostering human connection, and responding organically to community needs. From the meaning behind the name  Commonplace  to the role of collaboration, vulnerability,...

🎧  I’d Like to Use a Lifeline: Phone-A-Mentor Guest:  Mia-Ann Spadafora In this episode of  Motivation N’at , Natalie sits down with Mia-Ann Spadafora to talk about mentorship, early-career leadership, and navigating the transition from school into the workforce with confidence. Mia-Ann shares her experience entering healthcare leadership as a young professional, how mentorship helped her manage...

Rural healthcare access is under increasing strain, and medical education is a critical part of the solution. In this episode of  Motivation N'at , host  Natalie Bulger  speaks with  Dr. Miko Rose , founding dean of the proposed  College of Osteopathic Medicine at Indiana University of Pennsylvania , about the challenges and opportunities shaping rural healthcare and medical education today. D...

🎧  It's Not Just a Photo Guest: Jon Blanchard In this episode of  Motivation N’at , Natalie welcomes photographer  Jon Blanchard  for an honest and inspiring conversation about creativity, connection, and community. Jon shares his journey of turning a love for photography into a meaningful career rooted in trust, collaboration, and storytelling. This episode explores: How building relationshi...