No Shrinking Violets Podcast for Women

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! What if “finding the right guy” is the very thing keeping you stuck? We open up about how self-sufficiency without vulnerability can mask red flags, and why the path to a steady, equal partnership begins with radical honesty about your needs. Licensed social worker and relationship coach Chaya Garcia joins Mary Rothwell to break down codependency as an addicti...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! A simple move can surface a big truth: belonging shapes everything. We share why we left a very rural home for a small city and unpack how that decision revealed a practical framework for fit and flourishing. Drawing on plant wisdom from my forthcoming book, Nature Knows: Growing and Thriving Through the Wisdom of Plants, we translate climate zones into a huma...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! The quiet voice in our head can be a coach or a critic—and most days, it’s the critic with a megaphone. Mary sits down with Cheryl Fischer, host of the Mind Your Midlife Podcast and a certified life and mindset coach, to unpack how subtle habits like constant complaining, reflexive apologies, and comparison keep us stuck. We share real stories about catching a...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! What if the shortest path from fear to trust is a conversation you’ve been avoiding? Mary sits down with anti-racism educator and Interracial Sisterhood Coalition founder Karen Fleshman to explore how intentional, story-driven friendship across race can heal divides, strengthen workplaces, and change what power feels like between women. We begin with honesty—M...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! What if the thing you’ve sworn off is the door you need to walk through next? That’s the spark behind a candid reflection on moving from quiet country life to a small city with more diversity, more community, and more ways to serve. I share how an unexpected love of bubbly water on a trip to Germany softened a lifelong certainty, and how that tiny shift opened...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! What happens when your entire identity is built around taking care of others? For Adaku Mbagwu, the journey from family provider to self-discovery required hitting rock bottom before she could rebuild her life on her own terms. Born in Nigeria and moving to London at age six, Adaku witnessed her family's financial collapse firsthand. The moment she saw he...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! What happens when generations of emotional suppression collide with childhood trauma? For therapist Malisa Hepner, it created the perfect storm of perfectionism, people-pleasing, and eventual burnout that forced her to completely reimagine her approach to healing. Born to parents struggling with addiction and raised in an environment of chaos and neglect, Mali...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Gratitude gets tossed around like a seasonal slogan, but the real magic happens when you follow the thread from a hard moment to an unexpected opening. I share how a rough exit from school counseling set off a chain reaction that led to higher education roles, new mentors, a brush with doctoral study, and eventually a beloved position I never saw coming. And w...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Do you ever find yourself wondering if constant overwhelm is just the price of womanhood? If checking all the boxes of success should leave you feeling this depleted? You're not alone. In this illuminating conversation with Dr. Wendy O'Connor, a Stanford-trained positive psychologist and success coach, we unpack the powerful framework of positive psy...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Nancy McKay's recovery journey began like many women's stories – social drinking that gradually intensified until it became a way to cope with trauma. After her father's suicide when she was 50, Nancy's drinking shifted dramatically from social lubricant to emotional anesthetic. Two years later, following her own suicide attempt, she made t...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Ever notice how much energy goes into arguing with reality? We fixate on how someone should behave, how a conversation should have gone, or how we should feel, and the struggle only deepens the pain. Today we share a grounded approach to radical acceptance—acknowledging what’s true without endorsing it—so you can stop fighting the moment and start choosing you...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! What if your confidence with money had nothing to do with math—and everything to do with meaning? We sit down with AJ Bishop-Andrews, founder of FEROZ and author of the forthcoming Rich Like Her, to unpack why so many high-achieving women still feel uneasy pricing their work, negotiating pay, or asking direct questions about investments. AJ blends financial ps...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! What makes a strong, intelligent woman stay in an abusive relationship? Nikki Allen's answer might surprise you. The author of "Loved You Hated You" joins Mary to share how vulnerability after losing her mother and moving to a new city without support made her susceptible to an abusive partner she never imagined she'd tolerate. Nikki takes...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! What if the fix you’re craving starts with a scene, not a plan? We explore a simple, powerful tool from solution-focused therapy—the miracle question—that helps you picture the version of your life where the problem is gone, then trace gentle, practical steps back to today. Instead of circling what’s wrong, we anchor in vivid details: what you see, who’s with...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Have you ever felt the powerful pull of something unexplainable, something that science alone couldn't quite capture? That's the fascinating territory we explore with Dr. Sue McCreadie, a holistic pediatrician who has expanded her practice in surprising ways to help women navigate their midlife transitions. Dr. Sue shares her remarkable journey from...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Control rarely arrives kicking down the door—it slips in dressed as care. That’s the thread we pull with author and advocate Amanda Scott, whose 17-year marriage looked stable from the outside but ran on a quiet currency of emotional and financial abuse. We explore how intense attention, constant check-ins, and money “help” can be early signals of coercive con...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! A bright orange wildflower taught us something bold about being human. Jewelweed doesn’t ask permission to exist—it launches its seeds with gusto, outcompetes invaders, and even soothes poison ivy. That unapologetic presence became our lens for talking about essential nature, the blend of genetics, environment, and epigenetics that shapes how we move through t...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Have we weaponized mental health terminology to the point of meaninglessness? Shannon Petrovich, therapist and author specializing in narcissistic relationships, joins us to untangle what truly constitutes toxic behavior versus simply unhealthy dynamics.  "Anyone with whom they had a difficult relationship was bipolar, probably wrong. Most recently, the d...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Mental health information from social media and AI can be misleading and potentially harmful. While increased acceptance of mental health issues is positive, self-diagnosis through TikTok or AI often leads to misinformation and misunderstanding of complex conditions. • Over 50% of mental health information on TikTok is inaccurate • Even mental health professio...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! What happens when a therapist trained to maintain professional distance decides to share her most vulnerable truths? Kristin Louise Duncombe's story will leave you speechless. Growing up across continents as a foreign service "brat," Kristin developed a unique perspective as a third culture kid—someone shaped by their parents' culture, thei...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Have you ever noticed how we admire trees for shedding their leaves each autumn, yet criticize ourselves when we need to slow down? This thought-provoking mini-episode explores the parallel between nature's cycles and our own rhythms of energy and rest. Starting with a simple self-reflection on how you're feeling right now, we journey through the var...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Have you ever had that unmistakable gut feeling about someone you just met? That inner shiver that can't be explained but somehow turns out to be right? In this illuminating conversation, Mary Rothwell welcomes Anna Quigley, known as the "intuitive Yoda," to explore how women can reclaim their natural intuitive abilities despite societal conditi...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Have you ever noticed how easily we slip into victim mode when life gets challenging? That subtle internal dialogue of "why does this always happen to me?" can significantly impact our wellbeing and resilience. This mini-episode explores a transformative one-word shift in perspective that changes everything: moving from believing life happens "t...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Tired of saying yes when you desperately want to say no? In this candid conversation, intuitive truth-teller and host of The Nope Coach Podcast, Suzanne Culberg, shares her journey from chronic people-pleaser to boundary-setting expert, offering practical wisdom that will transform how you protect your energy. "People pleasers are exploding doormats,&quot...

Thoughts or comments? Send us a text! Ever feel stuck in a loop of negative thinking? Your brain might be creating deep mental ruts without you even realizing it. This mini-episode explores the fascinating psychology behind our tendency toward negative mindsets. As humans, we're naturally wired to spot dangers and problems first—an evolutionary adaptation that once kept us safe but now often...