Spark Me

As she slipped off her wedding band in the middle of her divorce, Christine Kiesinger heard a voice say: you should have married yourself first. Dr. Christine Kiesinger spent thirty years in academia as an expert in relational communication — until the day the words “I’m retiring at the end of this semester” came out of her mouth before she even knew she was going to say them. Colleagues told her...

She was sitting in an airport when a stranger asked her, "where are you headed, hon?" And she realized she had no idea — not just which city she was flying to, but where her life was going at all. That moment was the wake-up call for Sarah Ohanesian, who spent over a decade climbing from intern to Chief Marketing Officer before realizing the version of success she'd built was quietly...

Wood stain at a historic building. White patio cushions that look like Miami. A priest who almost lost the use of his legs. And a heart health episode that made at least one of them finally make the appointment. In this Spark Short, Michele and Liz ease into things with a check-in on life — Liz's dad's latest health update, Michele's chaotic and triumphant week finishing the renovation...

A graduation, a punctured paddleboard, a sister story about white patio cushions — and a conversation that kept circling back to one woman who's changing how Pennsylvania sees leadership. In this Spark Short, Michele and Liz catch up on the small stuff — Michele's son graduating high school, Liz's very funny patio cushion saga with her sister, and a shared sense that AI is moving faste...

Heart disease is the number one cause of death in women — more than two times all cancers combined. And most of us still think it's a man's problem. In this episode Michele and Liz sit down with two guests for a first on Spark Me — Dr. Jennifer Nesfeder, a board-certified interventional cardiologist specializing in women's heart health, and Courtney Deignan, Development Director for th...

She was 20 years old, sitting in public administration classes in the morning and running borough council meetings at night — fulfilling the term of her grandfather, who had asked her to step in before he died. That's where Cassandra Coleman's story begins. And it only gets more remarkable from there. Cassandra is the Executive Director of America 250 PA, the commission leading Pennsylvania's role...

Sometimes an episode stays with you. This is one of those Spark Shorts. After last week's conversation with Nora Isaacs — writer, personal historian, and founder of Backstory — Michele and Liz couldn't stop thinking about it. In this Spark Short they unpack the moments that hit hardest: from the hot dog cart that changed Nora's life, to the Threshold Choir singing at the bedsides of ho...

She was standing in front of a hot dog cart in midtown Manhattan when an 18-wheeler knocked her off her feet — and knocked her onto a completely different life path. In this episode, Michele and Liz sit down with writer, author, and personal historian Nora Isaacs — Michele's dear friend from college and the founder of Backstory, a company that helps people capture their family histories and life s...

Even the most prepared families miss something. In Liz's case, it was a document sitting in a file cabinet that nobody remembered to upload to the hospital portal. This Spark Short is a real, unfiltered conversation between Michele and Liz about what's been hitting home since their episode with Cameron Huddleston — author of Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk . Liz opens up about her dad's r...

She was 35 with three little kids when her mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's — and she had no plan in place. You're home for the holidays. Your dad's lost weight. Your mom tells the same story three times. You go to help with a bill and realize you have no idea where anything is — no will, no account numbers, no idea who their doctor is. And the conversation you've been meaning to have? It still...

he was 12 years old when terrorists bombed her father’s military headquarters — and for a day, she thought he was dead. In this deeply personal episode, Michele sits down with someone listeners have come to know and love on the other side of the mic — Spark Me co‑host Liz Graham. For the first time, Liz shares her own origin story: growing up as an Air Force brat, moving every two years across the...

What if one small idea — born from a family vacation — could change the trajectory of an entire community, an entire country, and your own family forever? This week on Spark Me, Liz and Michele reflect on one of the most moving stories they've covered: Barb Cox, a mom who turned a trip to visit her kids' former au pair in South Africa into a years-long mission that introduced lacrosse to an entire...

What starts as an ordinary trip can sometimes become the spark for real, lasting change. This week on Spark Me, Liz and Michele sit down with Barb Cox, a working mom whose decision to take her two teenage sons to visit their former au pair in South Africa quietly planted the seeds of the South African Lacrosse Project. What began as “just another summer adventure” became a 12-year effort that used...

If you're not prepared… everything changes. In this Spark Short , Liz and Michele unpack one of the most practical and overlooked skills behind confident communication: preparation . Inspired by their conversation with Professor Jamie Leddin, they explore why so many of us struggle in negotiations—and how it often comes down to w Michele shares her personal experience with emotional reactions...

What if leadership isn’t something you wait to be given—but something you choose to step into? This week on Spark Me, Liz and Michele sit down with Dr. Jamie Leddin, professor of practice at Vanderbilt University, leadership expert, executive coach, and negotiation specialist, for a conversation about the everyday moments that shape how we lead. From speaking up in a meeting to asking for flexibil...

What if the symptoms you’ve been brushing off as “just stress” are actually your body asking for help? This week’s Spark Short is a real, honest check-in between Liz and Michele as they reflect on their conversation with menopause expert Adrienne Cotton — and the wake-up calls that followed. From realizing that OBGYN care doesn’t always cover this next phase of life, to uncovering how perimenopaus...

What if menopause wasn’t something to “get through,” but a phase of life you could understand, support, and actually feel stronger in? This week on Spark Me , Liz and Michele sit down with wellness educator and Master Menopause Now creator Adrien Cotton for a conversation every woman should hear. Together, they unpack the confusion surrounding perimenopause and menopause — from anxiety and sleep d...

What if the biggest myth about intimacy is that it’s supposed to stay the same forever? In this Spark Me conversation, Liz and Michele unpack their powerful episode with Dr. Erin Murphy Ross — and dive even deeper into the layers of intimacy, desire, hormones, stress, sleep, and evolving expectations in the second act of life. They explore the surprising idea that many of us are still measuring ou...

What if your relationship isn’t broken — it’s just overloaded? In this candid and compassionate episode of Spark Me, Liz and Michele sit down with Dr. Erin Murphy Ross — marriage and family therapist and sex therapist — to talk about the conversation so many couples are quietly having… or avoiding. Intimacy and desire in long-term relationships can feel confusing, lonely, and even shame-filled. Is...

What if addiction isn’t the problem — but the solution to something deeper? In this Spark Short, Liz and Michele revisit their powerful conversation with Brenda Zane of the Hope Stream community and unpack one of the most eye-opening reframes of the episode: substance use isn’t usually the root issue — it’s often a coping mechanism for underlying mental health struggles. They explore the “tip of t...

There are conversations parents whisper about or avoidaltogether because the fear and judgment feel unbearable. This is one of them.   In this deeply personal and powerful episode of Spark Me,Michele and Liz sit down with Brenda Zane, parent advocate, certified coach, and founder of HopeStream Community — a nonprofit created to support parents navigating a child’s substance use and mental health c...

What does it really take to turn a spark of an idea into something tangible, impactful, and lasting? In this episode of Spark Me , Liz and Michele dig into the power of execution — how following through on a vision can change communities, careers, and even the reputation of an entire city. Liz shares the origin stories of Circle 200 and Women Business Leaders in Healthcare , two peer-to-peer netwo...

What if the most powerful thing you could do this week took just ten seconds? This Spark Me episode is a reflective conversation inspired by last week’s powerful discussion with Stacey Fritz — and by a week that, as Michele puts it, “was a week.” Liz and Michele unpack the idea that life’s challenges come in waves, and while we can’t stop them from coming, we can choose how we meet them. At the ce...

Why so many women stay stuck in fight-or-flight and how to learn to pause and exhale Many women are managing careers, families, aging parents, partnerships, and their own expectations, often in a constant state of inhale (fight or flight), never taking a pause or remembering to exhale. In this episode of Spark Me, we sit down with Stacy Fritz, speaker, wellness strategist, and inventor, to talk ab...

What if the thing we reach for to relax is actually exhausting us—and quietly reshaping our kids’ brains along the way? Social media is woven into nearly every part of modern life, but in this candid Spark Me conversation, Liz Graham and Michele Dempsey take a hard look at the unintended consequences of constant scrolling—for adults and kids. From dopamine hits and “bed rotting” to comparison cult...