The Courage Coalition

We spend so much time judging how we spend money that we rarely stop to ask a deeper, more honest question: what is my money actually trying to tell me? Because spending isn’t failure—it’s evidence. Every purchase holds a mirror up to something beneath the surface. A need, a belief, a fear, a desire to belong, a moment of survival. And when we rush to label it as “bad,” we miss the opportunity to...

What if the version of wealth you’ve been chasing was never actually yours to begin with?    Most of us were handed a definition early on success looks like achievement, accumulation, recognition. We were shown the path and told that if we followed it closely enough, we would arrive at happiness and security. But very few of us were ever asked the deeper question: Does this definition belong to me...

This episode was one of those reminders that you don’t have to be the loudest voice in the room to make an impact you just have to keep showing up as yourself. I invited Erica Goode on after reading a newsletter that stopped me in my tracks, because she called herself “the 15-hour accountant.” And I thought, wait… what? In a world that worships hustle, long hours, and shiny accolades, Erica’s mess...

Most of us are living inside beliefs we never consciously chose. We inherited them. We absorbed them. We repeated them so many times they started to feel like truth. And when it comes to money, those beliefs don’t just sit quietly in the background—they shape everything. How you earn, how you spend, what you believe is possible for you. But here’s the truth we don’t talk about enough: beliefs are...

There’s something I want you to really sit with: you don’t have a money problem—you have a money story. And that story didn’t start when you opened your first bank account or got your first paycheck. It started much earlier, in the quiet moments you didn’t even realize were teaching you. The tone in your parents’ voices at the checkout line. The silence around bills. The stress, the pride, the ten...

People don’t avoid their money because they don’t care. They avoid it because it hurts. Somewhere along the way, money stopped being just numbers and started becoming identity. It became tied to your worth, your belonging, your safety, your enoughness. So when you struggle, it doesn’t feel like a math problem—it feels like a personal failure. But let me say this clearly: it is not a willpower prob...

This conversation with Mary Fields stirred something deep in me because grief is not a side story in our lives — it is woven into almost every chapter. We have been taught that grief looks like death, like tragedy, like something obvious and dramatic. But grief can be the loss of a relationship you never had, the body you once lived in, the identity you thought you’d become, or the version of some...

We talk a lot about relationships in life marriage, friendships, business partnerships, family. But the relationship we most often undermine is the one we have with ourselves. Recently, something unlocked in me in real time. It forced me to look deeper at a truth I’ve known for years but maybe hadn’t fully allowed myself to feel. If the relationship with self is fractured, every other relationship...

On this episode of The Courage Coalition , I sat back down with one of those humans who makes you feel it in your chest the minute she starts talking, Alani Bankhead. She’s spent over 20 years in human intelligence operations, hunting terrorists, tracking traffickers, and going after the darkest of the dark… not because she hates them, but because she loves people. And that right there is the conv...

One of the questions I’ve been sitting with lately is this: where did you actually learn how to be a business owner? For many of us, the honest answer is we didn’t. We inherited beliefs, borrowed strategies, followed formulas, and tried to fit ourselves into a very narrow box of what success is “supposed” to look like. In American culture especially, success is often measured by numbers alone reve...

Why is perimenopause still treated like a quiet inconvenience instead of the profound transition it actually is? In this episode of The Courage Coalition , I sat down with Dr. Marisa Snyder to talk about the thing so many women are experiencing but few feel permission to name. What struck me most wasn’t just the science (though that matters deeply), but the shared frustration so many of us carry:...

So much of what we call alignment today is actually just another version of pressure. New year, new energy, new goals go, go, go. But what if that pace doesn’t feel right in your body? In this conversation with Aniston Riekstins, we explore what it really means to redefine alignment, purpose, and connection not as something to chase, but as something to remember . We talk about how our culture has...

Some conversations don’t just inspire you they expose you. That’s what happened for me sitting with Kendra Cooke. Yes, she’s a powerhouse in real estate (since 1988, starting as a receptionist and rising all the way to ownership), but what rocked me wasn’t her résumé it was her willingness to take the mask off. We went straight to the thing women avoid: money. Not the polished version. The real ve...

Money has never been just numbers. It’s never been black and white. From the moment we are old enough to notice it, money becomes tangled with safety, love, belonging, approval, fear, and shame. We learn often without words that what we earn, spend, or have somehow determines our worth or our place in the world. Emotional Money was created to gently but powerfully disrupt that story. Not by tellin...

There are some conversations we don’t avoid because they aren’t important—we avoid them because they’re too important. Too personal. Too revealing. Too likely to crack the “I’m fine” mask right off our face. In this episode of The Courage Coalition , I brought back repeat guest Erika Rothenberger a woman who doesn’t just walk into rooms with energy, but with truth . When I asked her what we need t...

Every January we make promises to ourselves about money, habits, change and by February many of us are already sitting in the quiet shame of why didn’t I keep it this time? What I’ve learned, both personally and through years of financial coaching, is that shame is one of the loudest drivers of our money behavior. Not income. Not intelligence. Shame rooted in old beliefs, inherited values, and def...

There’s a conversation we don’t have enough in foster care and adoption because it’s loaded with fear, judgment, and that quiet ache of “What will people think?” Today on The Courage Coalition , Trisha Collins (Director of Missional Impact at Child Bridge Montana) and James Newell (adoptive dad, husband, builder, and a man willing to speak honestly about the hard) helped open the door on the topic...

Fear is one of the most misunderstood forces we live with. We’re taught that fear is the signal to stop, to turn around, to stay safe. But what if fear isn’t the enemy at all? What if it’s simply a messenger an ancient survival system that was never updated for the life you’re living now? In this solo episode, I reflect on how fear has shown up in my own story, not as the thing that stopped me, bu...

There are conversations we avoid because they hit too close to home money, domestic violence, poverty, and the quiet realities of single parenthood. In our first guest episode of 2026, I sat down with Cindy Wittemann, and let me just say it: this woman is a powerhouse with a story that carries both pain and proof. She grew up in deep poverty with a single mom sometimes without electricity, water,...

As we open Season Three of The Courage Coalition , I found myself reflecting deeply on what this podcast was always meant to be and what it’s now being called to become. From the beginning, the heart of this space has been real people living courageous lives: choosing growth over safety, stepping forward in fear, and doing the hard things even when the noise around them said, stay comfortable . Th...

As this year comes to a close, I’m reminded once again that I don’t do resolutions I do reflections. Not the kind that measure accomplishments or accolades, but the kind that ask, Who did I become this year? What did I learn? What quiet truths rose to the surface when I allowed myself to slow down enough to hear them? This year, my practice was simple: gather the evidence of my becoming. Not the b...

There’s a whole lot of noise around social media, isn’t there? Post three times a day. Niche down to one tiny topic. Be on every platform. Dance, point, lip sync, perform. No wonder so many of us would rather hide than hit “publish.” In my conversation with social media strategist Jordan Reynolds, we talked about what happens when you stop trying to be the “perfect creator” and start showing up as...

What is your definition of courage?  "Courage is the quiet defiance of the impossible  the choice to move forward when logic, fear,  and every onlooker say you should not.  It is standing exposed at the edge of failure  and walking anyway, fueled not by certainty  but by the conviction that purpose is worth the fall.” There are moments in life when you meet someone whose very presence shifts...

We measure so much by numbers profit margins, client counts, turnover rates—but the truth is, numbers only tell part of the story. As a financial coach and bookkeeper, I see it every day: business owners chasing growth, retention, and loyalty, wondering why the numbers don’t reflect the effort. The answer isn’t more strategy or another spreadsheet. It’s connection. The number one human need whethe...

Some stories don’t thunder in with triumph they arrive quietly, hand to heart, and ask us to breathe. In my conversation with Christina Stevenson certified grief coach, retired U.S. Air Force officer, and author of I Carry You we talked about what courage actually looks like in the dark. The book’s title began with Addie’s toddler hands lifted high “I carry you” and became a ripple: the way our pe...