The Human Experience

⚠️ Content Warning - this episode contains conversations around abuse, stalking, and suicide. This episode is a bit different than those we've done in the past; I had four guests on to discuss some of the intricacies and lesser discussed issues within Interpersonal Violence (also known as IPV) - namely, cyber stalking and parent/child alienation. While many have suffered from both cyber stalking a...

When Chandrika Phea went to China as a Christian missionary, she assumed her life would follow the trail that had been forged before her. An ordained minister in her own right, Chandrika grew up the daughter and granddaughter of minister's in the African American Pentecostal church. But upon her return from China, Chandrika found herself with more questions than answers, and she struggled to find...

Heidy is the proud daughter and wife of immigrants. Though she was born an American citizen, she has spent her life around those who have immigrated to the United States in search of "The American Dream". Heidy has a unique view of what it means to be an immigrant in America as someone that has walked alongside and done life with many people who made the US their home after moving here. Heidy is a...

⚠️ Content Warning: this episode contains conversations around infant loss and suicide. When Heather and her husband found out they were pregnant with their first child, it was a time of celebration. Like many newlyweds, they were excited to start their family. What they couldn't have foreseen was the gut-wrenching reality of infant loss that many live with every day. At 38 weeks, Heather lost her...

⚠️ Content Warning - this episode contains conversations around abuse. Julie has the kind of story that you look back on and say, how can one person have lived through so much? Growing up in an abusive household, Julie was eager to get away as soon as she had her high school diploma. But escaping your past and your trauma, aren't necessarily easy; especially when life continues to get harder. Beca...

⚠️ Content Warning - this episode contains conversations around abuse. Julie has the kind of story that you look back on and say, how can one person have lived through so much? Growing up in an abusive household, Julie was eager to get away as soon as she had her high school diploma. But escaping your past and your trauma, aren't necessarily easy; especially when life continues to get harder. Beca...

⚠️ Content Warning: This episode contains conversations around trauma, death, and drug use. Names have been changed in this episode to protect the identity of those involved. Cody was a paramedic for over a decade. He spent more than ten years of seeing some of the saddest and worst parts of humanity, some of whom he knew personally. While he did so much good during that time, it left him numb, ne...

Quanisha is a doula operating in San Antonio Texas, as well as a leader of the San Antonio Black Doula Collective. While doula may or man not be a term you're familiar with, the practice of being the emotional, mental, and physical support for a woman leading up to, including, and after birth, their role has existed for centuries. Quanisha is diligent in supporting her clients through the entire p...

⚠️ Content Warning - this episode contains conversations around infant loss. When Mel was a teenager, still under her parents care, she was diagnosed with a progressive autoimmune disorder. While a diagnosis like that is bound to change your life in some way, the reality was that Mel had to start thinking about what she and her husband-to-be wanted their future to look like; this disorder could ma...

⚠️ Content Warning - this episode contains conversations around cheating. As a pastor's kid, Hesron always knew what was expected of him. He played the part well, but from a young age, Hesron began living in two separate worlds. He was one person while he was in front of others, and someone else behind closed doors. After being introduced to pornography at the age of 12, Hesron struggled with an a...

Christine had her first surgery when she was only a couple of months old. Now, well into adulthood, Christine has had over twenty surgeries for the bilateral cleft lip and palate that she was born with. The physical difficulties were one thing, but the emotional and social fallout have caused the biggest scars. Christine spent many years feeling othered, and outcast. People refused to give her a c...

Auntie Anne Beiler grew up in the Amish-Mennonite Community in south central Pennsylvania. It was there she met her husband, Jonas, and where they began their life together. Walking through the insurmountable grief of losing one of her children to an accident, and then being sexually abused by a person she trusted, Anne was quite lost for a period of time. But, as she began to talk about her grief...

Sometimes, it takes a traumatic event to wake us up out of the fog we're walking through. For Stephanie, that event came in the form of slamming her finger in a car door. While not the source of her trials, it did help her to see that she indeed needed a change. The past six years have been formative, and certainly difficult, as Stephanie completely shifted her life - her marriage, her goals, her...

Karen had been working intensively towards a career goal for half a decade, but when she finally made it into her "dream job", she found that it wasn't as dreamy as she thought it would be. Having recently entered motherhood, Karen realized that what she wanted had shifted. In fact, her entire identity had shifted. Through making tough choices, redefining success, and getting the help of her own c...

From travel agent to traveller, from teacher to seeker, Jen has made a beautiful life from the myriad opportunities that have come her way. Never one to let something meaningful pass her by, she has seen and done more than many of us, simply by saying yes. Jen has taught in Poland, safari'd in Tanzania, adventured in New Zealand, and most recently, is working with Roma children in Brasov, Romania....

Sarah and Steffi, the co-founders of FFR, were featured in our last two episodes. Now, I sit down with all three members of FFR's leadership team Sarah, Mary & Steffi, to discuss their organization, projects, and life in Romania. The mission of Firm Foundations Romania: FFR believes that all people are made in the image of God and are therefore worthy of love, respect and dignity. It is becaus...

Steffi is the other half of the Firm Foundations Romania founding duo. Although she grew up in the Black Forest in Germany, Steffi has now spent more of her life in Romania than anywhere else. It's where she has made her home. And it's where she adopted three Romanian children after volunteering in both the state run children's orphanage and the children's hospital where she would meet and bond wi...

The youngest of seven sisters, Sarah always knew that music was in her future. What she didn't know that it would take leaving home, moving to Eastern Europe, and co-founding a nonprofit in Transylvania to get there. In 2005, Sarah began a diaper project with her best friend and business partner, Steffi Vogel (whose own episode will be released in a couple weeks!) in a children't hospital in Braso...

So much of Maureen's life has been wrapped up in her career - with dance companies, theaters, museums, nonprofits, political campaign's, and more; her ventures have been varied and many. When Maureen got COVID in March of 2020, all of that came to a screeching halt. Because she got the virus so early, Maureen unfortunately experienced the strongest strain. More than 2 years later, she's still stru...

Originally from the European country of Georgia, Lela has spent the last twenty years working hard to build the life she dreamed. Formerly a journalist, now an entrepreneur and owner of multiple businesses, Lela is proud of the success that she has built for herself and her family - a legacy that will far outlive her. Lela's story of perseverance, determination, and grace, is not unlike many stori...

Susan's father was a pilot in World War II for the United States of America. While serving in France, his plan was shot down. Thus began a stranger than fiction story that impacted not only him, but the generations that have come after him. Stories like Susan's are fascinating. The story itself is quite incredible, but I think what's more is how important our legacies are to those around us, and h...

When she graduated high school, Kristen was set on going to university to eventually have a career in architecture. After a slight shift in her major, and a major left turn in her life, Kristen is now a global gender equity specialist. Her two years volunteering with the Peace Corps in Ghana, as well as the many other places she has traveled and worked since then, have made her a powerful ally for...

Part 2 of Ro & Bree's Story finds them facing down a global pandemic having both lost their jobs, with a baby at home. It was their dream or die moment, and they chose to dream. To hear Ro & Bree explain it, this was always inside of them. Love The People has always been their heart. It's more than a company, it's a movement. One as radical as it is simple - love people well. 📍 This episo...

Ro & Bree are the ultimate husband and wife duo - raising a family and building their business together. Their love for each other, and for people in general, is inspiring. After years of walking together through incredibly difficult, and mysterious, health issues, they came out on the other side wanting to leave a positive and lasting impact on the world. They know what it means to live as th...

Winnie grew up enjoying the simplicity of farm life in rural Kenya; not one for the business of the city, she found her peace among the crops at her grandmother's farm. As an adult, though, Winnie traded the serene country life for one of turmoil; but it is within that life that she found her center. Kakuma and Dadaab are two of the largest refugee camps in Kenya. In fact, Dadaab used to be the la...