The Perfectly Imperfect Journey

Shasta Nelson’s brand is all about helping people connect authentically in real life.  For over 15 years Shasta has facilitated, taught, and modeled how to build healthy relationships, and has written a few books about friendships along the way.  Yet it was her own deep connection to the person who eventually became her husband that rocked Shasta’s world, and caused her to lose friends, her job, a...

One day, when she was a teenager spending the summer in Ireland, Libby DeLana took the bus into Dublin and was awed by the Book of Kells. Little did she know that moment would change her professional trajectory. Fast forward to several years later, with an undergraduate degree in hand, Libby went to culinary school with a friend and discovered that as much as she enjoyed creating delicious food, s...

As a young person, Maggie Kane had big plans to leave her hometown of Raleigh, NC, and find adventure in Italy.  While she was lucky to get to Europe during college, it was a volunteer gig with a day shelter for people experiencing homelessness that planted the seeds for her true adventure of a lifetime.  That volunteer gig turned into a paid job and it was through relationships with the people fr...

Every February, around this time, approximately 8 billion small heart-shaped candies are created and exchanged.  These candies bear messages of love and care, and are often used as gifts to express feelings for another person.   In each episode featuring a guest, we ask them if there are any words of wisdom they might share with their younger selves. These words of wisdom are like those Sweetheart...

Please note that there’s some pretty salty language in this episode.   Our conversation with political scientist Rachel Bitecofer was originally released on 8/31/22. Rachel has been a strong voice on saving our democracy and her new book, “Hit ‘Em Where It Hurts: How to Save Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game," was released in Feb 2023. Given how important her message is, we decide...

So much of what we focus on in the podcast is about people’s lives and their journeys. Yet, so much of life is focused on the destination.  When Josh Gerben was growing up, he was always more interested in where he was going, instead of where he was at that moment. Josh had a happy childhood, he has built a successful career as an attorney and is a very proud dad and husband. However, it’s only re...

We all have a story. But often our stories live just in our minds or hearts, never making it out into the world. Sometimes we hold back because we don’t believe we have anything interesting or important to say, and other times it’s because we simply don’t know how to put it into words.  Katherine Kennedy spent much of her early career helping others tell their story but kept her own truth bottled...

Even under the best of circumstances, happiness can be an elusive thing.  And, right now the world does not feel to be in the best of circumstances and it is easy to perceive it as a dark place. When the clock ticked over to 2024, none of our problems magically disappeared, leaving many of us wondering if it’s even okay to feel happiness right now with so much happening around us and the broader w...

If you believed anything was possible, what would you do?  Tony Lillios comes from an immigrant family that somehow made things happen…whole family pitching in to start a small business on a greek island?  No problem.  Squishing 10 family members into a station wagon, along with bikes and all the necessities for a week at the beach?  A little duct tape and rope, and they were off for their holiday...

From the outside looking in, it would be easy to assume Michelle Simmons is invincible.  She is an 18-time IronMan athlete (including 4 times at the world championships), has run countless half triathlons and has coached other athletes to triathlon successes.  Even when cancer struck at age 25, Michelle never skipped a beat, keeping a super positive attitude and staying focused on getting past her...

As a youngster, Danny Rosin received the dubious distinction of having the most demerits in the history of his school. Some might think that would have led to a somewhat bumpy life, but instead it laid the groundwork for Danny’s lifelong commitment to giving back to community.  Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride is not only a drink at one of Danny’s favorite local bars, but it also describes his philos...

It is an unfortunate fact of life: none of us will escape unscathed and all of us will encounter some difficulties throughout our life.  It is part of the premise of The Perfectly Imperfect Journey - we will all have hardships, and tragedy and just plain ol’ crappy days when nothing seems to go our way.  In this episode, we talk about our own experience of difficulties in our lives and what we hav...

There are all kinds of reasons Chris Hendricks could have a poor outlook: he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age 4 and his doctor told him he would have a hard time in life; he was in and out of a wheelchair in middle and high school and suffered the particular brand of cruelty practiced by teenagers; at one point, he lost his grandmother, his girlfriend and his band all at the same time. Lif...

Throughout her life, Ashleigh Parker would get whispers of wisdom that, in her younger days she would ignore. Her Dad, a well-respected attorney, was a great role model to her, but she had no interest in practicing law until the moment it became clear that she was being called to that path. With that clarity she applied to, and graduated, from her father’s alma mater and began her career as a pros...

In the 2nd half of 2023, we have Beyonce and Taylor Swift selling out stadiums and Barbie filling seats in the movie theaters.  It feels like we are at an inflection point: more success and empowerment for women as represented in these social activities, or less, as reflected in supreme court cases and state restrictions?  Join us as we discuss recent books, movies, and personal histories with reg...

Kim has been a “dabbler” most of her life…she started her career in software, but it didn’t give her much energy.  She knew she had a passion for food and started looking for ways to become more immersed in that world. She worked at her local farmers market, did some catering and worked in a couple of restaurants. She opened a restaurant, which gave her an outlet to create food that she loved and...

Trigger warning: this episode includes a discussion of eating disorders.   When Trish Hegarty joined the cast of Survivor in 2014, it may have been her first experience in the Philippines, but she had already lived a lifetime of surviving family addiction issues, an eating disorder, and an unstable marriage. Listen in to hear Trish’s story of resilience and the power any of us can have to change s...

Serendipity is the unexpected, and often delightful, intersection of luck, coincidence, and opportunity.  Chance events are happening all around us, we are often just too busy to notice.  In this episode, Sherry and Anne talk about their own experiences with serendipity and how it is not enough to just wait for good things to happen; it is about mindset, a willingness to move beyond the analytical...

Josh Izenberg started his college career with many interests and no solid idea of what he wanted to do after graduation.  Along the way he fell in love with filmmaking and headed to LA to make his dreams of being a wildly successful filmmaker come true.  Unfortunately, that did not turn out as planned, so Josh ditched his expectations of what “being a success” looks like and made a small film with...

For the majority of her life,  Dr. Maureen Aarons was a people pleaser, raised in a strict Catholic family where many decisions were presented as binary.  Even her decision to go to medical school seemed like a choice: be a doctor, or become a mom.  When she married the love of her life, who happened to be Jewish, Maureen describes it as “breaking their family’s hearts.” When she was diagnosed wit...

Ava LaShay grew up never quite knowing where he fit in. He was a mixed kid in a suburban, predominantly white town when he figured out he was gay. Surrounded by negative perceptions of gay people, he suppressed that part of his identity and dedicated himself to caring for his young niece and nephew. Finally, during college, while being part of a queer support group on campus, Ava first encountered...

Marti Grimminck’s love of travel was cemented in her childhood growing up in New York and traveling with her parents. Her desire to connect was born out of this same love of travel; never missing an opportunity to meet someone new, Marti created relationships all over the world and founded a business focused on bringing a global perspective to companies in the US and abroad. Join us to hear Marti’...

Beyond being fun to say, “don’t should on yourself” can be an important mantra to live by.  Every time you say I should…(fill in the blank) you are creating a scenario where you are already behind the 8 ball.  There is judgment in I should.   There is abdication in I should.  There is disempowerment in I should. Check out this week’s episode for some strategies to get rid of the “shoulds” and walk...

TRIGGER WARNING: The conversation includes the 2017 Las Vegas mass gun shooting. After spending a great day with her husband, celebrating their lives, and 10 years cancer free, Natalie Grumet walked through the gates at the Route 91 Music Festival in Las Vegas to join her friends. With her favorite musician on stage, Natalie initially thought she heard fireworks, but didn’t see anything in the sky...

From the outside it looked like Nicole Swiner had it all. She was a co-owner of a successful family medicine practice and a popular doctor with a happy marriage and a growing family. Then one day Doc Swiner found herself collapsed on the floor at work, wondering what had happened. It took some of the most important people in her life to gently point out that she was suffering from Superwoman Compl...