The Soul Talks Podcast

We’re thrilled to welcome back Patricia Kara, best known as suitcase #9 from Deal or No Deal, to discuss her incredible journey in the entertainment industry. Patricia opens up about her early auditions, how she handled rejection, and the survival tools she used to stay resilient. Discover how her challenging childhood prepared her for the ups and downs of the industry, and gain valuable advice if...

Meet Patricia Kara! Actress, model and former Suitcase #9 on Deal or No Deal. We are honored to have her on our next episode! Patricia opens up about the trauma she endured as a child and how she turned her pain into power in the entertainment industry. Tune in to hear her inspiring story of survival, growth, and escape from an abusive environment. You don’t want to miss it!

In this week’s episode of Soul Talks Podcast, we’re diving into the topic of grief. Whether it’s the loss of a loved one, a major life change, or a personal setback, grief affects us all. With insights from Sheri Ryland, a professional psychotherapist and Theresa’s powerful story of facing unimaginable loss, this conversation is one of support and resilience. If you're seeking advice, comfort, or...

Today is our last episode with Lauren Pearson. I’m thankful for her willingness to share a difficult time in her family's life. It isn’t an easy story to tell and Lauren has given it to us with so much grace. I’ve loved hearing about how Lauren and Andrew have moved forward in their lives, out of a place of hurt and sorrow toward of place of so much hope. Listen as Lauren gives us a peek into farm...

Lauren and her husband Andrew seemed to have it all – Andrew was Dean of The Church of the Advent in Birmingham. They had three beautiful girls, were engaged in the community and Lauren was building her business. And then it all changed. You don’t want to miss this.

I’m thrilled to have Lauren Pearson on the show again this week! In this episode, meeting her husband Andrew, and their journey to a new church in the Deep South of Beaufort, South Carolina. She talks about the culture of the South and how she had an unexpected breakthrough in defining what she wanted to do with her career. I’ve long admired Lauren for her ‘bits of wisdom’ that she sprinkles in ev...

I am so excited for you to meet my dear friend, Lauren Pearson. Lauren is the Managing Director and Partner of Somerset Advisory, a wealth management firm that she built from the ground up. She is also a minister’s wife, and a mom to three beautiful girls. There are lots of twists and turns in her journey, but today, we will look at her early life. It’s always fascinating to find out where the see...

I am excited to sit down with you today for our second Small Talk. As I’ve often said, I think we are all in some sort of survival journey. After the tragic and sudden death of my husband, part of my survival was asking lots of questions—about my life, about why this happened to my family, about why I was on this earth—heavy questions, but I think we all ask them at some point in our lives. I cert...

Today is our last episode with Neillie Butler— I don’t want it to end! It’s been a journey of some of life’s most difficult obstacles, of overcoming, of honesty and shame, of power and courage. As we wrap up Neillie’s story today, she and I talk about her definition of success and how that’s changed over the last fifteen years. We explore what security means—it’s different for each one of us. And,...

I’m excited to have Neillie Butler with us again this week! What an amazing woman and what an incredible story! We pick up Neillie’s story this week as she begins to build her life forward after cancer. There’s a lot to unpack in this episode–an early marriage, a divorce, starting her career, and the early days of a beautiful love story. As with all of us, Neillie’s life is full of peaks and valle...

Neillie Butler’s story has gotten many comments this week from all of you—all of us are deeply inspired by her courage and bravery. Today,we are airing a short episode in which Neillie shares her last recurrence of cancer. We have two more, longer episodes to air in the next two weeks where Neillie shares how her life unfolded. As with most of our journeys, there are some amazing highs, and some r...

What a privilege it is to have Neillie Butler on the show for the next few episodes! We spent this episode walking through her survival journey, first with a severe learning disability as a young child, and then her diagnosis of cancer at the age of 19. Her survival journey is so inspirational and gives us so much wisdom and courage for our own journeys. Neillie is also the Founder and President o...

It’s a little daunting to be vulnerable and honest about where we come from—not just the pretty parts, but the parts that are not so pretty, that are messy, and embarrassing. The parts we work so hard to overcome. I’ve learned how important it is to be as honest as possible about where we come from. When we do that, it becomes part of our power, part of our ability to move out of the stories that...

Natalia and I cover lots of topics in our conversation today – how you create paths toward happiness, leaning into friendships when you are lonely, deepening our spiritual practices – they all ladder up to how we are living our ‘one wild and precious life’ to the fullest.

We all have those stories that we tell ourselves that hold us back from healing and becoming our best. We also have stories from our past that inspire us and push us forward. Today we are talking about the power that those stories have in our lives and how to pull strength and courage from them. Episode 14 is out now - link in bio

Natalia and I are moving away from the topic of shame to the wonderfully encouraging topic of courage. Courage is so important in all of our journeys because without it, ultimately our journey can’t pivot in a positive direction. Listen as we discuss today!

Natalia and I are continuing our conversation this week around shame, and focusing in on how our shame causes us to play small, to live in secrecy and isolation. Listen to how we work to overcome it in our journeys, and how we continue to work on shame that occurs in our everyday lives.

Natalia and I are back together today discussing two enormous emotions—shame and fear—big topics that we all encounter all of the time in life. Both shame and fear are intrinsic in a survival journey of any kind. I often talk about the culture shifting work Brene Brown has done regarding Shame. She defines Shame as the thing that keeps us in secrecy and isolation. It is so destructive to our heali...

This is our last episode with Mari Mars. Her story takes such an unusual turn in this episode as the power of music, the music she had sung in the church all of her life, pulled her into healing, back to the church, and her marriage.

This is a tough episode and not for the light of heart. Truthfully, most of the details of all of our survival journeys are not easy for others to hear. As Mari’s story unfolds in this episode, there are two enormously difficult situations that forever shape her life forward: a rupture between her and her faith community because of her profession as a sex therapist, and then, on one horrific day,...

What an an absolute treat it is to have Mari Mars with us for the next few episodes. She is the wife of a Priest in the Greek Orthodox Church. She is also a Sex Therapist. We began her journey, first becoming a Priest’s wife, and then feeling called to become a therapist to those who suffer from abuse and sexual trauma. It takes so much courage to stay true to one’s convictions,when the convention...

Today I am sitting down once again with my friend Natalia. We are discussing our definitions of success and how those definitions have shifted throughout our survival journeys.

I’m excited to be back this week with my friend Natalia LePivert. We are talking about guilt and how different it is from shame. Shame keeps us feeling unworthy of love and acceptance. Guilt is painful and often takes us down paths of questioning all the’ What Ifs’ in our situation: what if I had been more aware of what was going on, what if I had been a better listener, what if I had been around...

Our last soul talk with Dr. Princess where we walk through the toughest part of her story, and how she found her faith when she was at rock bottom. What a privilege it has been to have Dr. Princess join us to share her journey of faith and survival.

We continue our soul talk with Dr. Princess Thomas as she walks through her medical school journey. While she had monumental successes that defined her journey—one example being that she was the first African American woman to earn a breast surgery fellowship at Yale University—but also had her share of setbacks that challenged both her fierce determination and her faith.