This is My Silver Lining

EPISODE 5 REPLAY:  As we mark the 21st anniversary of the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, we want to take this opportunity to honor the memory of one of its victims, FDNY Battalion Chief, Fred Scheffold.  If you haven't had a chance, or even if you already have, please listen to this episode where his daughter, Claudette, shares her experience of that day, her memories of her father, an...

Lynne Sullivan knows the transformative power of education.  After being convicted of second degree murder, she spent the first few years of a life sentence in and out of solitary confinement.   A new life path opened for Lynne when she was encouraged by another inmate to go back to school.  This path eventually led her to earning a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Boston University.  A few yea...

It’s no overstatement to say that middle school bullying changed Rabbi Leora Kaye's life.  When she was halfway through 5th grade, her parents decided to move.  Her new home, in the Chicago suburb of Willamette, was only a short drive from her old home in Evanston, but the move meant changing schools at a really tough time in the school cycle.  A social kid with a thriving circle of friends f...

Casey Erin Clark sang at the Tony Awards a few months ago:  a dream come true for a Midwestern girl who grew up singing in church and starring in school musicals.  But it may not have happened if she had landed the Broadway role that she thought was her ticket to the big-time.  After earning a degree in fine arts, Casey came to New York City to try to make it on Broadway.  After making her off-Bro...

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but some pictures move from the eyes, straight to the heart, without any need for words.  Erin Borzellino is a photographer who captures such images, waiting patiently to catch unpolished moments of raw joy that might otherwise pass unnoticed. Erin is a storyteller, whose photo projects, Unstoppable , Below the Water Line , and Women Who Rock each evok...

Have you ever had that sense of deja vu?  Like you’ve been somewhere before?  Or maybe you meet someone for the first time but you have an instant connection and feel like you must have known them before?  These feelings and experiences may be clues to one of your past lives.  In this episode, we speak with Ann C. Barham, a Certified Regression Therapist and retired Licensed Marriage & Family...

Vivian Kahn Adler on Suffering Loss, Helping Children with Special Needs, and Choosing to Be Grateful Every Day  Vivian Kahn Adler is a speech pathologist who specializes in pediatric feeding disorders.  After losing her daughter in 1989 to a rare genetic disorder, Vivian was encouraged by well-meaning friends to shift away from working with children with special needs.  Instead, Vivian leaned in,...

Agonizing over your resume?  Put it down and pick up a pen and paper.  The key to career satisfaction might lie, instead, in figuring out your own personal definition of success.  Rather than focusing on title or salary, focus on who you want to help and how, where you want to be, and think about the goals you have for your non-working hours.  Then build your career around that.  We talk about thi...

Nick Priest is not your average 18 year old.  Throughout his life he has focused on how he can give back in a meaningful way that honors the memory of his father, who he lost to oral cancer when he was just six years old.  Nick tells us that playing video games with his father were some of his favorite memories.  Even as his dad’s health deteriorated rapidly, father and son were able to bond throu...

It’s hard to imagine finding a silver lining after suffering the loss of a loved one.  Claudette Scheffold tells us that it wasn’t something she was able to see until many years later, as she remembers the huge outpouring of love that she and her family received after they lost her father, Fred Scheffold, FDNY Battalion Chief, on September 11, 2001.  She remembers the kindness of loved ones and of...

Olaseni Bello is a Nigerian immigrant, an American citizen, a husband, a father, a lawyer with an MBA, an entrepreneur, and a decorated veteran. And not one of these things has come easy.  With the belief that you have the power to change your life for the better, Olaseni does not accept challenges lying down.   Olaseni tells us about his highly anticipated arrival on American soil, knowing that u...

Being laid off from her longtime position running an emergency medicine training program at a large suburban hospital, Chanda tells us how this setback (with the help of an inspiring letter from a former student) ultimately inspired her to launch her own business, the EMS Institute of Fairfield County (the “Institute”).   Chanda talks about how she hopes to inspire young Black women.  When she was...

It has been a long two years.  Correction:  two-plus years.  We’re all exhausted by the unending wait for this COVID 19 pandemic to be over.  Our guest, Dr. Evangeline Thibodeau feels the same way.  She’s a mom of three living in a small town on the coast of Maine.  But Evangeline doesn’t have the luxury of turning off the news and forgetting about COVID for a few hours.  She’s been in the thick o...

Kevin Sousa is a Program Director and Ocean Therapist at the Jimmy Miller Memorial Foundation, as well as a therapist in private practice in Hermosa Beach, California.  While we initially approached Kevin to learn more about the benefits of surf therapy and the work of the JMMF, we quickly learned that Kevin had his own story to tell about his path to sobriety, being present, and the importance of...

It’s true that you never really know what someone else might be going through.  But just think about what might happen if we did; how we might treat each other with more patience and compassion.  The world needs us to take a step back and listen to one another.  We hope that you are as inspired as we are by these stories of the people you might pass on the sidewalk each day; about what inspires th...