Rick Ornelas is a best-selling author, professional coach, and the founder of the growing community “I Spark Change”. What was the pivotal time in Rick’s life? One night, he was driving home with his wife and children. It was raining. Suddenly, he lost control of the car. It spun across lanes of traffic, eventually flipping over and landing back on its wheels. Surprisingly, no one was hurt. It was such traumatic, near-death accident that it inevitably changed Rick’s life.

Patti Handy is a certified executive coach, certified life coach, and a financial coach who helps women transform their finances and their lives so they can achieve financial confidence and peace of mind. She has had over 20 years of professional experience being a financial advisor and a mortgage advisor. Patti knows firsthand how devastating financial challenges can be for a woman as she went through a divorce when her son was just 18 months old.

Have you ever heard of a digital nomad? I hadn’t until I met my guest Kayla Ihrig who refers to herself as the queen of digital nomadism. Kayla is a fascinating and determined young lady who left her world of a 9 to 5 job because she wanted more in her life.

Dr. Jennifer Fraser is a consultant, author and speaker who is bringing about a transformation in how we look at all sorts of bullying and the physical damage that bullying does to our brains. She uses brain-science and an evidence-based approach to teach about brain fitness and how we can heal our brains from the trauma associated with bullying and abuse.

Meet Beate Chelette, an author, founder of the Women’s Code, and what she likes to describe herself as “A Growth Architect”. Beate was a broke single mom, a first-generation German immigrant, and $135,000 in debt. How did she go from these challenging circumstances to eventually selling her business to Bill Gates for millions of dollars during a recession?

Vickie Rubin is an award-winning author, educator, and advocate. She is the mother of a child named Jess, who has a rare chromosome deletion and who has been disabled all her life as a result. Vickie has not only intimate personal knowledge and experience with having a disabled child, but she also has considerable professional experience working with families who have children with special needs.

Dr. Vermelle Greene is an author, educational consultant, teacher-trainer, mentor, and a homeschool grandparent. She has experience of over 50 years as an educator and school administrator. Dr. Greene firmly believes that the way a child learns is affected by the child’s gender. And, since boys learn differently than girls, they should be taught differently, but unfortunately, they often are not. The result is that many boys are not succeeding in school as they should be and that affects their entire education and ultimately, their success in life.

Pamela M. Covington is a speaker, author, anti-poverty advocate and a women’s transition coach. She has earned multiple degrees, including two master’s degrees. Pamela shares with us her story of many struggles and hope.

My guest Phebe Trotman is an author and an accomplished athlete, having won many accolades as a soccer player. Phebe’s book is titled Never Quit on a Bad Day – Inspiring Stories of Resilience. It is a compilation of personal stories from Phebe and 9 other contributors that illustrate the power of never quitting. Phebe shares her story of challenges playing soccer, but she did not let defeat stop her, and her accomplishments, as a result, have been many.

My guest Dr. Guy E. Glad is a man for all seasons. He is an ordained minister, an integrative Christian therapist, an organizational leader, and an educator. Add to all that, he is an author too! Dr. Glad shares how he was raised in a family where his father was an alcoholic and verbally abusive. He joined the armed forces as an army chaplain and served honorably for 28 years. While there, he worked with his soldiers as an alcohol and drug addiction therapist, after observing patterns that he had seen growing up and providing much needed support to them.

Are you a business owner who finds social media daunting? You know that you must be present on social media, but you are uncertain what to do? Or perhaps you have a hodge podge approach – posting but not certain whether you are reaching the right people? Meet my guest Julia Pearson, a marketing strategist who focuses on helping businesses develop good relationships with social media. She is the CEO of Stratos Creative Marketing, a small business that she established, and which has grown from 1 to 10 employees now.

Kyle Gillette is a business coach and author. His experience is quite diverse, having run four businesses and a non-profit during his professional career. He is passionate about helping businesses to grow and reach new heights, whether through coaching programs with individuals or groups. He has built a 4-part framework for leadership, which involves self-awareness, accountability, a growth mindset, and empowering others.

My guest Oksana Kukuruzda is a management consultant. But, for our podcast, we will talk about her role as an author and a proud daughter of Ukrainian parents. She has written a non-fiction book titled Sunflowers Bend but Rarely Break, where she invites readers to learn about Ukrainian history and national identity through her parents’ experiences and struggles during World War II and its aftermath. Sunflowers are the national flowers of Ukraine. She tells us about the approximately 12 million Eastern European slave workers during that war who endured many hardships.

My guest Elle O’Flaherty is an executive coach and performance optimization speaker. She specializes in ADHD coaching for executives and professionals as well as other members of the ADHD community. ADHD is the acronym for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder which is a medical condition that can be effectively treated. She personally understands the challenges and strengths of ADHD, as she has ADHD herself.

Laura Mangum Broome is an author and resilience coach who has an action plan for transforming pain into purpose. I must say that “resilient” is a word that truly describes her. Laura inspires us with her stories of triumph over adversity as she successfully faced the challenges of open-heart surgery during the Covid pandemic and then a sudden divorce after many years of marriage. Her book is titled Flourishing After Adversity: A 3-Step Action Plan to Transform Pain Into Purpose and Embrace Joy Again.

Have you felt that you are not happy with where you are in life and just did not want to stay feeling that way? Have you considered seeking the assistance of a life coach? My guest Jennifer Chapman is a certified life coach and speaker who is passionate about inspiring others to overcome a victim mentality and embrace their inner warrior. Jennifer knows all too well what it is like to feel stuck. She was a very successful sales executive who was driven to achieve. However, at the age of 34, she suffered a stroke and went through a long journey of rehab. And, she also carried with her grief for many, many years because of the sudden death of her mother when she was a child. When she found herself frequently sitting in her car crying, she realized that she did not want to stay where she was.

Dr. Judy Morley, PHD is passionate about mentoring and coaching leaders who want to make a difference, especially women. If you are a woman who seeks to learn more about becoming a better leader, whether at your job or business or in your community, this is a powerful podcast to listen to. Dr. Judy has over 20 years of leadership experience as an executive and is herself a very successful entrepreneur. She was challenged early in her life when she was a young mother with stage 4 cancer and is happy to say that she beat it and was given the gift of life back.

Have you ever wondered why you can begin a project but not complete it? Does it frustrate you not to finish something you have started? My guest Tim Vandehey co-wrote with Tracy Maylett the book titled Swipe: The Science Behind Why We Don’t Finish What We Start. Tim is a New York Times best-selling ghostwriter and co-author. Tracy Maylett is an organizational psychologist and expert in employee engagement.

Meet April Moss, a dynamic leader who is an inspiration to female executives everywhere. April got involved in the construction industry from young as her father and brothers were in that field. After many years as an executive in various other industries, her passion has become construction digitization, using software to revolutionize construction projects. Through her company Digibuild, she is able to provide software for construction projects that provides material management and competitive prices for material procurement.

How can you establish clear boundaries – ones that make you feel safe, empowered, and liberated in relationships? Meet licensed psychotherapist Dana Skaggs, who is known as the Queen of Boundaries. Dana’s passion is helping people understand how their lack of healthy boundaries is contributing to many of their problems. She grew up with a mother who suffered mental challenges and Dana was often the target of her mother’s anger and manipulation.