Podcasts about professionally

Natalie shares a ton of incredible insights about her sexuality, relationships, power exchange, and personal growth in this beautiful conversation. She's been kinky her whole life and “officially” entered the kink scene when she went to college at age 18. She's also been exploring various relationship models including polyamory for the last few years and is currently 25 years old and in a triad with multiple significant age gaps.  We're blown away by Natalie's intentionality, insight, and curiosity and we love how she sees life as one big experiment—and how embracing that mindset has helped her build fulfilling relationships and a deeper understanding of herself. As the Organizational Manager for the Kink Collective, Natalie fuels the mission of “People Before Kink” through strategic communication and community leadership. As a 2025 Northeast Regional Power Exchange titleholder, she works alongside co-founders Cat and Joshua to promote intentional exploration of sexuality and BDSM education worldwide. Professionally, she amplifies the collective's voice through dynamic social media content, event promotion, and ensuring every message is both approachable and community-centered. As a professional dominatrix and aspiring educator, Natalie combines integrity, clear communication, and confident leadership to expand the collective's reach while cultivating her own powerful footprint in the lifestyle. Check out the full show notes here. Join the most amazing community of open-minded humans on the planet!   Click here to order your very own NNM shirt! $10 Off - Online STI Testing

Chantell Preston has spent more than 25 years building, scaling, and transforming businesses in healthcare. After leaving the corporate world and building her own successful career, she became passionate about empowering women to redefine success on their own terms. She is the author of The Success Lie: Reframing Your Reality to Thrive Personally and Professionally and recently invested in women's professional sports by purchasing a women's professional volleyball team in San Francisco. In this episode, Chantell shares how betting on herself, building the right network, and becoming intentional with her time helped her create a career—and life—that actually feels fulfilling. On this episode we talk about: Why who you know can be more valuable than what you know—and how to build meaningful relationships Chantell's decision to leave the corporate world and build her own healthcare business The pressure women face to be “perfect” and how to redefine success on your own terms How saying yes to everything can actually prevent you from reaching your goals Balancing entrepreneurship, purpose, and family without sacrificing the things that matter most Why failure and setbacks can become some of your greatest opportunities Top 3 Takeaways Bet on yourself and figure things out along the way. You don't have to know everything before taking an opportunity. Sometimes you simply need to put yourself in the right room and trust that you can learn what you need to know. Define success for yourself. Money and titles can be great goals, but achieving them doesn't necessarily mean you'll feel fulfilled. Get intentional about what success actually means to you and where you want to spend your time. Focus on quality over quantity with your time. Whether it's your career, relationships, or family, being intentional and emotionally present can matter far more than simply being physically present. Notable Quotes “I would bet on myself every day and twice on Saturday so I could figure things out.” “A yes is a no to something else.” “If we're not failing, we're not trying hard enough.” Connect with Chantell Preston: Instagram: @chantell_preston Website: ChantellPreston.com Podcast: Get Real Get Results Book: The Success Lie: Reframing Your Reality to Thrive Personally and Professionally A Word from Our Sponsors: - Go to Leesa.com for 25% OFF select mattresses (through August 23, 2026) PLUS get an extra $50 off with promo code TMM, exclusive for my listeners  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Veteran On the Move, host Joe Crane interviews Austin Holmes, a Navy EOD Veteran and the owner and president of Publicity For Good. Austin shares his transition from military service to entrepreneurship, detailing how he built his company, acquired early clients, and now helps mission-driven brands scale their impact through strategic PR. He discusses the critical role of earned media and third-party validation in modern AI discovery, the application of targeted tools like Signal Raptor, and strategies for achieving sustainable business growth and strong client relationships. Episode Resources: Publicity For Good Signal Raptor     About Our Guest  Austin Holmes is the owner and president of Publicity For Good, a purpose-driven public relations firm focused on helping mission-led brands grow their impact. Hes known for combining strategic thinking with a genuine passion for helping people, working closely with clients to tell meaningful stories that resonate. Professionally, Austin brings a hands-on, solutions-oriented approach to everything he does. Hes organized, reliable, and easy to work with, someone who values clear communication and follows through. He naturally builds strong relationships and creates a positive environment wherever hes involved. About Our Sponsors Navy Federal Credit Union   If you're looking for a positive sign toward homeownership, this is it. That's because Navy Federal Credit Union's Homebuyers Choice loan has downpayment options as low as zero percent with no required private mortgage insurance. These benefits make homeownership more achievable for their members. Learn more here.  Terms and conditions apply. Loans subject to approval and eligibility requirements. Learn more at Navy Federal dot org slash zero down. At Navy Federal, our members are the mission.      Join the conversation on Facebook! Check out Veteran on the Move on Facebook to connect with our guests and other listeners. A place where you can network with other like-minded veterans who are transitioning to entrepreneurship and get updates on people, programs and resources to help you in YOUR transition to entrepreneurship.   Want to be our next guest? Send us an email at interview@veteranonthemove.com.  Did you love this episode? Leave us a 5-star rating and review!  Download Joe Crane's Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470. Veteran On the Move podcast has published 600 episodes. Our listeners have the opportunity to hear in-depth interviews conducted by host Joe Crane. The podcast features people, programs, and resources to assist veterans in their transition to entrepreneurship.  As a result, Veteran On the Move has over 7,000,000 verified downloads through Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, iTunes and RSS Feed Syndication making it one of the most popular Military Entrepreneur Shows on the Internet Today.  

Join us for a live podcast recording, talkback, and signing with renowned casting director James Calleri, as he discusses the 9th edition of Acting Professionally: The Essential Guide for the Actor. This updated edition reflects the changing landscape of the acting world, including the impacts of BLM, #MeToo, and the Covid-19 pandemic, while providing practical advice for navigating auditions, representation, and opportunities across stage, screen, and digital platforms. With decades of experience launching the careers of actors like Elisabeth Moss, Adam Driver, Jessica Chastain, and Sterling K. Brown, Calleri shares insider knowledge, career-building strategies, and essential guidance for actors at any stage of their journey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Money Making Conversations Master Class with Rushion McDonald is America's premier entrepreneurship, business leadership, financial literacy, and wealth-building podcast featuring successful entrepreneurs, executives, founders, celebrities, and industry experts sharing actionable insights for professional and financial success. Business Podcast Entrepreneurship Small Business Business Growth Financial Literacy Wealth Building Black Entrepreneurs Minority Business Leadership Executive Leadership Business Funding Marketing Strategies Personal Development Startup Advice Sales Training CEO Interviews Founder Stories Professional Development Economic Empowerment Business Success Networking Brand Building Innovation How to start a business Small business funding Entrepreneur success stories Business leadership podcast Wealth building strategies Black entrepreneur podcast Minority business development Marketing for small businesses Business growth strategies Startup funding opportunities Executive leadership training Financial literacy education Success mindset podcast Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Charles Cofield. Thanks! The transcript from this episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass features an inspiring and high-energy interview with CPA and financial educator Carter Cofield, co-founder of Melanin Money. Here's a breakdown of the key highlights and takeaways:

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Money Making Conversations Master Class with Rushion McDonald is America's premier entrepreneurship, business leadership, financial literacy, and wealth-building podcast featuring successful entrepreneurs, executives, founders, celebrities, and industry experts sharing actionable insights for professional and financial success. Business Podcast Entrepreneurship Small Business Business Growth Financial Literacy Wealth Building Black Entrepreneurs Minority Business Leadership Executive Leadership Business Funding Marketing Strategies Personal Development Startup Advice Sales Training CEO Interviews Founder Stories Professional Development Economic Empowerment Business Success Networking Brand Building Innovation How to start a business Small business funding Entrepreneur success stories Business leadership podcast Wealth building strategies Black entrepreneur podcast Minority business development Marketing for small businesses Business growth strategies Startup funding opportunities Executive leadership training Financial literacy education Success mindset podcast Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Charles Cofield. Thanks! The transcript from this episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass features an inspiring and high-energy interview with CPA and financial educator Carter Cofield, co-founder of Melanin Money. Here's a breakdown of the key highlights and takeaways:

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Money Making Conversations Master Class with Rushion McDonald is America's premier entrepreneurship, business leadership, financial literacy, and wealth-building podcast featuring successful entrepreneurs, executives, founders, celebrities, and industry experts sharing actionable insights for professional and financial success. Business Podcast Entrepreneurship Small Business Business Growth Financial Literacy Wealth Building Black Entrepreneurs Minority Business Leadership Executive Leadership Business Funding Marketing Strategies Personal Development Startup Advice Sales Training CEO Interviews Founder Stories Professional Development Economic Empowerment Business Success Networking Brand Building Innovation How to start a business Small business funding Entrepreneur success stories Business leadership podcast Wealth building strategies Black entrepreneur podcast Minority business development Marketing for small businesses Business growth strategies Startup funding opportunities Executive leadership training Financial literacy education Success mindset podcast Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Charles Cofield. Thanks! The transcript from this episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass features an inspiring and high-energy interview with CPA and financial educator Carter Cofield, co-founder of Melanin Money. Here's a breakdown of the key highlights and takeaways:

Today, we're revisiting one of our earliest episodes with host, media personality, and creator Tefi Pessoa. Pessoa has forged a career—and amassed 2 million followers on TikTok—by being “professionally [her]self.” Her online presence is equal parts hilarious and authentic: One moment she's doing a deep dive on celebrity relationship timelines and the next talking about her own mental health journey. On this episode, we dive into Pessoa's financial ups and downs throughout her career, the surprising Kardashian/Jenner family member she would trade closets with, and how she sets boundaries online.This episode was originally released in July 2024.

A bestselling computer book and a mayor's office may seem worlds apart, but Dan Gookin's path connects them through curiosity, clear communication, and public service. I talk with the DOS for Dummies author and Coeur d'Alene mayor about making technical writing useful, challenging industries that resist new ideas, and finding success by improving work others do poorly. Dan also shares why he entered local politics, how transparency and community engagement built public trust, and why responsible leadership often means asking the questions others overlook. We close by exploring political division, religious freedom, social media algorithms, and the need to reduce online anger without losing the internet's benefits. Highlights: 00:06:48 - Why leaving your comfort zone creates growth. 00:11:07 - How doing something better can become a business. 00:12:39 - Why writing for beginners changed computer publishing. 00:27:06 - How transparency concerns led Dan into politics. 00:37:30 - Why responsiveness helped Dan earn public trust. 00:54:49 - How social media fuels anger and division. About the Guest: Dan Gookin is the mayor-elect of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, having won election in November 2025 after serving on the City Council since 2011. Known as a fiscal conservative, outspoken advocate for government transparency, and a committed budget hawk who asks tough questions, he is often described as “the lone voice of reason” on the council, consistently championing the public and the “little guy” against bureaucracy. Gookin views his public service as protecting individual rights. He prides himself on listening to all perspectives, welcoming alternative viewpoints, remaining open to new information, and never being a rubber-stamp vote. Professionally, Gookin is known as a writer and online trainer. He has been writing about technology since the early days of personal computing, combining his humor with a passion for gadgets to create informative and entertaining books. He authored the groundbreaking DOS For Dummies in 1991—the world's fastest-selling computer book at the time and the title that launched the iconic For Dummies series, now a publishing phenomenon. With more than 170 titles to his credit, over 12 million copies in print, and translations into more than 30 languages, his popular works include PCs and Laptops For Dummies, Android For Dummies, Word For Dummies, and C For Dummies. He maintains two helpful websites, wambooli.com and c-for-dummies.com. He creates online courses for LinkedIn Learning on diverse topics, and in 2020 published Running for Local Office For Dummies. Gookin graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a BA in Communications/Visual Arts and minors in cognitive psychology and theatrical design. He put his creative talents to work as artistic director of the Lake City Playhouse, where he designed sets, lighting, and directed many productions between 1997 and 2002. First and foremost, Dan considers himself a father who raised four boys in Idaho. Gookin resides in Coeur d'Alene with his wife, Brie, along with various children and pets. In his leisure time, he enjoys woodworking, playing the piano, riding his bike, cooking, gardening, and making lists of things he enjoys doing along with occasionally annoying those who think that they're important. Ways to connect with Dan**:** LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-gookin-46995713/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dangookin About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:04 What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingston, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Hello there, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Unstoppable Mindset. I am your host, Michael Hingston, and today we get to chat with Dan Gookin. Do you know who Dan Gookin is? Probably not, but you will by the time we're done. But I will tell you one thing about Dan. He was elected mayor of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in November of 2025. I think Dan, you're the first political person as such that we have had on, which is kind of cool. I'm really honored to to have you here, and and we can spend the the whole time picking on on other politicians, but there's no need to do that. I mean, what good does it do? It's a waste of time. But I want to welcome you to Unstoppable Mindset, and Dan, thanks very much for being here. Dan Gookin  01:44 Thank you, Michael. Thank you for having me on. Michael Hingson  01:46 Well, this will, I think, really be a lot of fun. I'm sorry that you guys aren't getting a lot of snow up there. My brother-in-law has been keeping me posted on the lack of snow, so today here we're expecting a temperature at about 70 degrees. Last week it got up to 39. So I don't know. There's something going on with the climate. Dan Gookin  02:10 Something. Michael Hingson  02:11 Yeah, whatever it is. Speaker 1  02:13 Well, there was a name for that. Michael Hingson  02:15 Yeah, yeah. If if there were enough people, would only believe it. But that's another story. You are right. Well, thanks very much for being here. Why don't we start? Tell me about the early Dan growing up and all that. Speaker 1  02:31 So I grew up in San Diego, California. Good place. I still say San Michael Hingson  02:35 Diego has the best weather in the country. Speaker 1  02:38 They do. It's changed a little bit as everything has, but I escaped from there back in 1991. Went up to Washington State because I was doing some work with Microsoft, and then decided that that was Seattle was another big city. So we kept looking east and finally landed in Idaho in Coeur d'Alene because it's pretty. Michael Hingson  03:01 It's a nice area. So you you did your schooling and all that down in San Diego. Speaker 1  03:06 Yeah, I graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in communication visual arts. That was in 1983. Michael Hingson  03:13 Cool, wow. I've spent many a a day down in San Diego. I lived in Vista for six years, so I'm familiar with the area. Yeah, I liked Vista. Vista was a nice place to be. You Speaker 1  03:24 did a radio show out of Vista. Did you for a while? Yeah, computer call-in show. So that was way back. Michael Hingson  03:32 What did you discuss, or just anything dealing with computers? I Speaker 1  03:36 was editing a magazine, a local computer magazine at the time, and we purchased an hour, and so I would drive from my home in Tierra Santa all the way up to Vista to be in this little tiny radio station, where we would do call-ins. And sometimes people would call in, and I would help them solve their computer problems. And sometimes I had to talk to myself for Michael Hingson  03:57 an hour. And and and did you get answers when you talk to yourself. Speaker 1  04:02 No, but I got really hoarse. Ah, okay. Michael Hingson  04:04 Well, you know, just just checking. Well, that's cool. Well, I guess we could tell everyone that, among other things, Dan is also the author of a number of books, including DOS for Dummies. I still like DOS. Thank you. I I like DOS. I've just always enjoyed it. Although, I have to admit, Windows has progressed a whole lot more. But I always liked DOS. Speaker 1  04:27 Yes, it was good, and and it was its complexity or its a rudeness, I shall say. Yeah, that's a good. Sold the book because you had to type. You had to know the commands in Windows. You can kind of look and point and do all this stuff, but in DOS, you had to know the commands and type the commands, and people wouldn't-they couldn't remember. There were all these options, and so we sold a lot of books doing that. It's still, like I said, I I like it too. I like the command line because it's faster if you know what you have to type. Yeah, it takes less time to type. Than it does to look around, point and shoot with the mouse. Michael Hingson  05:04 Yeah, there are a number of blind people on some list serves that I am part of that every so often something regarding DOS comes up, which is I think kind of cool. Speaker 1  05:15 Yep, hasn't gone away. It's it's still lurking in there somewhere. Michael Hingson  05:19 It is still a kind of the basic underpinning foundation of a lot of Windows, isn't it? Speaker 1  05:25 Well, Windows actually does run on top of it still. If you if you when you start a program in Windows, you're actually issuing a text command. So inside there is a long text command that is issued that gets everything running. It's just that you're configuring that from a graphical perspective, Michael Hingson  05:44 right? Yeah, but but it is still running. DOS essentially runs under Windows, which is which is something that is is relevant. So I guess we could blame that on Bill Gates, Speaker 1  05:57 or credit him. I don't know. Michael Hingson  05:58 Or yeah, yeah, one of the other. Well, so you you graduated, you moved to Seattle. As you said, it is a big city, although you know it's kind of hard to fight Pike's fish market. Speaker 1  06:11 Well, there's there's the fun and charming parts of of Seattle that I really enjoyed. So I mean, I can't say that you know it was a horrible city. The thing I admired about Seattle the most was that Seattle would occasionally not take itself seriously, and I liked that it had a sense of humor and that people there were generally good natured. San Diego was a little bit more uptight, you know, fair weather fans, that kind of stuff, where Seattle was more of a community, and I admired that greatly. Michael Hingson  06:43 And there used to be a lot of rain up there. Speaker 1  06:45 Not as much as people say. That's kind of their reputation. The Pacific Northwest we do have. So I moved from Southern California where you have 360 days of sun a year to Pacific Northwest where you have 180, so it was kind of a shock from that point of view. It's mostly like today; it's overcast. It's just there's no sun, so that's the big difference. Michael Hingson  07:10 And then you moved up to Idaho, and and how many days of sun or not sun are there a year? Speaker 1  07:16 Oh, still about 180. 180. Uh huh. But it's you know so you get used to it after a while, and when the sun comes out, you're all happy, and it's like, look, the sun's out, everything's pretty. Michael Hingson  07:27 Yeah, fair. Yeah. So when you were in San Diego and so on, what did you want to do or be when you grew up? Speaker 1  07:36 So originally, I wanted to be a doctor, and then I had the misfortune of being in a hospital, and I said I don't ever want to be back here, and changed my mind and figured I would be a writer. So for years I started writing and submitting things to magazines, trying to work on books and stuff. I mean I wrote a few books, and they say that you have to get about a million words of junk out before you actually are a good writer. So I I worked on that for a long time, and got to the point where I I actually had a reputation with some of the editors in the magazines who would write me back personal notes instead of the generic you know dismissal, and so that was working really well. But then what happened in 1984 was I wrote something for the local computer flyer, and they liked that, and it got published, and that was what really started the career for tech because tech wanted people who knew how to write, so that was good timing. Michael Hingson  08:35 Yeah, so many technical manuals are just so boring. I really wish people would learn how to write more interesting books. Of course, I say that about textbooks as well. I am of the opinion that having a master's degree in physics and having read many a physics book, the and there are so few of them. The best books are the ones where the authors have put some actual personal stories in to draw people in with human interest parts of the science, and I wish more people would do that. Speaker 1  09:03 And that was my point too. It was like these books are dull and boring. And the problem I had because I was writing computer books at the time, I had a computer book literary agent. There is such a thing, and it's it's backwards in that industry though, because the publisher says what they want a book on, and then they have you write the book on the topic, and so I was doing that for many years. But I did not like the fact that they would edit my books to make them dry, and the editors would actually complain to me and say, "There's too much personality in here. You can't have this. It was like it was like they thought that was a built-in feature of the book, and my protest was, "Well, no. Let's make them interesting. Let's use real life examples. Let's have some personality in there. Let's have some interaction with the with the reader. And they didn't like that until DOS for Dummies came around, and the publisher was willing to change the paradigm. Michael Hingson  09:55 Jeez, yeah, it's so unfortunate. They they think they know. Everything there is to know, and the reality is they don't. Speaker 1  10:04 That's the way it is with just about any industry. You know that I think the corporate mentality is kind of to resist innovation, even in the most innovative industries, until something crazy comes along. And I think that's why in Silicon Valley you had all these startups. You know, if you look, if you trace the lineage of a lot of the big companies, they started at other big companies that were unwilling to do the crazy ideas these guys had, and so they went off. I mean, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak left Hewlett Packard and started up Apple Computer, and I'm pretty sure there's probably been some engineers from Apple Computer who've left and started up their own company and becoming Michael Hingson  10:43 well. And Bill Gates is essentially the same way. It's it's he started out doing something, but he attracted people's attention by some of the other things that he did. Speaker 1  10:53 Yep. Michael Hingson  10:54 And that was was very relevant. But I I hear what you're saying. It makes perfect sense because people just don't like to be innovative and don't like change, and and that's unfortunate that we have so many people that just, as much as they talk about the fact that change is everywhere, they don't like it. Speaker 1  11:10 No, it's well, I think yeah, we we get in our comfort zone, and you don't grow out in the comfort zone. So I like to challenge myself and do interesting things like become mayor, and you know you leave your comfort zone. And what what can I do here, or how can I do this better? Michael Hingson  11:26 Yeah, well, and that makes makes perfect sense. Well, what got you started writing about technology? Just because you were writing that that one article there, or those articles that got interest on the part of a publisher, or what? Speaker 1  11:41 What got me started was that I got paid. Ah, Michael Hingson  11:44 good point. Speaker 1  11:45 You know, they they paid me, and then you know, as as someone who was you know using a computer at the time, and they were called microcomputers, and they were really primitive compared to what we have today. Oh yeah, I I used it to write. So, and the the problem with that was that the the documents, the manuals that we talk about, were so dry and boring, and eventually, all of a sudden, it would dawn on me: it's like, well, this is what it's trying to say. So why don't they just come out and say it this way, or why don't they use an analogy and try to explain it in that manner instead of coming at it from this hardcore technical? And that was what really turned off a lot of people, so it motivated me to want to do it better, and that's kind of what I tell the kids, like my kids. I say you should start up a business. That's really the best way to get successful is start up your own business and become famous like that. And they're well, what business should I start up? I said that the easiest way is to find something that you like, something that's being done poorly, and just do it better. Yeah, and that's really a lot of the the creative, insanely genius stuff that's happened throughout the world is just someone who does something routine but does it better. Michael Hingson  12:52 And that's really the operative part about it, and and the real key. I think you're you're absolutely right. Find something that people aren't doing well, and by the time you get creative enough to figure that out, you're well on your way. Speaker 1  13:05 Yep. So that's that's what I did. Michael Hingson  13:08 Yeah. And so you started going off and and writing a variety of things. What what actually got you to write Dos for Dummies? What specifically? That's first of all, I love the the title of all the Four Dummies books. I think it makes sense. But what got you started in writing DOS for Dummies directly? Speaker 1  13:27 Well, I I knew that there was an appetite out there for beginner computer books, but the publishing industry would not publish beginning computer books because they said beginners don't buy computer books. And I explained to them, well, your problem is you don't write beginner computer books. You write something and you call it, you know, the easy guide to whatever, but the content of it is not written for a beginner. Maybe the first chapter is very condescending and patronizing, and then the rest of it is just technical garbage. So I said you have to keep that tone throughout the entire text. You have to identify who it is you're writing to, as who's a smart person who may just not get it, and explain it to them, and just keep going. And that was the problem. So I I did originally called it the Idiots Guide for DOS, which was based after the Idiots Guide to Volkswagen Repair. My dad had a copy of that, and I thought, well, what a brilliant idea. Michael Hingson  14:20 Yeah. Speaker 1  14:21 And so the publisher saw me speak at a conference, and where I was bemoaning the fact that the books were so boring, and they kept editing out my personality. And then went to to him, and and he's like, "This is great. Your outline that you have for this book is perfect. Except we want to call it DOS for Dummies. I thought, like a lot of other people, that was condescending and patronizing, but that it's an alliteration, so that's what they go with. And then he said to make it a reference. Don't make it a tutorial because, and this is brilliant, these people don't want to learn anything; they just want to do their job. Yeah, that makes sense. So that was and that was it, and we put a lot of humor in it. You know, people would tell me that they'd read the book on the subway, and you know, you'd see someone laughing reading a computer book. That's weird, but there would just be enough humor, and I'd use Mad Magazine as my inspiration. So it was kind of like us versus the nerds, and and that was what really founded the whole thing, and I tell you what, it caught on. I did not think it would. There was no way we were planning on writing a book that would sell, you know, 8 million copies. We were just thinking, well, this is going to be fun. Let's just do this, get it out of our system, and then go back to writing boring books. Michael Hingson  15:36 Made the publisher very happy. Speaker 1  15:39 Oh yeah, they were printing Gold bricks, yeah. Michael Hingson  15:43 That, of course, was the real key. Well, that started a brand, didn't it? Speaker 1  15:47 Oh yeah, they did. There was no intention to do that, but then they they followed that up with Max for Dummies and a bunch of other titles that were just very popular at the time. AOL for Dummies, you know, Windows for Dummies eventually came out, and that was the King for Dummies book. But yeah, they have and they have it on all topics. I've even so as someone who is you know starting in government, I got Robert's Rules for Dummies, which you know you've been to a meeting, you know they follow Robert's Rules, which is very dry and boring, but it's it's important. And Robert's Rules for Dummies is a good example of a For Dummies book because it explains everything carefully. Lots of humor in there, and so there's a lot of them. Wine for Dummies was another one that I really liked. I thought they did a good job. Golf for Dummies. There's a there's on every topic. There's a For Dummies book. Michael Hingson  16:37 How many of them did you write? Speaker 1  16:40 Only wrote the ones with my names on them, but probably about 40 separate titles. So over the years, most of them have been rewrites. So technology changes. So there have been 16 editions of Word for Dummies, and 13 editions of PCs for Dummies. There were four editions of DOS for Dummies. So you're you're always writing new editions, so all totaled 180 separate titles. But individual titles, without not counting multiple editions, right? About 60. Michael Hingson  17:09 Wow. Speaker 1  17:10 Yeah. Yeah, Michael Hingson  17:10 and I can appreciate that that books like Word for Dummies or even iPhones for Dummies has to change over time. Speaker 1  17:19 Yeah. Well, some of them. I mean, I've been doing a kind of a review on on YouTube. I've been doing short videos highlighting some of the goofy images that I put in the books over the years. And way back about 20 years ago, I think I was updating these titles once a year. They would say, "We need a new version of this. We need a new version of this. And at the time, technology was just. I mean, they were cranking out new stuff all the time. Michael Hingson  17:44 So, who's written AI for Dummies? Speaker 1  17:47 I don't know, but that is a title, so I wouldn't be Michael Hingson  17:50 surprised. Speaker 1  17:51 It should write itself, though. You think about Michael Hingson  17:53 it. Yeah, you you know, they they really should do that. It should write itself. Speaker 1  17:56 Someone told me once that they they they wanted to do a manual in my style, so they directed AI to write something in the style of Dan Gukan, and apparently AI can do that. So, am I going to get paid? I don't know. Michael Hingson  18:10 Well, that's another story, of course. Yeah, but still, it it is a it's a it's a great franchise. It's a great brand all the way around, and I know different people have written different different kinds of books like that, but still, the the fact is we need that in the world, and and I agree with you, especially that it's good to put humor and personality into it. And I really wish more people would do that. I really wish that would go into the the textbook world, but it hasn't yet. Speaker 1  18:37 No, that's that, and that's a different planet. I tried to break into that world, and that academia is is it's different. It is weird. Michael Hingson  18:44 Yeah, there are just not that many people who can get away with it like Richard Feynman did with some of the things that he did in physics, and even there, his his books were a little boring at times. But still, Speaker 1  18:56 he was awesome. His of course, his his autobiography is a lot of fun. Michael Hingson  19:00 Yeah, surely you're joking, mr. Fineman. Speaker 1  19:03 Exactly. Michael Hingson  19:04 Adventures of yeah, it is. I I keep it around. I've got an audio copy of it, and every so often I will go back and read parts of it. It's a it's a great book. Speaker 1  19:14 He's kind of an inspiration to me, especially in the area of government. And one of the parts of his book where he was on the panel that was reviewing textbooks for, I think, the state of California, and he noticed that one of the books was blank; it was empty, and he was the only one on the panel who did it. And I kind of echo that often in government because I'm occasionally the only person who actually reads some of the material they provide. Yeah, and and those kind of moments are classic. I love those. You know, when you can say, "Well, as everyone notices, you know, page 14 is blank, and they all madly flip to page 14, like, "Oh my gosh, how did you find this? Well, I, I did my job. I read the thing. Michael Hingson  19:54 I had a roommate in college, and we at that time we were using the Berkeley Physics series. I don't know. Whether that even still exists anymore, but different professors from Berkeley wrote various books, and the guy who wrote the book on waves, I had a roommate who was reading that book, and he searched vigorously to try to find a single misspelling of a word in the whole book. Wow! He finally found one. He said there really was one in the book. Kind of makes you wonder if that was deliberate, but but he actually found one. But it took him most of the quarter we had the book to find it. But but he did. Speaker 1  20:33 Excellent. Yeah, I got to say that's that's an art form. I used to work in a publishing house, and we would pore over books looking for spelling errors and mistakes and punctuation and all this stuff and of course you don't find them until the book's actually printed. Michael Hingson  20:46 Of course not. Yeah, yeah. Now it's it should be easier, but it's not, and they still don't come out until the book is already published and it's out there, and then you find out what isn't right. Speaker 1  20:58 Right. Michael Hingson  21:00 I suppose that gives the publisher an excuse to republish the book and make more money. Speaker 1  21:05 Well, yeah, it depends. It's if it is selling. If it doesn't sell, then obviously the the mistake's going to linger out there. Of course, with digital copies, they can update it right away, but not with a print book. Michael Hingson  21:17 Yeah, nowadays there's so many print books that are done pretty much on demand, so that if you want a copy, unless it's just something where they're selling literally millions a month, the book is available on demand. Although there's a little bit of a lag time to get it, my book Thunderdog, which is the story of Roselle and me in the World Trade Center, is is still selling pretty well, but it is more printed on demand by Thomas Nelson than now Harper Collins. Speaker 1  21:46 Yeah, Michael Hingson  21:47 and I understand that as long as it's available, I'm not going to complain. Speaker 1  21:51 And they and they they prefer to sell it that way as opposed to printing out 5000 copies they have to store somewhere. So Michael Hingson  21:56 right, yeah, they don't have to pay for storage and they just print it, and so it takes an extra week to get somewhere. That's fine. We can cope with that as long as it's available, and then that's all that really matters. Speaker 1  22:08 Yeah. Michael Hingson  22:09 But you've written a lot of books. How come so many? Because they're not all for dummies. Ah, okay. Speaker 1  22:16 Well, it just you know that was my profession, and that's what I did. And so, and I had a good agent who would find me a lot of work, so yeah, they would come up and they would want me to write a book on this or that, and a lot of it was because at the time in that industry I had a name and a reputation. I'm also very fast, so and that that kind of surprises people. In fact, there's some someone who accuses me of having a ghostwriter, which I do not. It's just I've been doing it so long, and you know, when I started, my agent said that he said the more you do this, the faster you'll get, the better you'll get. So, whereas in the original book, the first book I wrote took about six months to to write. I've written books in less than a month. It really depends. It depends on the topic, how well I know the topic, but also I do a lot of organizing with an outline, and so I will will work with an outline almost until it's down to the paragraph level, and then that makes it really easy to write the book, especially a technology book where there's a lot of cross references, and this sequence, you know, assuming someone's reading it front to back is really important, so you got to make sure that you touch upon things and do it in the right order. And then that's so yeah. I just got really good at it, which annoyed a lot of my fellow authors because as I was writing and I would get faster and faster, the contracts would start demanding the books in a more expedient manner, so other authors would complain to me and say, "You know, I have to write this book, and they're only giving me three months to do it. They're blaming me because I can do it in three months, and they figure everyone can do it in three months. So that was fun. Michael Hingson  23:54 Have you had books that someone asked you to write where you really didn't know much of anything about the subject, and you had to spend more time researching it, or you just spend time researching it, but you still did that very quickly. Speaker 1  24:06 Yeah, when I first started, that was pretty much the case. In fact, I talked with a guy who he had written the like the best-selling DBase three book. So DBase was a database way back in DOS, and it was the most popular database program, and he wrote the number one best-selling DBase three book that everyone who used that that program would buy, and he told me that he knew nothing about it when he signed the contract. So the the process of writing the book involved this intense deep dive into finding out what it is the program does, and then working on that. Of course, in those days, the books, the software came with a manual, so it was possible to go through the manual and see what the thing was capable of, and maybe get a few hints about that. But the books were not just a rephrase. The manual; they were a little bit better, the project oriented, whatever. So there was one one book that I did on a program called Super Card for the Macintosh, and it was the it was the there was no documentation, and I could call up the developer and I could ask him. So that was that was a tool I could use if I had access to the developer. I could call them up and I could say, "Okay, so I'm I'm doing this. What can you tell me that's like a secret or that is not obvious? And they love to share that stuff. Sure, I just write it all down, and then that that'll make the book better. If you could get through the the gatekeepers and get into where the nerds were, then you could get a lot of good information, and they were happy to share it. I did a few books on OS two that were like that, where I finally was able to escape into the lab and ask them. And the the guy they were so friendly, and they're like, "Oh, you got to tell him this, this, this, this. You know, we we couldn't put this in the manual. You have to tell him this, and so you write a great book. But of course, OS two, no one used it, so no one bought the book. Michael Hingson  26:05 Yeah, yeah, OS two was not one of those things that everybody loved. If Speaker 2  26:13 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the unstoppable mindset community. Michael Hingson  26:46 I remember when I was a student at UC Irvine. I wasn't an information computer science major. I was physics major, but several people took ICS one, two, and three, which was a three quarter course, or well, it was a year course, and the the book they used was Introduction to Computer Programming by Ken Ingram. And what was fun about that was that on the first day of class, the professor would come in and he'd say, "Okay, I want you to read chapter one of information of introduction to computer programming by Ken Ingram. It's the textbook we're going to use. I want you to read that before our next class. And of course, most everyone had not touched the book prior to that. And what he didn't say was that that first chapter took up half the book. Speaker 1  27:40 I like it. Michael Hingson  27:43 Yeah, I know. Wasn't that? And I, I, I heard about it. I, I never did get the book, and I didn't get it transcribed into Braille. But I thought that was cute. Chapter one was half the book. Speaker 1  27:53 No one would have suspected chapter one's an easy chapter. It's four pages. Right, supposed to be right. I think it was like Michael Hingson  28:00 180 pages. It was amazing. Michael Hingson  28:03 I'm not sure whether Ingram had a sense of humor or what, but anyway, there you go. But yeah, that that was kind of kind of amazing. So you you wrote all these books and you continue to do that, but somewhere along the line, you got interested in doing things in politics. What was that all about? Speaker 1  28:25 Well, that was frustrating. Not Michael Hingson  28:28 bad, Speaker 1  28:29 because I. So I think a lot of people are kind of interested. They follow politics. If I call up my mom in San Diego, she has to complain to me about you know the mayor of San Diego and what the city council is doing and and it's it's common it's just I think I think the most most people who are active in in their community know a little bit about politics or whatever and in my case I had just moved from the county here near Courtland and then I'd moved into the city, and I had heard that there was someone was buying up properties in my neighborhood, and I thought that was curious, and I wanted to see if this was something that you know are they going to tear down houses? What are they going to do? So I started researching using the the county website to see who was own who owned these properties, and it was a place called the Lake City Development Corporation, and I thought, well, I need to find out what that is, and it turned out that was an urban renewal agency that was formed by the city of Cortland, and I started reading the statutes and I started reading their minutes and finding out what it is they do, and while on the surface it sounded really fun, there were a lot of curious things that I didn't like. A lot of non-transparent things, a lot of things where you know they're spending public money on what I thought were frivolous things, and so I started asking questions. I started coming to meetings, and they're missing. Was that they pushed back, and so I just something triggered me, and I had a red flag, and I just started going after it. We started, we formed a group of people who were all interested in this, and we would meet regularly and go over what was going on with the government. We'd find issues regarding transparency and spending, and lots of interesting stuff. Never really anything nefarious. Never anything that would. But just a lot of stuff that, as we let the public know about what was going on, they would become outraged and they would say, "Wait a second! They're spending millions of dollars on this, and you know, with property taxes so high, and what is this, and why is it affecting me? And and so I went to the city council meetings here in Portland, and I was frustrated because no one else seemed to get it. And I would look at them, and they would have some issue that would come up, and everyone on the council-there were six members on the council-they would all vote in unison, and no one had asked a question. And I would say, "Well, wait a second, why aren't they asking a question about this, or why aren't they concerned about this, or what about the side effects of this? And so I started writing articles for the paper. I eventually did videos and to speak to various groups and such because I was like, we got to hold government accountable. So I ran for office in ran for the city council in 2007, and I lost. And then I ran in 2009, and I lost, but only by like 29 votes. And then I was done at that point. I really didn't want to do it again because running for office is a pain. Michael Hingson  31:33 Yeah. And Speaker 1  31:34 then they had this huge thing where all of a sudden they were going to redo a park without a public vote, and I wanted a public vote. Lots of people wanted to vote on it, but no, they were going to do it, and they didn't care what the public thought. So they made me run. They made me run a third time, and I won. And I've been on the city council ever since. And then, of course, well, since last November when I got kicked up to the mayor seat, which is where I'm sitting Right now, strange journey. Michael Hingson  32:04 Well, yeah, but on the other hand, there is something to be said for transparency, and there's somebody something to be said for somebody who really wants to look out for what what people want and what people are doing. I I got involved. Well, I've not run for public office, but I've been very much involved in political kinds of things because I've been involved in the blindness world since early 1970s, and the National Federation of the Blind has had for well now, gosh, more than 50 years or around 50 years, what used to be called the March on Washington. Now it's called the Washington Seminar, which is a an event that takes place every year, where several 100 blind people descend on Washington and go off and visit legislators. And the idea is to really get them to understand what the needs of blind people are and try to get them to vote on issues that directly relate to issues concerning us, and sometimes they do. Although it's gotten a lot harder to get things passed, especially in the last eight or nine years. But still, that it it has to be done. But I remember, among other things, I was living in Massachusetts when I first started going, and among other things, we we went and saw the Speaker of the House, who was Tip O'Neill at the time, which was kind of fun. And what an interesting, what a charismatic guy! Didn't matter what party he was with; it was a charismatic guy. And we also visited people like Senator at the time Paul Songis, and what was interesting about him was we we talked about our issues, and it was the end of the day, and then suddenly he said, you know, I'm not going anywhere for the next few minutes. Do you guys have time? And we ended up just talking for about an hour and a half about his view of of and our views of what Massachusetts needed to do, not only for blind people but just in general, it was just fascinating. There weren't very many politicians who would do that. Speaker 1  34:08 That's awesome. Yeah, I liked him. I liked Tungus a lot. Michael Hingson  34:12 Yeah, I wish he'd been able to run for president, but he got cancer, and that's that's unfortunate. Yeah, but because I think that he's one of those people who would do what really needed to be done and do it the right way. Speaker 1  34:26 In other words, the people who never win. Yeah, that's unfortunately Michael Hingson  34:31 really the case, isn't it? Speaker 2  34:33 Yeah, Speaker 1  34:33 yeah. Michael Hingson  34:34 But but you got to do that. Speaker 1  34:36 Yeah. Michael Hingson  34:38 So you you know, but you you hopefully you'll make a big difference, and maybe you'll be able to get people to believe in climate change. Oh, did I say that Speaker 1  34:48 this year? Nah, Michael Hingson  34:53 not unless you predict snow when it actually comes. Speaker 1  34:56 That and that and that's the key. Yeah, Michael Hingson  34:59 yeah. No, I understand, but it but it is fascinating. I you know I I enjoy the concept of politics. I enjoy people who really have a vested interest in making government go well, but it is so unfortunate that we don't see that much of it, which is just too bad. Speaker 1  35:18 There are a lot of good dedicated people out there. I think so. Of course, the the problem is is you know, like they say, politics is sports for the uncoordinated, and it's drama for the ugly. But the the thing is, the people who really do a good job, who are out there doing what you want them to do, they don't get the headlines. It's the noisemakers. It's the extremists. It's the people who are going to have some obnoxious opinion because that that gets everyone's attention. You know, the the guy out there who's doing the job, who's putting in the time, representing the citizens, and making his community a better place. You know, you're never going to read that guy in the paper, unfortunately. Michael Hingson  35:59 Yeah, and that's also part of the problem: is that the media looks for all the drama rather than really looking to to represent the the average citizen and what they truly want and need. Speaker 1  36:10 So those don't the actual the things don't make headlines. In fact, it was a it was really funny. There was a guy who was elected to the state house from this county, and one of his campaign platforms, he was going to repeal all the useless laws, all the things that are still on the books. That you know, just we don't need those laws anymore. They're old. They're outdated, and he did that for about a week, and it doesn't make headlines. So here he is, you know, doing this, doing the job that you think they they would want to do and making government more effective, no one cared. I remember there was one year where we actually we cut property taxes here in the city, and I thought, wow, everyone's going to come up and say thank you. No, no one did. So it's like, what's the motivation? If you go, they say, I want you to be I want you to be my mayor and I want you to work to cut that budget and so you cut the budget and then no one says thank you. Michael Hingson  37:08 We got Tom Steyer here in California who wants to become governor and he's talking about all these things that he's going to do. He's going to get electric utility rates lowered by a significant amount. He's going to encourage and bring competition to the electric grid industry, and he talks about lowering housing costs by building a million homes and doing so many things. And every time I hear his campaign commercials, the thing that I keep asking myself is, haven't we learned anything? And no offense to Donald Trump, but Donald Trump made a lot of promises that we're not seeing. Steyer is making a lot of promises that he has yet to say how he's going to pull any of them off. Speaker 1  37:56 Oh yeah, and that's and that's the thing is you got to. There's so much. There's only so much you can do. But you can you when you campaign, they can say anything. Of course, I know they might as well just say free ice cream and ponies for everyone. Michael Hingson  38:07 Yeah, and and that's almost essentially what's happening. And I'm not saying that he'd be a bad governor. I I haven't researched him enough, but the commercials just don't do anything to make me thrilled because he's not saying how he's going to do any of it, and and that's what I really want to know. Speaker 1  38:25 Yeah, I didn't when I when I ran this campaign, I didn't really promise anything that was sexy at all. I said, you know, I'm going to work on a policy manual. I'm going to increase the amount of information and transparency, and it was like nothing that you want to put on a bumper sticker, but I still won. I mean, there were people who were in the race who were promising this and that, and they were going to do this and all this stuff, and somehow I eked it out. Michael Hingson  38:51 Why do you think you won? Speaker 1  38:52 Name recognition, Michael Hingson  38:54 okay, Speaker 1  38:55 and that's and that's pretty much that's a lot of what politics is is is just the the name recognition. You can win on that. I also do have a reputation. I mean, being on council for 14 years and being often called the lone voice of reason, like I said earlier, I'm the one who asked that obvious question. Yeah, and people are in the audience are going, "Well, thank you. Someone's finally asking what what they wanted to ask, and so there was there was that, and and I also, you know, I I do return my emails. I answer the phone calls. I make sure that I'm I'm available. So you know, and I think that that reputation kind of spread itself around that that I would be responsive. It didn't mean that I actually did anything because the you know the powers are really limited. So if someone wanted you know they want to put in a stop sign somewhere, I'll go visit them, and we'll look at the thing, and we'll look at the traffic data, and all this stuff. But there may not be a stop sign there. Still, I showed enough time that I paid attention to them, and I responded to them, and you know, we'll see what we can do. That's the best you can say. Michael Hingson  39:55 And if it didn't happen that there was a stop sign, but there was a good reason for it. I would suspect that you would be the kind of person who would say, "Here's why it didn't happen. Speaker 1  40:03 Right, exactly, and and to explain that for and a lot of people don't understand things like that because it's easy to get defensive with government because sometimes it can be so colossally stupid. Yeah, but but it's just as long as you have that explanation, and sometimes it's it's really it's refreshing because then they hear the answer and they're good with it, so we have a problem here with there's noise on the freeway because they're expanding the freeway, and a lot of people are upset, so they call city hall, but it's not our project; it's the state highway district. So you know, it's like I can do only what I can do, but it's still you know, if you're the only elected official who bothered to reply to them and told them, you know, I hear what you're saying. I'm going to do whatever we can. Sometimes that makes people happy. They may not be happy in the big picture, but at least they got a response. Michael Hingson  40:48 And when you discover something that's relevant, I'll bet you are the kind of person who would then initiate another letter saying, "Here's why it didn't work, or "Here's why it will work. Speaker 1  40:59 Right, and I do follow up. So I did. In that case, I wrote a letter to the governor and said, "You know, is there anything you can do? And then I forwarded the letter on to the person who had contacted me and said, "Okay, this is the best I can do. Let's let's see what he can do. So yeah, Speaker 1  41:14 yeah. Michael Hingson  41:15 I'm I'm curious. You mentioned that property taxes did get lowered once in Cordellane, but nothing. No one ever did anything with that. How come? Speaker 1  41:23 Well, no. It's just we we did. We we kept them. You got you got them lowered. Michael Hingson  41:27 But but why didn't anybody pay attention to that? Speaker 1  41:30 No. Well, see, I'm sure they paid attention to it. We are only one entity on your property tax bill, so there's there's a few. Ah, good Michael Hingson  41:39 point. Speaker 1  41:39 We might have been the the one who kept it down, but the other ones may have kept it up. And then there's all the the formula is really complex, and so it could be that you know their assess property assessment went up, a lot of other things that would have happened that would have affected it. But like I said, I mean we made a big to do about it, saying hey look we worked, we cut the budget. We kept it flat for all you guys, and then no one said anything. But you know that that's it's discouraging, but it doesn't discourage me from continuing to try because I'll always try. Michael Hingson  42:12 You can only do what you can do, but at least at least you're doing it. Yeah. Now, if you want to live in a state where the taxes are very interesting, move to New Jersey, yeah, where we lived, the the taxes every town, every city had its own property taxes. You could live on a street, yeah, you could live on a street where you had a property tax of some amount, and if you walked across to the other side of the street, the property tax would be twice what yours was because the border runs right down the middle of the street. Speaker 1  42:45 That's crazy. Michael Hingson  42:47 We thought it was. Yeah, we thought it was kind of interesting, but we fortunately never had too horrible of property taxes in Westfield. But still, we heard about some other places that had some some horrible property taxes, but you know it's it's what what you have. Speaker 1  43:07 Yep. Michael Hingson  43:08 So you were in the city council for 14 years. What made you decide that you were going to run for mayor? Because you had to do that. You had to make that decision. Speaker 1  43:17 Yeah, didn't want to. You know, wasn't on my on my dance card to like, oh, next step up is going to be mayor. It was more of there was frustration that I had because the the past couple of mayors, good men, good people, but I always wanted to do more. I mean, being on the council, it was frustrating because I wanted a little more leadership out of the center seat wasn't seeing that, and then I worked earlier last year. I called up a bunch of people to see if they'd be willing to do the job. You know, good strong community members who would be provide the leadership and had the name recognition required to do the job, and no one wanted to do it. So I was like, okay, well, I'll I'll see if I can do it. I still have two years left on my council term, so if I lost, I'd still be part of the process. But there ended up being four people in that race, so it was pretty crowded. Which to me, you know, if if you're running if you run unopposed, it's pretty much a sign that people kind of like the way things are going. They're not they're not upset with you. Generally, if you have one opponent, you're considered that you know oh well good you know I get to compete for for the job or someone else is unhappy. But if you have a lot of opponents, it generally means that the public isn't happy with what's going on and they want to see some change. So there were four people in the race. I won with like 38% of the vote, so that's wow, Michael Hingson  44:45 yeah. Well, but clearly you're different than a lot of people. For example, you're a member of the Kootenay County Republican Central Committee, and yeah, and they sued you for defamation. What was all that about? Speaker 1  44:59 Well. So we had an episode here where the first of all the local Republican Party decided that running partisan races wasn't enough; that they wanted to get involved with nonpartisan races. And in Idaho, a lot of the local offices are nonpartisan. So city council is nonpartisan, school districts are nonpartisan. You know, water district, highway district, all these smaller local offices, and we have a community college here called North Idaho College. And the Senate committee decided that they would start to what they call rating and vetting candidates to determine who was the most conservative. And while a lot of Republicans appreciate that and they want to know who the real conservative is. The central committee realized that it was a way for them to exercise political power, because when people would get their recommendations, that would be the person who would win. And so they got power mad, and in my opinion, they hijacked the trustees of our local community college, and pretty much almost ran the thing into a ground. It was the it's the only college a community college in the history of the country that's ever been put on probation for disaccreditation due to board governance. Normally, when you disaccredit a college, you're disaccrediting it because of financial reasons, or something else, but or academics. Never, never has it happened that the board has been so crazy that the the ACL ACCU whatever it is the accreditation agency for community colleges has said, "What we're gonna we're gonna pull away your credentials, and all your students will not be receiving college credit. So, I mean, what what this board did that was endorsed by the local Republican Party, the extremists on the party, they they fired the president for no reason. They they started running up the bills, increasing the athletics budget. The board meetings were just pure chaos. Employees would leave. The local high schools stopped their their co education programs. It was just crazy. Wow! And and a lot of people didn't really understand what was going on. So I did a YouTube channel called Kootenay Rants, and Kootenay is the name of our county. Michael Hingson  47:20 Kootenay, yeah. I said Kootenay. Sorry about that. Speaker 1  47:22 It's no, it's okay. It's it could be either way. Who knows? Up north, they do say Kootenai, so we don't know. But anyway, this really got under the skin of the central committee because I pinned the blame on what was going on at the college on them, which is was justified, and I would not make anything up. Instead, I would just put in highlights from the meetings and say, "Here's what's happening, and here's the crazy stuff. You know, trustees yelling at members of the audience, making fun of them. You know, interrupting people, saying just weird, strange things. I mean, it just-it was odd. It was so bizarre, and so it was easy for me to make these videos. My background is in communications, and I know video production, so I was able to put together these videos on a YouTube channel, and you know, hundreds of people in the county would start watching them, including the central committee that did not like that I was exposing what I consider to be their corruption and their the the fact that I think they were responsible for this and they didn't like that so they accused me of defamation basically mean tweets because I would tweet about them and their nonsense and it was like they they made a big to do out of it because I was running for re-election for city council, so they came to a city council meeting to serve me, and you know recorded it and put it up on the internet and all this other stuff that that was just crazy. But my insurance company fortunately decided to represent me, and they just they thought the the suit was without merit. They don't say frivolous. They say without merit. Without Michael Hingson  49:04 merit. No, yeah. Speaker 1  49:05 And so yeah. And so eventually, now the suit is over, and I figured I would either win in court or it would be dismissed. But the insurance company settled, and I it was against my wishes. I said no. I said don't settle with these people. But the insurance company did settle, and I made sure that, as part of the settlement, that they would not say that I agreed to it, or that I said I was wrong, or I apologized, or anything. No, the insurance company just didn't want to waste any more money, so they decided to settle. They wrote a check. I don't know what it cost the central committee. As a member of the central committee, it has never been reported to the committee how much money they spent on that? Because it's it's pretty much the the Republican Central Committee of Kootenay County is pretty much a tyranny run by one guy and a personality cult, and there are members of the committee. There are some good Republicans such as myself on the committee who do believe in transparency and limited government and all those Ronald Reagan things. But there are these extremists on there who are just nutballs, and so there's a group of us here called North Idaho Republicans who are working to counter their insanity. And we've done a good job, but we need to do more work, and that's the story of the KCRCC. And they sued me for defamation. Michael Hingson  50:21 That's kind of crazy, though. Nevertheless, Speaker 3  50:23 of course. Michael Hingson  50:24 And it's only kind Speaker 1  50:26 of that. I wasn't laying awake. I mean, occasionally someone would call me up and they would say, "So what's the case? What's the what's happening with a lawsuit? And I'd say, "Well, a lawsuit. I said, "Oh yeah, that's right. They're suing me. I mean, it was never really. I was never obligated for it. Michael Hingson  50:39 Yeah. Well, so just out of curiosity, since the Republicans were doing this, where were the Democrats in all of that? Speaker 1  50:47 Well, we don't really have a lot of Democrats. That's Michael Hingson  50:49 what I was wondering. Yeah, Speaker 1  50:51 and so and and I always used to joke. I would say that the the Democrats, the Kootenai County Democrats, are looking for a new meeting location, and if anyone has a spare closet, got it. You let them know. No, they're they're all they're all very nice people. Michael Hingson  51:05 Yeah, Speaker 1  51:05 but they're they are in an extreme minority, and unfortunately, they they do try. So last time they had a body for every seat up for election, but they don't really come close. And it's a lot of it comes down to name recognition, but you also have a lot of red blue state refugees who come here. You have a lot of COVID refugees who came here, and so Idaho is very red. Kootenay County is very red, and it would take a tremendous amount of effort to to have a Democrat win here. We do have Democrats in the legislature, not a lot, but we do have them, and the the National Democratic Party is unwilling to spend a lot of money here because they know they're going to lose. So that's what I hear from them. But they are they are generally nice people. I mean, like you said, you if you wanted to vote for me here and you're a Democrat, I'd happily accept the vote. It's a nonpartisan position. We don't deal with those big divisive issues that you know that you you see on the news. Yeah, we're pretty much community-minded people, and I appreciate anyone who is. I do fight the KCRCC because I don't see them as community-minded, and that's one of the issues. Michael Hingson  52:18 Yeah. Well, it's it's unfortunate that that people are that way, but I I see it all too often in so many different ways. I mean, we face it with even in the blindness world with so many things where there ought to be major improvements and there ought to be defenses of the civil rights of blind people. For example, some of the rideshare programs don't do a lot to train their drivers about the fact that in reality they're obligated to take blind people with guide dogs, and oh, there's there is a fair amount of that, and it's and and the companies aren't willing to do anything about it, and we have to keep fighting it, which is just too bad. But there's just so many stuff, and there are so many people who just have these hidden agendas, or they just what it really comes down to is we don't want anybody telling us what to do, Speaker 1  53:09 right? Michael Hingson  53:11 And that's what it really comes down to. So, do you find that that religion gets into any of it at all, like with the conservative Christian movement or any of that, Speaker 1  53:24 there well, there's I do not like the politicization of the church. Michael Hingson  53:29 Yeah, Speaker 1  53:30 my favorite quote on that is that politics poisons the purity of the church. So I think we should keep the separation of church and state as much as possible, but there are you know politically motivated, politically active pastors, and I just I I think that's that's not the proper role of religion. I know that that there's kind of a battle going on in the far right about you know how much religion or how much that should should should be involved in politics in the public arena. In fact, there's a little across from the Costco up here. There is a little yard sign in front of some business that says "Vote Bible, and I always think that's kind of. I mean, I understand what the sentiment is, and I would always want to think that the people who we elect are good moral people. You know, Adam said that our Constitution is best suited for a moral people. I don't believe that means that there's morality in the Constitution. I believe there's morality in people, Michael Hingson  54:32 right? Speaker 1  54:33 And we do want people who have good ethics and good morals in public office, and it's very obvious when that doesn't happen. But I do not think. I think the purpose of our Constitution and the First Amendment is to ensure that we all have the the right to enjoy whatever religion we want, and we don't want to pick favorites. And so, what I see with a lot of these people is that they want to pick a favorite. Michael Hingson  54:55 Yeah, Speaker 1  54:56 they they not only want to pick the first religion, but they want. Everyone to go to the same church and the same service and sit in the same pew. Yeah, and that's not going to happen in any church. It's not going to happen in any denomination of any church. And then, and see, that's the other question: is if you know if you're going to insist that this is a Christian nation, it's like okay, but which denomination is it? Catholic? Is it Protestant? Is it Mormon? I mean, I you know you tell me because it's just going to be this incredible knot of worms, which is why I think the genius of the founders was that you know the the clause about religion is is two things: it gives you the freedom to exercise your own religion, and it also restricts the government from declaring that there's a religion. Yeah, and I think the far right kind of misses that when they when they take the message of we like moral people in office, but to dictate the morals to someone else is wrong. Michael Hingson  55:52 You know, I and it was Tolstoy who once said the biggest problem with Christianity is that people don't practice it, and I I see that so often. It's it is so unfortunate, but it is Speaker 1  56:03 there. Yeah. So that is a tough one. Michael Hingson  56:07 So if you could change one thing in the world, what would it be? I'd Speaker 1  56:12 get rid of the internet in a heartbeat. Specifically, social media. I think the the problem with social media is it amplifies our immaturities, and that is a huge issue. the The solution to that is to make the the publishers responsible for the content. So, in other words, Facebook could be sued for anything that someone puts on Facebook, and that would terrify Facebook, but it would terrify them to the point that they would actually regulate themselves and and start dialing back. I mean, I can say 20 years ago or so, when I whenever I was first on Facebook, I would go on there and I would see my kids, and they'd be playing a ball game or they'd be over at a friend's house. You'd see birthdays, vacations. It was just kind of like it was a social thing. You go on there now, and it's politics, and it's like this person deserved to be shot, and it's just-it's so-it's so extreme, and it's so rude. And you know, some of the stuff they said about me is not very nice, but I think that if we're going to solve one problem in the world, we really need to dial back all the animosity that's on the inter

Fran Costigan, Your Oven is Lying to You! Are Veggies Safe to Eat? Long-time friends catching up on the news.   Fran Costigan, culinary instructor, cookbook author, pastry chef, consultant, and the Director of Vegan Pastry at Rouxbe Culinary School, is internationally renowned as the authority on vegan desserts. Professionally trained, Fran was a chef in both traditional and vegan pastry kitchens before moving into teaching over 25 years ago. Her unapologetically luscious confections lack nothing — except dairy, eggs, white sugar, and cholesterol. Fran's vegan desserts are appropriate for everyone who loves dessert, whether or not dietary restrictions are an issue. She developed and leads the 90-day Essential Vegan Desserts Course at Rouxbe, the world's leading online Culinary School, where she mentors international students of all skill levels, from beginners to professionals.   Fran's cookbook, Vegan Chocolate Dessert: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy-Free Desserts, is available in German, French and Italian editions, and follows the classic, More Great Good Dairy Free Desserts. A native New Yorker, Fran moved to Philadelphia, PA and is enthusiastically visiting Philly's many renowned plant-forward restaurants. (Go Birds!) A sought-after speaker, you can find Fran sharing her passion across North America and Europe, at schools, conferences, festivals, and corporations such as Google, at resorts, spas and on cruise ships too. A professional member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, ACF: American Culinary Federation, and Les Dames d'Escoffier, Fran is proud to serve on the advisory boards of the New York Coalition for Healthy School Foods, and Main Street Vegan Academy.

Mike initiates a meeting to discuss work-related challenges. Mike uses a farming analogy to explain how professionals must accept and adapt to certain aspects of their jobs, even if they are inconvenient or undesirable. They encourage the team to 'make their peace' with these realities, comparing it to a farmer's need to plant and harvest crops at specific times. Mike applies this concept to the real estate industry, highlighting the peak season from April to September, and suggests that if one doesn't like it, they should consider a different career. The meeting concludes with a call to action for the team to apply this mindset in their professional lives.

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Money Making Conversations Master Class with Rushion McDonald is America's premier entrepreneurship, business leadership, financial literacy, and wealth-building podcast featuring successful entrepreneurs, executives, founders, celebrities, and industry experts sharing actionable insights for professional and financial success. Business Podcast Entrepreneurship Small Business Business Growth Financial Literacy Wealth Building Black Entrepreneurs Minority Business Leadership Executive Leadership Business Funding Marketing Strategies Personal Development Startup Advice Sales Training CEO Interviews Founder Stories Professional Development Economic Empowerment Business Success Networking Brand Building Innovation How to start a business Small business funding Entrepreneur success stories Business leadership podcast Wealth building strategies Black entrepreneur podcast Minority business development Marketing for small businesses Business growth strategies Startup funding opportunities Executive leadership training Financial literacy education Success mindset podcast Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Charles Cofield. Thanks! The transcript from this episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass features an inspiring and high-energy interview with CPA and financial educator Carter Cofield, co-founder of Melanin Money. Here's a breakdown of the key highlights and takeaways:

How do harmful cultural norms, traditions, and deeply rooted beliefs impact intimate partner relationships—and what can we do to change them?To help us unpack this important topic, our host, Nandini Raywas joined by two distinguished members of the Pakistani community: Ahsan Qazi and Maria Ahmad. Ahsan Qazi is a writer, researcher, entrepreneur, and sociologist with a deep interest in understanding the forces that shape society. Ahsan has a bachelor's degree in English Literature and Sociology, followed by an MBA in Strategy and Innovation. He is the founder of One Voice: Pakistan and World Affairs in Sociological Perspective. Ahsan has written extensively on social, political, and global issues, with his work published in Eurasia Review. His research explores inequality, governance, identity, and the growing impact of artificialintelligence on society, political beliefs, and human behavior. Professionally, he has spent more than eight years working inenterprise technology and technical communication, and he is the founder and CEO of Marvalero, where he is building an AI-powered platform for businesses and creators. While technology is an important part of what he does, his deeperpassion has always been understanding people, how societies evolve, why institutions succeed or fail, and how ideas shape civilizations.Maria Ahmad is an international development professional with two decades of experience working at the intersection of gender, migration, and institutional accountability across the UN agencies, INGOs, and independent consultancies. Her work has repeatedly returned to the question of how women, particularly migrant and minority women, are represented, protected, and structurally excluded within the systems meant to serve them, from her early reporting career in Pakistan as an award-winning journalist covering social and gender issues - including reports on MukhtaraMai's jirga-approved gang rape and accompanying her to the Pakistan Parliament tofight for justice - to her recent gender-mainstreaming review of Uruguay's National Migrant Integration Plan with UN Women and IOM, where she examined how policy frameworks fail to account for gender even when they claim to be gender-responsive. Maria's career began injournalism in Pakistan, where she reported for GEO TV, BBC Radio, and Canadian broadcasters before moving into humanitarian and development work with IOM,where she spent years designing accountability and communication systems for displaced and vulnerable populations, including large-scale crisis response inPakistan. She has since worked on safeguarding frameworks addressing gender-specific vulnerability and trafficking risk, advised on AI-enabled toolsfor documenting technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and written on the representation of immigrant communities in public discourse. As a Pakistani woman who has lived and worked across South Asian, Middle Eastern, and Latin American contexts, she brings both a personal vantage point on the patriarchal norms shaping South Asian family and partner relationships, and a professional lens on how those norms show up — often invisibly — in the policies andinstitutions built around them. Host: Nandini Ray, Sr. Manager, Outreach, Prevention &Policy Advocacy at Maitri. (E) nandini@maitri.orgVisit: www.maitri.org

After 42 years with National Defence, Richard Quinn is preparing for retirement and reflecting on what he has learned along the way. He discusses the shift from simply following procurement rules to delivering meaningful results, the growing importance of data, artificial intelligence and supply chain resilience, and the skills professionals will need for the future. His final advice is simple: keep learning, ask questions and stay professionally curious.

In a conversation at Macstock 2026, Adam Christianson reflects on retiring the MacCast, joining Mac Geek Gab, and starting the Debut Film Podcast with his daughter. He also explains how his views on AI have evolved, how ChatGPT and Claude support his programming work, why human oversight remains essential, and what AI may mean for entry-level developers and the future of technical careers. This MacVoices is supported by our new MacVoices series, Foreshadowing Tech, that examines the effect of media depictions of tech and tech culture on real-world tech, and how real-world has affected technology depictions in the media. Check it out at http://macvoices.com/foreshadowingtech. Show Notes: Chapters: 00:00 Catching up with Adam Christianson at Macstock00:44 Life after retiring the MacCast01:02 Joining Mac Geek Gab01:28 Leaving solo podcast production behind02:41 Starting the Debut Film Podcast03:15 Sharing a love of movies with his daughter03:38 How AI changed the conversation04:09 Moving from AI skepticism to regular use04:35 Using ChatGPT, Claude, and Claude Code05:02 Treating AI as an assistant05:47 Trusting and reviewing AI-generated code06:38 AI's impact on entry-level programmers07:33 How new developers may need to adapt08:06 Comparing AI with earlier technology shifts09:23 Why embracing AI may be the best path10:09 Using AI to expand creativity10:37 Where to follow Adam's current work11:26 Closing thoughts Guests: Adam Christianson was the host of the long-running MacCast podcast. He now is part of the Mac Geek Gab podcast team, and also has a podcast with his daughter, the Debut Film Podcast. Professionally, his a Senior Web Developer. Support:      Become a MacVoices Patron on Patreon     http://patreon.com/macvoices      Enjoy this episode? Make a one-time donation with PayPal Connect:      Web:     http://macvoices.com      Twitter:     http://www.twitter.com/chuckjoiner     http://www.twitter.com/macvoices      Mastodon:     https://mastodon.cloud/@chuckjoiner      Facebook:     http://www.facebook.com/chuck.joiner      MacVoices Page on Facebook:     http://www.facebook.com/macvoices/      MacVoices Group on Facebook:     http://www.facebook.com/groups/macvoice      LinkedIn:     https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckjoiner/      Instagram:     https://www.instagram.com/chuckjoiner/ Subscribe:      Audio in iTunes     Video in iTunes      Subscribe manually via iTunes or any podcatcher:      Audio: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesrss      Video: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesvideorss

In a conversation at Macstock 2026, Adam Christianson reflects on retiring the MacCast, joining Mac Geek Gab, and starting the Debut Film Podcast with his daughter. He also explains how his views on AI have evolved, how ChatGPT and Claude support his programming work, why human oversight remains essential, and what AI may mean for entry-level developers and the future of technical careers. This MacVoices is supported by our new MacVoices series, Foreshadowing Tech, that examines the effect of media depictions of tech and tech culture on real-world tech, and how real-world has affected technology depictions in the media. Check it out at http://macvoices.com/foreshadowingtech. Show Notes: Chapters: 00:00 Catching up with Adam Christianson at Macstock 00:44 Life after retiring the MacCast 01:02 Joining Mac Geek Gab 01:28 Leaving solo podcast production behind 02:41 Starting the Debut Film Podcast 03:15 Sharing a love of movies with his daughter 03:38 How AI changed the conversation 04:09 Moving from AI skepticism to regular use 04:35 Using ChatGPT, Claude, and Claude Code 05:02 Treating AI as an assistant 05:47 Trusting and reviewing AI-generated code 06:38 AI's impact on entry-level programmers 07:33 How new developers may need to adapt 08:06 Comparing AI with earlier technology shifts 09:23 Why embracing AI may be the best path 10:09 Using AI to expand creativity 10:37 Where to follow Adam's current work 11:26 Closing thoughts Guests: Adam Christianson was the host of the long-running MacCast podcast. He now is part of the Mac Geek Gab podcast team, and also has a podcast with his daughter, the Debut Film Podcast. Professionally, his a Senior Web Developer. Support:      Become a MacVoices Patron on Patreon      http://patreon.com/macvoices      Enjoy this episode? Make a one-time donation with PayPal Connect:      Web:      http://macvoices.com      Twitter:      http://www.twitter.com/chuckjoiner      http://www.twitter.com/macvoices      Mastodon:      https://mastodon.cloud/@chuckjoiner      Facebook:      http://www.facebook.com/chuck.joiner      MacVoices Page on Facebook:      http://www.facebook.com/macvoices/      MacVoices Group on Facebook:      http://www.facebook.com/groups/macvoice      LinkedIn:      https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckjoiner/      Instagram:      https://www.instagram.com/chuckjoiner/ Subscribe:      Audio in iTunes      Video in iTunes      Subscribe manually via iTunes or any podcatcher:      Audio: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesrss      Video: http://www.macvoices.com/rss/macvoicesvideorss

Want to Start or Grow a Successful Business? Schedule a FREE 13-Point Assessment with Clay Clark Today At: www.ThrivetimeShow.com   Join Clay Clark's Thrivetime Show Business Workshop!!! Learn Branding, Marketing, SEO, Sales, Workflow Design, Accounting & More. **Request Tickets & See Testimonials At: www.ThrivetimeShow.com  **Request Tickets Via Text At (918) 851-0102   See the Thousands of Success Stories and Millionaires That Clay Clark Has Helped to Produce HERE: https://www.thrivetimeshow.com/testimonials/ Download A Millionaire's Guide to Become Sustainably Rich: A Step-by-Step Guide to Become a Successful Money-Generating and Time-Freedom Creating Business HERE: www.ThrivetimeShow.com/Millionaire   See Thousands of Case Studies Today HERE: www.thrivetimeshow.com/does-it-work/  

When something goes badly wrong, we investigate it. Reports are written. Recommendations are made. Lessons are identified. But do we actually learn them?Episode SummaryReturning to the show, Gill Kernick joins me to discuss the substantially revised second edition of her book about the Grenfell Tower disaster, following the publication of the Grenfell Inquiry's final report. Gill has a unique perspective on Grenfell. She lived on the 21st floor of the tower before moving out three years before the fire. Professionally, she has spent decades helping organisations in high-hazard industries understand leadership, safety and major accidents.When Gill first appeared on the podcast, the Inquiry was still underway. Seven years later, its conclusions have revealed an even more disturbing picture—not of one catastrophic mistake, but of systemic failure involving government, regulators, manufacturers, certification bodies and the construction industry.But this episode isn't just about Grenfell. It's about why organisations struggle to learn from failure, why compliance isn't the same as understanding, why we crave simple explanations for complex problems, and why genuine learning is much harder than writing another report. If you haven't already listened to Gill's previous appearances on the podcast, I'd strongly recommend doing so. Together, the conversations chart how understanding evolves as new evidence emerges.What you'll learn In this episode In a wide-ranging discussion, we explore:Why Gill decided to write a second edition after the Grenfell Inquiry concludedThe shocking scale of the systemic failures uncovered by the InquiryWhy disasters rarely have a single root causeThe hidden dangers of deregulation and "compliance theatre"Why organisations identify lessons but rarely learn themThe importance of understanding the spirit—not just the letter—of regulationWhy complexity requires different kinds of leadershipHow AI might help organisations learn lessons in real timeWhy hope is, as Gill puts it, "an act of resistance"AI-Generated.Timestamp Summary00:00 – Do we really learn lessons from disasters?02:45 – Gill's personal connection to Grenfell Tower05:15 – Why the second edition became necessary after the Inquiry 06:30 – The Inquiry's most shocking findings10:00 – When regulators knew the risks—but failed to act12:00 – Implicit trust and why we rely on systems we don't understand13:00 – Deregulation and the unintended consequences of political narratives17:00 – Compliance versus understanding the intent behind regulation20:00 – Why regulations struggle to keep pace with technology and complexity24:00 – Hope as an act of resistance 25:00 – Why we don't actually learn lessons 27:00 – Is a seven-year inquiry too long?33:00 – Why "post-Grenfell" reforms miss the real point37:00 – Communities of grief and change 39:00 – Why Gill rewrote the book instead of writing a new one44:00 – How the experience changed Gill's own thinking 50:00 – Speaking up in ways that actually get heard53:30 – Practical advice for learning in complex systems55:00 – "Lessons learning" instead of "lessons learned" 59:00 – Final reflectionsLinksGill's website, The Grenfell EnquirerHer book 'Catastrophe & Systemic Change'Gill's LinkedIn: Her previous show appearancesGill Kernick on the Grenfell Tower Disaster — Part OneGill Kernick on the Grenfell Tower Disaster — Part TwoTopics discussedGrenfell Tower Inquiry – Final ReportThe Grenfell Enquirer (articles and resources)Arup's Building Safety Change FrameworkPeople and ideas mentionedDave Snowden (Cognitive Edge)Cynefin Framework overviewBackground incidents referencedPiper Alpha disaster (Encyclopaedia Britannica)Lakanal House fire (Wikipedia)Deepwater Horizon oil spill (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Most times, we end up fighting our own battles. But sometimes, the opposition is just – well, it's overwhelming. Then what? Well that's when we can discover that the battle, belongs to the Lord.   I Can Do Anything I Want In this day and age one of the things that they teach us is to be self reliant. To have confidence in our own abilities. You can do anything you set your mind to they tell us. You can make it, it's all up to you. That's ok to a point I guess. It's a good thing to have some confidence in who we are that God made us to be. But you can take this idea too far and it will bring you undone. The positive turns into a terrible negative. See what happens, when the situation we're in or the circumstances that we're facing are so far beyond our ability to deal with them, that any idea of self reliance is completely ridiculous. What happens when the problem confronting us requires skills and abilities that we don't have. What happens when the career we've chosen just doesn't fit who we are? What happens when the one we love, our wife or our husband or one of our children is going through some tough times. Something that as much as we love them, we can't seem to be able to help them through. An illness, a depression, a crisis. And nothing we can say or nothing we can do seems to make any difference. Well, then what? What happens when a tsunami hits our lives? What do we do when the enemy that gathers around us completely outnumbers and outguns us? Come on. Then what do we do? And this isn't some theoretical exercise. This is life. It's my life and it's your life. Because this happens. It's real. There are times in our lives when the enemy whoever or whatever that is, when the enemy is so much bigger than our ability to survive. It happens in families. It happens in work places. And it happens in our hearts. When sickness hits for no good reason. When a loved one is taken in their prime and the grief overwhelms us. When a marriage falls apart. It happens when retrenchment hits. When the economy takes a nose-dive. When their isn't enough food to feed the family. When people betray us. This is life. It's real life. Let me ask you something. When the enemy is so much bigger and so much stronger than anything that you or I could ever handle, what do we do? Some people panic and they run around in ever decreasing circles wasting their precious energy on panicking. You've seen it I've seen it. You know we've both probably been their too. Some people pull over and stop because they're immobilised by fear. That's what happens you know. But neither of those things cut the mustard. Neither of them help. Running around like a headless chook. It's exhausting. Wallowing in self pity is destructive. What do we do? See I'm a pretty self-reliant kind of guy. I like to think that I can handle most things. BUT – there are times when things happen that are completely and utterly beyond anything I can handle. And in those times to hang on to this notion of self-reliance, this delusion of "I can do anything", that will only make it worse. It's OK to believe in ourselves but the reality is that sometimes, maybe this time, we can't swim against this tsunami. It's too big. It's too scary. I was talking the other day with a young woman. She's extremely competent and confident in her field. Professionally she's a class act in every way that you can imagine. We got onto the fact that she had a couple of young kids. And her demeanour changed. See, as someone who's got kids and now they're all grown up, I'm well and truly past the stresses and the strains of bringing up young children. I love telling parents, "Don't worry it's the first 25 years that are the hardest. After that it's a piece of baklava!" It's my, I guess it's my gift of encouragement. Right?" But like any young mother, this motherhood thing was a struggle for this competent, professional woman. It's so tiring. There is so much that is new and is challenging. There's so much in bringing up kids. It's beyond our control. That's the key isn't it. When we're dealing with things that are under our control and we happen to have the skills and the ability and the inclination to control them, well, it's all good isn't it. But the further things are out of our control the more they look like that tsunami and that wave that we can't ride. Then, then it gets scary. I want to introduce you today to one of the kings in Israel's history. Actually he's the king of a couple of the tribes of Israel, Judah and Benjamin. His name was Jehoshaphat. Ok it's a long name. We don't use that kind of name these days. But he was definitely one of the good guys. And there was a time when he was confronted with an enemy that was way, way, way beyond his ability to fight and defeat. Let's pick up the story in 2nd Chronicles Chapter 20 verse 1. After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. Messengers came and told Jehoshaphat, "A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; already they are at Engedi. Jehoshaphat was afraid; See this was an army much bigger than his own. The odds were completely overwhelming and Jehoshaphat were facing absolutely certain defeat. To the king that meant death for his people it meant death or slavery or loss of all their possessions and land. Probably rape for the woman. The higher the stakes are the scarier it gets, doesn't it? And for Jehoshaphat the stakes couldn't have been higher. He was in that place well and truly that you and I find ourselves in for time to time. I just want to establish here that old king Jehoshaphat, well he was human like you and me. He's not some super-human king. There were armies coming in against him. He was completely outnumbered and outgunned. This was a life and death situation and it says Jehoshaphat was afraid. Jehoshaphat is just one of us. I remember as a young boy going to the dentist. I'd walk in the front door and there was this staircase leading up to the dentist. And the smell of the dental surgery the moment you walked in the door. And their was a knot in my stomach sitting in the waiting room. Fear is something that disables us. It's not good for anyone when we're disabled by fear. It's not good for ourselves, it's not good for God. It's not good for those who need our help. Jehoshaphat was afraid. But it's what he did in his fear that made all the difference and we're going to take a look at that in just a moment   What Happens When I Can't? Well let's get back into God's word and take a look at what happened king Jehoshaphat. What he was facing in this completely overwhelming odds. Have a listen. We're starting, if you have a bible grab it, in 2 Chronicles chapter 20 beginning at verse 3: Jehoshaphat was afraid; he set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the towns of Judah they came to seek the LORD. Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, and said, "O LORD, God of our ancestors, are you not God in heaven? Do you not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? In your hand are power and might, so that no one is able to withstand you. Did you not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of your friend Abraham? They have lived in it, and in it have built you a sanctuary for your name, saying, 'If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before you, for your name is in this house, and cry to you in our distress, and you will hear and save.' See now, the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy— they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession that you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgment upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you." Meanwhile all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. See Jehoshaphat didn't let his fear immobilise him. He didn't get into a flap or into a panic in the face of overwhelming odds he turned to God. Sometimes that's the only way that God gets our attention. I'd like to be able to tell you that I first turned to God because I was wise and loving and understood that Jesus is the Son of God. But if I told you that I would be lying. I needed to be hit across the back of the head with a lump of four by two for God to get my attention. Overwhelming odds. That's what did it for me. I turned to God in the middle of fear. And for me it was the last resort but for Jehoshaphat God was his first port of call. Now a king is supposed to have all the answers. A King like Jehoshaphat should have a powerful army and contingency plans based on a comprehensive threat assessment. He should be self-reliant. A man for the people to respect and to follow and to trust for their safety and their future, but listen again to what Jehoshaphat says when he's praying to God in 2nd Chronicles Chapter 20 verse 12: O our God, will you not execute judgment upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. I relate to this. When I stepped out of the secure, well-paid job as a consultant into full time ministry, that was a step of faith. Leaving security behind to serve God and I can't begin to tell you how many times since then I have been in that place that Jehoshaphat and his people were in. See I started out with this naive notion that if I was going to be about God's work, well lit should be easy. And yet so many times people and circumstances have conspired to be against God's work. Every couple of years our board gets together to do some strategic planning. That's important and the strategic plan always looks good on paper. Gives us a sense of what direction we think that God wants us to head in. And then invariably all hell breaks loose because the enemy wants to overwhelm us. He doesn't want to see God's will done here on earth as it is in heaven. And that's what's going on with Jehoshaphat and Judah. Remember these are God's chosen people. The king honoured God and by all accounts and by all accounts he was wise and competent. But in the face of overwhelming odds he admitted to God, "We do know what to do." So was the solution How did he cope with this? And the same sentence, the same breath, he says "but our eyes are on You." I wonder sometimes when I see people who profess to believe in Jesus running around in panic wasting so much of their energy complaining and worrying and being afraid. See, it takes a lot of energy to be afraid, you realise. I wonder if they spent even half that amount of their energy having their eyes on God, how much better off they'd be. You and I, we can't help but be afraid. Jehoshaphat was afraid. It's a natural human, reaction. I'm not here to tell you somehow to pretend that you're not afraid when fear is rocking you to the very core. That's ridiculous. But it's what we do when fear strikes that makes all the difference. When we panic we burn energy, when we frozen and immobilised that's probably the end of us. That's what fear does. Stop's us dead in our tracks. We go nowhere. Had Jehoshaphat done that, he and all his people would have been dead literally. Or we can just turn and look at God. "You know something Lord, this is so huge, I just know what to do but my eyes, my eyes are on you. I'm just going to wait on you. I don't know what you are going to do, I don't even know if you are going to show up, but no matter what, my eyes are on you." And here's the bit that blows me away about this story. It's this. That God wasn't Jehoshaphat's last resort. God was his first port of call. He trusted in the sovereign grace of God. Jehoshaphat was afraid, but he set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. I wonder how different if things would be amidst our fear, if instead of running around and spending all that energy on panic or instead of running to the phone to talk to a friend, if we first ran to God. If the very first thing we did was to take stock and in our hearts, deep inside somewhere – decided to set ourselves to seek the Lord? God, the first point of call, rather than the last resort!   A Powerful Outcome So how did it end? Was Jehoshaphat's trust misplaced or well placed? Let's take a look. 2 Chronicle 20 beginning at verse 14: Then the spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the middle of the assembly. He said, "Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the LORD to you: 'Do not fear or be dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God's. Tomorrow go down against them; they will come up by the ascent of Ziz; you will find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. This battle is not for you to fight; take your position, stand still, and see the victory of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.' Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you." Then Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD, worshiping the LORD. And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice. They rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God and you will be established; believe his prophets." When he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the LORD and praise him in holy splendor, as they went before the army, saying, "Give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures forever." As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set an ambush against the Ammonites, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. For the Ammonites and Moab attacked the inhabitants of Mount Seir, destroying them utterly; and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another. When Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; they were corpses lying on the ground; no one had escaped. When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the booty from them, they found livestock in great numbers, goods, clothing, and precious things, which they took for themselves until they could carry no more. They spent three days taking the booty, because of its abundance. Unbelievable I hear you say. How could this possibly happen?? I'll tell you how. Because Jehoshaphat decided that he would stand and wait on God - no matter what the outcome! That's the key. That's the faith that God was looking for. No matter what the outcome. Let's take another look. 2 Chronicles 20:9-12: If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before you, for your name is in this house, and cry to you in our distress, and you will hear and save. See now, the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy – they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession that you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgment upon them? For we are powerless against this great multitude that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. This is the do or die faith that God is looking for. When we place our faith in God in this way – for things that are completely out of our control – right when that tsunami hits His Spirit and His Word come along and witness His truth to us: This battle is not for you to fight; take your position, stand still, and see the victory of the LORD on your behalf.' Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you." (2 Chronicles 20:17) Listen to me. Have you put your trust in Jesus Christ? Have you? Then those times of fear are times when we discover what a beautiful thing it is to trust in the Lord, no matter what is coming against us. No matter what the world throws at us. No matter how overwhelming the odds might be. Those times are the times that we get to stand still and discover in our very own experience that the battle isn't our it's not ours at all. But the battle belongs to the Lord. Can I encourage you that if you feel right now that you're on death row, as though there is no tomorrow, to listen to the words of apostle Paul from his dungeon as he writes in Philippians Chapter 4 beginning at verse 6: Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. See that's the word of the Lord for us today. Jehoshaphat knew it and learned it again in his experience. The people of Judah learned it again under the leadership of Jehoshaphat. This overwhelming army came against them. They couldn't win. It was a no win situation. And they discovered afresh and anew the battle was not theirs but the battle belonged to the Lord. And they listened to God through His prophets when he said, "Stand still to see and to watch what the Lord would do for you." Can I encourage you today to remember the battle is not yours. The battle belongs to the Lord. Stand still and watch to see what the Lord will do for you.

Continuing the next series of Creating Dementia Solutions episodes, we explore the real-life experiences of individuals and families affected by dementia.Through intimate conversations, each episode shares a unique story — from early memories and the moment of diagnosis to the challenges, small victories, and emotional journeys that follow. Also discussed is the caregiving component – and how folks have stepped into the caregiving role in support of a loved one with dementia.This time, Stacy Wines - CEO of Carewell Services Southwest in Battle Creek - talks about her caregiving experiences. Like many, they started early and evolved personally - and in a career.Episode ResourcesMiles for Memories websiteMiles for Memories technologySherii Sherban talks to Community Matters about MFM technologyMore Creating Dementia Solutions episodesABOUT MILES FOR MEMORIESMiles For Memories is a Calhoun County, Michigan organization created in 2013 to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer's Disease. Later in 2014, the vision was expanded to include all types of dementia. MFM raises money each year through sponsorships, community events, and grants to gather funds to create local programming for both the person living with dementia and the caregiver. Along with local efforts, 20% of the funds to prevention-related dementia research. Miles for Memories is a committee of 70-plus volunteers and are always looking for more to get involved.

Pat McEwen grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania and has carried his work ethic established at an early age throughout his life. In high school he competed in four sports: football, wrestling, men's gymnastics, and track and field. He earned a wrestling scholarship to Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania and set multiple pole vault records during the early days of the sport's transition from rigid poles to the bent-pole era.Pat became a marathon runner with a personal best of 2:36, completed more than 100 Nordic ski races to earn Centurion status, raced bicycles in events including LOTOJA, has 42 years of expert experience in high wind windsurfing explored backcountry skiing, mountaineering, and climbing, and tackled some of the West's most challenging Class V whitewater runs. Professionally, he spent 45 years as a respiratory therapist, including work in trauma ICU, Life Flight, and hyperbaric medicine. If that is not enough, Pat is also a gifted musician, playing multiple instruments and singing in a band called River House Band; the band has performed in over 60 shows a year for the past 3 years.To listen to some of his band's music, visit https://www.reverbnation.com/riverhouseSend us Fan Mail

This is probably not the first time you're hearing that many autistic and ADHD adults struggle on the job and not just due to sensory issues, although that's a factor for sure. The bigger problem may be something else entirely. Something that has a solution. In this episode David Raynor tells his own story about a career path of jobs frequently won then lost and how he tired of hearing he had “so much potential.” After getting lots of failed advice from people who meant well, David turned inward and found answers. And he knows you can, too and that you don't have to do it alone.David talks about Professionally Neurospicy, a community for neurodivergents to get the support they need in their jobs and careers. You'll hear David's advice about the one thing we can do to get the satisfaction we want.In this episode you'll also learn:Why many neurodivergent careers follow a cycle of success, burnout, and starting overHow to make better career decisionsWhy workplaces benefit when neurodivergent employees are supported to thriveHow accommodations are actually workplace upgradesManaging hyperfocus without relying on willpowerA different way of thinking about imposter syndromeBuilding the confidence to advocate for yourself at workWhat you'll find inside the Professionally NeuroSpicy community, including its Discord events, practical resources, and peer support for neurodivergent professionalsDavid's website: Professionally Neurospicy Substack Discord LinkedIn Support the showRATED IN THE TOP 0.5% GLOBALLY with more than 1.2 million downloads!If you are an autistic person who has written a book about autism or if you have a guest suggestion email me at info@theautisticwoman.com.InstagramKo-fi, PayPal, PatreonLinktreeEmail: info@theautisticwoman.comWebsite

Welcome back to Sober Town! This week, host King 13 (Debs) sits down with Andrew J. Minuto, author of Fatally Resilient, for a raw and honest conversation about addiction, recovery, and resilience. Andrew opens up about his childhood move from Brooklyn to Las Vegas, the emotional isolation that planted the seeds of his addiction, and the four attempts at recovery it took to finally find lasting sobriety. He shares the devastating loss of both parents within months of each other, a painful divorce, serious health struggles including sepsis, and the custody battle for his daughter — and how he came out the other side stronger, more self-validated, and finally free from needing others to tell him who to be. Together, Andrew and Debs dig into themes of self-worth, the difference between sobriety and true recovery, the importance of community and support, and why humility is the key to never repeating the same mistakes twice. If you or someone you love is struggling, this episode is a powerful reminder: you are not alone, and it's never too late to turn your past into your greatest strength.

Why I Quit Social Media (Personally & Professionally) As a Former Social Media Manager and Life Coach This is not to guilt you to quitting social media. This is not to present myself as better than anyone else. This is my own personal experience: What a social media manager does Other uses I had for social media What I found it did to my brain How I took small steps towards truly quitting it What positive results were shown to me after doing this Enjoy this listen, take what you need & find encouraging and leave what you don't. Contact: helloannabarr@gmail.comwww.awkwardlyanna.com Philippians 4:7-8 NIV [7] And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. [8] Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Thank you for listening!

Patsy Brooks-Tallant is a member of the Baby Scoop Era, the mid-20th-century period when societal pressures often forced unmarried or young mothers to surrender their infants for adoption. Born to a 21-year-old mother already raising four children, Patsy's pregnancy stemmed from an affair while the mother's military husband was overseas. To this day—over 63 years later—he believes Patsy is merely a family friend, unaware she is his wife's biological daughter and his stepchild. The couple remains married. Unable to keep her child, Patsy's birth mother arranged a private adoption through a family connection. Her own mother knew an older couple, aged 44 and 46, desperate for a child after the adoptive mother had lost her only biological infant. Bypassing formal agencies, the adoption was facilitated by a county judge, social worker, and private attorney who falsified documents. The adoptive parents were present at the birth and took Patsy home shortly after. Raised in a loving, stable home, Patsy always knew she was adopted. Three years later, the same family adopted her biological cousin, further linking the families. From her teens, Patsy pursued genealogy relentlessly. In high school, she located her birth mother but delayed contact. Their reunion revealed five half-siblings—four older, one younger—none aware of Patsy's existence, per her mother's request for secrecy. Years later, DNA testing uncovered her biological father's identity and seven additional paternal half-siblings. Tragically, he had passed away. Patsy has since met all her paternal siblings and maintains a close relationship with one younger maternal half-brother and his children. Ties with most maternal siblings remain distant to protect their mother's secret. Professionally, Patsy enjoyed a 49-year career as a Master Pet Stylist, owning mobile grooming units and teaching nationally and internationally. Now, her greatest passion is adoptee rights and DNA research. She advocates for unrestricted access to original birth records, refusing to uphold past secrecy. Married 42 years to her high school sweetheart, Patsy has three children and seven grandchildren. Despite a fulfilling life, she feels the primal loss of adoption daily. Forming sibling bonds in one's fifties and sixties - without shared childhoods - is difficult. Having lost her adoptive parents at ages 15 and 22, Patsy navigated these complexities largely alone. For her, adoptee identity remains a lifelong reality. Season 12 Book: The Adoption Paradox by Jean Kelly Widner Eventbrite Link: Live Podcast Event in Minneapolis, MN, Sept. 11th-13th Sign up to be part of our mailing list! Thank you to our Patreons! Join at the $10 level and be part of our monthly ADOPTEE CAFE community. The next meeting will be Saturday, July 11th, at 1 pm ET. RESOURCES for Adoptees: Adoptees Connect Adoptee Mentoring Society Gregory Luce and Adoptee Rights Law Fireside Adoptees Facebook Group Dr. Liz Debetta: Migrating Toward Wholeness Movement Moses Farrow - Trauma therapist and advocate National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1-800-273-8255 OR Dial or Text 988. Kristal Parke Because She Is Adopted Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Send us Fan MailJustin Rittenhouse is a mechanical engineer, educator, and industry leader whose career sits at the intersection of advanced engineering analysis, manufacturing innovation, and mentorship. With a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and degrees in Aerospace Engineering, Justin has built a strong technical foundation in structural mechanics, computational methods, and advanced simulation tools such as FEA and DEM. His academic journey is complemented by hands-on expertise in programming, material testing, and product development. Professionally, Justin has spent more than 11 years in industry, including roles with Fortune 500 companies, where he has led projects from early concept through commercialization. His experience spans designing custom cable assemblies for defense and commercial applications, developing automated testing systems using embedded hardware like Arduino, and leading the creation of high-efficiency manufacturing lines that significantly improved throughput.  In addition to his industry work, Justin has a strong passion for teaching and mentorship. He has served as both an assistant professor and instructor of mechanical engineering, where he taught CAD, FEA, manufacturability, and material testing, while also leading senior design programs and advising student engineering teams. His ability to translate complex technical concepts into practical, real-world understanding has made him a valuable guide for aspiring engineers navigating their early careers. Justin is also the author of Secret Keys to a STEM Degree, where he shares actionable strategies for succeeding in demanding technical programs—focusing not just on studying harder, but on thinking differently, avoiding common pitfalls, and building the habits that lead to long-term success. Drawing from his own experiences, including overcoming personal challenges such as being born with a cleft lip and palate, Justin brings a deeply human perspective to engineering—one rooted in resilience, growth, and continuous improvement. Today, Justin is driven by a mission to help engineers better understand what the profession truly looks like, how to transition effectively from school to industry, and how to build confidence in the face of uncertainty. His work bridges theory and practice, offering practical insights that engineers can apply immediately to their careers. LINKS: Justin Rittenhouse LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-rittenhouse-phd/ Justin Rittenhouse website: https://justinrittenhousephd.com/ Buy Justin's book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/04FtX62u  Aaron Moncur, host PDX 2026 is October 20-21 in Phoenix, AZ. Attendee tickets are 50% off August 3-7 only. Learn more and register at https://pdexpo.engineer/  Subscribe to the show to get notified so you don't miss new episodes every Friday.The Being An Engineer podcast is brought to you by Pipeline Design & Engineering. Pipeline partners with medical & other device engineering teams who need turnkey equipment like cycle test machines, custom test fixtures, automation equipment, assembly jigs, inspection stations and more. You can find us at www.teampipeline.usWatch the show on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TeamPipelineus 

Tucker Carlson has had a high‑profile, combative few days, marked by a formal break with the Republican Party, sharp criticism of Donald Trump over the Iran war, and a series of headline‑grabbing interviews that are reshaping conversations on the right. According to CNN Politics, Carlson recently told a podcast audience there is “no chance” he will support the Republican Party in the upcoming midterm elections, calling the GOP immoral and accusing it of putting Israel's interests ahead of those of American citizens. On the Can't Be Censored podcast, highlighted by Firstpost, he framed his decision as walking away entirely rather than switching to Democrats, arguing that he cannot vote for leaders who, in his view, are loyal to a foreign country over the United States. That break with the GOP is tied directly to his escalating criticism of Donald Trump's handling of the Iran war. Sky News reports that in a lengthy sit‑down with Yalda Hakim, Carlson said the Iran conflict marks “the end” of Trump as a serious political force and declared that the MAGA movement has “no future.” In that interview, he revealed he has not spoken to Trump since the war began and portrayed the conflict as a strategic defeat for the United States, warning that it will fracture the coalition that brought Trump back to power. Forbes adds that Carlson has been arguing Trump has finally realized Israel is the “biggest threat” to his administration, sharpening his critique of the broader pro‑Israel establishment in Washington. Carlson's media presence has been intense around these themes. Sky News has aired multiple clips from his interview, including a moment where he apologizes for having been “super mean” to the UK and says Britons “don't deserve it,” a tonal shift that has drawn attention given his longstanding attacks on British elites. Another Sky segment shows him walking back his post‑9/11 claims that Islam itself was “the problem,” saying he had believed “lies” at the time and now sees the issue differently, a rare admission of error that has generated both praise and skepticism among commentators. These moves are feeding a larger debate about Carlson's influence. The Jewish Chronicle notes that Senator Ted Cruz recently called him “the most dangerous demagogue in America,” citing his massive following, Russia‑friendly rhetoric, and promotion of conspiracy theories. At the same time, conservative outlets have treated his break with the GOP and his assessment of Trump's Iran policy as evidence of a deeper realignment on the right, with some MAGA figures echoing Trump's claim that Carlson has “lost his way,” while others see him as articulating a growing grassroots frustration with Republican foreign policy. Professionally, Carlson continues to push content through his own platforms, including The Tucker Carlson Show and his YouTube channel, where recent episodes feature long‑form interviews on Iran, Israel, and the internal rifts in the conservative movement. Clips from his Sky News appearance and social media reels have kept him at the center of political media discussion, even as he distances himself from the party he helped energize for decades. Thanks for listening to the Tucker Carlson News Tracker podcast, and don't forget to subscribe. This has been a Quiet Please production, for more check out quietplease dot ai. For more http://www.quietplease.ai Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta

In this segment, we explore Dr. Nibodhi's new program, Complete Ayurveda. This is a comprehensive, self-paced course designed to bring the timeless wisdom of Ayurveda into your everyday life. I genuinely couldn't be more thrilled for this program to be released to the public and to support so many people. Dr. Nibodhi has poured years of study, clinical experience, and genuine care into creating a program that is deeply rooted in tradition but is also incredibly practical for modern living. Whether you're completely new to Ayurveda or looking to deepen your understanding, this course provides accessible tools that you can begin applying immediately.With over 10 hours of video content, 50+ lessons, 20 interactive worksheets, 12 guided meditations, and 3 personalized quizzes, every module is designed around implementation rather than information alone. The goal isn't simply to learn the philosophy of Ayurveda - it is to experience it through meaningful changes in your health, energy, habits, and overall sense of wellbeing.Receive 50$ off with the discount code AYURVEDANOW50 through August 1st! www.nibodhi.com/complete-ayurvedaNibodhi is a student and practitioner of Naturopathy, Ayurveda, Yoga, Vedic Astrology and Indigenous Wisdom traditions. Professionally he a board-certified Traditional Naturopath and Ayurvedic Practitioner and educator. He has also studied Jyotish with an emphasis in medical astrology. He is certified in Vedic psychology/ counselling, clinical nutrition, & yoga teacher/ yoga therapy as well as numerous certifications and trainings in other fields of Health and Consciousness. While he has formally studied at numerous schools his most profound studies came from one on one training with numerous Vaidyas, Yoga masters, Shamans and Elders and Healers from the Vedic traditions as well as various indigenous traditions. He has more than 3 decades of studies and experience in mindfulness and tantric meditation practice and offers guidance in personal and private practice. His vision and heart follows these wisdom paths that support health and consciousness on an individual and planetary level.He is the author of six books on health and consciousness.He offers Vedic/Ayurveda Consultations in person and online. Sessions with Nibodhi give clients a deeper understanding of their total state of health and provide tools for creating greater well-being in their lives. Ayurvedic consultations with Nibodhi are a physical, emotional, and spiritual journey towards optimum, radiant health and consciousness. Nibodhi listens with deep awareness to your health and life concerns. He determines and explains your unique constitution, and offers you a completely individualised approach and protocol that supports your health and life goals.Sessions with Nibodhi may include, but are not limited to, individualised nutrition, dietary, and herbal protocols, yoga and/or other exercise, meditation, breathing exercises, and lifestyle practices which are personalised to bring you into optimum balance.Since 2003 he has been living half of each year in Kerala, India serving in a 100% Non-profit/Charitable, Ayurveda and Naturopathy Wellness Center where he also has taught week long Ayurveda-Yoga intensives twice a year since 2013. Since 2004 he has travelled the world (USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, EU, Australia, Singapore, Malayasia, Thailand) offering Ayurveda Health and Consciousness guidance and counseling. Since 2020 he still spends half the year in India and half the year in Maui. https://www.instagram.com/dr.nibodhi/To find out more or sign up for a consultation, email:Dr.Nibodhi@gmail.com __________________________________Characteristics of Your Spouse:https://youtu.be/i_cOvdSbjy0Soulmate Astrologyhttps://youtu.be/ExnDysvjzUwChristine:website: innerknowing.yogainstagram: astrologynow_podcastpatreon: patreon.com/astrologynowpodcast 

Maybe this Summer, foreign is exactly what you need. But no bags need to be packed. Not a single one. No airline reservations need to be made. You see, praise in times of plenty, that's easy. It's natural. But praise in want, it's never easy. It's unnatural. Foreign may be an even better word. It feels strange, unfamiliar, unsettling. That's because it is. Praise and rejoicing in things go well is proof of citizenship on earth, meaning everyone is capable of this. Praise and rejoicing, gratitude and proclaiming God's greatness and goodness, when things don't go as well as we hoped or expect - it's proof of citizenship in heaven. Only those filled with the power of the Holy Spirit are equipped to do such an unearthly thing.Today, Sarah Freymuth is sharing her reflection of Psalm 79 with us and helping us remember to proclaim God's praise, and live as foreigners of this earth, in those times when we feel the rug has slid out from under us.Sarah Freymuth describes herself as a writer and dreamer who finds God's goodness in the everyday, upside-down, and in-between moments that make this life real, relatable and beautiful. Professionally, Sarah serves as the content and storytelling manager for Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a global sports ministry, where she gets to tell the story of what God is doing around the world through coaches and athletes – guiding them in going deeper in their faith. She also writes for different places, sharing about God's goodness where it isn't easily seen.You can find her living a simple Midwest life with her husband, visiting Lake Michigan and Washington Island as often as life allows.C A N D A C E  C O F E Rauthor + speaker ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠instagram⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠youtube⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠facebook⁠

Anastasiia Solianyk, a refugee from Ukraine, talks about the grief of losing the life she imagined, and the courage of building a new one with her family in Nebraska. Hers is a story not only of survival, but of how people carry memory, protect hope, and look for steadiness and community when the ground keeps shifting. Solianyk was born and raised in Ukraine and moved to the United States with her family in 2022. Her experience of displacement began much earlier, in 2014, when she had to leave her hometown in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. Eight years later, after Russia's full-scale invasion, Solianyk and her husband and daughter were forced to leave Ukraine and begin again in America. Professionally, she works in manufacturing quality and has more than ten years of experience in the metallurgical and automotive industries. Outside of work, she enjoys playing piano and painting, and much of her life today is devoted to supporting her young daughter's figure skating journey. Now living in Nebraska, Solianyk brings a story of resilience, adaptation, family, creativity, and the difficult work of building a future after losing home more than once.

In this episode of the Creator Method Podcast, Gary Lipovetsky sits down with Alison Cheperdak, etiquette expert, author, former lawyer, news anchor, White House staffer, founder of Elevate Etiquette, and Creator Method member, to unpack why modern etiquette is becoming one of the most important skills for creators and personal brands. Alison explains how creators may be quietly losing trust, opportunities, brand deals, and long-term credibility through small communication mistakes, from rude DMs and poor follow-ups to oversharing online and confusing “authenticity” with bad manners. She also breaks down why etiquette is making a comeback in 2026, how to show up more professionally online and offline, and why soft skills can be the difference between having an audience and building a real community. This conversation is a practical guide for creators who want to build a personal brand that lasts, communicate with more confidence, and become someone brands, audiences, and business partners genuinely trust. Apply for Creator Method: https://creatormethod.com/ Follow Creator Method on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creatormethod/ Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/creator-method-podcast Follow Gary on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garylipovetsky?igsh=MWVoMXUycmhtMDZ5eg== Follow Alison on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevateetiquette?igsh=NGMxMjMxcXd5eG13 Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 02:00 Why etiquette matters for creators 03:00 Has authenticity become an excuse for bad manners? 06:00 Why etiquette is making a comeback in 2026 10:00 The importance of first impressions 13:00 How to optimize how people perceive you 18:00 The etiquette habit that signals someone will win 23:00 The DM mistakes costing creators brand deals 26:00 Is ghosting rude? 30:00 Oversharing on social media 31:00 Audience vs. community 33:00 What makes creators look insecure to brands 34:00 Why thank you notes still matter 37:00 How to apologize when you offend someone 39:00 Confidence vs. arrogance 40:00 Speaking pace and communication style 44:00 Rapid-fire etiquette questions 48:00 The truth about tipping culture 50:00 Which generation has the worst manners? 53:00 The most underrated etiquette advice Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most people recognize Michael Jackson's 1983 mega-hit “Billie Jean,” but few know the human story behind the headlines. In this episode of Think Biblically, Sean sits down with Biola and Talbot graduate and educator La Nej Garrison, whose mother was a partial real-life inspiration behind the famous song.La Nej Garrison is a dedicated family woman, editor, senior writer, and minister deeply passionate about her faith, family, and fostering meaningful conversations around religion and ethics. She holds a degree in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics from Talbot School of Theology. Professionally, she serves as an editor for one of the largest African American publishing houses in the United States and as a senior writer for Women In Apologetics. You can read more of her work and stay connected by visiting her website at lanejgarrison.org or by following her on Instagram @la_nejg.==========Think Biblically: Conversations on Faith and Culture is a podcast from Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, which offers degrees both online and on campus in Southern California.   Find all episodes of Think Biblically at: https://www.biola.edu/think-biblically.   To submit comments, ask questions, or make suggestions on issues you'd like us to cover or guests you'd like us to have on the podcast, email us at thinkbiblically@biola.edu.  

Welcome to the #ShareYourHotness Podcast episode 183! Weston Brandon was widowed at just 23 years old when his wife tragically passed away during childbirth, leaving him to raise a 1 lb. 13 oz. NICU baby alone. But Weston's story is bigger than tragedy — it's about grit, faith, and transformation. Raised on a working cattle ranch, Weston learned early the values of hard work, discipline, and resilience. He went on to serve a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Florida, where he developed deep relational skills, communication strength, and a passion for service. Professionally, Weston first excelled in the world of door-to-door pest control sales and later in high-ticket engineering software sales — proving himself as a top performer under intense pressure. But when his wife's death reshaped his world, he pivoted, stepping into the HVAC/R service trades, where he rebuilt his career in a space that allowed him to prioritize stability, family, and healing. At the heart of Weston's work is one hard-earned truth: Clarity comes through committed movement. To help others break through stagnation, grief, or burnout, Weston developed his transformational system called D.R.I.V.E. — a powerful framework designed to help people overhaul their lives, rebuild with purpose, and reclaim their momentum. In this conversation, Weston will share the tools and mindset that reshape not just circumstances but entire lives — bringing raw, personal stories from his own journey and applying those lessons directly to listeners ready to move forward with clarity, purpose, and impact. Leta Greene has been a professional speaker since 2010, speaking on confidence, resilience, and the Hotness Factor. She is the author of two best-selling books and host of the Share Your Hotness podcast. 

Dr Alex Fergusson is a UK-based composites and unmanned-systems specialist, Ukraine supporter, and prominent NAFO figure. He is best known in the Ukraine-support community as “Nother Alex Fergusson Fella” and describes himself online as a NAFO SquaDrone Leader and Fella, an “ardent supporter” of Ukraine, and a mechanics-of-composite-materials / nanocomposites specialist. Professionally, Fergusson's background is in advanced composite materials, aerospace structures, and drone/UAS design. He is a PhD-level lecturer at Imperial College London, founder of FAC Technology, with publications in composites and material characterisation.Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Fergusson has become an outspoken advocate for Ukrainian victory, with a particular focus on the fast-evolving role of FPV drones, autonomous systems, electronic warfare resilience, composite airframes, and UK–Ukrainian defence-tech cooperation. In LinkedIn posts, he has discussed FAC Technology's “Ghosts of The Few” and “Ghost Squadron Leader” UAS concepts, including Ukrainian-made versions, larger FPV drones, EW-hardened communications, and work with Ukrainian partners such as Drone Space / Dronarnia.----------LINKS: https://x.com/nother_fella2https://www.instagram.com/alexanderfergussonhttps://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alexander-Fergussonhttps://www.linkedin.com/posts/alexander-fergusson-9b95021_kseniia-kalmus-alex-fergusson-drone-event-activity-7261031593681567744-4fZ5https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J31yASWIQvo&vl=en "Ukraine's fastest-evolving weapon: drones explained ..."https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3K9me18dVo "Kseniia Kalmus & Alex Fergusson Drone Event"----------SUPPORT THE CHANNEL:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtainhttps://www.gofundme.com/f/scaling-up-campaign-to-fight-authoritarian-disinformation----------ACTIVE CAMPAIGN:We are raising funds for 5 of 15 Vampire DronesSilicon Curtain for Kupiansk Vampires. Dzyga's Paw, together with Jonathan Fink, is joining forces to raise $40,000 to provide the Khartiia Brigade with Vampire Drones.https://dzygaspaw.com/silicon-curtain-for-kupiansk-vampiresThese heavy bombers are designed to destroy manpower and equipment, as well as for remote mining. The Vampire UAV, manufactured by Skyfall, has proven itself to be one of the most effective weapons in the Kupiansk direction. Skyfall is one of Ukraine's largest defense tech companies, producing Vampire bomber drones, various modifications of Shrike FPV drones, P1-SUN, Shahed drone interceptors, communication systems, and components.----------TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND:Car4Ukrainehttps://car4ukraine.com/en-US/campaignsDzyga's Pawhttps://dzygaspaw.com/projectsSuperhumans - Hospital for war traumashttps://superhumans.com/en/UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukrainehttps://unbroken.org.ua/Come Back Alivehttps://savelife.in.ua/en/Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchenhttps://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraineUNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyyhttps://u24.gov.ua/Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundationhttps://prytulafoundation.orgNGO “Herojam Slava”https://heroiamslava.org/----------PLATFORMS:Substack: https://substack.com/@siliconcurtainTwitter: https://twitter.com/CurtainSiliconLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/finkjonathan/Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4thRZj6NO7y93zG11JMtqm----------

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Charles Cofield. Thanks! The transcript from this episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass features an inspiring and high-energy interview with CPA and financial educator Carter Cofield, co-founder of Melanin Money. Here's a breakdown of the key highlights and takeaways:

Dr. Jason L. Hornick on Balancing Academic Pathology, Parenting, and Personal PassionsChristine interviews Dr. Jason L. Hornick, a senior soft tissue and bone pathologist and academic leader, about balancing a demanding academic career with family and self-care. Hornick shares a personal love of cats and discusses parenting twins while managing work, emphasizing the importance of an understanding partner, being fully present at home, and separating clinical work from family time. He describes waking early to write and edit, prioritizing about seven hours of sleep, and critiques medical training culture that normalizes self-neglect and fatigue. Hornick highlights cooking and returning to rock music after a long break as key outlets that reduce burnout and model a well-rounded life for children. Professionally, he describes shifting from primary research to editing journals and textbooks and advises learning to say no to invitations to protect time and wellbeing.00:00 Meet Dr Hornick01:09 Cats And Family02:01 Parenting And Academia04:11 Early Mornings Sleep06:00 Self Care In Medicine07:39 Cooking As Therapy08:37 Returning To Rock Music10:12 Hobbies Prevent Burnout12:31 Work Life Culture Shift13:35 Evolving Academic Focus16:16 Research Without Goals17:07 Learning To Say No18:46 Closing Thoughts Mentorship

Being a Brush in Baba's HandsFour decades ago, inspired by Bhagawan Himself, Mr B K Prasad embarked on a remarkable artistic journey by painting portraits of Swami. His very first painting was blessed by Swami in 1987.  Since then, he has created more than 160 breathtaking portraits of both Shirdi Sai and Sathya Sai, each reflecting not merely artistic skill but profound devotion.Looking back, Mr Prasad feels that his journey has been far more than an exploration of art, it has indeed been a path to self-realisation and salvation. “Painting Swami is nothing but meditation for me,” he says. “In truth, I am not the one holding the brush; it is Swami who holds me. Otherwise, forget painting, I would not even be standing or breathing today.”Among the countless blessings he has received, one remains especially precious: Bhagawan's words, “Your paintings look like photographs.” In this Satsang, Mr Prasad takes us through his extraordinary journey of self-discovery through oil, paint, and brush, sharing how devotion transformed his art into a spiritual sadhana.Professionally, Mr Prasad is a certified Cost Accountant who has enjoyed a distinguished career in senior management roles across finance and information technology with several multinational corporations.

Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.   In this episode, Justin interviews Emily Buckley, Insurance Risk Manager at Specialized Bicycle Components. They discuss how, in her career, she arrived at risk management, from tossing T-shirts into the stands at Ball Stadium. They talk about her work leading risk at Kroenke Sports and Entertainment for years, and then joining Specialized Bicycle Components to become their Risk Management program and launch ERM for them. Emily talks about Specialized hiring the best people, including professional and Olympic athletes, to make the best product. Emily's purpose is to build the best Risk Management and ERM Program for them. Justin and Emily discuss how she feels about being named the RIMS 2026 Honor Roll Recipient. They discuss her involvement with the Rocky Mountain RIMS Chapter and her engagement in the ERM Engage Group. Listen for the excitement and energy Emily brings to the ERM Program at Specialized.   Key Takeaways: [:01] About RIMS and RIMScast. [:16] About this episode of RIMScast. We are so excited to welcome back to the show Emily Buckley of Specialized Bicycles. She was recently named to the RIMS Honor Roll at RISKWORLD, so we have lots to discuss regarding safety, career development, and ERM. But first… [:48] RIMS Virtual Workshops. The next RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep will be held on June 9th and 10th. The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Prep with AFERM will be held on June 16th and 17th. Links to registration are in this episode's notes. [1:04] You can enroll now in the RIMS CRO Certificate Program in Advanced Enterprise Risk Management hosted by the famous James Lam. Beginning July 15th, workshops will be held bi-weekly from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The registration link is in the show notes. [1:25] The RIMS ERM Conference 2026 will be held on November 19th and 20th in Columbus, Ohio. We want to hear from you. Submit a session proposal by June 19th that will reach engaged practitioners, innovators, and leaders looking for guidance they can utilize right away. [1:43] Help define what's next for Enterprise Risk Management. Submit a session proposal by Friday, June 19th. A link is in this episode's show notes. [1:51] Folks, RIMS is back on YouTube. Our handle is @RIMSOfficialChannel. We've got plenty of videos there, including RIMScast, RIMScast Canada video podcasts, and other informative and entertaining content from RIMS. Subscribe to the channel today! [2:10] On with the Show! Our guest today is one of the liveliest RIMS members I know! She is Emily Buckley, the Insurance Manager for Specialized Bicycle Components, a global performance brand. [2:23] Emily is the Vice President of the RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter. At RISKWORLD 2026, Emily was named to the RIMS Honor Roll in 2026. Emily made her RIMScast debut in 2024 for National Bike Safety Month in Man, and we're recording in May again. [2:47] We'll have a lot of fun talking about bicycle safety and how Emily embeds safety into all aspects of risk management and the risk culture over at Specialized Bicycle Components. [2:59] Emily has had a remarkable career at Specialized. She is the company's first-ever dedicated risk manager. She has built a modern enterprise-ready risk and insurance function from the ground up, which we are going to talk about today. [3:12] We'll talk about her risk philosophies, her approach to polycrisis and supply chain risk management, and why her involvement in the RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter has been so critical for her career. Let's get to it! [3:27] Interview! Emily Buckley, Welcome Back to RIMScast! [3:50] Emily says receiving the RIMS Honor Roll award seemed surreal. It was very cool to be onstage, be recognized, and have the village she had built around herself there supporting her. Everyone was so excited for her. It was one of the coolest things she had ever experienced. [4:27] Justin calls Emily the Risk Queen of Denver and the Greater Denver Area and says she has a lot of support behind her. She's "got heat!" [4:48] Justin is recording this episode during National Bicycle Safety Month. This is Emily's month. At Specialized Bicycle Components, every day is National Bicycle Safety Month! [5:19] Justin talks about safety being embedded into the manufacturing and shipping of bicycles. [5:34] Emily says every day, even when she is sleeping, safety is on her mind. [5:46] Specialized Bicycle Components has a Safety Team. Emily's broker has a Safety Specialist assigned to her account. Emily has connected those two teams. She is a liaison between them, and she works very closely with her Safety Team at Specialized Bicycle Components. [6:02] Emily has monthly meetings with groups at Specialized Bicycle Components to discuss safety initiatives. She says the Safety Team at Specialized does a phenomenal job. [6:26] Emily says Risk Management is a department of many hats. She tells people that if there is pushback on an initiative, I'll be the bad guy. Tell them, Sorry, Risk Management is making us do this. Sometimes that's a little bit easier to sell. [7:11] Emily has been practicing risk management for almost 15 years. She started at Kroenke Sports and Entertainment in Customer Interaction, including tossing T-shirts into the crowd for the Denver Nuggets. People wanted those shirts. [9:05] When Kroenke posted a job for a risk analyst, Emily applied, and Peggy Miller hired her. Emily talked about this in her past appearance on RIMScast. Peggy is the President of Rocky Mountain RIMS. Peggy taught Emily almost everything Emily knows about risk management. [9:34] Peggy took Emily under her wing. She taught Emily how to review contracts for risk management wording and insurance requirements. Emily could go to Peggy with any question, and Peggy would explain it. Emily says that Peggy is a phenomenal boss. [10:07] Emily found an opportunity at Specialized when it was time to spread her wings. She still calls Peggy from time to time for advice. Peggy is always willing to help. [10:34] Emily joined Specialized Bicycle Components and became the risk management department. She came in two or three months before they did their insurance renewal, so it was initiation by firehose. [10:53] It was a great opportunity to learn about the program. She was also educating them about what risk management does and how they should be running their program, and educating them about insurance requirements. [11:16] Emily says Specialized has an amazing executive team and ownership. They were so receptive to all the ideas Emily brought them. They also had a lot of creative ideas. As a risk manager, it was fun to come into that environment. [11:49] The risk department has not grown since Emily joined Specialized. [12:21] Emily started an ERM Program at Specialized. It takes a team, and it takes the right partners. Emily thinks every company will benefit from an ERM Program. Stepping into a manufacturing company very dependent on the supply chain, Emily saw that ERM was a must. [12:49] Emily worked with the right partners, did a couple of different tabletops, and hyper-focused on three or four ERM initiatives, for which she built the ERM foundation and the risk management foundation on top. Every project she works on goes back to those initiatives. [13:24] Emily says she is very fortunate to have the ear of the executive leadership. [13:32] One of the mantras at Specialized Bicycle Components is Innovate or Die. Emily has taken that to heart in Risk Management and ERM. Emily is constantly trying to find ways to make the ERM stronger and better, going back to those three or four initiatives. [13:51] Emily thinks outside the box. She has seen some products that don't completely fit Specialized, but by working with the service providers and saying she likes this product, but she needs it to do this, she has found some amazing service providers and partners to work with.  [14:24] As a risk manager, Emily lives in worst-case scenarios. Professionally and personally, she can never get away from worst-case scenarios. A good risk manager is always preparing for the worst-case scenario, always thinking, what is the absolute worst thing that could happen. [14:46] Emily says one of the hardest things is realizing that a lot of people don't live in that headspace. When she goes to teams and tells them the worst thing that can happen, they ask if she is OK. She insists that this worst-case scenario is something they need to think about. [15:12] That's where education comes in. We need to think about it. If this worst-case scenario happens, all of these ripple effects hit every portion of the company. [15:43] Emily says Specialized has been around so long, and with the leadership and experts they have in place, Emily is amazed every day at the team that Specialized has assembled. She says they are the best in their class. There are Olympic and professional athletes on the team. [16:43] A service provider noticed that Specialized Bicycle Components recruits the best people in the world. They want that experience so they can build a better product with better processes. [17:07] A Quick Break! There are so many other wonderful RIMS events coming up in 2026. The 2026 Florida RIMS Educational Conference will be held from July 28th through August 1st at the lovely Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida. A link to the event is in this episode's show notes. [17:27] Register now for the Second Annual RIMS Texas Regional Conference, which will be held from August 10th through 12th at the Grand Hyatt on the San Antonio River Walk. Advance rates are available through June 5th. [17:41] The 11th Annual Chicagoland Risk Forum will return to the Old Post Office on Thursday, September 24th, 2026, in Chicago. Visit ChicagolandRiskForum.org for more information. [17:51] The RIMS Western Regional Conference will be held from October 4th through the 7th in Seattle, Washington. Registration is open, and you can also submit a session. Visit RIMSWesternRegional.com and the link in this episode's show notes for more information. [18:08] Save the dates October 18th through the 21st. We will be in Quebec City to celebrate the 50th Live RIMS Canada Conference. Booth sales are already open. Early-bird registration will open in June. [18:22] Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca for more information. Also, remember to check out RIMS.org/Canada for our spinoff show, RIMScast Canada, hosted by National Conference Committee Chair, Aaron Lukoni. [18:37] The RIMS ERM Conference 2026 will be held on November 18th and 19th in Columbus, Ohio. The deadline for educational content submissions is Friday, June 19th. Get submissions in now. The link is in this episode's show notes. We'll let you know when registration opens. [18:59] Let's Return to our Interview with RIMS 2026 Honor Roll Recipient Emily Buckley! [19:13] Justin speaks about the profile of Emily Buckley in the RIMS Risk Management Magazine Awards Edition. It mentions that Emily consolidated fragmented global insurance structures into a unified strategy across more than 30 countries. [19:38] Emily says, trying to get the insurance together at a global company was hard. A lot of people were autonomous, getting their own insurance and doing their own thing. In almost 15 years as a risk manager, Emily learned that insurance is very touchy for a lot of people. [20:23] Insurance costs a lot of money for something that you can't see. You're not using it unless something bad has happened. So it's a very sensitive subject for a lot of people. Emily says it's a job that won't ever really be done because there are so many different moving parts. [21:03] Emily says that in all the different countries we're in, every country has different insurance laws, different ways to buy and pay for insurance, and what kind of insurance you have to have. [21:13] Emily says in some countries, I have to have a locally placed general liability policy, but the property policy that I place on a global level will sit over that. In a different country, I have to have a locally placed general liability/property and a locally placed stock throughput. [21:31] For almost 40 different countries, you have to know which countries you have to have insurance in. That's when your broker becomes invaluable. [21:48] It's helpful to have a foreign team on your broker who are subject matter experts in placing locally placed policies. Emily says she would not be able to do that without the team at her broker, Brown & Brown.  [22:03] Emily talks about educating the people at your company: This is what we currently have, and this is what we need. We need it in almost 40 countries. These 20 are our top priority. You tier them down so you're not throwing everything at the wall. [22:27] You're formulating a plan, then educating and speaking with the people in your company. A lot of questions come up, not only about general liability, but also cyber, and directors & officers. [22:37] It's a sensitive subject that you have to take your time with. Build a relationship with those offices so that when something does happen, or they have a question, they come to you. [23:04] You will always be making connections with your offices, making sure they're happy with their insurance, they understand it, and they have a local contact. If something happens in Taiwan, they need a local contact who can answer questions and relay that to the global team. [24:12] Emily says that every year, there are two or three problem countries, from an insurance perspective, where the carrier or broker has thrown a curveball. Sometimes she has had to pull people out of the program and put them on their own. It's a constantly moving target. [25:13] Emily says at Kroenke, she and Peggy did a business continuity tabletop, where they sat down with all the different department heads at Ball Arena (Pepsi Center, then) and walked through scenarios. They presented a worst-case scenario tabletop with 30 people in the room. [25:52] Emily and Peggy also did a couple of cyber tabletop exercises. Emily stresses how important it is to do a cyber tabletop with your executive and leadership team. They're always amazed at how many different small issues and questions come up that they never thought of. [26:35] Emily says her leadership team at Specialized is fantastic. They've been very supportive. She can throw ideas at them, and they'll say, "Let's do it." [26:49] Justin says people receive these awards from RIMS not just for their achievements in risk management, but also for what they give back to the broader risk management community or their local chapters. [27:09] Justin says Emily is very involved in the RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter and is a great Networker and is very plugged in. Justin says that if it weren't for Emily, he doesn't think he would have gotten Rich Lenkov from SERMA on the show this year. (Shout out to Rich!) [27:40] Emily says she started going to the Rocky Mountain RIMS Chapter when she was an analyst, working under Peggy Miller. She remembers walking into a Lunch and Learn. Going to Chapter meetings was very inspiring. She wanted to be that knowledgeable one day. [29:10] Emily says this industry is built on your connections to people and how you know people. She says we have the best people in our chapter. We're very involved with students and RRP. [29:24] Emily tells students in RRP, "Come to our meetings. If you don't know anybody, you know me. I will introduce you to everybody. This is where your career is going to take off. This is where you're going to be able to make steps and strides and really make connections." [30:11] Emily says she cannot say enough great things about Rocky Mountain RIMS. She thinks they have one of the best chapters in the U.S., because they have the best people. [30:24] Justin recalls that Ondrea Matthews with CoorsTek was on the show last year. She is in Rocky Mountain RIMS. Emily says Ondrea is one of the best people she knows. Justin says she had fascinating stories. A link to her RIMScast episode is in the show notes. [31:02] Emily says when she joined Specialized, she told them she's a Rocky Mountain RIMS board member, she speaks at conferences, and is a guest lecturer at CU Denver. They were super supportive. [31:47] Emily says Specialized wants to put the best product on the market, and Emily takes that into risk management and insurance. She wants to create the best risk program that she can. She wants to work with the best service providers that she can. [32:12] Another Quick Break! The Spencer Educational Foundation's Risk Manager on Campus application period is now open, and it will close on June 30th. Grant awardees, colleges, and universities are typically notified in September. [32:32] The Course Development Grant application deadline for Interval Number 2 will be on June 15th, 2026. Award notifications will be sent out in late July. [32:57] General Grant applications are open, and the application deadline is July 30th. Internship Grant applications open on August 15th and close on October 15th. [32:59] Links to each of these grants are in this episode's show notes. Visit SpencerEd.org for more information. [33:07] The Spencer 2026 Funding Their Future Gala will be held on Thursday, September 17th, from 6:30 to 10:00 p.m. at a different venue this year. It will be at the fabulous Waldorf Astoria in New York City. [33:23] Sponsorship opportunities and benefits are available now. A link to the Funding Their Future Gala is in this episode's show notes. [33:32] Be on the lookout for some of the honorees and Spencer Board members to join RIMScast in June and July. [33:41] Let's Conclude Our Interview with RIMS 2026 Honor Roll Recipient Emily Buckley! [33:48] Justin mentions the RIMS Strategic and Enterprise Risk Management Council. The RIMS ERM Engage Group is a member-only offshoot of SERMC for people to have candid dialogues. All RIMS members have exclusive access to the ERM Engage Group. Emily is a member. [34:38] Emily says the ERM Engage Group gets together monthly for an hour. Morgan O'Rourke, VP of Editorial at RIMS, leads it. Everyone brings issues, or Morgan will have a guest speaker. Emily says it's just such a great place to go and learn from industry peers with similar issues. [35:55] Emily is not trying to reinvent the wheel. If she can bring the problems she is dealing with to a group of professionals, ask how they have done it in the past, and get 10 or 20 ideas, it's amazing. [36:13] Emily recommends the movie, Project Hail Mary, which she calls amazing. [36:27] Justin talks about the monthly guest speaker, often from SERMC, who presents a topic and then engages the group in discussion. The Engage group lets the leaders see who the next ERM leaders are going to be through their participation. It's very interactive. [37:32] If you are a RIMS member, just check out the RIMS ERM Engage Group. Justin says Emily's involvement is above and beyond, not just for her job, but for RIMS, so he was not surprised she received the 2026 RIMS Honor Roll; it's well deserved. [38:18] Emily loves her job. She loves this industry.  [38:40] Emily admits her blood caffeine content was through the roof, preparing for the awards ceremony. Emily looked it up. She is the 43rd recipient of the Risk Management Honor Roll in 75 years of RIMS. She has the award in her window in her office. It is cool to be celebrated. [40:26] Emily says her award makes it into everything. After she got it, she carried it around with her. At lunch, it was sitting on the table. At dinner, it was sitting on the table. She carried it onto the plane with her. [41:22] In the profile about Emily, it talked about perseverance in mountain biking. Juston asks Emily for her inspiration for the next generation of risk professionals. [42:04] Emily's words: "Keep going. You're going to fail, and that's fine. It's part of the journey. Fail. Learn the lesson or lessons, but keep going. Always keep looking at the horizon, saying, OK, I'm going to get there. I'm going to get there, I'm going to get there. [42:21] "The absolute most important thing is, have fun on the way." Emily says she did a little dance on the awards stage, and some students told her they loved seeing her having fun with it. It made Emily's day for them to stop and tell her. "If you're not having fun, what's the point?" [43:21] Justin tells Emily, We look forward to more great things from you in the coming years. We thank you, and we congratulate you again. [45:33] Special thanks again to Emily Buckley of Specialized Bicycle Components for joining us here on RIMScast! Congratulations again to her for being named to the RIMS 2026 Honor Roll. More coverage is available in the RIMS Risk Management Magazine's Awards Edition. [43:27] Go to RMMAgazine.com and check out the digital issues section. We look forward to having Emily back again. [43:55] Plug Time! You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in the show notes. [44:23] RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information. [44:41] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information. [44:59] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more. [45:15] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management. [45:29] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. Please remember to subscribe to RIMScast on your favorite podcasting app. You can email us at Content@RIMS.org. [45:41] Practice good risk management, stay safe, and thank you again for your continued support!   Links: RIMS ERM Conference 2026 | November 19‒20 in Columbus, Ohio | Session Submission Deadline: Friday, June 19 RIMS Canada Conference — Oct. 18‒21, 2026 | Quebec City | www.rimscanadaconference.ca | Registration Opens in June RIMScast on YouTube! Spencer Educational Foundation — Scholarships and Grants | Open Calls and Timelines. RIMS-CRO Certificate Program In Advanced Enterprise Risk Management | July‒ Sept. 2026 Cohort | Led by James Lam | Register Now! 2026 Florida RIMS Educational Conference | July 28‒Aug. 1 | Register Now RIMS Texas Regional Conference 2026 | Aug. 10‒12 in San Antonio | Register Now! ChicagoLand Risk Forum | Sept. 24, 2026 RIMS Western Regional Conference — Oct. 4‒7, 2026 | Seattle, WA | Register Today and Submit an Educational Session! RIMS Risk Management Magazine | Contribute | Look for the Awards Edition in "Digital Issues"! RIMS Now RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) | Insights Video Series Featuring Joe Milan! 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"RIMS Risk Manager of the Year Jeff Bray" "RIMS Rising Risk Professional Award Winner Tyler Vaughan" "Sports, Spotlight, and Risk Leadership with Rich Lenkov, Founder and CEO of SERMA" "Supply and Bike Chains with Emily Buckley" (2024) "Absence Management with Ondrea Matthews"   Sponsored RIMScast Episodes: "AI-Scale, Risk Ready: Engineering Controls for the New Data Center Boom" (New!) | Sponsored by Global Risk Consultants, a TÜV SÜD Company "Facing Into Risk: Navigating the New Risk Landscape" (New!) | Sponsored by AXA XL "Secondary Perils, Major Risks: The New Face of Weather-Related Challenges" | Sponsored by AXA XL "The ART of Risk: Rethinking Risk Through Insight, Design, and Innovation" | Sponsored by Alliant "Mastering ERM: Leveraging Internal and External Risk Factors" | Sponsored by Diligent "Cyberrisk: Preparing Beyond 2025" | Sponsored by Alliant "The New Reality of Risk Engineering: From Code Compliance to Resilience" | Sponsored by AXA XL "Change Management: AI's Role in Loss Control and Property Insurance" | Sponsored by Global Risk Consultants, a TÜV SÜD Company "Demystifying Multinational Fronting Insurance Programs" | Sponsored by Zurich "Understanding Third-Party Litigation Funding" | Sponsored by Zurich "What Risk Managers Can Learn From School Shootings" | Sponsored by Merrill Herzog "Simplifying the Challenges of OSHA Recordkeeping" | Sponsored by Medcor "How Insurance Builds Resilience Against An Active Assailant Attack" | Sponsored by Merrill Herzog "Third-Party and Cyber Risk Management Tips" | Sponsored by Alliant   RIMS Publications, Content, and Links: RIMS Membership — Whether you are a new member or need to transition, be a part of the global risk management community! 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Greetings Fam!
Here's a great listen for you as you drive off to your Memorial Day Weekend destinations.. Episode 58 of "Talking At The Diner" features an up-and-coming artist who is just beginning to gain some well-deserved recognition, but one of my goals on this show is to shine a light on musicians at all different points on their journey. Professionally speaking.. my guest Máty Rodriguez goes by just her first name.. something very few people can actually pull off. You know: Elvis.. Madonna.. Britney. But from the first time I saw her perform at the Iris Music Showcase back in 2024 I knew Máty was bringing that single-name energy into the conversation. She is the child of immigrant parents, who met each other in New Brunswick, NJ. Her father, who is also a songwriter, encouraged Máty from an early age to pick up the guitar and begin writing songs of her own. By the end of her teen years, she had written two of the core songs she plays in her shows to this day - "Unilover" and "Paperplane Boy." In March of 2026, she released her debut EP "Standup Show," which is about as eclectic a collection as you can imagine on a 6-song project. But somehow, it all comes off as Máty.She and her band recently played a celebratory release show for the EP in early May and their performance was nothing short of stellar. I had a blast chatting with Máty at Nifty Fifties in Fishtown over a massive feast of double burgers and banana milkshakes, and I think you will truly enjoy her perspectives and experiences. One thing I recently had reinforced for me when I got to perform onstage with literal legends at the Philadelphia Music Alliance Gala, is that whether you're in the earlier stages on your path as an artist or far, far down the road, we all share that same fire in our bellies, and Máty is definitely a true keeper of the flame.You can find out more about Máty at her website www.maty.world.  Follow her on IG: @_matyrodriguez_
And catch her this October 17 at the tenth annual Philly Music Fest at Underground Arts!I hope you enjoy our conversation!
JKF

According to Highspot’s Go-To-Market Gap Report, 98% of leaders say their GTM strategy is active, but only 10% see it driving results. The reason for that? Strategy abounds. Real meaningful execution, not so much. So how do you overcome the go-to-market performance gap and bridge that growing rift between strategy and execution? Riley Rogers: Hi, and welcome to the Win/Win Podcast. I’m your host, Riley Rogers. Join us as we dive into changing trends in the workplace and how to navigate them successfully. Here to discuss this topic is Jacob Keith, senior revenue enablement specialist at HealthJoy. Thank you so much for joining us today, Jacob. I’m super excited to dive into your experience. So could you kick us off just by sharing a little bit about yourself, your background, and the role you’re in currently? Jacob Keeth: Yeah, absolutely. Also, Riley, thanks so much for having me on. I’m really grateful and excited that we get the chance to chat about something so consequential and oddly kind of fun. So I’m just looking forward to it. My name’s Jacob. Professionally speaking, I’ve been working in enablement for just shy of five years and worked in sales for a year prior to that doing SDR prospecting work. I’ve done all types of enablement, everything from onboarding-focused work to focusing on BDRs and prospecting. Now at my current company, HealthJoy, it’s been so much fun. We’re operating in primarily a channel sales method, so we’re working through individuals who then sell our product, which has been a really fun and complicated task from the enablement perspective. We’ll dive all into that today. RR: Awesome. So exciting that you’re in a role that’s challenging you and building on all of those skills that you were learning and picking up along the way. Before we jump in, I’d love if you could set the stage for those of us not familiar with HealthJoy—who you are, what you do, who you serve, and then maybe a little bit of that sales motion that you touched on. JK: HealthJoy is a benefits operating system, and really what we do is help make sure that companies’ benefits strategies and plans actually work as designed. What do I mean by that? Well, I’m sure, Riley, as you’ve experienced too, companies typically have a pretty fragmented benefits plan, right? There’s the medical plan, the dental plan, maybe individual solutions. Usually these companies all have different logins, different ways to access them, and there’s not necessarily a concrete place where you can go to get all that information inside of one environment. Also, the reality is, if I’m debating whether I need to go to the ER right now, I can tell you the last place I’m gonna go is logging into my company’s intranet to figure out which ER is best applicable to me and which one is likely gonna work with my insurance. We make healthcare decisions through the path of least resistance, and frankly, they’re usually made in situations where we don’t have the luxury of time. This is really where HealthJoy can come in. With HealthJoy, companies can unite that benefits ecosystem into one seamless platform. We use an AI assistant called Joy AI, as well as human concierges, to give our end members or employees personalized guidance and proactive support. That’s really where HealthJoy finds itself: being that benefits operating system that puts everything together and helps you, Riley, make the right decision at the right time. So that’s the big-picture view of what the company is and what we do. Now, how do we actually do it? The way HealthJoy operates is we work through what you’d call a benefits consultant. Your HR team at your business is probably working with an external benefits agency, consultant, or broker to help curate and strategize that benefits plan to maximize its effectiveness and cost for the business. We work through them, build really meaningful relationships with brokers all across the United States, and then from there, when there’s strategic alignment and the broker believes in us and our message, they’ll introduce us to clients where they think we can help that company advance its mission because they align with the kinds of things we’re offering. So that’s what we’d call a channel sales methodology. We’re working with people who then sell in tandem with us. From an enablement perspective, you’re not only trying to enable your selling team, but you’re also asking: how can I best train these folks to then go and enable the hundreds of brokers they’re all working with individually around the country? RR: I think your marketing and comms team is really gonna be thrilled because that was a great pitch. It almost seems like you have to, as an enabler, play a game of telephone. You have one message to share with folks internally that you then need them to get out the right way externally. It sounds like it’s quite the challenge, especially given that, like you shared, HealthJoy is in kind of a unique position at the intersection of tech and all of the wonderful complexity that comes with healthcare. So how does that industry challenge shape the way your go-to-market teams need to operate, and what kind of challenges does that create for you on the enablement side? JK: Yeah, that complexity gives me a lot of job security. So it is a real challenge. One thing HealthJoy has gotten really good at over the last year is defining who our ideal customer is. Is it the end-user employer? Is it the member who would experience it? Is it the broker we’re targeting? And it really is the broker. Those are the folks we’re working with, building meaningful relationships with, and who can open up so much opportunity for us as a business. When a broker believes in us, it pays huge dividends in both effectiveness and outcomes. At that intersection of tech and healthcare, another interesting element that often shows up in enablement is onboarding. You look at who we hire as our sales reps—we’re looking for people who typically have a strong background in healthcare and great existing relationships with brokers around the United States. Then they’re coming into an environment where maybe they weren’t in a tech environment at all. So how do we equip these individuals to feel really confident in a remote sales environment that’s very tech-forward? HealthJoy as a company is also heavily leaning into AI internally and externally. So convincing our sellers that the direction we’re taking as a company is one they can understand, intuit, and promote into the market is a real challenge. It’s multi-step. An adage I try to live by as an enabler—and this is really a hallmark of adult education—is the question: what’s in it for me? If it’s not relevant for that seller, they’re not going to retain it, even if they want to. Even if their boss is pleading with them, “You have to know this. This has to make sense for you.” If there’s not an immediate connection to why this matters for me and my paycheck at the end of the day, it’s not going to stick. That’s not selfishness. That’s just the reality of how adults learn and prioritize what’s important. So for us, we have to make sure the messages we’re positioning—whether they’re for the seller to use, for the seller to communicate to their broker, or for the end member—have a really clear through line. The rep needs to know what’s in it for them and who that message is for throughout. It can be complicated. It can be a real challenge to make sure we’re nailing that every single time. I get a negative shiver down my spine every time I hear a message about what HealthJoy is that doesn’t align with the message we’re putting out into the market. Because I know for every one rep who says that, there’s probably a dozen brokers who hear it too. And we’re working with brokers over the course of years. So if that broker got a demo of HealthJoy three years ago and thinks, “I know it. I’m good to move forward,” how do we keep our existing brokers who love us educated on what’s happening across the market and how we’re evolving as a company? RR: It’s kind of fascinating. I feel like sometimes you talk to folks and the challenge of bringing in sellers is getting them up to speed on the complex side of the industry. If I’m chatting with fintech customers, it’s understanding the financial environment. Or with health tech customers, it’s learning how to speak about healthcare. But you have the reverse challenge. You’re bringing in sales reps who maybe were in the field or in more traditional spaces, and now you need to get them up to speed on all of the innovation that comes with a tech company. So it’s a very unique challenge, and it sounds like it’s one you’re well-equipped to tackle. You described yourself as someone who really excels at turning ideas into repeatable, measurable processes. I’d love if you could tell us, from your perspective, how you’re connecting strategy to execution, because as that stat we opened with tells us, things tend to get lost in translation. JK: For me, when it comes to turning things into repeatable and measurable processes—especially as an enablement team of one—my thought is this: pick really carefully and be ready to pivot. Especially in a startup environment, odds are if you’re an enablement team of one, you’re in a company that’s still developing. There isn’t a strong adherence to “the way things have always been,” or a large team and lots of infrastructure supporting the organization. It’s you. You are the brand of enablement. Who you represent and how you show up is what enablement is perceived as by your organization every single time. So with that, be really careful about what you choose to make repeatable. I get so many asks every month: “Hey, I’d love to make a process on this,” or “Can we update XYZ?” But I have to be mindful of the opportunity cost of saying yes to developing more things, because all of those things have downstream maintenance and upkeep. It’s more to manage, which steals time I wasn’t intending to give six months from now. So when it comes to measurable processes, we basically say: let’s take the idea and find a couple key metrics. As a team of one, pick one or two that really matter to your executives, then ask yourself: is this worth keeping track of? Is this worth my bandwidth over the next year or two? There’s another line our CEO says frequently: “80% today is better than 100% two weeks from now.” Now, that doesn’t mean deliver lackluster work. But especially as an enablement person, I’m a perfectionist. I want things to look and feel really good. I want them to be intuitive and usable. But sometimes the pace of the organization demands that we move faster. If I can embody the reality that 80% today is better than 100% later, I can deliver work that really matters, drives impact, and still allows me to pivot and adapt quickly. Because the more perfect we make something, the more maintenance it often requires. That’s a profound hidden cost for enablement organizations: what does it cost to maintain the standards you’re presenting? That’s a lesson I’ve had to learn the hard way. I’ve done it well and really poorly at different points in my career. And I think it can really make or break your own love of enablement—whether it’s something you can continue to grow in, or whether you end up stuck inside the castle you built yourself. RR: I think you just gave us a framework of two very practical questions you can ask yourself as you’re looking at a request from your sales team or something coming cross-functionally: Is it going to be valuable for me to invest in this? And what does timely execution look like? How can I get something out that is useful and delivers business value, even if it doesn’t meet every single standard I have? That’s really helpful for anybody who’s trying to ruthlessly prioritize, which I know is hard. JK: Because it’s all important, right? Everyone has great ideas, but if 30 things fall in your lap to manage and maintain, congrats—you just built yourself three jobs, none of which have much capacity to strategically grow in the future. It becomes about project and program maintenance, which is valuable and important, but as a team of one or a lean enablement team, it’s a non-starter. It can’t be part of the equation that often. And when it is, it’s gotta be really important to make it worthwhile. RR: 100%. I wonder if we can ground this thinking in an example. Recently, HealthJoy launched a new go-to-market message. So, when you’re talking about scaling ideas and execution—in this case, a new message and a new market perception—what do you find are the key ingredients to success in making that strategy become reality? JK: Yeah, absolutely. For 2026, our message is: “HealthJoy is the benefits operating system that makes your benefits strategy work as designed.” I think the way we get this to stick in the market with these very disparate audiences is the same story internally as well. We have to make sure everyone’s on the same page. A couple of things stand out for me from an adult education and enablement perspective. First, when you’re talking about large company-wide initiatives, you have to define the problem incredibly clearly. Why is what we’re doing right now not working? Again, getting at that adult education mentality of “what’s in it for me?” The reality is: what’s happening now isn’t working for you. If it’s not a compelling and inspiring vision, people won’t care. They’ll stick with what they’re doing today because the status quo is always easier than change. I need to understand that changing my behavior and changing how I’m presenting messaging in the market means every demo and sales pitch now has to adjust because of this. That’s no small lift. So be really clear about what’s not working now, where we’re going in the future, why it’s better, and why sellers should care. Second: repetition. I’m a really big fan of multimodal learning for reps. That means delivering content through stand-and-present sessions, team trainings, one-on-one conversations, learning management systems, videos—I've even recorded podcasts. You have to hit learners in different ways from where they are. One thing I can never let myself forget is that I cannot assume people are paying attention the first time. They’re distracted with XYZ—you fill in the blank. We owe double the responsibility to be repetitive with our content if we actually want it to stick. Saying, “Well, I trained on it once. I sent the deliverable. I gave the email recap. That should be enough,” isn’t enough. In enablement, we should be asking not whether we think we did enough, but whether it actually worked. And where we can, let’s let reps weigh in on the decisions. Obviously, a single seller probably isn’t going to reshape your whole go-to-market message. But in our case, we had reps test this out in their markets first and give us feedback on what was resonating. Reps felt like they were part of the process from day one because they were brought into those conversations to help steer the organization. When we do these things together, it creates a deep sense of confidence and a steady vision. RR: Yeah, and it sounds like these are all layers of that foundational piece of “what’s in it for you?” How can we message that, and then how can I make sure that everywhere you’re working and telling our story, you have what you need to tell it the right way? I love that it all ladders up to that primary objective. JK: Because it’s fundamentally behavior change, right? How do we actually drive real behavior change instead of just checking boxes that say, “Well, this should’ve changed the behavior”? And in a remote environment, working with sellers who may be coming from non-tech backgrounds, this has to be done with excellence or it’s going to fail. RR: Mm-hmm. And when we’re talking about behavior change, can you share where a tool like Highspot fits into the picture and how you’re using it to bring new programs, processes, and this messaging shift to life? JK: The way I’ve positioned Highspot in the organization—and I think it’s gotten a lot of traction—is that it’s a beautiful place that reps can trust. That’s kind of my tagline for it. Primarily, we use Highspot to organize our internal sales policies, external sales collateral, Digital Rooms, and a couple of AutoDocs. How our reps mostly understand the platform is this: it’s the centralized database where they can trust they’re getting the most up-to-date content. They can send it out through the platform, track it, and see how it’s performing with customers. When I was interviewing for this role, I talked with a couple other enablement leaders, and one thing someone said really stuck with me: “Beautiful things get used.” Highspot, when you put in a little work, can look so pleasing and inviting. It’s just a great UI. When I came into the organization, there were three different versions of content in Highspot. It wasn’t well maintained for a variety of reasons. But I knew that to maximize the effectiveness of the platform, we had to clean it up and create a compelling vision for why reps should use this instead of their own private Google Drive with five downloaded resources. How could I give them a compelling vision that centralization is better? We started by making it really appealing, really beautiful, and simple to navigate. So when we talk about driving behavior change, you need tools in a remote environment that categorize what great looks like, make it really clear, create centralized expectations, and stop reps from running off like lone cowboys and cowgirls across the country. We need a central standard for what great looks like and what good content is. Highspot serves that role well because reps trust it. It’s cleaned up, it’s beautiful, and it’s enjoyable to use. And then on top of that, they get the tracking, benefits, and analytics on the backend. RR: If you look at the data, it shows that what you’re doing is working and that these philosophies are really resonating with your teams because you’ve driven 93% recurring usage of the platform. Pretty much everybody is coming back time and time again. When you’ve made something people want to come back to and find real value in, that’s fantastic. JK: It was honestly one of my proudest moments in my first few months here. When I joined HealthJoy a little over a year ago, Highspot was one of the first projects I took on as an enabler. I thought, “I want to revamp this experience.” At that point, the main concern I was hearing—because I met with every rep individually—was: “I don’t know what content is up to date. It takes me forever to find what I’m looking for.” In my brain, because my previous company used Highspot, I immediately thought: ding, ding, ding. There’s an easy solution to this. We have it. We just need to make this the default behavior. So I did a couple things. One, I pitched and presented it. I met with reps one-on-one to understand their problems, then met with some of them again to say, “Hey, here’s the solution. This is kind of your idea because you said this was an issue.” They had buy-in. Then, I built a treasure hunt, which was basically a 30-question quiz where reps had to navigate through Highspot, find resources, create pages, and complete tasks. Naturally, reps didn’t love the idea of homework. Who would? But about two months into my role, we had an onsite in Chicago. At a team dinner, one of the managers said in front of everyone: “Jacob, we’ve been talking and we’ve all agreed—we’re gonna do your treasure hunt.” That was a key turning point for us. If you want Highspot—or any tool—to work, reps need to have buy-in. And especially on enablement teams of one or two, you’re the brand. If they’re not bought into you, they’re not going to buy into what you’re implementing. RR: On that topic of making life easier, you mentioned a few use cases where Highspot comes into play with both optimization and time savings, especially with Digital Rooms and AutoDocs. With these capabilities fueling external sharing and customization to brokers’ processes, what workflow improvements have you seen, and how has that reduced complexity for the sales team? JK: I’ll give one example. Alongside a formal price quote, we send out a proposal form. It’s the more beautiful, easy-to-read version of the formal quote. It gives the compelling narrative for why someone should use the platform and what’s included in their package. Previously, the process was basically a Google Drive template where reps manually adjusted text boxes. I would hear stories of reps spending two to three hours realigning boxes into a single vertical line. And they’re like, “This is so dumb.” I understood the frustration, but proposals still have to look excellent. There’s no excuse. So that was the first AutoDoc we took on. In some cases, building a proposal was taking reps two to three hours. On average, probably about an hour if everything went well. We streamlined that process dramatically. Every prospect got a proposal, but the process went from 45–60 minutes down to at most 15 minutes, and on average about five. It took me a lot of hours upfront to build, but the payoff was immediate. I think within the first year, something like 70 proposals had already been sent through that auto doc. When I calculated the time savings, I was thrilled. And I could’ve built that AutoDoc six months earlier, but because we didn’t yet have the platform engagement and trust, nobody would’ve trusted what came next. We had to solve the foundational issues first: engagement and trust. Once reps believed this was better than the alternatives, then we could deliver the “chef’s kiss” features. But we had to get them in the door first. Otherwise, we were dead on arrival. RR: I really like that framing of building the foundation first and spending time building trust. Now that you have adoption and users are bought in—sending proposals, sharing content, tracking engagement—what impact would you say this work has had on the business overall? JK: I think it was the first case under my stewardship of enablement at HealthJoy where I could say: “I hear you. This project was done in response to your needs. Trust me with the solution, and you’re going to see the positive outcome because of it.” It showed a really clear way that, as a solo enabler, I could offer real value and build a strong partnership with the sales team. Because I’m not their boss. I’m their peer who’s here to think strategically alongside them and help them win revenue more easily. I also think the Highspot rollout set us on a trajectory where we could repeat that process. The change in go-to-market messaging came on the heels of Highspot. Even though they weren’t the same project, that organizational muscle had already been exercised successfully. RR: You’re in a fast-moving startup environment, and now you have that central source of truth so that as things change, you can help your reps change with them. As we’re wrapping up, if there’s one crystallizing theme for enablement teams operating with limited capacity or as a team of one, what advice would you give on prioritization and focusing efforts to drive the most impact? JK: I’m learning this lesson a lot right now. As an enablement team of one—or even two—have really great partnerships and open conversations across the business: with your CEO, your C-suite, sales leaders, marketing, and product. You really do serve as connective tissue. One thing I can struggle with is getting so stuck in training, training, training that I forget to ask: what’s the highest-impact thing I can spend my time on to drive business outcomes? That may be training, but it may also mean joining tiger teams across the business, helping investigate new products or strategies, and bringing an enablement perspective into implementation planning. So keep an ear to the ground. Stay responsive to business needs. Be open to pivoting quickly. Don’t pigeonhole yourself into saying, “In enablement, I do onboarding and training, and that’s it.” Enablement is dynamic by design, and that’s why I love it so much. I’ve joked that any six-month snapshot of my enablement career would probably look like a completely different job description. That’s just the name of the game. So embrace change. Look for where the cheese is moving, and don’t get mad that your cheese got moved. Also, champion your successes. Especially in a small enablement team, people want to know what’s happening. But in a remote environment, if you’re not shouting from the rooftops about the cool things you’re doing, they won’t get seen. That’s just reality. So especially for newer enablement pros, don’t be afraid to champion your work because it’s super cool. And finally, going full circle to what we talked about at the beginning: only scale the things that aren’t going to steal your time. Scale the things you’re willing to continue investing in. That’s what keeps you dynamic, strategic, and able to adapt to new opportunities while still helping champion your reps across the organization. RR: I think it’s really powerful that every piece of advice you just shared ties directly back to examples from your own work. Even that last point—“scale what doesn’t steal your time”—showed up in your proposal example. Yes, it took time upfront, but it saved time down the line and was the right place to invest. Thank you for such practical and applicable advice for anyone trying to prioritize, manage competing asks, and figure out where to focus their efforts.Really wonderful insights throughout this conversation. We’re so grateful you took the time to share them with us. JK: Thanks so much, Riley. This has been a ton of fun. RR: To our audience, thank you for listening to this episode of the Win Win podcast. Be sure to tune in next time for more insights on how you can maximize go-to-market success with Highspot.

FLASHBACK FRIDAYS: When Christian Sundberg was a young child, he remembered his existence before coming to Earth. While that memory left him completely for his early adult life, it spontaneously returned 12 years ago as Christian took up a meditation practice and went through a personal awakening journey.He also began to have Out of Body Experiences (OBEs). Christian now often speaks publicly as he seeks to remind others in at least a small part of who we really are beneath the human “play.” Professionally, Christian has worked for 16 years as a project manager for complex nuclear pump and valve manufacturing projects. Christian is the author of the book “A Walk in the Physical,” which attempts to succinctly describe the larger spiritual context in which we exist and the importance of love in our human journey.What is a Pre-Birth Experience?A pre-birth experience, also known as a prenatal or a pre-natal recollection, refers to memories or recollections of events before a person's birth. Some people believe that they have memories of experiences from before they were born, and there are various theories about how these memories might be formed.There is also some debate about the possible causes of pre-birth memories. Some theories suggest that these memories may be the result of the fetus being able to sense and remember events that occur during pregnancy, while others propose that they may be the result of the mother's memories being transmitted to the fetus through various means, such as through the umbilical cord or through chemical signals in the womb.Of course, there is also the spiritual component to pre-birth memories.It is worth noting that while some people claim to have vivid and detailed pre-birth memories, others only have a sense of familiarity or déjà vu when thinking about events that occurred before their birth. Additionally, some people may strongly believe in the reality of their pre-birth experiences even if they cannot provide specific details or supporting evidence.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/next-level-soul-podcast-with-alex-ferrari--4858435/support.Take your spiritual journey to the next level with Next Level Soul TV — our dedicated streaming home for conscious storytelling and soulful transformation.Experience exclusive programs, original series, movies, tv shows, workshops, audiobooks, meditations, and a growing library of inspiring content created to elevate, heal, and awaken. Begin your membership or explore our free titles here: https://www.nextlevelsoul.tv

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Charles Cofield. Thanks! The transcript from this episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass features an inspiring and high-energy interview with CPA and financial educator Carter Cofield, co-founder of Melanin Money. Here's a breakdown of the key highlights and takeaways:

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Charles Cofield. Thanks! The transcript from this episode of Money Making Conversations Masterclass features an inspiring and high-energy interview with CPA and financial educator Carter Cofield, co-founder of Melanin Money. Here's a breakdown of the key highlights and takeaways:

⚠️ CONTENT WARNING This episode contains discussions surrounding suicide, trauma, grief, and emotional loss that may be difficult for some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. If you or someone you know is struggling, please know you are not alone. In the United States and Canada, help is available by calling or texting 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. There is hope. There is help. And your story is not over.

Few public servants in Louisiana history have worn as many hats, or told as many stories, as Jay Dardenne. Having served as State Senator, Secretary of State, Lieutenant Governor, and Commissioner of Administration under John Bel Edwards, Dardenne has spent decades shaping and promoting the state. But in this conversation, we explore a different dimension of his life: historian, storyteller, and documentarian. Dardenne is the creator and host of Why Louisiana Ain't Mississippi or Any Place Else, a production of Louisiana Public Broadcasting that brings Louisiana's complex history to life. What began as a live presentation he started developing in the 1990s has evolved into a widely viewed documentary, what Jay calls “a gumbo of culture, politics, music, and storytelling.” His goal is simple but profound: to help people understand not just what happened in Louisiana, but why it shaped who we are today. His personal connection to Acadiana runs deep. “It is always good to come to Lafayette,” he shares. “I spend a lot of time here growing up because my mother was born here. It's like a second home.” Dardenne's passion for public service began early. Reflecting on his time as student body president at Louisiana State University, he admits the decision to run came “in a moment of weakness,” but it set the stage for a lifelong commitment to leadership. “I think I did want to serve from a young age. I always wanted to be president of this or that. It was kind of a natural move for me to decide to get into politics.” Even today, he remains active in the legal field, working as a mediator and maintaining a practice focused on business matters and estate planning. “I don't want to retire,” he says candidly. At the heart of this episode is Dardenne's deep dive into Louisiana's identity. He emphasizes that Louisiana's influence far exceeds its size: “We punch above our weight as a state. Our influence and our impact on sports, music, politics, art and literature is disproportionate to our size.” His storytelling traces the state's origins from Indigenous civilizations at Poverty Point, a site he notes was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site during his tenure as Lieutenant Governor, to the layered cultural influences of French, Spanish, African, Acadian, and immigrant communities. He walks listeners through the founding of New Orleans by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville and the early French explorers like René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle, highlighting how these forces combined to create what he repeatedly describes as a uniquely Louisiana “gumbo.” The conversation also captures his appreciation for the state's colorful political past. Figures like Huey Long and Dudley LeBlanc loom large in his storytelling, representing a brand of larger-than-life leadership that he believes has faded over time. “We have characters still,” he says, “but we don't have the color that Huey Long and Dudley LeBlanc brought.” Why Louisiana Ain't Mississippi… or Any Place Else! Documentary Companion Book showcases the photography of visual documentarian photographer Carol Highsmith. The book takes you on a visual journey across Louisiana, revealing hidden beauty and startling new perspectives of iconic images. It can be purchased at LPB’s website here. Dardenne's work is not just about history, it's about connection. Through humor, he makes complex narratives memorable: “People do remember things that entertain them.” That philosophy has helped his presentation resonate with audiences across generations, even leading to curriculum-based lesson plans for students in grades 6 through 12. Educators, students, and parents now have access to new digital resources that complement learning across multiple areas of study and put Louisiana history and culture center stage! Developed by LPB Education, these free educational resources offer entertaining and informative content for twenty-four curriculum supports. This effort was funded through a dedicated percentage of membership revenues raised by Why Louisiana Ain't Mississippi… or Any Place Else! Visit https://whylouisiana.lpb.org/Classroom.html for more information. He also shares insight into his latest documentary project, focused on LSU legend Billy Cannon. The film explores Cannon's life beyond football, including his later work at Louisiana State Penitentiary. “It'll be a football story,” Dardenne explains, “but it'll also be about redemption, what he did at Angola after he was released from prison.” When asked what he is most proud of, Dardenne's answer is deeply personal: “My two sons.” Professionally, however, his guiding principle has remained constant: “I like to leave a place better than I found it.” That ethos extends to his love for Louisiana itself. Despite its challenges, he believes the state's culture and sense of identity keep people rooted here. “We're very self-critical, but nonetheless, this is a place where people want to live. They love the lifestyle. They love who we are.” In this episode, Jay Dardenne reminds us that Louisiana is not easily defined, and that's exactly the point. Through history, humor, and heartfelt reflection, he invites us to see the state not just as a place, but as a living story worth preserving.

As a physician, you've probably learned how to stay functional under pressure…But what happens when you're no longer at work —and the smallest moments still trigger overwhelm, shutdown, overthinking, or emotional spirals?For years, that was my reality.I took everything personally.Criticism.Rejection.Even small comments.I would replay conversations for hours in my mind, question myself constantly, and feel emotionally exhausted from trying so hard to keep it all together.And the confusing part was this:Professionally, I looked “high functioning.”But internally, I was struggling.What I eventually realized is that many high achievers carry what I now call hidden trauma.Not because we're weak.But because we became very good at functioning.Very good at succeeding.Very good at intellectualizing.Very good at pushing through.Until one day… the nervous system catches up.In this week's episode, The 3 Steps I Took To Heal My Trauma Triggers, and Strengthen My Relationships, I'm sharing the exact process that changed my life.Not just intellectually —but emotionally, relationally, and physiologically.Because healing didn't happen when I gathered more information.It happened when I finally learned how to work with both the mind and the nervous system.Episode timestamps:00:50 — Why information alone doesn't create transformation03:17 — Who this work is really for04:41 — My story: trauma, loss, and emotional survival06:30 — Why success can hide unresolved trauma08:20 — The turning point that changed everything10:24 — Why high achievers often carry “hidden trauma”11:39 — The problem with relying only on logic and insight13:21 — Why nervous system regulation changes everything14:34 — Step 1: Rewiring the nervous system (The Four C's)16:06 — Step 2: Healing the core wounds behind your triggers17:05 — Why some comments trigger you deeply… and others don't18:18 — The Inner Parent process explained19:54 — Step 3: Learning the Non-Reactive Frame20:17 — The live exercise where I recreated conversations with my father23:57 — What changed after healing my triggers25:44 — Healing intergenerational trauma and changing the legacy we pass on27:29 — Why transformation doesn't need to take 10 yearsOne of the biggest shifts for me was realizing this:Triggers weren't proof that something was wrong with me.They were revealing the exact places where healing needed to happen.And once I stopped fighting those reactions —and learned how to process them differently —everything changed.My relationships.My confidence.My peace.Even my ability to feel joy and creativity again.And if this episode resonates deeply with you…We've officially opened our new physician-focused program: Untriggerable.This is the exact work we use to help high-achieving professionals regulate their nervous systems, heal trauma triggers at the root, and create calmer, stronger relationships — without years of staying stuck in the same cycles.If you'd like more information, simply reply to this email or reach out to admin@drkavethasun.com and we'll send you the details.----Oh—and if you have something you're navigating and would love my take on it...

Send us Fan MailWe're getting a head start on celebrating mothers and women in mothering roles! In this special Mother's Day episode of the Ageless Glamour Girls™ Podcast - captured during a LIVE conversation earlier today - we brought together a dynamic group of women for a heartfelt discussion about motherhood - then and now. A heartfelt THANK YOU to Ange, Tamara, Jennifer, and Lisa for bringing such honesty, laughter, wisdom, and vulnerability to the conversation.

Step into a raw, courageous, and heart-opening conversation with Sean Clayton and Sophia Powe, partners in life, love, and deep inner work, on this episode of Intimate Conversations: Dark Night to Divine Light. Together, they share a lived journey of trauma, healing, accountability, and the sacred devotion required to move from soulmates shaped by wounds into a wholemate partnership rooted in truth. Sophia, an award-winning Storyteller and former CMO, and Sean, a Miracle Code Abundance Architect, open the conversation vulnerably about their nonlinear love story, including betrayal, separation, profound personal reckoning, and the choice to stop bypassing pain and finally feel what had been avoided for decades. Their relationship became the crucible that forced each of them to confront inner child wounds, people-pleasing, shame, guilt, and the survival strategies that once kept them safe, but no longer served. We explore how real intimacy is built not through chemistry or spiritual language, but through nervous system regulation, embodied presence, and the willingness to stay with discomfort rather than manipulate outcomes. Sean shares how learning to feel sadness, anger, and fear in his body freed him from performance and strategy. Sophia reflects on reclaiming self-worth, being willing to be seen, and choosing herself without abandoning love. We also talk about: -Moving from rolemate and soulmate patterns into wholemate partnership -Trauma bonding versus conscious, embodied intimacy -Inner child healing and staying present with difficult emotions -Ending spiritual bypassing and integrating shadows -Boundaries, self-responsibility, and asking for help -Nervous system regulation in relationship conflict -Choosing love without abandoning the self -Marriage as a sacred container for growth, not avoidance This episode is an extraordinarily powerful reminder that the work works. That love deepens when we stop running from ourselves. And that wholeness within is what makes true intimacy possible with another. You can learn more about Sean's work at https://www.themiracleacademy.com/ and explore Sophia's storytelling and creative work at https://depuis.org/ ➡️ Go check out patreon.com/allanapratt for Exclusive content! About Sean and Sophia:   Sean Clayton is a "Miracle Code" Abundance Architect who helps leaders build 6–7 figure success without relying on hustle or disconnection. A Black man who forged his own path, he overcame adversity including trauma, incarceration, and homelessness, transforming those experiences through resilience and spiritual awakening. Today, Sean lives in alignment with the principles he teaches, enjoying a life of freedom, purpose, and abundance grounded in deep inner work and a strong marriage that fuels his growth. Professionally, he has founded and advised multiple companies, working with Fortune 500 leaders, entrepreneurs, and creatives to integrate purpose, strategy, and impact. His approach has driven significant growth across industries. At the core of his work is the "Miracle Code," a framework blending spirituality, psychology, and universal principles to help leaders create "coherent abundance"—success across wealth, relationships, and well-being. His mission is to guide influential individuals to embody a more authentic, love-driven form of power that elevates both their lives and the world. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sophia Powe is an award-winning storyteller, former CMO, and serial entrepreneur who is currently in a season of transition—shifting from day-to-day execution into advisory leadership, creative exploration, and deeper self-inquiry. Over the past two decades, Sophia has built and scaled multiple eight-figure businesses, helped take a global travel company public, and led brand and storytelling initiatives for Fortune 500 brands and executives. Her work has lived at the intersection of strategy and soul – using story as a catalyst for connection, impact, and transformation. Today, Sophia's focus has softened and deepened. At her core, she is a storyteller devoted to creating spaces where truth can be spoken and healing can occur. She is the founder of Rabbit Hole Media Lab, a creative sanctuary in Austin, Texas, designed for conscious creators to record podcasts, video, and voice work in a deeply intentional, heart-centered environment that fosters collaboration, creativity, and meaningful dialogue. She is also the founder of Depuis.org, a women-centered storytelling platform and movement dedicated to helping women reclaim their voices, release shame, blame, and guilt, and take their power back through vulnerability and shared lived experience. As an advisor, investor, and philanthropist, Sophia continues to support purpose-driven founders and initiatives while intentionally creating space for her own becoming. Her work now is less about building at all costs, and more about building what's true – inside and out.   Website: https://www.themiracleacademy.com https://depuis.org Facebook URL https://www.instagram.com/abundance10000 Instagram URL https://www.instagram.com/abundance10000/  https://www.instagram.com/voicesofdepuis/  https://www.instagram.com/sophiapowe/  YouTube URL https://www.youtube.com/@Abundance10000 Heart Opener Meditation https://courses.themiracleacademy.com/heart-opener   Book Your Intimacy Breakthrough Experience with Allana https://allanapratt.com/connect Scholarship Code: READYNOW Finding the One is Bullsh*t. Becoming the One is brilliant and beautiful, and ironically the key to attracting your ideal partner. Move beyond the fear of getting hurt again. Register for Become the One Introductory Program. http://allanapratt.com/becomeintro Use Code: BTO22 to get over 40% off. Let's stay connected: Exclusive Video Newsletter: http://allanapratt.com/newsletter Instagram - @allanapratt [ / allanapratt ] Facebook - @coachallanapratt [ / coachallanapratt ]

Gene Roddenberry's name is synonymous with Star Trek, but he relied on a team to bring his vision to life. Most of his writers were men with one exception, the trailblazing Dorothy Fontana. Professionally, she went by D.C. Fontana to counter the belief that women couldn't write genres like war, Westerns or sci-fi. Fontana became story editor and wrote some of the most beloved episodes of The Original Series, became the de facto showrunner on The Animated Series, and helped launch The Next Generation. She excelled at building character relationships and alien species – especially Vulcans – and worked closely with Leonard Nimoy to develop Spock. I talk with writers and podcasters Jarrah Hodge, Ian Spelling, Brian Drew and Laurie Ulster about how Fontana quietly shaped a franchise and influenced generations of fans through Star Trek's 60th anniversary. Special thanks to The Writers Guild Foundation Archive for clips of D.C. Fontana from their series, The Writer Speaks. This episode is sponsored by Mizzen + Main. Our listeners get 20% off their first purchase at mizzenandmain.com using the promo code IMAGINARY20. To support Imaginary Worlds, you can donate to the show on Patreon and receive bonus extras, or buy the cool merchandise at our online store! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Steve Webber served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Spain Barcelona Mission and later graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Business Management. Professionally, he owns and manages an advertising agency. Steve has served in various leadership capacities, including bishop, high counselor, Young Men president, elders quorum president, and high priest group leader. These experiences, along with his time as a home minister, have given him a unique perspective on how valiant ministering can bless the flock of the Good Shepherd. He currently hosts the Home Ministering Podcast on YouTube. Steve lives in Cedar Hills, Utah, with his wife, Jana. They are the parents of five children and five grandchildren. Links HomeMinistering.com Home Ministering: The Process of Perfecting the Saints Watch the video and share your thoughts in the Zion Lab community Transcript available with the video in the Zion Lab community Highlights Steve discusses the evolution of ministering within the Church, emphasizing the shift from home teaching to a more holistic approach to ministering. He shares insights from his book and offers practical advice for leaders to enhance their ministering efforts. 00:03:22 – Background on Steve’s Book 00:04:04 – The Shift from Home Teaching to Ministering 00:05:13 – Early Experiences as a Bishop 00:06:43 – The Importance of Personal Connection 00:08:28 – The Role of Personalization in Ministering 00:09:06 – The Need for Flexibility in Ministering 00:10:00 – Addressing Safety Concerns in Ministering 00:10:31 – The Evolution of Ministering Terminology 00:12:01 – The Church’s Long-Term Vision for Ministering 00:14:25 – The Impact of Ministering on Church Attendance 00:15:40 – The Power of Asking the Right Questions 00:18:43 – Encouraging Open Communication in Ministering 00:20:37 – Serving Like Jesus 00:22:47 – Developing Christlike Attributes through Ministering 00:25:54 – The Importance of Prayer in Ministering 00:28:20 – The Role of Ministering in Building Community 00:30:40 – The Need for Humility in Receiving Help 00:32:54 – The Importance of Ministering Relationships 00:35:02 – Historical Context of Ministering Changes 00:37:21 – The Higher Law of Ministering 00:39:40 – The Role of Family Support in Ministering 00:41:06 – Building Authentic Relationships in Ministering Key Insights Ministering as a Higher Law: The transition from home teaching to ministering represents a return to the original purpose of caring for one another, focusing on service rather than just teaching lessons. Personal Connection: Effective ministering involves building genuine relationships, where ministering brothers and sisters are seen as trusted friends who can provide support and encouragement. The Power of Prayer: Asking families what they need prayer for can open doors for deeper connections and help ministering brothers and sisters understand how to serve effectively. Flexibility in Approach: There is no one-size-fits-all method for ministering; leaders should encourage creativity and adaptability based on the unique needs of families. Importance of Presence: Simply showing up and expressing love can have a profound impact, even if there are no specific tasks to perform. This presence fosters trust and openness. Leadership Applications Encourage Open Communication: Leaders can promote a culture where members feel comfortable sharing their needs, making it easier for ministering brothers and sisters to provide support. Focus on Relationships: Leaders should emphasize the importance of building relationships over merely fulfilling assignments, encouraging members to engage with those they serve on a personal level. Model Humility and Service: By demonstrating a willingness to receive help and support, leaders can set an example for their congregations, showing that vulnerability and openness are strengths in the ministering process. The award-winning Leading Saints Podcast is one of the top independent Latter-day Saints podcasts as part of nonprofit Leading Saints’ mission to help Latter-day Saints be better prepared to lead. Find Leadership Tools, Courses, and Community for Latter-day Saint leaders in the Zion Lab community. Learn more and listen to any of the past episodes for free at LeadingSaints.org. Past guests include Emily Belle Freeman, David Butler, Hank Smith, John Bytheway, Reyna and Elena Aburto, Liz Wiseman, Stephen M. R. Covey, Benjamin Hardy, Elder Alvin F. 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