My guest this week is Matt Parkin, founder of The Awesome Ukulele Academy who can teach anyone how to play a song on the ukulele in under 3 sessions! His virtual school was his reaction to the pandemic, which means it’s one of the positive outcomes because Matt is now able to take his expertise anywhere in the world and awaken the musician in those of us who have always wanted to learn to play an instrument.

After playing in “dodgy” rock bands in the late 80’s and 90’s, Matt moved from the UK to Andalusia to raise his 3 children and chickens and to make furniture.

At the age of 45, he discovered a love of teaching, by pure coincidence, which led him to go back to school and get his degree. When the parents realized how much fun their children were having, he started teaching them too. And now, after taking his ukulele teaching talents to the internet, he has a thriving multi-six figure business teaching adults worldwide how to play what he calls...

My guest this week is Jill McCarthy, also known as “The Geeky Grandma”, who has a passion for digital art & encouraging women. Jill has 4 adult sons & 6 grandchildren and has been married for 43 years. Prior to retirement, she taught 2nd graders for 25 years. She says you’ll most often catch her playing on the computer dressed in one of her favorite t-shirts imprinted with a cartoon character.

Jill’s been an avid follower and practitioner of personal development for 50+ years, long before it was a popular topic. She says she realized, about 10 years into her full-time teaching career, that her heart was not into teaching children and that she wanted to organize and run women's retreats. 

Retirement has not slowed her down one bit. In fact, it’s allowed her to fulfill her dreams of advocating personal development to her now adult students. She recently held her 14th retreat. 

In this episode, Jill and I talked about:

• The story behind...

My guest for this week’s podcast is Valerie Trumbower, a DONA Certified Postpartum Doula, a Certified Lactation Counselor and a mother of three, including identical twins. Her online courses, The Bump-to-Baby Roadmap & Expecting 101...You’re Adopting™ have helped hundreds of families (and grandparents!) prepare for life with their newborns. 

Over the past 8 years Valerie has been helping hundreds of parents adjust to their new family so that they can approach the newborn stage with as much calm confidence as possible. And so that they know what to do with their little newborns.

In this episode, Valerie and I talked about:

• Understanding what a Doula is and what they do
• How she learned about postpartum and birth Doula and how she started
• Best qualities to look out for if you want to be a Doula
• Necessary tips for grandparents to best help our children navigate new babies

Many people are probably not familiar with what a postpartum doula is. You may decide...

This week’s guest is Jen Rigley, a former Marketing & Sales Executive who has perfected the art of the pivot, staying positive when facing life's challenges. She is the visionary behind and founder of the Flourishing Over Fifty brand whose sole purpose is to inspire women over fifty to live the life of their dreams.

In this episode, Jen and I talked about:

• The story behind ‘Flourishing Over Fifty’ and the realization of her later-in-life purpose
• How she personally defines a pivot 
• The two important pivots she’s experienced in her life
• What to do when you’re stuck or facing a pivot

Jen is a mom to three beautiful young women, a wife, a daughter, and a sister to three women. She also does management consulting and works with both start-ups and Fortune 500 companies.

Her goal is to inspire YOU to be ready to pivot when life says it's time - whether by necessity or your intuition talking to you. And when that time comes, know that you are the...

My guest this week is Dr. Christine Li, a clinical psychologist in New York for the past 20 years and who is known online as the “Procrastination Coach.”. She helps people stop struggling with underperforming at work and at home so they can work smoothly and with high levels of productivity.

Dr. Christine’s unique coaching process is a blend of mindset strategy, time and emotion management tips, and a deep belief in the power we each have when we treat ourselves with love and good self-care. She is the author of the book “5-Minute Self-Discipline Exercises: Stay Motivated, Cultivate Good Habits, and Achieve Your Goals” and the host of the podcast “Make Time for Success.”

In this episode, Dr. Christine and I talked about:

• Her story of struggling with procrastination and a workshop that changed everything for her
• Her 5 letter acronym to help remember how to kick your procrastinating habits
• Tips for how to manage your time, manage stress and...

In today’s episode I spoke with Dr. Leslie Bosch, a developmental psychologist and a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach who received her training as an integrative wellness coach from the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine.

As an integrative wellness coach, Dr. Bosch helps busy professionals achieve their wellness goals in 7 core areas of health including sleep, nutrition, movement, relationships, spirituality, and resilience through stress management, especially, during difficult transitions. Through her coaching, Dr. Bosch aims to help clients make a bigger impact without sacrificing their health, well-being, or personal relationships.

In this episode, we talked about:

• how her dream of being a singer shifted to wanting to be a coach
• when she realized she wanted to help people with stress management 
• the pivot point that led her to study integrative medicine
• some interesting facts about developmental psychology

Dr. Leslie believes that...

This week’s guest is Donna Yates Ferris, a yoga and transformation coach as well as the writer of a “I-can’t-put-it-down” book that I had the chance to read before our interview. It was so fun to do this interview because I felt like I was talking to a friend. 

In her memoir “We’ve Got to Stop Meeting Like This,” Donna shares her path to inner peace, one that was sidelined by repeated difficulties - divorce, grief,  illness, addiction, and more. She openly shares the details of a short period in her life that began with the dissolution of her 20+ year marriage after discovering her husband’s affair. This was just the beginning of a 3 year roller coaster that led her to become an expert on resilience. 

If you feel overwhelmed and maybe even defeated by life's changes and challenges and need some inspiration by hearing a true story that proves you never know what the future has in store for you, this conversation is for...

This week’s guest is Cindy Williams Schrauben. Cindy lives in Michigan where she writes books for kids that range from the truly serious to the seriously silly. Her debut picture book, This Could Be You was released on April 1, 2022.

Becoming a published author at 63 has inspired Cindy to empower other mature adults with the mindset that it is never too late to dream. When not writing or connecting with other authors, Cindy might be found dissecting her grandsons’ shenanigans for story ideas, reading on the floor in the bookstore, or eating ice cream… ideally all at once.

In this episode, Cindy and I talk about:

• how she became a children’s author
• her book writing journey - from start to finish
• the fear of failure that hindered her from pursuing writing for far too long 
• how her life has changed now that she’s doing what she loves

Cindy admits she’s NOT always been one to persevere – in fact, when she was younger she often...

This week’s guest is Dr. Alison J. Kay. She has secrets no one else uses to upgrade, inspire and disrupt old paradigms within her community & the collective. She is an award winning, #1 international best selling author and the Founder of the Vibrational UPgrade™ System.

Dr. Alison is an experienced subtle energies practitioner and natural healer with a holistic approach towards helping others thrive in mind, body and spirit. This is reinforced by the ten years she spent in Asia studying these energies & ancient wisdom.

In this episode, Dr. Alison and I talked about:

• how connecting to her higher self started at a young age
• her backstory that started with early work as a political organizer, backpacking in Europe and eventually learning energy medicine
• her time in Asia and the traditional practices she learned and applied
• the fascinating topics of energy, vibration and chakras

With 20+ years working in & teaching yoga, meditation, energy medicine, mind/body...

This week’s guest is Katherine Beck, a Voice Coach, Voice Actor & host of two globally ranked podcasts. She has coached actors & voiceover artists, broadcast journalists and hosts, and online entrepreneurs how to emotionally connect to their audiences using their voice.

Katherine’s acting career shifted into voice acting after she fell in love with creating characters with her voice. As she was finding her way in a blossoming career, her life in LA changed drastically one night after an encounter with a guy from Australia. Before she knew it she was getting married and relocating her life to Australia. 

In this episode, Katherine shared:

• how she overcame her fears as an actress and voice coach
• her career pivot from voice actor to entrepreneur
• how important our voice is in our communication with others and the ways in which it can impact our ability to connect
• valuable voice tips on how to communicate and influence others

With her experience of pivoting...