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...

My special guest this week is one of my amazing Second Half S.P.A.R.K. School™ students, Denise Hughes. Denise shares her story of signing up at a very low point in her life, when she was suffering from “long” Covid with very little energy and very far from living her best life.

But fortunately, like all of my students who decide to take action, she was finally ready to do something about it and she knew she couldn’t do it on her own… 

Denise’s story is nothing short of remarkable as it shows how our path to the dream life we desire is not always what we think it will be. But Denise shows how once we shift our internal energy by changing our mindset, we begin to attract what we desire. 

She is also a testament to how staying in abundance, no matter how hard your journey gets, and continuing to apply the tools she learned in the Second Half S.P.A.R.K. School™ brought her to where she is today, with more balance and happiness than...

Today’s guest is Frederica Wagner, (aka "Fred") one of my students from the Second Half S.P.A.R.K. School™, who shares her story about how she transformed her life in record time, finding motivation, energy, and happiness, along with her authentic self who she had lost.

Fred - a 72 year old divorced mom of adult children, and a grandma, who recently celebrated 24 years of sobriety - recognized she had reached a new low point in her life where she had no direction, no focus, and sadly, no desire. In her words, she felt stuck, stagnant and miserable. 

Shortly after admitting to herself that she needed help, she stumbled upon the Second Half S.P.A.R.K. School™ where she found the support she needed. Once she made that commitment, she was ALL IN, and by following the program to a “T”, she got the breakthroughs she needed, becoming an inspiration to her fellow students.

Fred is a great example that if you show up and do the work, you’ll get the...

Today I have no guest interview because I have an important topic I want to talk about - what it means to be ignited. It’s top of mind because I have a free training on this very subject coming up in a week, and it might just be the right next step for anyone who listens to this episode and feels unignited.

• the definition of ignited
• real life examples of what it feels like when you aren’t ignited
• what I’ve learned about the subject 
• what to know if you’re feeling unignited 

Why is it that so many of us feel guilty for wanting more?  There is nothing wrong with wanting more and wanting to feel more excitement in your life. It’s time to make getting that internal wick lit your #1 priority!

If you’d like to review the words I shared on the episode, I’ve included them here as follows:

Anxious, Average, Ambivalent, Annoyed, Apathetic, Ambiguous, Bored, Beaten, Blah, Behind, Busy, Burned Out, Challenged, Confused Chaotic,...

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...