Leap

Katy Wells, part-owner of a busy chiropractic business and mom of 2 young children found herself coming home from work exhausted, stressed and often overwhelmed. She'd enter her home after a long day of work and jump right into her chores and to-dos in lieu of spending time with her children. After putting her children to bed, she'd turn on the TV, hoping for reprieve, knowing both her body and soul were simply exhausted.

Then, one day, she discovered the art of minimalism.

As she began to apply minimalism to her day-to-day, she saw dramatic differences in her life. She came home from her practice and was present with her children. She could put her phone down and was no longer pre-occupied with the to-do list because there was simply less to do. It alleviated the exhaustion, stress, and the "hamster wheel" of daily life. After a few months of practice, she opened her own business teaching others how to apply this to their lives in an easy, applicable fashion.

After being removed from 2 big promotion opportunities upon the announcement of each of her pregnancies, Jennifer Henderson, said that's enough. I can either be part of the litigation OR I can be the solution.

She chose the solution. And the birth of Career Allies.

With the increasing demands of HR in the workplace, there has been a shift of HR functions to be placed in the hands of managers -- who are often under-trained and under-resourced in the conversations around family leave. Jen and her team sit at that crossroads, navigating and creating solutions in a space where pregnancies in the workplace are handled with the greatest of care; where the employees are engaged and supported equally by their employers and employers are supported to plan for next steps.

Beth Gray, coach extraordinaire, focuses her practice on brain, heart, and gut alignment.

As an mBraining coach, she works to get to the root of decision making that aligns the 3 decision-making centers in our bodies.

Her journey began as a Tax Attorney. Along the way, she continued to learn more and more about the body's alignments and misalignments through her own physical pains she experienced when making and following through on decisions that she made based purely on her decision-making mind; not taking into account her heart and gut (intuition). As she began to heal herself, she learned about the practice of mBraining and the importance of brain, heart, & gut alignment.

Meg Smit, founder of Smit Happenz, created her business on a passion for better living through a cleaner, healthier diet.

Burnt out from her career and raising two small children, Meg began to notice her health was in decline -- she was adding weight, stress, and anxiety to her life. As an avid lover of exercise, these symptoms were misaligned with the life that she had once known. She got curious about how her life had arrived at this crossroads.

In that discovery, Meg founded Smit Happenz.

Based on biohacking, she began to heal herself -- eating foods that nourished her body and that aligned with her own body chemistry. By following this simple principle, she began to notice significant improvements in her health and outlook. She believes that natural weight loss can occur with a whole food health plan that compliments your unique biome. 

In this episode, I sit down with Brad Appel, founder of Wish For Wheels. 

As a kid growing up in New York, his bike was his freedom. It was the vehicle of his childhood. Having spent many years in a variety of industries, his heart beckoned him to do more with his love of bicycles and desire to provide that same sense of joy that he always felt and still feels when on his own ride. 

In 2004, he married his love of bikes with the ability to provide that same joy, freedom, and confidence by gifting bikes to 2nd graders in low-income housing. He partners with local and national organizations to sponsor the purchase of bikes and organizes bike builds and reveal events across the country -- providing the transformation that cycling can bring to a child's life. 

Laura Rich, a three-time entrepreneur, found herself in a space of uncertainty and sadness and was unsure of what the next step was going to be after she sold her most recent business.

In her own words: she sold her baby.

While celebrating the sale of the business she birthed, her friend confronted her and asked her why she wasn't happy and what was missing. It was spending time in that thought that she realized there are other entrepreneurs in exit that feel the very same way that she did -- lost and confused after the exit.

This was the birth of her most recent venture, Exit Club, which focuses on the social and emotional community and coaching of exiter's and how they too can find their way to their next big venture.

Each of us has a story, a life path, a journey. For the members of My Voices Have Tourettes, the members of this comedic group all share one unified mission -- to speak openly about their own stories. To shed light on topics that may not be too comfortable for the mainstream.

Each member has either Tourette's, bi-polar disorder, or severe anxiety - AND speak openly about their lives on public stages. They are spreading their message through comedy, bringing people into their world and opening new possibilities.

Have you ever wanted to bring a group of friends together for a run or larger scale event and thought, "man it would be so much fun to do this ALL the time," and grab a ton of people together who love to do what you do?

Well -- that is exactly what Rusty Gebhardt, today's guest, did.

Working for Orange Theory Fitness, he was poised to bring people together, doing what they loved, and created a community of people in his hometown. From inception, it grew from about 50 to close to 500 in a matter of months, and now, he is scaling this dream across the country. 

Tune in to learn more!

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In this episode, I sit down with ERDA founder John Dell.

John Dell began ERDA on one simple principle: nourish the land that grows the food that nourishes our bodies.

Through the latter part of John's career he traveled the world, exploring and experiencing cultures unlike our own in the US and of his native Australia. Along the way, his life path crossed with John Denver, yes, THE John Denver, who challenged him to do something greater -- to contribute the community in deeper sense than he was already. 

Taking what he'd learned through nourishing communities in Africa combined with his trials in navigating his daughter's health crisis caused by dietary and emotional choices, John formed ERDA as an answer to his friend and mentor.

In this episode, I sit down with Lisa Moore.

Lisa began her journey into entrepreneurship in the midst of her husband building his own company. She stood alongside him, his ups and downs and was inspired by the determination and self-belief she witnessed in her partner. This caused an awaking for Lisa, a fire in her belly she simply could no longer deny. Growing up, she had always been encouraged and told she could do ANYTHING she wanted.

So -- she did.

Today, Lisa runs a successful home-based lifestyle and heath business while raising 2 young boys.

In this episode, Roxanne Esquibel walks us through her journey of being downsized from Corporate America -- looking at her future and asking herself, what next? Who am I and what fulfills me?

The answer was REdesign, her own graphic design company.

Having been dislodged from her former employer, contacts from that company quickly became her top customers. REdesign itself is a play on words - REdesign the image and branding for her clients organizations and a REdesign of her life.

In this episode, Chris Gerardi and Jen Coffey, founders of Mellivora, return to the show!

What began as a blog turned into a highly successful fashion legging line, featuring incredibly inspiring Colorado landscapes. Chris and Jen walk us through their journey of being released from Corporate America, digging into what made them truly happy - their hobbies and love for the outdoors - and how that then propelled Chris to create a blog, sharing his life experiences both through the written word and photography.

One fateful day, Chris took notice to a woman wearing a pair of rather ostentatious pair of leggings and the light bulb went on. This - this was how he was going to share his stories and engage others into the conversation.

In this 2 part series, Chris and Jen discuss the wins and the hardships of starting a business. It takes perseverance and persistence. It takes building long term relationships. It takes self belief and self determination. It takes fail, fail, fail, win, fail, fail, fail, and continue to move forward. It takes checking your ego at the door and delivery of something bigger than yourself. And through it all, they continue to build their dream into reality.

In this episode, I sit down with Chris Gerardi and Jen Coffey - founders of Mellivora.

What began as a blog turned into a highly successful fashion legging line, featuring incredibly inspiring Colorado landscapes. Chris and Jen walk us through their journey of being released from Corporate America, digging into what made them truly happy - their hobbies and love for the outdoors - and how that then propelled Chris to create a blog, sharing his life experiences both through the written word and photography.

One fateful day, Chris took notice to a woman wearing a pair of rather ostentatious pair of leggings and the light bulb went on. This - this was how he was going to share his stories and engage others into the conversation.

In this 2 part series, Chris and Jen discuss the wins and the hardships of starting a business. It takes perseverance and persistence. It takes building long term relationships. It takes self belief and self determination. It takes fail, fail, fail, win, fail, fail, fail, and continue to move forward. It takes checking your ego at the door and delivery of something bigger than yourself. And through it all, they continue to build their dream into reality.

In this episode, I sit down with the incomparable Izzy Emmanuel, founder of Greatness Academy!

Izzy began his coaching career many years before it became the booming business that it is today. Compelled to bring out the greatness of each and every soul he meets, Izzy became a motivational speaker and coach - touching lives around the globe. His work transcends beyond face-to-face, as he continues to build his strong and aligned online presence - carrying grace and holding space for those who seek his services.

In this episode, we discuss the origin of Greatness Academy and his love of being a life-long learner, regaling in stories of a childhood reader, soaking in anything and everything he could. We also dive into his regular conversations around FEAR, of what comes up for his clientele, and how it can hinder and aid entrepreneurs. We touch upon the use of gratitude in our daily practice and how, when practiced, it is scientifically proven to help people move from anxiety, and steer toward a more positive, happy outlook and a more optimistic mental and emotional state.

In this episode, I interview muralist Lindee Zimmer.

Lindee went to school for fine art and along her path, she became an advocate for artists' fair wages and education in her community. Over time, she has created large scale art on public buildings local to her hometown and across the US.

She is passionate that art is to be shared and accessible to all, hence her public art displays. We dive into the burnout of working for yourself and how Lindee recharges her senses. She also discusses how she surrounds herself with artists of all variety - which supports her creative expansion as well as ongoing discussion on how to grow her own reach. 

In this episode, I talk with Chris Moore, founder of Wearrative.

Chris delves into his origin story and the birth of Wearrative: burnt out from a very successful corporate career, he sought more connection. Early in his working life, he worked on the front lines - conversing with patients who were directly affected by the work produced. Over time, the work put more space between him and the stories of those individuals and families who benefited from his work.

It was here, at this crossroads, Chris realized storytelling was his passion - and Wearrative was born.

Chris openly discusses planning and laying the groundwork of the business and, after several months, pivoting to its current position. We talk about the hardships of entrepreneurship, and how it is completely worth the long hours and stress because he is following his passion and creating a life for himself and his family. 

In this episode, I talk with Lauren Worthington, founder of Becoming Untangled.

Lauren began her foray into entrepreneurship a few years ago. This momprenuer began to evaluate her life - busy raising 3 kids with her husband and wanted something more fulfilling. Her foray into starting her own business began with coaching individuals to health through nutrition. Along the way, she discovered a healthier lifestyle for herself and her family.

We discuss some of the tenants that Lauren instills her daily practice to support her well-being and ability to give her full self her growing business: meditation, journaling, and daily self care. And, in addition to her already prominent business, she is expanding her coaching services and a podcast of her own - all this and more time to devote to those she loves most, her family.

In this episode, I sit down with Eric Jaenike, Co-Founder of Prismajic - a Creative Exploratorium business. Prismajic creates immersive art experiences - like walking through a painting where you can engage ALL of your senses. Through their installations, they combine art, sculpture, and digital technology, transforming how people see themselves and their world. 

Eric's journey began in the fast paced world of Wall Street in New York City. And, while he had tremendous success in the industry, there was a bigger calling that pulled him into technology with a keen balance of art, philosophy, and spirituality. It is in this calling, he followed his heart and came together with a business partner to create Prismajic.

In this episode, I talked with Lauren Bahr, founder of Simply Balanced Wellness.

Lauren founded her coaching practice as a result of a personal health crash several years ago. She was overtired, overspent, and overworked focused on caring for her two young children and husband and neglecting to take good care of herself.

As a busy mom and wife with a full-time career, she was spent. Focusing on the needs of everyone around her and not being focused on filling her own cup, she hit a wall. It was during that introspection as she healed herself that she realized there was another avenue, another pathway. She began to investigate the effects of nutrition on your whole-body wellness. Her journey led her down the path of integrative nutrition and Simply Balanced Wellness was born.

Jessica DiGrazio Sable and Greg Sable share their own personal journeys through Corporate America and their individual dreams for a life well lived.

Travelling their individual paths, their lives harmoniously combined through a shared passion for health & wellness. As both Jessica and Greg began their own businesses around nutrition as a side hustle, they began to find a greater sense of purpose and fulfillment and extra income. Along the way,each found themselves presented with significant transitions in their intended career paths, when plan "B" (nutrition side business) became plan "A". Focused on building their individual empires - these two powerhouses came together to form Be Your Own Hero.

While the focal point of this business is centered on nutrition, health and wellness, we dive into resilience, perseverance, drive, determination, humility and discover that the more we become authentic with our truest self, we are lead to a brilliant, joyful and fulfilled life.

Hello Everyone! Today, I share with you the very first episode of LEAP.

LEAP was birthed in September 2018 in the wake of Denver Start Up Week. It was during that week a friend of mine mentioned casually that he had a podcast. In my inquisitive nature, I listened to one of his shows (a 2 part series.) The particular podcast featured Ryan Helms, the founder of Grit and Hustle and a feature of that conversation wrapped around Ryan's Side Hustle Journal. As I followed this path, I downloaded and began using this journal to organize my thoughts around some ideas I had been postulating. In my shear excitement, reached out to Ryan immediately to share my gratitude for this journal and shared my big idea. His Response - think about doing a podcast. Long story short, that was the birth of LEAP.

So, today, in honor of Ryan's gift to me, I share with you the inaugural LEAP podcast. Ryan and I dive into how a whim of a trip to Africa birthed his company, Grit and Hustle and how that has turned into a 6 figure side income.

I hope that each one of you enjoy your time with this program and thank you for being a part of this journey with me.