Meet Melanie Seal Jones, an aneurysm survivor, a podcaster, a motivational speaker, an Entrepreneur, a Mother, a wife, and an all around badass!!

Get ready for an inspirational interview with Melanie that will leave you believing anything is possible. In this episode, Melanie will discuss how she survived her aneurysm, 4 emergency brain surgeries, comas, and her recovery. Where there is a will there is a way. And Melanie made sure her will was unbreakable.

Meet Joelle Monaco, an organizational psychologist with over 13 years in development and over eight years in the mental health field. Joelle possesses extensive experience in planning, directing, and training enhancements for both people and organizational success.

Throughout Joelle’s professional experiences, she utilizes a strength-based approach in people and organizational management. These experiences provide Joelle the professional opportunities to build the skills and abilities required to lead teams and empower individuals to achieve professional and organizational goals while fostering a people-first approach.

In this episode, Joelle explains how she works with large businesses to highlight the economic value of each employee and what experiences they bring to the workplace. If you’re not in a positive work environment, you can’t show up and be the best employee: stress directly impacts the bottom line, and if you can’t learn to build people up, you will inevitably have to replace them. Janelle believes any business of any size can benefit from taking a deeper look at their employees and reputation.

Meet Gabby Villa, a nutritionist and triathlete. Gabby specializes in helping triathletes achieve their best results through individualized nutrition.

​Gabby's mission is to empower people to find the best version of themselves and accompany them on their way to achieving their goals. She helps her clients discover the magic of eating with purpose to improve training and quality of life.

In this episode, Gabby will dispel the myths surrounding diet culture and athletic performance, noting how important fats, proteins, and carbs (yes, carbs!) are to optimal results. She'll also review some nutrition tips for training, including pre-race carb intake and post-race recovery.

Meet Brian Scott, a retired athletic trainer who worked at the high school and collegiate levels with a brief stint in minor league baseball. Brian started as a full time practicing physician's assistant in orthopedic surgery and sports medicine over 14 years ago.​

He is also the host of the Injured List podcast, your go-to source for everything about injuries related to sport, from fantasy sports injury updates to educational healthy tidbits for the weekend warrior.

In this episode, Brian discusses the types of athletes he's treated throughout his career and common injuries which occur in runners. He emphasizes the importance of cross-training and understanding your own physical baseline so that pain and injury management can become more precise and accurate.

He also covers the difference between male and female injuries, the mechanics of running, and steps you can take to prevent future injuries.

Meet Lisa Adams, a life coach, fitness trainer, and professional speaker. Lisa has been a part of the military family for over 20 years. She brings a unique approach to dealing with trauma that stems from her marriage to a military member who was injured and diagnosed with PTSD in 2006.

Lisa has experience working as an Education Assistant supporting students with trauma issues, special needs, and learning disabilities. She has been a volunteer with the Peer Support Program with Operational Stress Injury Social Support (OSISS) for the past 3 years.

In this episode, Lisa will share her insights on finding the perfect running shoe, how to deal with your personal demons, and what she personally takes away from working with victims of trauma.

Meet Elicia McMullen, registered dietician, fitness coach, and mother to twin boys. Elicia has been on a remarkable health journey since 2017 when she was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer throughout four plains of her body. Within a year, after several rounds of chemotherapy, Elicia found herself in remission, celebrate, and went back to living life.

However, several months later in 2018, Elicia was re-diagnosed when doctors found a tumor in her rib cage. Fueled by the love for her children and a tenacious spirit, Elicia underwent a stem cell transplant at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and is currently cancer-free.

In this episode, you’ll hear Elicia tell her courageous story and the changes she’s made in her life to cope with cancer treatment, the trials of motherhood, and stress. You will be undoubtedly moved by her survival story and why it’s important to invest in self-care.

Meet Elliott Smith!

A Veteran, a Mental Health Advocate, a Father, and an all around amazingly authentic man.

In this episode, Elliott discusses how he navigates through the dating world while managing his mental health. He makes no apologies for his past because it's what made him the strong and confident man he is today. And how do you date while managing your mental health? You'll have to check out the episode!

Meet Dr. Waajida L. Small, a Purpose Alignment Coach and Founder/CEO of Capital Conscious U, a leadership development firm focused on helping career and entrepreneur women find and align their purpose with their work and business. 

Dr. Small is a Certified Purpose Leader (CPL), Certified Human Capital Strategist (HCS) and certified professional coach (CPC) with specialties in career, executive, and spiritual coaching. She also has a doctorate in Human Capital Management with a research emphasis on women of color and leadership. Author of Our Leadership Journey and host of the "Leading with Purpose" podcast, Dr. Small's purpose is to help cultivate other purpose driven leaders who create spaces for women to be successful and provide value to the world and those they serve.  She shares her knowledge, wisdom, and experience through coaching and by teaching best practices to position women of color and entrepreneurs for success. 

Let's talk getting fit and men's health with Keith O'Dell. Keith is a World Class powerlifter and nutritionist. He discusses his fitness journey and how a health scare and the book The Secret helped him along the way.

Keith's Takeaways:

1. It's never too late to start lifting

2. Men need to get their blood work done and know their hormone levels as they age

3. Don't let ego intimidate you from going to the gym

4. Slow down! Embrace the fitness journey and don't rush it

Meet Taylor Proctor, a transformational happiness mentor, podcaster, speaker, and global marketing director. Taylor helps other women establish their own personal happiness routines through actionable change, leading to increased confidence and winning businesses using brand psychology & content marketing.

For over a decade, Taylor has led successful marketing teams and departments across multiple languages and global locations — growing the departments by upwards of 200% and overshooting predicted GP by 93%. She's built internal marketing teams from the ground up and has even worked with international and well-known brands such as Google, Waze, Stanford School of Medicine, Johnson&Johnson, and more.

After discovering that happiness was not necessarily inherent, Taylor realized the importance of self-care in the formula for happiness, which she defines as identity + mindset + leadership. Tune in to Episode 59 to hear how Taylor shifted her thinking, started caring for herself, found sustainable happiness, and began inspiring other women to do so as well.

In this segment of the Men Series we will be going though each of the interviews I've had with the men and pinpoint common themes. Let's get uncomfortable and talk about what's up! Why do we do the things we do? Why do we say the things we say? What's the real issue.

Today's episode we talk about how some of the men fear communication because they fear being vulnerability.

The episode we discuss:

Season 2 Episode 15: The Men Series Alan

Season 2 Episode 30: The Men Series Dave

Season 2 Episode 32: The Men Series Jeremy

Meet Tanya Burton, the proud owner of The Diet Doc Sedalia. Her love for fitness and health inspires her to motivate and encourage all those she meets. She is a wife, licensed massage therapist, and an ISSA certified personal trainer.

She grew up with an active lifestyle playing multiple sports in high school. However, after college she started to slow down and began gaining weight. Tanya transformed her life by hiring an online coach and used the flexible dieting approach to lose 50 pounds in one year. She continued to study nutrition and discovered how to manage her weight forever.

In the last three years Tanya has run three Tough Mudder events, a half marathon, and competed in her first physique show. When several friends, family, and fellow gym-goers began regularly coming to Tanya for nutrition, weight loss, and fitness advice, she realized how much she enjoyed helping others.

She is grateful to be providing specialized and custom nutrition, weight loss, and fitness services to help clients achieve their health and fitness goals.

In this segment of the Men Series we will be going though each of the interviews I've had with the men and pinpoint common themes. Let's get uncomfortable and talk about what's up! Why do we do the things we do? Why do we say the things we say? What's the real issue.

Today's episode we talk about how some of the men rather not say anything when it came to expectations of relationships. As we know, this ambiguous approach creates confusion, unmet expectations, and hurt feelings.

The episodes we discuss:

Season 2 Episode 1: The Men Series Sam

Season 2 Episode 2: The Men Series Jason

Season 2 Episode 5: The Men Series Wally

Season 2 Episode 7: The Men Series Mr. Jackson

Season 2 Episode 11: The Men Series Zach

Meet Laura Ligos, a registered dietician offering a “food first” approach to her clients. Known as the “Sassy Dietician,” Laura shares her zest for life through her private consultations with fitness-focused females who are looking to optimize their health.

Laura attempts to help her clients look at food as a noun, not a verb, and offers ways to fuel your body to remain active throughout your entire life. She tackles hormonal issues, personal relationships with food, and the benefits of making better nutritional choices.

In the episode, Laura gives her thoughts on intuitive eating, tracking macros, and the controversial Keto diet. Learning to trust yourself, your body, and your mind can help you find longevity and lasting health, and Laura hopes to instill that trust into each client she works with.

Meet Darren Fuji. He is a Dating Coach and all around realist when it comes to dating. Having experienced the downfalls of his own dating experience, Darren brought his "lessons learned" to grow a successful dating business. Darren gets real with a comedic flair on what men and women need to do to date successfully and meet "the one".

Meet Kerri Lynn Miller, an award-winning film maker and actress known for her appearances in Shades of Blue, Blue Bloods, Royal Pains, The Blacklist, and several feature films. In this episode, Kerri details her experience with body dysmorphic disorder and how she found the courage to share her truth with her friends, family, and the world.

After discovering other women who shared her insecurities and struggles, Kerri developed a love for meditation and began writing her own screenplay, a cathartic experience which blossomed into her current film project, Awaken Her. Pulling the curtain back on the world of plastic surgery, the film entails what happens to people when they endeavor to physically change themselves.

Kerri’s story resonates with so many of us, and she will inspire you to tell your own story and be vulnerable, honest, and raw.

Meet Brandon Eastman. He is a performance coach who works with performance driven leaders & sales teams. Listen to how a big mind shift led him to a huge weight loss transformation that changed all aspects of his life. Brandon and I delve into the much needed discussion on how the fitness journey needs to encompass the mental and emotional work.

Meet Sean Kachmarski, ultra-marathon runner, author, and devoted family man. Sean’s journey to running success is not typical, but it is undoubtedly inspirational. Diagnosed with kidney stones in his mid-40’s, Sean was moved to do something to correct his health and be a better father and husband to his family. Starting with the Couch to 5K program, he progressed to park runs in England and eventually 10k races.

He set his sights higher on one of England’s iconic races: the 2015 Great North Run, an emotional event for Sean that taught him an important lesson: you can always judge a race by how they treat their last place runners. Fueled by this crowning achievement, Sean once again set the bar higher as he fully embraced the mantle of “runner”: marathons and ultra-marathons soon were conquered, leading Sean to write a book on writing — Just Finish: Don’t Think You Can, Know You Can.

Hoping to inspire would-be runners with his story, Sean is living proof that you can move from the “back of the pack” and become a true runner in unconventional ways.

Meet Kristen Yerger, a certified nutritionist, network marketer, and wellness mentor to moms and teachers everywhere.

A former softball player with sights set on Olympic glory, Kristen was forced to retire from the sport when she sustained a shoulder injury in high school. As the years passed, Kristen learned how to move past failure and accept that life isn’t always going to be perfect, applying these mantras when alcoholism nearly threatened to pull her marriage apart.

Now a devoted runner and 4 AM early-riser, Kristen details what helped her save her marriage, discover a new purpose, and re-establish her own identity. She now coaches teachers and mothers, encouraging them to be 1% better than they were the day before.

Meet Helene Kusman, a holistic wellness blogger, yoga instructor, and Reiki healer. After falling into running and fitness eight years ago, Helene found new interests in yoga and wellness. The mind-body connection and positive mental benefits she experienced during her early sessions encouraged her to become a yoga trainer in Louisville, Kentucky. Praising the physical and mental results from establishing a regular practice, Helene continued her wellness journey by becoming a licensed Reiki practitioner. She now incorporates both yoga and Reiki in the classes she offers at Yoga Baum and to her private clients. Her blog, helenekusman.com, offers online yoga classes to private wellness sessions, Reiki, healthy recipes and holistic health content.