When I meet people who blow me away with their stories and the way they use them to shine a light for others, I’m compelled to share them with everyone in my community because we can learn so much from them.

Such is the case with Brian Bogert. Brian is a professional coach, motivational speaker, business strategist, and leader. His mission is to help individuals achieve the best version of themselves by becoming more aware and more intentional – and therefore, more authentic. His strategy -- embrace pain to avoid suffering -- has helped people create for themselves a life with no limits.

Brian has an amazing story, and I invite you to tune in today as he talks about:

• The idea of embracing pain to avoid suffering and how this can help you connect with your most authentic self
• The story that shaped his life and led to the core concept of what he teaches
• The 4 roots of internal suffering and how sharing your story can help alleviate the pain
• How the trash from your past is keep...

Trauma often leaves one overwhelmed, sometimes unable to move forward, and often afraid of facing what caused the undesirable experience. But there’s a way of recovering from it and releasing it in order to become whole again, and that is through the healing power of storytelling.

Beth Jones is one of the women authors in the second LIGHTbeamers collaborative book, Step Into Your Brave. She is sharing her story as a trauma survivor, hoping to shine a light for others and help them start their own healing.

Join me and Beth today, as she and I talk about: 

• The interesting parallel between what she does for a living doing forensic accounting and what she’s been doing on her journey to personal healing
• The different types of fear that come with putting your story out there in a big way, and how Beth channeled those fears to bring about healing instead
• The healing process she underwent and her understanding that part of her purpose is to inspire trauma survivors to also go on thei...

When someone goes from the hood to the White House and ultimately has multi-million dollar success, you know there’s bound to be more than a few inside stories there that will just blow your mind.

Rebecca Contreras went from hitting her lowest of lows to reaching amazing success -- the kind that so many of us also dream of. Her book, titled “Lost Girl”, details this journey and shows the reader the kind of perseverance and faith Rebecca had to get to where she is today.

Tune in to today’s episode as Rebecca and I talk about: 

•    The first chapter of her book, which takes you straight to how it feels to grow up in a “crazy and dysfunctional family”
•    Her incredible, life-changing experience working at the White House, and the power of surrounding yourself with people who believe in you
•    Her journey as an entrepreneur and taking the plunge to leave her work despite the odds
•    The importance of paying it forward and how she’s doing it with her program, Girls of Legacy
•    F...

It’s such a special week on The Inside Story Podcast!! Our second LIGHTbeamers collaborative book, STEP INTO YOUR BRAVE, was released yesterday on Amazon!! And in a matter of a few hours, we reached #1 status, and it feels amazing to be able to share this journey with all of you.

In today’s episode, I’m putting the spotlight on my own experience writing for this book and choosing to write about my father. It’s definitely not something I thought I’d ever share publicly, much less write about in a book. But looking back now, I know that this is exactly what I was meant to do.

So tune in and sit with me as I share with you:

•    The inside story of my chapter in the book, where I may have written about my dad but really shared my OWN story
•    The reasons why so many others choose not to tell their story, plus the reasons why we all should
•    The scripture verse that has been my guide in serving this community, that I hope will inspire you, too

There’s power in storytelling. It ...

We’re less than a week away from the launch of our LIGHTbeamers collaborative book, Step Into Your Brave, and we’re very excited!! The female authors who are part of this book show us different faces of courage with their stories, and it’s amazing to get to know them all.

Today on the podcast, I’m bringing into the spotlight Amber Wells. Amber is an international entrepreneur, founding owner of She Companies, Inc. and a self-care journaling subscription box called Big Girl Pantees. Her journey to becoming an author has not been an easy one, which makes the release of Step Into Your Brave all the more meaningful.

Listen in on my conversation with Amber, as she and I talk about:

• Her being part of the first book, Elevate Your Voice, but ending up publishing her story in the second book, Step Into Your Brave
• How her lifelong dream began to look like a nightmare, and the self-doubt that came with not being able to finish what she had started
• The healing she needed in her relations...

Today’s episode is the second in a series of interviews with the women of the LIGHTbeamers Author Program -- a special book project that’s going to shine a light on eight women and their empowering stories of courage, perseverance, and overcoming adversity. 

Karen Smith spent 20 years in corporate America before she found her real calling – being an entrepreneur, coach, and energy healer. The road to where she is now was not an easy one, and she recounts how she’s had to unlearn what she had always believed and find the truth about herself.

Join me and Karen today as she shares:

• The background for her chapter titled “Know Your Worth” in the second LIGHTbeamers collaborative book, Step Into Your Brave
• Why she said “YES” to the challenge of being an author and sharing a very personal story
• Her journey joining the author program and writing her chapter, and what it was like revisiting the experiences from her past
• How sharing her story and letting others know the importance of ...

A few months back, I dedicated several podcast episodes to the authors of the first collaborative book in the LIGHTbeamers series. This time, I’m featuring authors from the second book, Step Into Your Brave, which I’m very happy to announce will be coming out later this month.

One of these authors is Kim Mittelstadt – an image consultant and life coach for moms, teen girls, and young adults. She’s dedicated to helping them discover their identity and style blueprint that complements their personality and lifestyle, and teaching them to love the person in the mirror.

Tune in today as Kim and I talk about:

• Joining the second LIGHTbeamers collaborative book and sharing her story in a big way
• The experience and journey of becoming an author together with seven other women
• How she came to write a different story from the one she originally planned to publish
• The message she wants readers to take away from her story
• What’s coming up next for her and what she’s looking forward to
...

The 4th Annual Storytelling Symposium by LIGHTbeamers has just ended, and I’m still on a high from meeting new people, forging new relationships and deepening old ones, sharing new stories, and just soaking up all the inspiration from everyone I connected with!

And as I look back now and reflect on the amazing two days of the Symposium, I’m reminded of something that came to me more than a year ago – after I attended a mastermind event and hosted last year’s virtual Storytelling Symposium.

That is, you have to put yourself in the room.

But what do I exactly mean by that?

Here are a few things I shared last year, as we hit ‘Replay’ on Episode 033, that still ring true today:

• My experience in Montana, and what it felt like to attend my first in-person event in over a year
• The virtual Storytelling Symposium I led that was attended by women who chose to put themselves in the room
• What it means to give yourself the chance to be in the room fully and truly present, ready to soak ...

A few episodes back, my husband Kyle was on the show and we talked about marriage and being entrepreneurs. That episode was a big hit, and a lot of you sent me messages to let me know how much that conversation resonated with you.

On today’s episode of The Inside Story Podcast, I’m bringing you another couple who are entrepreneurs and in business together. Jake and Ashley Ulkus are the founders of Destined to Scale, where they help online coaches and service-based professionals in engineering their signature offers to build a successful company without compromising client outcomes or lifestyle.

We had such a fun and enlightening conversation, so I invite you to listen in as we talk about: 

• Their diverse backgrounds and how they their entrepreneurship journey started out – and why they chose the path they did
• How they work together successfully while helping other entrepreneurs grow to where they should be
• Teaching business owners how to focus on the things that are going to t...

There’s so much value in storytelling – both to the one sharing their story and the person hearing it. But time and again, people tell me they don’t always know what to share. They get stuck and become unsure of how to dig out their stories.

If you find yourself in the same predicament, you’re in for a real treat! On today’s episode of The Inside Story Podcast, you’re going to get prompts that will help you find those stories inside of you and make storytelling a little easier.

Tune in today as I discuss: 

• A few general rules for becoming a good storyteller – these are stuff you don’t want to forget!
• 10 questions you can use as prompts to help you with storytelling
• Why and how your story can become a light for others, and how it can become the foundation on which you create and forge connections

There are so many reasons why we love stories, not the least of which is that stories that resonate with us give us hope and influence us positively. So go ahead and practice story...