Resilience has become a buzzword in today’s culture, thrown around by influencers, coaches, and even bootcamp instructors, all insisting we need to “push through” no matter the cost. But is resilience always the healthiest path forward? Does mental toughness, positivity, and grit serve us in the ways we think—or is there more nuance to uncover?

In this episode, Nicole connects with Soraya Chemaly, activist and author of The Resilience Myth: New Thinking on Grit, Strength, and Growth after Trauma. Together, they challenge conventional ideas about resilience and explore a new way of thinking—one that shifts from individual grit to collective care and community connection. Soraya’s previous book, Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger, was widely acclaimed and named one of the Best Books of 2018 by the Washington Post, NPR, and Psychology Today.

This conversation offers insight into what really matters: kindness, compassion, belonging, and care—for ourselves and each other. It’s time to rethink resilience as more than just strength in isolation and embrace what it looks like to thrive, together.

Connect With Our Guest: Soraya Chemaly

Website: https://www.sorayachemaly.com/

Book: https://www.sorayachemaly.com/books

Simon & Schuster: https://www.simonandschuster.com/

Related Podcast Episodes:

• How to Ask for Help with Dr. Cynthia Bentzen-Mercer

• Stress Less and Fear(Less) with Rebecca Heiss

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Whether you’re interested in entrepreneurship, or venture capital, or just love hearing from women who are blazing a trail like I do… you are going to love this conversation.

Our guest, Carrie Colbert spent nearly two decades in the male-dominated oil and gas industry, with a standout career at Hilcorp. After “retiring” at age 38, Carrie transitioned into a new chapter of her life: investing in women-owned businesses. After five years as an angel investor, Carrie realized that women-led businesses are not only underfunded, but they consistently outperform. This led her to launch Curate Capital to champion female-founded consumer brands. In 2022, Carrie closed Fund 1 at $15 million—50% oversubscribed and with nearly 80% of her investors being women. Curate Capital is now breaking down barriers for female founders and making venture capital more accessible to potential investors.

Whether you’re thinking about building a business, investing in one, or simply managing your finances with more intention – get into action toward it.

Because it isn’t called trail waiting, or trail thinking, or even trail tiptoeing. Don’t wait for the perfect moment, don’t overthink every step, and don’t play it small. BLAZE your trail, take bold action, and create the future you want.

Connect with Carrie:

Website: https://www.curate.capital/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/carriec

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Why have we become so obsessed with celebrity and influence? It seems we’re infatuated with people in positions of power, with politicians, and with the uber-wealthy. Are they really the difference-makers we believe them to be?

In this episode, Sharon McMahon talks about the change-makers that she calls the “small and the mighty”. Sharon is America’s favorite government teacher and proves that the most remarkable Americans are often ordinary people who didn’t make it into the textbooks. In her book THE SMALL AND THE MIGHTY: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, Sharon discovers history’s unsung characters and brings their rich, riveting stories to light for the first time. She also hosts the award-winning podcast,  ”Here’s Where It Gets Interesting”, and is the author of The Preamble, a Substack newsletter about politics and history.

The change agent, the innovator, the reformer, the disruptor, the mover and the shaker, the get shit done leader might not be on the ballot – it might be someone in your life, at work, in your community. You might be raising them, and it might even be you.

So be mighty – regardless of the position you’re in.

Connect with Sharon:

Website: https://sharonmcmahon.com/

Book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/709748/the-small-and-the-mighty-by-sharon-mcmahon/

The Preamble: https://thepreamble.com/

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In this episode, we dive into the systems, structures, and practices that are working against us. Because my goal isn’t just that women (and I do mean all women) get a fair shake, but that we expect it. That we require it.

Our guest is June Carbone, the Robina chair of law, science, and technology at the University of Minnesota Law School. Previously she served as the Edward A. Smith/Missouri chair of law, the constitution, and society at the University of Missouri at Kansas City; and as the associate dean for professional development and presidential professor of ethics and the common good at Santa Clara University School of Law. Basically, she’s wicked smart and very well-researched. She has just released her new book Fair Shake: Women and the Fight to Build a Just Economy which she co-authored with two other incredible women.

My call to action: consider, in addition to what you care most about and what you believe is best, what will move policy and opportunity forward for all women. It’s time for us to think beyond just our own best interests.

Buy June’s Book: Fair Shake

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Fair-Shake/Naomi-Cahn/9781982115128

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In this episode, we cover a topic that might just surprise you… but friend, we can always benefit from a departure from our usual discussions. We’re talking about crafting! Because it’s always good to tap into a different kind of creativity, and because you just may discover a new passion or rekindle an old one.

Our guest is Diana Weymar, and we’re going to talk about CRAFTING, and even a bit about what she calls craftivism. Diana grew up in the wilderness of British Columbia, studied Creative Writing at Princeton and worked in film in New York, and for the past decade, has been threading the needle to create a material record of our times. Both on social media and in person, she has encouraged thousands of people to find their own creative path. She is the creator and curator of the public art projects Interwoven Stories and Tiny Pricks Project. Her collaborations and exhibits bring people together around textile and embroidery to share personal stories and even to discuss political issues.

Whether it’s bookbinding, making jewelry, or even starting a cross-stitching club (which, let’s be honest, I’m seriously considering), there’s something deeply fulfilling about tapping into a different kind of creativity—one that nourishes the soul, keeps us openhearted and connects us to a larger community.

Connect with Diana:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/tinypricksproject/

Book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/crafting-a-better-world-a-handbook-for-making-art-and-creating-change-diana-weymar/21020713?ean=9780063389281

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This episode is all about reconnecting with and healing our nervous systems, so we can better access our inner wisdom and live more authentically.

Victoria Albina is a Master Certified Somatic Life Coach, Family Nurse Practitioner and Breathwork Meditation Guide with a passion for helping women realize that they are their own best healers by reconnecting with their bodies and minds, so they can break free from codependency, perfectionism and people-pleasing and reclaim their joy. She is the host of the Feminist Wellness Podcast, is trained in Somatic Experiencing, holds a Masters degree in Public Health, and has been working in health and wellness for over 20 years.

Our dysregulated nervous systems explain the way we understand and react to the world even more than our conscious minds or our inner knowing. And that is something I’d love for us all to heal.

I speak for many of us when I say it feels like all of our systems are nervous nowadays, and I doubt the medical community would change the name, but wouldn’t it feel great to have a confident system instead?

Connect with Victoria:

Website: https://victoriaalbina.com/

Feminist Wellness Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/feminist-wellness/id1454980022

IG: https://www.instagram.com/victoriaalbinawellness/

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In this episode, we talk about how two people can win in a marriage, at work, and in life. Because more of us should be experiencing this!

I’ve invited Tiffany Sauder, wife, mom, entrepreneur, CEO, board member, investor, podcast host and keynote speaker, to be our guest. For twenty years, she and her husband have been building their companies and their family on the exact same timeline. That means four kids, three businesses and two careers, all building towards one abundant life of And (not Or). Today, Tiffany spends her time helping two career families move from chaos to connection – and I’m excited to swap some stories and ideas.

Handling literally everything so our partners can win, propping them up, dismissing the part we play, sacrificing our dreams, putting our wants and needs in the back seat, that’s what woman’s work used to look like.

But not anymore. I don’t care if you’re professionally driven or not, if you work or not, if you love cooking and babies and caring for your home and others or not, you GET TO WIN in your relationship too. Whatever that means and however that looks for you.

Connect with Tiffany:

Website: https://www.tiffanysauder.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/tiffany.sauder/

Newsletter sign-up: https://tiffany-sauder.myflodesk.com/newsletter

Task Planner: https://tiffany-sauder.myflodesk.com/taskplanner

Ultimate Guide to Outsourcing Your Laundry: https://tiffany-sauder.myflodesk.com/stopdoingyourlaundry

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Head over to wisefitwealth.com and click the “Schedule a Meeting with our Team” button. They’ll hook you up with a free budget sheet and some helpful planning tips! WiseFit Wealth has ONE goal, and that is to help you achieve yours.

We’re doing something a little different on this episode, and throughout this month, as we approach a major and divisive election in the United States. We’re going to talk about politics from a neutral and curious place.

No ranting. No calling you an idiot if you don’t share my beliefs. No name-calling, period.

I’ve invited Lindsey Cormack back to the show, because she’s one of the few people I know who can genuinely deliver on this type of political discussion. We recently released an episode together called How to Raise a Citizen, and I was so impressed with her approach that I asked her to come back.

I don’t know Lindsey’s political beliefs and she doesn’t know mine. We’re going to have a conversation about politics that is likely very different from what you’re used to. I hope it’s refreshing and that it gets you thinking.

Because it’s critically important that we practice the hard skills of listening, learning, curiosity, and empathy right now more than ever.

It takes no skill to foam at the mouth and call someone names. True leadership, and true citizenship, is about understanding, listening, and engaging in meaningful dialogue. Let’s be an example of that. Let’s model the behavior we want to see— let’s behave better.

Connect with Lindsey:

Website: https://www.lindseycormack.com/

Book: https://howtoraiseacitizen.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/howtoraiseacitizen

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