Hidden Chapters: Real Stories that Bring Light to the Hidden Parts of Life
Behind every put-together exterior is a chapter most people never see. If you’ve ever felt alone in your own story, especially in the middle of it, this is a place where those unseen chapters are spoken out loud. Not the version that made it onto a stage. Not the polished takeaway or the neatly packaged lesson. Hidden Chapters is a storytelling podcast that goes back further. To the grief that didn’t come with a lesson yet. The identity crisis in the middle of the night. The fear, the silence, the in-between, the raw and unresolved moments most people don’t talk about. Hosted by Genevieve Kruger, each episode invites guests to share the parts of their story that are often left out. Not because the ending doesn’t matter, but because most of us are still living in the middle, and that part deserves its own space. This is a show about the messy, complicated, tender, and deeply human parts of life that rarely get airtime because they don’t fit neatly into the stories we present to the world. Hidden Chapters exists to honor the stories we don't always see, so you don't feel alone in yours.
Episodes
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In this bridge trailer, I reflects on the heart of the podcast and the stories shared over three seasons, from military spouses and grieving parents to authors, veterans, and people rebuilding their lives after unexpected change.
Hidden Chapters is a space for honest conversations about grief, identity shifts, healing, motherhood, marriage, faith questions, resilience, and starting over. It is...
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Hidden Chapters Season 3 Finale + One Year Anniversary Reflection 🎉
In this Season 3 finale and one-year anniversary episode of Hidden Chapters, I find myself looking back at everything this first year has held.
What started as a simple idea to create space for storytelling has grown into something far deeper than I ever expected. Through every conversation, every guest, and every hidden chap...
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If you haven’t listened to Part 1 yet, start there, it’s the foundation for everything in this episode.
🎙️ Episode Summary PART 2
In Part 1, Laura Engel shared what happened in 1967: the pregnancy, the unwed mothers’ home in New Orleans, the forced goodbye, and the fifty years of silence that followed.
In Part 2, everything changes.
In 2016, Laura submitted her DNA to Ancestry.com. ...
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🎙️ Episode Summary PART 1:
Laura Engel was seventeen when she got pregnant, unmarried, in Mississippi in 1967. Her family sent her to an unwed mothers' home in New Orleans for five months. She signed papers she didn't want to sign. She then came back home to her parents house and was expected to just keep going on with her life.
She did that...for fifty years.
🎧 In Part 1 of ...
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🎙️ Episode Summary:
At 28, Dan MacQueen was living his best life in London- working in tech, traveling in Europe on weekends, active and untethered. Then a string of worsening headaches led to an optometrist appointment that uncovered a dangerous buildup of pressure in his brain caused by a non-cancerous cyst. What followed was emergency brain surgery, a massive brain hemorrhage on the op...
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🎙️ Episode Summary
What does real inclusion actually look beyond good intentions and surface level awareness?
In this episode, I get to sit down with educator, author, and accessibility advocate Jenna Udenberg, founder of Above and Beyond with U, for an honest conversation about disability, ableism, and what true advocacy requires.
Jenna shares her experience living with juvenile idiopathic a...
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🎙️ Episode Summary
Divorce doesn't just end a marriage, it unravels an identity. In this episode, I sits down with Brenda Bridges, Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, coach, and author of Sh!t, I'm Getting Divorced, for a conversation that goes well beneath the legal paperwork and into the emotional terrain most people aren't prepared for.
Brenda shares her own hidden chapter,...
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🎙️ Episode 9 Summary
What happens when the life you built around being busy suddenly stops?
For Chip Scholz, that answer came in the form of a stroke. One morning in Jacksonville, Florida, a man who had spent over a decade coaching leaders, logging 200 nights a year in hotels, and billing into the seven figures, woke up and couldn't find his words.
In this episode Chip shares what it took...
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🎙️ Episode Summary
Noah May has been navigating anxiety and depression since age 12. In this episode, he opens up about his mental health journey, the coping strategies that have helped him, and how podcasting became a meaningful outlet for connection, expression, and growth. From his early struggles to finding community and purpose, Noah shares what it’s really like to live with these chal...
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🎙️ Episode Summary:
In this inspiring episode, Laura Bratton shares her journey of losing her sight at a young age and how she navigated anxiety, grief, and depression while learning to embrace life on new terms.
From her earliest memories of uncertainty to the lessons she’s still learning today, Laura opens up about the slow, ongoing process of emotional healing and how faith, family, and f...
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🎙️ Episode Summary
In this deeply moving episode, Mick shares his journey of navigating unimaginable grief after the loss of his son, the raw and authentic prayers that sustained him, and how his faith in God has transformed over 14 years. Mick also opens up about building his podcast from the ground up without financial compensation, trusting God every step of the way. From heartbreak to ho...
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Episode Summary
Twenty four years ago, Adrian sat in my high school English classroom. He was quiet. Thoughtful. The kind of student who did not demand attention, but was always paying attention. I do not think either of us could have imagined where life would take him.
Today, he is an Air Force ROTC commander and instructor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, leading and mentor...
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🎙️ Episode Summary
At 42, Zulma walked into a classroom with determination and a clear sense of who she was.
At 46, just two months after graduation, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
At 50, she chose to pursue her master’s degree and begin again.
At 60, she chose her mind, body, and soul and moved to Panama to build a life aligned with freedom.
But between those milestones ...
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🎙️ Episode Summary:
This week’s bonus episode is a behind-the-scenes look at how I started Hidden Chapters. From the equipment I use to the platforms that keep everything running, I walk you through my real setup and what works for me.
But this episode is not just about microphones and software.
It’s about connection.
I share how honest conversations have created unexpected reconnections with f...
Kindergarten Behind the Screen. What Children Lost and Learned During COVID with Teacher Karin Tramm
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Episode Summary:
When schools shut down during COVID, learning didn’t just move online. Childhood did too.
In this episode of Hidden Chapters, I sits down with Karin Tramm, a retired Department of Defense Education Activity kindergarten teacher and author of 100 Days Smart. Karin shares what it was really like inside a kindergarten classroom when the pandemic hit an American military scho...
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Privacy Note:
Due to the sensitivity of the immigration process, some personal details are intentionally kept private in this conversation, including specific names and circumstances. This was a thoughtful choice made to honor both legal boundaries and personal dignity.
Episode Summary:
In this episode of Hidden Chapters, I sit down with Rasmus, whose life took an unexpected turn aft...
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Episode Summary:
This conversation with Alex explores how early, unspoken family trauma shaped her identity, coping patterns, and relationships. A sudden financial collapse during her late teens created instability, emotional suppression, and a belief that strength meant independence and silence. In her twenties, that unprocessed grief showed up as self-sabotage, addiction, unstable relations...
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Hidden Chapters is back for Season 3!! 🎉
In this short pre launch episode, I sharing whats coming this season, and reflecting on the quiet, untold stories behind the smiles, the hidden parts of life that shape us, inspire us, and sometimes stop us in our tracks.
I talk about why this season feels different, the exciting lineup of guests ahead, and what listeners can expect from these honest, ...
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🎙️ Season 2 closes with a heartfelt look back at the stories that shaped Hidden Chapters. This finale brings together powerful moments from Seasons 1 and 2: highlight clips of guests, reflections, and stories that continue to resonate.
🎙️ Highlights include:
- Jay Smith Pinned but Not Out
Season 1 Ep.6 - Jillian Delgado The Summit of Strength
Season 1 Ep. 3 - José Raymundo From Immi...
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In this episode of Hidden Chapters, I sit down with Simona Pappalardo, a global executive turned leadership coach, speaker, and author of Authentically Yours. Born in Milan and having lived in Scotland, Malaysia, and the U.S., Simona shares how every life transition holds hidden chapters waiting to be written.
We talk about navigating male-dominated industries, leading with empathy, and learni...
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