Reclaim Your Rise: Type 1 Diabetes with Lauren Bongiorno

Rafael Pepen was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 17, right in the middle of rehearsing for his very first musical in the Dominican Republic. Without access to a CGM or carb counting education, he learned to manage largely on instinct. Years later, he moved to the US, pursued his dream of performing professionally, and eventually landed at Disney, where he now performs five high cardio shows a day.

In this episode, Rafael sits down...

In this solo episode, Lauren breaks down one of the most common and frustrating T1D scenarios: correcting and still running high. She starts by validating why it's so hard, and how it’s not necessarily because of the high itself, but because of the "boomerang decision" it creates. 

Lauren walks through the exact decision framework she uses with clients at Risely to think through this scenario clearly. From checking yo...

About a month ago, Lauren went through a two week stretch of crazy work hours, disrupted sleep, missed workouts, and a few sick days. Her time in range started slipping and she had to figure out how to navigate it in real time.

In this solo episode, she walks through exactly what happened, how she recognized her insulin sensitivity was changing, and the three options she always considers when life throws her off routine. Because wai...

In this episode, Lauren walks through a recent day in Florida where a combination of late night pizza, an exhausting night with a newborn, a long tennis session without enough food, and a handful of chips sent her on a full day roller coaster that ended with a scary low at dinner.

Lauren shares the five things she always does to reset physically and mentally following a tough blood sugar day, and why how you respond matters just as ...

On April 3rd, in the middle of a regular workday, Lauren's CGM read 245 with double arrows up. She did not feel high. She bolused anyway. Twenty minutes later she was on her kitchen floor, chugging orange juice, with her blood sugar in the 30s, headed down fast. Her CGM had been over 100 points off.

In this solo episode, Lauren shares exactly what happened that day, why it scared her in a way that CGM issues never had before, a...

Erin Provost was living a busy life as a wife and mom when she was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at 30. In 2023, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and spent the better part of a year fighting her way through it. Just when she thought the hardest part was behind her, a routine eye appointment introduced her to one more word she never expected to hear: retinopathy.

In this episode, Erin sits down with Lauren to talk about what it...

Coach Lindsey has lived with Type 1 Diabetes for 19 years and has been coaching with Risely for over two years. Lindsay was already a health coach in her primary role when she came to Risely as a client. She came through our group coaching program, found her footing with her own diabetes management, and knew she wanted to bring that same support to others. After completing the program, she went on to earn her National Board Certifi...

Many challenges with your blood sugars can be grouped into one of the two categories: habit or infrastructure. Until you know which one you're dealing with, you're likely doing patchwork (making changes that don't move the needle) and getting frustrated by nothing really changing.

In this solo episode, Lauren breaks down the foundational framework she uses with every coaching client to identify exactly where the leaks...

Megan O'Neill is a physician associate who spent years in clinical practice before finding her calling at the intersection of diabetes care and psychology. While working at the University of Kansas Medical Center, Megan discovered the work of leading diabetes psychology researchers and it changed her entire practice, her perspective, and her passion. That foundation eventually led her to Abbott Diabetes Care, where she has spe...

After coaching 2,500+ adults with T1D, Lauren discovered the T1D Archetypes. She notices there could be two people with the same A1C, and completely different remission experiences. The difference was never the numbers, it was the pattern underneath them.

In this episode, Lauren and Abby Cooper (Risely's Director of Coaching) unveil something 10 years in the making: the Risely T1D Archetype framework. If you've ever follow...

Dylan Leonard is a filmmaker, lifelong athlete, and person with type 1 diabetes who has spent the last decade traveling the world, often in remote and high-stakes environments, while navigating the day-to-day reality of blood sugars, supplies, and unpredictability. In this conversation, Dylan shares how his early diagnosis at 15, shaped a mindset that became his anchor: “I’ll figure it out.” That belief carried him through near-mis...

Loren was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 18, right as she was starting college. What followed were 15 years of highs and lows, not just in her blood sugars, but in her relationship with herself. From struggling with diabulimia in her early 20s to feeling anxious, burnt out, and alone, Loren shares what it was like to look “fine” on the outside while silently fighting her diabetes behind the scenes.

In this episode, she opens up a...

For decades, people living with Type 1 diabetes have asked the same question: what would life look like if my body made insulin again? In today’s episode, Lauren sits down with Katie Beth Hand (13 years with T1D) and Chris (diagnosed at 10 months old, living 35 years with T1D), two of only ten participants selected for the first cohort of the Eledon clinical trial at the University of Chicago. As Patients 9 and 10, they received an...

In this episode, Abby Cooper (Risely’s Director of Coaching and a parent of a child with type 1 diabetes) sits down with Jessie Bennett, a mom of two in California whose 13-year-old son, Samuel, was diagnosed with T1D two years ago. Jessie opens up about what the first year really felt like: survival mode, numbness, and the constant, invisible fear of low blood sugar that can hijack your body and your mind.

Together, Abby and Jessie...

Dating with Type 1 Diabetes can stir up questions about worth, vulnerability, and whether you are asking for too much or are too much. In this solo episode, Lauren shows up as your T1D older sister, sharing real-life insight, personal stories from her own relationship, and the conversations most people avoid when it comes to dating with diabetes.

You will hear why Type 1 Diabetes does not actually make dating harder. It simply revea...

Rachel Smith is an OB-GYN, lifelong mountain-lover, and person with type 1 diabetes who set out to summit Mount Vinson, Antarctica’s tallest peak, in some of the harshest conditions on the planet. After climbs like Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua, she realized the biggest curiosity was not just the summit itself, but the diabetes strategy behind it: insulin safety, altitude, tech failures, and what it takes to navigate unpredictable bloo...

This bonus episode takes you behind the scenes of a moment that made many people with Type 1 diabetes feel truly seen. Lauren visits Breakthrough T1D headquarters in New York City to sit down with Pam Morrisroe and uncover how the T1D Barbie went from an idea to a global symbol of representation. Pam shares her role in bringing community voices into the process and why getting the details right was not just important, it was everyt...

In this solo episode, Lauren breaks down one of the most important skills for navigating Type 1 Diabetes with more confidence: spotting blood sugar patterns without getting trapped in constant data analysis. She speaks to two common experiences, the person who’s already deep in the charts but still feels stuck, and the person who feels overwhelmed and convinced they “don’t have patterns.”

Lauren shares a simple, human approach to pa...

In this solo episode, Lauren shares practical, experience-based guidance for people living with Type 1 Diabetes who use the Omnipod 5 and still feel like their numbers are unpredictable or frustrating. Drawing from her own life with T1D and years of coaching clients at Risely Health, Lauren breaks down common gaps she sees between simply being on a pump and truly optimizing it.

Rather than focusing on perfection or medical rules, th...