Step into the Pivot

This episode covers extremely sensitive topics, including grief and death. Listener discretion is advised. Please prioritize your well-being while listening.

Kim shares the lived reality of becoming a grandmother guardian after the sudden loss of her daughter. Raising Ruby means carrying grief and love at the same time, navigating invisible labor, chronic stress, and an identity that does not fit neatly into legal language.

Gues...

Kevin Husted’s story unfolds at the intersection of career risk and personal truth. After being abruptly dismissed from a nonprofit for being outed, Kevin faced the pressure to keep providing for his family while deciding how much of himself to bring to work. He shares how finding alignment in senior healthcare allowed skill, humanity, and presence to work together, and why coming out is not a single moment but an ongoing practice....

A rare cancer diagnosis at twenty five forced Ilana into uncertainty and hard choices she never planned for. What emerged was a grounded way forward built on specificity, supportive systems, and boundaries that protect energy. 

Guest Bio:

Ilana Morris is a systems and operations strategist and fractional COO who helps purpose driven entrepreneurs and organizations streamline operations and scale sustainably. With over a decade o...

What happens when you achieve the life you worked hard to build and realize it no longer fits? Matt shares the moment he passed the CFP, looked at a future of safety and respect, and felt only boredom. That realization sparked a different kind of certainty, one rooted in agency, self trust, and the courage to become a beginner again.

Guest Bio:

Matt Mosich is an executive communication and speaker coach who helps leaders transfo...

A new year can get noisy with ambitions goals that never get reached, so we chose a more deliberate and sustainable path. In this episode, we focus on clear intentions, values-led choices, and simple actions that actually stick. Instead of chasing balance, Theresa and Ivana show how they plan to work toward integration, guided by one steady theme that keeps decisions honest.

We pay attention to the whole self: the body, nervous syst...

What happens when life throws multiple pivots at you simultaneously? Jessica Porter found herself facing this exact scenario when she moved from Texas to Portland, transitioned from the automotive industry to financial services, and became a stepmother to an eight-year-old. All at the same time.

Jessica's journey begins with the challenges of relocating to rainy Portland in January, knowing virtually no one except her partner w...

A new child, a global pandemic, and an unexpected two-year isolation—Yolanda Reyes White's journey into motherhood was nothing like she planned. Just weeks after welcoming her daughter in February 2020, the world shut down, transforming what was supposed to be a brief parental leave before returning to daycare and office life into an extended period of family bonding that changed everything.

"I had to go back to ...

Have you ever experienced a moment when everything you thought you knew suddenly changed? When Stephanie Neault was 15 years old, her parents sat her down and revealed they were actually her grandparents. This single conversation set off a cascade of questions about identity, belonging, and trust that would shape her life for decades to come.

After years of "white-knuckling" through life, experiencing dramatic wo...

Purpose-driven nonprofit leader Alison Nakamura takes us on her journey of transformation, sharing the pivotal moment at age 30 when she abandoned her successful Manhattan PR career to pursue social work—a decision that seemed financially risky but spiritually essential. With remarkable candor, she reveals how growing up between two parental influences, her nurse mother's service-oriented values and her father's tradition...

When Anne Tankersley decided to make 2023 her "self-care year," she had no idea how profoundly that decision would change her life. A mammogram revealed triple-negative breast cancer, launching her into an intense journey of treatments, career transitions, and personal transformation. 

With remarkable candor, she describes attempting to maintain her professional momentum through 20 weeks of chemotherapy, only gradually lea...

Despite having regular mammograms and being previously told she had benign fibrocystic breast tissue, Kim received news that would change everything. The confusion of conflicting test results and constantly changing treatment plans taught her what would become her mantra: "Prepare for the plan to change." This wisdom carried her through surgery, chemotherapy, and the difficult decisions that followed. Kim's transform...

This episode covers extremely sensitive topics, including violence. Listener discretion is advised. Please prioritize your well-being while listening.

How do you move forward when the foundation of your life story crumbles beneath you? Claudia St John returns to share the aftermath of her father's shocking confession to murdering her grandmother 26 years earlier.

The moment Claudia learned the truth, she knew she would...

This episode covers extremely sensitive topics, including violence. Listener discretion is advised. Please prioritize your well-being while listening.

What would you do if someone you loved confessed to an unthinkable crime? Claudia St. John faced this impossible question when her father casually admitted to murdering her grandmother – 26 years after the fact.

With raw honesty, Claudia shares the month-long moral ...

A chance meeting in a Bronx apartment building sparked a 13-year mentorship journey that transformed both lives and careers. When Sarah Simoneaux rushed to New York after her daughter Nicole hadn't been heard from in weeks, she discovered not only her daughter in crisis but also an unexpected connection that would reshape her understanding of purpose and success.

During her extended stays supporting Nicole's reco...

From functioning alcoholic to emotional freedom expert, Helen McConnell's life transformation began with a terrifying realization: "I'm going to lose it all." Though outwardly successful with the elegant BMW, beautiful condo, and executive career, Helen's inner world was crumbling under addiction. Her powerful pivot started with sobriety through AA, but something still felt missing.

The true revela...

Welcome to the finale of our two-part conversation with Jeff Acheson. 

A parable about saving starfish opens this profound conversation with Jeff, who shares his journey of transforming devastating personal loss into purposeful action. After losing his daughter Amber two years ago, Jeff founded Amber's Aces to partner with ROX (Ruling Our Experiences), an organization dedicated to building confidence and self-esteem i...

The moment Jeff Acheson's daughter Amber passed away two years ago, his world changed forever. What followed wasn't just grief, but a powerful transformation that's touching countless young lives today.

Through vulnerability and courage, Jeff illuminates the critical distinction between diagnosed mental illness and the broader spectrum of mental health challenges: self-esteem, confidence, and self-worth iss...

In this episode of Step Into The Pivot, Theresa and Dr. Ivi (Ivana) share deeply personal reflections on July 4th, and how the meaning of this holiday has shifted for each of them over time.

Theresa recalls the joy and innocence of childhood fireworks. For Dr. Ivi, the explosions once triggered traumatic memories from her war-torn childhood in Croatia. But instead of avoiding the pain, she chose a bold pivot: transforming the holida...

What happens when you realize the person you've been presenting to the world for decades isn't your true self? Jay Washington's powerful conversation takes us on a journey through authenticity, emotional growth, and unexpected life pivots.

The conversation takes a deeply moving turn as Jay shares his transition from being the fun uncle ("funkle") to becoming a father figure ("dunkle") for...