Be Freaking Awesome Podcast
Tired of surface-level conversations and sugar-coated advice? You’re in the right place. Be Freaking Awesome is not your average personal growth podcast. Hosted by Angela and Sami, an insightful mother-daughter duo with a gift for keeping it real, this is the space where authenticity, emotional intelligence, and radical self-awareness come together. We’re not here just to inspire you. We’re here to equip you with tools, stories, and soul-level truths that will help you grow in the real world, not some Pinterest-perfect version of it. Each week, we open up the real stuff: the messy middles, the limiting beliefs, the grief we never processed, the boundaries we were never taught to hold, and the dreams we’re still afraid to say out loud. From navigating burnout and setting healthy boundaries to healing your relationship with money and learning how to sit with hard emotions, we go deep and we do it with compassion, humor, and zero judgment. This show is especially for the big-feeling, high-achieving, people-pleasing, growth-obsessed folks who are ready to stop pretending they’ve got it all together and actually start living aligned. If you've ever said, “I know there’s more for me,” or “I’m tired of carrying all this alone,” this podcast was made for you. We bring two generations of experience, two distinct but complementary perspectives, and one shared mission: to help you stop settling, start healing, and live a freaking awesome life. You’ll hear from a mix of powerful guests including trauma-informed financial coaches, creatives who turned pain into purpose, and business leaders with heart. We also share solo and co-hosted episodes where we dive into our own struggles and triumphs from the therapy room to the boardroom to our own kitchen table. We’re not into quick fixes or perfectionism. We’re into progress, emotional regulation, nervous system safety, redefining success, and showing up with more courage, joy, and clarity than you ever thought possible. No matter where you are on your journey, whether you’re starting over, in transition, building something bold, or just feeling a little lost, we’re here to remind you that you are not broken, you are not too much, and you are capable of far more than you’ve been led to believe. Take a breath. Hit play. And get ready to do the deep work of becoming who you were always meant to be. This is your space to grow, heal, laugh, cry, question, and transform. Because life’s too short to settle for anything less than freaking awesome.
Episodes
If you’ve ever sat through a workplace training that sounded great in theory but didn’t change a thing, this episode is for you.
Angela and Sami are pulling back the curtain on why team trainings often fall flat, what “improving communication” actually means (hint: it’s not just talking nicer), and how to approach development that truly sticks. From metaphors about runny noses to real-world stories of transformation, t...
Welcome to Episode 200, our first ever live episode! We’re celebrating a huge milestone, giving major shout-outs, reflecting on what this podcast has meant so far, and sharing what’s next for the journey of Be Freaking Awesome.
What’s Inside This Episode
- Live recorded energy and community vibe: This is our first time doing a live broadcast, complete with real-time chats, emojis, and surprise guest drop-ins. We love ...
In this powerful and personal episode, Angela and Sami sit down with speaker, leadership trainer, and PhD researcher Summer Jelinek to talk about what it really means to be neurodivergent in the workplace.
From masking and burnout to emotional intelligence and late diagnoses, we explore how modern work culture often fails to support neurodivergent thinkers and what we can do about it. Summer shares her journe...
🎙️ EP198: Mac & Cheese and Mom Guilt: Let’s Talk About It
You know that feeling when you're serving up mac & cheese for dinner (again) and thinking, "Am I totally dropping the ball as a parent?" That creeping sense of mom guilt shows up in the quiet moments and the loud ones, making you question if you're doing enough or getting it all wrong.
In this episode, Angela and Sami are joined by Dr...
When life hits hard—really hard—how do you get back up?
In this raw and powerful episode, Angela and Sami sit down with Nick Morrison, a former professional bull rider whose life was dramatically altered by more than 50 concussions. From chasing rodeo dreams to losing the ability to speak, Nick’s story is one of unimaginable setbacks and unshakable resilience.
Nick walks us through the highs of living his dream, the bru...
Let’s be real. “Fine” is not the goal. And yet, so many couples find themselves stuck in the land of just-okay, coasting through life like roommates instead of staying deeply connected.
In this episode, Angela and Sami sit down with marriage coach and licensed counselor Karen Maloney to talk about how to wake up your relationship before it hits a breaking point. Karen shares her signature “Marriage Jolt” appr...
What if self-care wasn’t just a luxury, but a life-saving, community-shifting, revolutionary practice?
In this episode, Angela and Sami sit down with the extraordinary Dr. Joi Lewis, a community healer, liberation facilitator, and author of Healing: The Act of Radical Self-Care. Dr. Joi introduces her signature Orange Method, a healing framework that includes meditation, mindfulness, emotional liberation, and conscious...
Welcome to a delightfully unfiltered episode where Angela and Sami get grumpy, but not without a purpose.
This week, we’re talking about the everyday annoyances that poke at our peace and why those irritations often point to something deeper (hint: it’s not actually about pineapple on pizza).
From workout pain and pizza judgment to unhealed trauma and limiting beliefs, we explore what it means to hold space for people w...
What if competition isn’t the problem? What if it’s how we’ve been thinking about it?
In Part 2 of our conversation with Jake Thompson, keynote speaker, leadership coach, and Chief Encouragement Officer at Compete Every Day, Sami and Angela dig into what healthy competition really looks like in everyday life. From comparing yourself to others, to keeping score in relationships, to the subtle ways ego shows up in our dr...
What if the person standing in your way isn’t your competition at all but you?
In this episode, Sami and Angela sit down with Jake Thompson, keynote speaker, leadership coach, and Chief Encouragement Officer at Compete Every Day, to talk about what it really means to compete with yourself instead of everyone else. Jake opens up about how years of chasing other people’s success left him feeling drained and unfulfilled, ...
Have you ever stopped yourself from telling a story because you thought, “Well, that’s not important enough” or “That’s too small, nobody cares about that”? Or maybe you’ve worried that if you share your story, people will think you’re being too vulnerable, too much, or (worst of all) a little bit “woe is me.”
That’s exactly why Sami and Angela were so excited to sit down with Sara Lohse on this episode of Be Freaking ...
Ever feel like you’re stuck in that “in-between” space where life feels uncertain, overwhelming, or just plain messy? You’re not where you were, but you’re not where you want to be yet. That’s the messy middle, and it can be one of the hardest seasons to walk through.
In this episode, Angela and Sami sit down with Amy Wilkins, Messy Middle Mindset Coach, to talk about what it really takes to find strength in the middle...
Sami returns to the podcast with an honest look at what life has been like after becoming a mom of three through an unexpected guardianship that is now on the path to adoption. She shares the emotional highs and lows of bonding with a toddler, navigating work transitions, and leading a major community project all at once.
This episode unpacks what it means to follow through on something meaningful even when it’s incred...
What if the bravest thing you could do… was stop?
In this powerful and vulnerable episode, Angela sits down with fellow podcaster and author Stacy Ryan to talk about what it really looks like to consciously walk away from something—even something meaningful, purpose-driven, and healing.
Stacy shares her journey through surviving cancer, losing her husband, launching a podcast and book series about grief—and then making ...
Happy September! In this solo episode, Angela reflects on why this time of year feels like the real New Year and how we can use it to reset, reflect, and rewire the beliefs that are holding us back.
She also celebrates the anniversaries of publishing Be Freaking Awesome (2017) and Traveling Light (2023). Angela shares what she’s learned since writing them, what’s shifted in her healing journey, and why rewriting your i...
🎙 Episode 186: From GED to PhD: Hope, Healing, and a Hunger to Learn
with Dr. Jessi Brewer | Part 2 of 2
What if the way back to yourself started with a book?
In Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Jessi Brewer, we move from big systems to deeply personal transformation. Jessi opens up about growing up below the poverty line, navigating limited access to formal education, and how discovering books and community college ...
🎙 Episode 158: What Literature Teaches Us About Justice with Dr. Jessi Brewer
Part 1 of 2 with Dr. Jessi Brewer
What does Victorian literature have to do with modern prisons?
This week, we’re joined by Dr. Jessi Brewer, a literary scholar and Arkansas native, for a conversation that just might blow your mind. From GED to PhD, Jessi’s journey is packed with grit, purpose, and a radical rethinking of what justice could lo...
On this episode of Be Freaking Awesome, Angela is joined by Dr. Roz Griffiths, a chiropractor from Wellington, New Zealand, for a fascinating deep dive into the polyvagal theory and how understanding your nervous system can help you move from feeling stuck or overwhelmed to feeling safe, regulated, and empowered.
Dr. Roz shares her own health journey, explains the three main nervous system states (ventral vagal, sympat...
What if being kind to yourself wasn’t just a nice idea—but the key to better relationships, leadership, and daily peace?
In this episode, Angela sits down with executive coach and author Massimo Backus to explore what self-compassion in action really looks like—especially for high achievers and recovering perfectionists. With Sami on a surprise maternity leave (yay!), Angela and Massimo keep it real, diving into everyt...
What if the way we usually talk about confidence is kind of wrong?
This week, we’re joined by speaker and confidence igniter Meshell Baker for a conversation that challenges everything you thought you knew about confidence. Meshell doesn’t just inspire. She equips you to take ownership of your confidence. This isn't surface-level motivation. It's a real conversation about building lasting confidence.
Angela an...
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