Success is Subjective: Real People. Raw Stories. Embracing a Non-Linear Life!

In this episode of Success is Subjective, Joanna welcomes Theo Puccio, board-certified interventionist, care manager, and founder of ORCA Recovery. Raised in Brooklyn with dreams of becoming a lawyer, Theo seemed to be on a clear path to success—until substance use derailed his plans. After stepping away from college and entering treatment, he made the life-changing decision to stay in Colorado, where recovery became the foun...

In this episode of Success is Subjective, Joanna sits down with Karla Gomez, a clinician and entrepreneur whose career has taken her from culinary school in Puerto Rico to co-founding multiple integrative mental health practices. As a mother, business owner, and clinician, Karla shares how each chapter shaped her definition of a meaningful life.

Together, they explore why success isn't about following someone else's timeline, but ab...

In this episode of Success is Subjective, Joanna sits down with Kasey Bradshaw, National Director of Admissions and Outreach at BrightQuest Treatment Centers, to discuss the winding road that led him from a small, impoverished town in South Carolina to a career helping young adults navigate serious mental health challenges. Kasey shares how growing up believing college was the only path to success eventually gave way to a much broa...

In this episode of Success is Subjective, Joanna talks with entrepreneur, speaker, and author Ken Miller about his remarkable journey from Dartmouth graduate to more than two decades of homelessness, addiction, and multiple prison sentences. Today, Ken uses his story to encourage others that healing and lasting change are possible. Together, they discuss the difficult line between helping and enabling, why consequences can sometime...

On this episode of Success is Subjective, Jenna Mathias shares how she always believed success meant following the plan: graduate college, build a career, and keep moving forward. Instead, addiction led her down a very different path—one marked by repeated treatment stays, heartbreak, and hard lessons for both her and her family. Jenna reflects on how long-term recovery transformed her definition of success, why her parents' ...

Adam Salzman shares his journey from following the expected path of college and a corporate finance career to discovering that success meant something much more personal. After studying finance at Ohio University, spending time abroad in China, and working for Nissan, Adam realized he wanted to make a more meaningful impact by helping young adults gain confidence through real-world experiences. That calling ultimately led him to fo...

Don Campbell spent much of his early life believing he would become an educator, but his path to meaningful work was anything but straightforward. After struggling to find his footing in college, Don followed a series of unexpected opportunities through adult education, workforce development, healthcare training, youth programs, and behavioral health—often facing layoffs, funding cuts, and major life transitions along the way...

In this episode of Success is Subjective, Joanna sits down with brothers Brent and Kyle Pease, co-founders of the Kyle Pease Foundation. Raised with the expectation of following a traditional path after college, neither brother could have predicted that a career setback during the 2008 recession would ultimately lead them toward endurance racing, advocacy, and nonprofit leadership. What began as a personal commitment to health and ...

What happens when the path you imagined for yourself turns into something completely different? In this episode, Joanna sits down with Risher Reddick, Executive Director of Canopy College Coaching, to explore his unexpected journey from studying acting and theater to helping neurodivergent college students navigate higher education and early adulthood. Risher shares how skills he developed as an actor—listening, presence, cur...

In this episode of Success is Subjective, Joanna speaks with Annie Tulkin, founder of Accessible College, about supporting students with physical disabilities, chronic health conditions, and sensory impairments as they transition into higher education. Annie shares her own nonlinear journey through education, the Peace Corps, disability services at Georgetown University, and entrepreneurship, while offering insight into why so many...

In this episode of Success is Subjective, Joanna sits down with Brian Coon, Chief Clinical Officer at Pavilion, for a thoughtful conversation about identity, purpose, and redefining success on your own terms. Brian shares what it was like growing up overseas in Hong Kong before moving to rural Illinois as a teenager, how his early love of marine biology unexpectedly led him into psychology and addiction treatment, and why he has re...

Today’s episode features Madison Burke, a trained interventionist and recovery professional whose journey through addiction, chronic illness, mental health struggles, and recovery reshaped her understanding of identity and success. Despite appearing highly functional on the outside, Madison spent years battling substance use, unmanaged diabetes, depression, and survival mode behind the scenes. Madison shares with Joanna and l...

In this episode of Success if Subjective, Joanna sits down with Aideen Ni Riada, a vocal coach and creative mentor who helps people build confidence and reconnect with their authentic voice through singing and creativity. Aideen shares her nonlinear journey from growing up in Ireland and pursuing “safe” career paths, to experiencing burnout in London before eventually rebuilding her life around music, self-expression, a...

In this episode of Success is Subjective, Joanna sits down with board certified behavior analyst and parent coach Jerrod Zertuche to explore the evolving world of ABA, emotional regulation, and supporting neurodivergent families through connection and regulation. Jerrod shares his own nonlinear journey through anxiety, depression, people-pleasing, and feeling lost after college before ultimately finding purpose in helping families ...

In this episode, Dana Skaggs—a psychotherapist, keynote speaker, and podcast host known as the “Queen of Boundaries”—joins Joanna to explore burnout, boundaries, and sustainable success. With over 17 years of clinical experience, Dana shares how stepping away from external expectations led her into work that now helps high performers create more aligned, sustainable lives. She also hosts the top 5% globally ...

Rebecca Guez’s journey challenges the traditional definition of success, moving far beyond the high-pressure expectations she grew up with on the Upper East Side of New York City. Raised in an environment that prioritized elite education, financial success, and status, she initially followed the expected path into business school and the finance world—only to realize it was deeply misaligned with who she truly was. In t...

Clay Cross grew up in a high-achieving environment that looked stable on the outside, but behind the scenes was shaped by addiction, secrecy, and a lack of emotional safety. From an early age, he learned to suppress anything beyond success or anger—carrying that mindset into boarding school and eventually into young adulthood. As expectations around achievement grew, so did his substance use. What followed was a pattern of ex...

Dr. Chris Putnam spent 30 years as a funeral director, building a career rooted in grief, service, and showing up for people in their hardest moments. With no clear direction after high school, he found his own path—one that eventually led him back to school, earning multiple degrees and transitioning into work as a therapist, professor, and parent coach. In this episode, Chris reflects on the pressure to prove himself, the u...

Jennifer Loehding built a successful career in leadership before a rare nerve condition disrupted everything, forcing her into a prolonged state of pain and survival. What followed was a deeper process of unpacking the patterns, beliefs, and behaviors that had been driving her long before her diagnosis. In this episode, Jennifer shares how cycles of overachievement and “crash and burn” began showing up across her health...