There’s a quiet power in learning how to sit with your own feelings—and in this episode of A Fresh Story, we dig into that transformative work. Executive coach and licensed clinical social worker Laura Fink joins Olivia Howell for a conversation that goes far beyond therapy buzzwords, revealing the real, raw, and sometimes messy truth of what it means to be emotionally agile in today’s world. From the endless swirl of social media comparisons to the guilt we carry over emotions we “shouldn’t” have, Laura reminds us that the question isn’t whether we’ll face struggles—it’s who we’ll be when they arrive.

Laura opens the door to emotional agility as both a practice and a lifeline. She shares how we often fall into one of three unhelpful patterns—bottling, brooding, or splashing our feelings everywhere—and explains why none of them lead to real relief. Instead, she guides us toward awareness, naming what we feel, and learning how to move through emotions without judgment. With vulnerability and clarity, Laura makes it clear that our bodies, not our racing thoughts, hold the deepest truths we need to hear.

For anyone navigating divorce, single motherhood, or simply the everyday chaos of modern life, this conversation is a balm. Laura’s perspective offers not just hope, but tangible tools for slowing down, checking in, and choosing emotional honesty over repression or chaos. It’s an episode about courage, resilience, and the radical practice of honoring your own humanity—even when the world tells you to “calm down.”

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The first time money breaks something you love, it doesn’t sound like coins; it sounds like silence. In this intimate Book Talk, we sit with Heather and Douglas Boneparth—partners in marriage, parenting, and work—who wrote Money Together because they lived the gap between what couples say about money and what they can’t bear to say out loud. The episode opens where most advice books don’t: inside the messy, human moments—doors closing, calendars clashing, one person carrying the weight of “contribution” without a paycheck to show for it.

Heather, a recovering corporate attorney turned money writer, and Douglas, a financial advisor and resident finance meme-lord, built their book as a series of love stories about money. Through real couples’ narratives and their own, they show how cultural scripts, childhood histories, and unequal caregiving shape what we spend, save, hide, or fear. The chapters on “Beginnings” and “Contributions” ask harder questions than “What’s your budget?”—they ask who taught you what “providing” means, whose time gets valued, and what counts as care.

Money Together matters because it replaces lectures with language, and shame with doable conversation starters. It’s a book for anyone craving equity at home and intimacy that can survive a bank statement—an invitation to stop performing the relationship and start living it. If you’re in a season of transition—new baby, job loss, divorce contemplation, or the slow realization that something has to change—this conversation offers a gentle push and practical prompts to open the door, sit down, and begin again.

Learn more about Money Together and buy the book: https://domoneytogether.com/

Subscribe to Heather and Doug’s Substack: https://www.readthejointaccount.com/

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What if the problem isn’t that you want “too much,” but that the world keeps insisting you be just one thing? In this A Fresh Story: Book Talk, Amanda Goetz opens the door to the messy middle—those seasons when ambition and tenderness, rebuilding and exhaustion, motherhood and desire, all crowd the same room. She tells the truth about filing for divorce while leading marketing at The Knot, raising three kids under four, and learning to love a life that refused to fit a single lane.

Her new book, Toxic Grit: How to Have it All and (actually) Love What You Have, is a practical guide for anyone trying to reconcile competing parts of themselves. Drawing on her years as a founder (House of Wise) and a marketer, Amanda offers “character theory,” a framework for re-meeting the cast inside you—the worker, the mother, the lover, the friend—and rewriting their scripts. Across three sections—Meet Your Characters, Honor the Imbalance, and Master the Multiverse—she gives language and tools for intentional seasons, “front-burner” focus, guilt-free check-ins, and spin cycles that help you redistribute energy when life shape-shifts without asking.

Why does this matter now? Because life transitions—divorce, career pivots, becoming or unbecoming in motherhood—demand both grit and gentleness. Amanda’s story is a permission slip: set an end date for your sprint, name what’s on the front burner, and communicate the season to your supporting cast. This is a book you can work through with your therapist, your book club, or alone at the kitchen table—a restorative companion for anyone who needs a framework to feel whole again, not smaller. If you are lost, numb, or newly starting over, Toxic Grit offers a map and the courage to choose yourself.

Toxic Grit: How to Have it All and (actually) Love What You Have by Amanda Goetz

Some books arrive in the world because their authors have always dreamed of writing them. Others are born from heartbreak, stitched together from the pieces of a life forever altered. Your NICU Story is the latter — a tender, practical, and deeply human guide born from Ravi and Mahaley Patel’s experience of loving and losing their daughter, Saachi, after a birth injury and a NICU stay. What began as unimaginable grief became a mission: to help other parents navigate the uniquely disorienting, exhausting, and often traumatic world of the NICU — whether their child came home or not.

Co-written with therapist Emily Souder, Your NICU Story is part journal, part reflection guide, part lifeline. Structured like a workbook, it gently walks readers through five stages of the NICU journey — from those first moments in the unit, to the long days and nights by an incubator, to the complexity of going home (with or without a baby). With prompts that invite honesty, space for partners’ voices, and room to write or simply sit with memories, it offers both a tool for processing trauma and an anchor for those still feeling adrift. The book’s structure is intentional — trauma fragments memory, and these pages help knit it back together.

But Your NICU Story is more than a book; it’s an act of generosity. In sharing their own heartbreak with vulnerability and even moments of hard-won humor, the Patels have given other families permission to speak their truths. For parents, grandparents, partners, and friends touched by the NICU, it’s a reminder that healing is not linear, that small wins matter, and that love endures beyond every beeping monitor. Above all, it’s proof that even in the wake of profound loss, there is still a way to create meaning, to connect, and to honor the smallest lives in the biggest way possible.

Your NICU Story: Reflecting on Your Family's Experience by Emily Souder and Mahaley Patel: https://amzn.to/41Fx5a6

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When the world shut down, Anna Rollins opened a door she had kept locked for over a decade. A longtime teacher and private writer, Anna found herself postpartum, isolated during the pandemic, and struck by a single, urgent question: Would she go her whole life without telling the truth about what had shaped her? What followed was a furious commitment to finally write the book she’d always feared—and needed—to write. In this intimate episode, Olivia Howell sits down with Anna to discuss her forthcoming memoir, Famished: On Food, Sex, and Growing Up as a Good Girl, and the winding, courageous path to saying the unsayable.

Anna’s memoir dives deep into the tangled roots of evangelical purity culture and diet culture, unearthing the ways these ideologies collude to separate women from their own bodies, appetites, and desires. Structured in three acts—girlhood, marriage, and motherhood—the book blends personal narrative with reportage, including interviews with nearly 50 women who have lived under these same scripts. Anna shares how writing this story helped her reclaim her body, her voice, and her authority after years of self-erasure, and why she believes telling the truth about our most tender experiences is an act of rebellion and liberation.

This conversation is not just for those who grew up in religious communities—it’s for anyone who was ever taught to shrink themselves. With vulnerability and clarity, Anna reminds us that writing for yourself first is sacred, and that the courage to share your story doesn’t have to arrive all at once—it can come quietly, in the margins of your life, and grow louder with time. Whether you're an aspiring memoirist, a woman untangling herself from cultural expectations, or simply someone in search of a fresh story, this episode offers hope, resonance, and a powerful invitation to reclaim the narrative.

Buy Famished by Anna Rollins here: https://amzn.to/40E0aT3

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It starts with a hot flash. That moment—unexpected, uninvited, and disorienting—becomes the spark that ignites Clementine Crane’s quiet rebellion. In this moving and laugh-out-loud episode of A Fresh Story: Book Talk, Olivia sits down with novelist and writing teacher Kristin Bair to discuss her forthcoming novel Clementine Crane Prefers Not To, a fierce and funny feminist tale of a woman who wakes up, drenched in sweat, and realizes she’s been sleepwalking through a life of over-functioning, over-giving, and never asking herself what she wants. What follows is Clementine’s unraveling—and remaking—of her life, one “I prefer not to” at a time.

Kristin brings her sharp wit and deeply lived insight to a conversation about writing, rage, midlife, and the radical awakening that can occur in the most mundane moments of motherhood. Inspired by both her own perimenopausal experience and the literary ghosts of Melville and Ibsen, Clementine Crane Prefers Not To is part love letter to women who are done saying yes to everything—and part battle cry for those still trying to find the language for their no. Clementine is a mother, a wife, a library worker, and a woman who has spent decades appeasing the world around her. But in the quiet heat of hormonal upheaval, something cracks open, and she begins to reclaim the person she’s long buried beneath obligation.

For anyone moving through a major life transition—whether it's divorce, menopause, career change, or simply waking up to the ache of self-neglect—this novel is an anthem of autonomy. Kristin shares her writing journey with warmth and vulnerability, reminding us that transformation rarely looks glamorous, but it often begins with the smallest refusal. Clementine’s story is not just fiction—it’s a mirror, a permission slip, and a hopeful blueprint for choosing yourself, over and over again.

Buy Clementine Crane Prefers Not To by Kristin Bair: https://amzn.to/3INQ6kg

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When Laura Danger first began writing No More Mediocre, it wasn’t just a book—it was a lifeline. Born from her own marriage, her classroom experiences, and thousands of digital conversations, Laura set out to unpack one of the most overlooked truths of modern life: domestic labor isn’t just a set of chores—it’s the foundation of intimacy, equity, and well-being in every relationship. In this powerful episode of A Fresh Story, Olivia Howell sits down with the educator, advocate, and viral voice behind That Darn Chat to explore how Laura’s book invites us to stop settling for crumbs—at home, in partnership, and in life.

Together, Olivia and Laura unravel the invisible weight so many people carry—the dishes in the sink, the towels folded “wrong,” the long nights alone with the baby while the other parent sleeps soundly. But this conversation goes far beyond rants about chores. With clarity and compassion, Laura explains how sitcom tropes, cultural narratives, and deep-rooted biases have shaped our expectations of care work. And with real, vulnerable stories—including the evolution of her own marriage—she shows us that we’re not broken, we’ve just been handed a broken system.

This episode isn’t a takedown—it’s a wake-up call, a warm hand on your back, and a rally cry for anyone who’s ever thought, “Is this all there is?” With practical tools, a high-impact task workbook, and a deep belief in the power of community care, Laura’s book—and this conversation—offer more than hope. They offer a new way forward. If you’ve ever wondered what your life could feel like with real equity, real support, and real partnership…this is the story you need to hear.

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The moment Tiffany Graham Charkosky received the phone call that changed everything, she wasn’t a child anymore—but suddenly, her childhood grief came rushing back. In this poignant episode of A Fresh Story, Tiffany sits down with Olivia Howell to share the emotional landscape behind her debut memoir, Living Proof: How Love Defied Genetic Legacy. What began as an unanswered ache—the loss of her mother to colon cancer at age 11—became a search for meaning, identity, and a way forward through the lens of genetic testing. Tiffany’s story is not just about DNA; it’s about motherhood, memory, and making peace with a future you didn’t ask for.

As she recounts her journey through grief, motherhood, and writing, Tiffany offers listeners a deeply honest glimpse into what it means to live with inherited trauma—and choose love anyway. With Olivia, she explores how writing can serve as both mirror and medicine, and why some stories take a decade to write. The episode moves through the harrowing reality of testing positive for a genetic mutation, the fierce desire to protect her children from the loss she experienced, and the quiet, persistent act of becoming the parent she never had.

This conversation isn’t a how-to. It’s a heart-to-heart. It’s for anyone who has lost a parent too soon, who has faced the weight of legacy, or who is trying to mother without a map. Tiffany's words offer no perfect answers—but they are steady hands reaching out across time and loss. Whether you're a writer, a daughter, a parent, or someone who has simply loved and lost, this story will stay with you.

Buy the book here: https://amzn.to/4eYGyPv

It started with a softball game and a dream to become fathers. In this heart-opening episode of A Fresh Story, we sit down with Danny Auld and David Fullner, a couple whose love story spans over two decades—and whose journey into parenthood required courage, creativity, and a cross-country dash to a Honolulu delivery room. What began with a lighthearted “Would you be our surrogate?” turned into a lifelong bond with Auntie Dian, the woman who carried their son Paul into the world eight weeks early and gifted them a family.

But this story isn’t just about how Paul came to be—it’s about what came after: a multi-generational household filled with love, a Kickstarter dream turned national brand, and a baby food company that’s as much about flavor and cultural inclusion as it is about nutrition. Kekoa Foods was born from their kitchen and their deep desire to raise an adventurous eater—and the result is a product line now gracing shelves at Sprouts, Wegmans, and Amazon.

Danny and David open up about what it really means to build a life together—from marriage under a tree at a Connecticut rest stop, to NICU night shifts, to launching a business during the pandemic. Their story is one of radical love, intentional parenting, and the everyday magic of showing up for your dreams (and your people). This episode is for anyone who's ever asked themselves: “Can I really do this?” Because the answer, as Danny and David prove, is yes. And you just might find your family—and your future—in the most unexpected of places.

Snag some Kekoa for 25% off at THIS LINK with code FS25! And check out our review of Kekoa foods HERE.

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Some weeks are about productivity. Others are about survival. And then there are the ones like this—where the beauty lies in the whimsy, the detours, and the quiet wisdom that sneaks in while you’re painting miniature wallpaper or waiting for a thunderstorm to pass. In this heartwarming episode of Weekly Wrap-Up, Olivia and Genevieve are joined by a very special guest: Weston, Olivia’s oldest son, who brings both sparkle and soul to the mic for his podcast debut.

The trio dives into the unexpected joys of potion-making, haircuts that feel like declarations of self-worth, and the sacred silliness of summer break. From shopping trips and shadow boxes to missed summer camp days and viral Instagram roundups, the episode offers a tender, funny, and deeply relatable portrait of what it means to live creatively and intentionally—even when the week doesn’t go as planned. And in between the laughter and tangents, there's powerful reflection on rest, love after divorce, and learning to find joy in small, magical corners of life.

As always, the conversation closes with “weekly wisdoms”—this time from all three voices. Weston reminds us that rest is doing something. Genevieve reflects on the power of whimsy in serious times. And Olivia offers a quiet but stirring reminder that single moms can still believe in love stories. It’s an episode full of honesty, heart, and hope—and one you’ll want to revisit the next time you need permission to pause.

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