Amazing Americans

Reverend Kevan L. Waiters is an ordained minister, Marine veteran, and inspirational speaker whose life reflects the power of faith, perseverance, and God's redeeming grace. He shares his personal journey - including his military service, growing up with 10 siblings in segregated South Carolina, helping his brother who needed a kidney transplant, and God's miraculous faithfulness through all of life's ups and down.

Book: Brother to Brother: The Miracle of Family

Born into a family fractured by mental illness, abuse, poverty, and generational trauma, Adriene Caldwell spent her childhood navigating chaos that no child should endure. Yet this is not a story about victimhood. It is a story of survival, resilience, and self-empowerment!

Book: Unbroken: Life Outside the Lines

Pain, suffering, and grief are inevitable, but how to cope and improve life is only done with experiences and knowledge. Dr. Daniel Brubaker has gone through all sorts of pain, suffering, and grief. He's battled stage 4 colon cancer, spinal surgeries, glaucoma, and more, and his mission is to help others dealing with difficult situations and going through a grieving process.

Book: Grief, Forgiveness, Acceptance, and Rejection

Murray Hidary is a multi-disciplinary artist and tech pioneer, mountain climber, world traveler, TEDx talker, and more. Hear and be motivated by his amazing story!

Website: https://www.mindtravel.com/
Instagram @ murrayhidary

Note: this episode originally aired on 3/15/25

Lorraine Balch Limero got stage 4 colon cancer and had to have two major operations. This is the story of her rollercoaster ride of ups and downs through the entire diagnosis, treatment, and post-cancer experience. She not only survived but is now thriving and sharing her story of hope with others.

Book: I Won't be Wearing a Bikini, But I'm Going to Keep on Swimming: A Story of Colon Cancer Survival

Chuck Mata has faced life's most unimaginable challenges, from lightning strikes to jail time. Blindness, homelessness, and seemingly endless setbacks led him through a labyrinth of despair. Yet, each fall marked the beginning of a triumphant rebirth, culminating in a miraculous journey and becoming a cure for cancer after participating in an NIH clinical trial for stage 3 melanoma.

Book: Beyond Belief

In 1971, months out of high school, American Witney Schneidman found himself at a secondary school in Mbarara, Uganda listening on the radio as Idi Amin announced his takeover the country. He soon understood that Africa was a continent of sweeping change - colonialism was ending, independence was on the march, and liberation movements were fighting tall odds to end white rule in Southern Africa - and he made the decision to dedicate his life to fostering strong ties between the United States and African nations.

Schneidman details the many risks and setbacks that stood between him and his dream of shaping U.S. policy toward Africa and contributing to progress on the continent. He recalls the isolation of being the only American studying at a university in Tanzania at the height of the Cold War, travel across 30 African countries, and policy successes that formed the cornerstone of U.S.-Africa relations. His inspiring story is a clarion call about the importance of engaging with the continent shaping the future of the world.

Book: This Africa Idea: A Memoir of Discovery, Diplomacy, and Opportunity

Pat Dougherty made a huge investment in a clean energy company called Rhino Onward International (ROI), where he knew some friends in management positions, shortly before retiring from a 30-year career with 3M. It turns out the two founders of ROI had been running a ponzi scheme involving roughly 250 investors to the tune of close to $50M! In this cautionary tale, Pat shares how it all happened to him, what happened next, and how others can avoid falling into a similar trap.

Book: Wolves in Sheep's Clothing: A Ponzi Scheme Victim's Story

"My story starts in absolute despair, but I went on to have a life many can only dream about."

This is the story of Dale Jones, a determined maverick who invented his own way of juggling one-handed. From clown school to winning jobs over talented two-handed jugglers, and eventually even being hired by The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, this is an entertaining an inspirational story you won't want to miss!

Book: One-Handed Juggler, A Memoir: The Wild and Somewhat Uplifting Life of Dale Jones

Note: this episode originally aired on 11/22/25

Michael Earls is a technology leader, enterprise strategist, and writer focused on the intersection of leadership, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. He explains why you should never stop learning, why speed without direction is just noise, and how to put people before position and be human again in a digital world. He also shares about his lifetime of diverse experiences, from his brother almost dying in a car accident to traveling the world and almost drowning on a sailboat in Aruba.

Website: MichaelEarls.com