BECOME Empowered

Imagine walking into a state government internship, handing them an evaluation that says you read and write at a first-grade level — and walking out having earned fifteen credits of A-minus. Now imagine a university committee looking at that same work and flunking you to fifteen credits of F. That's the moment Russell Van Brooklyn stopped waiting for permission and decided to solve dyslexia himself.

On this episode, Sabine sits down with Russell Van Brooklyn — known worldwide as the Dyslexia Professor — to unpack a truth most classrooms miss: dyslexia is not a reading problem. It's a wiring difference, and once you understand where the genius actually lives, everything changes.

Russell walks us through the brain science (the "back" of the brain that struggles with early reading versus the "front" that fires two-and-a-half times over in grad-school-level thinking), and reveals the counterintuitive method that flips the switch: start in the child's area of extreme interest, move from the specific to the general, and use writing as the measurable output that forces the brain to organize itself.

You'll hear the stories that make it real — Casey, who leapt eight grade levels in six months; Reed, who climbed from the 11th to the 64th percentile in reading in under nine months and rejoined his friends in mainstream classes; and Grayson, a 99th-percentile STEM kid being coached toward a peer-reviewed publication and a future terraforming Mars. Russell also shares his sharp take on AI in education: why students shouldn't touch it for academics until they know what good actually looks like.

This is one of those out-of-the-box conversations that reframes what's possible — for struggling readers, gifted learners, and every parent who's been told their child needs a special school they can't afford.

In this episode:

• Why dyslexia is a wiring difference, not a reading deficit
• The front-brain vs. back-brain science behind late-blooming genius
• The "specific to general" method that organizes the dyslexic mind
• How to work inside a child's passion to unlock rapid growth
• Real transformations: Casey, Reed, and Grayson
• Russell's rule on AI: master the craft before you touch the tool

About the guest: Russell Van Brooklyn is an educator and dyslexia specialist who turns daily reading frustration into confident academic wins for students facing dyslexia. His approach has moved students from the bottom percentiles into mainstream — and advanced — academic success at a fraction of the cost and time of traditional dyslexia programs.

Connect with Russell: Visit dyslexiaclasses.com (with an s), download the free guide, answer three quick questions, and book a complimentary 30-minute call.

Resources mentioned: Overcome Dyslexia by Dr. Sally Shaywitz · The Craft of Research · Russell's upcoming book If You Write You Can Read (with Evelyn Whitebear)

Your voice is your instrument, and so is your child's mind. When you learn how it's tuned, you can make it sing. 🎭

Some people find their turning point in a boardroom. Fenix Shepard found hers in a jail cell — where a total stranger looked at her with compassion and asked one question that cracked her life wide open: "Don't you think it's time to heal?"

In this episode, Sabine sits down with Fenix Shepard — spiritual mentor, Navy veteran, trauma survivor, and author of Loved Unconditionally — for a conversation that goes straight to the heart. Fenix walks us back to her last rock bottom at 30, the correctional officer who planted her first seed of hope, and the drive to the VA that became day one of a 15-year healing journey. She shares how she came to be nine years sober, how she forgave the unforgivable, and how a voice she first heard on a beach at 20 has guided and protected her ever since.

Along the way, Sabine and Fenix discover just how much they share — two women who each heard that same still, small voice in their most dangerous moment, and lived to build a life of purpose because of it.

Whether you're carrying old wounds, wrestling with shame, or simply learning to trust your own inner knowing, this episode is a reminder: your rock bottom doesn't get the final word. Your becoming does.

In this episode:

• Fenix's last rock bottom — and the stranger whose compassion changed everything
• "Enough is enough": the decision that started 15 years of healing
• Answering the call to serve, and forgiving what happened along the way
• The morning the craving lifted — nine years sober by grace
• Hearing the voice at 20, and why she calls it God
• Sabine and Fenix's uncanny shared story of being saved as young girls
• "Rebuild my church": Fenix's mission to heal religious trauma today
• Her unconventional work — personal training and desensitizing traumatic memories

📖 Fenix's book, Loved Unconditionally
🔗 Connect with Fenix: https://www.fenixshepard.com/

✨ Sabine's new memoir, GUMPTION: Sacred Whispers, Bold Moves, and the Courage to Become, is out now.

🔗 Connect with Sabine - Get your Bold Move Kit

🎧 Loved this conversation? Follow Become Empowered, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs to hear that healing is possible.

This episode touches on addiction, abuse, and trauma. If you're struggling, please reach out to a qualified professional or, in the U.S., call or text 988 for confidential support.

Thirty-five years ago, Sabine met an 18-year-old dancer in West Africa — talented, a little naïve, and not yet sure she belonged anywhere but the stage. In this episode, that young woman returns as Sabine's guest: Dorina Malcheva, now Artistic Director of MJ – The Michael Jackson Musical in Hamburg, Germany, leading a team of 34.

It's a conversation that moves like a memory: the smell of the airport air, the fires along a dark road, the first show they ever built together in an African club. But underneath the nostalgia is a masterclass in becoming. Dorina and Sabine unpack the sacred whisper — that small voice that says "why not?" — and what it costs to actually answer it. They talk honestly about rejection (Vienna said no to both of them, years apart), about the Invisible Stage™ of unseen practice that makes the visible moment possible, and about the goodwill you quietly bank over a career until, one day, someone trusts you with the whole show.

And in a world racing toward AI, they land on the one thing no algorithm can replicate: your story, told in your voice, on your stage.

Whether you're a performer, an author, a speaker, or an entrepreneur ready to step into your spotlight, this episode is your reminder — try it on, keep going, and connect, connect, connect.

Connect with Dorina on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dorinamaltschewa/

Connect with Sabine:

https://sabinekvenberg.com/resources

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/SabineKvenberg

IG: https://www.instagram.com/sabinekvenberg/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabine-kvenberg/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sabine.kvenberg.2025/ 

Jeremy Knauff spent nearly two decades building a successful marketing agency — until a severe health crisis nearly killed him and took the business down with it. In this raw, unfiltered conversation, the U.S. Marine Corps veteran and founder of Spartan Media shares what it was like to lose everything, the autoimmune condition that brought him to the edge, and the moment a fellow Marine's suicide became the turning point that changed how he showed up in the world.

Jeremy walks us through exactly how he rebuilt his authority from zero: writing his way onto top podcasts and into outlets like Forbes and Entrepreneur, then multiplying every feature into a network of content across social and video. We also dig into what "authority" means now that AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity are the ones vetting experts before a journalist — or a client — ever does, and why pay-to-play media features can quietly work against you.

If you're rebuilding after a setback, or wondering how to be findable and credible in an AI-driven world, this episode is your roadmap.

In this episode:

• How a health crisis and years of chronic pain nearly ended Jeremy's career — and his life
• The fellow Marine's suicide that became his turning point
• The exact content strategy that took him from invisible to Forbes and Entrepreneur
• How to turn one media feature into dozens of pieces of content
• What "authority" means when AI tools are the ones evaluating you
• Why fake/pay-to-play media features can hurt more than they help
• The mindset shift that keeps you moving when you want to quit

Connect with Jeremy:

https://spartanmedia.com/

Connect with Sabine:

https://sabinekvenberg.com/resources

You don't find courage — you build it, one bold step at a time. In this episode, Sabine unpacks why courage is forged in the moments when everything in you screams "stop," and why the difference between a wish and a whisper might be the thing standing between you and your next chapter.

Get Your Free Bold Move Kit:

https://sabinekvenberg.com/get-your-bold-move-kit

Connect on Social Media:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/SabineKvenberg

IG: https://www.instagram.com/sabinekvenberg/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabine-kvenberg/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sabine.kvenberg.2025/ 

Jeff Luther collapsed mid-workout in front of his 16-year-old son — no pulse, no breath. Two AED shocks didn't bring him back. The third did. In this raw, unfiltered conversation, Jeff walks us through what actually happens in the space between life and death, the paralyzing fear that followed a second cardiac arrest, and the exact moment — 30 seconds at a time — that he started rebuilding his life on his own terms. We talk about ego, gratitude, the stories we tell ourselves, and why the belief "I am becoming" changes everything.

Check out Jeff's podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/all-can-no-cant-mastering-resilience/id1658627241

Connect with Jeff on Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/jdluther2.0/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-luther/

Stay in touch with Sabine:

https://sabinekvenberg.com/resources

Your Free Gift: https://sabinekvenberg.com/get-your-bold-move-kit

Pre-order Gumption:

https://sabinekvenberg.com/pre-order-gumption

Time Stamps:

• [00:09] Introduction — Jeff's story begins mid-collapse at the gym in front of his son
• [01:56] The workout, the racing heart, and the moment things didn't stop this time
• [02:25] Going into ventricular fibrillation — and the strange, split-second shift from "get away from me" to "please don't let me go"
• [03:27] Watching his son's shoes walk toward him on the gym floor — "Jeff, you've got to get up"
• [05:43] Waking up and thinking he'd gotten drunk the night before
• [06:40] Coming to — to the sound of his own screaming
• [07:19] How the AED actually works, and why the first shock didn't bring him back
• [08:49] 911, a second shock, a second failure
• [09:15] The paramedics arrive — third shock, and he wakes up
• [09:54] Denial in real time: "Are we going to finish this workout?"
• [10:23] Four days in the hospital and the diagnosis: ARVC (arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy)
• [11:22] Back in the gym after 30 days — and cardiac arrest strikes again
• [11:50] This time, he knew he was dying — and everything changed
• [12:31] Paralyzing fear, a divorce he didn't want, and life "effectively ending"
• [13:04] Finding gratitude for a pen — the smallest possible starting point
• [13:31] The first workout back — breaking down, giving up, feeling like a failure
• [15:17] His coach's pivotal question: "Does that thing hurt?"
• [15:44] The 30-second breakthrough — working for 30, resting 30, and getting his life back one interval at a time
• [18:58] The belief that became a gut-punch: our beliefs shape our future — and our present
• [19:29] Untangling shame and guilt from his divorce — and the shift from "who am I" to "who am I becoming"
• [22:56] Why gratitude and bitterness can't occupy the same space in the brain

At almost 85 years young, Nancy Jasin is proof that the ending is never written until you write it. A retired nurse who "never really retires," Nancy joins Sabine to share a life shaped by resilience — from a violent childhood spent hiding in a closet, to 42 years of sobriety, to building three businesses and becoming an author who now sends out two poems a week.

Nancy opens the doors most people keep closed. She talks candidly about PTSD, addiction, and the night on her bathroom floor when she heard a voice tell her no — the moment that gave her back her faith, her family, and her purpose. She shares hard-won wisdom on forgiveness ("throw away the albatross"), on death as a natural part of life witnessed through hospice work, and on why growth, journaling, and guided imagery keep her sharp and at peace.

Sabine and Nancy also dig into using AI as a partner — not a replacement — for creativity and communication, and why writing by hand still matters more than ever. Whether you're facing your own dark closet or simply want to feel braver about the next chapter, Nancy's tire swing will beckon you: sometimes we soar, sometimes we fall — but all in all, we have the choice to ride.

What if the wisdom you're searching for has been inside you since childhood?

In this Saturday Live conversation, Sabine Kvenberg sits down with visionary strategist and three-time #1 international bestselling author Joanne Weiland to explore the moments that quietly build a courageous life. Sabine opens up about the day — at just nine years old, alone in a Hamburg park — when an inner voice told her to run, and how that single moment launched a lifelong spiritual journey and her search for inner wisdom.

Together they unpack the heart of Sabine's new memoir, GUMPTION: Sacred Whispers, Bold Moves, and the Courage to Become — why gumption is far more than courage, what the "O" for Optimism really asks of us, and why setbacks (a lost lake house, the 2008 crash, caring for aging parents) so often become the doorway to who we're meant to become. You'll hear why joy doesn't require having "more," why every coach is a season and not a destination, and why we have to celebrate the climb instead of sprinting to the next mountain.

Tender, funny, and quietly powerful — this one will leave you trusting your own voice a little more.

📖 GUMPTION publishes August 4th — pre-order now wherever books are sold. Pre-order through Barnes & Noble in the U.S. and message Sabine for an advance copy.
🎙️ Want a book signing or book-club discussion in your city? Reach out — details in the show notes.

What happens when staying authentic costs you everything… but opens the door to something even bigger?

In this inspiring episode of Become Empowered, Sabine Kvenberg sits down with author, voice actor, musician, and storyteller Aaron Ryan to talk about resilience, reinvention, creativity, and the courage to stay true to yourself—even when it comes at a cost.

Aaron shares his remarkable journey from accidentally becoming a voice actor to publishing 50+ books, creating music, and building a legacy through storytelling. But behind the success is a deeply human story of rejection, disappointment, and learning to trust yourself when the world doesn’t validate your path.

Together, Sabine and Aaron explore:

✨ Why authenticity matters—even when it’s uncomfortable
✨ The toxic side of creative industries and how to overcome setbacks
✨ What creators and authors need to know about marketing books successfully
✨ How storytelling shapes human connection
✨ The surprising link between pain, music, and creativity
✨ Why your focus determines your reality
✨ The powerful lesson of learning you are truly worthy of love

Aaron also shares one of the most touching legacy projects imaginable: a daily journal he’s been writing for his sons since infancy.

If you’re an entrepreneur, creator, author, speaker—or simply someone navigating change—this episode will remind you that setbacks can become the doorway to your greatest creative chapter.

Key takeaway: Sometimes losing what feels safe is exactly what creates space for something extraordinary.

🎧 Tune in and discover how embracing your authentic self can transform your life.

Get on Podmatch to become a guest or get amazing guests for your show. https://www.joinpodmatch.com/sabine_invitation

Aaron's website: https://authoraaronryan.com/

Sabine's info:

Connect via Calendly: https://calendly.com/coachsabine/connect-with-sabine 

Pre-order GUMPTION: 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gumption-sabine-kvenberg/1148750776?ean=9781636989150

RESOURCES:  https://www.sabinekvenberg.com/resources  

What if your money problems have nothing to do with money?
In this episode of Become Empowered, Sabine sits down with Scott Maderer — host of the Inspired Stewardship podcast with over 1,800 episodes — to unpack a truth most people avoid: financial stress is a symptom, not the source. The real problem is alignment.

Scott opens up about his raw personal story: $60,000 in debt on a $40,000 teacher's salary, suicidal thoughts he kept hidden from his wife, and the radical turning point that changed everything. From the classroom to a corporate executive suite to launching a full-time coaching business after a stranger said, "You and your wife are weird — can you help us be weird?"

In this conversation you'll discover:
• Why your checkbook and calendar reveal what you actually value (not what you say you do)
• The little-known difference between career and vocation — and why it changes how you live
• How to master your time, talent, and treasure intentionally
• The one question we stop asking adults that could unlock everything

Scott shares insights from his book Inspired Living and has a free resource page exclusively for Become Empowered listeners at inspiredstewardship.com/becomeempowered.

If you've ever felt stuck, out of alignment, or like your life doesn't match what you say matters most — this episode is for you.

CONNECT WITH SCOTT
Website: inspiredstewardship.com
Podcast: Inspired Stewardship

CONNECT WITH SABINE

Register for free webinar:

https://sabinekvenberg.com/be-seen-live-masterclass
Website: sabinekvenberg.com/resources
Book a call: talktosabine.com
Instagram/LinkedIn: @sabinekvenberg

TOPICS COVERED
[0:01] Welcome — Introducing Scott Maderer
[0:56] Scott's three words: Curious, Knowledgeable, Giving
[3:40] From science teacher to corporate executive — Scott's path
[4:47] $60K in debt on a $40K salary — and suicidal thoughts he kept secret from his wife
[6:35] "You and your wife are weird" — how a stranger accidentally launched a coaching business
[9:43] Money is the symptom — here's the real problem
[12:28] "Show me your checkbook and calendar — I'll tell you if you're lying"
[17:09] Scott's book: Inspired Living — assembling the puzzle of your calling
[18:06] The "blood of the covenant" quote that reframes legacy
[21:00] Can you — and should you — get paid for your calling?
[21:51] Career vs. vocation: the word roots that will change how you think about purpose
[24:09] What "calling" actually means and why it shows up in everything
[29:35] Scott's final message: stop asking "what do you want to do?" — ask who you want to BE