Born without a choice

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Melissa Crook, creator and host of The FEEL Podcast, where she explores self-care, emotional wellness, boundaries, self-leadership, and personal growth for women.

Melissa shares how reaching 50 became a turning point that forced her to examine anxiety, people-pleasing, codependency, performance, and the emotions she had spent years pushing aside.

We talk about why emotional health deserves the same attention as physical health, how unprocessed emotions can affect the way we experience life, why boundaries aren’t selfish, and what it really means to prioritize yourself without guilt.

Melissa’s message is simple but powerful:

You are worthy of taking care of yourself.

And sometimes, choosing yourself isn’t selfish…

It’s the beginning of becoming whole.

📣 Melissa Crook — Contact Details

FEEL Podcast / Substack: The FEEL Podcast⁠

Melissa’s platform focuses on women’s self-care, emotional wellness, boundaries, personal growth, and living authentically. Her podcast is described as helping women build confidence, manage overwhelm, and develop healthier boundaries.

Call to Action for listeners: Visit her FEEL Podcast/Substack to explore her resources and conversations around emotional health and self-leadership.

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Jennifer Chassman Browne, disability advocate, educator, writer, speaker, and certified Listener Poet.

Jennifer has lived with Rheumatoid Arthritis since childhood and has spent years helping organizations understand disability, inclusion, accessibility, and what it truly means to create spaces where everyone belongs.

We talk about the difference between accessibility and belonging, the assumptions people make about disability, the importance of listening before helping, and why people with disabilities should be seen as whole human beings—not defined by a diagnosis or limitation.

Jennifer also brings a special guest into the conversation: Saran Tugsjargal, whose story is featured in Jennifer’s upcoming book, See Us, Know Us: Profiles of Disability. The book brings together 30 diverse disability stories, pairing each person’s portrait and biography with an original poem and the story behind that poem.

Together, Jennifer and Saran help us look beyond assumptions and understand what happens when we truly take the time to see people, know people, and create a world where everyone has the opportunity to belong.

Because sometimes inclusion doesn’t begin with changing someone else.

It begins with being willing to listen.”

📣 Contact & Resources

Jennifer Chassman Browne
🌐 Jennifer’s website⁠
🌐 New Ground Educational Consulting⁠
📘 See Us, Know Us: Profiles of Disability — forthcoming in October 2026.

Saran Tugsjargal
Saran’s story is featured in See Us, Know Us: Profiles of Disability.

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Ross Thorpe, CEO of Rooverse, a social media platform built around a simple idea: people should be able to connect with other real people without AI-generated content taking over the experience.

We talk about the rise of AI-generated content, bots, authenticity, creativity, digital identity, and what happens when the “social” starts disappearing from social media.

Ross also shares why he believes human connection and personal agency are worth protecting—and why Rooverse was created as a space where human-made content comes first.

It’s a conversation about technology, trust, creativity, and one important question:

In a world increasingly shaped by algorithms and artificial intelligence, how do we make sure we don’t lose what makes us human?

📣 Ross Thorpe — Contact Details

Rooverse: rooverse.app⁠
LinkedIn: Ross Thorpe on LinkedIn⁠

Ross is the CEO of Rooverse and a founding member of the AI Trust Council.

Why do we sometimes know exactly what we should do… and still struggle to actually do it?

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Yosi Kossowsky, an executive coach with more than 18 years of experience and a background in technology, engineering, and talent management.

Yosi helps leaders and teams become more effective by focusing on something many leadership conversations overlook: the gap between intention and action.

We talk about communication, perception, leadership, trust, personal responsibility, limiting beliefs, and the ways our past experiences can influence how we show up in the world.

Yosi also shares his own journey—from being told as a child that he wasn’t capable, to becoming fascinated by human behavior and eventually helping leaders understand themselves and others more effectively.

This is a conversation about realizing that while we don’t always choose our circumstances, we can learn to take ownership of how we respond to them.

📣 Yosi’s Contact Details

LinkedIn: Yosi Kossowsky on LinkedIn⁠

Yosi invites leaders and professionals to connect with him to explore leadership development, communication, team effectiveness, and personal growth.

What happens when you realize that making more money and achieving more isn’t necessarily the same thing as living a better life?

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Tony Berardo, a stay-at-home dad, entrepreneur, content creator, and founder of Human Dad.

After decades of working with Fortune 500 companies and experiencing health scares that forced him to rethink his priorities, Tony made a difficult decision: step away from his career and build a life centered around his wife, his child, and the things that truly matter.

We talk about fatherhood, mental health, entrepreneurship, redefining success, choosing presence over pressure, and the realities—both hilarious and messy—of being a stay-at-home dad.

Tony also shares how he turned his experiences into a brand and community designed to help dads and content creators build something meaningful while staying true to themselves.

Sometimes, the biggest success isn’t earning more.

Sometimes…

it’s simply being there.

📣 Tony Berardo — Contact Details

Website: http://www.theberardo.com

Listeners can visit Tony’s website to learn more about his podcast, parenting tips, content creation resources, and apparel brand.

What happens when success looks good on the outside… but quietly costs you something on the inside?

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Shante Alexander, an organizational psychologist, executive coach, speaker, and author who explores the hidden emotional costs of high performance.

We talk about burnout, people-pleasing, over-functioning, perfectionism, identity, boundaries, and the pressure to constantly prove our worth through what we accomplish.

Shante challenges the idea that endurance is always strength and that success should always mean doing more. Instead, she invites us to examine the roles we’ve been performing, the expectations we’ve inherited, and whether the life we’re building still reflects who we are becoming.

It’s a conversation about clarity, self-awareness, responsibility, and learning to define success on our own terms.

📣 Shante’s Contact Details

Website: Shante Alexander⁠
LinkedIn: Shante Alexander on LinkedIn⁠
Book: The Emotional Cost of Clarity™ — exploring burnout, boundaries, identity, and the hidden cost of high performance.

Change is inevitable—but growth is a choice.

In this thought-provoking episode of Born Without a Choice, Victory sits down with Tom Meyers, osteopath, stress coach, futurist, speaker, and author of Futurize Yourself and The Futures Effect. Once told he was “good for nothing,” Tom transformed his life by creating what he calls his “future self” and developing a blueprint for thriving in an ever-changing world.

Together, they explore how to break free from limiting beliefs, embrace uncertainty, build resilience, and intentionally create the life you want instead of waiting for it to happen. If you’ve ever felt stuck, overwhelmed by change, or uncertain about your future, this conversation will challenge you to rethink what’s possible.

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Guest Contact Details

🌐 Website: https://www.futurizeyourself.com

📖 Learn More: Visit Tom’s website to explore his books, speaking engagements, coaching programs, and practical resources designed to help you flourish and thrive in a fast-changing world.

What actually works when it comes to supplements, gut health, performance, and healthy aging—and what is simply marketing hype?

In this episode, I’m joined by Grant Jenkins, Managing Director of Propel Health Australia and a high-performance coach with more than 25 years of experience working with elite athletes, health professionals, and everyday Australians.

Grant has coached athletes across four sports at World Championship level and worked at all four Tennis Grand Slams, including helping develop former World No. 1 Ash Barty. Today, he combines that performance background with his work in evidence-based health and supplementation.

We dive into the science behind gut health and the microbiome, supplements, recovery, cognitive performance, creatine, metabolic health, healthy aging, and longevity—while cutting through the misinformation and exaggerated claims that often surround the health industry.

Grant also shares what elite sport has taught him about resilience, recovery, consistency, and long-term performance, along with the entrepreneurial journey behind Propel Health Australia.

If you’ve ever wondered which health claims deserve your attention and which ones deserve your skepticism, this conversation is for you.

🎁 Listener Offer

Want to try Propel Health Australia?

Listeners can get 5% off their purchase using the special link below:

https://propelhealthaustralia.com/CHOICE5

Connect With Grant

Propel Health Australia:https://propelhealthaustralia.com/

Contact Propel Health Australia:Phone: 1300 440 528Location: Unit 2/2 Belconnen Cres, Brendale QLD 4500, Australia (propelhealthaustralia.com⁠)

Grant’s work focuses on making complex health and performance topics practical and evidence-informed, with a particular interest in gut health, supplementation, recovery, performance, and healthy aging. (propelhealthaustralia.com⁠)

What does it really take to build connection across cultures and communities?

In this episode, Mathias Lemos Castillo, founder of MLC Consulting, shares his perspective as a bilingual community engagement consultant and cultural bridge-builder. Born and raised in Uruguay before moving to the United States, Mathias brings a unique cross-cultural lens to conversations about belonging, communication, leadership, and inclusion.

We explore why curiosity is so important when interacting with people who have different backgrounds, how authentic listening can transform relationships, and what organizations can do to create environments where people genuinely feel heard and valued.

Mathias also shares practical insights on navigating cultural differences, building stronger communities, and moving beyond assumptions so we can better understand one another.

Contact Details

• Website: MLC Consulting⁠ (LinkedIn⁠)
• LinkedIn: Mathias Lemos Castillo⁠ (LinkedIn⁠)
• Facebook: Mathias Lemos Castillo on Facebook⁠ (music.amazon.in⁠)
• Company: MLC Consulting, focused on culturally relevant community engagement and building connections across diverse communities. (LinkedIn⁠)

What if sound is doing more than we realize?

In this fascinating conversation, Heather Schmid, an international recording artist and filmmaker, takes us into the world of sound, frequency, cymatics, healing, and consciousness.

We explore the relationship between sound and matter, humanity’s ancient connection with music and healing, the power of the human voice, and the questions explored in Heather’s documentary Voice of the Earth. We also discuss the fascinating intersection between scientific evidence and spiritual beliefs—and why curiosity and discernment matter when exploring extraordinary ideas.

Heather shares how decades as a performer shaped her understanding of the human voice, connection, and the importance of truly listening in an increasingly noisy world.

This is a conversation about sound, awareness, creativity, consciousness, and the powerful role listening can play in how we connect with ourselves and the world around us.

Heather Schmid — Contact Details

• Voice of the Earth: https://vibrationaljourneys.gumroad.com/l/VoiceoftheEarth
• Work: International recording artist and filmmaker
• Documentary: Voice of the Earth