Born without a choice

What if your past doesn’t have to define who you become?

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Leo Dulay, a transformational coach, hypnotherapist, NLP practitioner, and author of You Are Not Your Past.

Leo shares how being laid off after 22 years at AT&T forced him to question an identity he had built around his career. We explore emotional patterns, the subconscious mind, identity, reinvention, and how experiences from our past can influence the way we see ourselves.

This conversation is about recognizing that we may not have chosen our beginnings or everything that happened to us—but we can still have a say in what comes next.

👤 Guest Contact Details

Leo Dulay
🌐 Website: LeoDulay.com⁠
📖 Book: You Are Not Your Past
🎙️ Focus: Transformational coaching, hypnotherapy, NLP, identity, emotional patterns, and personal transformation.

What happens when parents, adult children, grandchildren, and multiple generations decide to share one home?

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Carmen and Rocky Drew, who bring firsthand experience to the realities of multigenerational living. For three years, they co-owned a home with their son, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren, gaining valuable insight into what it takes to make different generations living together work.

We talk about privacy, boundaries, family roles, parenting differences, finances, household responsibilities, communication, and the challenges that can arise when several generations share the same space.

But multigenerational living isn’t only about the challenges. Carmen and Rocky also share the benefits of having multiple generations together and the ways these arrangements can create stronger family connections.

This is a conversation about family, respect, communication, independence, and learning how different generations can share a home while still giving each other room to be themselves.

GUEST CONTACT DETAILS

Carmen & Rocky Drew
Multigenerational Living Advocates
Founders — MultiGen Living Solutions

🌐 Website: https://multigenlivingsolutions.com

📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083182536187

💬 Best Contact: Direct message Carmen and Rocky through their Facebook profile.

What if there’s nothing wrong with you—and you’re simply trying to grow in the wrong conditions?

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Mary Rothwell, a licensed therapist, podcast host, speaker, author, and Essential Nature mentor with more than 35 years of experience in the mental health field.

Mary combines her experience in mental health with her deep knowledge of nature as a Master Gardener and Certified Forest Therapy Practitioner. Her work explores the idea of “Essential Nature”—understanding our unique needs, strengths, rhythms, boundaries, and the environments that allow us to thrive.

We talk about growing up under other people’s expectations, discovering who you really are, recognizing when your environment is holding you back, building resilience, setting healthy boundaries, and finding purpose that genuinely belongs to you.

Mary also shares lessons from her own experience of leaving a career she loved after finding herself in an unhealthy work environment—and how that transition became part of her journey toward something new.

This is a conversation about self-discovery, resilience, purpose, and learning that growth doesn’t always mean becoming someone different. Sometimes, it means finally creating the conditions where you can become more of who you already are.

GUEST CONTACT DETAILS

Mary Rothwell
Licensed Therapist | Author | Speaker | Essential Nature Mentor
Master Gardener | Certified Forest Therapy Practitioner

🌐 Website: https://maryrothwell.net

📖 Book: Nature Knows: Grow and Thrive through the Wisdom of Plants

🌱 Essential Nature Self-Survey: https://maryrothwell.net/llapquiz

What happens when the relationship you thought would last forever doesn’t?

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Debbie Engle, a three-time award-winning author whose personal journey through three broken engagements taught her powerful lessons about relationships, faith, patience, self-worth, and trusting the path ahead.

Debbie shares what it was like to walk away from relationships that weren’t right for her, despite the pressure and opinions of others. We talk about the fear of being alone, knowing when to walk away, learning not to settle out of desperation, and discovering that your value isn’t determined by your relationship status.

We also explore faith, unexpected life changes, resilience, and what happens when the future doesn’t look anything like the plan you originally had.

This is a conversation about trusting yourself, finding strength in difficult decisions, and understanding that sometimes walking away isn’t failure—it can be the beginning of a completely different chapter.

GUEST CONTACT DETAILS

Debbie Engle
Three-Time Award-Winning Author
Author of I Am the Real Runaway Bride

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

📖 Book: I Am the Real Runaway Bride

📚 Upcoming Book: After He Caught Me — The Rest of the Story

What happens when you realize the life you’re living may have been shaped by expectations, habits, and beliefs that were never truly yours?

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, I’m joined by Samantha Kane, founder of Roots Wings Wellness, Conscious Guide, and Certified Holistic Life Coach.

Samantha shares her journey through different careers and life experiences and explains how those chapters eventually led her toward coaching, self-mastery, conscious living, and authentic transformation.

We talk about recognizing old patterns, breaking free from conformity, creating intentional rituals, understanding your Higher Self, and learning to live in a way that feels genuinely aligned with who you are.

This is a conversation about self-discovery, authenticity, personal growth, and realizing that while we may not choose where our story begins, we can become more intentional about what comes next.

GUEST CONTACT DETAILS

Samantha Kane
Founder — Roots Wings Wellness
Conscious Guide | Certified Holistic Life Coach

🌐 Website: https://www.rootswingswellness.com
📸 Instagram: @rootswingswellness
📘 Facebook: Roots Wings Wellness
🎁 Free Guide: The Art of Non-Conformity: 5 Powerful Tips to Break Free & Live Authentically

What happens when we realize we’ve been living on autopilot—repeating habits, beliefs, and patterns without consciously choosing them?

In this episode, Brittany Peeler explores what it means to wake up, become more aware of ourselves, and start making intentional choices. As a yoga and fitness instructor, speaker, and coach, Brittany helps high-achieving women reconnect with themselves and move beyond automatic patterns.

Drawing from yoga, mindfulness, somatic awareness, and identity-based habit change, Brittany developed her Autopilot → Awareness → Aligned Action framework. She shares how awareness can create the space needed to recognize patterns, understand ourselves more deeply, and take action that reflects who we want to become.

This conversation explores identity, habits, the connection between the body and mind, reconnecting with yourself, and why falling back into old patterns doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve failed. Ultimately, it’s about learning to pause, notice, and consciously choose what comes next.

📬 Guest Details

• Name: Brittany Peeler
• Role: Yoga & Fitness Instructor, Speaker & Coach
• Creator: Leveling Up with Brittany
• Focus: Mindfulness, identity, habits, focus, somatic awareness, and aligned action
• Framework: Autopilot → Awareness → Aligned Action
• Expertise: Personal awareness, identity-based habit change, mindfulness, yoga, somatic awareness, intentional action, and reconnecting with yourself
• Mission: Helping high-achieving women break out of autopilot, become more aware of their patterns, and take intentional action
• Instagram: @brittany_peeler

What happens when a chapter of life you never would have chosen becomes the beginning of something meaningful?

In this episode, Xenia Ioannidis shares a deeply personal journey through entrepreneurship, creativity, spirituality, reinvention, and a period of homelessness in Miami. Rather than allowing that experience to define her, Xenia reflects on how it became part of a larger journey toward faith, purpose, and transformation.

As the founder of HyperTherapy® Center and Real Change Academy®, Xenia combines personal development, ancient Greek wisdom, and the educational systems she has developed throughout her career. She also brings more than 26 years of experience as a Creative Director through XenWorks Studio, working with major clients and participating in creative, political, media, and entrepreneurial projects.

Today, one of her most meaningful projects is Crowned in Faith, a children’s faith series combining storybooks, coloring questbooks, and original songs. Through creativity and storytelling, Xenia hopes to plant principles in the next generation that will stay with them long after childhood.

This conversation explores what it means to surrender, rebuild, reinvent yourself, discover purpose after hardship, and create something that can become a legacy for people who haven’t even been born yet.

📬 Guest Details

• Name: Xenia Ioannidis
• Role: Author, Coach, Creative Director, Founder & Educator
• Founder: HyperTherapy® Center & Real Change Academy®
• Creative Studio: XenWorks Studio
• Children’s Series: Crowned in Faith
• Website: RealChangeAcademy.com
• Expertise: Personal development, spirituality, faith, coaching, creativity, entrepreneurship, ancient Greek wisdom, education, healing, reinvention, and purpose

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, we explore what it means to find happiness and stability when life doesn’t unfold the way we expected. Dr. Leslie Newman, author, speaker, educator, and guide, joins us for a conversation about relationships, transitions, emotional overwhelm, personal growth, and learning to meet life with greater awareness.

Leslie’s work is shaped by both professional experience and her own journey through unexpected endings, uncertainty, relationships, and personal transformation. As the author of A Daily Dose of Happiness, she challenges the idea that happiness means constantly feeling good and instead explores what it means to become more grounded and present, even when life is difficult.

A major theme of Leslie’s philosophy is that growth isn’t necessarily linear—it happens in spirals. We may encounter familiar patterns, emotions, and lessons repeatedly, but each time we return, we can meet them with a different level of awareness.

We also explore meditation, consciousness, relationships, self-worth, and those moments when life suddenly takes us from “Kansas to Oz.” Ultimately, this conversation is a reminder that we may not control everything that happens to us, but we can become more intentional about how we meet the next moment.

📬 Guest Details

Name: Dr. Leslie Newman
Role: Author, Speaker, Educator & Personal Growth Guide
Book: A Daily Dose of Happiness
Website: drlesliebnewman.com
Expertise: Happiness, personal growth, relationships, awareness, meditation, emotional resilience, transitions, self-worth
Background: Educator with extensive experience teaching personal growth and happiness; creator of a happiness project for college students
Additional Experience: More than 30 years of meditation and study of awareness and consciousness
Focus: Helping people navigate unexpected change, relationships, emotional overwhelm, and personal growth with greater clarity, awareness, compassion, and inner steadiness

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, we explore the space between knowing something needs to change and actually becoming ready to change it. Peg O’Connor, PhD, professor of philosophy and nationally recognized voice on addiction, recovery, identity, and meaningful living, joins us for a deeply reflective conversation about finding your way back to yourself.

With more than 30 years of teaching philosophy, Peg brings philosophical questions into some of life’s most difficult experiences. Drawing from both her academic work and her own experience in recovery, she explores how addiction can affect our identity, sense of belonging, values, and understanding of who we are.

We talk about what it means to “belong to yourself,” why recognizing what you don’t want is only the beginning, and how people can start discovering what they stand for and what kind of life they want to build.

Peg also introduces her Ready to Recover Quiz, which helps people reflect on whether they are experiencing a Disconnected Self, an Awakening Self, or a Ready Self. This conversation is ultimately about more than recovery—it’s about identity, possibility, and realizing that becoming ready for change can be the first step toward finding yourself again.

📬 Guest Details

Name: Peg O’Connor, PhD
Role: Professor of Philosophy, Author & Speaker
Expertise: Addiction, recovery, identity, philosophy, meaning, personal transformation
Books: Life on the Rocks: Finding Meaning in Addiction and Recovery; Higher and Friendly Powers: Transforming Addiction and Suffering
Focus: Addiction and recovery, identity, belonging to yourself, meaningful living, readiness for change
Resource: Ready to Recover Quiz
Background: More than 30 years teaching philosophy, with personal experience in recovery
Key Message: Moving from simply knowing that something needs to change toward becoming ready to create a different life

In this episode of Born Without a Choice, we explore what happens when constantly pushing forward starts costing us our peace. Dr. Melanie Gray, PhD, RN, joins us to talk about burnout, boundaries, trauma-informed leadership, and the importance of learning to regulate before we lead.

With more than 20 years of experience in healthcare leadership and higher education, Dr. Gray has dedicated her work to helping individuals and organizations move beyond burnout and build cultures rooted in trust, empathy, psychological safety, and resilience.

As the founder of Melanie Gray Solutions and creator of the STOP-IT™ Method, Dr. Gray teaches leaders how to slow down, manage stress, establish healthier boundaries, and lead effectively without losing themselves in the process.

We also explore her book, REGULATE FIRST, LEAD SECOND: Master Your Biology. Transform Your Leadership., and her powerful belief that healing people can help heal organizations. This conversation is a reminder that strength isn’t always about pushing harder—sometimes, it means knowing when to pause, care for yourself, and learn to live whole.

📬 Guest Details

Name: Dr. Melanie Gray, PhD, RNRole: Trauma-Informed Leadership Expert, Burnout Prevention Specialist & Workplace Wellness AdvocateFounder: Melanie Gray SolutionsBook: REGULATE FIRST, LEAD SECOND: Master Your Biology. Transform Your Leadership.Method: STOP-IT™ MethodExpertise: Burnout prevention, trauma-informed leadership, workplace wellness, stress management, psychological safety, boundaries, resilience, leadership developmentBackground: 20+ years in healthcare leadership and higher educationFocus: Helping leaders and organizations move from reaction to regulation, create healthier workplaces, and lead without burnout