Call Me Sensitive

Beatrice Lessi has lived several lives, and none of them followed the obvious route.

Told not to exercise as a child after being diagnosed with scoliosis, she later ran across the Sahara, Antarctica and Everest. She was terrible at maths, then accidentally became a successful broker on a London trading floor. She lost 40,000 words of her first book draft, got angry, and wrote the whole thing again.

Now, at 60, Beatrice has published Extreme Adventures.

We talk about curiosity, resilience, aging, strength, eating disorders, our complicated relationships with our bodies, and the strange pressure to have a perfectly mapped-out purpose.

This is not really a conversation about running. It is about what might become possible when we stop using age, fear or not feeling “qualified enough” as the final answer.

And yes, a useful amount of delusion helps.

Buy Extreme Adventures:
https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Adventures-Tackling-Worlds-Toughest/dp/1782552944

Discover more about Beatrice:
https://www.askthemonsters.com/

#CallMeSensitive #BeatriceLessi #ExtremeAdventures #HealthyAging #WomenOver50 #StrengthTrainingForWomen #Mindset #Resilience #Reinvention #ImposterSyndrome #StartingOver #Podcast

What happens when a New York artist walks away from the life she spent fourteen years building?

In this episode of Call Me Sensitive, Ariane sits down with entrepreneur, creative visionary, and founder of Aflora Tulum, Maxine Nienow, to explore the unexpected path from circus arts and photography in New York to creating one of Tulum's most celebrated wellness communities.

After a life-changing accident involving her father, Maxine found herself questioning what mattered most. The experience sparked a profound shift, bringing her closer to her family and inspiring a bold decision: leave New York, return closer to home, and build something meaningful alongside her father.

What began as a small real estate project evolved into Aflora, a seven-and-a-half-acre creative oasis designed around community, nature, art, wellness, and connection.

Throughout the conversation, Maxine shares:

• Why curiosity is more powerful than expertise
• How asking questions became her greatest leadership skill
• What it was like earning the respect of seasoned engineers as a young creative woman leading a massive development
• The role motherhood played in reshaping her vision
• Why she believes magic is not escapism, but something we actively create
• How community is built through participation, not perfection

The conversation moves beyond entrepreneurship into deeper territory: family, responsibility, creativity, love, and the courage to trust life's unexpected turns.

It's a reminder that success doesn't always come from following a plan. Sometimes it comes from following a feeling.

And sometimes the life you're meant to build begins with the life you're willing to leave behind.

Because magic, as Maxine says, isn't a destination.

It's something we create together.

Click here to see what Aflora Tulum is all about and maybe plan your next holiday there.

Follow Maxine on Instagram.

Follow Aflora Tulum on Instagram.

Most of us like to believe our lives are the result of good decisions.

But what if they're also the result of good luck?

In this episode, I sit down with Gabrielle Tay, founder of Action For Women, an organization supporting refugee women in Greece who have survived war, violence, trafficking, and forced displacement.

Gabrielle didn't set out to start a nonprofit. She was moving up the corporate law ladder until one clip changed the course of her life forever.

We talk about privilege, safety, the invisible weight of starting over, and why the women we often reduce to headlines are far more than victims. They're mothers, professionals, students, daughters, and survivors rebuilding lives most of us can't imagine.

This sentence said it all: "Empowerment without safety is a fantasy."

This isn't just a conversation about refugee women. It's a conversation about humanity, and how any of us could at any moment be needing the very compassion we so often reserve for "other people."

If this episode moves you, please support Action For Women. Because every woman deserves more than just to survive.

You can Take Action here.

What happens when a New York artist walks away from the life she spent fourteen years building?

In this episode of Call Me Sensitive, Ariane sits down with entrepreneur, creative visionary, and founder of Aflora Tulum, Maxine Nienow, to explore the unexpected path from circus arts and photography in New York to creating one of Tulum's most celebrated wellness communities.

After a life-changing accident involving her father, Maxine found herself questioning what mattered most. The experience sparked a profound shift, bringing her closer to her family and inspiring a bold decision: leave New York, return closer to home, and build something meaningful alongside her father.

What began as a small real estate project evolved into Aflora, a seven-and-a-half-acre creative oasis designed around community, nature, art, wellness, and connection.

Throughout the conversation, Maxine shares:

• Why curiosity is more powerful than expertise
• How asking questions became her greatest leadership skill
• What it was like earning the respect of seasoned engineers as a young creative woman leading a massive development
• The role motherhood played in reshaping her vision
• Why she believes magic is not escapism, but something we actively create
• How community is built through participation, not perfection

The conversation moves beyond entrepreneurship into deeper territory: family, responsibility, creativity, love, and the courage to trust life's unexpected turns.

It's a reminder that success doesn't always come from following a plan. Sometimes it comes from following a feeling.

And sometimes the life you're meant to build begins with the life you're willing to leave behind.

Because magic, as Maxine says, isn't a destination.

It's something we create together.

Click here to see what Aflora Tulum is all about and maybe plan your next holiday there.

Follow Maxine on Instagram.

Follow Aflora Tulum on Instagram.

After taking a month off, I returned from Los Angeles with an unexpected lesson.

I went to support my mom during a difficult health challenge and arrived carrying fear, anxiety, and plenty of assumptions. What I found instead was a world of extraordinary kindness.

This episode is a tribute to the nurses, caregivers, doctors, and staff who quietly show up for people during some of life's most vulnerable moments.

• Why this trip to Los Angeles was unlike any other

• The stories fear tells us before reality arrives

• What I learned inside a rehabilitation clinic

• The invisible work we rarely celebrate

• How compassion changed my perspective on illness, aging, and care

Who in your life is doing important work that often goes unseen?

"From wanting to escape reality, I learned to embrace it."

#uclaeastberkeley

Dr. Ashkan Ghavami has spent 20 years reshaping faces, bodies, and noses in Beverly Hills. He is also one of the rare surgeons who will tell you no, and mean it.

In this conversation, Ariane and Ashkan go well beyond the operating table. They talk about why patients who look stunning still can't see it, why social media has made an entire generation less resilient, and why the most beautiful thing in a room is never the most filtered person in it.

Dr Ash as I like to call him, shares what moved him into plastic surgery in the first place (hint: it started at eight years old on Sunset Boulevard), what Ozempic is actually doing to people's bodies, and why he considers saying no his favorite thing to do in practice.

We also get into the stuff nobody really talks about: the jealous friend who talks a patient out of loving her results, the celebrities who cancel without a word, and the quiet epidemic of people using lawyers as weapons while calling it justice.

What comes through clearly is this: beauty, to him, is not a standard. It's a relationship between proportion, personality, and the courage to stop microanalyzing yourself through 120 selfies.

And ugly? That one he answers fast. It's not a crooked nose. Not even close.

What you'll walk away with:

• Why the selfie camera is doing more psychological damage than any surgery
• The honest truth about Ozempic, including what it does to the people who don't need it
• Dr Ghavami's full longevity protocol: sleep, movement, hormones, and the supplement he thinks everyone over 35 should know about
• Why the best plastic surgery patients are the ones who come in already content
• How to stay youthful without outsourcing the work to a needle

If you want to know more or make an appointment for a consultation, click here.

You can follow him on Instagram.

Dr. Ashkan Ghavami has spent 20 years reshaping faces, bodies, and noses in Beverly Hills. He is also one of the rare surgeons who will tell you no, and mean it.

In this conversation, Ariane and Ashkan go well beyond the operating table. They talk about why patients who look stunning still can't see it, why social media has made an entire generation less resilient, and why the most beautiful thing in a room is never the most filtered person in it.

Dr Ash as I like to call him, shares what moved him into plastic surgery in the first place (hint: it started at eight years old on Sunset Boulevard), what Ozempic is actually doing to people's bodies, and why he considers saying no his favorite thing to do in practice.

We also get into the stuff nobody really talks about: the jealous friend who talks a patient out of loving her results, the celebrities who cancel without a word, and the quiet epidemic of people using lawyers as weapons while calling it justice.

What comes through clearly is this: beauty, to him, is not a standard. It's a relationship between proportion, personality, and the courage to stop microanalyzing yourself through 120 selfies.

And ugly? That one he answers fast. It's not a crooked nose. Not even close.

What you'll walk away with:

• Why the selfie camera is doing more psychological damage than any surgery
• The honest truth about Ozempic, including what it does to the people who don't need it
• Dr Ghavami's full longevity protocol: sleep, movement, hormones, and the supplement he thinks everyone over 35 should know about
• Why the best plastic surgery patients are the ones who come in already content
• How to stay youthful without outsourcing the work to a needle

If you want to know more or make an appointment for a consultation, click here.

You can follow him on Instagram.

Five years ago, Bibi was one of the top students in her class in Kabul. Then, one day, armed men walked into her school and sent every girl home. The “second order” never came.

Today, the school bell still rings, but for Bibi and thousands of girls, it no longer signals possibility, only absence. Her story is not just about lost education, but about suspended dreams, a future paused, and a voice that refuses to disappear.

In this episode, I share Bibi’s words alongside a personal reflection on voice, the one we lose, the one we silence, and the one we choose to reclaim. Her story forced me to confront something uncomfortable: freedom isn’t just given, it’s used. Or wasted.

This is a conversation about contrast, courage, and responsibility.

If Bibi’s voice moves you, follow her journey and writing on Substack. Her words deserve to be heard.

Follow Bibi on Substack and support her voice.

The conversation with Monia Piraki covers the journey from feeling lost and disconnected to building a thriving coaching business and creating a meaningful impact. It emphasizes the importance of taking small steps, embracing failure, and prioritizing well-being and self-care. Monia's insights on authenticity, building a network, and defining success provide valuable guidance for personal growth and reinvention.

Takeaways

• Clarity comes from taking action
• Consistency leads to progress and setbacks
• Building a network requires patience and authenticity
• It's never too late to start or reinvent
• Self-love and non-negotiables are key to personal growth

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction and Inspiration
• 05:22 Reflecting and Embracing the Present
• 11:29 Adapting to Change and Reinventing
• 18:19 Embracing Failure and Challenges
• 23:39 Authenticity and Consistency
• 29:13 Authenticity and Attracting the Right People
• 35:31 Prioritizing - Less and Better

More about Monia here.

In this episode of Call Me Sensitive, I speak with singer-songwriter Kiki Izarra about grief, sisterhood, music, and the moment loss stops you in your tracks, then dares you to live differently.

Kiki shares the story behind her song It’s Been More Than a Year, written after losing her sister, Rachel. We talk about the daily calls that suddenly stop, the strange guilt of moving forward, and the truth that grief does not end, it changes shape. Sometimes it sounds like silence. Sometimes it comes wrapped in melody. Sometimes it is the very thing that pushes you to stop postponing your life.

This is a conversation about pain, hope, creative courage, and giving yourself permission to live fully, even after life has broken your heart.

In this episode:

• the story behind It’s Been More Than a Year
• what grief changes, and what it never does
• why joy and sorrow can exist at the same time
• how loss pushed Kiki to finally claim her voice

• the quiet danger of waiting too long to begin

Listen to her full song here and follow her on Instagram.