I get to talk to my cousin Sara about being a 1 and everything that comes with it.

We talk about being the eldest daughter/cousin, feeling responsible for others and their choices, and meeting our problems with action. We also get into the different ways that we deal with grief.

Katie talks to her friend Kayci about what it feels like to be a reactive doer. We talk obligation, anger, and the struggle of juggling what you want vs the expectations of others.

Apply to be interviewed on Early Access : HERE

See our other work at : www.aroundthecircle.org

In this Early Access episode, Katie introduces the next chapter of the series: additional interviews with each Enneagram number, beginning with a rich Type One conversation featuring Natasha. Natasha shares her journey into the Enneagram, her experience of body-centered intuition, and how Ones navigate anger, resentment, and the urge to fix entire systems rather than small parts. Together, Katie and Natasha explore the deep emotional life of Ones, the difference between thinking and feeling, and why growing in self-awareness is both liberating and humbling.

In this episode of Early Access, Katie sits down with Joleen Nguyen, a 32-year-old counterphobic Enneagram Six and new mom to explore the rich inner world of Sixes from the inside.

Joleen shares how she first met the Enneagram through a flimsy one-paragraph description of Sixes, why it didn’t stick at first, and how returning to the Enneagram years later (after a deep love affair with Myers-Briggs) completely changed the way she saw herself.

She and Katie unpack why the Enneagram goes deeper than Myers-Briggs—naming why we do what we do—and what it means that your number doesn’t change, even as you grow.

Together they tease apart the frequent mistype between Sixes, Threes, and Eights, looking at stance, energy, and especially what happens under stress: Six “six-ing out,” Three-ish sabotage, and how integrity, community, and fear show up differently in each type. Joleen opens up about the Six “committee,” the terror of being wrong, the longing for secure community, and how motherhood helped her finally trust her own judgment.

They close by reframing Sixes not as “the anxious ones,” but as people whose consideration of others is a superpower.

Sara from Utah joins Katie to open a window into life as an Enneagram Five.

Sara unpacks the difference between physical retreat (car, corner, time-out) and an emotional shutdown that feels like a cloud rolling over the mind. She explains why Fives can be read as “cold,” how she “thinks her feelings,” and the quiet cost of borrowing energy in crisis (the post-help crash and “overdraft fees”).

They dig into doing-repression, limited access to the Feeling center, the embarrassment of visible excitement, boundaries around who gets her bandwidth, and how naming facts can be a bridge back to emotions.

Katie sits down with Cincinnati musician and producer Timothy Edward Carpenter to explore the inner landscape of a Four: the pull toward the unattainable, the ache of “not enough,” and why connection only feels real in the deep end.

Timothy speaks openly about chasing music dreams, choosing others’ projects over his own, rebuilding marriage, and learning to trust therapy without letting a test define him.

Together they unpack shame for 2-3-4s, an Idealist's frustration with reality, and the difference between being understood and being accepted.

If you are interested inning interviewed on Early Access and want to be a guest, fill out the intake form on Katie’s site : HERE.

Find Timothy’s work: HERE

This week, Katie talks to Sara, a local friend she met at one of her weekly Enneagram classes. We discuss medical school, DOING vs BEING, and what it feels like to subject yourself to constant comparison against other people (and maybe how to get out of it).

There is some scratchy audio in the first five minutes of this podcast, but I promise that it quickly gets fixed!

Our Workshop on Excess| HERE

Up next, 2s! 

Rebecca Dollard, founder of The Motherhood Mentor, is a somatic healing practitioner that helps high-achieving women and mothers who “have it all together” but feel disconnected inside. Through somatic healing, nervous-system-based coaching, and enneagram she guides them to expand their capacity, soften their edges, and lead with power and presence.

Links: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-motherhood-mentor/id1735994095

P.S. for anyone who may have noticed, we've skipped 1s. We will release the episode on 1s later on in this series, we promise!

“I don’t want to be right—I want to know what is right.”

Katie sits down with Veronica, a 32-year-old Enneagram One and R&D scientist in Chicago, to trace how Ones learn to trust their gut, make room for gray, and respond to what’s needed. Veronica shares her path into the Enneagram, the “responsive stance” in a family with no assertive types, and why Ones often look “negative” when they’re actually reaching for what could be better.

They compare One and Six problem-solving, One and Three achievement, and talk anger as “what happens when things don’t go your way”—and what to do with it. Veronica names how therapy helped her drop performative goodness, navigate work mistakes without collapse, and show up for people over perfection.

Up next: 9s!

In this week’s episode, Katie talks to Rev. Andrew Bowles (he/him), a Certified Narrative Enneagram Teacher, professional member of the International Enneagram Association, ordained minister, and experienced healthcare chaplain. We talk about why 5s and 9s look so similar, what it really feels like to feel like your presence doesn’t matter, and we also get into the worldview of each type (which means that there’s a nugget of gold to be found in this episode for every number!)

Link to Hunter’s book: HERE

Link to Life in the Trinity ministry's website:  https://www.lifeinthetrinityministry.com/

Link to Andrew’s website: https://www.pathstopresence.com/about

Andrew's instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pathstopresence9/