Everyone has a story

Amy grew up in a restrictive religious cult that preached modesty and shutting down your sexuality.  She internalized her shame until she fled and forged a new path for herself: filled with experiential sex workshops, ecstatic dance and a future as a sex coach.  She’s devoted her life to healing and coaching others towards their path to pleasure without shame.

It’s been almost 2 years since my first conversation with Tanya regarding her 100lbs weight loss, and today we discuss skin removal surgery.  

Cutting off a part of your body is no small decision and she describes how difficult it was for her to reconcile both ‘loving herself’ and wanting to ‘cut off parts of herself’.  

This is the second chapter of Tanya’s journey towards ‘It’s not about the weight you lose, but the life you gain’.

Even after the physical, emotional and financial abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband, she never lost hope that he would heal and become the man, and father to her 3 children, she’d hoped for.  

This is one woman’s journey of the ups and downs  of surviving an abusive relationship and how she came out of it stronger than she’d ever dreamed.

Twins Avery and Blake came into this world 14 weeks early.  Avery didn’t survive, and Blake spent the next 6 months in the neonatal intensive care unit at one of North America’s top Paediatric hospitals.  In this episode, you’ll hear from parents Zak and Michelle - both interviewed separately about the toughest year of their lives.  It’s a story about how we cope when faced with life’s most cruel tragedies, and how our resilience helps inspire others. 

Growing up in a small born-again Christian community, it was made clear to Ray what her life’s path should be; and sexual exploration was definitely not part of it.  Years later, married with two young boys, Ray felt trapped, and courageously sought out something that was both terrifying and exhilarating - her sexual awakening as a dominatrix/submissive within the kink community. 

I met Tanya while volunteering at an overnight camp for kids with cancer almost a decade ago.  We became fast friends and I witnessed how she walked in the world as an overweight young woman.  In 2019, she invited me to follow her Instagram handle - Hundred To Zero - in which she documented her 100lbs weight loss goal.  

In this episode we speak candidly about her weight gain as a child; how it affected her life, and her views on fat phobia and thin privilege in today’s society.

They met in high school, dated in university and married soon after.  After 20 years and 3 beautiful children, Mike and Janine’s picture perfect family faced a challenge; Mike was struggling with his sexual identity as he suddenly found himself attracted to men.  

What happens when your marriage and family is blown up for one person’s desire to be true to who he really is?  I interviewed Mike and Janine separately for this episode, and edited their answers together for a unique ‘He said, She said’.  Theirs is a powerful story of love’s triumph.

Welcome to Everyone has a story; a podcast about our experiences; and how curiosity can help refute our judgements. I believe that empathy and connection is created when we ask questions…and I ask A LOT of questions.  

Get ready to feel inspired and connected with these brave individuals who graciously share their stories.