Extraordinary Stories

Dave Walzer spent much of his life believing the world was something to defend against. Growing up around scarcity, distrust, and survival instincts, he learned to keep people at arm's length. Today, he's known as one of Arizona's most connected community builders, bringing thousands of people together through events designed to foster genuine relationships. But that transformation didn't happen overnight.

In this conversation, Dave shares the unexpected moments that changed the direction of his life: answering a knock at the door he normally would have ignored, moving across the country despite family tensions, rebuilding his faith, and confronting the beliefs that kept him stuck in a constant state of defense. What began as networking became something much deeper—a lesson in trust, openness, and human connection.

Along the way, Dave discovered that many of the stories he inherited about people, success, and scarcity simply weren't true. As he embraced abundance over competition and relationships over transactions, he found that business opportunities became a byproduct rather than the goal. The result was a life built around community, service, and authentic connection.

This episode is a reminder that extraordinary lives are often built by unlearning old programming. Sometimes growth begins with a simple decision to become curious instead of guarded, open instead of closed, and willing to believe that people may have more to teach us than we first realize.

What You'll Learn

• Why scarcity thinking can quietly shape every relationship in your life
• How one unexpected conversation changed Dave's entire trajectory
• The difference between transactional networking and genuine connection
• Why abundance creates more opportunity than competition
• Lessons Dave learned from faith, service, and community building
• How to identify and unlearn limiting beliefs from childhood
• The role gratitude plays in personal transformation
• Why "every person has value" is more than just a nice idea
• A practical mindset for building stronger personal and professional relationships
• What Dave means when he says, "Get over yourself"

About Dave Walzer

Dave Walzer is the founder of Wicked Awesome Happy Hour and a respected community builder known for connecting entrepreneurs, professionals, and leaders across Arizona and beyond. Through his events and growing international community, he helps people build meaningful relationships rooted in authenticity, generosity, and abundance.

About Extraordinary Stories

Extraordinary Stories explores the ideas, people, and experiences that shape extraordinary lives.

Hosts Forbes Shannon, Christine Butler, and Aaron Bare sit down with entrepreneurs, thinkers, creators, and leaders to uncover the moments that changed how they see the world.

For more than two decades, Carrie Chandler has worked at the intersection of leadership, people, and workplace culture. But beneath the titles and responsibilities was a deeper personal journey—one that led her from chronic people-pleasing and burnout toward authenticity, self-awareness, and a desire to help others make the same transition.

In this conversation, Carrie reflects on the slow awakening that began during the isolation of COVID and accelerated inside a high-pressure corporate environment. As her awareness grew, she began noticing the patterns she could no longer ignore: approval-seeking, over-functioning, nervous system exhaustion, and the subtle ways fear can shape how we show up in our careers and relationships.

Together, Carrie and Christine explore the role curiosity plays in personal growth, why coaching is fundamentally different from giving advice, and how many of the challenges people face at work are rooted in deeper internal struggles. From psychological safety and leadership to authenticity in the age of AI, this conversation is ultimately about learning to stop shape-shifting for everyone else and start becoming more fully yourself.

At a time when so many people feel overwhelmed, distracted, and disconnected, Carrie's message is simple but powerful: awareness changes everything. Once you see the patterns that no longer serve you, you have an opportunity to choose a different path.

What You'll Learn

• Why coaching is about helping people discover their own answers
• The hidden connection between people-pleasing, burnout, and fear
• How curiosity creates deeper conversations and stronger relationships
• What psychological safety actually looks like in the workplace
• Why self-awareness is the foundation of meaningful growth
• How nervous system overload impacts performance and well-being
• The importance of boundaries and learning to say no
• How authenticity becomes more valuable in an AI-driven world
• Why "approval seeking" often begins as a form of self-protection
• Carrie's philosophy: "Go to curious, not furious"

About Carrie Chandler

Carrie Chandler is an HR executive with more than 20 years of experience helping leaders, teams, and organizations navigate growth, culture, and change. As she transitions into executive coaching and consulting, she brings a unique perspective shaped by decades of leadership experience, deep curiosity, and a passion for helping people become the best versions of themselves.

About Extraordinary Stories

Extraordinary Stories explores the ideas, people, and experiences that shape extraordinary lives.

Hosts Forbes Shannon, Christine Butler, and Aaron Bare sit down with entrepreneurs, thinkers, creators, and leaders to uncover the moments that changed how they see the world.

Santana Vega Yturralde has spent years studying human performance from multiple angles: neuroscience, communication, spirituality, athletics, and business. But beneath those interests is a much deeper question: why do some people change while others stay trapped in familiar patterns? In this conversation with Forbes Shannon, Santana explores the invisible forces that shape our behavior, our relationships, and the stories we tell ourselves about who we are.

After losing his mother to suicide, Santana faced a realization that altered the course of his life. He sold nearly everything he owned, left the only home he had ever known, moved to Thailand with no combat experience, and pursued a dream that made little sense to anyone around him. What followed was not a story about winning. It was a story about self-trust, learning to move toward uncertainty, and discovering that fulfillment comes from the experience itself rather than the outcome.

Throughout the conversation, Santana shares how nervous system regulation influences everything from addiction and public speaking to leadership and personal growth. He explains why effective communication is less about the words we choose and more about the energy driving them. Whether you're leading a team, building a business, speaking on a stage, or simply trying to understand yourself better, his perspective offers a powerful framework for creating more resonance in every area of life.

At its core, this episode is about permission. Permission to feel what you're feeling. Permission to desire what you desire. Permission to pursue a life that may not make sense to anyone else. And the freedom that becomes available when you stop fighting your own experience.

• Why nervous system regulation influences behavior more than willpower
• The connection between communication, leadership, and human performance
• How great coaches create resonance instead of resistance
• Why people often confuse achievement with fulfillment
• The role self-trust plays in creating an extraordinary life
• How fear and desire can coexist at the same time
• A simple framework for uncovering what people truly care about
• Why public speaking challenges are often emotional, not technical
• How identity shapes the way we communicate and show up in the world
• The importance of giving yourself permission to feel what you're feeling

Santana Vega Yturralde is a communication coach and student of neuroscience, psychology, human performance, and nervous system regulation. Drawing from years of experience in fitness, coaching, public speaking, and personal transformation, he helps individuals communicate with greater clarity, confidence, and authenticity. His work focuses on the intersection of language, identity, energy, and human behavior.

Extraordinary Stories explores the ideas, people, and experiences that shape extraordinary lives.

Hosts Forbes Shannon, Christine Butler, and Aaron Bare sit down with entrepreneurs, thinkers, creators, and leaders to uncover the moments that changed how they see the world. Through honest conversations and unexpected insights, the show examines the beliefs, decisions, and experiences that shape who we become—and what becomes possible when we choose to grow.

Paul Kirchhoff has spent much of his life chasing horizons. Raised between cultures, economic realities, and worldviews, he learned early that people are far more complicated than the labels we place on them. That perspective would eventually lead him to sell nearly everything he owned, move into a bus with his wife, and spend years building a life centered on freedom, curiosity, and human potential.

In this conversation, Paul reflects on the moments that changed how he sees success. From finding himself in unexpected places with billionaires, adventurers, and visionaries, to realizing that happiness has very little to do with possessions, he shares why simplicity became one of the most powerful forces in his life. The discussion explores what happens when you stop optimizing for status and start optimizing for experience.

The conversation then moves into the future of work, leadership, and artificial intelligence. Paul argues that the greatest opportunity AI presents is not simply making businesses more efficient. It is helping us better understand ourselves and each other. By recognizing biological, psychological, and behavioral differences, leaders can create environments where people perform at their best instead of forcing everyone into the same mold.

At its heart, this episode is about letting go. Letting go of judgment. Letting go of expectations. Letting go of the belief that happiness exists somewhere in the future. Paul’s story offers a reminder that extraordinary lives are often built not by accumulating more, but by needing less.

What You’ll Learn

• Why owning less can create more freedom and fulfillment
• How curiosity can become a lifelong operating system
• The connection between biology, leadership, and human performance
• Why many workplace problems are actually misunderstandings of human differences
• How AI may help people better understand themselves and their relationships
• The hidden cost of attachment to outcomes
• Why judgment of others often disappears when you understand their story
• A practical framework for pursuing growth without sacrificing happiness
• What Paul learned from reinventing himself multiple times throughout his career
• Why extraordinary lives are often built through experiences rather than possessions

About Paul Kirchhoff

Paul Kirchhoff is an entrepreneur, technologist, adventurer, and community builder. As the founder of EPICS, he has spent years bringing together high-performing individuals around business, personal growth, health, technology, and adventure. His work sits at the intersection of human potential, emerging technology, and the pursuit of a more intentional life.

About Extraordinary Stories

Extraordinary Stories explores the ideas, people, and experiences that shape extraordinary lives.

Hosts Forbes Shannon, Christine Butler, and Aaron Bare sit down with entrepreneurs, thinkers, creators, and leaders to uncover the moments that changed how they see the world.

Bryce Prescott spent years searching for certainty. Raised Mormon, immersed in self-development, entrepreneurship, and coaching, he followed every path that promised answers. Instead, he found himself confronting a deeper question: what happens when the thing you've spent years chasing finally arrives and leaves you feeling empty?

In this conversation, Bryce shares the unlikely journey that reshaped his life. From religious excommunication and years of trying to earn his way back into a faith community, to discovering new ideas about identity, leadership, fear, and personal freedom, Bryce describes the moments that forced him to stop outsourcing his sense of worth and start trusting himself.

What emerges is a thoughtful exploration of the tension between thought and action. Bryce explains why so many people get stuck in self-improvement, how fear disguises itself as responsibility, and why curiosity may be one of the most powerful tools for personal transformation. Along the way, he reflects on leadership, coaching, comedy, fame, failure, and the surprising lessons that come from finally stepping into the role you've been avoiding.

At a time when many people feel pressure to follow someone else's blueprint, Bryce offers a different perspective: the life you're meant to build often begins by paying attention to the desires you've been taught to ignore.

• Why Bryce believes every major decision is ultimately driven by either fear or love

• How curiosity helped him navigate faith, identity, and personal transformation

• The difference between understanding an idea and actually integrating it into your life

• Why self-development often fails when people focus only on information

• The role metacognition plays in changing behavior and self-talk

• How leadership can emerge from the places we resist most

• Why failure is often a better teacher than certainty

• The connection between physical health, mindset, and emotional resilience

• How to recognize the difference between authentic desire and social programming

• Why trusting yourself is a skill that must be practiced

Bryce Prescott is a coach, entrepreneur, speaker, comedian, podcast producer, and founder of The Lab, a community focused on helping people bridge the gap between thought and action. Drawing from experiences in entrepreneurship, personal development, faith, and leadership, Bryce helps individuals uncover the patterns that keep them stuck and build lives that align with who they truly want to become.

Extraordinary Stories explores the ideas, people, and experiences that shape extraordinary lives.

Hosts Forbes Shannon, Christine Butler, and Aaron Bare sit down with entrepreneurs, thinkers, creators, and leaders to uncover the moments that changed how they see the world.

Forbes Riley has lived a life that sounds almost too improbable to be true. Before becoming known as the “Queen of Pitch,” she was a kid from Long Island who couldn’t speak clearly for two years because of a painful orthodontic device, watched her father lose his hand in a printing press accident, and grew up feeling like an underdog in almost every room she entered. What followed became a lifetime of reinventing herself through communication, performance, and sheer refusal to accept limitation as permanent.

In this conversation, Forbes shares the strange chain of moments that shaped her career, from winning beauty pageants to help save her family, to accidentally becoming one of the most recognizable faces in the infomercial era. Along the way, she learned something that would define the rest of her life: people rarely buy what they need. They buy what they want, what they believe in, and what makes them feel understood.

But beneath the stories about pitching, television, and entrepreneurship is a deeper conversation about identity. Forbes talks openly about grief, resilience, motherhood, reinvention, and the strange ways meaning reveals itself over time. Her perspective on communication isn’t just about selling products. It’s about listening closely enough to understand what people are actually asking for beneath the surface.

This episode is ultimately about belief. Belief in possibility. Belief in reinvention. Belief that even the hardest moments in life can become part of the story that eventually helps someone else move forward.

What You’ll Learn

• Why great communication starts with listening, not talking
• The psychological difference between what people need and what they want
• How Forbes built confidence by becoming comfortable as the underdog
• The role storytelling plays in persuasion and leadership
• Why “hope is not a strategy” when pitching ideas or building businesses
• How personal adversity shaped Forbes Riley’s approach to life and success
• The hidden connection between magic tricks, presentations, and human psychology
• Why reinvention often begins when people stop accepting the default narrative

About Forbes Riley

Forbes Riley is an entrepreneur, television personality, pitch expert, author, and one of the pioneering faces of the infomercial industry. Over the course of her career, she has hosted nearly 200 infomercials, built multiple businesses, and taught entrepreneurs around the world how to communicate ideas more effectively. Her work sits at the intersection of storytelling, persuasion, performance, and personal transformation.

About Extraordinary Stories

Extraordinary Stories explores the ideas, people, and experiences that shape extraordinary lives.

Hosts Forbes Shannon, Christine Butler, and Aaron Bare sit down with entrepreneurs, thinkers, creators, and leaders to uncover the moments that changed how they see the world.

For years, Alex Koupal looked like someone who had it figured out. She had the career, the travel, the athletic discipline, and the reputation for getting things done. But underneath the surface was chronic pain, burnout, fear, and a growing realization that the life she had built no longer fit who she really was. In this conversation, Alex opens up about rebuilding her identity after divorce, injury, motherhood, and stepping away from the corporate world that once defined her.

Alex shares the unexpected path that led her into entrepreneurship and community-building through Venture Café Phoenix, where thousands of founders, creators, and innovators have connected over the last five years. What began as a networking event became something much bigger: proof that people are starving for authentic connection, belonging, and spaces where they can stop pretending to have it all together.

The conversation moves into self-awareness, ADHD diagnoses later in life, intuition, masculinity and femininity, and the tension between who we’re told to become versus who we actually are. Alex reflects on how learning to trust herself changed the way she works, parents, builds relationships, and defines success. Rather than forcing herself into systems that never fit, she started designing a life around how she naturally operates.

This episode is ultimately about permission. Permission to evolve. Permission to rebuild. Permission to stop performing for expectations that were never yours to begin with. It’s a grounded and deeply human conversation about identity, community, and what happens when people finally become honest with themselves.

What You’ll Learn
• Why many high performers secretly feel disconnected from themselves
• How late-life ADHD diagnoses can create clarity instead of shame
• The hidden cost of constantly operating in survival mode
• What authenticity actually looks like in leadership and community
• How intuition and logic work together in decision-making
• Why meaningful community can completely change the direction of your life
• The difference between taking care of yourself and performing wellness
• How rebuilding after failure, divorce, injury, or burnout can create a more aligned life
• Why vulnerability often makes people trust you more, not less
• The role masculine and feminine energy can play in relationships and work

About Alex Koupal
Alex Koupal is an entrepreneur, community builder, and co-founder of Venture Café Phoenix, one of the largest entrepreneurial networking communities on the West Coast. She is also the co-founder of Elemental Business and works in AI education through the AI Learning Center, helping people better understand how emerging technologies are reshaping work and society. Her work centers on human connection, authentic leadership, and creating spaces where people feel safe to grow.

About Extraordinary Stories
Extraordinary Stories explores the ideas, people, and experiences that shape extraordinary lives.
Hosts Forbes Shannon, Christine Butler, and Aaron Bare sit down with entrepreneurs, thinkers, creators, and leaders to uncover the moments that changed how they see the world.

What if stress isn’t just emotional… but physical? What if the voice in your head is shaping your reality more than you realize?

In this episode of Extraordinary Stories, Craig Goldberg joins Forbes Shannon and Christine Butler for a conversation about frequency, consciousness, anxiety, and the nervous system. What starts as a discussion about sound therapy turns into something much deeper: how people unknowingly live in survival mode for years at a time.

Craig explains how vibration and sound affect the body, why the brain constantly searches for threats, and how modern life keeps people trapped in fight-or-flight. From panic attacks in New York City cabs to the pressure of entrepreneurship and relationships, the conversation explores the hidden cost of chronic stress and the importance of learning how to regulate yourself instead of simply reacting to the world around you.

One of the most powerful moments comes when Forbes shares a realization that changed his perspective entirely: he thought he was directing different “characters” in his life, only to realize he was also the writer behind the script. That opens a deeper conversation about identity, patterns, self-talk, and the stories people repeat until they become reality.

Craig also shares the nightly affirmations he says with his daughter before bed: “I am powerful. I am strong. I am loved. I am safe.” A simple ritual that became one of the emotional anchors of the episode and a reminder that the words we repeat eventually become the frequency we live inside of.

What You’ll Learn:
• Why chronic stress changes the body and mind
• How sound and vibration affect the nervous system
• The relationship between frequency and consciousness
• Why ADHD may be tied to survival mode
• How the brain filters reality through patterns
• Why entrepreneurs often struggle to relax
• The connection between thoughts, language, and identity
• How affirmations shape self-perception over time
• Why humans constantly search for threats
• What it means to consciously rewrite your inner narrative

This conversation matters right now because so many people have normalized anxiety, overstimulation, and emotional exhaustion. Instead of asking how to become more productive, this episode asks a different question: what happens when people finally feel safe enough to slow down?

Learn more about this guest and the Extraordinary community at
Extraordinary Network

Chapters
00:00 Opening Hook
00:44 Meet Craig Goldberg
02:19 What Is Vibroacoustic Therapy?
06:11 Frequency, Vibration & The Universe
12:45 Why Humans Get Overstimulated
15:55 ADHD, Patterns & Survival Mode
20:45 The Hidden Cost of Stress
22:59 Entrepreneurship & Anxiety
28:32 Curiosity, Consciousness & Longevity
30:10 “I Realized I Was The Writer”
32:12 The Voice Inside Your Head
33:40 Reprogramming Through Language
36:44 “Words Are Spells”

Craig Goldberg, Extraordinary Stories, vibroacoustic therapy, nervous system, stress and anxiety, consciousness, frequency, vibration, ADHD, entrepreneurship, panic attacks, self awareness, human behavior, emotional intelligence, sound healing, mindfulness, leadership, communication, identity shifts, personal growth, neuroscience, affirmations, self talk, fight or flight, parasympathetic nervous system, healing, wellness, philosophy, Forbes Shannon, Christine Butler, becoming more human, consciousness podcast, anxiety relief, patterns, frequency healing, human connection

#ExtraordinaryStories #CraigGoldberg #Consciousness #MentalHealth #PersonalGrowth

Dr. Greg Eckel thought he understood medicine. Then his wife began forgetting where she was in her own home.

What started as small moments became a devastating neurodegenerative disease that rapidly took away her ability to speak, eat, and function. In this conversation, Dr. Eckel shares the deeply personal story that transformed him from a physician searching for answers into someone challenging the entire framework of how we think about healing, aging, trauma, and the human body.

After losing his wife, Dr. Eckel dedicated his life to studying brain regeneration, frequency medicine, and the connection between emotional health and physical disease. What emerged became Be Vital, a clinic focused on helping people reclaim energy, cognition, movement, and hope. But underneath the science is a much more human story about grief, masculinity, vulnerability, and learning how to ask for help when life breaks you open.

This episode explores why so many people feel disconnected from themselves, how trauma can physically manifest in the body, and why curiosity may be one of the most important healing tools we have. Dr. Eckel challenges the idea that decline is inevitable and argues that many people have simply stopped listening to what their body is trying to tell them.

It’s a conversation about becoming more human in a world that constantly teaches people to numb themselves.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why Dr. Eckel believes the brain can regenerate
• The personal tragedy that changed his understanding of medicine
• How trauma and emotion affect the body
• Why asking for help became one of the biggest lessons of his life
• The relationship between masculinity and vulnerability
• Simple ways to reconnect with your body and nervous system
• Why curiosity can change the trajectory of your life
• The danger of identifying with a diagnosis

This conversation matters right now because so many people are quietly exhausted, disconnected, and living disconnected from themselves. Dr. Eckel offers a perspective rooted in both science and humanity: healing is not just physical, and becoming more aware of yourself may be the first step toward changing your life.

Learn more about this guest and the Extraordinary community at
Extraordinary Network

• Opening Hook
• Losing His Wife Changed Everything
• When Medicine Had No Answers
• The Search for Brain Regeneration
• Why Trauma Lives in the Body
• “Do Not Put the Diagnosis On”
• Masculinity and Asking for Help
• Learning to Feel Again
• The Human Body as Frequency
• Why Curiosity Matters
• Becoming More Human
• Final Thoughts

Dr Greg Eckel, Greg Eckel, Be Vital, Parkinsons, brain regeneration, healing trauma, longevity, frequency medicine, nervous system healing, emotional healing, masculinity, vulnerability, grief, resilience, human potential, Forbes Shannon, Extraordinary Stories, trauma and the body, holistic health, mental health, self awareness, mindfulness, breath work, bioenergetics, regenerative medicine, emotional intelligence, personal growth, curiosity, chronic illness, healing journey, wellness, neuroscience, human connection, personal transformation, consciousness, leadership, becoming more human

#ExtraordinaryStories #DrGregEckel #Healing #Curiosity #HumanPotential

What happens when the thing that looks like failure becomes the beginning of your actual life?

In this episode of Extraordinary Stories, Forbes sits down with Alan S. Adams, a former Royal Navy engineer turned business strategist whose path into entrepreneurship started during one of the lowest moments of his life. After divorce, debt, bankruptcy, and years of believing he was “stupid” because of undiagnosed dyslexia, Alan stumbled into a university degree that completely changed his future. Today, he’s written four books, advises companies across industries, and helps business owners stop building businesses that quietly destroy their lives.

But this conversation goes deeper than business. Alan talks about volunteering for submarines during the Cold War, why fear and opportunity are often connected, and how some of the scariest decisions people make become the moments that redefine them. There’s a grounded honesty throughout the episode that makes the insights feel earned instead of rehearsed.

The deeper thread underneath this conversation is about attention, structure, and what people sacrifice while chasing success. Alan explains why so many business owners get trapped by “busy work,” how people lose sight of the life they originally wanted, and why protecting your time and emotional energy may be one of the most important leadership skills there is.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why fear and opportunity are often connected
• How dyslexia shaped Alan’s confidence and identity
• The business mistake that quietly ruins people’s lives
• Why structure creates freedom in leadership and parenting
• What submarines taught Alan about pressure and risk
• How curiosity changes the way people experience life
• Why defining your destination matters more than setting goals
• The importance of protecting your energy and attention

This conversation matters right now because so many people are overwhelmed, reactive, and stuck inside systems they never consciously chose. Alan’s perspective is a reminder that success means very little if you lose yourself in the process.

Learn more about this guest and the Extraordinary community at
Extraordinary Network

Chapters

00:00 Opening Hook
01:03 Writing Books With Dyslexia
03:26 Divorce, Bankruptcy, and Starting Over
06:40 Fear, Opportunity, and Reinvention
10:58 Why Growth Requires Leaving Your Comfort Zone
11:40 Submarines and the Cold War
13:20 Helping Veterans Transition Into Business
15:08 The DEPTH Framework Explained
19:04 Why People Run Themselves Into the Ground
21:42 Protecting Your Time and Attention
25:10 What Fatherhood Taught Him About Leadership
27:32 Curiosity, Psychology, and Human Behavior
30:02 Seizing Opportunities Before Life Passes By

Alan S Adams, Alan Adams podcast, Extraordinary Stories, Forbes Shannon, business leadership, entrepreneurship, personal growth, business psychology, crisis management, comfort zone, fear and opportunity, dyslexia, Royal Navy, submarines, Cold War, leadership mindset, productivity, systems thinking, curiosity, human behavior, emotional intelligence, work life balance, fatherhood, resilience, reinvention, business consultant, communication, self awareness, mindset, growth mindset, business coaching, opportunity mindset, podcast interview, becoming more human

#ExtraordinaryStories #Leadership #Entrepreneurship #PersonalGrowth #Curiosity