Today, I interview Riana Malia, who grew up through repeated family breakups, broken promises, and the belief that she had to earn love. The instability left her feeling unsettled, too much in some ways and not enough in others, while also teaching her to become deeply resourceful.

Those early beliefs followed Riana through marriage, motherhood, financial hardship, betrayal, and relationships where she tried to manage outcomes and become who others needed her to be. Although she went to therapy, read the books, and talked about her experiences, the anger, sadness, and old story continued to shape her life.

Her breakthrough came when she realized that repeatedly telling the same story was keeping her inside it. She learned to stand on her story instead, let go of the belief that she had to beg people to love her, and become the same person in every room. That shift helped her break the cycle of broken promises and create a different life.

Today, Riana uses what she has learned to help women stop repeating the relationship patterns that no longer serve them. She helps them get clear about who they are, what they want, and the life and love they want to create.

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Riana Malia is a Board-Certified Neurosomatic Practitioner, Identity Architect, and private authority for women who have built extraordinary lives and refuse to settle for ordinary love. Her methodology blends neurological rewiring, subconscious reprogramming, and nervous system recoding to address what therapy, retreats, and self-help have not been able to reach.

Riana is the creator of the Clear to Create™ Method, which helps women clear old patterns, create aligned beliefs and habits, and claim a new identity. She is also the founder and host of the Brilliance Brunch™, an invitation-only gathering for high-achieving women in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the creator of the Extraordinary Love Index™ (ELI™), an assessment that reveals what may be standing between a woman and extraordinary love.

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Find Riana here:
Website: https://rianamalia.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rianamalia/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@rianamalia 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rianamalia/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RianaMalia/ 

Substack: https://substack.com/@rianamalia 

Freebie: https://quiz.rianamalia.com/

Support the show

I’m Dr. Doreen Downing and I help people find their voice so they can speak without fear. Get the Free 7-Step Guide to Fearless Speaking https://www.doreen7steps.com​.

Today, I interview Beth Erlander, a grief expert and therapist who spent years believing she had to stop being a caregiver before she could truly support other caregivers. Although she had helped people through grief for more than 26 years, Beth hesitated to focus on this work because she was still living it herself. 

In our conversation, she didn't think she was ready, and she wasn't sure she had enough distance from her own experience to guide others through theirs. She shares what helped her stop waiting, why she finally became comfortable with not having all the answers, and how her own experience gave her a deeper understanding of the people she felt called to serve. We also explore why grief is more than death loss, how it can show up in life's transitions, and what it means to give grief a voice.

Today, Beth helps those who unexpectedly find themselves caring for a spouse or partner navigate the emotional realities of caregiving. Through her professional experience and her own journey, she is creating programs that help caregivers feel seen, understood, and supported while navigating a grief that often goes unrecognized.

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Beth Erlander, LPC, grief expert and seasoned therapist with over 26 years of experience. She works with grief and loss issues from any kind of sudden life transition. Yet the main focus of her work is serving those who find themselves thrust into the role of being the caregiver for their spouse or partner.

Her memoir, Life Upside Down: The Fall That Transformed Our Lives, Lifting Me Through Grief Love and Quadriplegia speaks to the journey of being her partner’s caregiver for the past 13 years.

Beth is a Creative Grief Support Practitioner, Art Therapist and EMDR practitioner. She is currently training in Somatic Experiencing, Peter Levine’s work where she is gathering more tools to equip grievers to navigate the overwhelming experience of grief in the body.

Beth runs an online program called The Wheel of Grief, which gives grievers a map to navigate the wild terrain of loss. She co-leads grief rituals and ceremonies, both online and in person. She is also a Cowry Shell Diviner taught to her by the late and great Elder Malidoma Somé.
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Find BETH here:
Book: https://crowflowpublications.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betherlander_grief2joy/

Support the show

I’m Dr. Doreen Downing and I help people find their voice so they can speak without fear. Get the Free 7-Step Guide to Fearless Speaking https://www.doreen7steps.com​.

Today, I interview sisters and business partners Amy and Nancy Harrington, who both grew up shy and spent years navigating environments that made it hard to be heard, until they decided to leave their high-powered Hollywood careers and build something that could give other women the voice they had to fight for themselves.

Amy rose to vice president at Warner Brothers at 27, often the youngest and only woman in the room, quietly doing the work while men took the credit. Nancy built a solitary graphic design business for nearly two decades to avoid the very rooms that made her shrink.

Together, they built The Passionistas Project Sisterhood, a global community that gives women from marginalized backgrounds the space, support, and platform to finally be heard.

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Sisters and business partners, Amy and Nancy Harrington are the co-founders of The Passionistas Project Sisterhood, a global community for passion-driven women, especially from marginalized backgrounds, to find support, purpose, and empowerment. 

After leaving high-powered careers in Hollywood, where Amy worked on major films like Harry Potter and The Matrix, and Nancy created Academy Award campaigns, they now use their platform to uplift others. 

Through their Power of Passionistas Women's Summit podcast, number one international bestselling anthology book, Awakening Your Power, writing mentorship program, and online global community, they give a voice to women who often don't feel seen and heard.

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Find Amy and Nancy here:
Website: https://www.thepassionistasproject.com/

Community: https://www.thepassionistasproject.com/membership

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePassionistasProject

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-passionistas-project/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepassionistasproject/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/PCPassionistas

Free Download: https://www.thepassionistasproject.com/30-days-journal

Support the show

I’m Dr. Doreen Downing and I help people find their voice so they can speak without fear. Get the Free 7-Step Guide to Fearless Speaking https://www.doreen7steps.com​.

Today, I interview Lizzie Siegel, who came into this world deeply connected to her gifts but spent years learning to suppress them, until a series of accidents, illnesses, and a relationship where she felt completely invisible forced her to stop abandoning herself and come back to her voice.

Raised with a heightened sensitivity that others around her often misunderstood, Lizzie spent nearly two decades as an international school teacher before her body began breaking down from years of ignoring her inner voice. Autoimmune diseases, a spinal injury, and a recommended hip replacement were the signals she could no longer dismiss.

Through energy healing, sound work, and a journey across more than 70 countries, she found her way back to the voice she had always had, and built a practice around helping others remember theirs.

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Lizzie Siegel is a Resource and Reality Architect, Subconscious Freedom Coach, and global gridworker who has traveled to over 70 countries activating the Earth's energetic grids, sacred sites, and collective consciousness. She works at the intersection of voice, frequency, and remembrance, using sound, light language, and intuitive transmission to awaken what she calls Divine Source Codes within the human system.

With a rare clairaudient gift, Lizzie hears beyond words, reading the energetic field of what is spoken, suppressed, and ready to be liberated. Her presence alone becomes a catalyst for transformation, dissolving deep rooted patterns of fear, trauma, and limitation, and recalibrating individuals at the level of identity, nervous system, and soul.

She doesn't just help people find their voice. She helps them remember who they were before they ever learned to silence it.

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Find Lizzie here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizziesiegel/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lilybity 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizzienamasteplantbased/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heartshomewithlizzie/ 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heartshomewithlizzie 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2y8L6exu2GxJeBQSEUSX5K?si=0a10cdc09bec41c4 

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hearts-home-podcast/id1648081724

Support the show

I’m Dr. Doreen Downing and I help people find their voice so they can speak without fear. Get the Free 7-Step Guide to Fearless Speaking https://www.doreen7steps.com​.

Today, I interview Fabio da Silva Fernandes, who has always known his voice mattered but faced moments throughout his life that tested that conviction, from a humiliating childhood experience on stage to navigating corporate spaces where he felt he did not belong, to a pandemic burnout that forced him to completely change direction.

Raised with a deep sensitivity and awareness, Fabio spent more than 20 years in the fintech industry before recognizing that the life he had built no longer aligned with who he was. In 2021, he took a month off, listened to himself, and made the decision to start over.

Since leaving corporate, he has built a practice centered on helping others do the same, working with individuals and organizations as a speaker, writer, and consultant focused on resilience, mindful leadership, and authentic expression.

Fabio da Silva Fernandes runs a holistic wellness practice focused on resiliency, mindfulness, and Reiki. His passion is helping others cultivate greater resilience as a speaker, writer, and consultant. After more than 20 years in the fintech industry, Fabio left the corporate world to found Resting Bell Wellness Inc., now known by the name of his podcast, The Stumbling Spirit. He works primarily with corporate and nonprofit organizations to elevate mindful leadership, build trust, and enhance team collaboration.

Find Fabio here:

Website: http://thestumblingspirit.com 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabiofernandes27/ 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thestumblingspirit/ 
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thestumblingspirit.bsky.social 

About the Show

Find Your Voice, Change Your Life is hosted by Dr. Doreen Downing, psychologist and speaking confidence coach. Each episode features guests who lost their voice, or never felt they had one, and found their way back to it. New episodes on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.

Support the show

I’m Dr. Doreen Downing and I help people find their voice so they can speak without fear. Get the Free 7-Step Guide to Fearless Speaking https://www.doreen7steps.com​.

Today, I interview Andrea Horvath who struggled to speak up for most of her life due to a fear that using her voice would lead to rejection. She followed expectations, stayed quiet, and avoided conflict, which affected her confidence and ability to express herself.

Raised in a strict environment, Andrea learned that questioning the norm could mean being labeled “crazy” and risking connection. She built a stable life with a CPA career and family, but kept her thoughts and voice suppressed for years.

When her daughter showed signs something was wrong, her concerns were dismissed. Instead of staying silent, she spent nearly two years seeking answers, choosing to trust her intuition and speak up despite the discomfort.

Today, Andrea helps leaders reconnect with their voice and build confidence in how they show up, focusing on self-trust and grounded self-expression in their speaking and leadership.

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Andrea is a high-performance mentor for corporate leaders and executives seeking measurable and meaningful growth fueled by alignment.

For more than two decades, she rose as a CPA and leader in corporate, driving performance at the highest level while learning how to achieve without compromise and hold both success and peace at once.

Today, she mentors high-performing, awakened leaders to reach the next level of success in their careers and life from a place of deep alignment and inner authority. Her work combines energetic alignment and strategy to support leaders in elevating their leadership and stepping into greater opportunities.

She is also a speaker who works with organizations and teams ready to lead and perform at a higher level without abandoning who they are.

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Find Andrea here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreamhorvath/ 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7-V0tlhCwHkNED3kD1G0KA

https://www.andreahorvath.com/titlepaypeaceform 

Support the show

I’m Dr. Doreen Downing and I help people find their voice so they can speak without fear. Get the Free 7-Step Guide to Fearless Speaking https://www.doreen7steps.com​.

Today, I interview Rachel Radway who spent years in corporate leadership, showing up, performing, and doing what was expected, while quietly carrying the sense that something about it did not fully fit. Like many who struggle with confidence and speaking up, she learned how to adapt, even when it meant holding parts of herself back.

As she was growing up, she was creative and expressive, using her voice freely. But after moving frequently and being teased for being different, she began to feel that she did not quite belong. Even as she continued to show up, there was an inner tension between wanting to be accepted and knowing she experienced the world in her own way.

Over time, she reached a point where she could not continue in the same way. She could not take another job, and that led her to make a bold decision to quit her work, sell her home, and move to Peru without a plan. Living in different places gave her the space to step back and listen more closely to herself.

Since then, she has come to understand her neurodivergence and the patterns of masking she lived with for years. Today, she supports others who think and feel differently to build confidence, speak more authentically, and express what is true for them.

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Rachel Radway is a certified leadership & executive coach, mentor, speaker, and award-winning author with more than 25 years’ experience in corporate leadership roles at startups, national nonprofits, Fortune 100s, and global enterprises.

With compassion and a deep understanding of all the disconnects between the corporate world and brains that are wired differently, Rachel helps high-achieving, highly perceptive, and neurodivergent clients lead with confidence, clarity, and authenticity—and without burning out.

Her book, Perceptive: Insights for leaders who feel more, process deeply, and think differently, reframes misunderstood and stigmatized neurotypes, including HSP and AuDHD, as a set of strengths—and leadership assets—accompanied by challenges, the other side of the coin.

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Find Rachel here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/reradway/

https://www.rercoaching.com/

Support the show

I’m Dr. Doreen Downing and I help people find their voice so they can speak without fear. Get the Free 7-Step Guide to Fearless Speaking https://www.doreen7steps.com​.

Today, I interview Karen Rudolf who believed she wasn’t enough and learned early on to stay quiet, especially after being told as a child to stop asking questions. That moment shaped how she saw herself. She became very quiet, carried that into her relationships, and continued to feel small and unheard into adulthood.

Growing up, her curiosity was shut down, and with a mother who was also timid and a people pleaser, she learned not to speak up. She entered a relationship where her voice was again dismissed, reinforcing the belief that what she thought and felt did not matter.

Everything began to shift when her life circumstances intensified. Going through a divorce while raising three daughters, facing health issues like hair loss and a pre-diabetes diagnosis, and even being told she might not walk again forced her to confront how she had been living. These moments pushed her to listen to herself and realize she could no longer stay silent.

She began to speak up, ask for what she needed, and trust her intuition. Today, Karen uses her voice to help others uncover the root cause of their patterns and express who they truly are.

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Karen Rudolf is the founder of Tranquil SOULutions™, where science meets soul to support high-performing, heart-led women and leaders shift out of survival mode and into grounded alignment.

With a background in nursing and training in neuroscience-informed tools, somatic awareness, and trauma-release principles, she helps clients reconnect with their inner voice, regulate their nervous system, and lead from a place of embodied clarity.

Karen is also the creator of the Tranquil SOULutions Mind Mosaic™ and The Butterfly Technique, practical and intuitive frameworks for decision-making and inner realignment. She is the author of the upcoming book Spiraling UP: The Light You Command.

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Find Karen here:
https://www.facebook.com/officialkarenrudolf/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenrudolf/

https://www.instagram.com/officialkarenrudolf/

https://www.youtube.com/@officialkarenrudolf

Clarity compass: https://karenrudolf.com/free-clarity-compass-pdf-967946480054

Support the show

I’m Dr. Doreen Downing and I help people find their voice so they can speak without fear. Get the Free 7-Step Guide to Fearless Speaking https://www.doreen7steps.com​.

Today, I interview Dori Eversmann who grew up in a family where speaking up could lead to disconnection, learning as a young girl to stay silent, watch people’s faces, and only speak when it felt safe.

That pattern followed her into school and adulthood, where she became the quiet, compliant, invisible one, often freezing when asked to speak and doubting her own voice. For decades, she lived this way, until in her 40s she felt invisible, disposable, and replaceable, reaching a breaking point that pushed her to seek help and begin healing.

A major shift came later after building and selling a business, when a COVID experience made her realize, “This is not what I am on this earth to do,” leading her to finally pursue something more meaningful.

She began taking small, courageous steps, training as a coach, practicing speaking, and learning to connect from the heart. Today, she helps others move out of silence and fear and into authentic, heart-centered communication in their work and relationships.

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Dori Eversmann is the owner of Resilient Relationships and a speaker, facilitator, and coach specializing in communication skills and leadership presence. She works with leaders and managers to build cultures of healthy communication and create high-trust teams where people actually want to stay and grow.

Her career spans both business and nonprofit leadership. Along the way, she discovered one truth that shows up everywhere: effective communication is the key to success at work and in life.

While she teaches these skills, she also lives them imperfectly. She openly shares that communication can still be a challenge, especially with her husband of 33 years.

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Find Dori here:
https://www.instagram.com/dorieversmann/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/deversmann/

https://www.facebook.com/dori.eversmann

https://www.youtube.com/@RiseUpWithDori

Support the show

I’m Dr. Doreen Downing and I help people find their voice so they can speak without fear. Get the Free 7-Step Guide to Fearless Speaking https://www.doreen7steps.com​.

Today, I interview Mikki St. Germain who grew up being told to “keep your mouth shut” and made to feel like her voice didn’t matter. At 14, her mother left, and she stepped into adult responsibility, working, caring for her siblings, and eventually becoming an emancipated minor at 16.

When a guidance counselor told her, “Girls like you don’t go to schools like this,” something inside her woke up. With $263 in her pocket, she drove to Florida after graduation and decided she would figure life out on her own.

That decision marked a shift from living in desperation to choosing inspiration. She stopped allowing other people’s opinions to become her reality and began building courage from the inside out.

Today, Mikki is a high school football coach with 17 years of experience, one of the rare female head coaches to win a divisional league and championship. She also coaches people off the field, helping them move from setback to comeback. Her message is clear: only you can tell your story, and when you choose to step up and use your voice, it can change everything.

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Coach Mikki St. Germain is an international speaker, published author, and one of the rare female football coaches leading in a male-dominated sport. With over 17 years of coaching experience from Pop Warner to high school head coach, she has won a divisional league and championship while building teams that succeed both on and off the field. As the founder of The 4th and 1 Mindset, Mikki helps individuals turn setbacks into comebacks by choosing inspiration over desperation and refusing to let other people’s opinions define their reality.

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Find Mikki here:
Website: http://www.4thand1mindset.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HailMaryInHeels

Support the show

I’m Dr. Doreen Downing and I help people find their voice so they can speak without fear. Get the Free 7-Step Guide to Fearless Speaking https://www.doreen7steps.com​.