What does it take to walk away from a stable government job and start a relief network from scratch?

In this episode, Kristel Turansky shares the story behind Baltimore Relief Network—from her years as a Contracting Officer navigating the bureaucracy and intensity of NIH to the moment she decided to leave it all in 2025 and build something entirely different. You’ll hear about the chaos, the clarity, and the conviction that carried her from government contracts to neighborhood relief.

This isn’t a polished origin story. It’s real, messy, and full of the kind of decisions that change everything.

In this conversation:

* Why Kristel left her NIH Contracting Officer role in 2025 after years on the business side of government science

* The early days of building Baltimore Relief Network with no roadmap

* What it’s like to trade institutional stability for grassroots impact

* How body-and-soul work shapes everything Josh and Kristel do

Want to support the work?

Learn more about Baltimore Relief Network and how you can get involved: http://www.baltimorerelief.com

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