Angela Quinteros had dreams of playing college volleyball when a shoulder injury pushed her in another direction. She decided to attend college and just focus on school and her dreams to be a doctor. Her experience at univeristy forced her to pivot and explore other career opportunities. When falling in love, starting a family, and the difficulties of working in education caught up to her, Angela made the career jump to be a Christian life coach where she could have a more flexible job and be there for her family better than she felt she could in a more typical corporate setting.

Angela discusses how trial after trial led her on a different path than she pictured herself time and time again. She reflects on her pivots throughout life and how her faith has helped guide her through some of her most difficult moments.

Connect with Angela on Instagram

Produced by Rachel Lythgoe

TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of suicidal thoughts occur in this episode. If you need resources or support, call 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or reach out to someone you can trust. The world needs you.

Emilee Henriquez had no choice but to play soccer growing up. Soccer was in the family, and it was also her financial reality if she wanted to get a college education. When her college soccer career wasn't all it was made out to be, Emilee had to find a way out.

Emilee reflects on her complicated relationship with soccer, her experience playing on a toxic team environment in college, and the purpose she has found in her career as a clinical mental health counselor.

Connect with Emilee on LinkedIn

Connect with Emilee on Instagram

Produced by Rachel Lythgoe

Ashley Graham was about to fulfill her childhood dream of playing division one college soccer at New Mexico State when she got into a life-changing car accident her senior year of high school.

Ashley recounts her path to playing in college, her serious head injury and a plethora of other trials, and how she found gratitude for all of it through her faith.

Produced by Rachel Lythgoe

Early on in her career, Tisha Marie Pelletier was offered a job working full-time as a marketing manager with the flexibility to do her own side hustle— a dream job for any hopeful entrepreneur. When Tisha quit her job to start in this new role, she was told they could no longer offer her a job. With no backup plan or income, Tisha decided to take the leap and jump into entrepreneurship.

Since then, Tisha has mastered the pivot, creating company after company, making a full-time income on part-time work, and building a career that is authentic to who she is as a person. Tisha details her jump into entrepreneurship, struggles she faced along the way, and how she feels as though she has arrived at her own version of success through the work she does at Tisha Marie Enterprises, LLC.

Connect with Tisha on LinkedIn

Produced by Rachel Lythgoe

Nahla Turner had her sights set on playing professional soccer from a very early age. The realities of achieving this dream changed when what she thought was just a weird soccer injury in college turned into being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer: non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Nahla details her cancer diagnosis, falling out of love with soccer, and how she has found a love for corporate in her current position as a sales executive.

Connect with Nahla on LinkedIn

Connect with Nahla on Instagram

Produced by Rachel Lythgoe

Gary Martinez Jr. got into powerlifting in high school. Just after graduation, he was injured at a powerlifting meet. No longer able to compete in the same way he once was, Gary sought out a career in personal training to help others find joy in movement. Originally pursuing this goal with the plan to train elite athletes, Gary switched gears when he discovered a passion for helping elderly people and people with autism work out. He founded Simple Fitness Autism, helping people with autism release tension and feel reenergized through the power of movement.

Connect with Gary on LinkedIn

Produced by Rachel Lythgoe

This week on Here's to Almost, Rachel sits down with internationally ranked para-triathlete and adaptive athlete, Kyle Stepp. Kyle is a speaker, Business First 40 under Forty Honoree, and community leader/activist for equitable healthcare, disability rights, and LGBTQ+ community.

Kyle talks through using cycling as an escape from reality, his cancer diagnosis, experiencing limb loss, his journey towards becoming an elite para-triathlete, and using his pain and struggles as an avenue to help other people. Kyle details his work towards leading the nation's most comprehensive legislative reforms for the disability community through N.M. House Bill 131, which prohibits insurance companies from discriminating based on disability and created equitable and life-changing access to orthotic and prosthetic care necessary for physical activity for individuals with limb loss and limb difference.

Connect with Kyle on LinkedIn

Follow Kyle on Instagram

Produced by Rachel Lythgoe

Dr. Amanda Holdsworth's passion for sports brought her from Canada to the United States. She was a dual sport athlete her freshman year and transitioned to a focus on tennis throughout the rest of her time in college. She brought her passion for sports with her post-grad, playing in casual leagues and using sports to make friends. An experienced marketing and communications professional in higher education and public education, Amanda took her learnings and founded, Cultivate & Engage, a full-service marketing agency providing strategy, research, organizational management, and communications services to purpose and mission driven organizations.

Amanda details the impact sports had on her, the identify shift she experienced transitioning out of college athletics, and the way her experience in sports has empowered her to be a better leader and business owner.

Connect with Amanda on LinkedIn

Follow Cultivate & Engage on LinkedIn

Produced by Rachel Lythgoe

Join Rachel as she talks to Sadie Werner, former aspiring professional ballerina. Sadie was just 14 years old when she left home to pursue her dreams of becoming a professional ballerina. She details her time in ballet school, the lack of agency she had when it was her time to step away due to a serious injury, and the parallels she sees between ballet and her current practice of law.

Produced by Rachel Lythgoe

One knee injury Rachel's junior year of college soccer led to six surgeries, rehabbing the entire length of your average college career, and being forced to medically retire. Throughout the rehab process, Rachel was always searching for inspiration and hope that it would work out — and she found plenty of that! In fact, there were very few stories that she came across where it didn't work out for people...even if was eventually.

That wasn't her reality, though. Despite how hard she worked, she never made it out the other side. In the first episode of Here's to Almost, Rachel details her journey of almost, the difficulties of it all, the good that came out of it, and her inspiration for the podcast!

Instagram: ⁠⁠@HerestoAlmost⁠⁠

Website: ⁠⁠https://herestoalmost.my.canva.site/podcast⁠⁠

Interested in being a guest? ⁠⁠Fill out our interest form here.⁠