Send us a text

What would your life look like if you used every single second with intention?

This week on Hope Comes to Visit, I’m joined by Donald L. Dowridge Jr., a man who embodies resilience, purpose, and what it truly means to live with hope.

Donald’s early childhood was filled with pain most couldn’t imagine — abuse, neglect, and words no child should ever hear. But instead of allowing his past to define him, Donald chose to carve out a future rooted in service, courage, and determination.

After serving as a sergeant in the U.S. Army and breaking barriers at the Tampa Post Office, Donald discovered his calling almost by accident — when his fifth-grade son asked him to speak to his class. That one moment opened the door to his life’s mission: motivating and empowering others.

Today, Donald is the founder of DLD Enterprises, the author of 14 books (including The Power of Being a Winner, a #1 Barnes & Noble bestseller in five languages), and a dynamic motivational speaker known for his “unorthodox” style that blends music, dance, and passionate storytelling.

His message is simple yet profound: We each receive 86,400 seconds every day. What will you do with yours?

Donald’s journey is proof that:

• Your past does not determine your destiny.
• Fear and doubt often guard the doorway to your greatest achievements.
• Hope and purpose are choices you can make every single day.

This conversation is filled with energy, wisdom, and inspiration. Donald challenges us not to waste our days on “I would have, should have, could have” — but to live boldly, with hope, and with no regrets.

Connect with Donald on his website: DLT Enterprises.

And on Social - Instagram, Twitter and  on LinkedIn.

Thank you for listening to Hope Comes to Visit. If this episode resonated with you, please follow, rate, and share the show — it helps others find their way to these conversations.

New episodes drop every Monday and Friday, so you can begin and end your week with a little light and a lot of hope.

For more stories, reflections, and ways to connect, visit www.DanielleElliottSmith.com or follow along on Instagram @daniellesmithtv and @HopeComestoVisit

Send us a text

What if the darkest moments of your life were actually preparing you for your greatest transformation?

In this week’s episode of Hope Comes to Visit, I sit down with Valerie Rowekamp, whose story is a breathtaking testament to resilience, audacity, and the power of refusing to give up on hope.

Valerie’s journey began in crisis: at just 22 weeks pregnant, her water broke, and doctors offered little optimism for her son, Rex, who was also facing multiple heart defects. Against all medical odds, Valerie carried him for nine more weeks. She remembers telling doctors, “We don’t have time for realistic here. This is my child.”

That fierce audacity carried her through five heart surgeries for Rex — who today is thriving, a living embodiment of what Valerie calls “hope personified.”

But Valerie’s transformation didn’t stop there. At 42, she turned the same tenacity inward, reinventing her life in remarkable ways. She lost 70 pounds, became a fashion model walking runways, and embraced a bold new identity as Vivi Chantal — a woman who radiates self-belief and possibility.

Her philosophy is simple yet profound: “Dress the part first. Romanticize your life. Stop waiting to be complete — evolution is the work of living.”

This episode is a reminder that:

• Hope whispers even when logic shouts.
• Reinvention is always possible — at any age, in any circumstance.
• Audacity — the refusal to tell yourself no — may just be the key to transformation.

Valerie’s story will inspire you to dream bigger, live bolder, and trust your own inner knowing.

 Listen to the full episode here

And Connect with Valerie Here:

Instagram - Charmed Valerie

YouTube - Charmed Valerie

TikTok - Charmed Valerie

Thank you for listening to Hope Comes to Visit. If this episode resonated with you, please follow, rate, and share the show — it helps others find their way to these conversations.

New episodes drop every Monday and Friday, so you can begin and end your week with a little light and a lot of hope.

For more stories, reflections, and ways to connect, visit www.DanielleElliottSmith.com or follow along on Instagram @daniellesmithtv and @HopeComestoVisit

Send us a text

What happens when life breaks open in every direction? For Aimee Kandrac, it all came crashing down in a six-week period — empty nesting, a cancer scare, the end of her 23-year marriage, and selling her dream home. But from that breaking point came something extraordinary: “Amy 2.0.”

In this episode of Hope Comes to Visit, Aimee shares how she rebuilt her life with new boundaries, deeper self-knowledge, and a joy her own friends and family had never seen before. As CEO and co-founder of What Friends Do, Aimee also brings hard-won wisdom about how we show up for each other in times of crisis. Because when we let others in — when we accept help as much as we give it — we create the kind of connection that heals us all.

This is a story of transformation, community, and the gold that can mend our broken places.

Connect with Aimee here on her website: AimeeKandrac.com, on What Friends Do, and of course on her social channel - LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Thank you for listening to Hope Comes to Visit. If this episode resonated with you, please follow, rate, and share the show — it helps others find their way to these conversations.

New episodes drop every Monday and Friday, so you can begin and end your week with a little light and a lot of hope.

For more stories, reflections, and ways to connect, visit www.DanielleElliottSmith.com or follow along on Instagram @daniellesmithtv and @HopeComestoVisit

Send us a text

“You were the most chosen.”

These are the words Miranda Ward spoke to her son after he learned he was conceived through sexual assault. In this week’s episode of Hope Comes to Visit, Miranda shares her extraordinary journey from a moment of unthinkable violation to building a life defined by fierce love, protection, and healing.

With courage, strategy, and an unshakable belief in her intuition, Miranda navigated a system that was never designed to protect her — enduring years of legal battles and threats while raising her son as a solo parent. Today, she’s not only created a safe, loving home, but she’s also turned her experience into wisdom as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, helping others understand their own patterns of connection, disconnection, and healing.

This is a story about reclaiming power, reshaping destiny, and proving that love can transcend trauma.

Connect with Miranda via her Therapy Website: The Clarity Group

Thank you for listening to Hope Comes to Visit. If this episode resonated with you, please follow, rate, and share the show — it helps others find their way to these conversations.

New episodes drop every Monday and Friday, so you can begin and end your week with a little light and a lot of hope.

For more stories, reflections, and ways to connect, visit www.DanielleElliottSmith.com or follow along on Instagram @daniellesmithtv and @HopeComestoVisit

Send us a text

What happens when you set out on an 86-mile journey with no athletic background, no clear “why,” and only three days to complete it?

For Ian Hawkins — Speaking and Storytelling Coach at Netflix — the answer was far more than sore feet.

In this conversation, Ian shares his whirlwind trek along the historic Pilgrim’s Way from London to Canterbury Cathedral — a pilgrimage that most take a week to complete, but he compressed into just 72 hours. Along the trail, blistered and battling rain, Ian unexpectedly found himself face-to-face with unprocessed grief over his father’s death and childhood trauma.

With nowhere to hide, the miles became a space for deep reckoning — and a powerful reminder that we each have the ability to become the author of our own story. Ian also unpacks his three-part storytelling framework — crisis, decision, and resolution — and how it applies to everything from personal healing to leading change in organizations.

Whether you’re navigating your own uncharted territory or curious about the intersection of story and transformation, Ian’s journey is proof that the path forward often begins with the courage to take the first step.

Connect with Ian on his website.

And on LinkedIn: Ian Hawkins.

Thank you for listening to Hope Comes to Visit. If this episode resonated with you, please follow, rate, and share the show — it helps others find their way to these conversations.

New episodes drop every Monday and Friday, so you can begin and end your week with a little light and a lot of hope.

For more stories, reflections, and ways to connect, visit www.DanielleElliottSmith.com or follow along on Instagram @daniellesmithtv and @HopeComestoVisit

Send us a text

Grief shatters us in ways we never imagine possible until we're standing in its wreckage. 

When Marty died suddenly, almost 2 years ago, on August 13, 2023, I found myself navigating the rawest form of pain while thousands of miles away in Greece with my children. The frantic journey home, the 17 days by his hospital bed, and the impossible decision to let him go fundamentally altered who I am.

Grief doesn't follow stages or timelines. 

Grief needs witnesses, not wisdom; space, not sermons.

Through this experience, I've discovered that grief carves out places within us we never knew existed—spaces that can eventually be filled with new forms of love and purpose. The loss that broke me also built the foundation for who I've become. It led me to my fiancé James, a love that wouldn't have been possible without everything I walked through first. For anyone currently drowning in grief, please know this isn't the end of your story. 

Hope returns, not as a roar but as a whisper, a flicker, a reminder that pain transforms but doesn't define us. 

You're not broken—you're human, and you are not alone. There is life after grief, not in spite of it, but because of it.

Thank you for listening to Hope Comes to Visit. If this episode resonated with you, please follow, rate, and share the show — it helps others find their way to these conversations.

New episodes drop every Monday and Friday, so you can begin and end your week with a little light and a lot of hope.

For more stories, reflections, and ways to connect, visit www.DanielleElliottSmith.com or follow along on Instagram @daniellesmithtv and @HopeComestoVisit

Send us a text

What happens when your world breaks open… and you find a way to keep breathing anyway?

In this deeply moving episode of Hope Comes to Visit, Danielle sits down with writer, speaker, and bold belief builder Kim Moldofsky, whose life changed forever after the loss of her son Isaac to suicide five years ago. Together, they explore the layered terrain of grief, motherhood, identity, and rebuilding — not with false positivity, but with grace, honesty, and deep reverence for what it means to be human.

Kim shares her path through profound sorrow into meaningful service — creating Scrappy Affirmations, launching Craft Your Life, and hosting storytelling gatherings that shine light on topics often kept in the shadows, like death, menopause, and midlife transformation.

This conversation is an invitation to normalize grief, unmask perfection, and reimagine how we honor the stories that shape us. It’s a tender, soulful offering for anyone navigating loss, healing, or the search for purpose on the other side of pain.

Because even in heartbreak, hope can still come to visit.

Connect with Kim here:

Scrappy Affirmations

Kim's book - It's Her Story - Amelia Earhart - A Graphic Novel

Let's Eat Cookies and Talk about Death

Thank you for listening to Hope Comes to Visit. If this episode resonated with you, please follow, rate, and share the show — it helps others find their way to these conversations.

New episodes drop every Monday and Friday, so you can begin and end your week with a little light and a lot of hope.

For more stories, reflections, and ways to connect, visit www.DanielleElliottSmith.com or follow along on Instagram @daniellesmithtv and @HopeComestoVisit

Send us a text

What happens when the life you asked for arrives — and it’s not what you wanted, but exactly what your soul needed?

In this episode, I sit down with Holly Plont — a devoted mother of two, wife to her best friend, and a woman who found herself standing in the middle of the dream life she had worked so hard to build… only to realize it didn’t feel like home.

We talk about the courage it takes to pivot, to listen when life nudges (or shoves) you in a new direction, and the quiet wisdom that comes from trusting the process. Holly shares how faith, surrender, deep inner work, and grace guided her back to herself — how she now finds hope in the everyday moments, and how every detour is ultimately leading her back to herself.

This is an episode about waking up. About letting go of the shoulds. About trusting that sometimes the breakdown is what leads to the breakthrough — and becoming who you were always meant to be.

Connect with Holly on Instagram and learn more about the collection of women who have been so fundamental in her growth journey - Sisterhood Story. You can also learn more about the Sisterhood here.

Thank you for listening to Hope Comes to Visit. If this episode resonated with you, please follow, rate, and share the show — it helps others find their way to these conversations.

New episodes drop every Monday and Friday, so you can begin and end your week with a little light and a lot of hope.

For more stories, reflections, and ways to connect, visit www.DanielleElliottSmith.com or follow along on Instagram @daniellesmithtv and @HopeComestoVisit

Send us a text

What happens when the dream doesn't look the way you thought it would — but turns out even better?

In this episode of Hope Comes to Visit, Danielle Elliott Smith sits down with former award-winning journalist and communications executive Marla Cichowski, who shares her powerful journey to becoming a single mother by choice (SMBC).

After nearly two decades reporting from the frontlines of history — from natural disasters to diplomatic breakthroughs — Marla turned the camera inward. At a time when most people expected her to settle down the “traditional” way, she took a bold leap, choosing to create a family on her own terms.

With vulnerability, humor, and heart, Marla opens up about letting go of timelines, navigating fertility decisions solo, and why chasing a dream — no matter how long it takes — is always worth it. Today, she’s the proud mom of a vibrant five-year-old daughter and living proof that motherhood doesn’t have to follow the rules.

This is a conversation about rewriting the story, listening to your inner knowing, and trusting that love finds us — in unexpected, beautiful ways.

You can connect with Marla on LinkedIn and learn a bit more about about her SMBC journey on her Northwestern profile.

Thank you for listening to Hope Comes to Visit. If this episode resonated with you, please follow, rate, and share the show — it helps others find their way to these conversations.

New episodes drop every Monday and Friday, so you can begin and end your week with a little light and a lot of hope.

For more stories, reflections, and ways to connect, visit www.DanielleElliottSmith.com or follow along on Instagram @daniellesmithtv and @HopeComestoVisit

Send us a text

(Because You Don’t Have to Hit Bottom to Choose a Better Life)

Six years ago, I made one of the most powerful decisions of my life:

I stopped drinking.

Not because I hit bottom.
Not because I lost it all.

But because I was slowly losing myself.

I was high-functioning.
I was successful.
I was spiraling — and smiling through it.

Wine had become the way I coped.
Until it wasn’t.

This week, I’m sharing a truth I lived for years — and telling it more fully, more publicly, than I ever have before.

Because I haven’t been silent these past six years.
I’ve been honest.
I’ve coached women.

I’ve written and spoken and supported others walking this path.

But this?
This is the story behind the story.
This is the whole truth — shared from a place of deep knowing, healing, and clarity.

Why I stopped drinking — and started truly living.

Sobriety didn’t make everything perfect.
But it made everything possible.

I got my Freedom back.

My senses.
My laughter.
My presence.
My integrity.
My voice.
My faith.
My joy.

My relationships with my KIDS.

You don’t need to hit rock bottom to question your relationship with alcohol.
You don’t need to wait for a crisis.
You don’t need anyone’s permission.

You just get to want more for your life.
More clarity. More connection. More truth.
More nights you remember and mornings you’re proud of.

This episode is for anyone who’s quietly wondering…
“Could life be better without this?”

The answer is yes.
And you don’t have to walk that road alone.

Learn more about Redefining Sober and working with me to change your relationship with alcohol here. I'm happy to set up a call or answer any of your questions. Just know - I'm here.

Thank you for listening to Hope Comes to Visit. If this episode resonated with you, please follow, rate, and share the show — it helps others find their way to these conversations.

New episodes drop every Monday and Friday, so you can begin and end your week with a little light and a lot of hope.

For more stories, reflections, and ways to connect, visit www.DanielleElliottSmith.com or follow along on Instagram @daniellesmithtv and @HopeComestoVisit