# How I Made It Through Podcast
## Episode: Finding Strength Through Sensitivity — A Conversation with Karen Hall
**Host:** Bernadette Thompson
**Guest:** Karen Hall — Publicist, Publisher, Producer at Momentum Media; Editor-in-Chief of *Global Women's Journal* and *Spanish Journal* (partnered with the *Los Angeles Tribune*); Emotional Intelligence Leadership Coach; Host of *The Hero Within* podcast
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## Episode Summary
In this deeply moving conversation, Bernadette sits down with Karen Hall to explore how early trauma, lifelong sensitivity, and a passion for storytelling shaped a career dedicated to elevating the voices of others. Born two and a half months premature, Karen spent her earliest days in an incubator — an experience that left her with preverbal trauma and an unusually sensitive nervous system. Rather than letting those challenges define her, Karen turned them into fuel for a life of writing, coaching, publishing, and connecting people to their own stories.
From selling newspapers as a nine-year-old to coaching Fortune-level CEOs, from writing her first book at eleven to producing global broadcasts with hundreds of speakers, Karen's journey is a testament to what becomes possible when we learn to regulate our nervous systems, reframe our limiting beliefs, and meet ourselves with compassion.
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## What You'll Hear in This Episode
- How being born prematurely shaped Karen's lifelong journey with anxiety, sensitivity, and the drive to understand the nervous system
- Why Karen started writing at age nine — and how journalism became her first path to healing through storytelling
- The surprising way her podcast, *The Hero Within*, reached the top 3% globally within three months with no advertising
- How Karen went from terrified-to-speak to a TED-style stage in New York with no notes — and what that moment taught her about authentic connection
- The accidental birth of her coaching business when sales colleagues started asking, "How are you not afraid to cold call?"
- Why every limiting belief, no matter how it shows up, traces back to a wound from the past
- How emotional intelligence and co-regulation changed the way she coaches CEOs (one client called her a "CEO whisperer")
- The launch of *Global Women's Journal* and the Spanish-language *Latin Journal* — and why creating platforms for underrepresented voices matters
- The spiritual dimension of the work: Marianne Williamson's influence, ancestral connection, and seeing ourselves as beings of love
- Why Karen reframed "it took me too long to learn this" into "now I have the empathy to help others"
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## Key Takeaways
**On trauma and the nervous system:** Karen shares how understanding preverbal trauma — trauma that happens before we have words — helped her make sense of why her brain defaulted so easily to fear. Learning to regulate her nervous system became a lifelong practice, and eventually the foundation of her coaching work.
**On sensitivity as a strength:** Being a highly sensitive person (HSP) and an empath is genetic and real — and it's a gift, not a flaw. The work is learning to channel that sensitivity outward in service of others rather than letting it pull us inward.
**On the universal struggle:** Whether someone is a CEO, a first-time author, or a parent, the same question surfaces when we hit a wall: *What's wrong with me?* Karen teaches that nothing is wrong — the amygdala has simply hijacked the prefrontal cortex, and the way back is through self-compassion.
**On storytelling:** Everyone has a story, and someone out there needs to hear yours. Platforms, podcasts, and publications matter because they break isolation and remind people they are not alone.
**On the spiritual dimension:** When we see ourselves — and others — as beings of love with unmet needs, compassion and forgiveness become natural. Unloving behavior is simply a forgetting.
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## Memorable Moments
- Karen's mother role-playing newspaper sales pitches with her at age nine — a practice Karen still uses today with her husband and kids before big talks
- The New York stage moment where Karen threw away her notes and spoke from the heart for the first time
- Being nicknamed "the queen of empathy" by her coaching clients
- The realization that her nervous system work gives her something polished coaches without lived experience can't offer: authentic empathy for how long healing actually takes
- Bernadette and Karen's shared reflection on ancestors visiting them during their most transformative seasons
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## About the Guest
Karen Hall is an emotional intelligence leadership coach, publisher, and broadcast producer who has built her life's work around elevating women's voices and helping leaders regulate their nervous systems so they can lead with connection instead of control. She is the host of *The Hero Within* podcast, Editor-in-Chief of *Global Women's Journal* and the Spanish-language *Latin Journal* (in partnership with the *Los Angeles Tribune*), and a mentor to speakers, authors, and CEOs. She has also served for a decade in volunteer ministry work with Native American communities on the Fort Apache and Navajo reservations in Arizona.
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## Connect with Karen Hall
- **LinkedIn:** Search for "Karen Hall — Queen of Empathy" (a title given to her by her clients)
- Karen welcomes connection and would love to hear your story
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## Connect with the Host
Bernadette Thompson is the host of the *How I Made It Through* podcast, an author, and a guide who helps people explore their ancestry and intergenerational stories as part of their healing journey. After losing her husband to alcoholism eight years ago, Bernadette reinvented herself and now helps others navigate grief, transformation, and the spiritual dimensions of coming home to who they truly are. www.tellmeourstory.com
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## A Closing Thought
*"When you hear stories like Bernadette's guests, you gain hope — because you know: I can make it through too. She did it. He did it. I can do it. And you can do it too."* — Karen Hall
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*If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who needs to hear it, and subscribe to the* How I Made It Through *podcast for more conversations with people who have walked through the fire and come out with wisdom to share.*
