Human Amplified

I’m your host, Brandi Fleck, and this is Human Amplified. 

I hope you’re ready to ditch the small talk and get really human, because you just found the go-to podcast for thinkers who want to be better humans and rock out doing it. 

We get there with soul-exposing personal stories + expert advice. 

So, come hang out with us where you get to: 

-Build your empathy muscle

-Hear about mind-blowing but also relatable experiences

-Learn more about yourself

-Heal from past trauma

-Be inspired to keep being a good human

-Feel seen and heard through the stories of others

-And get actionable steps to make the world a better place

Subscribe now on your favorite podcast platform and visit us at humanamplified.com.

Most people leave their childhood fantasies behind, but Hannah Mermaid built an entire life around hers.

In this episode of Human Amplified, the world-famous professional mermaid shares how a childhood obsession with mermaids evolved into a career in underwater performance art, freediving, ocean conservation, and environmental activism. What starts as a conversation about mermaid tails and swimming with sharks quickly becomes something much deeper.

We look at what it means to embody femininity without shrinking yourself, how fantasy and storytelling can create real-world change, and why the state of the ocean reflects the state of humanity itself. 

Hannah also opens up about the physical realities of underwater modeling, near-death experiences in the ocean, breathwork, meditation, and the mindset required to build a life outside conventional expectations.

This episode has been maintained in loving memory of Dan Strelan.

Modern life trains people to override their instincts, disconnect from nature, and chase external validation while ignoring what their body and emotions are trying to communicate.

Health coach Dan Strelan reflects on the deeper relationship between emotional health, nervous system regulation, creativity, spirituality, and authentic living. 

Drawing from his experiences living close to nature in Australia’s Blue Mountains, Dan shares how healing often begins by slowing down enough to reconnect with the body, intuition, and the rhythms modern culture teaches people to suppress.

If you’ve ever felt exhausted by modern life, questioned the pressure to constantly optimize yourself, or sensed there’s a more grounded way to live, this conversation offers a different perspective on healing, purpose, and returning to what feels real.

What happens when tattooing becomes more than art?

Tattoo artists Jeff Barnard and Caitlyn Campbell explore the emotional side of tattoo culture, from memorial tattoos and scar coverups to free areola tattoos for breast cancer survivors at Golden Yeti Art Collective in Franklin, Tennessee.

They discuss how tattoos help people reclaim their bodies after trauma, grief, abuse, and cancer, and why the bond between tattoo artist and client can feel deeply personal. Jeff and Caitlyn also share what life is really like inside the tattoo industry, including apprenticeships, sexism, face tattoo stigma, and tattoos becoming mainstream.

The conversation takes an unexpected turn when Jeff opens up about his own kidney cancer diagnosis and how years of working with survivors reshaped his understanding of fear, healing, and recovery.

What happens when your struggle with identity doesn’t fit the narrative people expect?

For Winter Breedlove, gender transition was never a clean, linear story. It was tangled up with religious shame, sexual trauma, perfectionism, HIV stigma, heartbreak, addiction, family conditioning, and years of trying to survive inside an identity that never fully felt like her own.

Winter opens up about what it’s really like to transition later in life while navigating mental health struggles, complicated family dynamics, and the exhausting pressure to become “fully” yourself in a culture obsessed with perfection and instant gratification.

But underneath the conversation about gender is something far more universal. It's the human desire to feel comfortable in your own body, reclaim agency over your life, and decide for yourself what “enough” looks like.

Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions of sexual trauma, rape, addiction, conversion therapy, suicidal ideation, mental health hospitalization, HIV stigma, religious shame, and explicit sexual language. Please listen with care and take care of yourself while engaging with this conversation.

Sex work is one of the most talked-about and least understood professions in modern society.

Sex therapist Dr. Miro Gudelsky shares what she's learned from years of working with sex workers and their patrons. Together, we explore mental health, stigma, relationships, shame, identity, and the role of sex work in modern society.

Whether you agree with the industry or not, this conversation challenges common assumptions about who sex workers are, what they need, and why judgment often creates more harm than understanding.

What happens after service ends? For many veterans, coming home is not the relief people imagine. It can mean losing structure, identity, purpose, and the sense of belonging that military life once provided.

Marine veteran and Angels Alive founder Oscar La Madrid shares how immigrating from Peru, growing up in poverty in Georgia, and serving in the Marines shaped his mission to help veterans rebuild their lives after deployment. 

We examine PTSD, homelessness, masculinity, reintegration, and why so many veterans struggle in silence long after they return home.

At 370 pounds, Dustin Rochester knew his health was headed in the wrong direction. What he didn't realize was that food wasn't the real problem.

Like many people, he had learned to use food for comfort, stress relief, and escape. The temporary relief was followed by frustration, guilt, and a cycle that felt impossible to break. A frightening doctor's appointment eventually forced him to confront the reality of where those habits were leading.

Dustin shares how creating a healthy relationship with food became the foundation for losing 130 pounds and transforming his life. We get into emotional eating, self-worth, accountability, habit formation, and the mindset shifts that made lasting change possible.

The future is easy to ignore when you assume you'll stay healthy. Nathan Peck doesn't have that option.

Diagnosed with VCP disease, a rare inherited condition that can cause progressive muscle weakness, bone disease, dementia, and ALS-like symptoms, Nathan lives with the knowledge that his independence will likely diminish over time. 

But instead of retreating, he has spent the last several years building an organization dedicated to advancing research, supporting patients, and accelerating the search for treatments.

Nathan shares what it actually feels like to live with a progressive genetic disease and why he believes action matters more than fear.

A doctor sat across from Mark Dant and told him his young son likely wouldn't live past age 12. In an instant, the future he and his wife imagined disappeared.

What followed wasn't a story about medicine alone. It was a story about grief, fear, hope, persistence, and the ordinary decisions that eventually create extraordinary outcomes.

Mark shares how a police officer with no scientific background learned enough about genetics to help drive a treatment forward, why he believes hope is an action rather than an emotion, and what it means to keep moving when the future you've imagined disappears overnight.