What makes some online spaces feel nourishing — while others leave us strangely depleted?

In this episode of Human Not Hacked, Amy Lombardo and Jillian Arena sit down with learning designer and facilitator Nina Everflow to explore how digital courses, trainings, and communities can either flatten human experience or help it come alive.

Drawing from her years in e-learning, organizational training, and embodied facilitation, Nina shares how the rapid shift online during COVID revealed hidden assumptions about power, engagement, and authority in the way we teach and learn. Together, the conversation moves beyond technology into deeper questions about nervous systems, collaboration, creativity, and what it means to design spaces that honor real human complexity.

You’ll hear reflections on:

• Why traditional teaching models often fail in digital spaces
• How online environments can unintentionally concentrate power and reduce connection
• Designing learning experiences for relationship, curiosity, and participation
• Moving from hustle and extraction toward collaboration and sustainable creation
• Boundaries, attention, and protecting our humanity in an always-online world
• What it means to orient life and work around aliveness instead of productivity

This episode is especially relevant for coaches, course creators, facilitators, and community builders — but also for anyone navigating learning, work, and connection in an increasingly digital world.

Rather than offering hacks or formulas, this conversation invites listeners to listen for the quieter signal beneath the noise: the “whisper” calling them toward meaningful contribution and more human ways of creating and living.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Nina Everflow is a facilitator, learning designer and consultant with over 15 years of experience supporting leaders, coaches, and mission-driven organizations in translating wisdom into lived practice. Her work bridges professional development, embodied learning, and values-aligned offer design—helping visionary brands create programs that are both meaningful and sustainable.

Through Sacred Craft Collective, Nina partners with authors, coaches, wellness practitioners, and thought leaders to design learning experiences that honor the whole person—integrating science, somatics and soul. She is known for her liberatory approach to teaching and learning, inviting clients to move beyond extractive models toward work that is regenerative, relational, and deeply human.

Freebie: Evolve How You Educate Free Guide: https://everflow-consulting.kit.com/evolve 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/nina.everflow/ 

LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nina-everflow/ 

Substack: https://everflow.substack.com/ 

ABOUT THE HOSTS

Amy Lombardo is the founder of the Brilliance Coaching Academy  and author of the award-winning book Brilliance. With more than 25 years of experience as a coach, leadership mentor, and yoga teacher, Amy weaves together somatic practices, deep listening, and inclusive leadership tools to guide people into authentic transformation. Her work is rooted in the belief that each of us has an inner brilliance waiting to be expressed—and that when we nurture it, we change not only our own lives but the world around us.

Jillian Arena is a holistic life coach, founder of Intuitive Balance Coaching, and an alumna of the Brilliance Coaching Academy . She brings together coaching, Reiki, yoga, and end-of-life doula work to help people move through transitions with compassion, humor, and presence. Jillian’s style is both grounding and expansive, empowering clients to embrace the full spectrum of being human.

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BRILLIANCE COACHING ACADEMY

Want to go deeper into this work? Explore the Brilliance Coaching Academy—a trauma-aware, equity-centered coach-training program. Next cohort begins January 31st. Apply Now at coach-brilliance.com.

This episode is something different.

Instead of offering tips, tools, or techniques, Amy Lombardo and Jillian Arena invite you into an intimate, unfiltered conversation between two seasoned coaches who have spent decades inside the self-help and personal growth world — and who are no longer willing to pretend they have it all figured out.

This is a candid, behind-the-scenes look at how the Brilliance Collective was born, why it exists, and how two passionate, driven, big-hearted helpers slowly realized that the very industry they loved was also burning them out.

If you’ve ever felt:

• exhausted by the pressure to constantly improve yourself

• overwhelmed by endless courses, frameworks, and promises

• like growth has started to feel like another to-do list

• guilty for not doing “enough” inner work

• tired of being told to optimize, manifest, or fix yourself

• lonely in your personal development journey

• unsure how to care about growth without turning it into a grind

• like you’re failing at self-help instead of being supported by it

…you will recognize yourself in this conversation.

Amy and Jillian talk honestly about their own missteps: the burnout, the over-achieving, the years of doing too much in the name of transformation — and how they both eventually learned to slow down, set boundaries, and return to something simpler and more human.

They explore:

• What stayed true in their love of growth — and what had to change

• How boundaries became bridges instead of walls

• Why self-acceptance matters more than self-optimization

• How real transformation happens in connection, not isolation

• The philosophy behind creating a space that centers collective care over hustle culture

Most of all, this episode is an invitation: to be curious without pressure, to evolve without performing, and to grow without leaving yourself behind.

🌿 The Circle of Two Special

Because growth works best in relationship, Amy and Jillian are offering something intentionally simple and human.

When you join the Brilliance Collective app this month — at either the monthly or annual membership level — you are invited to bring one other person with you at no additional cost.

A friend. A sister. A partner. A colleague. Someone you already trust.

No convincing. No selling. Just an invitation to explore together.

Here’s how it works:

1. Download the Brilliance Collective app from the App Store or Google Play. You can access it here: https://community.thebrilliancecollective.com/login.

2. Join at the monthly or annual membership level.

3. After you join, you’ll receive an email with a promo code to gift a full membership to one person of your choice — free.

4. Step into the space together: reflections, prompts, meditations, and conversations designed to meet you exactly where you are.

It’s our way of honoring the truth we’ve learned the hard way:

We were never meant to do this alone.

If this conversation resonated with you, we’d love to see you inside the Brilliance Collective — not as another self-help obligation, but as a gentle place to land.

🌿 The Circle of Two Special accessed here: https://community.thebrilliancecollective.com/login

Resources and Practitioners Mentioned in the Episode:

Prentis Hemphill: https://prentishemphill.com/

Randi Buckley: https://www.randibuckley.com/

👉 Listen now and subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next.

ABOUT THE HOSTS

Amy Lombardo is the founder of the  Brilliance Coaching Academy and author of the award-winning book Brilliance. With more than 25 years of experience as a coach, leadership mentor, and yoga teacher, Amy weaves together somatic practices, deep listening, and inclusive leadership tools to guide people into authentic transformation.

Jillian Arena is a holistic life coach, founder of Intuitive Balance Coaching, and an alumna of the Brilliance Coaching Academy . She brings together coaching, Reiki, yoga, and end-of-life doula work to help people move through transitions with compassion, humor, and presence.

In this episode, Amy and Jillian cut through the dense fog of self-help jargon and translate it back into… well, actual human language. From buzzwords like “holding space” and “embodiment” to phrases like “alignment,” “triggered,” and “shadow work,” they dig into why these terms became so popular, how they’re often misused, and the very real ways they can cause confusion, shame, or unintentional harm when taken out of context.

Together, they break down what these concepts were originally meant to describe, how the coaching industry has oversimplified or commercialized them, and what these ideas look like when practiced with integrity, cultural awareness, consent, and trauma-informed care. This conversation is grounded, accessible, and refreshingly honest—an antidote to the mystical-sounding language that can make personal growth feel intimidating or exclusive.

You’ll walk away with clearer definitions, practical alternatives, and a deeper understanding of why real transformation has nothing to do with mastering the right vocabulary—and everything to do with presence, curiosity, and humanity. If you’ve ever wondered what these words really mean, or felt lost in the sea of spiritual and coaching buzzwords, this episode is your invitation to exhale and re-enter this work with clarity.

👉 Listen now and subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next. And if this episode resonates, please leave a 5-star review—it helps others find the show and join the conversation.

✨

ABOUT THE HOSTS

Amy Lombardo is the founder of the  Brilliance Coaching Academy and author of the award-winning book Brilliance. With more than 25 years of experience as a coach, leadership mentor, and yoga teacher, Amy weaves together somatic practices, deep listening, and inclusive leadership tools to guide people into authentic transformation. Her work is rooted in the belief that each of us has an inner brilliance waiting to be expressed—and that when we nurture it, we change not only our own lives but the world around us.

Jillian Arena is a holistic life coach, founder of Intuitive Balance Coaching, and an alumna of the Brilliance Coaching Academy . She brings together coaching, Reiki, yoga, and end-of-life doula work to help people move through transitions with compassion, humor, and presence. Jillian’s style is both grounding and expansive, empowering clients to embrace the full spectrum of being human.

✨

BRILLIANCE COACHING ACADEMY

Want to go deeper into this work? Explore the Brilliance Coaching Academy—a trauma-aware, equity-centered coach-training program led by Amy Lombardo and Jillian Arena. It’s more than certification; it’s a living laboratory for conscious leadership, embodied transformation, and meaningful impact. Apply Now at https://coach-brilliance.com/.

✨

BRILLIANCE COLLECTIVE APP

Both Amy and Jillian are also guides inside the Brilliance Collective App—a space for growth and connection. It’s where daily inspiration meets real practice, where you can return to yourself in small, meaningful ways. Think of it as your pocket-sized invitation to pause and remember your brilliance anytime and anywhere.

MORE RESOURCES ON THE BRILLIANCE COLLECTIVE APP

In this very first guest episode of Human Not Hacked, Amy Lombardo sits down with her dear friend and colleague Sharna Fabiano — world-renowned tango dancer, author of Lead and Follow, coach, and artist — for a deeply human exploration of leadership, followership, and the myth of control.

Through the lens of dance, art, and embodied practice, Sharna has spent years challenging one of our culture’s most persistent illusions: that power means control, and that growth requires constant self-improvement. In this soulful conversation, she and Amy unpack what happens when we stop trying to master ourselves and instead learn to move with life, not against it.

Together, they explore how the anti-self-help philosophy—the heart of Human Not Hacked—intersects with Sharna’s groundbreaking work on leadership and followership. From the dance floor to the boardroom, they talk about what it means to lead with presence, to follow with awareness, and to allow space for the unexpected. They also dive into how control shows up somatically: in the body, in relationships, and in the subtle ways we tighten around our desire to “get it right.”

Sharna shares her lived experience of unlearning the toxic self-help conditioning that tells us we must be endlessly optimized, productive, and emotionally contained. She speaks candidly about the courage it takes to unhook from those narratives, to honor our imperfections, and to build a new relationship with power—one rooted in responsiveness, humility, and connection.

Sharna also reflects on her experience in the Brilliance Coaching Academy, discussing how the training helped her shed the “shoulds” of performance-based leadership and reconnect to her authentic voice as a coach and teacher.

You’ll hear about:
✨ The myth of control and how it limits creativity and collaboration
✨ Why “followership” is not submission but an act of trust and responsiveness
✨ The difference between marketed empowerment and embodied empowerment
✨ What happens in the body when we truly let go
✨ How leaders can cultivate presence, partnership, and play instead of perfection
✨ What it means to be in right relationship—with ourselves, with others, and with power

This episode is an invitation to step off the hamster wheel of self-improvement and step into something more fluid, relational, and real.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Sharna Fabiano is an artist, coach, author of Lead & Follow: The Dance of Inspired Teamwork and host of the Lead & Follow podcast. Her long study of improvisation and partnering has made her a specialist in Argentine Tango, for which she is recognized internationally. She brings her insights from the world of social dance into the professional sphere with an innovative training programs on leadership and followership for teams and organizations. Learn more at sharnafabiano.com.

ABOUT THE HOSTS

Amy Lombardo is the founder of the Brilliance Coaching Academy  and author of the award-winning book Brilliance. With more than 25 years of experience as a coach, leadership mentor, and yoga teacher, Amy weaves together somatic practices, deep listening, and inclusive leadership tools to guide people into authentic transformation. Her work is rooted in the belief that each of us has an inner brilliance waiting to be expressed—and that when we nurture it, we change not only our own lives but the world around us.

Jillian Arena is a holistic life coach, founder of Intuitive Balance Coaching, and an alumna of the Brilliance Coaching Academy . She brings together coaching, Reiki, yoga, and end-of-life doula work to help people move through transitions with compassion, humor, and presence. Jillian’s style is both grounding and expansive, empowering clients to embrace the full spectrum of being human.

✨

BRILLIANCE COACHING ACADEMY

Want to go deeper into this work? Explore the Brilliance Coaching Academy—a trauma-aware, equity-centered coach-training program. Next cohort begins January 31st. Apply Now at coach-brilliance.com.

What if the most popular self-help advice is actually making us feel worse?

In this raw and illuminating episode of Human Not Hacked, Amy and Jillian pull back the glossy curtain on the phrases that have been quietly gaslighting an entire generation of seekers, coaches, and wellness enthusiasts. From “everything happens for a reason” to “high vibes only” to “you attract what you are,” they unpack ten of the most common self-help clichés — the ones that sound empowering on Instagram, but end up invalidating real human experience.

Together, they explore how trauma, chronic stress, and systemic bias make these messages especially harmful. You’ll hear why “positive vibes only” spaces often backfire for trauma survivors; why “manifestation” isn’t a measure of moral worth; and how phrases like “you chose this on a soul level” or “forgive and move on” can become spiritual bypassing in disguise.

In the episode, they break down:
✨ What some phrases actually do to the nervous system.
✨ Why some phrases continue to persist in coaching and wellness culture even when we know better.
✨ What to say or do instead of using these phrases — language that honors truth and supports real healing.

This conversation isn’t anti-growth — it’s anti-gaslight.
Amy and Jillian bring their decades of trauma-informed coaching experience to help you unlearn the toxic positivity that keeps people doubting their own pain and rediscover what authentic healing really looks like: nuance, compassion, and full permission to be human.

They also share practical tools for what to do when someone tosses one of these “good vibes only” lines your way — how to pause, stay grounded, and protect your truth when others can’t hold it yet.

By the end, you’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of what real care sounds like in your self-talk, your relationships, and your leadership...and why collective care, not performative positivity, is the future of healing.

💛 Because you’re not broken. You never were.

👉 Listen now and subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next. And if this episode resonates, please leave a 5-star review—it helps others find the show and join the conversation.

✨

ABOUT THE HOSTS

• Amy Lombardo is the founder of the ⁠⁠Brilliance Coaching Academy⁠⁠ and author of the award-winning book Brilliance. With more than 25 years of experience as a coach, leadership mentor, and yoga teacher, Amy weaves together somatic practices, deep listening, and inclusive leadership tools to guide people into authentic transformation. Her work is rooted in the belief that each of us has an inner brilliance waiting to be expressed—and that when we nurture it, we change not only our own lives but the world around us.

  Jillian Arena is a holistic life coach, founder of Intuitive Balance Coaching, and an alumna of the ⁠⁠Brilliance Coaching Academy⁠⁠. She brings together coaching, Reiki, yoga, and end-of-life doula work to help people move through transitions with compassion, humor, and presence. Jillian’s style is both grounding and expansive, empowering clients to embrace the full spectrum of being human.

  ✨

  BRILLIANCE COACHING ACADEMY

  Want to go deeper into this work? Explore the Brilliance Coaching Academy—a trauma-aware, equity-centered coach-training program led by Amy Lombardo and Jillian Arena. It’s more than certification; it’s a living laboratory for conscious leadership, embodied transformation, and meaningful impact. Apply Now at https://coach-brilliance.com/.

  ✨

  BRILLIANCE COLLECTIVE APP

  Both Amy and Jillian are also guides inside the Brilliance Collective App—a space for growth and connection. It’s where daily inspiration meets real practice, where you can return to yourself in small, meaningful ways. Think of it as your pocket-sized invitation to pause and remember your brilliance anytime and anywhere.

  MORE RESOURCES ON THE BRILLIANCE COLLECTIVE APP

  • ⁠⁠⁠Download on the App Store⁠⁠⁠

  • ⁠⁠⁠Download on Google Play⁠⁠

In this follow-up to the launch episode, co-hosts Amy Lombardo and Jillian Arena dig into some of the most pervasive (and quietly damaging) myths that shape modern coaching and wellness culture. The ones we’ve all absorbed without realizing it. The ones that keep us hustling, doubting, and chasing instead of trusting ourselves.

This conversation shines a light on the hidden narratives that convince us to hand over our intuition, rush our healing, or compare our progress to someone else’s formula for success. Amy and Jillian unpack where those stories come from, how they take hold in both personal and professional spaces, and what it really looks like to break free from them.

Expect a mix of candor and curiosity: personal stories that might sound a little too familiar, a few uncomfortable truths about “quick fixes,” and some refreshing reminders that real growth rarely fits inside anyone’s blueprint. You’ll leave with new ways to question the voices you follow—online, in your own mind, and in the culture around you—and to come home to the one voice that actually matters...your own.

Whether you’ve ever found yourself second-guessing a mentor, wishing you could just “get there already,” or wondering how to balance care for yourself with care for the world, this episode offers a breath of fresh air and a few soulful provocations you won’t forget.

This isn’t about perfection. It’s about presence. It’s about remembering that being human isn’t a flaw to fix. It’s the foundation for growth.

👉 Listen now and subscribe so you don’t miss what’s next. And if this episode resonates, please leave a 5-star review—it helps others find the show and join the conversation.

✨

ABOUT THE HOSTS

Welcome to the very first episode of Human Not Hacked: The Anti Self-Help Podcast!

In this launch episode, co-hosts Amy Lombardo and Jillian Arena pull back the curtain on why they felt called to create a podcast that directly challenges the self-help industry—and what they hope it will inspire for you.

The global self-help market is now worth more than $45 billion, fueled by endless promises of quick fixes, hacks, and shiny new versions of yourself. But behind the glossy books, courses, and influencers lies a dangerous assumption: that you’re broken, and you need fixing. Amy and Jillian call BS on that message.

This episode sets the tone for everything that follows: honest, funny, sometimes raw, and always deeply human. Together, Amy and Jillian share:

• Why “anti self-help” doesn’t mean anti-growth. It means rejecting the idea that you need to hustle harder, think more positively, or optimize yourself into worthiness.

• The moment they knew this podcast needed to exist. Spoiler: it wasn’t a polished “branding” decision—it was a gut-level response to what they were seeing and hearing in their coaching work every day.

• The most harmful myths of the self-help industry. From toxic positivity to the obsession with optimization and enlightenment, they name the patterns that keep people stuck instead of free.

• Real life confessions of some of their cringiest "self-help" moments. Messy, imperfect, full of setbacks, but also full of resilience, laughter, and surprising breakthroughs.

• How coaching fits into the picture. Coaching at its best isn’t about telling people what to do—it’s about listening deeply, asking better questions, and helping others connect with their own brilliance.

• The role of community. Why we need each other to grow, and how the Brilliance Collective App is offering new ways to practice together.

This is not a podcast about perfection. It’s about presence. It’s about remembering that being human isn’t a flaw to fix—it’s the foundation for growth.

If you’re ready to step off the hamster wheel of self-help and into something more authentic, Human Not Hacked is for you.

👉 Listen now and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. And if you love what you hear, leave a 5-star review. It helps others find us and join the conversation.

SHOW NOTES

1. Book Mentioned by Jillian: Yoga Bitch by Suzanne Morrison: Link

ABOUT THE HOSTS

• Amy Lombardo is the founder of the Brilliance Coaching Academy and author of the award-winning book Brilliance. With more than 25 years of experience as a coach, leadership mentor, and yoga teacher, Amy weaves together somatic practices, deep listening, and inclusive leadership tools to guide people into authentic transformation. Her work is rooted in the belief that each of us has an inner brilliance waiting to be expressed—and that when we nurture it, we change not only our own lives but the world around us.

  Jillian Arena is a holistic life coach, founder of Intuitive Balance Coaching, and an alumna of the Brilliance Coaching Academy. She brings together coaching, Reiki, yoga, and end-of-life doula work to help people move through transitions with compassion, humor, and presence. Jillian’s style is both grounding and expansive, empowering clients to embrace the full spectrum of being human.

  ✨

  Both Amy and Jillian are also guides inside the Brilliance Collective App—a living space for growth and connection. It’s where daily inspiration meets real practice, where you can return to yourself in small, meaningful ways, and where transformation becomes less about fixing and more about awakening. Think of it as your pocket-sized invitation to pause, breathe, and remember your brilliance—anytime, anywhere.

  MORE RESOURCES AVAILABLE ON THE BRILLIANCE COLLECTIVE APP

  • ⁠Download on the App Store⁠

  • ⁠Download on Google Play