Serenity welcomes Kiyoko Hairston, author of the children's book Freeda's Fabnificent Feet. As a young adult, Kiyoko earned her SAG card for delivering a line in a movie with Jeff Bridges and Barbara Streisand. While her acting career continued for a time, today Kiyoko is confident in her identity as a storyteller. Her new children's book empowers readers to see their perceived weaknesses as superpowers. Kiyoko's personal story is about figuring out what fills your heart and staying in alignment with what you know you're meant to do until the perfect timing brings it all together.

Chapters
2:20 Who is Kiyoko Hairston
8:56 Work keeps us apart
11:36 Actress Dreams + Reality
31:00 I am a Storyteller
35:44 Freeda’s Fabnificent Feet
56:17 The Perfect Time is Now
1:17:59 What Fills Your heart
1:21:56 It worked for me

Links
FreedasFabnificentFeet.com
Kiyoko on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freedasfreedom2025/

I Do This For a Living is independently produced. 

serenitybohon.substack.com

Joyful Judy C. Harvey is a retired teacher, living a real life Hallmark movie with her high school sweetheart in a small town in Missouri. Judy has been mentioned on the show many times for her college story, which began when almost all three of her children had graduated high school. Judy always wanted to be an English teacher. She loved it, and she loves retirement. She has brilliant advice for finding joy in our work and in life. Plus poetic words to live by like these: Students don’t care what you know until they know you care; I’d rather rather believe the best about someone and be wrong than believe the worst about them and be right; and a poem in the It Worked for Me section that I’ll never forget. 

Chapters
6:09 Judy in her own words

9;59 Back to school!

24:17 Growing up on the farm

27:37 English teacher dreams

30:22 English teacher reality

44:06 The joys of retirement

51:47  Judy’s Journey to Joy

1:01:29 Peace of mind takes time

1:08:42 How to enjoy your work

1:22:42 It Worked for Me

Links

Angel Wings by Judy C. Harvey (https://a.co/d/08RQuwb8)

Shawn Achor’s happiness Ted Talk (https://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work)

This episode is sponsored by h34contracting.com

I Do This For a Living is independently produced. 

serenitybohon.substack.com

Please welcome Jesse White! Jesse is a musician and entertainer who is finding the day job brings him balance. Jesse has a familiar story of artistic dreams. He was determined music would one day be his job, and he worked toward that throughout high school, college, and beyond. Eventually, economic realities sent him to his network to find work that paid. Surprisingly, he found that stable income and the structure of a 9-to-5 was just what his music needed. In today's episode, he describes the dream, the reality, and the relief he's found in a job that makes more room for his music, not less.

Chapters
1:56 Let’s Talk About Work
6:24 Jesse White: Entertainer
17:05 Musician Dreams
27:01 Education: Music & Tech
29:32 The Music Dream Evolves
40:15 Your Creative Work Has Value
42:19 The Joy of Theater
1:03:47 The Job Makes Room for Music
1:24:35 Fantasy Football & Feeling Most Myself
1:32:15 It Worked for Me
1:36:17 How Work Makes Room for Art  
1:36:50 Lean on Your People

Links
Jesse's band, Bad Self Portraits: https://www.badselfportraits.com/

References
Movie: That Thing You Do (which I did indeed watch the night after we recorded this)

This episode is sponsored by h34contracting.com

I Do This For a Living is independently produced. 

serenitybohon.substack.com

Serena Berrey is five years post-college and in a job she LOVES because she didn't waste her time in misalignment. As an Executive Recruiter, Serena has tons of motivational advice, including starting your day right, surviving any day in the industry of your choice, and filling your cup before pouring it out. Serena has hot takes and hot tips for interviewing with recruiters, networking constantly, and always finding ways to feel you're moving forward. This episode is getting me through my own survivable but challenging work days. It's worth a listen, a relisten, and some notes!

Chapters
1:12 Serena: Obnoxious Optimist
8:41 How are you going to change the world
26:09 ADHD: Attention isn’t the problem
30:00 Don’t Stay Just Because (Hot Take 1)
49:55 Always Be Networking
57:23 Fill Your Cup First
1:03:58 Diagnosed: Type I Diabetes
1:14:25 Be Curious
1:23:20 When They Ask About Your Weakness (Hot Take 2)
1:27:12 Get Outside
1:29:07 Today is Survivable
1:38:44 The Best is Yet to Come
1:41:00 It Worked For Me

Links
Serena on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/serena-berrey/
Serena quoted Serenity’s book, The Thank You Room: https://www.serenitybohon.com/thankyouroom

This episode is sponsored by H34Contracting.com

I Do This For a Living is independently produced. 

serenitybohon.substack.com

Please welcome Jason Benson, general contractor in Wyoming, former worship leader, and someone who never used to ask himself, "What do you want?" It's a question he learned through therapy after a series of panic attacks and a sabbatical made him realize he was headed into a very big quitting story. You know I love a quitting story. For Jason, this one felt more like Owen Wilson's line in the Loki TV series: "Burn it to the ground." (Reference mine. I have no idea if Jason watched Loki.) Jason's story is heartbreaking and inspiring, and I love that it can be simplified to the gentle question we are allowed to ask ourselves: What do you want?

Chapters
2:16 Let's talk about fame
5:53 Jason Intro: Geography and Childhood
10:25 Music Interest or Identity?
35:01 Quitting
52:53 Therapy & Learning What You Want
1:14:09 Back to school + Running a Biz
1:25:06 Telling Our Stories and Showing Up
1:41:57 It Worked for Me

Links
h34contracting.com

Books discussed
Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives by Richard Swenson 

The Emotionally Healthy Leader by Peter Scazzero

Music discussed
Prizefighter, Mumford & Sons (album)
Dan Fogelberg (artist)

I Do This For a Living is independently produced. 

serenitybohon.substack.com

Kristin Flannigan is a speech pathologist, living and working in California. It's a role that took her some time to identify. However, when she found it, she wondered if the career was made for her or if she was made for the career. Kristin loves fun and was always drawn to linguistics and to serving people. She learned the term Pura Vida on a trip to Costa Rica where she hopes to live or at least visit again one day. Pura Vida is a phrase that can mean a lot of things, and the sentiment seemed perfect for the title of this episode. Kristin followed her language interests through college but took a bit of a detour into administrative work before discovering the path to speech pathology. Her message in this episode is, "If you can be flexible, you can do whatever you want." Recently diagnosed with ADHD, Kristin is still learning about herself every day, giving the world's most healing hugs, and chasing Pura Vida. You're going to love this one.

Chapters

2:24 Who is Kristin? (And what makes the world's most healing hug)
8:19 Discovering ADHD and how to manage it
30:23 Early understanding of work
35:34 The path to speech pathology
1:13:29 Work wishes
1:17:30 If you're flexible, you can do anything you want
1:24:14 It worked for me

I Do This For a Living is independently produced. 

serenitybohon.substack.com

Please welcome Valerie Peavler to I Do This for a Living. Valerie has a confident recommendation for how NOT to choose a major. She is a consummate planner but learned early in her career that plans can change. Her advice is about how allowing those changes can help you grow and get you where you really want to be. Her story took her from exercise science to cardiac rehab and finally to the photography company where she works today. For a person who needs a plan, Valerie has an inspiring contentment with life exactly as it is - changes and all. Her story is relatable, comforting, and promising as she finds herself in a company unmatched for its positive work culture and intentional values. 

Chapters
6:21 Who is Valerie?
16:43 Childhood plans
20:30 How (NOT) to choose a major
26:48 Cardiac Rehab to Photography
39:39 Different work for different seasons
48:49 Work culture over following the plan
1:04:49 Getting intentional about getting together (It worked for me)

I Do This For a Living is independently produced. 

serenitybohon.substack.com

Today's guest is Nikki Corder. In twenty years of friendship, Nikki and Serenity have had many conversations about work, life, and what they dream. A lot of the time, their conversations are about learning to cope and adjust when it feels like life is nowhere near the dream. Their career paths are similarly winding for many reasons, but Nikki has learned a lot about her strengths and what she's good at, even if nobody's paying her for it. Serenity and Nikki talk generational stereotypes, Enneagram, and pop culture. In the end, Nikki shares her obsession in an "it worked for me" that's all about making time and space in our lives for reminders that the job does not define us. 

Chapters
1:50 The kid years - wanting to be a teacher
6:56 Long-running daydream - wife and mom
16:27 Education decisions - Psychology vs. English
25:16 Wake-up call: the end of teaching
29:30 Job scrambling
40:19 Being a millennial in the workforce
44:56 Event planning (what it takes!)
51:07 Delightful obsessions
1:08:04 The endless possibilities game
1:12:00 When it's not what you dreamed but beautiful anyway
1:14:16 It Worked for Me

I Do This For a Living is independently produced. 

serenitybohon.substack.com

Simone Stolzoff is an author and journalist who explores big questions about work, meaning, and identity. A former design lead at the global innovation firm IDEO, he is the author of two bestselling books: The Good Enough Job and How To Not Know. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and on the TED stage. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and son.

Serenity has been following Simone since his first book. Many of the ideas behind I Do This for a Living were built on or enhanced by Simone's ideas about diversifying our identity beyond our careers. In this episode, she gets to ask him about the ideas and concepts that have helped her the most.

Where to find Simone
HowtoNotKnow.com or https://simonestolzoff.com/how-to-not-know

Chapters
5:02 The importance of asking, what do you like to do?
15:22 Making career decisions in a culture of abundance
20:33 Why does it feel like work is so much of our lives?
26:48 What is the good enough job?
37:23 Why work/art tension is not a problem to solve
44:38 How To Not Know
1:01:41 Choosing your burdens
1:04:47 It worked for me

I Do This For a Living is independently produced. 

serenitybohon.substack.com

Maureen Yaconis had a career in hospitality when COVID practically collapsed the industry. After a year or so out of work, Maureen found her way into market research. Today, she runs her own business and manages multiple income streams. Maureen has a question-everything approach to work. She loves identifying better processes and more efficient ways of working, and she does not hesitate to implement them. She is passionate about empowering women and always learning. Maureen also has an awesome wish for the next generation about choosing work they love.

02:28 From hospitality to market research
14:28 A quitting story
15:42 Not really understanding work as a child (ah, bliss)
19:16 A college story
32:06 Work archetypes and questioning everything
43:17 Work philosophy and lifelong learning
49:42 Starting a women-owned business
53:01 What is a business operations architect?
59:06 Women: Be Empowered
1:08:00 Hobby time
1:13:34 Making decisions (if it's not hell yes, it's no)
1:18:42 A wish for the next generation (do what you want!)
1:25:19 It worked for me

Maureen's business: www.unparalleledmrs.com

Mia Poppe, Esq. law firm: https://www.miapoppe.com
Coaching community: mc2lifecoaching.com

Sign up to be a guest: serenitybohon.com/guest
Newsletter: serenitybohon.substack.com

I Do This For a Living is independently produced. 

serenitybohon.substack.com