Imperfectly Human™ | Athlete Identity & Life After Sport

Athletes spend years learning how to train, compete, recover, and perform under pressure, but few are taught how to manage the financial opportunities that can come with success. Rachel Blogg sits down with Shana DiMarco, founder of The Athletes Advisor and a financial advisor who works with athletes and high income professionals, to talk about financial literacy and why planning for the future matters long before an athletic career ends.

Shana shares some of the financial mistakes she sees athletes make, from assuming another paycheck or NIL deal is coming to making major purchases before understanding taxes, expenses, and long term needs. She and Rachel also discuss the pressure athletes can feel to financially support family, how lifestyle and identity can become tied to income, choosing people you can trust with your money, and why asking questions is a strength. Because every athletic career eventually changes, and making intentional financial decisions now can give athletes more freedom when the paycheck, contract, or opportunity looks different later.

ℹ️ The podcast content is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice.

What if confidence isn’t believing everything will work out, but trusting yourself when it doesn’t? Rachel Blogg sits down with adventurer, executive coach, author, and keynote speaker Lei Wang, the first Asian woman to complete the Explorer’s Grand Slam by climbing the highest peak on every continent and skiing to both the North and South Poles. Her journey began not as a lifelong athlete, but as a self-described former book nerd wondering what might happen if she challenged the story she had always told herself about who she was.

Lei shares what climbing Mount Everest taught her about fear, risk, mental strength, and the difference between pushing through discomfort and knowing when stopping is the right decision. She and Rachel explore how real confidence is built through experience, why reaching the summit is only halfway, and how learning to trust yourself can change what you believe you're capable of. It’s a conversation about courage, identity, and realizing that who you’ve been doesn’t have to determine who you become next.

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ℹ️ The podcast content is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice.

What happens when the body you’ve spent decades training suddenly doesn’t work the way it did before? Rachel Blogg sits down with IFBB Pro wheelchair bodybuilder Sharla Peterson to talk about the catastrophic spinal cord injury that left her paralyzed from the waist down and forced her to confront a life she never expected.

What if failure isn’t the thing holding you back, but the thing teaching you how to move forward? Rachel Blogg sits down with entrepreneur, mentor, and House of Bricks founder Adam House Sr. for a candid conversation about entrepreneurship, resilience, identity, and learning to keep moving when life and business don’t go according to plan.

Adam shares lessons from building multiple companies, returning to basketball in his 30s to pursue his dream of playing professionally, and learning to see failure as information rather than an ending. He explains his approach of testing, failing, learning, and growing, why asking for help is a strength, and the importance of surrounding yourself with trusted advisors. Rachel and Adam also explore the identity shifts that come with leaving a business or sport behind, adapting when the original plan changes, and why meaningful progress often requires being willing to get things wrong along the way.

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ℹ️ The podcast content is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice.

When does discipline stop being healthy and start taking over your life? Rachel Blogg sits down with adaptive performance advisor Alyssa Spaw for an honest conversation about bodybuilding, body image, disordered eating, perfectionism, and the complicated relationship high performers can develop with exercise, nutrition, and their own expectations.

Alyssa opens up about how fitness initially made her feel strong and empowered before competitive bodybuilding became tied to restriction, bingeing, over-exercising, and an identity she eventually knew she needed to leave behind. She and Rachel share their own experiences with extreme exercise and disordered eating while exploring what sustainable wellness actually looks like. They also talk about adapting health habits during difficult seasons, letting go of all-or-nothing thinking, and why sometimes five minutes of movement is exactly what your mind and body need.

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ℹ️ The podcast content is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice.

What happens when the sport that shaped so much of your life is no longer the center of it? Rachel Blogg sits down with her son, Cole Whipple, for a personal conversation about growing up as an athlete, playing college basketball, and realizing that walking away from competition didn’t mean losing who he was. Instead, Cole found relief, rediscovered his love for basketball, and learned that the sport could remain part of his life without defining his identity.

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ℹ️ The podcast content is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice.

What happens when you finally reach the level you worked so hard for, only to realize the pressure is just beginning? Rachel Blogg sits down with NFL player Tyron Herring for an honest conversation about chasing a professional football career, getting cut, changing teams, managing expectations, and learning to separate who you are from how you perform.

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ℹ️ The podcast content is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice.

What happens when the thing you love most becomes inseparable from who you are? Rachel Blogg sits down with professional MMA fighter and former UFC fighter Charles Rosa for an honest conversation about athlete identity, pressure, mental health, trauma, and the complicated reality of imagining life after fighting.

Charles opens up about losing his two older brothers, finding an outlet through MMA, battling depression when fighting is absent, and the devastating neck injury that doctors said gave him less than a 1% chance of returning to the cage. He shares how he fought his way back, what losses have taught him about separating performance from self-worth, and how becoming a father is changing the way he thinks about risk, family, and his future. As he prepares for his first bare-knuckle boxing fight at Fenway Park, Charles reflects on a question many athletes eventually face: Who am I when I can no longer do the thing that has defined me?

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ℹ️ The podcast content is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice.

What happens when the sport that shaped your identity is suddenly gone? In this deeply personal episode, Rachel Blogg shares why Imperfectly Human is entering a new chapter with a focused mission: helping athletes navigate life after sports. Drawing from her work as a therapist and mental performance coach, as well as her own experience recovering from a life-changing injury, Rachel opens up about the emotional challenges that come when competition ends and the next chapter begins.

She explores the identity loss that can follow retirement, injury, graduation, being cut from a team, or simply aging out of a sport. Rachel reflects on her own journey through depression after an injury forced her away from endurance racing, and how she slowly rebuilt her life by redefining movement, purpose, and self-worth. She also shares what listeners can expect moving forward, including conversations with current and former athletes, coaches, sports psychologists, and other professionals who help athletes thrive beyond competition. This episode is a reminder that your greatest strength was never your sport—it has always been the person underneath the uniform.

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ℹ️ The podcast content is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice.

What happens when you stop hiding the hardest chapters of your life and start telling the truth? Rachel Blogg sits down with YouTube creator, storyteller, and fashion designer Mrs. Kane for a deeply honest conversation about pregnancy loss, domestic violence, healing, resilience, and finding purpose through vulnerability.

Mrs. Kane shares the unimaginable heartbreak of losing nine pregnancies before welcoming her miracle daughter, the emotional impact of surviving abusive relationships and stalking, and how moving to Florida became the beginning of a completely different life. She opens up about documenting her journey on YouTube, using storytelling to process trauma, finding humor in painful experiences, and building a community by showing up as her authentic self. Together, they explore why asking for help is a sign of strength, how healing isn't always linear, and why sharing your story can help someone else feel less alone. It's a powerful reminder that your past doesn't have to define your future—and that even the deepest pain can become a source of hope.

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ℹ️ The podcast content is intended for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice.