KINDNESS WARRIORS

This week's Kindness Warriors update is all about the SPORTS. WOMEN'S SPORTS. Specifically, the exciting and inaugural season of the WPBL (Women's Professional Baseball League). As a baseball fan since birth, and a girl raised in a time when girl's "don't play baseball" this league fills my gills right up. The teams, the stories, the players... the competition! It's got it all.

Let's talk about our lights. When they shine. When they dim. And when we need a good 'ol reminder to nurture the things that nurture us.

In this episode, Cassie Roma shares her stories about finding the rhythms, routines, and stories needed to shine - and, to get unstuck.

Lonely happens. But, community is ready for us!

There comes a moment in life when you wake up and realise the version of you that once fit… doesn’t quite anymore.

In this deeply personal and quick episode, Cassie Roma explores identity, transitions, and the liminal seasons where we are no longer who we were, but not yet who we are becoming.

Drawing on psychology, neuroscience, and lived experience, she unpacks how identity is shaped by roles, labels, work, relationships, sport, motherhood, perimenopause, marriage, divorce, and career change.

She shares the science behind why transitions feel destabilising, why uncertainty registers as stress in the brain, and why midlife is often a period of integration rather than crisis.

This is a conversation about shedding, evolving, and rewriting the stories we tell about who we are allowed to be.

If you’re navigating change, outgrowing an old version of yourself, or sitting in the beautiful discomfort of becoming, this episode is for you.

Because identity isn’t a monument.

It’s a living draft.

In this episode, Cassie explores what caring leadership looks like when the stakes are high and the world feels heavy.

She unpacks why care is often misunderstood in leadership, how empathy and accountability are not opposites, and why clarity is one of the most generous leadership acts available to us.

Through reflections on systems, trust, and human behavior, this episode invites leaders to rethink how they show up for people not just in calm moments, but when things feel uncertain, complex, or uncomfortable.

Inside this episode:

• Why caring leadership is strong, not soft

• The hidden cost of avoiding hard conversations

• How clarity builds trust faster than charisma

• Leading humans inside complex systems without losing your values

• Designing cultures that support courage, curiosity, and accountability

• What it means to put human thriving back at the center of leadership

  
  

  ------+-----

  Join the Kindness Warriors community and help reshape what leadership can look like when humans come first.

  If you’re leading through change and want support building cultures rooted in clarity, courage, and care, explore Cassie’s keynotes, workshops, and advisory work at cassieroma.com.

  
  

Friendship isn’t just brunch dates — it’s the people who hold your messy middle, your big feelings, and your bravest becoming.

In this open-hearted convo, Cassie Roma and Mandy Kupenga unpack the real work of adult friendship: trust, boundaries, vulnerability, and the courage to ask for help.

They explore the BRAVING model, Māori perspectives on connection, and the small, consistent gestures that make friendships feel like home. Through honest stories and reflections, they dive into what makes friendships safe, soulful, and life-changing — especially in adulthood.

Perfect for anyone craving deeper connection, more self-trust, and friendships that help you grow.

TAKEAWAYS

• Friendship is where safety and self-discovery meet.

• Trust is built through consistency — small gestures matter.

• Boundaries protect connection, not threaten it.

• Asking for help is courageous, not weak.

• The BRAVING model shows what trust actually looks like.

• Cultural lenses, including Māori values, deepen how we connect.

• Accountability + integrity = emotionally mature friendships.

• Self-reflection and rest create space for better relationships.

• Adult friendships require intention, openness, and grace.

In a world obsessed with disruption, hustle, and “doing more,” we’ve forgotten one of the most radical acts of leadership...caring for those in our care.

In this episode, Cassie Roma — storyteller, Kindness Warrior, and rebel with a cause — takes us inside The New Rebellion: a movement where care becomes the ultimate KPI.

We’ll unpack why disengagement is costing the world trillions, how burnout became a badge of honour, and what happens when leaders choose heart over hustle.

💡 You’ll learn:

• Why caring is both a moral imperative and a strategic advantage

• How to create workplaces where people flourish, not just function

• Practical ways to make “care” a business metric — not a buzzword

Kindness Warriors, let’s make caring cool again!

Because when people feel seen, safe, and supported — they don’t just show up… they shine.

Find out more about Cassie and how to work with her, here.

Take the First Movers Confidence Survey here.

In this episode Cass talks more about the brilliance of Brenè Brown and dives into the powerful pull of paradox and how we can all get more comfortable with the discomfort of holding two opposing truths at once.

Get ready for a goodie that makes you think.

Kindness Warriors -- let's go!

What do meliorism, grit, and turtles have in common? More than you think.
In this comeback episode of Kindness Warriors, we explore how to change the world one small act at a time, why slow growth is strong growth, and how playing for the team beats playing solo every time.
This one’s for anyone who’s ever felt behind — only to realize that we go further when we go together. Hard shell, soft front. Just keep swimming!

Cassie is a storyteller, leadership coach, author and public speaker who believes real talk and strong connections are the heart of thriving.

Find out more about Cassie's workshops, leadership sessions, and offerings here.

This week's Creative Commons episode is full of heart, belly-laughs, gritty truths, & well-placed awkward pauses. Join creative mega-force, Haylie Craig, & me for a conversation worth sharing over & over & over again.

Haylie is a creative soul down to their very last sprinkle of stardust. They're also one of the sharpest, kindest people I have the pleasure of calling colleague & friend.

I hope you love this episode as much as I do.

May we all live big, juicy, creative lives. And feel comfortable in the skin we're in.

PRIDE was born of protest. Riots. The necessity to love & be who we are without fear of reprisal, judgement, criminality, violence, or death. In many places, PRIDE is now a celebration. A place where queer, rainbow, & LGBTQIA+ people & those who love them (go the allies!) can be seen, heard, & embraced for simply being who they are.

As a queer person, my journey to self-acceptance has been a life-long one. I didn’t come out until my mid-thirties & when I came out I came out ready to do whatever I could to be seen, heard, & to support others to be their authentic selves.

Whether it was in boardrooms, ballrooms, greenrooms, or in the public eye - my mission has been a simple one: to be seen so that others might see themselves represented in positive, optimistic, & loving ways.

Being a queer kid in small towns, big cities, or in places where queerness is literally illegal means that so many folks around the world need voices, faces, & ideas that reinforce to them that they are enough. As they are, as they will be… as they always have been.

Society is great at telling us what to hide about ourselves, my life is dedicated to the opposite. I’m certain that my only job on this planet is to show love, be love, share love & invite love into this world.

This week’s Kindness Warriors episode is one that celebrates PRIDE, queerdom, rainbow allies, & everyone out there who knows that love truly is love. 

To anyone struggling with self-acceptance or finding a community: let this be a love note to you.

You’re welcome here, with us.

Always.

A huge thanks goes out to this week’s guests. Folks who, when I put out the call (or dropped into their DMs) sent through their thoughts on what PRIDE means to them whole-heartedly & without hesitation.

You’re all heroes in my eyes.
And, in my heart.

Happy PRIDE, whānau.

Let’s stretch the season out into every season.

Let’s double-down on lifting up others.

This week’s guests are