Let Me Know If You Need a Podcast

Most people think donating clothes is automatically helpful. Mia Space is here to complicate that, in the best way.

In this episode, Amy Steinhour and Kristen Beck sit down with Mia Space, Founder of The Mia Space Project (formerly The Fabulous Purge Project), to talk about what support actually looks like when someone is leaving abuse, homelessness, or a situation where starting over is urgent.

Mia shares the origin story behind her work: a fashion-school thesis that paired senior students with a women’s shelter, and a childhood memory that never left her. She remembers her mom sweeping her and her sister up in the middle of the night, fleeing in the dead of a Chicago winter, and arriving at a shelter where the donation room offered scraps. Not comfort or dignity. Just leftovers.

That’s the gap Mia’s been trying to close ever since: moving support from anonymous drop-offs to a curated, hand-to-hand experience that feels like a boutique.

You’ll also hear a raw, honest conversation about why asking for help feels embarrassing even when people would actually show up, how ‘strong woman’ culture can become a trap, and why clear support beats performative kindness every time.

Things You Will Learn:

1. Why ‘just donate it to Goodwill’ can miss the point when someone needs dignity, not leftovers.
2. What curated support looks like in real life: asking shelters what they actually need, and building donations around that.
3. How shame, failure narratives, and fear of judgment keep people from asking family and friends for help.
4. Why social media perfection makes asking for help feel riskier than it should, and how honesty creates connection.
5. What Mia is building next: a brick-and-mortar model that blends free shopping access with a sustainable funding approach.

Tools & Frameworks Covered:

1. Hand-to-Hand Support Model: donation as direct dignity
2. Curated Needs Matching: ask partner organizations what’s needed first, then collect intentionally.
3. Sidekick Energy: support that restores agency instead of spotlighting the helper.
4. Clarity Over Vague Kindness: support that reduces emotional labor.

#AskingForHelp #CommunityCare #Caregiving #IllnessRealTalk #EmotionalLabor

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Ever been hit with “look on the bright side” when life was falling apart?

Amy and Kristen unpack toxic positivity, from “at least it’s not stage four” moments to why “I’m fine” is emotional camouflage. With help from Brené Brown and Susan David, they show how real empathy beats forced optimism every time. Healing starts with honesty, not hashtags.

Tune in and laugh your way to emotional maturity.

Timetamps

(0:00) Introduction

(0:40) What Is Toxic Positivity?

(3:54) Expert Insights: Dr. Susan David and Brene Brown

(5:14) Personal Experiences of Toxic Positivity

(9:54) Timing and Delivery: When Positivity Hurts

(13:23) Our Sponsor: GifWellSoon

(13:38) Why We Default to Toxic Positivity

(16:46) Practical Alternatives to Toxic Positivity (and Robert Redford)

(20:10) Final Lessons and Finding Your Sidekick

#toxicpositivity #askingforhelp #caregiverburnout #emotionalagility #realconnection #brenebrown #susandavid #healingwithlaughter #giftwellsoon

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A lot of people want to show up during cancer and still end up making it heavier. In this episode of Let Me Know If You Need A Podcast, Amy Steinhour and Kristen Beck sit down with Keith Hardeman, author of The Shadow of Trepidation and Don't say "Everything happens for a reason", to discuss the unspoken dynamics that make support feel performative, exhausting, or accidentally blameful.

Keith shares what it was like to become ‘permanent residents of the cancer community,’ why listening beats fixing, how specific offers actually reduce emotional labor, and what to avoid when fear turns into ‘helpful’ commentary. You’ll leave with clearer language, a Sidekick-not-Savior mindset, and real ways to take something off a cancer family’s plate without putting yourself at the center.

Things You Will Learn:

1. How to replace vague kindness with clarity that actually helps
2. What to say when you don’t know what to say (without reaching for platitudes)
3. How to show up after treatment ends, when survivorship emotional labor is still real

Tools & Frameworks Covered:

1. Sidekick Support Model – helps you support without slipping into savior energy.
2. Permission Slips – helps set boundaries without guilt or apology.
3. Beyond the Casserole – helps translate care into usable support.

Check out Keith’s books:

Book 1: https://a.co/d/04R3aOsn

Book 2: https://a.co/d/00AmCbSY

Keith's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-hardeman-504169289/

#AskingForHelp #CancerAuthor #CommunityCare #Caregiving #IllnessRealTalk

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Ever feel like you owe everyone an explanation? From skipping dinner to choosing what’s best for your body, Amy and Kristen call BS on the pressure to justify every choice.

With humor, honesty, and survivor grit, they unpack why women and caregivers over-explain and how to stop. Learn practical boundary scripts, how to say “no” without guilt, and why protecting your peace is anything but selfish.

What You’ll Learn:

1. Why saying “no” is powerful (and enough)
2. Tools and scripts for holding boundaries with humor, not guilt
3. How to spot (and stop!) people-pleasing in its tracks

Timestamp Guide:

00:00 – Unfiltered intro: Why do we explain ourselves?

01:39 – Amy’s breast cancer story and real-life mastectomy questions

04:55 – The “Uber moment”: Kristen stands her ground (and survives bear country)

11:38 – Listener stories: family, chemo, and tricky boundaries

17:42 – Research: cultural scripts, motherhood, and people-pleasing

22:30 – Scripts and boundary tools you’ll actually use

25:08 – Final permission slip: no more guilt

Tools / Frameworks Mentioned:

1. The Permission Slip: Say “no” without guilt
2. Boundary Buffers: Use a scapegoat (doctor, work, “schedule conflict”)
3. The “No, Thank You” Tactic: Polite. Simple. Done.
4. Scripts You’ll Actually Use: “Thanks for understanding.” “I’ll let you know when I’m ready.” “I don’t have the energy to explain this right now.”

🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Closing Insight:

“No” is a complete sentence: permission granted to stop explaining.

#Boundaries #SelfCareWithHumor #WomenSupportingWomen #Caregiving #Podcast #RealTalk #PermissionSlip

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Vivian Babin grew up as the deep-feeling kid in a family that rarely talked about loss after her mom died. At 10, she learned how to make other people comfortable with her grief. By 21, she was managing the logistics of illness, signing discharge papers between college classes, and learning medical language just to be taken seriously.

In this conversation, Vivian and the hosts unpack youth grief, caregiving weirdness, and the emotional labor hidden inside let me know if you need anything. They talk about medical systems that confuse calm with capacity, how social media can offer both community support and painful comparison, and why asking for help feels so damn hard.

Vivian shares how writing, therapy, chosen family, dark humor, and small rituals like Starbucks orders under her mom’s name and McDonald’s runs help turn chaos into community support, and how boundaries became the permission slips that allowed her to say no without guilt.

What You’ll Learn:

1. Youth grief does not disappear. It follows you into caregiving, relationships, and adulthood when families do not talk about loss.
2. Caregiving creates emotional labor early. Being composed does not mean you are supported, and asking for help is a skill you have to learn on purpose.
3. Rituals, boundaries, and dark humor matter. Small acts can turn chaos into community support and make survivorship livable.

Timestamp Guide:

00:00 - Welcome, Vivian Babin!

2:11 - Dealing with the loss of her mother

5:46 - Youth grief and being the kid everyone watches but no one talks to

8:32 - Living with grandma and growing into caregiving weirdness

13:07 - The emotional labor of being taken too seriously at 21

19:29 - The Millennial caregiving experience and social media

27:35 - Vivian’s advice to her younger self

29:15 - Rituals, comfort food, and honoring loved ones

Tools / Frameworks Mentioned:

• Asking for help is a superpower
• Saying no without guilt as a permission slip
• Chosen family and community support
• Writing and therapy as emotional vulnerability tools
• Self-care rituals around a death anniversary
• Dark humor as a healing mechanism

Closing Insight:

“You’re allowed to be the grieving kid, the exhausted caregiver, and the person who says “I can’t do this” in the same breath—and that honesty is its own form of support”

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Who is caring for the caregiver? In this raw, heart filled, and often funny episode, Amy and Kristen sit down with end of life doula and Rings of Care founder Niki Staab to explore what real support looks like when someone you love is sick or nearing the end of life. Nikki shares how her grandmother’s final days sparked her calling, how Ring Theory shaped her nonprofit, and why caregivers are often the ones suffering in silence.

Together, they dive into the exhaustion, guilt, and emotional load that caregivers shoulder, plus the practical and deeply human tools that can lighten the weight. From organizing support rings before crisis hits to building a volunteer calendar to matching caregivers with community health workers, Niki shows how community care restores dignity and keeps burnout at bay.

You will laugh, cry a little, and rethink how you show up for the people holding everything together. If you have ever been the glue in your family or watched someone you love carry too much alone, this conversation will feel like a warm exhale.

What You’ll Learn:

1. How to build a support ring before a crisis hits
2. Practical tools caregivers can use to stay healthy and grounded
3. Why accepting help strengthens everyone involved

Timestamp Guide:

00:00 – The power (and pain) of showing up for loved ones

01:41 – Niki’s story and how she became a death doula

09:02 – Supporting loved ones through their final days

12:07 - The ring theory and building your village

20:21 -The power of proactive support

23:18 - Caregivers and the hidden second patient

26:21 – Support continues long after the crisis

30:41 - What’s next for Rings of Care

36:40 – Niki’s self-care rituals and emotional boundaries

41:41 - Finding balance and staying sane

49:00 – The mentor who shaped Nikki’s philosophy

52:31 – Niki’s comfort food

Tools / Frameworks Mentioned:

1. Rings of Care support model
2. Ring Theory for caregiving circles
3. Support task calendar at RingsOfCare.org
4. Vigil planning
5. Boundaries and burnout tools
6. Community health worker model

Closing Insight: 

“When we care for the caregiver, everyone’s life gets better.”

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Who cares for the caregivers? In this raw, funny, and heartfelt episode, Amy and Kristen unpack the invisible weight of caregiving: from burnout to the guilt of asking for help. They explore stories from the PBS Caregiving documentary (produced by Bradley Cooper and narrated by Uzo Aduba) and remind us that support isn’t selfish, it’s survival. This is your permission slip to ask for help and heal out loud.

Timestamps

0:00 Welcome & Introduction

1:15 The Caregiving Documentary (Bradley Cooper & Uzo Aduba)

2:24 Why Caregiving Is Universal

6:11 Stories from Long-Term Caregivers

13:43 Paid vs. Unpaid Caregiving

16:01 The Growing Need for Caregivers

17:44 The Invisibility of Caregivers

20:43 Hope for the Future

22:43 Asking for Help Without Guilt

24:31 Amy’s Comfort Food Moment

25:07 Episode Wrap-Up

#Caregiving #AskForHelp #BurnoutRecovery #CommunityCare #GiftWellSoon #CaregiverSupport #HealingWithLaughter

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What do you do when your entire world collapses on an ordinary Sunday morning? In this raw and deeply human conversation, Amy and Kristen sit down with Mindy Corporon, author of Healing a Shattered Soul, cofounder of SevenDays Make a Ripple, Change the World, VP of Strategic Development at Love Always, and former CEO of a wealth management firm.

Mindy shares the story no parent should ever have to tell: losing her father and teenage son in a white supremacist shooting. She opens up about what grief looked like behind the scenes while she was still “the boss,” how she eventually walked away from a career she loved, and why the workplace is one of the most confusing places to grieve.

Together, they unpack how companies often do nothing, why silence hurts, and how Mindy cofounded Workplace Healing to change how employers support people navigating life disruptions. She also breaks down the mission behind SevenDays, a kindness-driven nonprofit empowering teens to create ripples of compassion, and Love Always, a trusted platform connecting grievers with vetted emotional, legal, and financial support so they do not have to Google their way through hell.

This episode is for anyone trying to help, anyone grieving, and anyone who has ever realized that a shrimp cocktail or a box of toilet paper can feel like holy ground.

What You’ll Learn:

1. How to support someone in acute grief without saying “Let me know if you need anything.”
2. Why grief in the workplace is a business issue, not a personality flaw.
3. Small, sustaining acts of kindness that matter months and years after a loss.

Timestamp Guide:

00:00 – Mindy Corporon and her many grief and healing roles

01:52 – Mindy’s journey  and shattering loss

04:57 – Finding meaning on the other side of devastation

07:53 – The birth of Workplace Healing

12:07 – Grieving while trying to stay functional at work

15:15 – From hate crime to kindness and the first “ripple”

18:33 – How SevenDays helps teens lead with compassion

22:39 – How people showed up for Mindy in real life

27:23 – Introducing Love Always and its supportive ecosystem

35:25 – Tiny kindness ideas anyone can do today

36:38 – Mindy’s comfort food check-in

Tools / Frameworks Mentioned:

• Life disruptions as a framework for grief and caregiving
• Onboarding employees after a grief event
• SevenDays “ripples”: love, discover, others, connect, you, go, onward
• Kindness Youth Leadership Team model
• Love Always’ promise to vet providers and protect grievers
• Digital vaults for storing assets and social media access after death

Closing Insight:

“Everything does not have to be done in the first ten days. The hardest part comes when everyone goes back to normal and you’re still staring at the empty chair.”

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Ask for help? Jen and Laura have, boldly, hilariously, and with zero shame.

In this unfiltered episode, Amy chats with the sister duo who transformed a “why is there not a better bra?” moment into Heart & Core, a post-surgical brand born from grief, love, and lasagna.

From their mom’s breast cancer diagnosis to med smuggling Thanksgiving adventures, Jen and Laura share the messy reality behind caregiving, innovation, and loss. They reveal how humor became their survival tool, how specificity (“I’ll bring Starbucks”) trumps vague offers of help, and how entrepreneurship can become an act of healing.

Expect laughter through tears, business lessons from heartbreak, and a refreshing rejection of toxic positivity. Whether you’re a caregiver, survivor, or supporter learning to show up better, this episode reminds you that empathy isn’t soft—it’s scrappy, creative, and deeply human.

Yes, you can build something beautiful out of pain. And yes, it might even involve a bra.

What You’ll Learn:

1. Why specific help (“I’ll bring Starbucks,” not “let me know”) changes everything
2. Smart strategies for advocating in medical chaos and supporting with humor
3. How heartbreak and honesty can start a company (yes, really)

Timestamp Guide:

00:00 – The sisters’ story and their mom’s cancer journey

09:55 – Pivoting to post-surgical innovation

11:33 – Why helping others keeps them motivated

13:27 – The infamous “med smuggling Thanksgiving”

18:23 – Showing up meaningfully (and ditching the casseroles)

22:28 – Lessons, regrets, and sisterly reflections

26:59 – Scaling Heart & Core with new tools and structure

31:17 – Where to find their bras and contact info

32:18 – Comfort food and “Lasagna 2.0”

Tools / Frameworks Mentioned:

1. Entrepreneur Operating System (EOS)
2. Fractional CFO and Entrepreneur Organization Accelerator Program
3. Post-surgical bra design and user-feedback loop

Closing Insight:

“Empathy isn’t just a feeling. It’s what you build with your hands, show up for in hospital rooms, and sometimes smuggle in a Ziploc.”

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If you have ever wondered why cancer patients end up drowning in pink swag and mystery casseroles, you are going to love this conversation. Amy and Kristen get real with Liz Benditt, six time cancer survivor and founder of The Balm Box, to unpack the difference between well meaning gifts and gifts that actually help.

Liz shares the wild and honest story behind her six cancers, her medical system wake-up calls, and the functional fixes she discovered after too many nights reading medical journals at 2 a.m. From navigating clueless doctors to advocating for your own care, Liz brings humor, heart, and the kind of truth you only learn by living it.

They dig into the rise of functional gifting, the massive gap between what patients need and what people send, and why community care works better when it is simple, practical, and real. Expect laughter, survivor wisdom, and practical takeaways for anyone facing illness, caregiving, or the awkwardness of trying to show up for someone you love.

If you want support that actually helps and gifts that do not end up in a closet, hit play. This episode is your permission slip to keep it honest, useful, and human.

What You’ll Learn:

1. How to tell the difference between thoughtful gifts and functional gifts that genuinely help patients and survivors

2. Why self-advocacy in the medical system can change your entire experience

3. How real, unfiltered conversations reduce burnout, build boundaries, and remove the shame of asking for help

Timestamps:

00:00 – Welcome, Liz Bendit! Six-time cancer survivor and gifting disruptor

2:06 – Liz’s first diagnosis and early years of survival

18:43 – Recent medical findings and finding better treatment

30:45 – The pink crap nobody actually wants

32:17 - How The Balm Box was born

43:08 - Breaking down cancer stigma

48:22 - Finding silver linings in every experience

53:12 – What’s next: new boxes, partnerships, the future of support

1:01:40 – Liz’s comfort foods

Tools / Frameworks Mentioned:

- Functional gifting compared to traditional gifting

- Humor as a caregiving tool

- Patient centered research and survey design

- Real talk as a form of advocacy

- Practical boundary setting for patients and caregivers

Closing Insight:

You do not get extra points for suffering. Real help is giving what actually heals and asking for what you need is a superpower.

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