Career transition, reinvention, and second chances don’t always look the way you expect. Aaron Brooks spent 30 years in government service — 6 on Navy submarines, 20 in federal corrections — teaching people how to cook, lead, and rebuild.In this first episode of Work Unscripted, Aaron breaks down what it actually takes to feed a crew underwater, manage a kitchen inside a federal prison, and earn the respect of men who have absolutely nothing to lose. This is not a story about punishment. It’s a story about craft, dignity, and what happens when somebody actually gives a damn.

Chapters

• 00:00 Pre-show and introductions
• 04:16 Who is Aaron Brooks? Born in Compton, raised between LA and North Carolina
• 06:08 Growing up between two worlds and learning to code switch
• 11:53 Why Aaron joined the Navy straight out of high school
• 14:33 How he ended up on submarines (it was supposed to be a joke)
• 17:44 His life in the kitchen growing up and cooking with Julia Child on TV
• 21:03 What a typical day looked like feeding a submarine crew
• 23:33 The chocolate cake disaster nobody warned him about
• 29:35 How you train the next generation of submarine cooks
• 30:53 From the Navy to the Department of Justice Bureau of Prisons
• 37:52 What a typical day looks like inside FCI Herlong
• 43:44 How Aaron selects and builds his kitchen team from the inmate population
• 48:28 The psychology of motivating people who have nothing to lose
• 53:40 The story from Year Two that changed everything
• 01:01:13 Prison food culture and what inmates actually complain about
• 01:03:16 What holiday meals look like inside a federal institution
• 01:05:01 The biggest misconception people have about prison food
• 01:08:22 Dave's Killer Bread and the Hilton chef who both started in a cell

Kitchen Gear Inspired by Aaron’s Story

Wüsthof Chef’s Knife | Waterproof Digital Meat Thermometer | Dave’s Killer Bread

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Teal - AI resume tool | Free anxiety assessment - Online-Therapy
Some links above are affiliate links. They cost you nothing and help support the show.

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What is it like to cook on a Navy submarine… and later cook inside a federal prison?

In this first clip of Work, Unscripted, Savan Kong talks with Aaron Brooks, a 10 year Navy submarine veteran and 20 year Federal Bureau of Prisons employee who has spent his career cooking in some of the most unusual environments imaginable.

🎧 Interested in being on guest on the show? Submit a request: https://www.savankong.com/contact

Aaron shares stories from life on submarines, the chaos of cooking for hundreds of sailors underwater, and the surprising psychology behind running a prison kitchen.

One of his biggest lessons comes down to a single word.

Respect.

As Aaron explains, when you’re working with inmates serving life sentences, respect isn’t optional. It’s survival. 

We talk about:

• Cooking meals on submarines running 24 hours a day

• What it’s like feeding hundreds of prisoners

• The real psychology of working inside prisons

• Why respect is the most important skill in law enforcement

• How inmates mentor younger prisoners from inside the system

• Lessons from 30 years of government service

This conversation pulls back the curtain on a career most people never see.

If you’re curious about extraordinary jobs and the stories behind them, you’re in the right place.

#LifeBetweenTitles

#WorkUnscripted

#NavyVeteran

#PrisonStories

#ExtraordinaryJobs

Support Life Between Titles

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Job loss, layoff, career transition, unemployment — after 20 raw conversations with real people, host Savan Kong discovered that bouncing back has nothing to do with your resume and everything to do with your identity.

What he heard completely changed how he thinks about job loss, reinvention, and what it really means to rebuild after something major happens in your life. No networking hacks. No resume tips. Just five honest, human truths — told through real quotes from real people who've been through it.

In this episode, you'll hear from Matt Kelly on physical burnout after a decade of high-performance sales, Reet on selling everything and traveling 23 countries to find herself, Mike Lee on losing his job and his marriage at the same time, Sarah Johnson on earning her doctorate at 40 while battling imposter syndrome, Howie Cohen on why 100% of people who follow his life plan process successfully land, Danielle Luhmann on building something that keeps your identity intact, Vanessa Okoro on the invisible pressure of overperformance, and Vanny Whitchelo on why having something beyond your 9-to-5 gives you the confidence to survive anything.

If you're in the middle of a career pivot, recovering from a layoff, or quietly asking yourself who am I without my title — this episode was made for you.

📍 Chapters

• 🕐 00:00 – What 20 conversations about job loss taught me
• 🕐 01:05 – #1: Your body breaks down before your brain does
• 🕐 02:47 – #2: Inner work isn't optional — it's fundamental
• 🕐 04:28 – #3: The people who picked up the phone saved themselves
• 🕐 07:15 – #4: Build something, even if it's just for you
• 🕐 09:34 – #5: You're not grieving a job. You're grieving an identity.
• 🕐 13:30 – What bouncing back actually looks like

🔗 Resources & Support the Show

• 📄 Rebuilding your résumé after a layoff? Teal's AI tool helps you tailor every application → https://get.tealhq.com/zzNxQ7
• 🧠 Feeling the anxiety of unemployment? Take the free assessment → https://go.online-therapy.com/SHwO
• 📓 Processing your career transition? Guided Reflection Journal → https://amzn.to/4reFQSB
• 😴 Sleep taking a hit during the job search? Sleep Support Supplement → https://amzn.to/46FciGe
• 💪 Men's Health & Recovery Stack → https://amzn.to/40K9J29

Some links above are affiliate links. They cost you nothing and help support the show.

• ▶️ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LifeBetweenTitles
• 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1olZo0VDvHh9w0F2D2vEir
• 🍎 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-between-titles/id1844748787
• 💼 Follow Savan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/savankong/

#️⃣ Hashtags #LifeBetweenTitles #JobLoss #CareerTransition #IdentityCrisis #Reinvention

Career reinvention, burnout, identity, and the courage to pivot — this episode has all of it. Danielle Luhmann's story is one of the most quietly fearless in Season 1 of Life Between Titles. She went from corporate attorney to licensed therapist, Ironman finisher, ultra-marathon runner, and founder of Brave and Afraid, a therapy and life coaching practice in Fishers, Indiana built for people navigating big transitions, identity shifts, and the messy in-between.

None of her pivots were accidental. Each one came from pressure, reflection, and a decision to bet on herself — even when the job loss, the timing, and the logistics made no logical sense. She also serves as a therapist at the Marriage & Family Clinic of Central Indiana, where she helps individuals, couples, and teens build healthier relationships and lives through holistic, relational care.

In this conversation, Savan and Danielle talk about growing up multicultural in small-town Indiana, chasing perfection through grades, discovering ADHD in her 40s, going back to grad school while raising three kids and working full time, and what resilience actually looks like when it's not glamorous. They also get into burnout, endurance training, and how to generate hope — practically, not passively.

If you're juggling too much, questioning your path, or wondering if it's too late to pivot, this one's for you.

📍 Chapters

• 🕐 00:00 – Cold open: sacrifice, risk, and the oxygen mask rule
• 🕐 04:18 – Welcome & introducing Danielle Luhmann
• 🕐 05:01 – Meeting her husband in a pitch-black parking lot at Bike Week
• 🕐 08:15 – Growing up multicultural in small-town Indiana
• 🕐 11:26 – Straight A's, family pressure, and chasing "enough"
• 🕐 16:30 – Law school, criminal defense, and the path not taken
• 🕐 28:00 – COVID, her daughter's struggles, and the decision to go back to school
• 🕐 31:29 – What it felt like to finally study something she loved
• 🕐 36:46 – Discovering ADHD later in life
• 🕐 40:58 – Information overload and figuring out what you actually want
• 🕐 48:49 – Getting over analysis paralysis and committing to the leap
• 🕐 51:59 – Burnout warning signs — and what your body is trying to tell you
• 🕐 55:12 – Ultra marathons, Ironman, and why physical training changes everything
• 🕐 1:16:57 – What to do when you're still functioning but quietly struggling
• 🕐 1:19:25 – How to generate hope — on purpose
• 🕐 1:24:01 – What she hopes her kids take away

Connect with Danielle:

• 🌐 Therapy & Coaching: http://www.braveandafraid.com
• 🏥 Marriage & Family Clinic: http://www.themfclinic.com
• 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danilulu_rocks/

🔗 Resources & Support the Show

• 📄 Rebuilding your résumé after a career pivot? Teal's AI tool helps you tailor every application → https://get.tealhq.com/zzNxQ7
• 🧠 Feeling the anxiety of a life transition? Take the free assessment → https://go.online-therapy.com/SHwO
• 📓 Processing the in-between? Guided Reflection Journal → https://amzn.to/4reFQSB
• 😴 Sleep taking a hit? Sleep Support Supplement → https://amzn.to/46FciGe
• 💪 Men's Health & Recovery Stack → https://amzn.to/40K9J29

Some links above are affiliate links. They cost you nothing and help support the show.

• ▶️ Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LifeBetweenTitles
• 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1olZo0VDvHh9w0F2D2vEir
• 🍎 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-between-titles/id1844748787
• 💼 Follow Savan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/savankong/

#️⃣ Hashtags #LifeBetweenTitles #CareerReinvention #MentalHealth #NeverTooLate #BraveAndAfraid

I tried recording a polished version of this update four or five times.

It was terrible.

So here’s the real one.

Since launching in October, Life Between Titles has grown into something bigger than I expected. We’ve published over 25 conversations with people navigating career pivots, identity shifts, burnout, reinvention, and the quiet struggle of being between chapters.

The mission has always been simple. Talk about the in between. The part people usually struggle with in silence. And it’s working. People are listening. People are engaging. And for every guest who has trusted me with their story, thank you.

The latest episode features Danielle Luhmann, and it might be one of the most fascinating yet. Her path from lawyer to product designer to insurance consultant to entrepreneur to mental health therapist, while raising kids and running ultramarathons, is almost hard to believe. But it’s real. And it’s intentional. We talk about sacrifice, discomfort, and choosing hard things on purpose.

I also share a transparent update on introducing affiliate partnerships, starting with Online Therapy. If something aligns with the conversations and genuinely helps you, supporting through those links helps sustain the show at no extra cost to you.

You’ll also start seeing curated, tactical videos breaking down tools and techniques. The first one dives into resumes, artificial intelligence, and how AI can help or hurt your job search.

And finally, I’m launching a new show under the umbrella called Work, Unscripted. This series will spotlight people with unique, extraordinary, and unconventional jobs. The specialists. The off beat paths. The careers you didn’t even know existed.

If you’ve been listening, thank you. If you’re navigating your own transition, hang in there. It gets better.

Like, subscribe, comment, or just send me a note and tell me what you think.

Let’s build this the right way.

⸻

Hashtags:
#LifeBetweenTitles
#CareerTransitions
#WorkUnscripted
#ProfessionalGrowth
#IdentityShift
#BurnoutRecovery
#PodcastUpdate
#UnconventionalCareers
⸻
Support LBT: https://www.patreon.com/cw/LifeBetweenTitles
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LifeBetweenTitles
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1olZo0VDvHh9w0F2D2vEir
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-between-titles/id1844748787
About the Host: https://www.savankong.com
⸻

Are you struggling with anxiety?
Take the test to find out from our affiliate partner, Online-Therapy: https://go.online-therapy.com/SHwO | Online Therapy - https://go.online-therapy.com/SHwK

Matt Kelly hit a point where he had to admit something out loud, he was in his own way.

After a decade in high pressure enterprise sales, constant flights, thousand dollar dinners, whiskey until 3 a.m., and living the persona the job demanded, the bill showed up in his body and his mind. He was run down, not sleeping, not healthy, and stuck in survival mode. Matt owns it with zero excuses, the problem was me, so he chose a reset.

We talk about what it looks like to step back for your family, how health becomes the foundation for ambition, and why being between titles can be a gift if you use it right. Matt also shares his path from aspiring rapper and audio engineering school to SaaS sales, to building and scaling teams, and now experimenting with fractional work, AI tools, and new ventures while staying grounded in fatherhood, connection, and purpose.

💡 Support Life Between Titles

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▶️ YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@LifeBetweenTitles

🎧 Spotify

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🍎 Apple Podcasts

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-between-titles/id1844748787

🩷💙⚫️ TikTok

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#LifeBetweenTitles

#CareerReset

#BurnoutRecovery

#Fatherhood

#FractionalWork

What happens when immigrant parents want stability, but you want to create? Tim Salazar, a first generation Filipino American, joins Life Between Titles to talk about growing up between Northern California, Eastern Washington, and Seattle, chasing film and writing dreams in Los Angeles, and doing whatever it took to stay afloat. We get into his pivot into UX through library school at Pratt, what early UX looked like in the era of massive waterfall specs, and the lessons we both took from Amazon, including what you gain, what you lose, and what happens when you never talk to users. Tim also shares what layoffs have taught him, how fatherhood reshapes your relationship to grit and privilege, and why the future of design may belong to people who can build, tell stories, and make decisions with taste.

💡 Support Life Between Titles

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▶️ YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@LifeBetweenTitles

🎧 Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/show/1olZo0VDvHh9w0F2D2vEir

🍎 Apple Podcasts

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-between-titles/id1844748787

🩷💙⚫️ TikTok

https://www.tiktok.com/@life.between.titles?_r=1&_t=ZT-91jF5A83B8p

💼 LinkedIn

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Hashtags

#LifeBetweenTitles

#UXDesign

#FirstGen

#ImmigrantStories

#CareerTransition

In this episode of Life Between Titles, I sit down with my friend Vance, a Philadelphia based healthcare leader with 15 years of experience, plus a PhD in corporate leadership.

We talk about why Philly shapes leaders differently, how environment influences who you become, and what it looks like to be intentional about the people you surround yourself with. Vance also breaks down the difference between your job and your work, why self assessment is the starting point for real growth, and how repetition, routines, and small habit changes create lasting leadership development.

We also get into leadership under pressure through the lens of Jalen Hurts, plus Vance’s take on vision, service, and what he wants listeners to sit with after the conversation.

#LifeBetweenTitles

#LeadershipDevelopment

#Philadelphia

#CareerGrowth

#PersonalDevelopment

What happens when the path you were taught to follow no longer fits the life you are living?

In this episode, Savan sits down with Andrew Merchant for a deeply honest conversation about identity, depression, fatherhood, and choosing family over prestige. Andrew shares what it was like growing up in rural Alabama, building a marriage that started young, navigating undiagnosed depression, and stepping into the role of a stay at home dad in a household shaped by neurodivergence and intentional care.

Together, they explore how productivity becomes tangled with self worth, how redefining strength requires letting go of external validation, and how parenting has a way of holding up a mirror to the parts of ourselves we have avoided. This conversation is about the quiet decisions no one applauds, the courage to change direction, and what it really means to build a good life from the inside out.

If you are between titles, questioning success, or trying to align your life with your values, this episode will meet you where you are.

💡 Support Life Between Titles

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▶️ YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@LifeBetweenTitles

🎧 Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/show/1olZo0VDvHh9w0F2D2vEir

🍎 Apple Podcasts

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-between-titles/id1844748787

🩷💙⚫️ TikTok

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💼 LinkedIn

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#LifeBetweenTitles

#RedefiningSuccess

#FatherhoodAndIdentity

#MentalHealthMatters

#ChoosingAlignment

Starting 2026 unemployed and wondering what you are doing wrong?

Hundreds of applications. Resume rewrites. LinkedIn Premium. Interview coaching. And still nothing moves?

This is not about working harder.

It is about understanding why the job market changed and how to change your strategy with it.

If this sounds like you, you are not broken.

The system changed.

Hashtags

#JobSearch

#LifeBetweenTitles

#Unemployed

#CareerAdvice

#JobSearchTips

#2026Goals

#ProfessionalGrowth