Make Life Less Difficult

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My guest today is Carla Caturia.

Carla helps high-performing teens cultivate emotional intelligence, perform at their peak performance, and shift their mindset to thrive academically, socially, and in extracurriculars without sacrificing their passions, while encouraging parents to promote independence and reduce stress and anxiety in their relationships with their teens.

With over 20 years in academia, Dr. Carla has served as a middle school teacher, high school assistant principal, and college professor. She has helped over 10,000 families strengthen their relationships through a coaching approach that combines proven methods with a focus on individual needs. Dr. Carla holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and is a certified Life Coach.

Learn more about Carla and her services at: https://thehouseofrise.com/

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My guest today is Laura Baringer. 

Laura is a returning guest, the Founder of Purpose Built by Laura, a Business Strategist, Coach, and so much more.

Laura believes anyone can start a business — but you should love the business you build.

She helps entrepreneurs and business owners grow businesses that are sustainable, profitable, and deeply aligned with their values.

Before founding Purpose Built by Laura, Laura spent 15+ years leading nonprofit initiatives across gender, tech, and public health — including launching and scaling a multi-million-dollar USAID program in Rwanda. Along the way, she advised boards, invested in startups, and consulted with mission-led organizations worldwide.

Laura's background is in business strategy, strategic planning, and organizational development, and she brings that lens into everything she does. Whether it’s clarifying your offers, mapping your client journey, or designing a business model that actually works — strategy is always at the core.

In 2021, Laura made the leap to full-time coaching and built her own business from scratch. Today, she help founders cut through the noise, own their expertise, and grow with clarity and confidence — without burning out or compromising what matters most.

Connect with Laura:

Laura's website: https://www.purposebuiltbylaura.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurabaringer/

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My guests today are Ben and Trudie Larrabee.  Ben and Trudie are husband and wife, artist and muse, friends, lovers, and inspirations to so many!

In our conversation we talk about what it means to be artist and muse.  We hear stories of how they came to partner in their business, Ben Larabee Photography.  And we hear about the journey behind their recently published book, Trudie: A Portrait.  

In this amazing collection, Ben Larrabee presents portraits of his wife, Trudie, photographed over a 20-year period between 1997 and 2017. The book includes both black-and-white and color images, showing Trudie in a range of settings and moments, at home and during travel. Each image reveals Larrabee's masterful attention to composition, light, and emotional resonance.

Be sure to check out the show notes for links to the videos about Ben’s work that we mention, as you won’t want to miss them.  You’ll also find links to their book, and client portraits.

Learn more about Ben and Trudie’s amazing work:

· The Ben Larrabee Experience Video . A look at Ben and Trudie on a client photo shoot, and their process of photographing families.

· Ben’s philosophy behind his photography explained in this moving video, Staying in Spirt.

· The "Trudie: A Portrait by Ben Larrabee" book page for preview and ordering a signed copy.

· A link to the client portraits page on their website.

· Follow Ben and Trudie on IG:  @benlarrabeephotography.

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My guest today is Kyle Dietrich.

Kyle is the founder of Grounded Idealist and co-organizer of the Coaching Collaborative, a powerful initiative supporting tens of thousands of displaced public servants with coaching, career transition support, and deep innovation work designed to empower changemakers to continue serving. 

Grounded Idealist has mobilized nearly 3,000 credentialed coaches and offered over 20,000 hours of pro bono coaching to workers in transition since February 2025. Kyle is a peacebuilder, social entrepreneur, and trauma-informed leadership coach. With more than 25 years of experience leading large-scale international development and humanitarian assistance programs in complex contexts like Haiti, Niger, and Burundi, including his former role as Training and Learning Director in USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, Kyle brings a practitioner's insight to the intersection of global change, trauma, and human development.

Episode Resources: 

Click this link if you are a worker in transition and would like to learn more about Grounded Idealist's programs, including signing up to receive coaching: https://www.groundedidealist.co/workers  

Click this link if you are a coach interested in signing up to offer pro bono coaching and/or join their coach membership program: https://www.groundedidealist.co/coaches

You can also follow Grounded Idealist on LinkedIn to learn more about their programs and events: https://www.linkedin.com/company/grounded-idealist

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My guests today are Sue Callaghan and Roberta Miceli.

Sue & Roberta are leadership coaches and facilitators of the program, Designing Your Life.

Here's what they say about the Designing Your Life workshops:

Do you ever find yourself 'stuck' at work? Feeling overwhelmed? Wanting more meaning from your life?​

This eight week Designing Your (Work) Life* small group helps you reclaim meaning, find joy in your life and "try stuff!" 

You will gain strategies and design thinking tools to change your mindset from "It's not working" to "I can make (almost) any situation work!" ​

Join us! We are DYL Certified Coaches 

Sue Callaghan, PCC and Roberta Miceli, PCC.

*Adapted from the Designing Your Work Life approach created by Stanford professors, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans.

Connect with Sue and Roberta:

Sue's website: https://www.goldvineco.com/

Roberta's website: https://www.micelicoaching.com/

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My guest today is Sharoya Ham.

Sharoya is a mother of three and wife of one!  She's also a behavior change specialist and parent coach.  She created Embrace Behavior Change to help families strengthen their relationships.  Her goal is for parents to spend less time focusing on problems and more time enjoying precious moments with their children.

In our conversation today, Sharoya generously shares her journey of learning she has Bipolar Disorder.  She shares about the stories of others that helped her embrace her own story and begin sharing.  And she talks about un-judging.  This is so powerful and important.  Learning to un-judge -- ourselves and each other!

You can learn more about Sharoya at her website: https://www.embracebehaviorchange.com/

On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharoya-ham-7718a5113/

And through her work on The Big Purple Blob, support for Ex-Pat Families: https://thebigpurpleblob.com/

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My guest today is Owen Marcus.

Owen is the Co-Founder of Meld, a platform guiding high-performing men—founders, executives, creatives—through emotional development using somatic-based group work. With 50 years of experience in body-centered therapies and the original IP behind Everyman, Owen has helped thousands of men improve their relationships, emotional health, and overall well-being through community-based transformation. Meld has worked with professionals across industries—from Google X engineers to first responders and entrepreneurs—helping them access vulnerability, rewire stress responses, and build emotional resilience. 

This is a great conversation with so much wisdom.  

Connect with Owen through his website: https://owenmarcus.com/

Learn more about Couple's Retreats: https://daliaanderman.com/retreats

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My guest today is Lisa Krim.

Lisa is an executive coach who works with organizations and senior leaders to meet the challenges of leadership in complex landscapes across a range of sectors.  She serves leaders who are committed to accelerating their own growth and navigating change, to help them meet individual goals and optimize their organization’s effectiveness. 

Before we jump into our conversation, I wanted to take a minute to let you know that our conversation today is a deep one.  We talk about loss and grief, as Lisa shares about losing her daughter of 2 years of age.

This is a beautiful conversation and I’m incredibly grateful to Lisa for sharing these pieces of her journey and her wisdom.  

If for any reason you aren’t in a space to listen in at the moment, please take care of yourself first and foremost.  If you happen to be in the depths of grief and loss, know that you are not alone.  There are links below if you’d like to connect with Lisa or myself.

Lisa's website: https://www.lisakrim.com/

Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-krim-847674351/

Resources mentioned in our conversation:

StandOut Strengths Free Assessment: https://www.adpresearch.com/standout/

Brené Brown Values Exercise: https://brenebrown.com/resources/living-into-our-values/

Book: The Amen Effect by Rabbi Sharon Brous:  https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-amen-effect-ancient-wisdom-to-heal-our-hearts-and-mend-our-broken-world-sharon-brous/19997305

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My guest today is Jim Brulé.

Jim is a transformational storyteller, a death doula, a trauma chaplain, and so much more.  

This is the 4-year anniversary of the Make Life Less Difficult podcast, so I'm especially delighted to share this conversation since it's all about storytelling, which is the heart of this podcast.

Jim defines transformational storytelling as the art of telling the right story in the right way, with an open heart, to heal the wounds within and between us.

Learn more about Jim on his website: https://transformationalstorytelling.org/about-me/

Connect with Jim: https://dot.cards/jimbrule%0A

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My guest today is Dr. Sudha Kumar. 

I was honored to meet Dr. Kumar through the kind introduction of her husband, Vinay, who has also been a guest here on the podcast.

Dr. Kumar is a Board-Certified Physician with over 30 years of experience managing acute and chronic conditions.  At this point in her career, she focuses on helping her patients live healthier lives by making changes in their diet, balancing hormones, exercise, and adding natural supplements while minimizing the use of prescription medications.  When she works with a patient, she studies their lifestyle, eating habits, and lab results.  Like a detective, she looks at the whole system to understand the causes of issues, so she can create an individualized roadmap for her client’s success.

Dr. Kumar is also a published author, a graduate of the University of Arizona’s Center for Integrative Medicine and Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Training Academy, and a certified yoga instructor.  

In our conversation today, we talk about what integrative and functional medicine is and how it differs from traditional medicine.  We discuss women’s health and really delve into the too-often overlooked phase of perimenopause and menopause and what can be done to really care for our health during this time.  I learned so much during our conversation and I think you’ll really appreciate Dr. Kumar’s beautiful way of explaining technical medical information in a way that’s understandable for the non-medical among us!

She enjoys hiking, practicing yoga, and creating healthy recipes in her spare time.  She also frequently leads medical missions overseas to provide free medical care to those who are underserved.

Dr. Kumar, thank you so much for this conversation!  Thank you for generously sharing your knowledge, expertise, and passion with us.  You are doing such important work in the world!

To learn more about Dr. Kumar and her work, you’ll find links below:

Website: https://wholistichealthmd.com/

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