In this powerful episode of Purposeful, Ashley Bernardi sits down with Nicholas Janni and Amy Elizabeth Fox, internationally recognized leadership experts and co-authors of Leading in Chaos: A Clarion Call to a New Future.

Today’s leaders are navigating uncertainty, polarization, disruption, AI, change fatigue, and what many describe as a polycrisis. Nicholas and Amy argue that the leadership models of the past are no longer enough. To lead effectively now, mission-driven leaders need more than strategy and linear thinking. They need presence, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, embodiment, intuition, courage, and human connection.

Together, Ashley, Nicholas, and Amy explore what it means to bring our full humanity into leadership and why the inner work of leadership is no longer optional.In this conversation, Ashley, Nicholas, and Amy discuss:

• How mission-driven leaders can lead through chaos and uncertainty

• Why traditional leadership models are no longer enough

• The impact of change fatigue and adaptive exhaustion

• How AI, polarization, and global disruption are changing the workplace

• Why leaders need presence, emotional intelligence, and deeper self-awareness

• The role of embodiment, intuition, emotion, and spirit in leadership

• How organizations can create more trust, creativity, and psychological safety

• Why leaders must slow down to truly listen and see what has been normalized

• The cost of numbing, self-abandonment, and emotional disconnection at work

• Why inner work matters for leaders, teams, families, and future generations

• What more human-centered workplaces could look like in the future

This episode is a powerful reminder that leading in chaos does not require more control. It requires more consciousness, connection, courage, and humanity.

Learn more about Leading in Chaos at leadinginchaosbook.com

In this meaningful episode of Purposeful, Ashley Bernardi sits down with Denise Chadwick Wright, CEO of Birmingham Green, to discuss mission-driven leadership, senior care, dignity, community impact, and the future of long-term care.

For more than 90 years, Birmingham Green has served seniors in Northern Virginia through a mission rooted in compassion, accessibility, and respect.

What began as a commitment written into Virginia law has grown into a 54-acre senior living campus in Manassas, providing assisted living, skilled nursing, rehabilitation, and supportive housing for older adults, including those who may not otherwise have the financial resources to access long-term care.

Denise shares how Birmingham Green continues to honor its historic mission while preparing for the future of senior living. She also discusses what dignified care looks like in practice, the role of public-private partnerships, the growing needs of an aging population, and why connection, community, and compassion matter so deeply in care for older adults.

In this conversation, Ashley and Denise discuss:

• Mission-driven leadership in senior care

• The history and purpose behind Birmingham Green

• What dignified long-term care looks like in practice

• How public-private partnerships can support accessible care

• Why financial resources should not determine dignity in aging

• The greatest needs facing today’s aging population

• Loneliness, connection, and community among older adults

• How residents continue to learn, contribute, and give back

• The future of senior living and long-term care

• How volunteers, donors, and community members can support Birmingham Green

This episode is a powerful reminder that senior care is not only about services. It is about dignity, belonging, community, and honoring the people who helped build the communities we live in today.

Learn more about Birmingham Green at birminghamgreen.org

In this timely episode of Purposeful, Ashley Bernardi sits down with Bill Eddy, co-founder of the High Conflict Institute, attorney, therapist, mediator, bestselling author, and one of the world’s leading experts on high-conflict personalities and disputes.

For mission-driven leaders, authors, advocates, executives, and organizations, conflict is often unavoidable. But when conflict becomes chronic, destructive, and fueled by blame, unmanaged emotions, and extreme behavior, it can damage teams, families, workplaces, communities, and trust.

Bill shares practical insight into what high-conflict behavior looks like, why it seems to be increasing, and how leaders and individuals can respond without escalating the situation. He also explains how to set boundaries, communicate more strategically, and avoid being pulled into cycles of blame, polarization, and emotional reactivity.

In this conversation, Ashley and Bill discuss:

• What defines a high-conflict personality

• The difference between difficult behavior and high-conflict behavior

• Why high-conflict behavior may be on the rise

• How social media and public behavior shape conflict patterns

• How high-conflict people influence families, workplaces, and communities

• What leaders can do to prevent conflict from taking over a culture

• How to avoid escalating difficult conversations

• The four things not to do with a high-conflict person

• How to set healthier boundaries in work and personal relationships

• Bill’s CARS method: connecting, analyzing, responding, and setting limits

• Workplace bullying, adult bullies, and how organizations can respond

• How education and communication skills can help build healthier relationships

This episode is a powerful reminder that understanding conflict is the first step to transforming it. While we cannot always control another person’s behavior, we can learn how to respond with clarity, boundaries, and purpose.

Learn more about Bill Eddy and the High Conflict Institute at highconflictinstitute.com

Learn more about Conflict Influencer at conflictinfluencer.com

Explore Bill’s books, including Our New World of Adult Bullies and 5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life, wherever books are sold.

In this thoughtful episode of Purposeful, Ashley Bernardi sits down with Janet Jumper, nurse practitioner, coach, Air Force veteran, and communication educator, for a conversation about how mission-driven leaders can build trust through communication, compassion, resilience, and human connection.

For leaders, founders, healthcare professionals, advocates, and purpose-driven organizations, communication is not just about what you say. It is about how you help people feel seen, valued, heard, and supported, especially in high-stakes moments.

Janet shares how her background in nursing, critical care, military service, and healthcare communication shaped her approach to helping people communicate with more clarity, care, and confidence. She also opens up about her personal health journey with Crohn’s disease, the role of food as medicine, and the importance of creating small moments of connection in everyday life.

In this conversation, Ashley and Janet discuss:

• How mission-driven leaders can build trust through communication

• Why compassionate communication matters in leadership, healthcare, and family life

• What difficult conversations can teach us about care and connection

• How to help people feel seen, valued, and heard

• Janet’s experience as a nurse practitioner and Air Force veteran

• The connection between communication and resilience

• Food as medicine, gut health, and family nutrition

• Janet’s personal journey with Crohn’s disease

• How parents and leaders can create more intentional moments of connection

• The “communicate, connect, care” framework

• Finding micro-moments of joy, peace, and meaning in everyday life

This episode is a powerful reminder that the way we communicate shapes more than a single conversation. It shapes trust, relationships, leadership, health, and legacy.

Learn more about Janet Jumper at janetjumpernp.com

In this inspiring episode of Purposeful, Ashley Bernardi sits down with Pam Sherman, founder of Sherman Edge, global leadership coach, actor, writer, and author of Play You: The Role of a Lifetime.

For mission-driven leaders, authors, executives, and advocates, showing up with confidence is not about performing as someone else. It is about becoming more fully yourself and communicating in a way that builds trust, connection, and believability.

Pam shares how her background as an actor and leadership coach shaped her work helping leaders bridge what she calls the “believability gap,” the distance between who we truly are and how we think we are supposed to show up.

Together, Ashley and Pam explore how the tools actors use on stage can help leaders communicate with greater authenticity, presence, clarity, and impact. In this conversation, Ashley and Pam discuss:

• Executive presence for mission-driven leaders

• How to communicate with confidence and authenticity

• The connection between leadership, storytelling, and trust

• What the “believability gap” is and why it matters

• How acting techniques can help leaders become more real, not less

• Why self-awareness is the foundation of strong communication

• How leaders can identify their core values and purpose

• The importance of being fully present with your audience

• How to overcome outdated stories and limiting beliefs

• Why leadership is not about playing someone else’s role, but fully owning your own

This episode is a powerful reminder that confidence is not about becoming someone different. It is about understanding who you are, owning your story, and showing up with clarity, conviction, and humanity.

Learn more about Pam Sherman at thepamsherman.com

Order Play You: The Role of a Lifetime wherever books are sold.

In this powerful episode of Purposeful, Ashley Bernardi sits down with Sara Connell, five-time bestselling author, speaker, founder of Thought Leader Academy, and author of The Download: Train Your Brain, Unlock Your Genius, Create Miracles.

At a time when artificial intelligence can generate content, answers, and ideas in seconds, this conversation explores what still belongs only to human beings: original insight, lived experience, creativity, intuition, and purpose. For mission-driven leaders, authors, founders, and organizations, thought leadership is not about producing more content. It is about knowing what only you can say.

Sara shares the deeply personal story behind The Download, including her journey through infertility, loss, grief, walking, motherhood, and the breakthrough idea that changed her life. She also explains the “download walk,” a practical method for creating the conditions where original ideas, clarity, and creative insight can emerge.

In this conversation, Ashley and Sara discuss:

• How mission-driven leaders can access original ideas in the age of AI

• Why human insight matters more than ever for thought leadership

• The difference between AI-generated content and human creativity

• How to protect your voice, story, and message in a world of sameness

• Sara’s personal journey through infertility, loss, and motherhood

• The story behind The Download

• How walking can help unlock clarity, creativity, and breakthrough ideas

• The neuroscience and psychology behind creative insight

• Why leaders, authors, and changemakers need to make space before asking AI

• How to build a thought leadership platform rooted in lived experience and purpose

This episode is a powerful reminder that the future belongs to people who can offer what technology cannot: original human insight, imagination, compassion, and a message rooted in purpose.

Learn more about Sara Connell at saraconnell.com

Order The Download: Train Your Brain, Unlock Your Genius, Create Miracles wherever books are sold.

In this moving episode of Purposeful, Ashley Bernardi sits down with Luba Patlakh, speech-language pathologist, entrepreneur, author, and founder of Kidology, Inc., to talk about helping children find their voice, build confidence, and understand that their differences can become their greatest strengths.

After years of supporting children and families through speech, occupational, physical, and developmental therapy, Luba has built Kidology, Inc. into a nationally recognized pediatric therapy practice dedicated to accessible, family-centered care. Now, she is bringing those lessons beyond the therapy room through her new children’s book, Bobo Wears a Bowtie.

Luba shares how her work as a therapist, mother, entrepreneur, immigrant, and daughter shaped her mission to help children communicate with confidence and courage. She also opens up about the personal inspiration behind Bobo Wears a Bowtie, including the influence of her late mother and the powerful message of seeing the good in every day.

In this conversation, Ashley and Luba discuss:

• Why helping children find their voice is about more than speech

• The connection between communication, confidence, identity, and emotional well-being

• What parents should watch for when a child may be struggling

• Why early intervention and trusting parental instinct matters

• The emotional reality of supporting children with developmental differences

• How parents can help shape a child’s inner voice

• Luba’s journey building Kidology into a nationally recognized pediatric therapy practice

• The inspiration behind Bobo Wears a Bowtie

• Grief, resilience, entrepreneurship, and leading with purpose

This episode is a powerful reminder that courage does not always mean being fearless. Sometimes courage simply means showing up as yourself.

Learn more about Kidology, Inc. at kidologyinc.comLearn more about Bobo Wears a Bowtie at bobowearsabowtie.com

In this thought-provoking episode of Purposeful, Ashley Bernardi sits down with Jamie Metzl, futurist, bestselling author, technology expert, and founder of One Shared World, to explore one of the biggest questions of our time: how do we use powerful technology to help humanity become wiser?

Jamie’s latest book, The AI Ten Commandments: A New Moral Code for Humanity, explores the intersection of artificial intelligence, ethics, spirituality, responsibility, and human flourishing. In a groundbreaking move, Jamie publicly credits GPT-5 as a co-author, opening an important conversation about transparency, creativity, and the future of human-AI collaboration.

In this conversation, Ashley and Jamie discuss:

• Why AI is one of the most significant technological shifts of our time

• The promise and risks of artificial intelligence

• Why values, ethics, and governance matter as technology accelerates

• Jamie’s decision to credit GPT-5 as a co-author

• What human-AI collaboration can look like when done transparently

• The role of spirituality, morality, and shared human wisdom in the AI era

• How parents and families can think about AI at home

• Why purpose must come before technology

•What it means to remain deeply human in a rapidly changing world

This episode is a powerful reminder that the future of AI is not only about machines. It is about humanity, wisdom, responsibility, and the values we choose to carry forward.

Learn more about Jamie Metzl at jamiemetzl.com

Learn more about The AI Ten Commandments at theaitencommandments.com

In this powerful episode of Purposeful, Ashley Bernardi sits down with Casey Caston, co-founder of Marriage365 and author of The Marriage Habit, to talk about what it really takes to build a thriving marriage in today’s busy, high-pressure world.

After facing deep struggles in their own marriage, Casey and his wife, Meygan, made the decision to rebuild from the inside out. What began as their personal journey toward healing and repair became Marriage365, one of the most influential relationship platforms online, helping millions of couples create stronger, healthier, and more intentional relationships.

Casey shares why strong marriages are not built by accident. They are built through habits, systems, repair, communication, and the willingness to do the work within ourselves first. In this conversation, Ashley and Casey discuss:

• Casey and Meygan’s marriage story

• Why a better marriage starts with becoming a better version of yourself

• The power of the weekly marriage “business meeting”

• How small habits can prevent emotional distance over time

• Why apology and repair are essential to long-term connection

• What thriving marriages actually look like in everyday life

• The common patterns that create tension between couples

• Why strong marriages and families matter for future generations

• How The Marriage Habit gives couples practical tools to reconnect and grow

This episode is a powerful reminder that love is not only a feeling. It is a practice, a choice, and a set of habits we return to again and again. Learn more about Marriage365 at marriage365.com

In this powerful episode of Purposeful, Ashley Bernardi sits down with Dr. Hassan Tetteh, thoracic surgeon, retired U.S. Navy captain, healthcare leader, author, and board member for the American Heart Association in the Greater Washington region.

Together, they discuss Dr. Tetteh’s extraordinary life of service, from military medicine and trauma surgery to transplant care and organ donation. Dr. Tetteh shares the deeply human stories behind his book, From Death to Life, and offers a moving perspective on resilience, grief, hope, and the profound gift of organ donation.

Ashley and Dr. Tetteh also explore the lifesaving work of the American Heart Association, the importance of CPR readiness, and what women need to know about cardiovascular health, including why symptoms of heart disease can look different for women.This conversation is a reminder that life is fragile, purpose matters, and sometimes the smallest action can become someone else’s second chance at life.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Dr. Tetteh’s path from the Navy to transplant surgery

• The human side of organ donation

• The story behind From Death to Life

• Why CPR training matters

• Women’s heart health and overlooked symptoms

• How to get involved with the American Heart Association

• Living with purpose, gratitude, and service