Powerful On Purpose

Trauma healing, nervous system regulation, neuroplasticity, and faith come together in this conversation with Wilma Kinsman, an RN and Christ-centered trauma coach who grew up Amish and ultimately had to learn how to understand—and work with—the effects trauma had on her brain and body.

Wilma shares the pivotal childhood moment that made her decide she would eventually leave the Amish community, the impact of being repeatedly told she was “too sensitive,” and how spiritual approaches that didn't account for trauma initially left her feeling even more broken.

Everything began to shift when she learned more about the brain, nervous system, and neuroplasticity. Wilma explains how the amygdala can continue sounding an alarm even when we intellectually know we're safe, why empathetic relationships can be an important part of healing, and what it means to build new pathways back to regulation and joy.

We also talk about faith, forgiveness, shame, learning to listen to your body's responses instead of judging them, and the possibility of moving from a life driven by fear and survival toward one shaped by identity, desire, love, and choice.

One of Wilma's most important reminders: you can change. Your past may have shaped your nervous system, but it doesn't mean you're destined to stay there.

🎁 Wilma's Free Grounding Exercise: a free video grounding exercise incorporating prayer, singing, and being present with yourself.
Visit https://WilmaKinsman.com and scroll to the bottom of the page to sign up and access the video.

📕 Wilma is also the author of Dancing on the Dumpster, published under the pen name Willie J.

Subscribe to Powerful on Purpose for more conversations with people turning their experiences, expertise, and stories into meaningful work in the world.

Chapters
00:00 Meet Wilma Kinsman
01:32 Growing up Amish
03:30 The moment everything changed
05:02 Questioning what she'd been told
07:00 How trauma changes the brain
09:47 Finding a pathway back to joy
12:05 Creating safety after trauma
13:51 Rebuilding your sense of self
15:53 The power of empathetic connection
19:44 Working with your nervous system
21:44 Wilma's grounding exercise
22:29 Why change is possible

#powerfulonpurposepodcast #traumahealing #nervoussystemregulation #neuroplasticity #christianhealing

What makes a family recipe unforgettable? Often, it’s not just the food—it’s the person who made it, the memories around the table, and the connection we felt while sharing it. In this episode of Powerful on Purpose, Leslie Capps talks with chef and author Josh C. Epstein about his book, The Company We Keep, a collection of meaningful recipes and personal stories that celebrates food, family, friendship, and human connection.

After losing his father, Josh wanted to honor the people who supported him through a difficult time. He invited 35 people in his life to contribute recipes that meant something to them, along with the stories behind those dishes. Josh then added his own memories of each person, creating a book that blends cookbook and memoir.

We talk about the chicken piccata recipe Josh’s son chose, the family kitchens that shaped his love of cooking, and why sharing a meal can bring us back to one another in a disconnected world. Josh also shares what it took to finish his first book while balancing a busy work schedule—and why he had to stop tweaking it and let it be done.

The takeaway: You don’t need an elaborate menu or a special occasion to reconnect. Invite someone over, make a meal together, or call the person you’ve been meaning to catch up with. As Josh puts it, “Food is the excuse. Connection is the point.”

📕 Josh’s book: The Company We Keep: Stories and Recipes from People I’ll Never Forget is available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Company-We-Keep-Stories-Recipes/dp/B0HB72XJZH

🎁 One-copy book giveaway: Josh has offered to give away one complimentary copy of The Company We Keep. If you’re interested, reach out to Josh and ask about the book giveaway. https://www.facebook.com/joshcepsteinchef

Subscribe to Powerful on Purpose for more conversations with authors and people using their stories, expertise, and experiences to make an impact.

Chapters
00:00 Meet chef and author Josh
01:50 Why Josh wrote his book
03:02 Recipes with personal stories
03:57 The recipe his son chose
05:35 What’s inside the cookbook
07:05 Why food creates connection
08:20 Where his cooking began
09:30 Finishing a first book
12:45 Bring people back to the table
16:15 Start with one shared meal
20:05 A cookbook meets memoir
22:35 Reconnect with someone you love

#powerfulonpurposepodcast #familyrecipes #foodandconnection #cookbookauthor #thecompanywekeep

Returning to work after a career break can bring questions about confidence, identity, skills, and whether your experience still counts. Dr. Ann Marie Peters, executive coach, leadership strategist, and author of We’ll Be Right Back, wants women to understand something important: a career pause doesn't erase the experience, talent, or value you already have.

In this episode of Powerful on Purpose, Ann Marie shares her own journey from a Fortune 500 career through part-time work, full-time caregiving, entrepreneurship, and eventually earning her PhD. Her doctoral research became the foundation for We’ll Be Right Back, a book for women finding their way back to meaningful work after a career pause.

We talk about the identity shifts that can happen when women step away from paid work, the grief that can accompany changing roles, and why women often overlook the valuable skills they've developed while caregiving, volunteering, managing families, and contributing to their communities.

Ann Marie also shares what surprised her most in her research: many of the women she studied weren't ultimately hired through some faraway opportunity—they were recognized and pursued by people already in their communities who had seen what they were capable of.

Whether you're preparing to return to work, reconsidering what you want your next chapter to look like, or wondering whether you're still the capable woman you were before your pause, this conversation is a reminder that your first landing place doesn't have to be your final destination.

📕 Get We’ll Be Right Back
We’ll Be Right Back launches September 16, 2026 and helps women reconnect with who they were, recognize what they've gained during their pause, and move confidently toward whatever they choose next.

Learn more and get the book:
https://annmariepeters.com

🎁 Companion Workbook
A companion workbook to help readers capture their reflections and work through the questions and exercises in We’ll Be Right Back.

Get it inside the book or here:
https://www.annmariepeters.com/book-well-be-right-back

Subscribe to Powerful on Purpose for more conversations with brilliant women using their stories, expertise, and experience to create meaningful impact.

Chapters
00:00 Meet Dr. Ann Marie Peters
01:52 Choosing a career pause
04:56 Your unpaid work still counts
07:32 Reframe your career gap
09:08 Why women's stories matter
12:31 Reconnect with who you are
13:27 The hidden grief of change
15:02 From pause to leadership
18:05 Inside Will Be Right Back
19:23 Where opportunities really come from
21:09 Your next chapter may be best

#powerfulonpurposepodcast #careerbreak #returntowork #womeninleadership #careercomeback

What makes a TEDx talk or keynote speech powerful enough that people actually remember it? Speaker coach and longtime keynote speaker Mimi Donaldson knows that great public speaking isn't about cramming more information into a presentation—it's about knowing your message, understanding your audience, and communicating in a way that holds their attention.

Mimi Donaldson has spent decades speaking on major stages alongside names including Maya Angelou and Suze Orman. Today, she coaches business owners, keynote speakers and TEDx speakers, with 30 clients taking TEDx stages since 2018. In this episode of Powerful on Purpose, Mimi shares what she's learned from a career spent studying audiences from the stage.

We talk about why great speakers “show them the movie and let them in on the jokes,” why shorter stories can be more powerful, and why knowing your message matters before you ever start worrying about delivery. Mimi also shares her fascinating “legacy speech” exercise: if you had only 15 minutes left to speak to the entire world, what would you absolutely need to say?

Whether you're preparing for a TEDx talk, building a keynote, speaking about your business, or simply trying to communicate your expertise more effectively, Mimi's advice comes down to understanding what your audience needs—and then having the confidence to own what you know.

🎁 Mimi's Free Gift: 30-Minute Speaker Strategy Call
Meet one-on-one virtually with Mimi to talk about your speaking goals, and what could make your message stronger. https://www.mimidonaldson.com/speech-coach/

Connect with Mimi:
https://mimidonaldson.com

Subscribe to Powerful on Purpose for more conversations with brilliant women turning their expertise, stories and experience into work that makes an impact.

Chapters
00:00 Meet Mimi Donaldson
02:05 From performer to educator
04:15 Becoming a speaker coach
06:40 Show them the movie
08:25 Breaking onto big stages
11:05 Why TEDx changed speaking
13:25 Build a TEDx-worthy message
16:10 Your 15-minute legacy speech
19:25 Own your expertise
23:15 Lead with their need

#powerfulonpurposepodcast #publicspeaking #tedxtalk #speakercoach #keynotespeaker

How do you market your nonfiction book after launch without turning social media into another full-time job?

Social media strategist Karlyn Ankrom joins Leslie Capps to talk about book marketing, social media for authors, personal branding, storytelling, and how to keep your book working for you long after launch day.

Karlyn is the founder and lead strategist of Oh Snap! Social and creator of the Fan Firestarter Framework. After years of working with authors and thought leaders, she saw a common problem: authors put enormous energy into writing and launching their books, but often aren't sure what comes next—or how to consistently market their expertise online.

In this episode of Powerful on Purpose, Karlyn shares a simple way to turn the content already inside your book into social media posts using her One Page, One Line, One Post method. We also talk about choosing the platforms where your actual audience spends time, creating a marketing strategy that fits you, and why your expertise should keep working even when you're not physically in the room.

We also get into storytelling in the age of AI—and why your lived experience, perspective and meaning are what make your content yours. If you're a nonfiction author overwhelmed by the idea of marketing your book, this conversation will help you simplify the process and start with the person who matters most: your reader.

🎁 Karlyn’s Free Gift: One Page, One Line, One Post
https://resources.ohsnapsocial.com/111

Subscribe to Powerful on Purpose for more conversations about writing, publishing, book marketing, and turning your expertise into a book that can make a bigger impact.

Chapters
00:00 Meet Karlyn Ankrom
01:25 Marketing after book launch
04:10 Know where readers are
05:45 One page, one line, one post
08:05 Make your expertise work harder
10:20 Find the right people
12:35 Your story deserves marketing
14:15 What AI can't replicate
17:15 Stop speaking to everyone
19:40 Simplify your book marketing
21:15 Karlyn’s free author resource

#powerfulonpurposepodcast #bookmarketing #nonfictionauthors #authormarketing #socialmediamarketing

Why do so many women feel exhausted, anxious, overwhelmed or disconnected—even when they seem to be doing everything “right”?

Nurse, health coach and NLP practitioner Erika Muralidhar says the answer may require looking beyond surface-level health and paying attention to stress, the nervous system, beliefs, and what your body has been trying to tell you.

In this episode of Powerful on Purpose, Erika shares her own journey from traditional nursing into functional medicine, health coaching and NLP—and the personal health wake-up call that changed the way she thought about wellness.

After years of trying to do everything right, Erika found herself facing thyroid issues she'd worked hard to avoid. She asked her doctor for six months before starting medication and began looking more closely at her priorities, boundaries, stress and relationship with her own body. Six months later, she says her labs had returned to normal.

We talk about the connection between stress, cortisol, burnout, perfectionism and women's health, why many women have learned to equate productivity with worth, and what can happen when we stop overriding the signals our bodies are sending us.

Erika also shares why sustainable health requires more than food, exercise and sleep; how stress can show up physically; and one deceptively simple practice we can all use when overwhelm hits:
Pause.

🎁 Take Erika's free Hidden Stress Assessment: https://unmqav5v6xh.typeform.com/to/ydZcMHd9

Discover how you tend to respond under stress, the symptoms that may accompany that response, and strategies for releasing stress based on your pattern.

Connect with Erika Muralidhar:
Health E Wellness: https://www.healthebyerika.com/
F The Hustle Collective: https://fthehustlecollective.com/invitation?code=B7G8B3

Subscribe to Powerful on Purpose for conversations with women using their stories, expertise and purpose to create positive change.

Chapters
00:00 Meet Erika Muralidhar
02:30 When control becomes coping
06:15 Erika's health wake-up call
09:20 Beliefs we learn early
12:15 Connecting mind and body
15:10 Why surface-level health isn't enough
18:10 When your labs say “fine”
20:00 Stress, cortisol and women's health
23:15 Listen to what your body says
25:10 Discover your hidden stress response
26:20 The power of the pause

#powerfulonpurposepodcast #womenshealth #nervoussystem #burnoutrecovery #stressmanagement

How do you finish writing a nonfiction book? You need more than motivation or the advice to “just start writing.” You need a writing plan that works with the way YOU think, create, and work—and a clear deadline for getting your manuscript finished.

In this Author Journey episode of Powerful on Purpose, Leslie Capps shares Decision #4 of the Four Decisions Framework: How will you finish your book?

Once you know your reader, the promise you're making, and the structure that will get your reader there, there's still one critical decision left: How are you actually going to get the book finished?

You'll learn why someone else's perfect writing routine may be completely wrong for you, how to identify friction in your writing process without automatically blaming yourself for a lack of discipline, and why milestones and deadlines can turn “someday I'll write a book” into an actual plan.

Leslie also shares how she discovered that audio-to-text worked better with the way she processes ideas—and why experimenting with how you create can unlock your writing rather than forcing yourself into someone else's system.

The goal isn't to prove you're a “real writer.”

The goal is to finish the book.

Subscribe to Powerful on Purpose for more Author Journey episodes and behind-the-scenes conversations about writing and publishing a nonfiction book that makes an impact.

Chapters
00:00 Decision #4: Finish the book
01:00 “Just start writing” isn't a plan
02:20 Build your writing system
03:20 Write the way you think
04:45 Create a plan you’ll follow
05:45 Set realistic writing milestones
07:15 Find friction, not failure
08:35 Set a freaking deadline
10:00 Reverse-engineer your finish date
11:15 A plan isn't a prison
12:05 Get your book finished

#powerfulonpurposepodcast #nonfictionwriting #bookwriting #authorjourney #writingtips

Women entrepreneurs are building businesses in an increasingly complicated online world—juggling social media platforms, subscriptions, technology, algorithms, content, and the constant pressure to keep up. Entrepreneur and tech founder Robin Sims-Allen believes there has to be a better way.

In this episode of Powerful on Purpose, Leslie Capps talks with Robin Sims-Allen, founder and CEO of Phoenix Marcus and founder and CEO of Total Her, about entrepreneurship, women in business, technology, AI, and her vision for creating a platform built by women, for women.

Robin's entrepreneurial instincts started early. At eight years old, she already knew she didn't want someone else defining what she would become. Years later, that same instinct—to look at what's already being done and ask, “Why are we doing it like this?”—continues to drive her work.

Robin shares the evolution of Total Her from a women-centered community into what she describes as a platform for the future of work and opportunity for women. Her vision includes helping women build and scale businesses, find opportunities, reduce the number of tools and subscriptions they need, and eventually use Her AI as a personalized business partner.

We also talk about why women entrepreneurs can become overwhelmed trying to make money across multiple platforms, why authenticity matters in business, and the power of listening to the people you're trying to serve before deciding what to build next.

Connect with Robin Sims-Allen:
Total Her: https://totalher.co
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinsimsallen/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rsimsallen/

Subscribe to Powerful on Purpose for conversations with brilliant women using their expertise, stories, and purpose to build businesses and make a positive impact in the world.

Chapters
00:00 Meet Robin Sims-Allen
01:28 Creating her own path
03:00 Why Robin built Total Her
06:01 A new future for women
07:46 How Total Her works
12:23 Simplifying online business
14:37 AI as your business partner
17:01 Why women struggle to monetize
19:43 Innovation starts with problems
21:22 What's next for Total Her

#powerfulonpurposepodcast #womeninbusiness #womenentrepreneurs #femaleentrepreneur #businessinnovation

Writing a nonfiction book when you have too much content can leave you drowning in words. Book structure gives you a clear plan for deciding what belongs, what doesn’t, and how to guide your reader from beginning to end.

In this Author Journey episode, Leslie Capps shares Decision #3 of the Four Decisions Framework: Structure.

Most aspiring nonfiction authors don't have a shortage of ideas. They have years of expertise, stories, workshops, podcasts, Google Docs, and content—and no clear system for deciding where it all goes.

Leslie shares the example of an author who arrived with 50,000 words that made up only two chapters. The answer wasn't necessarily to keep writing. It was to step back and decide what the book needed to accomplish and build a structure around that goal.

You'll also learn why structure isn't rigidity. A strong book structure can actually give you more creative flexibility because you understand the purpose of each chapter and can write in the order that works for you.

📖 Ready to stop circling the book? Get personal feedback on what's working, where you're stuck, and the next step to move your book closer to publication: https://authorin30.com/book-audit

Subscribe to Powerful on Purpose for more Author Journey episodes about writing a nonfiction book that serves your reader, supports your business, and gets out into the world.

Chapters
00:00 Decision #3: Book structure
00:48 Why structure makes writing easier
01:45 When 50,000 words aren't enough
02:40 Decide what belongs in your book
03:35 Don't lose your reader
04:35 Stop drowning in content
05:25 Structure creates flexibility
06:25 Make writing simpler and faster

#powerfulonpurposepodcast #authorjourney #nonfictionwriting #bookwriting #authorTips

Money mindset, scarcity beliefs, self-worth, and entrepreneurship are deeply connected—and making more money doesn’t automatically create a healthy relationship with money.

In this episode of Powerful on Purpose, Leslie Capps talks with financial empowerment coach Scarlett Stanhope, aka The Biz Hippie, about changing the way we think, feel, and act around money so it can support the work and life we want.

Scarlett looked successful on paper at a remarkably young age: a 3.9 GPA, no credit card debt, $30,000 in savings, and a clear career path. But underneath those accomplishments was a scarcity-driven relationship with money and a belief that success required working harder, achieving more, and postponing the life she wanted.

Scarlett breaks down the three scarcity seeds—“not enoughness,” unworthiness, and starving artist syndrome—and explains why they can become especially powerful for coaches, healers, artists, and other creative entrepreneurs. When the work you're selling is deeply personal, money can quickly become tangled up with your sense of worth.

You'll also learn a simple way to examine your own relationship with money by looking beyond your bank balance and asking how you think about money, feel about money, and use money. Because abundance isn't simply having more.

For Scarlett, it's being able to live a life you love without money holding you back—starting now.

Scarlett's free resource to help you take the next step in understanding and transforming your relationship with money.

🎁Discover Your Money Mindset Type: https://thebizhippie.com/quiz

Subscribe to Powerful on Purpose for conversations with brilliant women using their stories, expertise, and purpose to create meaningful change.

Chapters
00:00 Meet Scarlett Stanhope
01:25 When success isn't enough
03:45 Rewriting your money story
05:15 Money isn't just the numbers
07:10 The three scarcity seeds
09:40 Entrepreneurship exposes money beliefs
11:35 Redefining abundance and success
13:35 How you think about money
15:25 How you feel and use money
17:35 Start changing your money story

#powerfulonpurposepodcast #moneymindset #scarcitymindset #entrepreneurmindset #financialempowerment