Purpose For Life

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In this episode of Purpose For Life, Suzanne Roberts sits down with entrepreneur and digital advertising strategist Crystal Johnson for a deeply honest conversation about betting on yourself, redefining success, and remembering why you started in the first place.

Crystal shares the story behind building her business after becoming a new mom, beginning with a desire to work remotely and eventually taking the frightening leap into entrepreneurship. She talks openly about the years that didn't look successful from the outside—including making $20,000 in her first two years, becoming a single mom for a period of time, and moving into her parents' basement with her son. 

But Suzanne helps Crystal uncover something deeper: success wasn't one big moment. It was every decision along the way to keep believing in herself. Crystal's story becomes an invitation to stop measuring your life by someone else's timeline and to ask, What if I believed that this was possible for me, too?

The conversation then moves into motherhood, homeschooling, entrepreneurship, family, legacy, and what happens when the “why” behind our goals begins to evolve. Crystal shares why she is learning to build a business around the life she actually wants—not build a life around the business.

At the heart of this conversation is a powerful reminder: your dream may change, your path may change, and your definition of success may change—but you can keep coming back to what matters most.

Timestamps

00:00 – Crystal's Entrepreneurial Beginning
 03:00 – Betting on Yourself
 07:00 – When Success Doesn't Happen Overnight
 11:00 – Why Not Me?
 15:00 – Redefining What Success Really Means
 19:00 – When Life Gives You a Different Perspective
 23:00 – Realigning With Your Why
 27:00 – Motherhood, Homeschooling & Purpose
 31:00 – Building a Rich Life
 34:00 – The Purpose For Life

Guest Information
Crystal Johnson
Entrepreneur | Digital Advertising Strategist | Mother | Future Author
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#PurposeForLife #CrystalJohnson #SuzanneRoberts #Entrepreneurship #Purpose #PersonalGrowth #Mindset #WomenInBusiness

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In this month’s Wisdom Drop, Suzanne Roberts sits down with her dear friend Anne Santilli to explore a simple but profound invitation: you are already whole and holy.

Drawing from the Wisdom Deck connected to It’s Deeper Than That and The Great Reconnection, Suzanne and Anne explore what it means to return to the deeper self beneath the experiences, trauma, stories, and identities that can cause us to feel disconnected from who we truly are.

Anne shares how trauma and difficulty can create distance between who we are and who we believe we need to be, while Suzanne explores the deeper current of wholeness and holiness that is always within us. Together, they talk about meditation, writing, curiosity, trust, and the willingness to slow down enough to discover what has been there all along.

This conversation is not about becoming someone new. It is about discovering what is already within you—and learning to trust that it is safe to open the gift.

Let this Wisdom Drop wash over you, and ask yourself: What might I discover if I took the time to arrive inside myself?

Timestamps

00:00 – Welcome to the Wisdom Drop
 01:15 – You Are Already Whole and Holy
 03:00 – How Trauma Can Disconnect Us From Ourselves
 05:15 – The Deeper Current Within
 07:15 – Making Inner Discovery a Priority
 09:30 – Learning to Trust Your Wholeness
 12:00 – Wholeness as a Lifelong Journey
 14:00 – Knowing It Within & Living It in the World
 15:30 – Returning to Yourself

In This Wisdom Drop

•  The meaning of being “whole and holy”
•  Returning to yourself and your own belonging 
•  How trauma can create distance from our authentic selves 
•  Reconnecting with the innocence, curiosity, and playfulness we carried as children 
•  The deeper current of life within us 
•  Making inner discovery a priority 
•  Meditation and writing as practices for self-discovery 
•  Learning to trust our own wholeness 
•  Why healing and reconnection are lifelong processes 
•  Moving from knowing our deeper self internally to actually living from it 
•  Testing, experiencing, and discovering that our inner radiance is safe to explore 

A Question for Reflection

What might you discover if you gave yourself permission to slow down, arrive inside yourself, and explore what is already whole within you?

#PurposeForLife #TheGreatReconnection #Wholeness #SelfDiscovery #InnerWork #SpiritualGrowth #PersonalGrowth

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In this episode of Purpose For Life, Suzanne Roberts sits down with author and personal development expert Steve Linton to explore the powerful relationship between frequency, self-image, the subconscious mind, and the results we create in our lives.

Steve shares his journey from becoming homeless after college to discovering personal development and completely changing the way he thought about himself and his future. He explains why changing what's happening on the outside often begins with changing what's happening within.

Suzanne and Steve explore how our childhood programming can shape our self-image, why we have to honestly acknowledge where we are before we can get where we want to go, and how visualization, stillness, and intentional action can help us create a new internal reality.

Steve also shares a powerful lesson from nearly 30 years of skydiving: sometimes the thing we are most afraid of is nothing like the story we created in our minds.

At the heart of this conversation is an invitation to become more honest with ourselves, quiet the noise, and ask: What else could I do if I stopped believing the story that says I can't?

Timestamps:
00:00 – What Is the Frequency of Success?
03:00 – From Homelessness to Personal Development
05:30 – Self-Image & the Subconscious Mind
09:00 – Knowing Where You Are Before You Change
13:00 – Stillness & Reprogramming the Mind
17:00 – Why We Need More Stillness
21:00 – Fear, Flying & Skydiving
25:00 – The Stories We Create in Our Minds
27:00 – The Purpose for Life

Steve's Personal Story
Steve shares how he experienced homelessness after college when he couldn't find work as a pilot. His introduction to personal development changed the way he viewed himself and his circumstances, eventually leading him to explore how subconscious beliefs and self-image influence the results we experience. 

The Skydiving Lesson
After nearly 30 years and more than 17,000 jumps, Steve uses skydiving as a metaphor for fear. People often create a story about what an experience will be like before they've ever experienced it. Once they actually take the leap, they discover that reality can be very different from the story in their mind. 

A Question to Sit With
Where are you right now—and what story are you telling yourself about where you can go next?

Steve Linton
Author | Personal Development Speaker | Pilot | Professional Skydiver
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#PurposeForLife #PersonalDevelopment #SelfAwareness #Mindset #Leadership #Purpose #PersonalGrowth

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In this episode of Purpose For Life, Suzanne Roberts sits down with entrepreneur and author Vincent van den Broek for an extraordinary conversation about mindset, resilience, authenticity, action, and living without regret.

After being hit by a car in 2024 and spending weeks in a coma followed by months of rehabilitation, Vincent was told the odds were against him. But instead of allowing predictions about his recovery to define his future, he focused on what he could control: his actions. He began rebuilding the skills he had before the accident, one step at a time, and walked out of rehab far sooner than expected.

Vincent shares why “everything feels impossible until it’s done,” why we don't have to win every game to win the season, and how taking consistent action creates possibilities we cannot see yet. Suzanne and Vincent also explore authenticity, complacency, and the importance of leaving everything on the court—because the goal isn't necessarily to win every time, but to know you gave everything you had.

At the heart of this conversation is a powerful question: When you reach the end of your life, will you be able to say you did everything you wanted to do and said everything you wanted to say?

Timestamps
00:00 – Vincent’s Miracle
03:00 – From Coma to Recovery
05:30 – Mindset & Taking Action
08:00 – Everything Feels Impossible Until It’s Done
12:00 – The Power of Consistent Action
15:00 – Living Without Regret
18:00 – What Authenticity Really Means
21:00 – Leave Everything on the Court
24:00 – You Don’t Have to Win Every Game
27:00 – The Purpose for Life

Guest Information
Vincent van den Broek
 Entrepreneur | Author | Content Creator

Book:
Everything Feels Impossible Until It’s Done

Social: Vincent in the Kitchen
Instagram 

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In this episode of Purpose For Life, Suzanne Roberts sits down with Dawn Elgin, founder of Practical Spiritualism, for a profound conversation about healing, surrender, safety, and coming home to the truth of who we are.

Dawn shares her extraordinary journey from a successful corporate career through multiple traumatic brain injuries and a seven-year process of recovery that ultimately led her toward coaching and practical spirituality. Together, Suzanne and Dawn explore why safety begins within ourselves, how presence can change the way we respond to life, and why the things we carry from our past can keep us from seeing our own potential.

Dawn introduces her powerful metaphor of the “room within”—the space we fill with experiences, beliefs, wounds, and stories until we begin to believe we are the room. The work, she says, is learning to release what no longer serves us so we can reconnect with the wholeness that was there all along.

At the heart of this conversation is a beautiful question: Who are you beneath your story?

Timestamps

00:00 – Welcome & Dawn’s Journey
 03:49 – Trauma, Brain Injury & Surrender
 06:45 – Discovering Practical Spiritualism
 10:00 – What Does Spirituality Really Mean?
 13:00 – Healing Begins With Safety
 15:30 – The Breath & the Power of Presence
 19:00 – The 12 Laws of Co-Creation
 22:00 – Releasing What We Carry
 24:00 – The Room Within You
 27:30 – Discovering Your Pure Potential
 28:30 – The Three Purposes for Life
 29:00 – Closing

Guest Information
Dawn Elgin
Founder of Practical Spiritualism
Creator of Field and Form: The 12 Laws of Co-Creation
Host of The Aligned Human Project

Social Media:
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LinkedIn
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In This Episode

• Dawn’s transition from the corporate world into coaching
• How multiple brain injuries changed the trajectory of her life
• Learning to surrender instead of control
• What “practical spiritualism” means
• Spirituality as a return to our own essence
• Why safety is essential to healing
• Radical self-responsibility
• Using the breath to return to presence
• The difference between vigilance and awareness
• Field and Form: The 12 Laws of Co-Creation
• Why “pause equals power”
• The weight of grudges, pain, and old stories
• Forgiving without forgetting
• Dawn’s journey through domestic violence and trauma
• The metaphor of “the room within”
• Releasing the experiences that obscure our potential
• The power of stillness
• Knowing, embodying, and helping others discover who they are

A Question to Sit With:
Who are you beneath your thoughts, emotions, experiences, and story?

Dawn’s answer to Suzanne’s purpose-for-life question offers three powerful invitations:

Know thyself.
Embody your truth.
Help others do the same.

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In this episode of Purpose For Life, Suzanne Roberts sits down with transformational coach Tongela Clark for a powerful conversation about the inner game, forgiveness, purpose, and discovering the champion within.

Tongela shares her remarkable journey from growing up in her great-grandmother's hair salon to building successful businesses and becoming a transformational coach working with athletes, entertainers, and leaders. She explains how her own "broken lines"—including shame around not having a college degree, family wounds, and unforgiveness—ultimately became the very places where she discovered her greatest strength.

Suzanne and Tongela explore why we can become so focused on our external performance that we lose connection with what's happening inside, how forgiveness can release the things holding us back, and why our pain doesn't have to define us. Instead, it can become a source of purpose, power, and transformation.

At the heart of the conversation is a simple but powerful invitation: do the inner work, forgive yourself, and don't be afraid to live the life you were called to live.

Guest Information:
Tongela Clark
Transformational Coach | Inner Game Coach
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn
Facebook

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What if the purpose you think you're chasing isn't actually your purpose at all?

In this episode of Purpose For Life, Suzanne Roberts sits down with Dr. Ginny Whitelaw, scientist, leadership expert, Zen practitioner, and founder of the Institute for Zen Leadership, for a profound conversation about purpose, wholeness, leadership, and what it means to live true to your nature.

Ginny's own journey began with a childhood dream of becoming an astronaut. That dream led her to study physics and eventually to NASA—but what she discovered there changed her understanding of purpose completely. As she became increasingly aware that others perceived her in a narrow lane, not the lane of being an astronaut, she became exhausted trying to fulfill other people’s expectations of her. She began to have physical challenges and she realized her body was signaling something to her that her mind wasn’t communicating.

Her heart health eventually forced the issue.

At 34, Ginny experienced a terrifying episode in which her heart was racing at more than 200 beats per minute. She initially tried to hide what was happening because she didn't want NASA to find out. But that experience became a turning point. She realized she could no longer live in a way that betrayed her own heart—and that NASA had ultimately revealed her purpose, even though it wasn't the purpose she thought she was pursuing.

From there, Ginny began exploring the intersection of mind, body, leadership, Aikido, and Zen. She eventually founded the Institute for Zen Leadership, where she teaches leaders how to access a deeper sense of coherence and lead from something larger than ego.

Suzanne and Ginny explore why Aikido's practice of learning how to fall can teach us how to get back up, why Zen isn't simply a philosophy but an experience of seeing beyond the ego's illusion of separation, and why true leadership may require us to stop asking, "What's in my interest?" and begin asking, "How do I use this life in a way that serves the whole?"

They also discuss the changing landscape of leadership, why traditional ego-based models are no longer sufficient for the world we're living in, and why connection, coherence, compassion, and inner cultivation are becoming essential leadership capacities.

And then Suzanne asks the question she asks every guest:

What do you think the purpose for life is?

Ginny's answer is beautifully simple:

"Finding it."

But what she means by finding purpose is not creating another statement for your résumé or defining yourself through your ego. It's learning to live true to your whole nature.

Because when we do that, Ginny says, we're living on purpose.

In This Episode:

00:00 – Welcome to Purpose For Life

01:00 – Ginny's lifelong yearning to understand what lies beneath the surface

02:00 – From physics and a childhood dream of becoming an astronaut to NASA

03:13 – When the purpose you thought you wanted starts taking the life out of your life

04:24 – Listening to the heart instead of external expectations

04:55 – The experience that changed Ginny's life

05:38 – Discovering a new purpose

06:00 – The Institute for Zen Leadership

06:56 – What is Aikido?

07:40 – Learning how to fall—and learning how to get back up

08:05 – What does Zen have to do with wholeness?

09:00 – The ego's illusion of separation

10:05 – Moving from "I" to serving the whole

10:57 – Leading fearlessly through wholeness

11:16 – Meditation and seeing how the mind works

12:27 – Why purpose is a lifelong practice

13:10 – Restoration, awareness, and moving at the right pace

14:04 – Why traditional leadership models aren't enough anymore

15:30 – The brokenness of ego-based leadership

16:00 – A new way of leading

17:38 – Reimagining leadership from connection and compassion

19:00 – "A boss says I and a leader says we"

20:20 – Coherent practices and the body as an antenna

21:07 – How leaders can "attract the future"

21:44 – Inner coherence and outer coherence

22:45 – How purpose emerges from your whole nature

23:37 – Living your coherence for the good of the whole

24:28 – Head, heart, and Hara coherence

25:55 – Becoming a better antenna for life

26:35 – What is the purpose for life?

26:41 – "Finding it."

27:06 – Living true to your nature

27:27 – Suzanne's closing thoughts on living on purpose

Guest Information:
Dr. Ginny Whitelaw — Scientist, Leadership Expert, Zen Practitioner, and Founder of the Institute for Zen Leadership

website:  https://zenleader.global

Linked In:
Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginny-whitelaw-7089599/
IZL: https://www.linkedin.com/institute-for-zen-leadership

Facebook:
Personal: https://www.facebook.com/ginny.whitelaw
IZL: https://www.facebook.com/instituteforzenleadership

Instagram:
IZL: https://www.instagram.com/zen.leader/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/IZenLeadership

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#PurposeForLife #SuzanneRoberts #GinnyWhitelaw #Purpose #ZenLeadership #Leadership #Wholeness #PersonalGrowth #MindBody #ConsciousLeadership

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In this episode, Suzanne Roberts sits down with attorney, former immigration judge, and candidate for Summit County Common Pleas Court Judge Tania Nemer for a deeply moving conversation about justice, courage, community, resilience, and what it means to live a life of purpose.

Tania shares the story of growing up in a large Lebanese family where love, chaos, faith, and community taught her how to problem-solve and showed her the power of having a village around you. She reflects on how her family's immigrant experience shaped her desire to help others and ultimately led her into a career centered around justice and service.

From criminal defense to immigration law, from volunteering at the U.S.-Mexico border to becoming an immigration judge, Tania's career has consistently been guided by one thing: a deep desire to stand up when something doesn't feel fair.

She shares the disturbing story of being unexpectedly terminated from her position as an immigration judge while sitting on the bench —and the profound shock, grief, and uncertainty that followed. She also talks about the people who immediately surrounded her, reminding her that she wasn't alone and that she still had work to do in the world.

This conversation is ultimately about so much more than law or politics. It's about the people who come before us, the communities that hold us up, the strength we discover when life doesn't go according to plan, and the responsibility we have to use our own strength to give back.

And when Suzanne asks Tania the question at the heart of every Purpose for Life conversation—What do you think the purpose for life is?—her answer is beautifully simple:

Live. Love. Laugh.

Live fully. Love deeply. And remember that laughter is good for the soul.

Guest Information
Tania Nemer
Attorney | Former Immigration Judge | Candidate for Summit County Common Pleas Court Judge

Campaign Website:
nehmerforjudge.com

Tania's website provides information about her campaign, volunteering, contributions, background, and experience.

Social Media:
Instagram
Facebook
Email: [email protected]

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Nicholas Loise joins Suzanne Roberts on the Purpose for Life podcast for a powerful conversation about gifts, purpose, sales, grace, and what it really means to live a full life.

Nicholas challenges us to stop comparing ourselves to everyone around us and start asking a more important question: What are we uniquely here to do? He shares how he recognizes his own gifts through the things that make him feel energized and alive, why we often overlook the gifts that come most naturally to us, and why we have a responsibility to nurture those gifts and use them for the betterment of others.

Suzanne and Nicholas also unpack the often-misunderstood world of sales. Nicholas explains why sales doesn't have to be about pressure, manipulation, or the stereotypical "bro mentality." At its best, sales is about two human beings trying to solve a problem—and approaching that relationship with curiosity, grace, and a genuine desire to help.

The conversation goes even deeper into personal mission statements, listening for our callings, asking others to help us recognize our strengths, and creating the space to reflect on what we're actually supposed to be doing with our lives.

And perhaps most importantly, Nicholas reminds us that we weren't put here to live one-dimensional lives. We're meant to be multidimensional—to use our time, energy, relationships, gifts, and purpose to create a life that actually matters.

What if you're capable of so much more than you're currently giving?

Guest Information

Nicholas Loise
Sales Performance Team / Your Sales Recruiter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/18THLsjPiJ/?mibextid=wwXIfr
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholasloise?utm_source=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=member_ios

In This Episode

Living a Full Life
Nicholas opens with a challenge that carries throughout the entire conversation: how much are we leaving "in the tank"? We all have more to offer, yet comparison, negativity, distraction, and fear can keep us from fully using our gifts.

Discovering Your Gifts
How do you know what you're actually good at? Nicholas explains that our gifts often show up in the things that make us feel energized, joyful, and almost effortless. Sometimes the things that come most naturally are precisely the things we fail to recognize as gifts.

Rethinking Sales
Nicholas challenges the stigma around sales and argues that selling, when done correctly, is about understanding another person's goals and determining whether what you offer can genuinely help them. Sales becomes less about transaction and more about relationship.

Invitation vs. Imposition
Instead of pressuring someone into a decision, Nicholas describes sales as an invitation. It's two humans trying to solve a problem together.

What Does Grace Have to Do With Sales?
For Nicholas, grace means treating another person as a human being rather than a number or conquest. It also means allowing people time to make the right decision while holding yourself accountable to continually improve.

Finding Your Personal Mission
Nicholas encourages listeners to reflect, journal, identify their core values, and allow their personal mission to evolve over time. The first draft doesn't have to be perfect. In fact, it probably shouldn't be.

Recognizing the Gifts You Can't See
Sometimes our greatest gifts are invisible to us because they're so natural. Nicholas recommends working with a coach and asking people you trust what they believe you're good at, where you excel, and where your blind spots may be.

Listening for Your Calling
Not every calling arrives as an immediate revelation. Sometimes we discover it through trial and error. Nicholas encourages listeners to pay attention to what energizes them—and what feels like a hundred-pound weight.

Living a Multidimensional Life
Rather than becoming consumed by one role, one responsibility, or one distraction, Nicholas encourages us to live three-dimensionally and ask: "Who am I lifting up by doing this?"

Questions to Reflect On

• What gifts do I have that I may be taking for granted?
• What activities make me feel energized and alive?
• Where am I leaving too much "in the tank"?
• What would the people closest to me say I'm naturally good at?
• What are my core values?
• What is my personal mission?
• What am I being called to do?
• Am I living my own life—or watching someone else live theirs?
• What is currently taking my time, energy, and focus?
• Who am I lifting up through the way I spend my time?

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In this episode, Suzanne Roberts sits down with cultural strategist and author Dr. Max Klau, founder of the Center for Courageous Wholeness, to unpack what it means to build shadow-integrated servant leaders. Dr. Klau shares candid insights from his own journey as a privileged white idealist encountering a deep-seated savior complex, while also tracing his work journey across international service programs and AmeriCorps systems. He shares how unexamined personal shadows aggregate up into modern political polarization, why our current systemic crises cannot be fixed with merely technical or policy-driven solutions, and how to use concrete daily practices to hold your own internal contradictions with deep, transformative compassion.

Guest Information: Dr. Max Klau, Author, Leadership Consultant, and Founder of the Center for Courageous Wholeness Website

Books by Dr. Max Klau:
Race and Social Change: A Quest, A Study, A Call to Action
The Shadow Mission: Reclaiming Purpose and Integrity in Leadership
Core Organizations Mentioned: City Year / AmeriCorps Program Information
Theorists & Frameworks Explored: Carl Jung (The Unconscious Archetype) and Ken Wilber (Adult Development Framework of "Include and Transcend")

#DrMaxKlau #SuzanneRoberts #PurposeForLifePodcast #CenterforCourageousWholeness #ShadowIntegration #ServantLeadershipDevelopment #CarlJung #ShadowWork #OvercomingSaviorComplex #RaceandSocialChange #AmeriCorps #CityYear #AdultDevelopment #KenWilber #InternalPrivilege #MentalHealthforLeaders #InterdependenceSystems #SpiritualCrisisRestoration