Reframing Perspectives with Payal Beri, PhD

Join us in this inspiring conversation with Kyle S. King as he shares his journey from college projects to leading impactful community initiatives. Discover how a foundation of compassion, strategic growth, and authentic leadership can create sustainable change in communities worldwide.

Kyle S. King is a culture strategist, author, speaker, and former school leader who helps organizations build ecosystems where people and performance thrive together. He is the author of Contagious Culture: Creating an Ecosystem of Academic Excellence, a practical framework for turning values into daily behaviors, systems, and results. Kyle is the Founder of The Culture Lab, where he has partnered with schools, nonprofits, and mission-driven organizations across the country to strengthen leadership, improve retention, increase engagement, and drive sustainable growth. His work directly supports organizations in raising over $40 million in philanthropic and institutional funding, while building cultures that leaders and teams actually want to stay in. A former school leader, founding entrepreneur, and board member, Kyle brings lived experience to the stage- balancing strategy with empathy, and results with realism. Known for blending storytelling, humor, and straight talk, he equips leaders with tools they can use immediately, not theories that live in binders.

In this episode:

• Kyle’s start with Project Shine in college and his mission to empower youth locally and internationally
• The importance of building infrastructure for lasting social impact
• How leadership growth requires patience, humility, and intentionality
• Strategies for non-profit leaders to align values, impact, and organizational health
• The power of small acts of kindness, clear purpose, and community connection
• Reframing Impact: from speed and scale to depth and sustainability
• Practical ways individuals leverage their skills, resources, and networks for community change
• Kyle’s perspective on confronting toxicity and gatekeeping in the social impact space

Timestamps:

• (00:00) - Opening and episode overview: Impact, Leadership, Community
• (02:29) - Kyle’s story of founding Project Shine and early motivations
• (12:40) - Building scalable models that prioritize deep impact
• (16:20) - Shifting strategies to serve community needs better
• (22:22) - The importance of patience and impact measurement in leadership
• (26:40) - Clarity, courage, and character as pillars of effective leadership
• (30:36) - Balancing impact, growth, and organizational integrity
• (38:59) - Overcoming scarcity mindset and gatekeeping in social impact
• (42:07) - The role of purpose, community, and action in preventing burnout
• (49:37) - Reflecting on Kyle’s journey and meaningful moments of impact

Resources & Links:

• Kyle S. King : https://theculturelab.org/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamkylesking/
• Book: https://www.amazon.com/Contagious-Culture-Creating-Ecosystem-Excellence-ebook/dp/B0DV1QXPSV

Connect with Dr. Payal Beri & Reframing Perspectives:

• Instagram – Dr. Payal: https://www.instagram.com/dr.payalberi
  
  
• Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@payalberi?sub_confirmation=1
  
  
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalberi
• Speaking & Media: https://www.drpayalberi.com

Unlock the transformative power of joy—especially when life feels like dancing on ashes. 

In this inspiring episode, Dr. Pamela Larde reveals how anyone, regardless of circumstances, can cultivate joy from deep within, creating a resilient foundation that sustains through trauma, stress, and societal challenges. 

Discover how joy isn’t just a fleeting happiness but a deliberate act of self-embodiment and resistance, particularly for marginalized communities that often have joy stripped away.

You’ll hear powerful stories of resilience—like a Jamaican bobsled team defying odds or navigating divorce with dance and celebration—illustrating why joy is a radical act of reclamation. Dr. Larde shares her groundbreaking research on the arcs of self-determination, post-traumatic growth, and pure joy, providing concrete ways to practice and embody joy daily—no matter your background or current struggles. 

She breaks down how to build mental stamina through small, intentional steps like surrounding yourself with positive influences, engaging in creative projects, practicing patience, and moving your body—whether through dance, art, or simple movement. 

This episode is a must-listen for purpose-driven changemakers, entrepreneurs, and anyone feeling overwhelmed by life’s chaos. It highlights how embracing joy can be an act of resistance, creating a ripple effect that infects families and communities with contagious energy. If you’ve ever felt guilt or reluctance in pursuing your own happiness amid adversity, Dr. Larde’s insights will challenge you to reframe what’s possible—showing that joy is your right, your power, and your most effective tool for lasting impact.

Perfect for those seeking practical ways to nurture resilience and cultivate joy as a daily practice, this conversation offers a new perspective on healing, self-care, and embodied well-being. Whether you’re emerging from hardship or simply craving more authentic happiness, this episode will inspire you to dance—on ashes, in chaos, and into a flourishing future.

Resources & Links

• Joy Retreat by Dr. Pamela Larde
• Dr. Larde’s Book: The Practice of Joy

Connect with Dr. Pamela Larde

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/empoweredwriter/
• Website : https://www.drpamelalarde.com/

Connect with Dr. Payal Beri & Reframing Perspectives:

• Instagram – Dr. Payal: https://www.instagram.com/dr.payalberi
  
  
• Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@payalberi?sub_confirmation=1
  
  
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalberi
• Speaking & Media: https://www.drpayalberi.com

In this insightful conversation, Dr.Aldrich Chan discusses the impact of AI on cognitive development, emphasizing the importance of stress and challenge in learning. He explores how reliance on AI can hinder critical thinking and brain development, and offers strategies to balance technology use with skill development.

Dr. Aldrich Chan is a Neuropsychologist and Psychotherapist, author of the award-winning book Reassembling Models of Reality, and, more recently, 7 Principles of Nature: How We Strayed & How We Return. He is the founder of the Center for Neuropsychology and Consciousness (CNC), a practice in Miami, Florida, that provides neuropsychological and psychological services. In addition to his practice, he is an Adjunct Professor for the PsyD and Master's program at Pepperdine University.

Key  Topics

• AI's impact on cognitive development
• The importance of stress and challenge in learning
• Strategies for balancing AI use with skill development

Chapters

00:00 Reconnecting and Reflecting on the Past

03:55 The Journey of a Third Culture Kid

09:07 Cultural Evolution and Human Connection

10:35 The Impact of the Agricultural Revolution

15:05 Technology's Influence on Human Development

19:43 The Course Correction of Human Connection

23:42 Challenges Faced by Change Makers

26:22 The Benefits of Alloparenting

27:12 Mind-Body Connection and Mental Health

28:40 Reversing Modern Lifestyle Trends

30:14 The Return to Community Living

32:44 The Importance of Social Connection

34:34 Understanding Separation, Alienation, and Discord

36:02 Principles of Nature and Their Application

45:24 The Need for Eastern Philosophies in Modern Society

47:53 Introduction and Call to Action

48:21 The Importance of Community Engagement

Resources

Books written by Dr. Chan

Dr. Chan’s Website 

Dr. Chan’s LinkedIn 

Dr. Chan’s Instagram 

Connect with Dr. Payal Beri & Reframing Perspectives:

• Instagram – Dr. Payal: https://www.instagram.com/dr.payalberi
  
  
• Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@payalberi?sub_confirmation=1
  
  
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalberi
• Speaking & Media: https://www.drpayalberi.com

We’re losing 120,000 people every year to stress and anxiety related to work.
 Not “I don’t like my job” stress — chronic, nervous-system meltdown stress.

In this episode of Reframing Perspectives, we sit down with Jen Whitmer — keynote speaker, teacher, and author — to talk about joy as a serious, measurable strategy for work and life… not a fluffy “nice to have.”

Jen shares how getting fired from her dream job on a white couch moment became the catalyst for her work: helping leaders understand themselves, understand others, and create workplaces that don’t slowly destroy people.

We dig into corporate trauma, the myth that “adults should just know better,” why direct communicators (especially women) are punished at work, and how culture, gender, generation, and capitalism all shape the way we show up at work.

Most importantly, Jen breaks down her Joy Ratio:

• Why the opposite of joy isn’t work — it’s toil
• The 3 components of joy at work (favor, belonging, impact)
• Why keeping meaningless toil under 10% can literally save lives

If you’ve ever thought, “How did we get here? This is not how I want to live,” this conversation is for you.

Connect with Dr. Payal Beri & Reframing Perspectives:

• Instagram – Dr. Payal: https://www.instagram.com/dr.payalberi
  
  
• Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@payalberi?sub_confirmation=1
  
  
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalberi
• Speaking & Media: https://www.drpayalberi.com

What if your exhaustion isn't proof that you care enough — but proof that something has gotten tangled in the way you see your role in the world?

In this Solo Reframe, Dr. Payal Beri digs into one of the most quietly destructive patterns in mission-driven spaces: the martyr trap. It's that place where burnout gets confused with devotion, where urgency becomes familiar, and where slowing down starts to feel like betrayal.

Drawing on her background in organizational psychology and her own lived experience as a founder and changemaker, Payal unpacks the concept of identity fusion — what happens when our identity becomes so intertwined with our mission that separating ourselves from it feels impossible. And she explores why the most committed people in any room are often also the most exhausted ones.

In this episode, you'll explore:

• Why changemakers unconsciously treat exhaustion as a measure of dedication
• How identity fusion creates the conditions for burnout and cynicism
• The relationship between our tolerance for chaos and our inability to rest
• What the normalization of mental health over 20 years teaches us about the pace of real change
• How to stop centering yourself in every win and loss — and why that actually makes you a better contributor to the mission

The reframe: your job was never to carry the mission alone. It was to contribute to an ecosystem. And the most powerful thing you can do for the work you care about is protect the human doing it.

If you've ever felt guilty for resting, this episode is for you.

Reframing Perspectives is the podcast for changemakers who believe relationships are the real infrastructure of impact. Hosted by Dr. Payal Beri, organizational psychologist and founder of RK Empathy.

Connect with Dr. Payal Beri & Reframing Perspectives:

• Instagram – Dr. Payal: https://www.instagram.com/dr.payalberi
  
  
• Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@payalberi?sub_confirmation=1
  
  
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalberi
• Speaking & Media: https://www.drpayalberi.com

Money is one of the most emotionally charged relationships we’ll ever have.
 It’s not just numbers on a spreadsheet — it becomes a mirror that reflects our beliefs about safety, worthiness, possibility, and power.

In this episode of Reframing Perspectives, I sit down with fractional CFO and financial strategist Cindy Kumar, who helps founders rebuild their financial foundations so they can grow with clarity, confidence, and sustainability.

Cindy doesn’t just talk about profit margins and tax strategy. She works at the intersection of financial health, emotional health, and entrepreneurial identity — where money wounds, family stories, and business decisions all collide.

We talk about:

• Losing “everything” in the 2008 recession and how that shaped her “spend it before it disappears” pattern
  
  
  
• Why so many founders reinvest every dollar back into the business and still have nothing left
  
  
  
• The toxic narratives of “just manifest it” and “invest and the money will come”
  
  
  
• The emotional patterns behind coach-hopping, over-spending, and avoiding your numbers
  
  
  
• What happens when your entire business rests on one big client (and how dangerous that really is)
  
  
  
• And how healing your money story changes not just your business, but your relationships, parenting, and generational patterns
  
  
  

If you’ve ever felt ashamed about your finances, scared to raise your prices, or stuck in chaos even while your revenue grows, this conversation will help you slow down, breathe, and actually see what’s going on with your money.

Because when we talk about financial health, we’re really talking about how we see ourselves, how we show up for our communities, and how we build not just businesses — but our lives.

Connect with Dr. Payal Beri & Reframing Perspectives:

• Instagram – Dr. Payal: https://www.instagram.com/dr.payalberi
  
  
• Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@payalberi?sub_confirmation=1
  
  
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalberi
• Speaking & Media: https://www.drpayalberi.com

Is it dangerous to treat emotional intelligence as a universal standard?”

We talk about emotional intelligence like it’s neutral, universal, and the same for everyone. But what happens when culture, race, migration, language, and survival literally shape how we express feelings, set boundaries, and show respect?

In this powerful conversation, Dr. Payal Beri sits down with Farah Harris, a Haitian American psychotherapist, emotional intelligence expert, and founder of Working Well Daily, to explore why EQ can never be “one-size-fits-all” for people of color.

They dive into:

• Growing up Haitian in the U.S. and feeling “too American” back home, but “too foreign” in America
• First-born / “junior parent” pressure in immigrant families
• Language, accents, and mother-tongue shame
• Why we don’t “season our chicken” the same — and what that has to do with EQ
• How cultural values shape grieving, anger, “respect,” and emotional expression
• Why Black and Brown kids are taught to mute their feelings for survival in white-dominant systems

If you’ve ever felt like you don’t quite belong anywhere — not in your parents’ homeland, not fully in the country you live in — or you’ve been misread as “too loud,” “too much,” or “too cold,” this episode will help you reclaim your emotional language with context, compassion, and power.

🔍 In This Episode, We Talk About:

• Is EQ really universal?
• Haitian American, oldest daughter, third culture kid
• Language, accents & mother-tongue shame
• “We don’t season chicken the same”
• Culture, values & how we grieve
• Bias, projection & the “two-sided mirror”
• Technology, capitalism & chronic reactivity
• Third culture kids & global mutts
• Safety vs. self-expression for kids of color
• From judgment to curiosity

By the end, you’ll walk away with a reframed understanding of emotional intelligence: not as a rigid checklist, but as a context-rich, culturally-rooted way of relating to yourself and others.

Connect with Farah Harris:

• Website: workingwelldaily.com
• LinkedIn: search “Farah Harris LCPC”

Book: The Color of Emotional Intelligence (available where books are sold & on Audible)

Connect with Dr. Payal Beri & Reframing Perspectives:

• Instagram – Dr. Payal: https://www.instagram.com/dr.payalberi
  
  
• Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@payalberi?sub_confirmation=1
  
  
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalberi
• Speaking & Media: https://www.drpayalberi.com

My guest today, Dr. Seema Desai, knows that whisper intimately.
 She’s a transformational coach, keynote speaker, and author whose journey began in a successful dental career—until burnout, misalignment, postpartum depression, and a quiet ache for something deeper forced her to rethink everything she thought success was supposed to look like.

In this conversation, we talk about:

• Growing up as a child of immigrants and becoming the “return on investment.”
• Why she says dentistry became “dermatitis for my soul”
• People-pleasing, perfectionism, and shrinking yourself to fit a role
• The difference between happiness (external, fleeting) and joy (deep, steady)
• Why joy is a birthright, not a privilege
• Her concept of Swa-dharma – your soul’s work and contract with the divine
• How chronic misalignment and stress show up as illness, resentment and disconnection
• Why privilege isn’t the enemy – unexamined entitlement is
• And what it would mean to treat JOY as a real metric of success, not just money or status
  
  
  

This isn’t about pretending everything is fine or chasing a perfect life.
 It’s about asking:

What would my life look like if I allowed even 1% more joy in?

Connect with Dr. Payal Beri & Reframing Perspectives:

• Instagram – Dr. Payal: https://www.instagram.com/dr.payalberi
  
  
• Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@payalberi?sub_confirmation=1
  
  
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalberi
• Speaking & Media: https://www.drpayalberi.com

“I accept my mom for who she is, not for who I wish she had been…”

For so many immigrant daughters, love and guilt are woven together. We grow up hearing about sacrifice, survival, and “everything we did for you” — while quietly carrying our own shame, anger, and longing to be truly seen.

In this powerful conversation, Dr. Payal Beri sits down with Serena, author of Unbound: The Story of an Immigrant, to explore what it really means to honor your parents’ story without abandoning yourself.

They talk about growing up Asian in the West, the unspoken rules in immigrant homes, and the moment Serena realized she had to stop waiting for her mother to become someone else — and instead ask, “What is she here to teach me?”

From mother–daughter wounds and intergenerational fear to building a “bridge” strong enough for parents, kids, and future generations to stand on together, this episode is an invitation to become unbound in your own life.

If you’ve ever felt torn between loyalty to your family and loyalty to yourself, this conversation is for you.

🔍 In This Episode, We Talk About:

• Accepting parents “as they are” vs who we wish they had been
• The unique guilt and pressure on kids of immigrants
• Growing up Asian in Canada and living between cultures
• Mother–daughter dynamics, anger, and the grief of what you didn’t get
• Reframing: “What is she here to teach you?”
• Why survival mode leaves little room for feelings or therapy
• “Airing dirty laundry” vs telling the truth with love
• How shame and silence create a gap between generations
• Building a bridge between our parents’ traditions and our own lives
• Hyper-independence, money, and the myth of “I can do it all alone”
• Finding the middle ground: empowered and in relationship
  
  

Connect with our Guest, Serena 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serena_arora/

Buy the Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FQ381KK1?ref_=pe_93986420_775043100

Connect with Dr. Payal Beri & Reframing Perspectives:

• Instagram – Dr. Payal: https://www.instagram.com/dr.payalberi
  
  
• Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@payalberi?sub_confirmation=1
  
  
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalberi
• Speaking & Media: https://www.drpayalberi.com

“If you don’t find a romantic, sexual partner, you will be alone forever.”

That’s the story many of us are sold: if you’re not in a couple, you’re failing at connection. For David Jay, it was more than a fear — it felt like a guarantee. As an asexual person, he couldn’t see himself in the scripts our culture hands us about love, partnership, and family.

Today, he’s living a life his younger self didn’t think was possible:

• co-parenting in a three-parent family,
• raising two kids,
• and building movements rooted in human connection and collective care.
  
  
  

In this conversation, Dr. Payal Beri sits down with David Jay — founder of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) and author of Relationality: How Moving from Transactional to Transformational Relationships Can Reshape Our Lonely World — to rethink what counts as a “real” relationship.

They dive into why we treat romantic love as the only path out of loneliness, how capitalism and tech have turned connection into a transaction, and what it would look like to normalize all forms of love: platonic, communal, familial, and interdependent.

If you’ve ever felt “behind” because you’re not partnered, wondered if you’re “the problem” for not fitting the couple script, or craved a life built on chosen family and community — this episode offers a different map.

🔍 In This Episode, We Talk About:

• “I will be alone forever.”
• Founding AVEN & naming a spectrum
• Breaking the couple script
• A three-parent family in real life
• Hyper-independence as a trap
• Friendship vs ‘Plan B’
• Collective care → collective power
• The audience is not the community
• Tech, AI & connection
• Class, gatekeeping & “self-made” myths
• Relational agency & reframing loneliness
  
  

Practical steps to build community
 From game nights and taco runs to recurring meetups: small, repeatable actions that turn strangers into real relationships over time.

Connect with David Jay:

• Book & contact: relationalitybook.com (as mentioned in the episode)
  
  
• Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN): asexuality.org

Connect with Dr. Payal Beri & Reframing Perspectives:

• Instagram – Dr. Payal: https://www.instagram.com/dr.payalberi
  
  
• Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@payalberi?sub_confirmation=1
  
  
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalberi
• Speaking & Media: https://www.drpayalberi.com