Right Wrong Turns: Finding Direction in Life's Detours

After a summer hiatus, I’m back with a special episode of Right Wrong Turns marking the 25th anniversary of September 11, 2001.

I was 23 years old on 9/11, a law student at NYU living in the West Village, about a mile north of the World Trade Center. In this episode, I share an account I wrote on the first anniversary about what I witnessed that day and in the days that followed. 

I also reflect, 25 years later, on what has stayed with me. Drawing on Rebecca Solnit’s A Paradise Built in Hell, I explore what catastrophe reveals about humanity: how, amid fear, devastation, and loss, people so often reach toward one another, look for ways to help, and share what they have.

Nothing that emerged from 9/11 can redeem the lives lost or the suffering endured. But alongside the horror, I witnessed something I’ve carried with me ever since.

This episode is dedicated to the memory of my friend, Mike Rich.

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What if the thing that comes most naturally to you is the key to your next act?

When a friend handed Cindy Thomas a copy of The Home Edit during the early months of the pandemic, something clicked into place. What began with baskets, bins, and a knack for creating order grew into a thriving organizing business, a partnership with The Container Store, and a life intentionally built around her strengths and priorities.

In this conversation, Cindy shares the unlikely path that led her from corporate wellness and fitness to entrepreneurship, why she believes clutter is usually a symptom of overload rather than laziness, and how thoughtfully designed spaces can reduce friction, restore calm, and help us thrive.

Along the way, we talk about imposter syndrome, the power of having people who believe in you before you fully believe in yourself, and the influence of her background in human performance on the way she approaches organization.

Cindy’s Links:

Simply Organized Interiors Website

Simply Organized Interiors Instagram

The Container Store - In-Home Organizing

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Karen Harmon is a certified Enneagram teacher and coach who helps people understand the inner patterns that drive how they move through the world. In this episode, we explore how the Enneagram differs from other personality frameworks, how our core types take shape in childhood, and how deeper self-awareness can help us live with intention rather than simply running on autopilot.

Karen offers insight into all nine Enneagram types, and shares her own journey from art teacher to Enneagram coach, including the fears and internal shifts that came with leaving behind familiar structures to pursue a life that felt more meaningful and aligned. We also talk about the challenge of breaking ingrained habits, the stories we create about who we’re supposed to be, and how greater awareness can help us interrupt old patterns and choose differently.

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Karen's Links:

Enneagram Coaching

Instagram

After more than a decade building a successful contemporary art jewelry gallery, Jenna Shaifer made the decision to close her brick-and-mortar space and step more fully into the world of advocacy and public service. In this conversation, she shares what led to that pivot and speaks candidly about what it took to take a leap without anything lined up. 

Together, we explore what it looks like to move toward something before you can see it. For Jenna, that meant small, intentional steps and trusting her heart. We also talk about what it means to live your values out loud in complicated times. Jenna speaks openly about her experience of feeling othered as a Jewish woman in business, and how that helped shape her desire to stop watching from the sidelines and get directly involved in government. 

This episode is a reminder that you don’t need the full picture to begin living a new chapter. The path tends to reveal itself once you start walking.

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Jenna’s Links:

Ombre Gallery

Instagram

What if finding your way didn’t require choosing a single direction? Guest Amy Taylor has spent years performing at the highest levels of classical music as a flutist and piccolo player with some of the world’s most respected orchestras. But in 2020, when the pandemic brought the performance world to a standstill, Amy didn't just wait for things to return to normal. She used the pause to ask bigger questions about identity and fulfillment, emerging with a real estate license and a new sense of possibility.

In this conversation, Amy speaks candidly about the anxiety that shadowed even her most accomplished performances, the moment on a San Diego beach that cracked something open in her, and what it looks like day-to-day to hold multiple callings at once. Together, we explore the power of giving yourself permission to try new things, trust your inner voice, and choose a life that aligns with your values.

Whether you're feeling constrained by one identity or simply curious about what else might be out there, this episode is an invitation to expand your vision and consider what could unfold when you allow all aspects of yourself to exist in harmony.

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Amy's Links:

Music Website

Real Estate Website

Music Instagram

Real Estate Instagram

After two decades climbing the corporate fashion retail ladder, Amy Fulton found herself burned out and quietly wondering if there was another way. As a single mother balancing high-level career demands with her responsibilities at home, she reached a breaking point during a vacation when the relentless pull of work kept her from being fully present with her daughter. That moment propelled Amy to stop ignoring the signals and begin charting a new path: one that better fit the life she wanted to lead.

In this episode, Amy shares about the leap she took, trading the security of a steady paycheck for the opportunity to build something of her own. Now the owner of Oasis Face Bar’s Cincinnati locations, she has cultivated a thriving business that allows her to remain rooted in her hometown of Columbus and present for the moments that matter most. Amy also reflects on the importance of knowing your values and the deeper “why” behind your choices, because when you’re clear about what matters, even the hardest decisions become easier to navigate.

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What happens when we trade artificial lights and climate-controlled spaces for the dappled sunlight and living air of the forest? Pam Lowe Cho has spent years finding out, and now helps others do the same.

When Pam’s corporate job was eliminated in 2008, she was offered another prestigious role within a week. Instead of accepting it, she chose what felt like a risky detour: a 30-day pause to explore what else might be possible. That decision ultimately led her from the high-pressure world of corporate communications and public relations — including a formative stint in the Reagan White House — to a thriving career as an executive coach. Now she's taken that work one step further: outside.

As a certified Forest Therapy guide, Pam has moved leadership development out of the conference room and into the woods. In this conversation, we explore the science of forest bathing (Shinrin-yoku), including how phytoncides released by trees, fractal patterns in nature, and the vastness of the open sky work together to lower cortisol, regulate the nervous system, and sharpen the mind. Pam also shares three simple practices anyone can use to bring nature’s restorative power into their homes and daily lives.

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Pam's Links:

Trek Executive Coaching Website

Instagram

Facebook

LinkedIn

Kim Santen was on her way home from a nursing shift when a head-on collision changed the trajectory of her life. What began as a traumatic brain injury — one that left her head shaking uncontrollably and sent her into months of isolation — became the catalyst for confronting how survival patterns from childhood had been quietly steering her choices for years. Now an intuitive transformation coach, Kim shares how the accident led her to discover art, authenticity, and a completely different path forward.

This conversation explores why so many of us continue operating in survival mode as adults, how the language we use shapes what we believe is possible, and what it really means to choose yourself — not as an act of selfishness, but as a return to truth. If you've ever felt stuck, on the fence, or trapped by expectations, this one’s for you.

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Kim’s Links:

Art N' Soul Connection Website

Instagram

Facebook

In this episode, Jen talks with Jill Schiller, Treasurer of Hamilton County, Ohio, about finding her way into public service. From early work in the White House to a congressional loss before going on to win elected office twice, Jill's path hasn't been about grand reinventions. It's been about noticing when something no longer fit and adjusting course without framing those moments as failure.

This conversation explores what it means to outgrow a choice, trust your gut when something stops working, and recognize how small, intentional redirections can add up to meaningful change.

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Jill's Links:

Treasurer Jill A. Schiller - Hamilton County, Ohio

LinkedIn

Music:

Summer Dancing

In this inaugural episode, host Jen Morales traces her own detours — from music to law to entrepreneurship — and what they taught her about recognizing when a wrong turn is pointing the way toward something truer.