Rise To More

What if the thing you think is helping you get ahead is actually keeping you stuck?

After spending time with two extraordinary women recently, I started noticing a pattern I couldn’t stop thinking about. It made me question how we create, where our best ideas actually come from, and whether some of our most useful modern tools might have an unexpected downside.

In this solo episode, I’m sharing what I noticed, why I think it matters more than ever right now, and one question I believe every person trying to build, create or do something meaningful should be asking themselves.

This one might change the way you approach your next idea.

Are travel sports, elite teams and expensive training actually helping our kids succeed—or are parents being sold a version of youth sports they don’t need?

In this episode of Rise to More, recorded at Grand Casino Arena, home of the Minnesota Wild, Jasna Burza sits down with Mike Snee, Vice President of Foundation and Community Relations for the Minnesota Wild and creator of Skate It Forward, for an important conversation about youth sports, youth hockey and the growing commercialization of kids’ athletics.

Mike shares what makes Minnesota hockey different, why community-based sports are worth protecting, and what happens when fear of missing out convinces parents that their kids need elite teams, year-round training and expensive travel programs just to keep up.

We also talk about Skate It Forward, the Minnesota Wild’s initiative to strengthen community hockey and help make the sport accessible to more kids.

In this conversation, we talk about:

When youth sports became big business

Travel sports, elite teams and the pressure parents feel to keep up

Whether kids really need elite training to succeed

The risks of specializing too young

Why Minnesota’s community hockey model is different

The rising cost of youth sports and who gets left behind

Why local, community-owned ice rinks matter

Making hockey accessible to more families through Skate It Forward

What sports teach kids beyond winning

The role of fun, failure, resilience and simply playing

What parents should remember when deciding how much is enough

The future of community hockey in Minnesota

Mike also shares one of the simplest lessons hockey teaches children: everyone falls. You learn how to get back up.

This conversation is for parents of young athletes, hockey families, coaches and anyone wondering whether youth sports have become too expensive, too competitive and too focused on getting to the “next level.”

ABOUT MIKE SNEE

Mike Snee is Vice President of Foundation and Community Relations for the Minnesota Wild and creator of Skate It Forward, an initiative of the Minnesota Wild Foundation focused on preserving, strengthening and celebrating community hockey throughout Minnesota.

Rise to More with Jasna Burza explores the people, ideas and conversations shaping how we live, lead and make an impact. Jasna sits down with leaders, founders, athletes, executives and changemakers to uncover the lessons behind meaningful success.Subscribe for conversations about leadership, personal growth, business, community, purpose and what we can learn from people doing extraordinary work.

To hire Jasna as life and business advisor, go to www.jasnaburza.com

What if the thing people keep telling you to soften is actually one of the reasons you’re so good at what you do?

I kept thinking about that while reading Bobbi Brown’s Still Bobbi. Throughout her career, there were plenty of people with bigger titles and more traditional credentials telling her what she should change. Sometimes she listened. But often, she trusted herself—and some of the things others wanted her to change were the very things that made what she built extraordinary.

It made me think about how often capable women are told they’re too demanding, too particular, too intense or too difficult to please. And sometimes we are. But I think we’re so quick to correct those qualities that we forget to ask: What if she actually does know better?

There’s a difference between arrogance and earned judgment. When you’ve spent years doing something, made thousands of decisions, developed an eye and lived with the consequences, your instincts contain information. Constantly overriding them because someone else has a better résumé isn’t always humility.

I am particular. I notice language, positioning, how something looks and how it feels. I could absolutely make my life easier by caring less about some of those things. But I also know some of my best work exists because I care so much.

The question I’m learning to ask is whether my standard is creating excellence or simply creating unnecessary friction. Sometimes I need to communicate better, loosen my grip or listen more carefully. And sometimes I need to trust that I know what I’m doing.

Become a better leader. Listen to smart people. Own it when you’re wrong. But don’t spend years sanding down the very qualities that made you exceptional just because they make someone else uncomfortable.

They will call you bossy. Build it anyway.

What does it look like when one of the most recognizable sports organizations in the country uses its influence for something bigger than football?

In this episode of Rise to More, Jasna Burza sits down at TCO Performance Center with Brett Taber, Vice President of Social Impact for the Minnesota Vikings, for a conversation about leadership, service, community, and what it really means to use your platform well.

Brett has spent nearly two decades with the Vikings, beginning his career in an unexpected place: inside the mascot costume. Today, he leads work designed to create measurable change in the lives of young people and families across Minnesota.

Jasna and Brett talk about why sports may be one of the “last great unifiers,” how the Vikings think differently about community impact, and why doing good should be about changing outcomes—not simply generating headlines.

They also explore the extraordinary growth of girls flag football in Minnesota, the story behind Vikings Table and its 100,000th meal, and how players including Justin Jefferson, J.J. McCarthy, Brian O’Neill, and Aaron Jones use their platforms to support causes that genuinely matter to them.

But some of the most powerful moments in the conversation have nothing to do with football.

Brett shares the story of Bob Jensen, his middle-school teacher in rural Iowa whose lessons about integrity, service, and “we, not me” continue to influence the way Brett leads decades later. It becomes a reminder that we rarely know how far one act of kindness, mentorship, or belief in another person will travel.

In this episode:

How Brett went from Vikings mascot to VP of Social Impact

Why sports can bring people together when almost nothing else can

The Minnesota Vikings’ approach to creating measurable community impact

Justin Jefferson and the power of showing up for one family

The rapid growth of girls flag football in Minnesota

Vikings Table and what 100,000 meals really represent

Why authenticity matters when athletes and organizations give back

The leadership lesson Brett still carries from his middle-school teacher

Why relationships matter as much as ambitious goals

What it means to build programs you hope the world eventually no longer needs

Brett’s answer to the question: What does it mean to Rise to More?

This conversation is ultimately about something much bigger than the Minnesota Vikings. It is about what each of us chooses to do with whatever influence we have.

You may not have a famous name, a massive organization, or millions of people watching you. But you have people in front of you. You have opportunities to open doors, give your time, make someone feel seen, and leave something better than you found it.

And you may never know how far that impact goes.

Connect with Rise to More:Subscribe to Rise to More wherever you listen to podcasts and on YouTube for more conversations with leaders, founders, changemakers, and people doing meaningful work in the world.

What if the life you’re supposed to want isn’t actually the life you want?

After spending nearly a month in Europe, I came home with a realization that surprised me: I couldn’t wait to work. I missed my clients, Rise to More, creating, building—and instead of questioning why I couldn’t simply relax longer, I realized how deeply I love the life I’ve built.

In this solo episode, I’m talking about what it means to finally know yourself well enough to stop apologizing for the way you’re wired. For the first time in thirteen years, all of my kids are on the same school schedule, and I suddenly have eight uninterrupted hours in my day. Rather than filling them with more, I’m choosing depth: my clients, the podcast and my body.

I also share why I’m stepping back into social media after years of delegating it, what it feels like to become a beginner again in my 40s, why I want Rise to More to reach millions of people, and the uncomfortable lesson I’m learning about asking for help.

This season isn’t about being busier. It’s about becoming more intentional with the life I already love.

My word for it is BUILD.

And the question I hope you leave with is this: If you stopped performing the life you think you’re supposed to want, what would you actually want to do with your days?

Subscribe to Rise to More wherever you listen to podcasts, and come find me on Instagram and YouTube as I learn, build, fail, adjust and keep going.

Recorded live at Target Field, this conversation goes far beyond baseball. Nancy O'Brien has spent more than two decades building the Minnesota Twins' community impact work — girls baseball teams, adaptive sports clinics, youth development programs, and a free community clinic tradition that started in 1961 and hasn't stopped since.

Jasna and Nancy talk about what real leadership looks like when no one's watching, the difference between performing professionalism and actually leading, and the small, quiet moments that remind you the work matters — including one afternoon when a young girl at an adaptive baseball clinic looked at her mom and said, "they all look like me."

What We Cover

Nancy's path from brand marketing to community impact leadership

The Twins Community Fund's three pillars: empowering youth, fostering belonging, sustainability

The purple marker story — and what it taught her about authentic leadership

Building the first Major League Baseball-affiliated girls national baseball team

How to measure impact you can feel but can't always quantify

Imposter syndrome, and what she does instead of ignoring it

What it takes to lead in rooms that weren't built for you

Building true corporate partnerships instead of transactional ones

Quotes Worth Sitting With

"There isn't one way to lead. There isn't one way a leader looks."

"If you're not finding your place, if it doesn't fit, don't stay."

"Mom, they all look like me."

I used to walk into every room and scan it first. What do they need from me? How do I come across as credible without coming across as too much?I built a real career that way. I was also exhausted in a way I couldn't name.In this episode I'm being honest about something I don't talk about enough - the performance. The softening. The slow, quiet habit of making yourself smaller so other people feel more comfortable. And what it actually costs you every single day you keep doing it.I share the specific moment it started to crack for me, what I found on the other side, and three questions that might change something for you if you sit with them long enough.This one is for you if you're building something real and you know - somewhere deep down — that you're still not showing up as your full self.In this episode:— Why softening yourself doesn't make you more likable, it makes you trust yourself less— The difference between humility and hiding— What changed for me when I stopped performing: in my clients, my energy, and my income— Three questions to find out where you're still playing small🎙 Rise to More is a weekly podcast for founders, executives, and anyone building a life that actually means something. New episodes every Tuesday.

Guest: Tony Sanneh — Former U.S. National Team soccer player, 2002 World Cup veteran, 2026 National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee, and founder of the Sanneh Foundation

Episode Description

There's a version of Tony Sanneh's story that ends with the World Cup. Boy from St. Paul makes it to soccer's biggest stage, wins, lives well. The end.

That's not his story.

In this conversation, Tony and Jasna talk about what happens after the trophy — the fifteen years he spent building a free youth foundation that's now a ten-million-dollar organization, the moment fame nearly disconnected him from who he actually was, and the fear he carried for decades that he was finally ready to name out loud.

This one is personal for Jasna. Her own kids learned to play soccer on a field Tony built, years before she knew the full story behind it.

What We Cover

Growing up in St. Paul and the moment his mother told him he could be anything

The 2002 World Cup, and the strange, full-circle nature of his career in Germany

What fame does to a person — and the friend who refused to let it change him

Starting the Sanneh Foundation while he was still a professional athlete

Building a $10 million, 130,000-square-foot dome that funders told him was impossible

The Bush Foundation Fellowship and the fear he finally confronted at 30+ years in

Why most professional sports organizations get philanthropy wrong — and what real partnership looks like instead

What he wants his son to understand about him, and why it has nothing to do with the Hall of Fame

Quotes Worth Sitting With

"I'm more concerned about the world around him than I am with him."

"Athletes don't change. The people around us change — and sometimes that changes us."

"If someone's going to say no, I'm going to say why. My job is to make you understand it."

"We didn't say we're going to come and fix you. We said: we have these resources, how can we work together to make your life better?"

Tony built more than a soccer dome — the foundation now runs free youth camps, after-school mentoring, a food security program, a community center on St. Paul’s East Side, and job training for young adults entering the workforce.

If this episode moved you, here’s how to get involved:

Donate · Volunteer · Explore Programs · Follow on Instagram

Most people wait until they’re ready.Greta Siedow raised her hand when she was 80% there, and ended up leading one of the largest women’s sporting events in the country.

In this episode of RISE TO MORE, Greta — VP at Optum Rx and General Chair of the 2026 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine, shares what happens when you stop waiting for permission and start trusting what years of showing up quietly build.1,300 volunteers.50,000 fans.One championship.Decades in the making.But this conversation is not really about golf.It is about courage.About raising your hand before you feel fully ready.About opening doors for others because someone once opened one for you.

In this episode, we talk about

-Why waiting until you feel “ready” may be holding you back.

-The moment she raised her hand for a role nobody handed her

-Leading through influence instead of authority

-Building trust across 1,300 volunteers and one shared missionWhy women supporting women changes careersFaith, pressure, purpose, and sustaining yourself through seasons of growth

-What it means to make sure all ships rise

New episode is live now.

Because sometimes the biggest moments in life begin with simply saying:I think I can do this.

Hey beautiful humans, this week, I did a solo episode for you all. One thing keeps coming up over and over again in my conversation with incredible women - they don’t trust themselves fully. And yet - I believe that inside of us is this magic power that is our superpower. And this is something I teach all my clients. Today, I am sharing it with you.

You were not given a brain and a body. You were given a whole intelligence system. And the most powerful part of it is not your logic. It is your knowing — that quiet, certain, unshakable knowing that has been with you your entire life.

The question was never whether your intuition is right.

The question is whether you’re brave enough to trust it.

She already knew. She has always known.

And so do you. Trust yourself. Love you people!

RISE TO MORE podcast is a series of deeply human conversations exploring what it truly takes to live a meaningful life and build something that matters.

Through thoughtful, heart-to-heart conversations with founders, leaders, creators, and cultural voices, this top Minnesota lifestyle podcast explores the deeper questions of ambition, purpose, resilience, and becoming.