She Walks the Walk

Jessica Evans knows a thing or two about following her own path. In her debut memoir, Fade to Light, How I Learned to Dissolve Darkness, she chronicles her journey of self-discovery after deciding to leave the closed religious society in which she grew up.

Away from her family and alone in "Satan's World," Jessica had to figure out who she really was. Obsessive rock climber? Committed spouse? How about yoga teacher? No, maybe high-performing businessperson was more like it. 

Her quest eventually led her to that one thing many of us struggle to ever find... and to which she owes her life.

My conversation with Jessica is for anyone who has ever felt their worth was attached to rules and outcomes, or for anyone struggling to fit into a world that doesn't feel right.  Jessica's courage, candour and easy-breezy conversational style had me hooked, as did her book. 

Emma Brett has struggled with childhood PTSD, body dysmorphia, food and alcohol addiction. But a walk to the forest changed everything! Now four years sober, Emma has managed to heal herself from the inside out. She's lost — and kept off — half her body weight and has a new official addiction: walking. This July, Emma will take on a new challenge of walking Scotland's famed West Highland Way. 

Our conversation will hit home for anyone wondering if there's a place for them in the outdoors, for anyone struggling to put themselves on the list and those looking for a kick of inspiration towards taking their own first steps on a long-distance hike. 

Kate Ming-Sun was a brilliant accountant who had "made it." At 32, she was already a CFO, but something inside her felt empty. She decided to listen to that little voice imploring her to make a change. This is Kate's story of reinvention. It hasn't been a straight line. Leaving the world of derivatives and deadlines to establish The Quiet Guiding Co has been a combination of serendipity, deep soul searching and practical steps forward. Kate and I speak openly about the joy and challenge in choosing new paths for ourselves. 

Christine Reed followed society's formula into adulthood, but even after landing a job she should be thrilled with, she found herself feeling lost. She wasn't about anything. Until one day, a random internet search led to the idea of hiking. Maybe that could be her thing? Christine's poignant new memoir, Alone in Wonderland, asks what happens when we set out to discover ourselves in the woods? What if we're scared? What if our quest takes us off the current path? Will our lives fall apart if we quit our jobs to follow a dream? And, is backpacking reserved for the fit and fearless? (Hint: it is not!) Christine and I chat about independence, identity, our relationships with family and thriving on our own terms. 

Kris Carlson joins me for a frank discussion on sex. Has your child ever been asked to send nudes? Did your mom assign cutesy names to your body parts? Do you wince at the idea of speaking to your kids about sex? As a social worker, healthy sexual advocate and the co-chair of a local coalition to end human trafficking, Kris brings her wit and insight to ask the question: Can we talk about sex? We chat about the luring and recruitment of young people into a world where they're trading sex for a benefit, and what it means to normalize and prioritize healthy conversations on sexuality. This episode will be especially meaningful for Gen-X women, moms, and anyone who feels they have a social responsibility to protect our young people. 

Kris is a Youth & Transition Social Worker, and the Co-Chair of the Thunder Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking. Sex Trafficking happens in our own backyard, with social media playing a key role in the luring and recruitment of kids who are on average 13-years-old. Head over to www.humantraffickingthunderbay.ca to learn more about the warning signs of sexual exploitation. 

Do you have outdoor adventures on the brain for your family this summer? Angie Abdou's new book, This One Wild Life, could not come at a more opportune time. Poignant and hilarious, she chronicles her parenting strategy of climbing a ‘Peak a Week’ during the summer of 2019 with nine-year-old daughter Katie, taking to the wilderness for some mother-daughter bonding. Angie wanted to get to the bottom of her daughter’s growing shyness and hoped some time in the mountains would boost her confidence. What could go wrong? She and Sam chat candidly about the challenges of parenting in the digital age, letting our kids discover their own passions, and how being in nature really is the best medicine for all that ails us -- even if it ends with a longline helicopter rescue!

Cayley was your classic overachiever. Everyone thought she had it all, but her mental health was unravelling. Living on fumes between commuting, shift work as a paramedic and caring for her family, the losses began to pile up at her feet. It took an unexpected call for her to redefine success. That call was a gift. If you are drowning in the glorification of busy, this episode is for you.

Cayley Black lives in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada with her husband and two children. She believes everything in life happens for a reason, including the traumatic call that changed her whole world. She has since retired from her career as a paramedic, and embraces a less-hurried, more meaningful life as a photographer. 

When Anita became unexpectedly pregnant, she accepted the reality that her own dreams would be put on hold. She’d work the stressful but high-paying job to make ends meet, because that’s what moms do. Then came Covid-19, exposing the cracks in her life: long commutes to the city, a troubled relationship with her daughter’s father and working crazy hours at a job she didn’t love. Through the support of a group of women, Anita is beginning to dream again, taking a leap of faith with her talents as an artist and showing her daughter there’s more than one path for us, if only we learn to trust ourselves.

Author Christie Tate is an inspired example of keeping it real. In her bestselling memoir, GROUP, Christie takes us on a radically honest journey through group therapy, where she battles her disordered eating and searches for someone to love her. In this episode, she joins me and a group of women from our global book club to chat candidly about her experience, from overachieving lawyer to budding new writer, and how therapy has changed her entire life.   

Does the world need another podcast right now? Why, yes. It does. If you're tired of chasing society's ideas of who you ought to be, She Walks the Walk: The Podcast is for you. I'm Sam, and I'm rebelling against the status quo by walking a new path. Find out why I got off the treadmill and started a movement for women at shewalksthewalk.com. I invite you to join me.