Stepping Off The Path - Stories of courage and truth from women who finally chose themselves

Melissa Scialfa spent over 25 years leading inside Fortune 100 companies. From the outside, she looked successful, ambitious, and unstoppable. But underneath the performance was a growing sense that something wasn’t right.

In this conversation, Melissa shares what it really looked like to build a life around achievement, external validation and what she calls “borrowed power.”

We talk about ambition, imposter syndrome, burnout, the pressure to perform and the moment everything started to crack.

Melissa opens up about the coughing fit moment, during a senior leadership introduction, the breakdown that forced her to stop and the process of rebuilding her life from the inside out.

This is a conversation about identity, self-trust, midlife recalibration and learning how to hear your own voice underneath all the noise.

If you’ve ever looked successful on the outside while quietly struggling on the inside, this episode will resonate deeply.

Find Melissa on:
Substack
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🧭 Chapters

1. Melissa’s Childhood & The Briefcase Story
2. Performance, Ambition & Feeling Safe
3. Wall Street, Leadership & High Achievement
4. The Hidden Imposter Behind Success
5. The Coughing Fit Moment
6. What ‘Borrowed Power’ Really Means
7. Burnout, Relationships & Losing Herself
8. The Nike Move & Hitting the Wall
9. Leaving Everything & Starting Again
10. Grace, Patterns & Rebuilding Self-Trust
11. Midlife Recalibration & Finding Her Voice
12. Love, Worthiness & What’s Possible Now
    

Something's different about this episode.

This is the first of a new format: one guest episode and one shorter solo episode from me each month. This is the solo one.

I'm talking about something I've been genuinely fed up with - the way women are being sold change right now. The 30/60/90 day promises. The social media posting plans. The endless noise that leaves women questioning themselves rather than the system when it doesn't work.

Then I'm talking about why I want to be a slow coach and why I actually believe change can happen in an instant, but only once we've slowed down enough to see what's been holding us back.

That's the part nobody's talking about.

If this resonates, I write more about it over on Substack - Notes from the Slow Path. Link below:

Kelly's Substack

In this episode of Stepping Off The Path, I speak with Phyllis Leon about what happens when the way we’ve been taught to approach health stops working and what becomes possible when we begin to listen more deeply.

Phyllis Leon is a Woman-Centered Transformational Coach who helps high-functioning women align their health with the level of success they already embody in other areas of their lives. After a 36-year career as a senior technology executive, she experienced firsthand the quiet frustration many capable women carry - knowing what supports their wellbeing, yet struggling to live it consistently. That realisation became her turning point.

Today, Phyllis helps women navigate what she calls the knowing–doing gap. The invisible middle where informed, accomplished women often feel stuck. Through coach-supported partnerships, she supports clients to move beyond self-blame, understand the hidden barriers shaping their choices and reconnect with their bodies, self-trust, and agency.

In this conversation, Phyllis introduces the concept of Pill-itics - not as a judgement of personal medical choices, but as a way of naming the wider cultural and systemic narratives that can keep women focused on symptom management rather than deeper understanding.

Together, we explore how self-trust gets eroded, why real change isn’t about willpower, and how Phyllis’s Plate–Power–Potential framework helps women move from insight into sustainable action.

If you’ve ever felt like you’re coping, pushing through, and quietly overriding yourself, this conversation will meet you with compassion, clarity and hope.

00:00 — Introduction
Stepping Off The Path theme and episode framing

01:50 — When the old way stops working
Phyllis’s story and recognising survival mode

10:15 — The knowing–doing gap and the invisible middle
Why insight doesn’t always lead to change

13:24 — Naming pill-itics
Understanding the system shaping women’s health experiences

22:04 — Plate, Power, Potential
Phyllis’s framework for closing the gap

28:07 — What becomes possible beyond survival mode
Energy, clarity, purpose, and possibility

34:31 — A message of hope for women feeling stuck
What Phyllis wants listeners to hear

39:18 — Closing reflections
Wholeness and outro

Find Phyllis:

Phyllis Leon - Website
Phyllis Leon - LinkedIn

Are You Caught in the pill-itics Trap?

Suzanne Spencer spent over a decade as a broadcast journalist - the person on the other end of the phone, telling other people’s stories and reporting on moments that changed lives.

Then, in 2021, she received a phone call that changed the trajectory of her own life: a brain tumour diagnosis.

In this episode of Stepping Off The Path, Suzanne shares what it’s like to go from reporting the news to becoming the story and how that moment reshaped her identity, her pace, and what mattered most. We talk about the power of mindset, the role of support and community and the quiet bravery of advocating for yourself when you know something isn’t right.

Suzanne also shares the second wave of her journey -navigating debilitating migraines during pregnancy, giving birth to her daughter Jane and undergoing a second brain surgery just two weeks later and how that experience ultimately led her to step away from TV news and launch Suzanne Speaks, a writing and speaking business rooted in impact.

This is a conversation about uncertainty, mortality and meaning and the question we all reach eventually: when you look ahead now… what feels possible?

Content note: This episode includes conversation about serious illness, brain surgery, pregnancy, and the emotional reality of navigating uncertainty. We don’t go into graphic medical detail, but some listeners may find parts of this episode tender.

01:20 — Content note
01:53 — Becoming the story
03:10 — Life before the diagnosis
07:44 — The phone call that changed everything
11:19 — Choosing mindset over fear
18:59 — Perspective, gratitude, and uncertainty
21:39 — Community and connection
24:50 — Listening to intuition and self-advocacy
30:11 — Pregnancy, relapse, and a second surgery
33:33 — Returning to work — and realizing it no longer fits
37:38 — Leaving TV and starting again
42:00 — Finding purpose through impact
44:28 — Advice for anyone in an intolerable season
46:12 — What feels possible now
50:01 — Closing reflection

Find Suzanne:

Instagram

Facebook

LinkedIn

www.suzannespeaks.com

n this deeply personal episode of Stepping Off The Path, the roles are reversed as host Kelly Quiney is interviewed by her close friend and fellow coach, Nicky Gibbs.

Kelly shares her own story - from a well-paid, well-respected career that looked impressive from the outside, to quietly falling apart on the inside. She speaks honestly about fear, burnout, losing her sense of belonging after returning to work following her second child and the moment her body finally said no.

This episode is about the freeze that keeps so many women stuck, the cost of staying silent and the power of small, honest steps when you don’t yet know what comes next.

If you’ve ever thought “I can’t keep doing it like this… but I don’t know how to change” - this conversation is for you.

Website: kellyquineycoaching.com

LinkedIn: Kelly Quiney Coaching

IG: Kelly Quiney Coaching IG

FB: Kelly Quiney Coaching FB

00:01 – Introduction: When the roles are reversed
01:42 – Why this podcast exists
03:02 – Who this podcast is really for
04:04 – The career that looked perfect on paper
05:31 – Fear, “shoulds,” and staying too long
07:39 – Returning to work after children & losing your place
08:41 – When the body finally says no
10:29 – Fear, uncertainty, and the sofa season
12:26 – Learning how to ask for help
13:21 – The caretaker pattern
14:33 – Burnout, imposter beliefs & freeze
16:32 – Shame, silence & speaking the truth
18:40 – Freeze, small steps & breaking the silence
21:06 – What matters now
23:30 – A message for the woman who’s scared to change
26:17 – Closing reflection

This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only and does not replace professional medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice.

If this episode resonated, please subscribe, follow, or share it with a woman who might need to hear it.

You’re not behind. You’re not broken. And you’re allowed to change.

In this episode, I’m joined by Julie Ciardi - founder of Ignite Her, author of 50 Not Finished, Human Design for Business expert and a woman who wakes up at 4 a.m. on purpose!

We talk about the moment she realised she couldn’t keep living a life that looked perfect on the outside but felt wrong on the inside and how she moved from guilt and external validation to true freedom and self-responsibility.

This episode is for the woman who is tired, overwhelmed or quietly falling apart… and needs hope, compassion and a path forward.

We explore:

• Why women outsource their happiness (and how to stop)
• How Julie navigated guilt, financial strain and staying true to her vision
• What self-responsibility actually means and how to avoid turning it into self-blame
• Discovering Human Design and moving from “this is nonsense” to “this is my work”
• How courage feels before it looks
• What “raising your frequency” means in real life, not woo woo
• Redefining success in the Era of the Individual
• And the one thing future-you will thank you for starting today

00:00 — Intro Chapters
01:08 — Success on paper, restless inside
05:42 — The nursery moment & what had been building
10:55 — Staying with the dream when life gets messy
15:10 — Outsourcing happiness vs owning it
20:48 — Self-responsibility without self-blame
25:51 — Discovering Human Design (and thinking it was nonsense)
32:30 — From personal tool to global mission
36:12 — What “raising your frequency” actually means
41:09 — Courage in real life, not theory
46:53 — The Era of the Individual
52:05 — Hope for the woman in non-possibility
56:12 — What future Julie will thank her for
58:03 — Closing

Find Julie:
🟣 Website: julieciardi.com
🟣 Instagram: @julieciardi
🟣 Book: 50 Not Finished

Find Kelly:

🟣 Website: kellyquineycoaching.com
🟣 Instagram: @kellyquiney
🟣 LinkedIn: Kelly Quiney Coaching

This isn’t a story about leaving - it’s a story about rising.
A woman who went from surviving trauma to helping others reclaim their power.

In this powerful episode, mindset and movement coach Lisa Tregenza shares her journey from an unhealthy and unsafe relationship marked by coercive control, financial abuse, and years navigating the family court system - to rebuilding a life rooted in deep healing, embodiment and service.

This is not the simplified story of “she should just leave.”
It’s the truth - the cost, the grief, the time lost and the nervous system toll.

And it’s also the story of the moment everything began to shift: a yoga mat, her breath and a single question -“How am I going to do this?”

We explore:

• How yoga, somatic movement and affirmations became Lisa’s lifeline
• The real emotional, financial and relational cost of leaving
• Why “just leave” is a harmful and uninformed narrative
• The difference between red flags and the “orange flags” that quietly shrink you
• How Lisa now supports women through trauma-informed somatic work
• The tiny daily decisions that kept her going - breath, gratitude, journaling
• What it means to take your power back after everything has been taken from you
• The one truth every woman needs to remember: you are enough
  

If you’re in that in-between place, wondering how to take the next step, Lisa’s story is a reminder that you’re not broken and you’re not alone.

Chapters

00:00 – Welcome & podcast intro
00:41 – Content note: domestic violence & trauma disclaimer
01:31 – Introducing Lisa & the shape of today’s conversation
02:47 – Motherhood, identity & the work Lisa does now
06:40 – Yoga, trauma & finding safety on the mat
15:13 – The real cost of leaving: money, courts, friendships & nervous system
20:27 – “Why doesn’t she just leave?” Being believed & orange flags
30:23 – Beginning her own healing: coaching, energetic cords & trauma training
37:07 – Tiny practices that kept her going: breath, gratitude & journaling
47:48 – Holding space differently & one truth every woman needs to remember

• Website: lisatregenza.com
• Instagram: @lisatregenza.coach
• Facebook: Lisa Tregenza – Movement & Mindset Coach
• Offerings: Intune Yoga Daily, The Intune Circle, 1:1 coaching and women’s retreats

In an emergency: Call 111
24/7 Domestic/Family Violence support:

• Are You OK (Family Violence Info Line): 0800 456 450 - 24/7
• Women’s Refuge Crisis Line: 0800 733 843
• Shine Helpline: 0508 744 633 (24/7)
• 0800 LIFELINE: 0800 54 33 54
  

When the life that looks perfect no longer feels right, change isn’t rebellion, it’s remembering who you are.

In this episode, travel blogger, certified coach, TEDx speaker and author - Dianna Hanken shares how she walked away from a 20 year marriage and successful real estate career and later, sold everything to follow spirit across the Americas.

We talk about what it means to listen, trust and act when everything familiar falls away, the difference between stepping off the path to escape versus expand and how learning to surrender turned loss into freedom.

Find Dianna:
Website - www.diannahanken.com
TEDx talk - Dianna Hanken TEDx
Travel with me - Dianna Hanken Travel
Instagram - @diannahanken
Substack - Dianna Hanken Substack
Youtube Travel channel -  @diannahankenyoutube

Book: The Destiny Path

00:00 – Intro + content note
01:39 – Meet Dianna & episode setup
02:29 – The moment she knew she couldn’t keep living that way
04:32 – Finding courage and community after walking away
07:45 – Listening to spirit and learning to trust
13:19 – The aftermath of leaving a “perfect” life
15:43 – Writing a book in one day & stepping onto the TEDx stage
20:23 – The second leap: selling everything and travelling the Americas
24:43 – Losing her job and choosing faith over fear
33:00 – What Listen • Trust • Act™ really means in practice
44:22 – Small steps to begin again + outro

Content note: This episode includes discussion of divorce, burnout and job loss. Please listen with care.

For resources and ways to work with me visit: kellyquineycoaching

At 24, Anna Kempt’s body fell apart overnight. The diagnosis: psoriatic arthritis.

The prescription: meds for life.

Instead, Anna followed an inner "no" - pursuing food, environment, herbal support and stress reduction practices while navigating the very real fear and fatigue of chronic illness.

In this conversation, we talk about refusing stories that don’t fit, the kitchen-floor moment that sparked a mission and how Olympia & Orla - her natural skincare brand was born from a promise to make beauty that is truly natural, indulgent and functional.

Find Anna
Website: olympiaandorla.com

LinkedIn: Anna Kempt
Instagram: olympiaandorla

tiktok: @olympiaandorla

Chapters
00:00 - Opening & content note
01:38 - Meet Anna: life before symptoms
02:46 - The diagnosis: psoriatic arthritis
05:30 - When pain spreads & life shrinks
09:54 - “Incurable” and the decision to refuse
12:14 - Food, genes and pushback from the system
15:28 - Heat therapy, TCM and fixing environment
22:50 - The shower-floor moment → brand spark
34:36 - Ingredients philosophy
41:05 - Reviews, what’s next and health today

Disclaimer
This episode includes discussion of health, medication and personal healing choices. These are personal experiences, not medical advice. Please seek guidance from a qualified professional for your own health decisions.

End note:
If this episode helped you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review - it helps more women find these conversations.

For resources and ways to work with me visit: kellyquineycoaching

When your situation becomes intolerable, change isn’t optional, it’s the only way forward.

In this powerful episode, Abby Teixeira, woman-centered trauma recovery coach, author, speaker and founder of the Reclaim & Rise movement - shares how she turned years of addiction, shame and generational pain into a legacy of healing and hope.

We talk about what it means to be a cycle-breaker, how colonisation shapes identity and self-worth, the intersection of addiction and trauma and how community, culture and motherhood became her medicine.

If you’ve ever whispered “there has to be more than this,” this conversation is proof that a different life is possible.

Find Abby:

Instagram - @uh.vee

LinkedIn - Abigail Teixeira

Book with Abby - complimentary leadership breakthrough & lead by design mini analysis session

Chapters:
00:00 – Intro + content note
01:29 – Meet Abby
06:00 – Early years: migration, war, and generational trauma
24:32 – Survival mode and self-medication
29:18 – The wake-up call: jail and surrender
33:19 – Recovery in community; relapse as a lesson
42:31 – Motherhood, rage and re-parenting the inner child
51:59 – What’s possible now + smallest next step
57:26 – Reclaim & Rise + outro

Content note: This episode discusses trauma, complex PTSD, addiction and recovery, colonisation and racism, grief and anger. Please listen with care.

Support (NZ): 1737 | Alcohol Drug Helpline 0800 787 797 | Lifeline 0800 543 354

If you’re in immediate danger, please contact emergency services.

For resources and ways to work with me visit: kellyquineycoaching