The Ashley Rivard Podcast

Children of the Night is a privately funded non-profit organization established in 1979 by Dr. Lois Lee, who is the worlds leading expert in rescuing child sex trafficking victims.  Dr. Lee holds a Ph.D. in Sociology and Anthropology, a Juris Doctor in Law and is an active member of the California State Bar. COTN’s mission is to provide intervention in the lives of children who are sexually exploited and vulnerable to or involved in prostitution and pornography.




Dr. Lee maintains a 70% to 80% success rate with her life-changing work that mobilizes children from prostitution to successful adult life.  Children of the Night graduates go on to become Homeland Security, teachers, bankers, social workers, firefighters, and other professionals.




In this episode we discuss:

• Why she began in 1979 rescuing child prostitutes off the street, housing 250 kids in three years in her apartment
• How the hillside strangler in Los Angeles was prominent in her movement
• What every child who is trafficking usually has in common at an early age
• Why prostitutes love their pimps and how the pimp strategizes in order to “hook” the girls
• Why she doesn’t believe child trafficking should go to jail and why testifying against their pimp should be a healing process for them
• Why she ended housing for children a few years ago and moved her program digital, therefore can help children around the world
• What she believes is the solution to sex trafficking
• Why children prostitutes have a lower rate of suicide than the average child who is troubled

Connect with Dr. Lois Lee
website: www.childrenofthenight.org


Connect with Ashley:
Website: www.ashleyrivard.com
Instagram:@ashleydrivard

Detective Jerald G. Pryor has been a Federal Police Officer for 15 years and is currently a Detective Lieutenant in Los Angeles, California. 

In this episode we discuss:

• What his experience has been during this time as a Black Man in the police force
• What he thinks about the protesting and looting, and why he would be doing the same if he wasn’t a police officer
• How media is portraying police officers in a certain light in order for ratings
• His opinion on why certain police officers could fear Black individuals and what he believes the solution is
• What the training is like for police officers
• His opinion on what will happen if the police departments are defunded and what is the real solution
• Why he doesn’t want people to group/label police officers together, because of certain individuals who have done wrong

Connect with Ashley:
Instagram: @ashleydrivard
Website: www.ashleyrivard.com
Linkedin: ashleyrivard

Elizabeth J. Carlisle is originally from Silver Spring, Maryland. She was trained in classical ballet before becoming an actress. She is Emmy Abernathy on the new TV series, Rich and The Ruthless, airing on the Urban Movie Channel.  She has appeared in numerous television shows, including How I Met Your Mother, House M.D., Bosch, Parenthood, and Pretty Little Liars.

In this episode we discuss:

• Her journey growing up as a ballerina to developing anorexia

• How the social pressure of a being a ballerina affected her

• What different types of eating disorders look like

• Why at age 12 she barely ate but still thought she was fat at 68 pounds.

• Where the eating disorder stemmed from and why being seen, heard, respected and the need for control, had a lot to do with it

• Why she feels that if it wasn’t for her eating disorder, she would be further along in her career

• How she uses her “wise mind” to overcome the “eating disorder voice” 

• How the pressures of Hollywood play on her self worth

• What disordered eating looks like and how Hollywood’s culture fuels it

Connect with Elizabeth:
Instagram: @elizabethjcarlisle

Connect with Ashley:
Instagram: @ashleydrivard
Website: www.ashleyrivard.com

Kerry Rhodes is a former All-Pro NFL football player, as well as an actor, writer, and producer.  Currently, he is starring in Tyler Perry’s, IF LOVING YOU IS WRONG, on the OWN Network.  He also has a popular podcast called TACKLING LIFE, which he calls an outlet for men to openly express themselves in a safe zone, without any judgment. Kerry oversees The Rhodes Foundation, a charity that provides opportunities for college-bound youth in impoverished communities. He continues to push boundaries and to knock down the stigmas with athletes and their propensity to excel at life after football.

In this episode we discuss:

• What is the culture code inside the NFL and how it breeds toxic masculinity 

• Why he started asking himself the right questions after the NFL and how systemic  oppression and depression stem from that culture

• Why asking yourself the right questions leads to helping yourself move forward in emotional, mental and physically

• How his concussions from the NFL brought him to ayahuasca and what he learned from it

• Why he wanted to be in touch with his feminine side and how that transformed him, once he was able to tap into that

• How toxic masculinity looks for men outside of the NFL and what can be done to start to transform that

• Why men need permission to speak up and say, “I’m not okay”

• How women can help toxic masculinity from perpetuating

• How vulnerability shows up in his personal and professional life

Connect with Kerry:
Instagram: @kerryrhodes

Connect with Ashley:
Instagram: @ashleydrivard
Website: www.ashleyrivard.com

Dr. Jeffrey Barke is a Board Certified primary care doctor in private practice in Orange County, CA. He has served as a Board Member of the Orange County Medical Association and is a past Associate Clinical Professor at U.C. Irvine Medical School Department of Family Medicine. Dr. Barke is also a reserve deputy for a local law enforcement agency and serves as a tactical physician for the SWAT team. Dr. Barke is an outspoken advocate for the free market in healthcare. He has published several articles in The Hill and The American Thinker, as well as appearing on Fox News Special Report with Brett Baier.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why he thinks this lockdown from a medical standpoint has gone on long enough
• How people are dying from despair and the inability to get elective surgeries that are needed
• The incentives healthcare professionals receive regarding COVID-19 
• Why this is now a fear-based issue and not health
• His take on hydroxychloroquine and why he thinks it's effective
• The purpose of antibody testing and understanding if you’re a candidate for it
• His take on masks and why most masks aren’t effective or necessary, except N95
• Why children are least vulnerable and should be back at school
• What to do and how to prepare if the virus comes back

Connect with Dr. Jeff:
Instagram: @rxforliberty
Website: www.mypersonalcarephysician.com

Connect with Ashley:
Instagram: @ashleyrivard
Website: www.ashleyrivard.com

Lisa is a TV Host, Author, Business & Life Coach, Global Influencer, and Social Engineer.  In this episode we discuss:

• The IMPOSTER MODEL and how it breaks the ego into different categories to better understand how we’re operating.

• On coming from a repressed background and being able to break free from that programing which created an empowered, thriving, soul blazing career.

• The way she uses guilt and shame to her benefit her and how she moves forward.

• Why you shouldn’t hold back on what you want for the illusion of comfort and safety

• How she learned the importance of silence through her 90-day transformational documentary

• Where vulnerability shows up in her life and how she embraces it

Connect with Lisa:
Instagram: @lisahaisha
Website: www.lisahaisha.com

Connect with Ashley:
Instagram@ashleyrivard
Website: www.ashleyrivard.com

Dr. Jeff McNairy, Psy.D., M.P.H. has been working in the health care field for 25 years. He is the former Director of Passages in Malibu, CA. Presently he is Chief Operations Officer and Chief Medical Director of Rythmia Life Advancement Center.  Rythmia is one of the few places that serves the ancient medicine, ayahuasca, under medical supervision. Through Dr. McNairy’s intense experience with the most desperate patient populations (addition, acute mental health, and trauma), he has seen that the only real healing can come from within.

In this episode we discuss:

• What happened after 20 plus years in western medicine and why it’s important to bridge western medicine with ancient modalities
• How working with a wealthy drug addict introduced him to ayahuasca and why he knew this would be a game-changer for mental health
• What is ayahuasca and how it works in the conscious, subconscious and mental, emotional body
• What the biggest stigmas and misperceptions are around ayahuasca
• Why the medicine is not addictive, but the process can be
• What some of the negative side effects are of drinking ayahuasca
• How do you know if you are a candidate, and is it okay to drink if you are a recovering addict
• The difference between western medicine and plant medicine
• How to know if you’re going to a fake shamanic ceremony
• Should children drink ayahuasca if they are struggling with mental health issues

Connect with Jeff:
Website: www.jeffmcnairy.com
Facebook: Rythmia

Connect with Ashley:
Instagram: @someday_ill_get_there
Website: www.ashleyrivard.com

Darrell knows spycraft. He retired in October 2018 as the most senior black officer in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations. In his 32-year career in the intelligence community, Darrell achieved the rank equivalent to a 3-star general in the Senior Intelligence Service.  Twice, he served as a Station Chief and senior CIA positions, including Chief of their iconic training facility, Deputy Director of the Counterterrorism Center, and Chief of Africa Division.

Darrell is currently an ABC News Contributor and Chief Operating Officer of MOSAIC, a strategic crisis management advisory firm. He is collaborating on several projects with EntertainmentMediaVentures and on Season 2 of CONDOR, an MGM/Skydance Production.

In this episode we discuss:

• What are the misperceptions in the general public about jobs such as military intelligence, intelligence operations, "spying" and what it is and isn’t

• How does being an intelligence professional impact a person's inner emotional life, as well as mental health

• How the CIA is working side by side with other countries, chasing targets and why the CIA is the most collaborative job one can have

• What are terrorist's motivations and why they became radicalized

• How they tracked down the leader of ISIS and why building trust with spies is the number one component to get their target

• How terrorists recruit people to be in their group is by seducing them that they will be taken care of and validated within a community

• Why curiosity, connection, being able to establish and build trust, while being a great listener are the most important elements for an intelligence officer

• How it's so hard to kill an ideology and why ISIS will exist 120 years from now

• Why the CIA put together a program to support those who are struggling with mental health, due to the stress of the job

• What his life looks like after the CIA and how giving back is of the utmost importance

Connect with Darrell:
Linkedin: Darrell M Blocker
Email: [email protected]

Connect with Ashley:
Instagram: @ashleyrivard
Website: www.ashleyrivard.com

Melissa Barker is the founder and CEO of The Phoenix Project, a social impact startup in the Bay Area, focused on empowering survivors of sexual violence, while connecting survivors to healing resources and community. 

Melissa is a survivor herself and is building Phoenix to make trauma-informed healing and care more accessible to survivors everywhere. She knows firsthand how hard healing can feel at times, but she also knows sometimes the only way out is through.  She wants to create a space where all survivors can have access to high-quality healing and care, so that they may (re)find their joy. 

Melissa holds a B.A. from UC Berkeley in Interdisciplinary Studies, an M.A. from Saint Mary’s College in Leadership Studies for Social Justice.  She is pursuing her Doctorate in Educational Leadership. Her doctoral research focuses on how survivors are finding healing in this post #MeToo world.

In this episode we discuss:

• How sexual assault affected Melissa emotionally, physically, and psychologically.
• How she went into trauma response after her assault and what that looked like.
• Why it’s normal for survivors to blame themselves and how challenging it is to move through the shame.
• Why she felt at the time of her assault, it was a better option to consider suicide than speaking up and sharing.
• How her unhealed trauma revealed itself through the years and how it impacted her relationships.
• How she healed through trauma therapy and came to the conclusion there needed to be more resources out there for survivors.  From that realization, she birthed the Phoenix Project: a digital space for survivors to come to be seen, witnessed, and empowered.

Connect with Melissa:
Website: www.iamphoenixproject.com
Instagram: @iam_phoenix_rising

Connect with Ashley:
Instagram: @ashleyrivard
Website: [email protected]

Janae Marie “Kroc” Kroczaleski is a transgender woman, who also identifies as gender fluid and non-binary.  Prior to transitioning, she was a World Champion and world-record-holding powerlifter, United States Marine that was selected to work in presidential security under President Clinton, cancer survivor, published author, licensed pharmacist, public speaker, and proud parent of three sons.  Janae was the subject of the award-winning documentary, Transformer.  It is currently available on Netflix and many other streaming services. She hopes that by openly sharing her experiences, she can inspire those who can relate and help educate those who don’t understand. 

In this episode we discuss:

• How Janae identifies as non-binary and gender fluid and what that means.
• How guilt and shame played into her identity for three decades because of her secret, how she considered suicide from the despair she felt from living a lie.
• How hiding behind sports and becoming a champion powerlifter helped her suppress herself and get through the day.
• Why “passing” in the trans community is the number one thing they all desire and why it’s so hard to be out in public if you don’t pass.
• How transphobia/ shaming shows up in her life and how she navigates it.
• Her decision to have vocal surgery prior to genital reconstruction and why that was most important
• What it was like to come out to her parents and why her mother felt her son had died. 
• Why speaking out is the most important thing she can do for the community and her mental health. 
• Her experiences with straight men and how they desire to be with trans women.
• How being transgender is a physical condition and not a psychological one.
• With her new platform, parents of transgender kids who once didn’t accept their children now can understand them more, after hearing Janae’s story.

Connect with Janae:
Youtube: Janae Marie Kroc
Instagram: @janaemariekroc
Facebook: Janae Marie Kroc
Website: www.janaemariekroc.com

Connect with Ashley:
Instagram: @ashleyrivard
Website: www.ashleyrivard.com