The Curious Middle

Laura Garnett came to performance strategy after a career crisis with a job that left her sick and depressed. Instead of staying on a path that Laura didn't care about and where she could not perform at a high level, Laura had the confidence to make a change. Laura used her curiosity, work ethic and unique set of talents to study what makes people happiest at work, eventually writing books on this topic and becoming a performance strategist consultant. Today, "Laura guides CEOs, Executives, Entrepreneurs, and teams to new heights of success by shining a light on their unique purpose, values, and abilities, transforming the way they work." Laura also writes extensively and has been published in Fast Company, Time, and The Muse, with recurring columns in Inc. and Forbes. 

From news reporting to Capitol Hill in various roles, then making a very intentional switch to working in San Diego where Holly Smithson ran CleanTECH San Diego and today as CEO of Athena, Holly has thrived in every role. As Holly shares in this podcast, everything that Holly has done and her success in each role comes from her intention, her desire to mobilize people toward a cause, and her intention to make a meaningful impact.

After realizing Capitol Hill was not right for her, Holly made an intentional decison to move to San Diego. In San Diego, Holly found the business culture with metrics, accountability and cooperation a place where she felt she belonged and could fulfill her vision. While Holly didn't have any connections in San Diego she had the vision and knew what she had to offer. Holly's skills and experience combined with her unstoppable confidence and work ethic came together in a way that led to Holly's amazing success in her roles. As Holly says, "anytime I put my mind to it I will manifest the hell out of it."

Holly wants others to know that it doesn't make sense to stay too long in roles that make you unhappy. In the podcast, we discuss why Holly is so committed to Athena and why she is so inspired by the women she works with. Recently, Holly's breast cancer diagnosis and treatment made her aware of how she could help other women going though cancer. Holly's newest intention is empowering women to demand the medical care they deserve and to be fierce advocates for themselves. We have no doubt that when Holly decides something, you can't go wrong jumping on her team or investing in her vision.

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Lindsay Tjepkema was a professional in the B2B marketing space for more than 15 years when she realized there was an opportunity to change how companies tracked and measured the impact of their podcast audio and video content so she jumped on the ideas and co- founded Casted.

Casted has an impressive list of customers, including Salesforce, PayPal, HubSpot, Drift, Gong and ZoomInfo. Casted’s platform is also “the system of record” for Salesforce’s 25+ podcasting shows!

In our conversation, Lindsay shares how she got the idea for Casted, the research she did to plan for the first MVP, her founder story and why she is so enthusiastic about growing Casted’s future. If you are interested in B2B marketing and the future of podcasting, we think you will enjoy this conversation with its CEO . Casted claims it has the ability to analyze content data and turn it into intelligence for sales and marketing. Casted’s platform allows a “fully searchable content archive” with transcription services and tagging.

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When Christine Marsh was younger she wanted to change the world. If you consider high school teachers who change the lives of their students through their passion, enthusiasm and dedication to their work as people who have changed the world, Christine succeeded. Christine has taught high school English in Arizona for 30 years, and was named Arizona's Teacher of the Year in 2016. After a repeated number of colleagues and friends encouraged Christine to run for state senate, about 7 different times, Christine decided to go for it. Since teaching is Christine's first love, Christine is passionate about reducing class sizes and increasing teacher salaries. While serving in the state senate, Christine faced one of the most difficult tragedies any parent can face, Christine's beloved son died two years ago after purchasing a percocet pill that was laced with fentanyl. Despite her overwhelming grief, Christine has committed to speaking about the dangers of fentanyl whenever possible, and put forth a bill that legalized fentanyl test strips and removed the product from the state's definition of prohibited drug paraphernalia. Christine is committed to raising awareness on the dangers of counterfeit drugs. As if she didn't have enough to handle in the last few years, Christine also recently finished treatment for colon cancer, and encourages others to ask their doctors about when to get screened. In our candid conversation, Christine shares how she has endured losing her son, and some of her hopes and goals for the future. We discuss how getting through the next minute, the next hour, and the day was a coping strategy for unimaginable grief. If you want to be blown away by a woman who is unstoppable, and changing the world through her courage and commitment to serving Arizona's citizens, we think you will enjoy this conversation with Christine Marsh.

Alex Otte is Mother's Against Drunk Driving youngest National President. Alex got involved with MADD when she was hit by a boat driven by a drunk driver. Alex's injuries were life-threatening, severe and long lasting. Today, Alex is using her voice, her story and her passion to advocate for an end to drunk driving. While there is good news coming in 2026 about an almost complete reduction in drunk driving due to new technologies that will be implemented in all new cars, with an estimated 9,400 lives saved and countless injuries prevented annually from the new technologies once all cars on the road are equipped, there is still so much we can do today. An estimated 10,000 people die per year due to drunk driving and more than 300,000 are injured annually. With several years left before the new technology makes it to new cars, there are still going to be tens of thousands of lives lost. Think about that for a minute - tens of thousands of preventable deaths, and hundreds of thousands of preventable injuries caused by drunk driving. If you want to be a part of preventing drunk driving deaths and injuries, you can get involved with your local MADD chapter. Listen in to hear how Alex endured a horrible tragedy and has made it her mission to prevent future deaths and injuries and to support victims and survivors. This is a more serious topic, but it is one we must pay attention to. Next time you think you can make a difference to prevent the next drunk driving incident, take the action. Your future will thank you.

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Ari Memar, the CEO and Co-founder of Tract, the world's first peer-to-peer learning community, shares the story of starting Tract with his former high school teacher, Esther Wojcicki. Ari was inspired by his time working as a camp counselor and by Esther Wojcicki’s nourishing, project based style of teaching, to create a platform that would inspire kids to develop a love for learning. Ari had a vision for a curated, safe learning community where kids explored what they actually enjoyed learning. When you join Tract.app, you will find videos your kids will actually want to watch. Since everything is created by kids for kids, the content really appeals to kids ages 8-13.  Listen to Ari’s founder story and then go to Tract.app to explore Ari’s big vision for inspiring kids to love learning.

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Don't forget to listen to episdoe #96 with Esther Wojcicki

In our conversation, Katie shares how she left the world of finance and consulting and landed a job at the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, eventually advancing to become CEO of the organization. When Katie had doubts about her ability to lead as CEO of the Michael J. Fox Foundation, her path crossed with leadership guru Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel Corporation, who gave her the push she needed to take the role. Katie shares some of the lessons and skills she learned at the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and how her upbringing, faith and desire to help others has put her on the path she was meant to live. If you want to be inspired to follow a calling, you will never forget this conversation with Katie.

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Vanessa Rivera, Product Programs Lead for DoorDash, shares the unconventional path she took to get her dream job and some of the bold moves she made along the way. When Vanessa decided she wanted to be in the tech world, she was living in Guatemala. Although she didn't know anyone in tech, Vanessa made the leap and moved to San Francisco. 

In our conversation, Vanessa shares how being focused on problem solving, combined with a passion for learning, can open doors and opportunities. We also discuss how thinking differently can be your superpower and how having dyslexia can create a more empathetic approach to working with others. 

We dive into Vanessa’s Guatemalan roots and Vanessa shares how her upbringing in an entrepreneurial environment and welcoming culture, has shaped not only who she is today but also how she approaches her work and life. 

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We discuss Laurie’s early influences, career highlights, how she pitched her role as CNN’s first multi platform journalist and a series on CNN called Almost Human. We discuss  memories from some of Laurie’s most meaningful interviews covering the Ashley Madison scandal, the QAnon community and much more. Laurie also shares why she left CNN and what lobsters have to do with some of her biggest life decisions.

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BJ Miller is a physician, author, speaker, practicing hospice and palliative medicine physician. In his current role, BJ sees patients and caregivers through Mettle Health, an online palliative care service. Previously,, BJ was the Executive Director of San Francisco's Zen Hospice Project.

Most importantly, BJ is a deep, soulful thinker with extraordinary compassion and a true desire to help ease and reduce suffering in our world. BJ is also someone who fully appreciates the beauty, connectedness and mystery of our existence so we are thrilled to have BJ as our first male guest on the podcast!

BJ shares how he got on his career path and we discuss the ways his family and upbringing shaped his character. We discuss the sources of BJ resilience, what BJ has learned about death and the ways society can make dying a better process. Listen in to hear BJ reveal what people who are able to deal with death peacefully have in common. This is an extraordinary conversation with an extraordinary human. We are honored to share BJ's story and hope this conversation gives you new insights and maybe a little more peace in talkihng about death.

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Topics Discussed

(02:00) BJ talks about accident that led to amputation of both legs (12:57) BJ's mom contracted polio when she was 18 months old (18:23) After the accident, BJ decided to go to medical school (23:41) BJ's list of things he wants to change about end of life care (40:18) BJ shares after seeing so many deaths, his is not sure death is bad (49:45) People who have questioned their faith or their faithlessness have examined themselves (52:33) Mettle Health offers online palliative care, counseling and coaching (01:00:18) What about any religious practices that make grieving easier

Memorable Quotes:

"There's nothing wrong with you for dying."

"Life includes death. There's no separating the two."

"The beauty of life is, yes, being inside of you, but also outside of you."

"We act like big, dumb teenagers. We got way too much power that we know to do with."

"I reserve the right to freak out if that's what I need to do at that time."

"Life is something much more magical than you would ever feel it to be in a hospital."