How do you find your way back to yourself after years of surviving?

In this heartfelt conversation, Karen R. F. Mitchell sits down with author, speaker, and transformational guide Mary Armendarez to explore what it means to reconnect with yourself after life has pulled you in a hundred different directions.

Together, they discuss identity, self-trust, boundaries, healing, and the quiet courage it takes to return to the woman you were always meant to be.

If you've ever wondered who you are beneath the expectations, responsibilities, and survival patterns, this conversation is an invitation to remember.

Because transformation isn't about becoming someone new.

It's about returning home to yourself.

• Why so many women lose themselves while surviving
• Returning to yourself after years of putting others first
• The power of self-trust and inner alignment
• Creating healthy boundaries without guilt
• Letting go of old patterns
• Living from peace instead of pressure

Mary Armendarez is an author, speaker, teacher, and transformational guide devoted to helping women reconnect with themselves, reclaim their energy, and return to their personal power.

She is the author of The Return to Your Soul, where she teaches that transformation isn't about becoming someone new—it's about remembering who you are beneath the fear, expectations, and patterns that have pulled you away from yourself.

Her message is simple:

Your power was never gone. It's been within you all along.

🌐 Website
https://maryarmendarez.com

🎵 TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@maryarmendarez

🌐 KarenRFMitchell.com

📖 Becoming The Empress Lioness: Rising from Survival into Sovereignty

🎙️ The Empress Lioness Podcast

👑 The Empress Lioness Throne Room

What part of you has been waiting to come home?

If this conversation stirred something inside you...

You need to be in the room.

The Empress Lioness Throne Room: Fall Into Sovereignty
Saturday, October 10, 2026
BH House • Little Rock, Arkansas

In this September 11th episode of The Empress Lioness Podcast, Karen Mitchell sits down with Meta J. Mereday for a deeply personal and heartfelt conversation about service, storytelling, loss, courage, and the sacred responsibility of remembering.

Meta is a journalist, activist, storyteller, and 9/11 civilian first responder. In this conversation, she shares a part of her story that many people may not know — the day she could not simply stand by. In the middle of heartbreak, chaos, and uncertainty, Meta made her way toward Ground Zero and began helping. What started as one act of service became a 10-week journey of showing up for others when the world had been shaken.

This episode honors every life lost on September 11th, every family forever changed, and every person who stepped forward to help — firefighters, police officers, medical workers, volunteers, journalists, civilian responders, neighbors, and strangers who became a village in the middle of devastation.

It also honors those whose suffering did not end that day. Meta speaks to the lasting impact carried by many who served in the aftermath — those who became ill, those still healing, and those who later passed away because they answered the call to help.

This conversation is personal. It is not only about tragedy; it is about humanity. It is about the kindness that showed up in the smoke, the courage that moved people into action, and the stories we must continue to tell so the lives, sacrifices, and service of that day are never forgotten.

May this episode be a tribute to the ones we lost, the ones who helped, the ones still carrying the weight, and the ones who remind us that even in the darkest moments, compassion is still holy.

Connect with Meta J. Mereday
Website: www.influencedicota.com
LinkedIn: Meta J. Mereday / INFLUENCE DiCOTA Magazine
Email: [email protected]
Publication: INFLUENCE DiCOTA Magazine

The conversation continues.

In Part 2, Karen R. F. Mitchell and her husband, Kevin, go deeper into what survival mode can do to men, relationships, communication, intimacy, and emotional safety.

This part explores the harder questions:

Can a man love you and still not know how to show up emotionally?
Can survival mode explain his silence without excusing the harm?
What does accountability look like when a man realizes he has been living from pressure, pride, or pain?
How can women have compassion without abandoning themselves?

This conversation is for men who have been carrying pain without language, and for women who have loved men who did not know how to express what they were feeling.

Understanding survival mode does not mean accepting unhealthy behavior.
Compassion does not mean losing yourself.
And healing requires truth, accountability, and the willingness to become more than what survival taught you to be.

This is The Empress Lioness Podcast — where spirit roars and the soul remembers.

#MenInSurvivalMode #HealingAndAccountability #TheEmpressLionessPodcast

Description:
What does survival mode look like in a man?

In this honest conversation, Karen R. F. Mitchell sits down with her husband, Kevin, to talk about what men often carry in silence — pressure, pride, responsibility, fear, emotional shutdown, and the weight of always having to “be strong.”

Many women recognize survival mode in themselves, but may not always understand how it shows up in the men they love.

In Part 1, Karen and Kevin begin unpacking how survival mode can appear as silence, anger, avoidance, overworking, emotional distance, and the inability to say, “I’m not okay.”

This conversation is not about blaming men.
It is not about excusing harmful behavior.
It is about understanding what survival can look like in men and how to identify it before it causes deeper damage in relationships, families, and within the man himself.

If you have ever loved a man who shuts down, carries everything alone, struggles to express his emotions, or seems present but emotionally distant, this conversation may help you see what could be underneath the silence.

This is The Empress Lioness Podcast — where spirit roars and the soul remembers.

#MenInSurvivalMode #TheEmpressLionessPodcast #RelationshipHealing

In this conversation, Karen R. F. Mitchell sits down with Sharlyn Russell for a powerful and deeply honest conversation about childhood, identity, survival, and the beginning of her story behind her upcoming book, Lame No More.Sharlyn shares what it was like growing up between Abaco, Freeport, and Nassau in The Bahamas, the memories of island childhood, and the moment life began to change when instability entered her home.This first part opens the door to a larger story about what happens when childhood innocence meets family pain, displacement, silence, and survival.This episode is for the woman who has ever allowed something that happened to her to convince her it was who she was.You are not the label.You are not what happened.And your story is not over.Lioness Question:What happens to a little girl when the place that should protect her becomes the place she has to survive?Subscribe to The Empress Lioness Podcast for real conversations about healing, identity, womanhood, survival, purpose, and becoming.The Empress Lioness PodcastWhere spirit roars and the soul remembers.#TheEmpressLionessPodcast #HealingJourney #Becoming👑 Welcome to The Empress Lioness with Karen R. F. Mitchell.Real Women. Real Stories. Real Transformation.If you're ready to heal, rediscover your voice, build healthy boundaries, and become the woman you were always meant to be, you're in the right place.Here you'll find transformational conversations, inspiring interviews, coaching insights, and practical tools to help you move from survival into sovereignty.🌿 Connect with Karen🌐 Website:https://www.karenrfmitchell.com📖 Read the BookBecoming the Empress Lionesshttps://www.karenrfmitchell.com/bookstore💛 Work with KarenBook your complimentary conversation:https://calendly.com/theempresslioness/free-30-minute-clarity-session✨ Subscribe for weekly conversations that inspire healing, confidence, and transformation.#TheEmpressLioness #HealingJourney #WomenEmpoweringWomen #PersonalGrowth #Mindset #TransformationReady for your own conversation:https://calendly.com/theempresslioness/real-women-real-conversations-with-the-empress-lioness

In this episode of The Empress Lioness Podcast, Karen R. F. Mitchell sits down with Tory Saks for a soulful conversation about full moon wisdom, intuition, alignment, and learning to trust the guidance within.

Together, they explore the energy of the full moon, what it can reveal emotionally and spiritually, and why releasing what no longer serves us is an important part of healing and becoming.

Tory shares her wisdom on spiritual alignment, body awareness, energy, self-compassion, and the difference between simply trying to stay balanced and truly living in alignment.

This conversation is for the woman who has been feeling emotionally full, spiritually pulled, or quietly aware that something within her is asking to be released.

Your intuition is speaking.
Your spirit is guiding.
And sometimes the full moon simply illuminates what your soul already knows.

This is The Empress Lioness Podcast — where spirit roars and the soul remembers.

Subscribe, share this episode, and follow The Empress Lioness Podcast for more real conversations about healing, identity, intuition, and becoming.

About Tory Saks

Tory Saks is an Alignment Alchemist who specializes in Eastern modalities to help bring alignment, balance, and harmony back into the body, spaces, and animals. Blending a lifelong love of sports, a corporate background in sports and marketing, and deep training in Eastern healing, Tory offers a grounded and intuitive approach to clearing mental, emotional, and energetic blocks.

She is also a Spiritual Guide and Chieftain who calls on Oracle energy during her sessions. Tory has been leading an Ayurvedic and holistic lifestyle since 2016 and believes the body has the power to align and heal itself when we are willing to listen.

Connect with Tory Saks

Website: ⁠https://www.torysaks.com⁠

Tory’s guiding message:“Alignment is where healing meets guidance.”

In this episode of The Empress Lioness Podcast, Karen R. F. Mitchell sits down with Tory Saks for a powerful conversation about body wisdom, healing, alignment, and learning to trust the guidance within.

Together, they explore how the body communicates when something is out of alignment, why physical and emotional signals are often invitations to listen more deeply, and how healing begins when we stop pushing past ourselves.

Tory shares her perspective on alignment as the place where healing meets guidance, offering insight into energy healing, Ayurveda, intuition, self-care, and the importance of quiet time and self-reflection. This conversation invites listeners to slow down, reconnect with their inner wisdom, and begin honoring the messages their bodies have been trying to send.

This episode is for the woman who has been carrying too much, ignoring the signs, or questioning whether she can trust herself again.

Your body is speaking.
Your spirit is guiding.
And your healing may begin the moment you finally listen.

This is The Empress Lioness Podcast — where spirit roars and the soul remembers.

About Tory Saks

Tory Saks is an Alignment Alchemist who specializes in Eastern modalities to help bring alignment, balance, and harmony back into the body, spaces, and animals. Blending a lifelong love of sports, a corporate background in sports and marketing, and deep training in Eastern healing, Tory offers a grounded and intuitive approach to clearing mental, emotional, and energetic blocks.

She is also a Spiritual Guide and Chieftain who calls on Oracle energy during her sessions. Tory has been leading an Ayurvedic and holistic lifestyle since 2016 and believes the body has the power to align and heal itself when we are willing to listen.

Connect with Tory Saks

Website: https://www.torysaks.com

Tory’s guiding message:“Alignment is where healing meets guidance.”

In this episode of The Empress Lioness Podcast, Karen R. F. Mitchell sits down with Lizzy, a jazz singer whose voice carries more than music — it carries story, soul, and lived experience.

This conversation explores the woman behind the song: the journey, the lessons, the courage, and the becoming that shaped Lizzy’s voice both on and off the stage.

Together, Karen and Lizzy talk about music, identity, creativity, womanhood, purpose, and what it means to trust the voice within you.

This episode is for the woman who has ever questioned her voice, hidden her gifts, or wondered whether what she carries is enough to be heard.

Because sometimes becoming does not arrive loudly.

Sometimes it comes through a song.
A stage.
A season of uncertainty.
A decision to stop hiding.
And the courage to let your soul be heard.

Connect with Lizzie Thomas
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizziethejazzsinger/

@lizziethejazzsinger.

In this episode of The Empress Lioness Podcast, Karen R. F. Mitchell sits down with Marlee B. Kivens for a grounded and inspiring conversation about disability, independence, confidence, and learning what is possible one practical step at a time.

Marlee lives with Spina Bifida and cognitive learning differences, but her story is not centered on limitation. It is centered on determination, adaptation, and the quiet power of learning how to do things for herself.

Before building her Pampered Chef business, Marlee relied on support for cooking. Over time, she began gaining independence in the kitchen, preparing her own meals, building confidence with practical tools, and creating a business that helps others feel more capable in their daily lives.

Together, Karen and Marlee explore what independence actually looks like — not as a perfect motivational slogan, but as a real-life process of trying, adjusting, asking for support, finding the right tools, and refusing to give up on yourself.

This episode is for the woman who has been underestimated.

The woman who has had to do things differently.
The woman who wants more independence but does not know where to begin.
The woman who needs to remember that confidence is often built through small, repeated acts of courage.

Because sometimes healing is not only emotional.

Sometimes healing looks like making your own meal.
Learning a new tool.
Building your own business.
Taking one step toward independence.
And realizing, “I can do more than I thought I could.”

Marlee is also a Pampered Chef Independent Consultant through Kivens Kitchen Korner, where she helps others feel more capable and confident in the kitchen through tools, recipes, parties, fundraisers, and practical support.

Connect with Marlee B. Kivens:
Email: [email protected]
Call/Text: 952-681-0043
Website: www.pamperedchef.com/pws/kivenskitchenkorner
Interactive Catalog: https://www.pamperedchef.com/pws/kivenskitchenkorner/interactive-catalog-page

This is The Empress Lioness Podcast — where spirit roars and the soul remembers.

In this episode of The Empress Lioness Podcast, Karen sits down with Stephanie Rahming for a deeply personal conversation about faith, friendship, grief, womanhood, and becoming.

Stephanie is more than a guest. She is a woman whose life, presence, and faith helped Karen see something deeper during a season when Karen did not fully believe. Through Stephanie’s story, this conversation explores what it means to live with grace, endure loss, carry faith through difficult seasons, and become the woman life has been shaping you to be.

This episode is not about perfection or performance. It is a real conversation between women about love, loss, strength, faith, friendship, and the quiet wisdom that comes from lived experience.

For the woman who is grieving, questioning, surviving, or trying to understand what life is teaching her — Stephanie’s story is a reminder that sometimes healing comes through the presence of another woman, and sometimes faith is seen before it is understood.

Topics explored in this episode include:

Faith and womanhood
Grief after the loss of a mother
The power of friendship and divine connection
Learning from life’s hardest seasons
Becoming the woman you were meant to be
How another woman’s faith can become a mirror

This is Real Women, Real Conversations with The Empress Lioness — where spirit roars and the soul remembers.