Steph Lokelani reunites with Angela Ocheltree, the oldest friend she's had on the podcast to date, for a warm, funny catch-up that doubles as a time capsule. The two met as seventh graders at Lakota Junior High in Federal Way, Washington, in the early '90s through drama club, and they trace the throughline from those teenage years to now.

They swap stories about the theater kids they used to be (Godspell, Macbeth, and one unforgettable paper-mache head), an eerie coincidence involving Angela's adopted mother's birth family and the small Idaho town her parents happened to retire to, and the different roads that led them both into second acts later in life; Angela went back to college at 32 and lived in the dorms, while Steph built a filmmaking career after finishing her degree online through Full Sail University.

Angela, now a sixth grade teacher working toward becoming a school librarian, talks candidly about budget cuts gutting librarian jobs in her district, what she's seeing as phones reshape her classroom, and how drama and choir saved her as a shy, insecure teenager. Both women open up about divorce, starting over, and raising kids the second time around.

About Angela Ocheltree:

Key Takeaways:

Chapters:

Sharmaine McWhite joins Steph Lokelani for a raw, funny, and unexpectedly deep conversation that starts with a joke about Social Security numbers and ends up covering nearly everything in between. Sharmaine, a multi-hyphenate creative, real estate agent, and content creator, opens up about growing up in a strict independent Baptist household that took her family from North Carolina to Alaska, where courtship replaced dating, skirts replaced pants, and an evangelist once arranged an introduction to a man she'd never met. She and Steph trade stories about leaving the church they were raised in, the lingering pull to "come back to the family," and what it was like discovering dating, intimacy, and nightlife for the first time in their 30s.

The conversation moves through purity culture and the near-total absence of real sex education, the religion's stance on LGBTQ+ people, and the guilty pleasure of watching Xena and Will & Grace in secret. Sharmaine also talks candidly about her adult ADHD diagnosis, the years she spent calling herself lazy and forgetful before she understood why, and how she's built a life around protecting her passions from ever becoming a job. It's a conversation about faith, boundaries, identity, and the lifelong process of figuring out who you are once the labels come off.

About Sharmaine McWhite

Meet Sharmaine McWhite, a creative at heart who believes life is meant to be lived with both passion and purpose.

An artist first, Sharmaine has also explored the worlds of modeling and acting, always looking for new ways to tell stories and express creativity. Professionally, she wears two hats as an Office Manager and Realtor, where she enjoys building relationships, solving problems, and helping others navigate life's biggest milestones.

A proud Treasure Valley resident for more than 20 years, she shares life with her partner, their four cats, and their blended family of three incredible kids. She considers herself spiritual rather than religious and values authenticity, personal growth, kindness, and meaningful connections.

Whether she's creating art, helping clients, or simply sharing pieces of her journey, Sharmaine hopes to inspire others to embrace every part of who they are.

Key Takeaways

Chapters

In this episode of The Essence of You, host Steph Lokelani sits down with Karin Henniges, the mother of Episode 3 guest Angela Reish, who is visiting from her home in Oregon, by way of a life that has spanned three countries. Karin shares her story of growing up in Hanover, Germany as the only girl among three brothers, meeting her husband Mike (whose real name, Reinhold, she didn't learn until they sat down together to fill out immigration paperwork), and starting a marriage with almost nothing, a one-bedroom apartment, a shared bed, and a leap of faith to Canada in the dead of winter.

Karin walks through decades of building a life from scratch: Mike's brutal six weeks working the Dew Line near the Arctic Circle, years of scraping by on a dollar an hour, the devastating loss of their infant son to pneumonia, and the slow climb toward stability that eventually carried the family to the United States in 1968. She speaks candidly about the push and pull of a traditional marriage, being told when she could and couldn't work, and the compromises that shaped decades as a wife and mother.

The conversation then turns to Mike's decline and passing in 2008, and later circles back to tell that story in fuller detail. From a small, telling moment at an Apple Store that revealed the end was near, to the family's decision to honor his wish to stop treatment and die at home. Karin describes donating his body to science, receiving his ashes, and - with her sister-in-law's blessing eventually - scattering them in the lake in Hanover where she and Mike first met, technically against German law.

Since becoming a widow, Karin has built an entirely new chapter: months-long trips through Europe with a close friend, a promise to always show up for her grandchildren the way her own parents couldn't do for theirs, deep friendships in her Woodburn, Oregon community, and a hard-won sense of independence. The episode closes with Steph's signature question - who are you when everything external falls away - and Karin's answer about discovering, for the first time in her 80s, who she is outside of being a wife or a mother.

About Karin Henniges:

German Immigrant Karin Henniges, born at the end of WWII, now in her late 80s, shares her story of immigration and life (Karin said all in one breath). And that's her bio.

Key Takeaways:

Karin's story is a reminder that identity can take a lifetime to find, and that it's never too late to claim it. A few things that stood out:

- Karin spent decades as "his wife" and "their mother" before getting the chance to simply be Karin. She credits the years since becoming a widow with finally showing her who she is at her core - sarcastic sense of humor, love of travel, and all.

Chapters:

00:00 -Welcome and introducing Karin

In this episode of The Essence of You Podcast, host Steph Lokelani sits down with Boise hip-hop artist and community builder Cornell Johnson, known on stage as ZERO Wan-Kenobi. Cornell opens up about how he found his voice through music with the Earthlings crew, why he believes Boise's creative community needs to support each other instead of competing, and how writing a song for his mother after her passing in 2020 taught him to "cultivate light out of darkness."

The conversation moves into Cornell's work with the Rap America Project, a youth rap camp he's helped grow for three years, teaching kids and adults everything from lyric writing to stage performance to the business side of music. He shares candid, unfiltered stories about a frightening health scare in August 2024 that led to a brain injury diagnosis, his ongoing recovery, and the daily disciplines, including the philosophies of Kaizen (getting 1% better each day) and Mushin (learning to sit with an impulse instead of reacting to it), that have carried him through sobriety and healing.

Cornell also reflects on fatherhood, his path from San Bernardino, California to Boise, Idaho, the creation of his ZERO persona, and what it means to build something bigger than himself alongside his bandmates. This is a raw, honest conversation about resilience, community, and choosing hope even when it's hard.

Connect with Cornell/ZERO Wan-Kenobi: Spotify, Apple Music, and all streaming platforms as ZERO Wan-Kenobi. Instagram and Facebook: @ZEROWanKenobi. Also find his collective, Earthlings Crew, on all streaming platforms and Instagram @EarthlingsCrew.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61577901365873

https://www.instagram.com/zerowankenobi/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4YaAeSvsANE45PtM3Lwj6H?si=hbKsYIk5Rv6Ny37kjT5Riw

About Cornell Johnson, AKA ZERO Wan-Kenobi:

Born in 1986 in San Bernardino, California, Cornell Johnson aka ZERO Wan-Kenobi, is a hip hop artist based out of Boise, Idaho. Influenced by artists such as Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Common and many other conscious artists, ZERO takes his artistry into a new dimension. Finding ways to heal with real life stories told in his music which resonate with a refreshingly real honesty. Learning to live and living to learn.

Key Takeaways:

- Community over competition: Cornell believes Boise's music and hip-hop scene thrived most when artists showed up for each other, and that "repping a city" means investing in that city's community, not just chasing views and likes.

Chapters:

00:00 - Cold open & pre-show banter

"You can't be triggered if you're not cocked." That's the kind of line Nichole Stull drops mid-conversation - half punchline, half life philosophy. In this episode, Steph sits down with improv artist and filmmaker Nichole Stull, who's spent decades shaping the visual world of indie film and TV (including the demon-driven color palette of "259") while also teaching storytelling and applied improv alongside her husband Jared for the last 25 years.

The conversation moves fast and goes deep. Nichole breaks down the "Story Spine," the improv-born storytelling framework Pixar built its scripts on, and why an alien can absolutely show up in a Western - as long as you've earned it. She talks about running her kids' school book fair for 13 years and how she went from devouring every Sweet Valley High book in existence to being a member of an early-2000s online Twilight book club. Get this: with Stephenie Meyer posting in it!

From there, Steph and Nichole don't shy away from harder territory: library censorship, what kids actually have access to online, and a remarkably candid conversation about pornography, intimacy, and the industry behind it. Nichole shares how she talks to her five kids, ages 7 to 22, about sex, alcohol, and modesty without ever making any of it feel forbidden.

The back half turns personal. Nichole tells the story of a devastating junior high year, a friend's sudden death, and the summer she decided who she wanted to be walking into high school. It's a story about identity and reinvention that still shapes how she raises her own kids today. It's a masterclass in reframing trauma, taking responsibility for your own triggers, and understanding that every one of us, just by moving through life, is going to make ripples.

The episode closes with one final question: when you strip away every label and title, who are you at your core? Nichole's answer, rooted in her LDS faith and years of internal work, redefines the difference between pride and humility. It might even change how you think about your own worth.

About Nichole Stull:

Nichole believes that every human on the planet would benefit from improv, because life is improvised and improv teaches us all how to react with love, laughter, forward motion, and purpose. Nichole has been teaching and using improv for performance, leadership, team development, and group connection for 25 years. As a speaker, trainer, and facilitator, Nichole loves helping business owners, community leaders, youth, and families find common ground, fun, and deliberate action to strengthen bonds and purpose. Nichole is also an actor, writer, director, and filmmaker who specializes in storytelling as a way to connect humans. She is fortunate to partner in business and life with her husband, Jared, and their five kids who are almost always amazing. In the last few years Nichole has taken big action to be pro-active in cancer prevention and feels passionately about patients getting all the info they need clearly, concisely, and completely to make choices confidently.

Key Takeaways:

- The "Story Spine" framework (used by Pixar) can turn any idea into a compelling story: establish the normal, introduce a change, and show how each response builds until a new normal is reached.

00:00 - Behind the Scenes: Costume, Color & the Craft of Indie Filmmaking

Art Burns spent years in New York's high-pressure advertising world before addiction and burnout brought him to his knees, and to mindfulness. Today he's a certified mindfulness meditation teacher and founder of Alicia's Angels, a nonprofit bringing guided meditation, self-compassion coaching, and community support directly into chemotherapy infusion centers.

In this conversation, Art shares the story of Alicia, the client whose journey inspired the organization's name, and unpacks how mindfulness helps cancer patients and their families soften anger into acceptance, release the "cancer as identity" trap, and find beauty even in life's hardest moments. Steph and Art talk honestly about supporting loved ones through illness, the neuroscience behind rewiring the brain through practice, and why real presence matters more than having the "right" words.

Whether you're navigating a diagnosis, supporting someone who is, or just want practical tools for showing up more fully in your own life, this episode offers both heart and hard science.

Learn more about Alicia's Angels: https://aliciasangels.com/

ABOUT ART BURNS:

As a certified mindfulness meditation teacher, Art draws upon his traditional Catholic upbringing, combined with his extensive studies in the Eastern philosophies of Taoism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, to spiritually connect with people from every background. Through the language of their religious and cultural experience, Art helps people understand the universal laws of spirituality to help bring them to a place of physical and emotional wellbeing. Art resides in Colorado with three cats. 

🔑 KEY TAKEAWAYS

- Alicia's Angels brings free mindfulness meditation, self-compassion coaching, and community into chemotherapy centers and virtual sessions for patients, families, and caregivers.

⏱️ CHAPTERS:

00:00 - Cold Open: Meet Art Burns & Alicia's Angels

This episode kicks off with a cold open - Steph and Chance Fuerstinger re-discovering their unlikely shared connection to Grand Junction, Colorado, before the mics officially turn on.

Actor, writer, filmmaker, and acting teacher Chance Fuerstinger joins Steph Lokelani for a conversation that moves from the craft of storytelling to the harder work of understanding yourself. Chance breaks down the Meisner technique, why "the dialog is bullshit" (the truth underneath it is what matters), and the running joke of being crowned Boise's sixth-funniest person. From there the conversation turns to real life: walking away from a soul-crushing job in medical billing, rewriting a fantasy novel first drafted at 16, and directing documentaries about stories that deserve to be told without an agenda attached.

The episode closes on the question this podcast always asks: who are you when the titles fall away? Chance talks candidly about the ongoing work of self-discovery, including a recent diagnosis that helped some long-standing pieces click into place, and learning to set boundaries with the people closest to him.

About Chance Fuerstinger:

Chance Fuerstinger is an international award winning actor, writer, and filmmaker. He lives in Kuna, Idaho with his husband and their three demon cats. He is an instructor at Boise Acting Studio. He spends his free time acting and directing for local community theatres in the Boise area and is currently serving on the board of directors at Boise Little Theater. Passionate about his craft, Chance lives by the mantra, "If you know everything there is to know about acting, you should stop acting." Outside of acting, Chance is hard at work on a fantasy novel.

💡 Key Takeaways

- Acting method matters less than presence - Chance's Meisner-based approach centers on truly listening to your scene partner and building real imaginary circumstances, not performing emotion.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 – Cold Open: The Grand Junction Connection

Joey Maxey wears a lot of hats - actor, filmmaker, dancer, cosplayer, and host of the vintage jigsaw puzzle YouTube channel Janky Puzzles. But ask him what he's proudest of, and he'll tell you it's his job as an elementary school janitor.

In this episode, Steph Lokelani sits down with her longtime friend and collaborator to trace a career that's gone from indie feature films (including their own "Retreat" film) to retail, a hospital front desk, and a dream job delivering mail for the USPS, cut short by an epilepsy diagnosis. Joey opens up about being homeless and sleeping in his car, losing both parents, and the piece of advice from his grandmother that changed how he thinks about happiness altogether: stop chasing it, and chase contentment instead.

Steph and Joey also get into the craft side of filmmaking - lighting, method acting, and why a well-run set matters - before landing on the deeply human question Steph asks every guest... listen to find out what it is.

About Joey Maxey

Joey Maxey is the goofy but lovable TV Dad in this situation comedy of life, one in which he relishes being the supporting character of a show that’s not his. He loves listening to people’s stories, learning about their hobbies, and sharing in those mutual experiences. 

From community theater, independent films, burlesque reviews, stand up comedy, movie podcaster, he has carried many “dashes” in life. Currently he is the host of the YouTube show “Janky Puzzles”, exploring the world of vintage jigsaw puzzles of all things, who knows what buffoonery will come his way next. 

He is a family man, a creative, a janitor, but most of all…alive. Which is pretty cool.

📌 Key Takeaways

Career reinvention is rarely a straight line — Joey's path wound through retail, a hospital, a school, and the post office before he found his favorite job yet.

Check out Joey's YouTube Channel, Janky Puzzles! https://www.youtube.com/@JankyPuzzles

⏱️ Chapters

0:00 – Cold open & pre-show banter

In this episode of The Essence of You Podcast, host Steph Lokelani sits down with her friend Celia Espinoza, a finance officer at Idaho Housing and Finance Association, for a heartfelt conversation about culture, identity, and the winding paths that lead us home to ourselves.

Steph and Celia first connected through the Boise Metro Chamber's b|Wise mentorship program, and their friendship has only deepened since. Together they explore what it means to feel disconnected from your heritage while living far from your roots, and how food, music, family rituals, and even a spontaneous trip to Mexico City or Hawaii can reconnect you to where you come from.

Celia opens up about a life-changing trip to Standing Rock in 2016, a period of homelessness that followed, and the full-circle career journey that eventually led her into affordable housing finance. She also shares how a mentor believed in her before she believed in herself, and how she now pays that forward through community outreach with organizations like Breaking Chains in Nampa.

Steph shares her own journey reclaiming her Hawaiian middle name, Lokelani, and the family recipes and traditions that keep her culture alive here in Boise.

This is a conversation about mentorship, motherhood, cultural pride, and finding your way back to what really matters.

About Celia Espinoza:

Key Takeaways: 

Chapters:

In this timely conversation,  Steph Lokelani sits down with her dear friend Adrienne Evans, Executive Director of United Vision for Idaho (UVI), for a raw, wide-ranging conversation about political division, authoritarianism, and how everyday people can rebuild community across difference. From growing up in rural Idaho to a life-changing visit to Auschwitz, Adrienne shares hard-won wisdom from 17+ years leading UVI and over 107,000 conversations across 13 states. They talk rural Idaho organizing, the difference between mobilizing and organizing, why nonprofits are under real threat, Adrienne's upcoming memoir, and the new documentary "Democracy in Motion." A heartfelt, honest episode about staying human in a divided world.

About Adrienne Evans:

Key Takeaways:

🔗 Learn More:

🎧 Follow The Essence of You

Chapters: