Welcome to the very first episode of The Exhale Podcast. If you have ever felt like you were achieving everything on the outside while quietly falling apart on the inside, this episode is your starting point.
In this pilot, host Marina Kay sits down with her dear friend and fellow Austin entrepreneur Tamy Vo, founder of Volva - a marketplace for non-toxic feminine care products - for a candid reverse interview. Tamy turns the mic on Marina, and what unfolds is an honest, warm, and vulnerable conversation about burnout, a woman’s body, and why breathing might be the most underrated leadership tool available to women today.
Marina shares her own journey from corporate HR consulting and WeWork headquarters to building Women Who Breathe - and the heart palpitations, chronic stress, and disconnection from self that made the leap not just desirable, but necessary. She opens up about what it took to finally trust the calling that had been on her heart for years, and why she believes the fear never fully goes away - it just becomes more purposeful.
In this episode, you will hear about:
- The signs and symptoms of burnout that women most commonly overlook, including heart palpitations, physical tension, an inability to say no, disrupted sleep, jaw clenching, and pelvic floor tension - and why knowing your personal alarm system matters more than a generic checklist.
- Why passion itself is a risk factor for burnout, and how you can be fully lit up by your work and still be quietly depleting yourself without realizing it.
- What breathwork actually is - and why it works where talk therapy alone sometimes falls short. As Marina explains, stress and trauma live in the body, not just the mind, and somatic practices like breathwork help close that gap.
- The case for women's health as its own distinct category. Marina breaks down how women of reproductive age were largely excluded from clinical research until recent decades, and what that gap has meant for how women understand and experience their own bodies.
- Cycle syncing - understanding the four phases of the menstrual cycle and how working with your biology rather than against it can actually make you more productive, not less.
- A preview of Season One topics including fertility, perimenopause, brain health, and cardiovascular health - including why heart attacks present differently in women and why almost no one talks about it.
- Marina's bold take on sperm health as women's health - and why shifting the fertility conversation from a solo female burden to a shared one could reduce stress and improve outcomes for everyone involved.
One thing Marina wants every woman running on empty to hear before she hits play on episode two: It gets so much better. The body wants to move in the direction of health. Small daily practices add up, and no matter how depleted you feel right now, there is a path back to yourself.
Study on ovarian reserve and sperm quality which was mentioned:
Two studies published in October 2025 — one in Science Advances and one in Nature — together paint a picture that challenges everything we thought we knew about the biological clock. Women's egg mitochondria appear remarkably stable with age, while sperm DNA mutations accumulate significantly over time. The fertility conversation is shifting, and it needs to shift together.
Study 1 — Egg quality and mitochondrial stability: Arbeithuber et al., Science Advances, August 2025 Direct link: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw4954 PubMed link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40768572/
Study 2 — Sperm DNA mutations accumulate with age: Neville et al., Nature, October 2025 Direct link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09448-3 Full text via PMC: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12611766/
Resources mentioned in this episode:
For 1:1 health & leadership coaching, available for professional women, entrepreneurs and those in transition, book a quick call so we can connect about your goals and how I can best support you: https://www.womenwhobreathe.com/booking-calendar/20-minute-coffee-chat-1?utm_medium=page_links
Women Who Breathe community with free and paid resources, cycle syncing courses, and breathwork sessions: www.womenwhobreathe.com
Find fee breathwork practices on our YouTube: www.youtube.com/@womenwhobreathe
Follow Marina on Instagram: www.instagram.com/womenwhobreathe
Follow Marina on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/marina-kay
Follow The Exhale Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.exhale.podcast
Follow Tamy Vo and the Volva marketplace for non-toxic feminine care: https://www.instagram.com/wevolva/, https://www.instagram.com/tamy.vo/
This episode is sponsored by Wizbe Genius Strips - caffeine-free focus strips designed by a neuroscientist for daily mental clarity. Get 15% off with code EXHALE15 at wizbe.com.
