Kristan Swan spent years coaching independent business owners. And she kept noticing the same pattern: talented, visionary people held back because they didn't truly know themselves. And then she realized she was doing the exact same thing in her own life.

That's not a tidy insight from a workshop. That's something you have to catch yourself doing in real time, after three marriages and years of guiding other people's clarity while quietly missing your own.

Today, Kristan is a business coach turned life and spiritual guide. She's the creator of journals like Spaghetti on the Wall, Heart Mapping, and The Spiritual Autobiography Workbook.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Kristan talks about the reckoning, the daily practice of knowing yourself, and what it means to come home to yourself.

If you're the person everyone comes to for clarity — and you haven't looked at yourself in a while — this conversation is for you.

Guest Links

Website: KristanSwan.com

Journals: Spaghetti on the Wall, Heart Mapping, The Spiritual Autobiography Workbook

Ken Dupar is a retired Colonel who uses humor to balance descriptions of really traumatic stuff. He writes love stories where Covid is the villain. Makes YouTube videos about how to poop at night in the military. And he's currently working on a novel set twenty thousand years ago involving evil space aliens and God shaking the Earth's Etch-A-Sketch.

The line that caught me was this: having been through the fire, I feel capable to discuss thorny issues, life and death. Someone who has actually been there, who figured out the war to his own satisfaction, and who found humor not as a way to avoid the weight of it but as the only honest way to carry it.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Ken talks about the fear of death, the moment he realized humor was his way through, what most people don't see about war, and the through-line across his novels.

If you've ever wondered how to carry heavy things without being crushed by them, this conversation is for you.

Guest Links

Website: KennyDupar.com

Novels: Audiobook and print previews available

Kenneth Chester built most of his companies while holding down a full-time job. Thirty-five years of building real ventures — not as a side hustle story, but as a documented method that became his book, Two-Hour Entrepreneur: Build a Real Business in Two Hours a Week.

Ken is a nationally syndicated automotive journalist, tech communicator, and CEO of TechMobility Productions.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Ken talks about why millions of people want to start businesses but never do, why 'finding time' is the wrong problem to solve, what someone can accomplish in the first month, and the biggest myth about launching a business.

If you've been saying 'someday' for years, this conversation will show you why you can start today.

Guest Links

Book: KennethJChester.com/two-hour-entrepreneur

Notion Accountability System: Available with book

Free Chapter from Ken Chester: https://free-chapter.kennethjchester.com/

November 9, 2024. Julia Lindenthal's father, seemingly healthy and in great shape, died suddenly. Only after the autopsy did she and her family learn what happened: aortic dissection due to arterial plaque calcification.

Within months, Julia had turned that grief into action. A fundraiser in her father's name through The Heart Foundation. A campaign for arterial plaque awareness. A TEDx talk in the works.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Julia talks about what those first weeks looked like, what she learned about sudden loss that nobody prepares you for, and what she wants every family to know before they're in the middle of it.

If you've ever lost someone suddenly, or you're scared of losing someone, this conversation is for you.

Guest Links

Fundraiser: donate.theheartfoundation.org/inmemoryofjohnglindenthal

Josh Block knows the weight of responsibility. At 29 years old, he was named president of his family's business over a weekend. No roadmap. No warning. Just everything to figure out. Over the next 14 years, he helped grow that business from $30 million to $215 million and from 50 to more than 400 people.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Josh talks about what went through his head when he got the news, the book that saved him in those early days, the most common mistakes CEOs make when scaling, and what it actually looks like to build a culture where people feel safe, seen, and successful.

If leadership feels heavy, this conversation will help you regain your footing.

Guest Links

Website: PeopleMatterAtWork.com

Book: People Matter @ Work

Jenny C. Cohen says many successful women confuse adaptation with identity. Years of meeting expectations, managing pressure, and showing up for everyone else can quietly replace who you actually are underneath all of it.

Jenny helps high-achieving women stop overriding themselves. She's the creator of the TRUST™ Method, a board-certified Integrative Neurosomatic Practitioner, and the host of the top 10% globally ranked Dance to Heal podcast.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Jenny talks about why high-achieving women stop trusting themselves, what it means to lead without self-abandonment, and what the body knows before the mind is ready to admit it.

If you've achieved everything you thought you wanted and still feel disconnected from yourself, this conversation is for you.

Guest Links

Free Masterclass: MoveToBloom.com

Jai Roza hit the lowest point of his life as a teenager. He concluded life wasn't worth living. Then something redirected him. A phone call. A flash of hope in the darkness. Enough to course-correct his walk from an early grave to a lifelong journey of gratitude.

What followed was 18 years of building toward a card game called Eden's Conflict — created specifically to reach people who struggle with faith the same way he once did. Not a side project that became a business. A life's purpose that finally found its form.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Jai talks about what it takes to turn the darkest chapter of your life into something that could change someone else's, the role of storytelling in spiritual formation, and how to begin seeing yourself from heaven's perspective.

If you're in your own dark moment, this conversation will remind you that the dark doesn't have to be the end of the story.

Guest Links

Website: EdensConflict.com

Creative Ministry: Games, music, devotionals, Game Master Guide

Jacqueline Kelly says the mind is the ultimate performance multiplier. Not effort. Not talent. Not the hours in the gym. The thing that separates athletes who reach their potential from those who don't is what happens between their ears.

Jacqueline is a Certified Mental Performance Coach and Strength and Conditioning Coach. She works with athletes from high school competitors to elite performers, guiding them through the intricacies of mental resilience and physical training.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Jacqueline talks about the 'aha' moment that convinced her the mind matters most, the misconceptions athletes still cling to about the mind-body connection, and what happens 48 hours before a championship game.

If you're navigating high-pressure moments in sport, career, or life, this conversation is for you.

Guest Links

Website: KellyPerformanceWellness.com

Jaclyn Strominger spent two decades in corporate leadership before recognizing that talented professionals don't stall from lack of ability — they stall from lack of alignment. Vision without strategy creates frustration. Strategy without mindset creates burnout.

That realization led her to build three interconnected systems: LEAP — Leveraging Communication, Energy, Action, and Performance; 2 Steps to Yes — a clarity-to-decision model; and Relationship Capital — turning intentional connections into measurable growth.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Jaclyn talks about why high performers plateau, how to turn clarity into measurable growth, what Relationship Capital is, and how to regain momentum when you feel stuck.

If you're ambitious but restless, successful but seeking more, this conversation is for you.

Guest Links

Free Session: LeapToYourSuccess.com/contact

Book: Charting True North

Eva Palladino spent more than 20 years leading organizational change for Fortune 100 companies. She helped others navigate disruption. And then she faced the kind of disruption that really stings: unexpected job loss.

That moment forced her to ask a hard question: 'Who am I without the title, the role, and the corporate identity I built for so long?' Instead of rushing back into another executive role, she chose reinvention. At 50. Without a safety net.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Eva talks about what that moment actually felt like, why resilience is a lifestyle not grit, her E.V.A. Method — Evaluate, Validate, Activate — and what she'd say to a woman who has achieved a lot and is still wondering if she can build what she really wants.

If you've been performing instead of living, this conversation is for you.

Guest Links

Free Session: Call.Be-Unprecedented.com/scheduling-page (30-minute Resilience Reset)

Website: Be Unprecedented