Brett Ashby paints portraits while riding a skateboard. He's painted Barack Obama in Washington DC. Princess Diana. He's built a global creative practice across London, Melbourne, New York, and beyond. And in the middle of all of it, he survived cancer.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Brett talks about how creativity can become a lifeline through trauma, what it means to build an unconventional creative career, and what it takes to keep rolling after a cancer diagnosis.

If you've ever felt like you have to choose between creativity and survival, this conversation is for you.

Guest Links

Website: BrettAshby.com

Daniel Hodges was born blind, with other disabilities as well. Growing up, the school system assumed he was incapable of learning enough to become a fully functioning adult. He actually missed grades 7 through 11 entirely. The idea that he would end up with multiple advanced degrees was inconceivable to most of the adults in his life.

And yet, he went on to earn a Juris Doctorate and a Master's in Healthcare Administration. While still in law school, he co-founded Peaces of Me Foundation.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Daniel talks about what it took to close a five-year educational gap, how organizations can be more inclusive without sacrificing standards, and what he'd say to someone who's been told they can't.

If you've ever been told you can't do something, this conversation will push you to keep going anyway.

Guest Links

Nonprofit: PeacesOfMe.org

Carolyn Hatton spent years battling her weight, her confidence, and even an eating disorder. She felt stuck, defeated, and like her best years were behind her. Then one day, she made a decision. She decided she was not ready to give up her joy, her health, or her future. She wanted more.

What followed was a journey of mentors, books, setbacks, and moments of doubt. And one day, in Coach Anastassia's class, she shared something she'd been holding onto. Anastassia looked at her and said, 'You have to teach this course.'

That moment turned Carolyn's hardest seasons into the foundation for the work she now does.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Carolyn talks about how to stop feeling stuck, how to rediscover yourself after years of putting others first, and what it takes to feel strong and vibrant again.

If you believe your best years are behind you, this conversation will change your mind.

Guest Links

Free Ebook: The-ForeverYoung.com/signup-7320-8239

Email: [email protected]

Brett Gallant weighed 349 pounds. He was burned out, buried in his business, and losing himself. And he chose to rebuild everything at once — his body, his operating system, and his company.

Since then, he's released 130 pounds. He's transformed his health. And he's built one of Canada's top cybersecurity-first IT firms, protecting more than 100 organizations across the country.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Brett talks about what rock bottom actually felt like, how losing weight reshaped his mindset and identity, why he says "released" instead of "lost," and how the same discipline that builds muscle also builds momentum in business.

If you've been waiting to start because you think you can only fix one thing at a time, this conversation will change how you think.

Guest Links

Website: AdaptiveOffice.ca

Podcast: The Adaptive Mindset

Billy Seol was a software engineer at Apple, Disney, and Foursquare. Cornell CS graduate. He was good at it. And then he walked away to train under Buddhist monks and become a life coach.

But here's what makes him different: he wrote mathematical formulas for why people can't change, even when they desperately want to. Not metaphors. Actual formulas with variables you can plug your life into.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Billy talks about what made him leave a decade of engineering behind, the difference between knowing you should change and actually changing, the one variable that keeps most people stuck, and why shame has a formula.

If you've ever known exactly what to do and couldn't make yourself do it, this conversation is for you.

Guest Links

Website: BillySeol.com

Free Resource: Karmic Formula System

Free Coaching Call: Available through website

Andy Campbell survived childhood sexual abuse. An assault at eleven that required multiple corrective surgeries. Losing his mother young. Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. And the loss of his youngest son to suicide. Any one of those would be enough to break most people. The fact that he is still here, still engaged, and still trying to offer something useful to others is not resilience as a concept. It is something much harder and much more specific than that.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Andy talks about what a person holds onto when that much has been taken, his 15 core beliefs, what it means to fall forward, and how he survived the loss of his youngest son.

If you're in the middle of your own hard season, this conversation will remind you that you're not alone.

Guest Links

Website: AskAndyCampbell.com/15-core-beliefs

Book: Overcoming Life's Toughest Setbacks

Bill Derrick spent five years leading his company through the Great Recession in the construction and real estate industry. He navigated the storm, kept his people employed, and finally got to a point where he could breathe again. And then the second storm hit — an incurable blood cancer called multiple myeloma.

That's not one storm. That's two back to back. And how you navigate those seasons reveals everything about who you are.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Bill talks about how he led through both storms, what it means to live in between crisis and recovery, and what he learned about control, faith, and gratitude when he couldn't control the outcome.

If you're facing your own seemingly endless storm, this conversation is for you.

Guest Links

Website: BillDerrick.com

Book: Restored by the Storm

Anna Machkalov spent over 23 years in cosmetic medicine, sitting with people at some of their most vulnerable moments. She saw firsthand how deeply the stories we tell ourselves about our worth, our appearance, and our value shape the way we experience life.

That proximity to human insecurity and self-perception led her somewhere deeper. During the pandemic, she trained at the Hypnosis Motivation Institute, the nation's first and top-accredited college of hypnotherapy.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Anna talks about the power of the subconscious mind, why we self-sabotage, how to build authentic confidence, and what it actually takes to change the patterns that keep us stuck.

If you've ever felt stuck in a pattern you can't break, this conversation is for you.

Guest Links

Website: AnnaMachHypnosis.com

Amrita Kolay has spent over 14 years watching the same pattern play out across engineering, recruitment, resume writing, and career coaching: capable, hardworking, talented people consistently struggle to articulate what they actually bring.

She's a Certified Professional Career Coach, Certified Master Résumé Writer, and Certified Professional Résumé Writer based in Riyadh, working with professionals and organizations globally.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Amrita talks about how to identify the real strengths hidden in your everyday work, what makes a career story credible to recruiters and leaders, how to build confidence through evidence, and how to stop minimizing yourself when you have so much to offer.

If you've ever struggled to articulate your own value, this conversation is for you.

Guest Links

Website: AmritaKolay.com

You can work harder than everyone else, deliver real results, and still watch someone else get the promotion. Not because you lack skill. Not because you lack confidence. Because nobody ever taught you how to turn your hard work into the language leadership actually recognizes and rewards.

Rosie Zilinskas spent 32 years in corporate America before she uncovered what most career coaches completely miss. She calls it the Articulation Gap — the distance between the impact you create and the impact leadership sees and rewards.

In this episode of The Honest Mic, Rosie talks about the moment a senior executive told her 'You never said anything,' why confidence isn't the real issue, and her three-pillar framework — Clarity, Composure, and Conviction — that helps high-performing women go from overlooked to recognized.

If you're working hard and still feeling invisible, this conversation is for you.

Guest Links

Free Tool: nowomanleftbehind.com/the-articulation-gap

Podcast: No Woman Left Behind