The Kereen Connection Podcast

Listen to the full episode and explore more at www.thekereenconnection.com.

A note before you listen: this conversation includes honest discussion of addiction, alcoholism, and the loss of a friend to suicide. Please take care of yourself while listening.

Adam Vohra spent twenty years being whoever the room needed him to be. He calls it being a chameleon. Underneath it was an addiction that started with a drink at thirteen, picked up not long after he found out he and his sister were adopted — a way, as he puts it, to not feel.

Four years sober now, Adam is a recovery coach, entrepreneur, speaker, and host of the Finding Purpose podcast. His whole argument is that sobriety is the starting line rather than the finish. Removing the substance leaves a hole. What you fill it with is the actual work.

We get into what that filling looks like in practice: the unglamorous micro-habits that rebuilt his days, why honesty had to be practiced rather than simply decided on, how he came to say "I'm the problem" without it becoming another form of shame, and the difference between loving someone and enabling them. He's direct about his own parents on that last one.

He also shares the moment that moved him out of survival and into purpose — the loss of a friend who looked, from the outside, like he had everything together. It's the part of this conversation I keep coming back to.

This one is for anyone rebuilding something. And it's for anyone who loves someone who's struggling and doesn't know what help is supposed to look like.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why recovery is about rebuilding a life rather than simply removing a substance, and what has to fill the space left behind

• How honesty functions as the foundation of everything else, and why Adam had to practice it after years of deceiving people to get what he wanted

• The micro-habit approach that rebuilt his daily life — sleep, meals, movement, spiritual practice — and why the small commitments do the heavy lifting

• What accountability actually sounds like: "my best thinking got me here," and why that recognition becomes a turning point instead of another layer of shame

• The line between supporting someone and enabling them, and why saying no can be an act of love

• Why connection is the opposite of addiction, and how self-obsession quiets down the moment you start reaching outward

• The one step Adam gives anyone stuck in fear, shame, or self-doubt, whether or not addiction is part of their story

  
  

Connect with Adam Vohra:

• Instagram: @adamvohra_ 

• Website: https://adamvohra.com/

• Podcast: @findingpurposepod

  
  

Connect with Kereen:

• Instagram: @thekereenconnection

• TikTok: @thekereenconnection

• YouTube: @thekereenconnection

• Facebook: Thekereenconnection

• Website: www.thekereenconnection.com

  
  

Resources

If you or someone you love is struggling with substance use, the SAMHSA National Helpline is free, confidential, and available 24/7 at 1-800-662-4357. If you're having thoughts of suicide, you can call or text 988 in the US to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

About Kereen

Kereen Evans is an attorney, speaker, entrepreneur, and founder and host of The Kereen Connection, a purpose-driven media and personal development brand centered on helping people Connect the Dots in their lives. A former Manhattan prosecutor who now serves as an Executive Legal Advisor, Kereen understands firsthand that achievement and fulfillment are not always the same thing. Through The Kereen Connection podcast, transformational workshops, keynote speaking, and purpose-driven resources, she creates conversations and experiences that encourage people to examine the passions, strengths, experiences, and recurring clues in their lives, recognize meaningful connections, and make more intentional decisions about what comes next. Her work is grounded in the belief that the answers we spend years searching for may already be present in our lives; sometimes we need to slow down long enough to recognize the dots and connect them.

Listen to the full episode and explore more at www.thekereenconnection.com.

Have you ever reacted to something and been surprised by your own reaction? Not because of what was said, but because of what it touched.

In the debut episode of The Kereen Connection, Kereen Evans opens with the question sitting underneath every conversation this podcast will have: what are you still carrying that was never yours to carry? Because the reaction that feels automatic, the mood that shifts before you can name why, the defensiveness that arrives faster than thought — those are rarely about the present moment. They're about everything that carried you to it.

Kereen walks through the full TKC framework for the first time — Excavate, Align, Connect, Create — and explains why the order matters and why most people stall before they ever reach creation. She also opens up her own excavation, tracing the defining moments that shaped how she shows up: the circumstances of her arrival in this country as a child and what that taught her about being heard but not seen, the deliberate decision in high school to walk straight into her insecurity by joining the debate team, and the divorce that rebuilt how she trusts and how she protects her heart.

This one is an invitation, not a lecture. Grab a journal. Some of these questions are going to sit with you longer than the episode does.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why your most visceral reactions are usually a response to something older than the conversation you're actually in

• How limiting beliefs get built — "I have to be perfect before I begin," "I can't ask for help," "I have to prove myself," "I'm not creative enough" — and why the meaning you assigned years ago no longer fits the life you're living now

• What excavation actually looks like in practice: examining your patterns with curiosity instead of judgment, because awareness creates choices

• The four phases of the TKC framework, Excavate → Align → Connect → Create, and why skipping ahead to creation is why so many people feel stuck

• The alignment questions worth asking yourself this week: Does my life reflect who I truly am? Do my choices align with my values? Am I living from purpose or from expectation?

• Why creation is about participation rather than perfection, and what it means to actively shape your life instead of unconsciously repeating it

  
  

Reflection prompt from this episode: What is one story I have told myself that I'm ready to examine?

Connect with Kereen:

• Instagram: @thekereenconnection

• TikTok: @thekereenconnection

• YouTube: @thekereenconnection

• Facebook: Thekereenconnection

• Website: www.thekereenconnection.com

  
  

About Kereen

Kereen Evans is an attorney, speaker, entrepreneur, and founder and host of The Kereen Connection, a purpose-driven media and personal development brand centered on helping people Connect the Dots in their lives. A former Manhattan prosecutor who now serves as an Executive Legal Advisor, Kereen understands firsthand that achievement and fulfillment are not always the same thing. Through The Kereen Connection podcast, transformational workshops, keynote speaking, and purpose-driven resources, she creates conversations and experiences that encourage people to examine the passions, strengths, experiences, and recurring clues in their lives, recognize meaningful connections, and make more intentional decisions about what comes next. Her work is grounded in the belief that the answers we spend years searching for may already be present in our lives; sometimes we need to slow down long enough to recognize the dots and connect them.

In this episode of The Kereen Connection, I sit down with Jacquees Peace Thomas—filmmaker, storyteller, Producer and host of BLK LIT on the Black Effect Network—to talk about building a life rooted in intention, creativity, and impact.  As the visionary behind Àbákẹ́ Books & Café, Jacquees has created more than a business—serving coffee with purpose, she’s built a community centered on culture, storytelling, and belonging.

Yvonne Johnson, founder of wellness company SOULFUL SPROUTS LLC, shares how plant based living and mindfulness can transform your health, align your body, mind and purpose-one sprout at a time.

How many times have you started the year on fire, only to watch your resolutions die by February? In this episode of the Kereen Connection, we dig into the real reasons your goals keep fizzling out-and how to resurrect them with alignment, faith, and identity-based change.

Third‑generation Bronx real estate agent Steve Padernacht shares how he turns real estate into service by educating first‑time buyers, supporting small businesses, and protecting the culture of the Bronx. If you want to use your career to create real community impact, this conversation is for you

This episode features Dan Sachkowsky, a business growth expert, success coach, speaker, and author with over 26 years of experience building, scaling, and selling multimillion-dollar companies. Learn how Dan turned pain into purpose and hustle into systems.

Tiffany Kerr unpacks what it really means to be chic by offering modern, relatable etiquette and lifestyle tips for how we create it, live it, share it, and embracing your own personal style. Creating Chic situations is less about perfection and more about a mindful, confident way of living.

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NY Smitty and Mr. Talk is Cheap has built a career turning his raw talent as a natural leader into purpose by connecting the dots for many artists and building his one man empire brick by brick. His grind builds his legacy and the hustle is his lifestyle.