Alyssa and I explore how trusting your gut becomes a survival skill when you're constantly translating between cultures, why many of her adult friendships have turned out to be with fellow neurodivergent people, and what it means to become the therapist you wish you'd had.

From teaching her children that creativity can be joyful without becoming their worth, to studying decolonial approaches to therapy that honor her full identity, this conversation is about learning to distinguish between what's culturally constructed and what's intuitively true.

This conversation includes mention of sexual abuse, violence, and addiction. Please listen in a way that honors your own well-being. You are invited to pause, to breathe, or to step away when needed.

Susan Pohl has lived several lifetimes—from witnessing snake handlers in her Southern Baptist childhood to working at Apple in its early days, earning her doctorate in ministry, and serving as a chaplain at a federal women's prison. Now coaching from Italy, Susan brings the kind of gentle humor and hard-won wisdom that only comes from walking through fire and finding grace on the other side.

In this conversation, Susan shares what it means to discover that "there are no wrong steps"—even when those steps led her to places she never imagined. From meeting Barbara, the "Buddhist bank robber" who reminded her of her own mother's sharp questioning, to learning that her job isn't to control outcomes but to show up with love, Susan's journey is about finding "the spark of God in everyone" (even when they're scary) and trusting that wherever you're going is exactly where you're supposed to be.

Fair warning: Susan's perspective on aging, purpose, and letting go of achievement addiction might just shift how you think about your own perfectly imperfect path. Plus, you'll understand why she believes we're all "in the hard part now"—and why that's exactly as it should be.

For Sylvia, a solo trip to Florida and a 14,000-foot skydive became the catalyst for one of the biggest decisions of her life: walking away from medical school after years of preparation. Sylvia and I talk about living "a vibrant life," one defined by the courage to curate the things you love and present them to the world. We explore her journey from aspiring doctor to published writer, the weight of family expectations and inherited dreams, and how sometimes the most terrifying leap leads to the greatest clarity. 

Rob Alhadeff’s journey is about choosing complexity over comfort; from anthropology student to British Army reservist, London finance professional, and now impact entrepreneur. He recounts the rain-soaked debut under a tree in Uganda that nearly lost his team—and the football match that won them back. At Jackfruit Network, his infectious joy, and commitment to using privilege for good, show that systems-level change often begins with simple moments of connection.

Bunmi Otegbade helps people see the narratives they're living in, and more importantly, discover they have the power to change them. We discuss how AI might force us into collaborative competition, why doubt is healthy, and how a foreigner can walk into rural America and get people to question what they think they know. From his work with Impact Brain—a framework that uses AI to help social impact programs understand whose version of "success" actually matters by capturing real-time narratives from all stakeholders—to his vision of anthropologists leading technology development, Bunmi reminds us that the stories we tell about the future literally create the future. This is a conversation about narrative power, the braided duality of progress, and why sometimes the most mind-changing thing you can do for others is simply ask: "How do you know this?"

Sarah Agopian-Khalifé can transform a room full of strangers into collaborators who don't want the conversation to end. As an experience designer, community strategist, and facilitator, Sarah understands that how we connect is just as important as what we're trying to accomplish together.

In this conversation, we discuss how to create psychological safety from scratch, the dance between structure and spontaneity in group dynamics, and why authentic energy is contagious. 

Sarah shares wisdom from her decade of bringing diverse perspectives together, from virtual boardrooms to climate justice conversations, and reminds us that making gatherings truly worth people's precious time is both an art and a responsibility. 

Plus, we get wonderfully nerdy about Enneagram types, the magic of being seen, and why sometimes the best thing you can do is throw your agenda out the window.

Kwasi Adi-Dako has watched what happens when you put young people from 23 different African countries in the same classroom and deliberately design challenges that push them to their edges. Through his lens as an educator, father, and speculative fiction writer, we explore how play becomes the foundation for learning how to navigate conflict, build empathy, and grow courage. 

We also discuss the tension between embracing AI for work efficiency while instinctively protecting our creative processes from automation. What does it take to maintain enjoyment and authenticity in a world of quick outputs? From imagining endless harmattan winds in Ghana to questioning whether love might be our limited contact with another dimension, this conversation examines how storytelling, play, and speculation help us engage with tomorrow on our own terms.

Bonnie Murthy made the decision to shut down her successful vegan footwear company at its height; a choice that speaks to the play between identity, success, and authentic living.

In this conversation, we explore the addictive nature of entrepreneurship, why marketing feels so uncomfortable for most of us, and how AI might actually force us to become more human. 

Bonnie's journey from "business firefighter" to thoughtful growth operator is about discernment: learning to distinguish between the familiar comfort of past victories and the uncertain pull of what's truly meant for you.

From questioning whether everything labeled "good" actually is, to using movement as a pathway back to groundedness, this is a conversation about unraveling self-imposed definitions.

What does it mean to owe it to yourself to get to the other side? Social worker and mother of twins Keisha takes us on a journey from fast-paced London to a gentler-paced Tanzania, where she learned to question her relationship with busyness and the "shoulds" that kept her moving. We discuss intergenerational trauma, post-traumatic slave syndrome, and how patterns pass down through families - sometimes in our bodies, sometimes through the stories we tell our children about themselves. 

Keisha shares how becoming a mother shifted her from trying to save everyone to protecting her own emotional capacity, why she doesn't watch the news anymore, and the isolating myth that motherhood gets easier. This is a conversation about choosing what's yours to carry, designing a life based on your values, and the radical act of slowing down in a world that demands you keep moving.

What happens when your roommate slips a note in your jacket pocket that says "your passion is people"? For Sarah Pritzl, it sparked a journey from corporate training to becoming what she calls "a midwife of ideas." In this warm, wandering conversation, Sarah and I explore how ideas find their humans, the link between financial freedom and dream-chasing, and the art of knowing when to let an idea go. We discuss the power of incremental courage, and why Sarah is convinced we all need bigger lives.

You can find more of Sarah's work at https://www.anomalycoach.com/