On this week’s episode, I share my conversation with Karl Mauks-Kopke — eighth grade math teacher and not-so-secret philosopher. Karl is a dear friend and one of the most thoughtful people I know. (Some call him heaven.)

We talk about Karl’s work inside the middle school classroom, including how he motivates kids who don’t always see the point of school, or math, and why learning math is a lot like weightlifting. Karl explains his reverence for his students and how he fuels his own sense of purpose in his work.

From there, we zoom out into some of the bigger things kids and adults are dealing with right now, including screen time, AI, and how automation continues to shift our cultural views of education and work. We zoom even further out to discuss his fundamentally optimistic outlook on where we might be headed as a culture. And our shared sense of humor does not take a back seat throughout.

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Today’s episode cuts to the origin tale of how this very podcast was created. I’m interviewing my mother, Laine Neiman, about parenting a child with mental illness, handling the grief of losing him, and opening up to the community for support. Lainie (a.k.a. Mom Neiman) is an executive and leadership coach, as a family business consultant. More importantly, she spent the last 30 years in the trenches of loving someone with bipolar disorder. We tragically lost my brother, her son, Andy Neiman, 4 years ago last June. My mother saw him through his initial diagnosis and treatment, the chaotic first ten years of medication adjustments and hospital stays, his last ten years of marriage, fatherhood, and relative stability, up until his final descent during COVID.

We talk about the role of the pandemic in Andy’s demise, her bravery in choosing to speak out about his illness from the beginning, how she spiritually coped with the uncertainty of his life path, and how she’s handling the monumental grief since his untimely departure. If you’ve ever cared for someone struggling with mental health issues or know someone who has, you’re going to want to check this episode out. My momela is a warrior and an inspiration.

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On this week’s episode, I share my conversation with Jennifer Stevens, Holistic Nutrition Practitioner and Thyroid Cancer Survivor. We talk all about Jen’s experiences with anxiety pre-cancer, leading to a very unexpected diagnosis in her late 30s. Jen shares her decision to forgo radiation in favor of surgery and holistic healing, and how that led her into her new career helping others.

In addition to her healing journey, Jen brings us into what life is like off the grid in Costa Rica, sharing her wisdom on low-tox living and her perspective on Western excess. We even touch on how ADHD brains thrive in purpose driven settings, how the MTHFR gene mutation interferes with alcohol metabolism, and how high-stress lifestyles fuel anxiety disorders.

Podcast is available wherever you listen to podcasts. If you enjoy it, please like/subscribe/share with anyone who might be interested! Your support means the world.

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