Grief doesn’t follow a timeline, a rulebook, or a finish line. In this deeply moving episode of Notable Peeps, Jason Tuttle of Atlanta, Georgia, is honest about loss, healing, and learning how to live alongside grief. Jason is the founder of Letters to Zachary, a grief-support platform that began after the loss of his son, Zachary. Through raw storytelling and lived experience, Jason shares how writing became a way to survive the hardest days, why grief is often misunderstood, and how small, intentional steps can help people move forward even when life feels impossible.Learn more and connect with Jason here:
Website: https://letterstozachary.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tuttlepatriarch/

What happens when life forces you to slow down? In this episode of Notable Peeps, Thomas “Tommy” Carchidi shares what life has looked like after being diagnosed with stage four lymphoma cancer. He opens up about the years of unexplained pain that led to his diagnosis, the realities of treatment, and what it truly means to be in remission while still carrying lingering physical and emotional effects. While undergoing treatment, Tommy was already attending law school, continuing his studies alongside hospital stays and recovery, after years working in law enforcement in places like Baltimore, Brooklyn, and Montgomery County. He also reflects on faith, identity, and why he chose to write and self-publish his memoir, A Life in Law Enforcement: A Police Memoir, The Good, The Bad, The Corrupt, as he continues moving forward with discipline, faith, and purpose.Buy Tommy's Book: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/52044525.Thomas_Carchidi

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-carchidi-653345331

Email: tcarchidi@hotmail.com

If life is starting to feel a little too predictable, Melissa Rodway is your reminder that you can choose a new challenge on purpose. In this episode, Melissa shares why she signed up for a stand-up comedy class just for fun (and how much work it really takes to earn a laugh), plus what it was like to self-publish her travel memoir built from the weekly emails she wrote during a four-month trip through Southeast Asia. She also talks about why the best part of doing hard things is the people you meet along the way, and what she’s going after in 2026.

You don’t hear this side of military life very often: it’s the everyday whiplash of going from a world where everything is decided for you (even your socks) to a civilian life where every tiny choice suddenly feels huge.

Tanya Lakins shares how growing up in a small town as a preacher’s daughter led her to join the Marine Corps, serve for 11 years, and then hit a wall when civilian life felt strangely harder than military life. She opens up about decision fatigue, losing built-in purpose and community, why so many veterans feel “lost” after separation, and how getting support through the VA helped start her recovery. You’ll also hear how she went from struggling to hold a job to building a wellness business that serves others (including veterans), and why she’s stepping into Missouri politics next to push for better veteran support where it’s needed most.

Most people believe success belongs to the smartest, most talented, or most confident people in the room, but this conversation challenges that idea completely. In this episode, Troy Butterfield shares that his life has been shaped not by natural ability, but by resilience, integrity, and the willingness to keep going when quitting would have been easier. He opens up about feeling average in school and sports, taking terrifying financial risks with a young family, navigating commission-only income, unexpected debt, and later facing one of the most devastating challenges an entrepreneur can experience: employee embezzlement that wiped out savings and retirement. Rather than walking away, Troy and his wife chose to rebuild with honesty and faith, eventually creating businesses strong enough to sell. At its core, this conversation is about redefining excellence, learning to value peace, joy, freedom, and contentment over titles or recognition, and recognizing that ordinary people can create extraordinary lives through consistent, intentional choices.

Book: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Troy-Butterfield/dp/1965401805
Website: https://excelexponentially.com/

Losing a job can feel like losing yourself, especially when your title has defined you for decades. In this episode of Notable Peeps, Karen Maria Alston shares the most difficult year of her life and how a series of professional losses forced her to confront a question many people avoid: who am I without my job title? After stepping away from a long executive career, watching major events and opportunities dissolve, and sitting in uncertainty longer than she ever expected, Karen explains how faith, self-reflection, and letting go of societal expectations opened the door to reinvention. What began as a season of disappointment became the catalyst for curiosity, learning, and an entirely new path she never imagined for herself. Karen talks candidly about identity, resilience, trusting divine timing, and why being human, not productive or impressive, is where real worth comes from. This conversation is a reminder that hard seasons don’t mean you’re failing, they may be clearing the way for something bigger than you planned.

Website: https://www.karenalston.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenmariaalston
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karenmariaalston

After being hit by a car in June 2024, Eleanor Shell’s life changed overnight as a traumatic brain injury reshaped everything about how she thought, moved, worked, and lived. In this episode, she opens up about the depression and anxiety that come with a TBI, the grief of losing the identity and competence she once relied on, and the humbling reality of relearning basic tasks like driving, cooking, reading, and even remembering to brush her teeth. She shares how overwhelming multi-step tasks became, how her nervous system stayed stuck in fight-or-flight, and what it’s like living with an invisible injury most people can’t see. Eleanor also reflects on the drastic shift from her once full, purpose-driven life working multiple jobs she loved, caring for her kids without outside help, and being deeply embedded in her community to now spending much of her time at home recovering. Yet through it all, she has found new purpose in writing, sharing her story, and using her experience to bring awareness to women with brain injuries. Connect with Eleanor: https://www.instagram.com/reclaimingmybrain/#

What if the biggest turning points in your life aren’t actually big at all but small, subtle habits shaping everything beneath the surface? In this episode, James McCambridge, movement coach and founder of Rewire NPT, shares how one two-hour flight changed a lifelong struggle he believed was impossible to overcome.

James opens up about decades spent biting his nails down to painful levels, the bullying that shaped his early years, and how circus arts, acrobatics, and Rubik’s Cubes eventually led him into the world of brain-based movement and habit change. What he discovered about anxiety, coping mechanisms, and the nervous system will completely shift how you view your own daily patterns.

Connect with James : https://www.instagram.com/circustrainer