🎓 4-Year Degree Ain’t Mathing

We were told: Go to college. Get the degree. Secure the future.

Fast-forward and somehow we’ve got: 📚 more credentials than ever 💸 more debt than ever 😵‍💫 more burnout than ever

So… what exactly happened?

In this episode, I unpack why the four-year degree no longer guarantees what it once did, how AI is quietly pulling the rug out from under “safe” white-collar paths, and why so many brilliant women did everything right — yet still feel underpaid, overworked, and oddly unfulfilled.

This isn’t an anti-education rant. It’s a reality check.

Because when the numbers don’t add up… it’s time to stop blaming yourself and start questioning the equation. 😉

🎧 Press play if you’ve ever thought: There has to be another way.

Grab your complimentary copy of Your Inner Billionaire: Get Your Copy

#4yeardegree #skipcollege #authority #achievementaddition #becomingyou

Today’s guest is Jan Raeder, a woman whose life reads like a masterclass in discipline, reinvention, and radical self-responsibility.

Jan spent 35 years as a martial artist and karate instructor, earning a National Gold Medal, running a successful martial arts school, and teaching thousands what it means to embody strength, focus, and personal accountability. But life, as it does, introduced moments that demanded reinvention—injury, autoimmune illness, loss, and profound grief.

Rather than surrendering her identity, Jan chose to redefine it.

She returned to school in her 50s, earning both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in wellbeing education in just four years, went on to teach at the collegiate level, authored a science-based wellbeing book, and delivered a powerful talk at MIT—a moment made even more meaningful by personal loss woven into her story.

Jan’s work bridges discipline and compassion, science and lived wisdom, and grit and grace. Her message is clear and unwavering: You are responsible for your life — and that responsibility is your greatest source of freedom.

This is a conversation about identity beyond labels, the courage to rebuild when the body changes, and what it truly means to live well — not perfectly, but intentionally.

Grab Your Complimentary Copy of Your Inner Billionaire: Link

Connect with Jan:

Website: selfcaresensei.com Email: jan@selfcaresensei.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jan.h.raeder/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-raeder-48799b26/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/selfcaresenseijraeder/ Jan's Official Bio: Jan Raeder is an internationally recognized Wellbeing Educator, keynote speaker, and author committed to helping people create healthier, more purposeful, and more resilient lives. As the SelfCare Sensei, she blends 30+ years of martial arts discipline, behavior change science, and positive psychology to teach people how to find clarity, stay grounded, and thrive professionally and personally. With over 10,000 sparring rounds and deep roots in Okinawan and Japanese karate, Jan understands what it means to stay centered under pressure. She brings that same discipline, clarity, and heart into every keynote, workshop, and coaching experience. As the author of Strive for M.O.R.E.: What Wellbeing Really Means & How You Can Achieve It, Jan introduces her powerful M.O.R.E.TM Framework Meaning, Optimism, Relationships, Engagement an evidence-based roadmap for sustainable wellbeing in a post-2020 world. A National AAU Karate Gold Medalist, lifelong educator, and former senior karate instructor, Jan has spent decades teaching people how to lead with purpose, build meaningful connections, and cultivate emotional resilience. Through the SelfCare Sensei brand, she helps individuals and organizations work better, live better, and feel better starting from the inside out. #wellbeing #self-care #scienceofwellbeing #janraeder #striveformore #karate #leadership #teambuilding

Today’s guest is one of those women who didn’t just survive her story — she listened to it, trusted it, and allowed it to completely rewire her life.

I’m joined by Amy Thurman, a former educator and social worker whose life changed in an instant — and then changed again through radical trust, embodied truth, and an unshakeable commitment to authenticity.

Amy lived for ten years with a broken neck, undiagnosed for six months, navigating brain injury, disability systems, relearning how to walk, read, and live — and standing at a crossroads where spirit asked her a simple but life-altering question: What if you didn’t have to die… and instead chose to live — and use your story to help others?

That choice led to bestselling books, global stages, Times Square billboards, keynotes, and a powerful body of work centered around what she calls Authentic Intelligence — the wisdom that emerges when the inside and the outside finally match.

Amy doesn’t sugarcoat. She doesn’t perform. She doesn’t posture. She embodies coherence — heart, mind, body, and truth in alignment.

And in a world flooded with AI, comparison culture, and performative personas, her work speaks directly to what so many of us are craving right now: realness, resonance, and responsibility for who we are becoming.

This is a conversation about trust, intuition, wisdom, authenticity, and what happens when you stop trying to drive the bus — and let the universe show you the next breadcrumb.

Grab Your Complimentary copy of Your Inner Billionaire: Link Connect with Amy:

Website: www.getamyshelp.com

Amy's Bio: Amy Thurman is a best-selling author, international speaker, and a thought leader on the transformative power of authenticity and holding space. After living 10 years with a broken neck that went undiagnosed for six months, she was forced to redefine everything, including what it means to be strong. She discovered that true strength isn't found in pretending to be okay, it's found in presence, softness, and the courage to be real. #authenticityexpert #authentic #beingauthentic #becomingauthentic #redefiningyourself

What if the most dangerous thing right now isn’t what’s happening… but what you’re believing and sharing about it?

It’s about where stories come from, why we react so fast, and what happens when no one pauses long enough to verify anything anymore.

Listen with an open mind. And maybe ask yourself a few uncomfortable questions along the way.

#propaganda #definitionofpropaganda #propagandaushistory

Today’s guest is a woman who followed the rulebook… mastered it… and then had the courage to admit it wasn’t the whole story.

Zerina Derveni spent over a decade climbing the corporate ladder, hitting milestone after milestone, doing everything “right.” From high-level executive roles to major partnerships, her life looked like success from the outside — and yet, something inside kept asking a different question.

Not what else can I achieve? But who am I becoming?

Zerina’s journey isn’t rooted in collapse or catastrophe — it’s rooted in consciousness. In that quiet, unsettling moment many women know too well… when the doing stops working, and the thinking gets louder.

Today, she helps women who are successful on paper but lost in identity — women standing in the messy middle between who they’ve been and who they’re becoming. Her work is grounded, values-driven, deeply human, and refreshingly honest about what transformation actually requires.

This conversation is about unlearning inherited definitions of success, reclaiming self-trust, and learning how to navigate life’s transitions without abandoning yourself in the process.

Grab your complimentary copy of Your Inner Billionaire here: Book

Connect with Zerina:

Website: www.zerinalifecoach.com

Instagram: Zerina Derveni Life Coach (@zerinalifecoach) • Instagram photos and videos - DM me on instagram and type "Podcast Life Strategy" and receive a 60min complimentary life coaching session.

LinkedIn: Zerina Derveni | LinkedIn Zerina's Official Bio: Zerina Derveni is a distinguished Life Coach who specializes in empowering high-performing women and organizations to unlock their full potential. Specializing in guiding women who feel lost, stuck, or simply curious to level up, Zerina helps them embrace their inner strength, overcome obstacles, and create lasting transformation in both their personal and professional lives. With a rich Executive background in strategic consulting and client engagement with Fortune 500 brands for over a decade, Zerina brings a unique blend of expertise in personal growth, professional development and transformational coaching. Her tailored coaching approach is designed for those who seek transformative results, and the clarity needed to thrive lives. Whether pursuing greater personal fulfillment, enhancing relationships or navigating career shifts, Zerina provides the high-level guidance and actionable strategies that lead to lasting success. Invest in yourself and achieve your highest aspirations with Zerina’s bespoke coaching services

#lifecoach #lifecoaching #whatisalifecoach #zerinadeverni #whatdolifecoachesdo #lifecoaching #lifecoach #coaching #motivation #mindset #selflove #coach #life #mindfulness #mentalhealth #personaldevelopment #selfcare #inspiration #love #success #lifelessons #lifestyle #personalgrowth #meditation #healing #goals #lifequotes #lifecoachingtips #lifecoachingforwomen #growthmindset #lifecoachforwomen #mindsetcoach #lifecoaches #businesscoaching #happiness

Today’s guest is one of those women whose life quietly — and then boldly — answered the call.

I’m joined by Cathy Derksen, a woman who didn’t just reinvent herself in midlife — she followed a whisper that turned into a body of work touching women around the world.

Cathy is the creator of multiple multi-author books focused on women’s stories, wisdom, and possibility — including themes like Passion, Purpose & Possibilities and Midlife Reimagined. She has contributed to over 20 books and created nine of her own, yet if you’d asked her five years earlier whether publishing was part of her future, she would’ve laughed.

Her pivot began with a moment that rearranged everything — a life-altering car accident, the courage to leave an abusive marriage, and a deep knowing that the life she was modeling for her children — and herself — had to change.

What followed wasn’t a straight line. It was intuition. It was courage. It was tenacity.

Cathy walked away from a toxic marriage, a specialized career, and later even the masculine bro-culture of the financial industry — not because she had a perfect plan, but because she trusted the inner voice saying, “This isn’t it.”

Today, she helps women reclaim their stories, their voices, and their next chapter — proving that midlife isn’t a winding down… it’s a waking up.

This conversation is about responsibility without self-blame, intuition without apology, and what happens when a woman finally listens to the voice she was taught to ignore.

Grab your complimentary copy of Your Inner Billionaire: Link Here

Connect with Cathy:

https://inspiredtenacity.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathyderkseninspiredtenacity Cathy's Gift to You: https://inspiredtenacitygifts.now.site/home Cathy's Official Bio:

Cathy Derksen is the passionate founder of Inspired Tenacity, an international speaker, publisher, and 23x #1 bestselling author. After reimagining her own life in her 50s, Cathy discovered her mission: to help midlife women embrace new possibilities and boldly share their stories. She believes that authorship and community are the keys to true impact — both for the storyteller and the lives they touch.

Through her multi-author book projects, retreats, and vibrant community, Cathy has helped over 200 women become published authors, amplifying their visibility, expanding their businesses, and building lasting legacies. Her programs are more than platforms — they’re launching pads for purpose-driven transformation.

Cathy lives by the mantra, “Do what makes you come alive,” and brings that energy into everything she creates. When she’s not mentoring women to stand in their power, you’ll find her recharging in nature, soaking in the inspiration around her. #inspiredtenacity #whatmakesyoucomealive #becomeanauthor #writeyourbook #howtobecomeawriter #becomeawriter

Hot flashes? Maybe. Brain fog? Nope. Wisdom upgrade? Absolutely.

Nobody warned us that menopause is actually a brain remodel — not a breakdown.

In this episode, we’re talking: • Why menopause exists at all • How your brain is literally rewiring for wisdom • The ancient role of women after childbearing • And why there are over 1 BILLION wisdom-age women rising right now

This isn’t the end of your story. It’s the chapter where you stop tolerating BS and start telling the truth.

🎧 If you’re even thinking about menopause — you’ll want to hear this.

Grab your complimentary copy of Your Inner Billionaire to activate this wisdom: Inner Billionaire

#menopausesymptoms #perimenopausesymptoms #menopauseage #menopausesigns #staringmenopause #menopausebrain #lisamosconi #aginglikeagirl

Episode Title: Aligned, Unapologetic, and Done With Burnout — with Michaela Gaffen Stone

What if responsibility wasn’t about blame… but about choice, breath, and freedom?

In this powerful, wide-ranging conversation, I sit down with Michaela Gaffen Stone — board-certified behavior analyst, Human Design specialist, trauma-informed coach, and global citizen who has lived in eight countries and spent a lifetime studying what actually makes humans tick.

Michaela blends hard science with deep wisdom, weaving together neuroscience, behavior analysis, trauma resolution, and Human Design to help women dismantle old stories without reliving the pain. We talk about why blame and shame are the lowest vibration on the planet, how burnout has become normalized in “helping professions,” and why the feminine rebalancing happening right now isn’t chaos — it’s correction.

This episode explores: ✨ Why responsibility is not judgment — it’s power ✨ How trauma can be transmuted without retraumatization ✨ The burnout crisis inside caregiving and service industries ✨ Why Human Design shortens the path to clarity and alignment ✨ The collapse of the masculine hustle model — and what’s rising in its place ✨ How aligned leadership creates healthier humans and systems

We also dive into dragons, nervous systems, wisdom cycles, and the kind of embodied leadership the world is quietly asking for now — whether it knows it yet or not.

If you’ve ever felt your body shut down before your soul gave up… If you’re done carrying stories that no longer belong to you… And if you know, deep down, that you were made for more than surviving…

This conversation will meet you right where you are.

🎧 Listen in and reclaim responsibility as the gateway to alignment, vitality, and unapologetic truth.

Grab Your Complimentary Copy of Your Inner Billionaire Here:

Get Michaela's Book Your Immunity Code Here: Get Your Human Design Chart: Here Her books:

About Michaela: Michaela Gaffen Stone is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), Master Nutrition Coach, Human Design guide, and author who helps people stop outsourcing their power and start taking radical responsibility for how they live, eat, choose, and lead themselves. With a background in behavior science, neuroscience, nutrition, and Human Design, Michaela specializes in exposing the invisible patterns that keep people stuck — especially around food, identity, self-trust, and “knowing better but still not doing it.” Her work dismantles shame-based self-improvement and replaces it with awareness, agency, and conscious choice. Michaela is the author of Aligned & Unapologetic: The Human Design Guidebook and The Immunity Code. Known for her sharp insight, humor, and no-nonsense compassion, she invites people to move out of autopilot, stop blaming circumstances, and become fully responsible — not harshly, but powerfully — for the life they are creating. #RadicalResponsibility #AlignedAndUnapologetic #FeminineLeadership #BurnoutRecovery #ConsciousLiving