Mandy Tang is a career coach, holistic healer, and author of Heal Your Career Wounds: Navigating the Trauma of Today’s Workplace. She works with clients across big tech, startups, and the nonprofit sector, helping them bring more creativity, joy, and self-trust into their work lives. She is also the creator behind the popular TikTok account @careercoachmandy, where she has built a community around honest conversations about burnout, toxic workplaces, imposter syndrome, and career transitions.

In this conversation, we talk with Mandy about why career pain is rarely “just work.” She explains how layoffs, toxic bosses, burnout, and professional identity loss can feel like being punched in the face, leaving people disoriented and unsure how to move forward. Mandy’s approach starts with naming what happened, recognizing the patterns, and rebuilding from a place of internal validation rather than external approval.

We also explore the liminal space that comes after a major career rupture, when the old identity is gone but the new one has not fully formed. Mandy reminds us that healing is often less dramatic than we expect. It happens through small, consistent acts of self-care, honest reflection, and learning to trust our own inner signals again.

The Biggest Helping: Today’s Most Important Takeaway

“Listen to your gut”

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Thank you for joining us on The Daily Helping with Dr. Shuster. Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube to download more food for the brain, knowledge from the experts, and tools to win at life.

Resources:

• Heal Your Career Wounds: Navigating the Trauma of Today’s Workplace
• Mandy Tang on TikTok
• Mandy Tang’s Website

Produced by NOVA

Ian Sandler is the co-founder of Riley’s Way Foundation, a nonprofit he created with his wife, Mackenzie, after the tragic loss of their nine-year-old daughter, Riley. Built in honor of Riley’s extraordinary gift for friendship, the foundation empowers young leaders to use kindness and empathy to create meaningful change in their communities.

In our conversation, Ian shares how Riley’s Way evolved from early school-based programming into a national movement centered on youth-led impact. Through initiatives like the Call for Kindness and the Youth Leadership Retreat, Riley’s Way gives teens and young adults funding, mentorship, community, and the confidence to lead with compassion. What makes their work so powerful is that young people are not just participating, they are shaping the direction of the organization itself.

Ian also challenges the way we think about leadership. In a world where young people are facing enormous stress, anxiety, and uncertainty, he reminds us that kindness is not softness. It is a practical leadership skill, a business advantage, and one of the most important tools we can give the next generation

The Biggest Helping: Today’s Most Important Takeaway

“In order to do any good in this world, in order to help your family, to help your friends, help your community, you've got to wake up every morning and really love the person you're looking at in the mirror.”

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Thank you for joining us on The Daily Helping with Dr. Shuster. Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube to download more food for the brain, knowledge from the experts, and tools to win at life.

Resources:

• Riley’s Way Foundation
• Call For Kindness

Produced by NOVA

Today, we welcome back world-renowned consciousness teacher Peter Russell, author of How to Meditate Without Even Trying, along with 11 other books including Letting Go of Nothing and From Science to God. Peter has taught meditation for more than 50 years, inspiring people around the world through his writing, retreats, talks, and online courses. In this conversation, we explore why meditation does not have to feel intimidating, rigid, or difficult.

Peter reframes meditation as “sitting quietly with yourself,” a simple practice of relaxing attention rather than forcing the mind to be still. He explains how thoughts naturally pull us into the past or future, and how meditation helps us return to the present without judgment. We also talk about mini and micro meditations, the small pauses between daily tasks that can become powerful moments of calm, clarity, and reconnection.

This episode is a gentle invitation to stop trying so hard. Peter reminds us that meditation is not about reaching some perfect state. It is about softening, noticing, letting go, and coming home to ourselves, even for just a few seconds at a time.

The Biggest Helping: Today’s Most Important Takeaway

Be gentle. Be gentle with yourself.

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Thank you for joining us on The Daily Helping with Dr. Shuster. Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube to download more food for the brain, knowledge from the experts, and tools to win at life.

Resources:

• How to Meditate Without Even Trying
• Peter Russell’s Website
• Episode 226: Letting Go of Nothing with Peter Russell

Produced by NOVA