Curveball: A podcast about possibility

This one doesn’t start with a gentle nudge.

It starts with everything… disappearing.

In a matter of hours.

DeAnna Crawford went from stable, hopeful, and building a life for her kids to broke, in debt, and wondering how she was going to put food on the table. Not because she made a reckless decision – but because trust was broken in the worst possible way.

And if that wasn’t enough? Add in single motherhood, three jobs, school, and the kind of shame that makes you want to disappear.

Cool, co...

She did everything right.

Climbed the ladder. Put in the years. Landed the title. The paycheck. The “you made it” moment.

And then… realized she hated it.

In this episode, Molly Smith shares what happens when the version of success you worked 15 years for suddenly feels completely misaligned – and what it takes to walk away from it on purpose.

We get into the quiet burnout that builds over time, the coping habits that sneak in when something’s off, and the moment Molly said the scariest sentence of her life out loud.

Danielle Blum sat down to write a thriller.

What she didn’t plan on? Interviewing over 100 people with dissociative identity disorder (DID), scrapping the story she thought she was telling, and becoming an advocate for mental health and misunderstood diagnoses in the process.

In this Curveball episode, Danie shares how a novel idea turned into something much deeper  –  a calling. We talk about her journey from curiosity to compassion, what it means to hold other people’s stories with care, and how her research changed her  –  not just as a writer, but as a human.

We also...

If resilience had a face, it might look a lot like David Jarvis.

After more than two decades of service in the British Army, David was abruptly and medically discharged – navigating permanent injury, PTSD, and the jarring loss of identity that comes with removing the uniform for the last time. 

And just when he was about to compete in the Invictus Games for Team UK, life handed him one more curveball – a Type 1 diabetes diagnosis so severe, doctors told him he’d be dead in days if he hadn’t shown up when he did.

Did...

If your business has become a 24/7 hustle factory run by your inner control freak, take a breath. This episode might just change everything.

Most entrepreneurs are not built for burnout  –  but we’re really good at walking straight into it with open arms.

In this episode, Enel Soeson (co-founder of Denk B2B) serves up a truth sandwich about why most solo entrepreneurs are overworked, underpaid, and running on fumes. Spoiler: It’s not because you’re not good enough. It’s because you’re chasing the wrong clients.

Enel is on a mission to hel...

No investors. No perfect English. Just a notebook, a deep faith, and a flavor-packed wing recipe. This is how Lizzie Balthazar Soria started building her dream from the kitchen table  –  one leap of faith at a time.

What if the best thing you ever did… started with a notebook in your kitchen and a quiet whisper from God?

That’s how Lizzie Balthazar Soria launched her first business  –  a food truck called Lizzie’s Spices of Life  –  even though English wasn’t her first language and fear was a constant companion. From slow nights and language barriers to...

Five life-shattering curveballs. One giant truth: you can’t outrun overwhelm, but you can outsmart it.

When you’re a solo mom commuting four hours a day to run a male-dominated family business in Brooklyn  –  while navigating miscarriage, divorce, abuse, and suicide loss  –  something’s gotta give. For Corrie LoGiudice (a.k.a. Cory L.), what gave was her entire identity.

In this episode, Corrie breaks down the five curveballs that nearly took her out  –  and how she turned them into a method for helping high-achieving women stop drowning in their ambition. Her “Overwhelm Culprits” framework isn’t just c...

What do you do when your world falls apart one heartbreak at a time?

For Katie Jordan, the hits just kept coming  –  a miscarriage, the loss of her grandmother, father, sister, and then, her marriage. All in just a few years. She was grieving while working full-time, parenting a toddler, and trying to remember who she was before life turned upside down.

In this soul-baring conversation, Katie shares how she climbed out of the pit of despair and rebuilt her life  –  not with a five-step plan or overnight success story, but with a daily de...

What do a rotten egg, two scoops of Raisin Bran, and a Radisson Inn with a chlorine stench have in common? 

According to Laura Belgray – everything you need to write your guts out and turn it into gold.

This episode is a love letter to the misfits, the late bloomers, and the writers who still cringe at “authenticity.” Laura Belgray (yes, that Laura Belgray – copy queen, Talking Shrimp founder, and author of Tough Titties) joins Heather to talk about curveballs, cringe-worthy marketing jargon, her favorite AI tricks, and how to write like a real human instead o...

She’s built businesses from Google searches, walked away from law school with zero regrets, and could roof your house tomorrow if she had to. (Seriously.)

Taylor Bradford doesn’t follow straight lines. She doesn’t need to.

From law school to oil and gas to running her own event rental company – Taylor’s journey is one big entrepreneurial improv show, powered by grit, gumption, and a lifelong crush on Google University. She’s also the voice behind And So (formerly Boss Girl Creative), a decade-strong podcast that’s chronicled her wild ride from perfectionist to powerhouse...

She was teaching autistic kids how to regulate – while quietly unraveling herself.

Kassandra Alvarez looked like she had it all together. Board-certified behavior analyst, climbing the ranks, thriving in her field. But behind the scenes? Toxic relationships. Burnout. Addiction. And a brutal realization: she was teaching skills to kids that she wasn’t living herself.

That truth cracked her open – and ultimately saved her.

In this episode, Kassandra shares how she broke free from burnout by turning her clinical insight inward, quit job-hopping for external validation, and started modeling the regulation she once only c...

She was six when the world told her she was wrong – for coloring outside the lines. So she spent decades getting it all right. Until illness forced everything to stop, and her inner artist finally picked up the brush.

What spilled out next? Messy, wild, glorious truth.

Deborah Ann Baker was the model of perfection – a PhD in counseling psychology, the gold medals, the mask that never cracked. Until her body did. A sudden diagnosis brought her life to a halt. No more pushing. No more pretending.

And in that stillness? She met her...

He lost the one identity that had defined him forever. Then he lost the job. And then almost lost his marriage.

But this isn't a story about failure. It's about what you do next.

Tony Coyne is a former Yale baseball star turned corporate leader, dad, and accidental life philosopher. He wrote the book The Curveball Life – no connection to this podcast, though it's kind of perfect – to unpack how we bounce back when everything we built our lives on gets stripped away.

In this conversation, Tony talks about navigating brutal setbacks (think: a ca...

She spent 15 years becoming a doctor. And then she quit.

Dr. Zarya Rubin did what most people only fantasize about: she stepped off the treadmill before it broke her completely. After chasing the dream of medicine all the way to Columbia and beyond, she hit a wall – the kind you don’t bounce back from with a vacation or a green juice. It took a literal wake-up call (a phone call, actually) to snap her out of the “I’m fine” trance and into a radically new life.

In this conversation, Zarya shares what no one tells...

She tried to be the perfect picture of Zen – silent retreat, serene vibes, inner peace, and all that. But it only made her more anxious.

Turns out, healing didn’t come from silence. It came from dance floors, karaoke nights, and finally listening to her body.

Hannah Talbot was the last person you'd expect to become a meditation teacher. Too loud. Too busy. Too movement-obsessed. But when a traditional 10-day silent retreat left her more anxious than enlightened, she realized something big:
 Stillness isn’t safe for everyone.

In this conversation, Hannah shares...

What happens when a “painfully shy” woman loses her job, sells her house, packs up her family (and two dogs), and starts a business from a 300-square-foot RV?

Turns out, she finds her voice — and helps hundreds of speakers find theirs, too.

Nona Prather used to be the quiet one. The behind-the-scenes girl. The “don’t call on me” kid who hated public speaking and avoided the spotlight like it was contagious. But then 2020 hit like a wrecking ball. Nona and her husband both lost their jobs. Instead of spiraling, they sold everything, moved into an RV with t...

What do you do when your body taps out mid-shampoo and leaves you holding the scissors and the pieces of your old life?

Ronni Morgan was doing what she loved – building her business behind the chair, running, living life full throttle – when her hip suddenly gave out. Right in the middle of a haircut. What followed was a medical mystery tour that included two hip replacements by 31, a diagnosis of hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a neck that couldn’t hold up her head, and chronic pain that redefined her entire identity.

In this vulnerable, funny, deeply human...

What do you do when your TEDx is about to blow up… and a pandemic blows everything up instead?

Robbie Samuels had it all lined up. TEDx talk? Check. Big breakout moment? Imminent. Ten years of reputation-building as the go-to networking expert? Locked.

And then March 2020 hit.

In a matter of days, the world shut down–and Robbie’s in-person speaking career went poof. Most people would’ve panicked. Robbie pivoted. He threw a virtual happy hour on Zoom, invented a whole new offer in real time, and rebuilt his business in a way that...

What do you do when life pitches you nine curveballs… in two years? If you’re Bruce Cryer, you take the hit, heal your heart (literally), and come back tap dancing on titanium hips.

Bruce Cryer had it all dialed in. Broadway star turned CEO of HeartMath, globetrotting educator, and champion of heart-brain coherence. Then life went full demolition mode: bladder cancer, four staph infections (one in his blood), his mom died, he got divorced, and both hips needed replacing.

All that – in under two years.

But here’s the kicker. He didn’t just rec...

Her husband was diagnosed with cancer. She quit her job.
Not the plot of a rom-com – Toby Myles’s real life.

And it led her exactly where she was meant to go.

Toby Myles had a plan – a dream, really. Leave her corporate job of 15 years, grow her handmade jewelry biz, ride into the sunset with her newly retired husband and a few restored motorcycles. But life had other ideas: incurable blood cancer kind of ideas.

Most people would cling to the job, the benefits, the security blanket. Toby handed in her notice...

She had the credentials, the clients, the “dream career.” Then her body hit the brakes so hard she ended up in a neurology unit, unable to walk.

What Fleur Sclarandis discovered in the aftermath wasn’t just healing – it was a new way to live.

At the height of her career as a psychotherapist and certified coach, Fleur Sclarandis was doing everything “right.” She was helping others, hitting milestones, showing up with a smile – and feeling absolutely dead inside. Until one morning, her legs just… stopped working.

That medical mystery became her body’s way of saying en...

She failed accounting. Became a top storyboard artist. Got booted by the industry. Painted 40 canvases in 30 days. Sold 11 in an hour. Susan Peppler’s story is what happens when you follow your joy and trust your gut – even when it’s covered in paint.

Susan Pepler didn’t set out to become a professional fine artist. She just kept following what felt almost impossible – and then doing it anyway.

In this vibrant and joy-splashed episode, Susan shares how she went from flunking business school (twice) to becoming a wildly successful painter, selling giant florals for $11K a piece...

He spent decades training for fights in the ring. But the biggest one? It showed up uninvited, with no gloves and no warning.

Shane Swartz grew up in the boxing world — breaking records at 7, training under his dad, and going pro by the time most kids were still learning long division. But in his 40s, mid-sparring session with one of his fighters, he felt a lump on his neck. What followed wasn’t a title bout — it was cancer. Stage: terrifying. Timing: brutal. Twin toddlers at home. A wife. No backup plan.

In this raw and po...

She survived blood clots in her brain, a crumbling marriage, a depression so deep she couldn’t get out of bed – and came back as a full-blown joyful anarchist. 

Now, Mama Kate’s here to help you torch the “shoulds” and light up your soul.

Kate White – aka Mama Kate – has been through it. Fibromyalgia. Liver disease. Brain bleeds. A gastric bypass that almost ended her marriage. Retirement that nearly broke her. And underneath it all, a lifelong secret: she was raised in a seance room by psychic parents but spent decades cloaking her truth just to stay sa...

She thought she’d swan dive into motherhood and belly-flop back into boss mode. But postpartum depression had other plans.

Emily King had the dream life on paper – a thriving business, a new baby, a panini press (a true sign of adulthood). But what came next wasn’t the sweet maternity leave she pictured. 

It was darkness. Full-on, heart-racing, can’t-sleep, can’t-eat postpartum anxiety and depression.

In this raw and deeply human conversation, Emily shares what it’s like when your body and brain betray you at the same time. The breaking point, the me...

She checked all the boxes – dream job, dream guy, dream health – and still had a panic attack in her graduation cap. What her body told her next changed her whole damn life.

Loren Cellentani looked like she had it all together. Art school grad. Landed a fashion industry job. Clean-eating her way to Instagram-worthy “wellness.” 

But when she had a panic attack at her college graduation, everything cracked. Turns out, beneath the curated life was chronic anxiety dressed up in affirmations and quinoa bowls.

In this deeply honest, beautifully woo-but-practical conversation, Loren unpacks how her a...

The marriage unraveled. Her body gave out. Her big-deal career fell apart. And somehow… she got happier.

Here's how Shawn Mahshie flipped her rock-bottom into a life of peace, purpose, and pretty unbelievable healing.

Shawn Mahshie doesn’t just talk about transformation – she embodies it. After her health, marriage, and career all collapsed like a row of sad dominoes, she found herself sobbing in a clawfoot tub, realizing she’d abandoned herself one small compromise at a time. That moment cracked her wide open – and kicked off a two-decade journey into energy medicine, nervous system healing, a...

She had the PhD, the healthcare leadership job, and the burnout badge of honor. Then COVID and E. coli said, “Sit down.” So she did – and stood up for her life.

Before she became a burnout coach and psychology-whisperer to high achievers, Jesseca Tighe was a therapist-turned-healthcare exec just trying to keep it all together. She had the title, the inbox, and the never-ending calls at all hours. 

But the truth? She was one exhale away from collapse. 

Then the curveballs came in fast – first COVID, then E. coli, then back-to-back losses that left her p...

She left her marriage, her children, and her entire identity as a cardiac nurse – because her body begged her to. It nearly broke her… until it didn’t.

For decades, Jodi Anne Law was the picture of Western medicine: cardiac nurse, ICU shifts, adrenaline-fueled precision. But her own heart had other plans. After a breakdown left her sobbing through yoga classes and doubting everything she thought she knew – including what it meant to be a good mother – Jodi walked away from the life that was breaking her down, one ignored signal at a time.

In this raw...

She finally cracked the code on mindful eating – then life flipped the table. A terrifying diagnosis. A stress spiral. A breakthrough she never saw coming.

Claire Ketchum had finally found food freedom after 20 years of yo-yo dieting. Mindful eating wasn’t just working – it felt like magic. Until her 9-year-old daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and suddenly food became math, medicine, and anxiety. The mindful bliss was gone, replaced by panic and guilt. 

In this powerful, illuminating conversation, Claire breaks down how she escaped the chronic stress loop – that sneaky cycle where stress hijacks your will...

She was taking care of everyone – her parents, her child, her career, and someone with cancer. Then she realized she was disappearing.

Rachel Collins was juggling a demanding HR career, raising a son, and helping care for her aging parents – when someone else in her life was suddenly diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. 

With zero warning, she became the full-time caregiver for a full-time crisis. She held it together like only an oldest daughter can – but beneath the to-do lists and doctor visits, Rachel felt herself vanishing. Until a moment of clarity (and a good cry with gi...

She left a penis off her sketch – and it cracked open a decades-long pattern of shame she didn’t even know she was carrying.

When Michelle Dovey sat down to draw a statue of Apollo in Florence, she didn’t mean to leave something out. But there it was – a blank spot where the genitals should’ve been. This accidental omission turned into a revelation: her artistic gaze had been unconsciously edited by years of shame, modesty, and good girl conditioning. So what did she do? She started drawing cocks. A hundred of them. 

The result is h...

He lost his marriage, his home, his business, and his health. He hit rock bottom – and called it the best year of his life.

Dallas Collis didn’t just get a curveball – he got the whole pitching machine. 

In one brutal year, he was diagnosed with cancer, hit a breaking point with alcoholism, and watched his marriage, family, and business fall apart. And somehow, he looks back on that year and says, “It was the best thing that ever happened to me.” 

In this gripping, grace-filled conversation, Dallas shares how he stopped chasing safety and s...

She woke up in an upside-down car, miles from home, with a shattered pelvis – and still tried to project manage the rescue.

Lillian Mumford was riding in an Uber, two states away from home, when a car crash turned her world literally upside down. One moment she was the new hire on a business trip – the next, she was lying on the roof of a totaled vehicle, unable to move. What followed was a year of learning to walk again, living with traumatic brain injury, and figuring out how to ask for help when every bone in her...

He spent years saving his kids’ lives. Then he lost his son – and found his voice.

Jason Tuttle was in the trenches of parenting in a way most of us can’t imagine. His two children were born with rare, complex medical needs – non-verbal, seizure-prone, and in need of constant care.

Jason became their full-time caregiver, learning to read every cue, every silence, and navigating hospital stays with the precision of a NASCAR pit crew.

Then, in 2022, Jason faced the unimaginable – the sudden loss of his 15-year-old son, Zachary. What happened next? Instead of retreat...

Her backup plan needed a backup plan. Then Tiffany got creative – and made $7,000 off Craigslist without leaving her house.

Tiffany Archer was cruising through life with not one but two careers – flight attendant and real estate agent – until the pandemic took them both out in a matter of weeks. No flights. No listings. No paycheck. But instead of panicking, Tiffany did what all great curveball survivors do – she got scrappy. 

What started with a desperate Craigslist search turned into a profitable real estate investing business, her first $7K deal, and a complete mindset shift. In this c...

She saw the pandemic coming before it had a name. Then she manifested a private jet in under two weeks. But the real plot twist? She’s here to help you do the same – no magic wand required.

What do you do when life flings a flaming curveball at your head? If you’re Allison Al-Khemia, you turn it into something sparkly, meaningful, and maybe even airborne.

Allison isn’t just a quantum manifestation coach. She’s a lifelong intuitive who’s been seeing visions since she was three, raised three boys as a single mom, alchemi...

She got fired from her “safe” job after 17 years. Then she hiked the Inca Trail, discovered ADHD, and became a financial coach. (Not in that order.)

Sherry Andrews spent nearly two decades climbing the corporate ladder at a cheese packaging plant – no joke. She was loyal, reliable, and doing what she thought she was supposed to do. Then the company handed her a pink slip and a very abrupt identity crisis. Suddenly jobless, in shock, and forced to reevaluate everything, Sherry went on a literal trek (to Peru), got real about her finances, and built a whole new ca...

She spent 15 years chasing a dream that almost killed her. Then came the burnout, the grief, the tango – and the decision to turn back.

Dr. Zarya Rubin was supposed to be living her dream. She was on track to become a neurologist, deep into her fellowship at Columbia, doing the doctor thing after fifteen years of training. But the dream had started to feel like a beautifully wrapped trap – and then came the wake-up call: a sudden death, soul-crushing burnout, and the realization that her body, mind, and life were waving giant red flags. In this episode, Zary...

She was living the travel blogger dream – until the dream got old, COVID wiped her income, and Google finished the job.

Taylor Lorenz had what most of us daydream about: a life of nonstop travel, a successful blog, and money rolling in while she crisscrossed the globe. 

But behind the highlight reel? A serious case of burnout, loneliness, and a creeping sense that her dream life wasn’t dreamy anymore. 

Then COVID hit, slashing her income by 90% overnight. Just as she pivoted to writing about yoga – boom – Google’s algorithm tanked her traffic again. Curve...