EP 038: Ten Years Off Media: Finding Sovereignty Beyond the Narratives We're Fed with Melissa Om

A conversation with former newsroom producer, Melissa Om. Essential listening for anyone who has ever wondered whether the life they're living is truly theirs. What if the noise you've learned to tune out is actually the very thing shaping every decision you make? Melissa Om spent nearly 14 years as a television producer at CTV Montreal. She understood intimately how stories were made, how narratives were packaged, and how mass consent was manufactured one news cycle at a time. And then she walked away. Not just from her career, but from media entirely. News, movies, music with lyrics, Netflix, social media. All of it. That was ten years ago. In this conversation, Melissa shares what happened when she stopped consuming the world's stories and started listening for her own. We talk about burnout as a portal, the courage it takes to go to Mongolia with a backpack and no plan, and what inner sovereignty actually feels like when the noise finally clears. This one will stay with you. Links + Resources Full show notes Shop: 30% off Rise + Shine: Guided Path to Heart-Led Living and Leadership

A conversation with obé Fitness Co-Founder Ashley Mills. Essential listening for anyone romanticizing startup life, founders considering outside funding, people in major transitions, and anyone who needs to hear the whole truth about building and letting go. Everyone celebrates the start-up. The acquisition. The big payday. But nobody talks about what it actually costs to sell something you poured your soul into. Or the fact that when you take venture capital, you're signing up for an outcome you might not want. Ashley Mills co-founded obé Fitness after leaving a successful career at CAA. She created a fitness platform before digital fitness was a thing, raised millions, and then it was time to sell. Not because the business failed, or because she necessarily wanted to, but because that's the trade you make with venture funding. This conversation is honest in ways most entrepreneurship stories aren't. About the corners outside investment can back you into. About choosing purpose over profit and still ending up in a transaction. This is ultimately about the liminal space - when you're left asking who you are without the thing you built. Links + Resources Full show notes Shop: 30% off Rise + Shine: Guided Path to Heart-Led Living and Leadership  

A conversation with SoYoung Founder Catherine Choi. Essential listening for anyone who has overcome the worst, achieved something worth celebrating and still feels a quiet ache that it's not it anymore. There is a particular kind of suffering in building a life that looks great from the outside while something on the inside quietly goes silent. You keep showing up. You keep pushing. You tell yourself it will feel different when you hit the next milestone. It never does. Catherine Choi knows this well. She built a successful, mission-driven product brand, got her bags into some of the most sought-after retailers in North America, and spent years wondering why none of it felt like enough. The answer had nothing to do with the business. In this conversation, we go all the way back. To a childhood marked by control and fear. To the four years of heroin addiction that started the moment she finally had freedom. To the unexplained gift of getting clean. And eventually, to the volcano that led her to dismantle her business, her marriage, and everything she thought her life was supposed to be. Links + Resources Full show notes Shop: 30% off Rise + Shine: Guided Path to Heart-Led Living and Leadership

Essential listening for anyone who has ever wondered if the hustle is worth it, or quietly suspected there might be a different, simpler, truer way. What if the entrepreneurial dream you've been sold is actually just a very well-marketed story? In this solo episode, Meghan Telpner takes an honest, unfiltered look at the mythology of entrepreneurship. Not to tear it down, but to ask a more important question: what does freedom actually mean to you? Having spent 15 years building and ultimately walking away from a successful business, Meghan reflects on the gap between the performance of success and the experience of it. From the seven goals, to the accolades that come with an actual price tag, to the moment stepping back from social media cracked something wide open, this episode peels back the highlight reel to look at what's actually underneath it. This isn't a cautionary tale. It's an invitation. To stop measuring your life against someone else's metrics. To figure out what you actually need. And to consider that sometimes the most courageous pivot isn't starting something new. It's being honest about what isn't working. Links + Resources Full show notes Shop: 30% off Rise + Shine: Guided Path to Heart-Led Living and Leadership

A conversation with Karla Treadway, Marketing Strategist for Brave Brands and Freedom Focused Entrepreneurs. Essential listening for: anyone trying to plan their way to certainty, people who feel behind because they haven't "settled," and those ready to trade the myth of safety for something more honest. Maybe you've been looking for the thing that will finally make you feel safe. The right place, the right plan, the right amount of money in the bank. This episode will make you think differently about safety, security, and what courage actually requires when nothing stays the same. Karla Treadway is here to tell you: it doesn't exist. And that's actually the good news. Because once you stop chasing the myth of safety, you can start building something real. A life that adapts. A life that pivots. A life where you're not waiting to arrive because you know the work never stops and that's okay. In this conversation, we talk about what it actually means to live sovereign in a world that keeps trying to sell you certainty. We wade into the messy middle of propaganda, the loss of nuance, and why we're all ants in a jar being shaken while we attack each other instead of looking up. Links + Resources Full show notes Shop: 30% off Rise + Shine: Guided Path to Heart-Led Living and Leadership

A conversation with filmmaker, DJ and producer Jonathan Amar. Essential listening for anyone who's achieved what they thought they wanted but can't shake the feeling that something needs to shift. What happens when the stability you worked so hard to build starts to feel like a cage? Jonathan Amar was a successful videographer before he could legally drink. By his early twenties, he had steady clients, consistent income, and a skill set people valued. From the outside, he'd figured it out. Somewhere along the way, Jonathan started feeling uninspired and he had to decide whether to stay in the safe lane or risk it all to follow what felt truer. This conversation is about what it takes to add something new without abandoning what works, why "one step at a time" is the only way forward when you can't see the whole path, and what becomes possible when you stop treating security like the end goal. This isn't a story about burning it all down. It's about expansion, integration, and trusting that your body is trying to tell you something worth listening to. Links + Resources Full show notes Shop: 30% off Rise + Shine: Guided Path to Heart-Led Living and Leadership

Essential listening for anyone ready to see beyond what their eyes show them. What if the key to your next transformation isn't in your mind—but in how your body processes what it sees? Dr. Stelios Nikolakakis (Dr. Nik) thought he had his path figured out as a successful optometrist. Then, expecting twins, he lost one son in utero, and his other was born at 26 weeks, diagnosed with cerebral palsy, and everything Dr. Nik thought he knew about vision—and life—cracked wide open. What he discovered changed not just his practice, but his entire understanding of human potential: 80% of the brain is visual, and your eyes reveal what's happening in your internal world before your conscious mind catches up. In this conversation, we explore neuro-visual optometry, the Quantum Access Method, and why the body doesn't lie. Dr. Nik shares how crisis became his gateway to purpose, why letting go isn't about releasing fear but elevating toward possibility, and how shifting your frequency changes everything. If you've been waiting for permission to trust what your body knows—or wondering how personal tragedy can transform into your life's greatest work—this episode will show you the way. Links + Resources Full show notes Shop: 30% off Rise + Shine: Guided Path to Heart-Led Living and Leadership

Essential listening for high achievers who've realized that success without joy is just sophisticated suffering.  What happens when you get fired from your own company, rejected from art school, and lose everything you thought defined success? For Danielle Laporte, it became the doorway to something infinitely more powerful. In this conversation with bestselling author and entrepreneur, Danielle shares her journey from running a Washington DC think tank to becoming one of the most beloved spiritual teachers of our time. She reveals why she stopped doing things to find joy and started bringing joy to everything she does, the moment she knew she needed to release her attachment to outcomes, and the practice that helped her transform heartbreak into manifestation. Danielle doesn't sugarcoat it: there's still suffering and tears. But there's also a lightness that comes from no longer proving, only sharing with those who want to come along. Links + Resources Full show notes Shop: 30% off Rise + Shine: Guided Path to Heart-Led Living and Leadership

Essential listening for women ready to stop performing transformation and start living it. What if the courage to change your entire life starts with how you spend the first thirty minutes of your morning? In this conversation, Meghan sits down with her friend of 18 years, Catherine Farquharson—a former photographer turned leading mindset coach—to explore why brilliant women stay stuck even when they know what needs to change. Catherine reveals why positive affirmations without aligned feeling are just bypassing, and the devotional discipline of showing up for yourself first. This isn't about grand gestures—it's about building the self-trust that makes courageous pivots possible. Because the thing about changing your life? It actually changes your life. Links + Resources Full show notes Shop: 30% off Rise + Shine: Guided Path to Heart-Led Living and Leadership

What if the biggest barrier to your courageous pivot isn't courage at all—but clarity about your numbers? In this practical and empowering conversation, fractional CFO Christine Labate dismantles the money fears that keep people trapped in misaligned lives and careers. From understanding the difference between revenue and profit, to building a genuine financial safety net for major transitions, Christine translates complex financial concepts into actionable wisdom that anyone can use—whether you're planning to leave your job, scale your business, or simply create more freedom in your life. She shares her own journey of overcoming limiting money beliefs and building a profitable business on her terms, while offering a roadmap for how understanding your finances becomes the foundation for living authentically. If you've ever thought "I can't afford to follow my heart," this episode will show you that money isn't the enemy of change—it's the tool that makes transformation possible. Essential listening for anyone who suspects their financial fears are keeping them from the life they're meant to live. Links + Resources Full show notes Money Mastery - A wildly practical approach to financial literacy, empowered money mindset, and wealth building for a life of joy and freedom (use code PIVOT30 at checkout to save 30% on the course).