She talks about runway — real, financial runway — and the parts of this transition that don't make it into the highlight reel. She shares Ira Glass's concept of the taste/execution gap and why the only answer is more reps. And she brings it all back to a single question she's refusing to stop asking: what do I actually want to create?

In this episode:

• One year since leaving her last job — what that anniversary actually feels like, and the context she thinks is missing from most "I made the leap" stories
• The Ira Glass taste vs. execution gap, and why comparing yourself to someone with a thousand reps when you have twenty is both humbling and human
• Brené Brown's arena metaphor — and Kathryn's honest reckoning with the times she's been in the cheap seats
• AI as temptation to "optimize": the HBR finding that AI doesn't reduce work, it intensifies it — and what that's looked like inside a team of one
• What her acting teacher said about voice — and what it clarified about why she's making this at all

Episodes referenced in this episode: Episodes linked to YouTube — also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

• Esosa Osa — Who Tells Your Story Decides Your Future
• Asma Khan — I Came Out Glistening Like Gold
• Franziska Gonder — Leadership That Heals The World
• Stacey Lindsay — This Life, Your Life, Belongs To You 
• Jiore Craig — Dark Hope & the Work of World-Building
• Jedidiah Jenkins — The Authority of Your Own Questions
• John Markland — The Truth Beneath the Identities We Build

Referenced in this episode:

• Tristan Harris on Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso
• Ira Glass on Ability vs Taste
• AI Doesn't Reduce Work, It Intensifies It — Harvard Business Review
• Resignation letter from Mrinank Sharma, Anthropic
• The AI Doc

Connect with The Truth Is

Instagram: @thetruthispodcast 

YouTube: @thetruthis_pod 

Substack: Kathryn Flaschner

CREDITS 

Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner 

Production & Editing by Anton LaPlume 

Music by Will Savino — wsavino.com 

Visual Identity by Sarah Gainor & Jonathan Bush 

Advised by Natalie Tulloch

What she noticed as a journalist, and then as a woman entering her forties, was a gap. A season of life where women are releasing what hasn’t been working, questioning the lies they’ve been carrying about their worth, their lives, their possibilities. A season that didn’t have enough honest storytelling around it. She writes about feeling a “perpetual homesickness for my own truth” and that feels like the wound underneath this book. The reason she had to write it. The writing became the healing and the road back to truth.

What struck me and what I keep returning to through the arc of this season is how this book invites us past the surface of concepts we hear constantly but rarely interrogate fully. Patriarchy. Worth. Identity. Stacey’s journalism takes us deeper, so we can actually reckon with our own liberation.

Reading this book felt like meeting a collective of women who had challenged the status quo, with each story Stacey pulls together as a paradigm-shifting reimagining of what is possible in our lifetimes.

What she built is not a self-help book. It is not a how-to. It is something rarer. A mirror held up by a journalist who has spent her whole career in the room when people finally say the thing they haven’t said out loud before. And this time, one of those people was her.

Her mother told her at fifteen: don’t lose your identity. Never lose your identity. What Stacey witnessed in the years that followed became the quiet center of everything she built. This book feels like a dedication and a calling to awaken what has remained unlived.

This conversation goes into the territory this show was made for — what it costs to contort yourself to fit the stories you were handed, what starts to shift when you stop, and what becomes possible on the other side of that reckoning. For Stacey, for the women in this book, and for all of us who recognize ourselves in it.

We talk about:

• Her formation as a journalist and the career she built before she turned the lens on herself
• The reckoning with having contributed to the very narratives she is now questioning — the binary thinking, the patriarchal ideals, the capitalism she helped fuel
• Her mother’s story — the warning she gave Stacey at fifteen, the life she couldn’t hold onto, and what witnessing that did
• The invisible inner prison — what patriarchal conditioning actually feels like from the inside, not as a definition but as a lived experience
• Why ambition isn’t disappearing — it’s being redirected, and the difference matters
• Work that becomes extractive, and what it means to build boundaries not to do less but to protect what actually feeds you
• The Autumn Queen — the mythological archetype missing from our storytelling, the one that lives between mother and crone, and why its absence has been anything but accidental
• Money, worth, and sweat equity — the conversation women have been conditioned out of having
• Relationships she stayed in longer than she should have and what she would tell her younger self now
• Social media and the subtle, relentless ways it erodes self-trust
• What the writing process actually looked like and why finishing this book required the same faith she is asking her readers to find
• The season of life she is in right now, and why taking care of herself is the most important thing she can do for everyone she loves

ABOUT STACEY LINDSAY

Stacey Lindsay is a multimedia journalist, writer, and editor whose work has spanned television, radio, print, and digital media. Known for her warm, empathetic approach, she has interviewed hundreds of public figures and civilians on topics like spirituality, health, civics, politics, identity, art, sexuality, women’s equality, and work. Her upcoming book, BEING 40: The Decade of Letting Go—and Embracing Who We Are, is out May 5th.

Instagram: @stacylindsey

Substack: Andi

Pre-order BEING 40: Bookshop.org or wherever books are sold — audio, e-book, and physical editions available

Stacey recommends buying from an indie bookstore or Bookshop.org if you can.

MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE: 

• Valerie Reign — coined Patriarchal Stress Disorder and the concept of the invisible inner prison women carry
• Steph Jagger — women’s coach and writer who introduced Stacey to the concept of the Autumn Queen as the missing archetype
• Dené Logan — author, therapist, and facilitator who names this phase the Enchantress — a season of deep embodied knowing and return to self
• Julia Cameron — The Artist’s Way and the practice of morning pages
• Adrienne Rich — “Until we can understand the assumptions in which we were drenched, we cannot know ourselves”

CONNECT WITH THE TRUTH IS

Instagram: @thetruthispodcast

YouTube: @thetruthis_pod

Substack: Kathryn Flaschner

CREDITS

Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner

Production & Editing by Anton LaPlume

Music by Will Savino — wsavino.com

Visual Identity by Sarah Gainor & Jonathan Bush

Advised by Natalie Tulloch

Topics: midlife women, reinvention, women’s identity, female ambition, patriarchal conditioning, women and work, self-worth

Franziska Gonder arrived on this show as what I can only describe as a missing puzzle piece — for my own understanding and for the inquiry this season has been journeying us toward. Guest after guest this season has been pulling a thread about what it means to live true to ourselves, to hear ourselves beneath the noise, to create our lives from that place.

Franzi is the person who arrived this season with something I hadn't encountered in quite this way before — work that holds the wisdom of the body, the culture we are navigating, the organizations we inhabit, and the seasons of life we move through, all at once.

Franziska Gonder is a global somatic leadership coach and founder of Leadership That Heals. She works with high-achieving leaders and founders across industries — boardrooms, venture capital, organizations in crisis. What drew her to this work was a curiosity she developed inside the work itself. As she was advising leaders and organizations, she began to notice something — there was the work people were doing, and then there was how they were doing it. The patterns under pressure. The emotional life nobody was naming. And when she started creating space for those conversations, people told her: this is it. This is what I need. She followed that thread all the way here. And her own life — the losses, the reckonings, the long journey back to her own body — became inseparable from the methodology she built.

Her work is an exhale. A return. The basics. The kind of simplicity that turns out to be the most sophisticated thing in the room.

In this conversation we go somewhere I haven't gone on this show before — she guides me through a somatic experience in real time. And what surfaced for me in those few minutes is something that may seem subtle, but left me speechless. That the wisdom I was looking for was already here — all I needed was the guidance and the space to turn my attention and curiosity inward.

That, it turns out, is also the whole point of this show.

We talk about:

• The relationship with choice — what it actually means to lead your own life, reclaim your agency, and stop being driven by external pressure
• How the nervous system of a leader shapes the nervous system of an entire team — and what becomes possible when leadership is regulated, present, and emotionally aware
• Leadership that extracts vs. leadership that heals — why belonging, safety, and dignity are not soft ideals but the actual foundations of high performance and organizational culture
• The cost of performing the role at work — the emotional debt, the switching cost, and the slow trauma of leaving parts of yourself out day after day
• Somatic intelligence and somatic leadership — what it means to lead from the body, not just the mind, and why this is the missing piece in how we think about leadership development
• AI, creative friction, and human connection — why removing friction from our work may be removing the very thing that makes it ours
• What she calls Team Human — and why she believes we are on the cusp of a rise in relational intelligence, authentic community, and human gathering
• The season of life she is navigating right now — messy, meaningful, and fully inhabited
• And what she knows now about healing, leadership, and belonging to yourself that she couldn't have known when she was still on the other side of it

About Franziska Gonder

Franziska Gonder is a global somatic leadership coach and founder of Leadership That Heals. She works with high-achieving leaders, founders, and executives across industries, guiding them through the inner transformation that allows them to lead with more clarity, less chaos, and a nervous system that is finally on their side. She lives in Portugal with her husband and three sons.

Connect with Franziska 

Website: franziskagonder.com 

Instagram: @franziskagonder 

Substack: Leadership That Heals the World

Connect with The Truth Is 

Instagram: @thetruthispodcast 

YouTube: @thetruthis_pod 

Substack: Kathryn Flaschner

Credits 

Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner 

Video Production & Editing by Anton LaPlume 

Music by Will Savino — wsavino.com 

Visual Identity by Sarah Gainor & Jonathan Bush 

Advised by Natalie Tulloch

She spoke truth — about her own life and about the world we live in — in a way that felt like an earthquake of permission.

Asma Khan is an Indian-born British restaurateur, cookbook author, and one of the most singular voices in the world right now. Her restaurant Darjeeling Express, in the heart of London's Soho, is home to one of the world's only all-female kitchens — staffed entirely by South Asian immigrant women, home cooks, never professionally trained, many of them second daughters, much like Asma herself. She was the first British chef profiled on Netflix's Chef's Table. She is a Time 100 Most Influential Person, a UN World Food Programme Chef Advocate, and holds a PhD in Constitutional Law from King's College London. Her third cookbook, Monsoon, was released last year.

She is a woman who came to know herself underneath every layer of assumption her culture placed on her — and created her life from that place with such conviction that it changed what was possible for the women and communities around her. Her story is personal and it is political and it is spiritual — and it is one of the most complete examples I have encountered of what this show is all about.

In this conversation we bring her story into the territory this show was made for — what it means to come to know yourself underneath everything you were told you should be, and to create your life with integrity and courage from that place.

We talk about:

• Being born a second daughter in a culture that marked that as a disappointment — and the sister who held the flickering flame
• The loneliness of London, the return to her family's recipes, and what she was building before she knew she was building it
• The Sufi water philosophy that guided her — scarring every hurdle so the women who came after her could just flow
• Why cooking has become a combat sport — and what she built instead
• The economic worthiness of her matriarchal model 
• The PhD in constitutional law she didn't use conventionally — and why Darjeeling Express may be her most constitutional act
• The industry reckoning happening right now — the silence, the victims, and her conviction that change is possible
• What it means to be powerful, successful, and compassionate all at once
• The season of transition she is in right now — hanging on and letting go, autumn before the spring
• And a passage from her favorite book, Khalil Gibran's The Prophet, that feels like the whole conversation in a few lines: Say not I have found the truth, but rather I have found a truth. Say not I have found the path of the soul. Say rather I have met the soul walking upon my path.

Connect with Asma Khan Order Monsoon Instagram: @asma_khan_darjeeling Darjeeling Express: darjeeling-express.com

Connect with The Truth Is Instagram: @thetruthispodcast YouTube: @thetruthis_pod 

Credits Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner, Video Production & Editing by Anton LaPlume, Music by Will Savino — wsavino.com, Visual Identity by Sarah Gainor & Jonathan Bush, Advised by Natalie Tulloch

Not because we've gotten less intelligent. But because the systems shaping what we see, believe, and repeat were not designed with our discernment in mind.

In this episode of The Truth Is, I sit down with Esosa Osa — founder and CEO of Onyx Impact, former Deputy Executive Director of Fair Fight Action, and one of the most clear-eyed thinkers I've encountered on what it actually takes to protect your relationship to truth in this moment.

We talk about:

• How disinformation actually works — and why repetition is its most powerful tool
• Why our brains are not built to resist what the current information environment is designed to do
• Why there is no such thing as an unbiased AI — and what that means for all of us
• What it looks like to build narrative power when you can't trust the existing infrastructure to tell your story
• Aisha — what it is, why it exists, and what it represents about who gets to shape the future
• What it means to keep doing the work when the work is hard

This episode sits at the intersection of everything this show is about — the stories we inherit, the systems that shape what feels true, and what it takes to reclaim authorship of your own narrative. Except this time, the stakes are not just personal. They're collective.

Who tells your story decides your future.

About Esosa Osa

Esosa began her career in finance at BlackRock before moving into democracy work — serving as Campaign Manager for a top 2018 U.S. Congressional election, Senior Advisor to Stacey Abrams' gubernatorial campaign, and Deputy Executive Director of Fair Fight Action, where she led pro-democracy reform efforts focused on combating disinformation. She is now the founder and CEO of Onyx Impact — a nonprofit working to understand and counter disinformation targeting Black communities — and the creator of Aisha, an AI trained on Black news, history, and culture.

Connect with Esosa + Onyx Impact

Website: onyximpact.org 

Digital Green Book: digitalgreenbook.org 

Blackout Report: blackoutreport.org 

Instagram: @theonyximpact

Connect with The Truth Is

Instagram: @thetruthispodcast 

YouTube: @thetruthis_pod

Credits

Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner 

Video Production & Editing by Anton LaPlume 

Music by Will Savino — wsavino.com 

Visual Identity by Sarah Gainor & Jonathan Bush 

Advised by Natalie Tulloch

Why is it so difficult to access what’s actually true for us?

This episode is a pause to process what’s emerging across the season.

For most of my life, I believed that knowing myself required more effort — more thinking, more strategy, more trying to get it right. What I’m starting to see, through these conversations and through my own life, is that the opposite may be true.

Accessing what’s true often requires space. Space to rest. Space to feel. Space to process our lives as they’re actually happening.

But the culture many of us live inside of makes that space difficult to find. Hustle culture rewards exhaustion. Information ecosystems compete constantly for our attention. Certainty is broadcast everywhere, often louder than curiosity.

Across recent episodes, my guests have offered different doorways into the same realization:

• Rest can be a return to ourselves
• Regulation in the body often precedes clarity in the mind
• Permission to feel is essential for knowing what we actually want
• Reclaiming our attention may be one of the most important acts of agency available to us

This episode also reflects on a line from The Big Short, attributed to Mark Twain:

“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble.
It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.”

In a world saturated with certainty — algorithms, feeds, institutions, opinions — discernment becomes harder and more necessary at the same time. 

The work, as I see it right now, is not withdrawing from the world. It’s creating enough distance from the noise to decide where our attention and energy actually belong.

I close this conversation with an idea my recent guest Jiore Craig calls “dark hope.” 

When systems begin to fracture, the path forward can look surprisingly simple and human: Reconnect. Pay attention to what’s real. Build lives and communities rooted in truth rather than external authority. 

And maybe start by ending this year with more real friends than you started it with.

Episodes referenced in this episode

• Sam Bianchini — Rest as a Return to Self: On Ritual, Worthiness, and Remembering
• Cindy Sharkey — On Permission for Pleasure — and Why You’re Worthy of It
• Nahid de Belgeonne — The Culture of Self-Improvement and the Loss of Self
• Jiore Craig — Dark Hope and the Work of World-Building
• Jedidiah Jenkins —  The Authority of Your Own Questions

Upcoming Offerings from The Truth Is

Part of what I’m building through The Truth Is are spaces where these conversations can continue beyond the podcast.

One of those is a retreat experience I’m developing in partnership with my guest from earlier this season, Sarah Spoto, and her community, Badii. We’re gathering early input from this community as we shape the experience. If you’d like to share what would make a retreat like this meaningful for you, you can add your thoughts at this link below:

Share input on the retreat experience: Early Access

I’m also launching a small cohort experience called Calibration, designed for people who want space to process where they are and discern their next step from a place that feels true.

Connect with The Truth Is on Instagram: 

@thetruthis_podcast

@kathrynflaschner

Credits

• Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
• Video Production & Editing by Anton LaPlume
• Edited by Dan Croll
• Music by Will Savino — https://wsavino.com
• Visual Identity by Sarah Gainor & Jonathan Bush
• Advised by Natalie Tulloch

Not because we’ve become less thoughtful, but because we’re living inside systems that reward reaction over reflection — systems that pull at our nervous systems all day long and quietly influence what starts to feel obvious, urgent, or true. 

In this episode of The Truth Is, I sit down with strategist Jiore Craig to explore what it takes to reclaim agency inside an environment like this — and what becomes possible when we shift from endless reaction to intentional world-building. 

Jiore has spent her career inside political strategy and public opinion, with a front-row seat to how amplification becomes belief — how what rises in a feed begins to feel like consensus. She’s watched social media move from connection and organizing to optimization and extraction. And she’s seen how public debate often gets stuck in the wrong frame: “free speech vs. censorship,” when the deeper issue is design, incentives, and control. 

This conversation isn’t alarmist. It’s an invitation to take responsibility for where we place our attention — and what we choose to build.

In this episode:

• Why hyper-personalized feeds fracture shared reality
• The real design problem behind the “free speech vs. censorship” debate
• How outrage and anxiety fuel the system
• The breakup analogy for how feeds keep us stuck
• Why agency requires responsibility
• “Make them earn it” — reclaiming your attention
• The difference between reacting and world-building
• “Dark hope” as the engine for this moment

Connect with Jiore: https://www.jiorecraig.com/ 

Connect with The Truth Is: @thetruthis_podcast

Credits

• Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
• Video Production & Editing by Anton LaPlume
• Edited by Dan Croll
• Music by Will Savino → wsavino.com
• Visual Identity by Sarah Gainor & Jonathan Bush
• Advised by Natalie Tulloch

In this episode, I sit down with somatic movement educator and author Nahid de Belgeonne to explore the nervous system not as a self-improvement project, but as a doorway back to discernment.

Nahid is the creator of The Human Method™ and The Soothe Programme, a 12-week somatic approach designed for high-functioning people who are successful on the outside and quietly bracing on the inside. Before this work, she built her identity around composure, capability, and chronic motion. A near-death experience forced a reckoning. What emerged was a body-first understanding of regulation that challenges much of modern wellness culture.

We talk about:

• Why mistrusting the signals from your body makes you easier to manipulate
• The shift from “a brain with a body” to “a body with a brain”
• High-functioning collapse and how pushing harder becomes fused with identity
• How culture grooms us to turn back on ourselves
• Why you don’t “unlearn” patterns, you introduce new learning into the system
• Regulation as authorship, not obedience
• Staying human, engaged, and discerning in the context of late-stage capitalism and collective instability

This conversation is a continuation of a larger inquiry on this show: what does it mean to live truthfully underneath inherited assumptions about success, productivity, and worth?

If wellness has ever felt like another performance, this episode is for you.

Connect with Nahid

Substack: The Soothe Club
Instagram: @thehumanmethoduk
Programme: The Soothe Programme (12-week nervous system recalibration)

Connect with The Truth Is: @thetruthis_podcast

Credits

• Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
• Video Production & Editing by Anton LaPlume
• Edited by Dan Croll
• Music by Will Savino → wsavino.com
• Visual Identity by Sarah Gainor & Jonathan Bush
• Advised by Natalie Tulloch

In this episode of The Truth Is, I sit down with Cindy Scharkey — Registered Nurse, OB/GYN nurse, Certified Childbirth Educator, and host of the podcast and author of Permission for Pleasure. With nearly 40 years in women’s health, Cindy has witnessed how silence and shame shape women’s relationship with their bodies, sex, and desire.

Many women come to her with questions about sex and desire. What they often uncover is something deeper: a relationship with themselves that was never fully examined.

We talk about inherited narratives around purity, modesty, and worth. The belief that pleasure must be earned. Why what we call a “desire problem” is often a pleasure problem. And how difficult it can be to admit we were never taught to truly listen to our own bodies.

This conversation, and Cindy's work, goes beyond sex. It’s about permission — to feel, to listen, and to stay in relationship with yourself. And part of that practice is allowing what is present, without polishing it or performing.

At its core, this episode asks what happens when we stop living from inherited assumptions and start listening to what is actually true.

In this episode, we explore:

• The idea of a “pleasure crisis” — and what it feels like in real life
• Curiosity as a way back into relationship with your body
• Why what we call a “desire problem” may actually be a pleasure problem
• What happens when we override sensation — and what shifts when we listen
• The courage it takes to question what we were taught about sex and worth
• Permission not to manufacture meaning — but to be in the truth of the moment
• How pleasure, grief, and aliveness can coexist
• Small, embodied practices — from dancing naked to finding “sips of joy” — that keep us connected

Connect with Cindy: 

Website: www.cindyscharkey.com

Listen to her podcast: Permission for Pleasure

Explore her book: Permission for Pleasure

Follow Cindy on Instagram: @cindyscharkey

Connect with The Truth Is: @thetruthis_podcast

Credits

• Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
• Video Production & Editing by Anton LaPlume
• Edited by Dan Croll
• Music by Will Savino → wsavino.com
• Visual Identity by Sarah Gainor & Jonathan Bush
• Advised by Natalie Tulloch

This conversation begins there.

My guest is Sam Bianchini, an international yoga teacher, psychedelic therapist, and artist. Sam led a Yoga Nidra training I took during a season of deep burnout — a moment when I didn’t yet know what was next, but knew I couldn’t keep moving the same way.

In this conversation, we talk about the ancient ritual she guided us through: Yoga Nidra — a deep form of rest that Sam teaches not as a technique to master, but as a state of consciousness. One that extends beyond the ritual itself, and offers a different way of relating to rest, clarity, and worth in today’s culture.

What unfolded — both that weekend and here — wasn’t a lesson in rest as recovery or self-care. It was an invitation to relate to rest as a return. To the body. To intuition. To an inherent sense of worth that exists before productivity or achievement.

We talk about why clarity requires nervous system regulation. About how many of us were taught — subtly or explicitly — that our value is tied to output, endurance, or optimization. And about what becomes possible when we slow down enough to hear what’s actually true.

This isn’t an episode about doing less so you can do more.
It’s about remembering who you are — and learning to move from that place.

In This Conversation, We Explore

• Rest as a return to self, not a reward for productivity
• Yoga Nidra as an ancient ritual and a state of consciousness
• How practices of rest can extend beyond the mat and into daily life
• Worthiness beyond achievement
• Nervous system regulation and clarity
• Ceremony, ritual, and remembrance as pathways back to truth
• Why we are designed to regulate and heal in community

Connect with Sam Bianchini

• Website: https://sambianchini.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samdarlin/?hl=en

Connect with The Truth Is

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetruthis_podcast/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetruthis_pod

Credits

• Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
• Video Production & Editing by Anton LaPlume
• Edited by Dan Croll
• Music by Will Savino — https://wsavino.com
• Visual Identity by Sarah Gainor & Jonathan Bush
• Advised by Natalie Tulloch

This conversation starts there — with vermut, salty snacks, and a toast.

My guest is David Neimanis, a maker I grew up down the street from, whose life has moved through music, writing, food, and now building a Spanish vermouth brand called Cueva Nueva while living in Valencia.

What I loved about this conversation is that it isn’t a tidy story about one big pivot. It’s about a quieter shift — learning not to defer living to some future moment.

We talk about:

• what La Hora del Vermut reveals about pleasure, community, and pace — and what it feels like to live inside a different relationship to time
• the difference between freedom and autonomy, and how Dave came to understand both through life on the road
• redefining success — not as exits or endless scale, but as something livable, human, and sustainable
• how different environments shape attention, pace, and conversation
• what it takes to stay grounded in your “why,” especially when the culture around you keeps moving the goalposts

This isn’t an episode about slowing down to get more done.
It’s about learning how to enjoy the day without waiting for permission — and telling the truth when what you wanted stops fitting.

Connect with David Neimanis + Cueva Nueva

Find where you can drink and purchase a bottle of Cueva Nueva near you:
https://www.cuevanueva.com/find-us

Follow Cueva Nueva:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cuevanueva/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cueva_nueva

Follow David Neimanis:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidneimanis/

Connect with The Truth Is

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetruthis_podcast/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetruthis_pod

Credits

Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
Video Production & Editing by Anton LaPlume
Edited by Dan Croll
Music by Will Savino — wsavino.com
Visual Identity by Sarah Gainor & Jonathan Bush
Advised by Natalie Tulloch

In this conversation, I sit down with Samantha Abrams to explore how that distinction quietly shapes our work, our relationships, and the lives we build—and why it takes real courage to live it.

Samantha is a transformational guide and entrepreneur whose work centers on embodiment, self-trust, and aliveness. Many people first come to know her as the co-founder of Emmy’s Organics, a nationally beloved natural foods brand she built in her early twenties and grew for over a decade. What makes her story compelling isn’t reinvention, but continuity. The same intuition and devotion that built a successful company continue to guide her life and work today.

We talk about the subtle ways we abandon ourselves to be chosen or to feel worthy. About why it can be tempting to rewrite the past as “misaligned” instead of honoring that it once fit. And about the courage it takes to leave a life that is beautiful—not because it was wrong, but because you’ve changed.

At the heart of this conversation is a simple but clarifying idea: when we act for love, we contort ourselves to earn it. When we act from love, we move from fullness. Not urgency. Not performance. But aliveness.

This is not a conversation about reinvention or arrival. It’s about staying in relationship with yourself as life unfolds—letting discomfort inform you, letting trust build slowly, and allowing what feels alive to lead.

In This Episode, We Talk About

• The difference between doing things from love and for love
• Why leaving something good can be harder than leaving something bad
• “It was aligned—until it wasn’t” as a truer way to name change
• The quiet ways we abandon ourselves in relationships and work
• Following aliveness instead of certainty as a compass forward
• Why moving on doesn’t mean you didn’t love what came before

About Samantha Abrams

Samantha Abrams is a transformational guide and entrepreneur whose work focuses on embodiment, self-trust, and aliveness. She is the co-founder of Emmy’s Organics and now supports people through deep listening, embodied practice, and honest inquiry.

• Website: https://www.samanthaabrams.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthaabrams/
• Substack: https://samanthaabrams.substack.com/
• Podcast — I’m Just Listening: https://open.spotify.com/show/3FffNb8xRXYi6xZqW9UL0s?si=b0e384c850424ccf

Connect with The Truth Is

• Follow The Truth Is on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetruthis_podcast/
• Watch The Truth Is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetruthis_pod

Credits

• Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
• Video Production & Editing by Anton LaPlume
• Edited by Dan Croll
• Music by Will Savino → wsavino.com
• Visual Identity by Sarah Gainor & Jonathan Bush
• Advised by Natalie Tulloch

We Revisit: 

• Telling yourself the truth as a daily practice, not a single reveal
• Identity as protection, and what becomes possible when it loosens
• Curiosity as an orientation, trusting the authority of your own questions

Referenced Episodes & Video

• Joanne Molinaro — Listen to the full episode
• John Markland — Listen to the full episode
• Jedidiah Jenkins — Listen to the full episode
• Watch this episode on YouTube

Connect with The Truth Is on Instagram @thetruthis_podcast

In this episode, Kathryn sits down with Megan Hellerer to examine the quiet crisis many high-achieving people experience: success on paper, disconnection inside.

Megan shares the moment when the old rules stopped working — and how that reckoning led her to develop a different way of living and working she calls Directional Living. Together, they unpack why hustle culture’s central promise falls apart, why ambition itself isn’t the problem, and what it looks like to rebuild a life from alignment rather than external expectations.

This conversation stays with the deeper questions beneath burnout and reinvention: how clarity actually forms, why curiosity matters more than certainty, and what becomes possible when we stop organizing our lives around destinations.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why success and fulfillment are not the same
• The limits of achievement as a life strategy
• Ambition vs. aligned ambition
• How clarity emerges through action, not planning
• Why not knowing can reduce anxiety rather than increase it
• The cultural reckoning beneath hustle culture
• How truth-telling creates collective permission
• What it means to live directionally in an unpredictable world

About Megan

Megan Hellerer is a coach, speaker, and author whose work centers on helping people unlearn inherited definitions of success and build lives rooted in alignment rather than expectation. She is the creator of the Directional Living framework and works with individuals navigating burnout, career transitions, and reinvention.

Megan’s book
Directional Living: A Transformational Guide to Fulfillment in Work and Life

Amazon

Bookshop.org

Learn more on her website

Follow Megan
Instagram: @meganhellerer
Website: meganhellerer.com

Connect with The Truth Is

Watch full episodes on YouTube:
youtube.com/@thetruthispodcast

Follow along on Instagram for clips, reflections, and episode highlights:
instagram.com/thetruthis.podcast

My guest today, Jen Randle, co-founder of SGNL, names that intersection with clarity. Her work maps trust across three levels: the micro (self), the meso (teams and relationships), and the macro (organizations and institutions). Through that lens, our personal misalignment becomes inseparable from the collective dynamics shaping our lived experience.

We talk about the “season of sitting in it”—the pause, the discomfort, the in-between so many of us find ourselves in. We explore why hustle culture is losing its hold, why mistrust is surfacing everywhere, and what it takes to rebuild environments where trust isn’t performative, but practiced. Jen’s framework gives language to what so many are sensing: the world as it was built no longer fits, and the work now is to reimagine, not just endure.

We talk through:

• How post-2020 life reshaped our relationship to time, work, and what we’re willing to sacrifice
• Why so many high performers hit the wall at the same moment
• The micro: aligning head, heart, and gut—and why most of us have been over-relying on the head
• Turning everyday habits into rituals that reopen intuitive and emotional access
• Shifting from “purpose” as a pressure-filled destination to “contribution” as a grounded way of moving
• The truths we inherited or internalized about success—and how to begin unwinding them
• The meso: the relational tissue between teams and why most friction stems from fractures in trust
• The macro: what happens to an organization when its outsides stop matching its insides
• Congruency, stewardship, and why accountability—not branding—determines real culture
• The coming wealth transfer to women and what becomes possible when new worlds are built with intention
• Why we may need to stop fighting for a seat at old tables and imagine entirely new ones

If you’re in a pivot, a pause, a burnout, or a quiet questioning, this conversation offers perspective and orientation. A reminder that the season you’re in isn’t regression—it’s data. It’s part of the process of getting clear about who you are, what you value, and what no longer fits.

More from Jen Randle
• Website — www.sgnladvisory.com
• Jen on LinkedIn — www.linkedin.com/in/jenrandle
• Jen’s Substack — thetrustsgnl.substack.com

Connect with The Truth Is
Full conversation on YouTube → @thetruthis_pod
Follow on Instagram → @thetruthis_podcast

Credits
Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
Edited by Dan Croll
Music by Will Savino → wsavino.com
Visual Identity by Sarah Gainor & Jonathan Bush
Advised by Natalie Tulloch

In this conversation, NYT bestselling author and adventurer Jedidiah Jenkins sits down with us to talk about revelation, habituation, aging, and what it means to build a life you’re actually comfortable being yourself in.

Jed talks about how his books — from To Shake the Sleeping Self through Mother, Nature and now his upcoming fourth — trace the long arc of becoming, moving through the mother wound, his religious upbringing, and the early experiences that sharpened his curiosity. He shares why he sees revelation as the moment when previously collected pieces finally organize into clarity, and how trusting the authority of his own questions has guided his life and work.

We talk through:

• Revelation vs. information — why most “aha” moments are old truths finally landing in the right order
• Habituation and the hedonic treadmill — how we get used to everything, even the life we once wanted, and how Jed disrupts that pattern
• How he now makes sense of the 30-year-old who biked from Oregon to Patagonia — and the life that opened because of it
• How his first three books became a trilogy of healing the mother wound
• Why living fully as yourself quietly liberates other people to do the same
• His eight-week, no-phone sabbatical in rural Colorado during the election — and what surfaced when the noise stopped
• Why he believes many of us are one sabbatical away from a breakthrough
• Entering the “youngest old person” season of life and finding a beginner’s mindset again in midlife

We also talk about the truth of the moment — how naming what’s real as it arises becomes its own form of presence — and how Jed has had to rebuild his sense of truth from the inside out after growing up inside a religious system that defined it for him. He reflects on learning to trust the authority of his own questions, and why that practice continues to shape his life and his work.

And yes — we talk about the leaf.
The one Kathryn caught during a silent walk at Jed’s retreat, the one that never touched the ground. Jed wrote on it: What falls will feed the new. It becomes a quiet throughline for this conversation about clarity, courage, and letting what’s no longer true fall away so something more honest can grow.

More from Jedidiah Jenkins:
• Website — www.jedidiahjenkins.com
• Instagram — @jedidiahjenkins
• Substack — jedidiahjenkins.substack.com
• Forthcoming fourth book — out fall 2026 (fun sneak peek at the process mentioned in the episode)

Connect with The Truth Is:
🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube → @thetruthis_pod
📸 Follow on Instagram → @thetruthis_podcast

Credits
Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
Edited by Dan Croll
Music by Will Savino
Visual Identity by Sarah Gainer & Jonathan Bush
Advised by Natalie Tulloch

In this conversation, we return to the beginning: the horse girl from the South shaped by kindness, service, and a belief that she could do anything; the young woman who followed intuition across the world; the executive who knew how to lead inside high-pressure rooms; and the healer who was slowly forming in the background. All of those selves lived inside her, even when they didn’t feel like they belonged together.

We talk about the moment she ran out of “oomph,” the body-level signals that told her something needed to shift, and the season of surrender that unfolded when she stopped gripping as tightly. Blair shares how her mother’s cancer diagnosis changed her relationship to healing, how timing aligned only after she released her grip on it, and how community, love, and readiness shaped the birth of Sound Garden.

This is a conversation about truth, alignment, and what becomes possible when we allow — instead of effort.

We talk about:

• How dual identities — the corporate self and the healer — can live in the same room
• Trust as a body sensation, not an idea
• What surrender actually looks like in practice
• How her mother’s diagnosis opened the path to sound
• The role of community, love, and timing in this next chapter
• The stillness that teaches us what striving never could
• Why letting things change you is part of living in truth

If this episode meets you in a season of transition or new beginnings, share it with someone who might need it — or leave a review so others can find the show.

Visit Sound Garden ✨:
Instagram → @soundgarden.co

Website → www.soundgarden.co

Check out Blair's favorite book!: Hidden Messages in Water

Connect with The Truth Is:
🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube → @thetruthis_pod
📸 Follow on Instagram → @thetruthis_podcast

Credits
Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
Edited by Dan Croll
Music by Will Savino
Visual Identity by Sarah Gainer & Jonathan Bush
Advised by Natalie Tulloch

In this episode, we talk about how his journey has been one long act of starting again: leaving behind identities that no longer fit, saying no to what’s safe, and following the pull to create something of his own. Jakob shares how witnessing other makers has reconnected him to patience, process, and presence, and what he’s learning about embracing failure as part of the creative path.

It’s a reminder that the process itself is the point — and that meaning often lives in the making.

We talk about:

• The moment of clarity that led Jakob to walk away from touring
• What Craft is teaching him about patience, attention, and integrity
• The connection between grief, truth, and creative courage
• How slowing down and making with our hands reconnects us to meaning
• Why so much of the work we do bears no immediate reward — and why that’s okay

If this conversation reminds you of your own season of starting again, share it with someone creative in your life — or leave a review so others can find the show.

Connect with Jakob:
Instagram → @jakobwandel

Visit his website → www.jakobwandel.com

Connect with The Truth Is:
🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube → @thetruthis_pod
📸 Follow on Instagram → @thetruthis_podcast

In this conversation, we talk about what happens when the identity you’ve built to feel safe or successful starts to feel out of alignment. John shares how a lifetime of adapting shaped his work with artists, and why he believes honesty matters more than approval — on stage and in life. We explore the unexpressed parts of ourselves we learn to hide, how reconnecting to instinct and curiosity can bring us closer to what’s real, and why taking the time to understand the moments that shaped you can open more freedom in how you move forward.

It’s a conversation about truth, creativity, and what becomes possible when we stop performing and start allowing.

We talk about:

• Why so many of us live inside identities built for safety, not truth
• What it looks like to start expressing the parts of yourself you’ve been taught to hide
• How honesty — not effort or perfection — creates real presence
• The role of play in loosening control and reconnecting to what’s real
• Why understanding your own story changes how you move through the world
• How letting go of control opens the door to something truer

If this episode leaves you thinking about the self beneath your own identity, share it with someone who might need it — or leave a review so others can find the show.

Connect with John & The Markland Studio:
Instagram → @themarklandstudio

Website → www.marklandstudio.com

Connect with The Truth Is:
🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube
📸 Follow on Instagram → @thetruthis_podcast

We talk about the leap from corporate to a creative life, how writing fan fiction became her quiet training ground, and the months of 5 a.m. mornings that led to It’s Different This Time — a story that began in the Notes app on her phone and turned into a USA Today bestselling debut.

It’s a conversation about creative permission, evolving dreams, and what it looks like to follow the thing that feels most true to you, even when it asks you to let go of the plan you thought you had.

Her debut novel, It’s Different This Time — a New York-in-the-fall, Nora Ephron–style second-chance romance — is out now wherever books are sold.

We talk about:

• Our cross-country drive with our rescue dogs (and how friendship sometimes sneaks up on you)
• Fan fiction 101, “shipping,” and why writing for yourself changes everything
• The moment she realized she wanted to create her own characters
• Starting It’s Different This Time in her phone’s Notes app, then writing the rest before work each morning
• The practical and emotional side of leaving a full-time job
• Redefining success when the goalpost keeps moving
• Why romance is serious storytelling — about love, loss, and everything in between
• The truth that what’s meant for you might just be what you never thought was possible

If this episode leaves you thinking about the part of yourself that’s been waiting to be seen — share it with someone who might need to hear it, or leave a review so others can find it too.

Connect with Joss Richard:

📚 Order It’s Different This Time
✨ On Instagram → @joss.richard
🌐 On her website→ https://www.jossrichard.com/

Connect with The Truth Is:
🎥 Watch the full conversation on YouTube
📸 Follow on Instagram → @thetruthispodcast

Credits
Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
Edited by Dan Croll
Music by Will Savino
Visual Identity by Sarah Gainer & Jonathan Bush
Advised by Natalie Tulloch

At the height of her legal career, Joanne realized that to be “successful,” she was becoming someone she wasn’t sure she could respect. That moment of reckoning — between achievement and integrity — sits at the center of her story, and at the center of this conversation.

Together, they explore what it really means to fight for yourself, to tell the truth to yourself first, and to leave the life that looks right in order to build the one that actually is. Joanne shares how she turned fear into agency, how writing became a lifelong practice of truth-telling, and how her voice — through food, advocacy, and storytelling — continues to be a force for compassion and change.

A conversation about courage, integrity, and the ongoing practice of becoming someone you respect.

In this episode, they talk about:

• What it really means to fight for yourself
• The myth that adulthood means giving up joy
• How to tell the truth to yourself first
• The cost of “success” when it’s defined by others
• Turning fear into agency and advocacy
• The quiet work of staying rooted in integrity

Connect with Joanne
ORDER JOANNE'S NEW BOOK! → The Korean Vegan: Homemade
Discover Korean Vegan Beauty → koreanveganbeauty.com
Connect with Joanne → @thekoreanvegan | thekoreanvegan.com

Connect with The Truth Is
Instagram → @thetruthis_podcast
YouTube → @thetruthis_pod
TikTok → @thetruthispod

Credits
Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
Edited by Dan Croll
Music by Will Savino
Visual Identity by Sarah Gainer & Jonathan Bush
Advised by Natalie Tulloch

Together, they talk about the moment we’re in—one where distraction can masquerade as progress, and where even self-work can keep us from truly listening to ourselves. Jen offers language and perspective for what it means to get beneath the noise: noticing the pulls that are actually yours, meeting yourself with compassion, and creating space for what’s next to take shape.

She also shares her own journey—the moment she realized how much work had become an over-indexed aspect of her identity, the experience of being at a wellness company while not being well, and how that awareness led her toward her own “what’s next,” built from the inside out.

In a world constantly competing for our attention, this work isn’t a one-time realization—it’s a continuous commitment. Throughout the conversation, Kathryn and Jen walk through real examples of her work in action: how fear transforms when met with understanding, how clarity comes through the body before the mind, and how slowing down can reveal what’s true and ready to emerge.

A conversation about discernment, compassion, and the ongoing practice of returning to yourself in a world that’s always asking you to look away.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How distraction can masquerade as progress
• Why even self-work can keep us from listening to ourselves
• The difference between mental noise and embodied knowing
• Meeting yourself with compassion instead of judgment
• The relatable experience of being at a wellness company but not being well
• How slowing down helps us move from control to clarity

Links & Resources
Connect with Jen → @jenswartley
Learn more about her coaching and group programs → jenniferswartley.com

Connect with The Truth Is
Instagram → @thetruthis_podcast
YouTube → @thetruthis_pod
TikTok → @thetruthispod

Credits
Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
Edited by Dan Croll
Music by Will Savino → wsavino.com
Visual Identity by Sarah Gainer & Jonathan Bush
Advised by Natalie Tulloch

In the stillness of COVID, Alyssa began to notice a quiet pull toward something else. What started as weeknights with her cookbook collection soon turned into a decision to take herself—and her curiosity—seriously. That choice led to nine months of commuting to New York City for culinary school—twenty-seven weekends in a row—couch surfing with friends and family and rolling a little suitcase full of knives through the city. Nine months later, that curiosity had become a craft—and eventually, a full-time role on the team at Philadelphia’s acclaimed restaurant My Loup.

Together, we talk about what it means to find the thing that makes you come alive—and to keep following it, even when it asks you to rewrite the life you thought you were building.

In this episode, we talk about: 

• How perfectionism shaped Alyssa as a competitive dancer—and the ways it still shows up in the kitchen
• The difference between chasing achievement and feeling alive
• How small degree shifts add up over time—where slowly, you start to take yourself seriously, and the things that once felt impossible begin to feel real
• The awkward, necessary process of being a beginner again
• What it’s like to work in an environment where you can’t fake it—and how that kind of honesty builds confidence
• The people who remind us of our own strength, and why support systems matter more than we think

It’s an intimate, sister-to-sister conversation about curiosity, courage, and learning to trust the pull toward what makes you come alive.

Links & Resources

Visit My Loup, where Alyssa is part of the culinary team
Read Alyssa’s essays on Substack
Follow Alyssa on Instagram → @alyssaflash

Connect with The Truth Is

Instagram → @thetruthis_podcast
YouTube → @thetruthis_pod
TikTok → @thetruthispod

Credits

Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
Edited by Dan Croll
Music by Will Savino → wsavino.com
Visual Identity by Sarah Gainer & Jonathan Bush
Advised by Natalie Tulloch

What I love about this conversation is the idea that creation is born out of stillness. For James and Michael, that stillness took shape in an unexpected way—when James called his brother to join him on a trip to Portugal, and Michael said yes. That “yes” became a doorway: an opportunity to rediscover themselves and each other, and the seed of what would become Rituil. It’s a reminder that sometimes the most important paths reveal themselves not through control, but through surrender and openness.

We talk about loosening our grip on our preconceived expectations for how life “should” unfold, and in return, what the concept of “vertical timing” can reveal to us. In their work as founders, James and Michael see themselves as stewards—listening, and building something co-created with their community. It’s a very different model than the one most of us grow up with around success and building—where we’re taught to plan, push, and control. Here, they offer another option: trust, presence, and allowing.

At its core, this is a conversation about how truth reveals itself when we stop forcing and start listening.

We Talk About

• What it's like to say yes to something unexpected (like a brother asking you to come to Portugal less than a week out) and where it can lead
• The concept of vertical timing vs. our linear expectations for our lives–and how it offers us a sense of grace and groundedness
• Rituals as simple, everyday anchors—gardening, cooking, and golfing barefoot
• Creation as something born out of stillness and alignment
• Acting as stewards: listening, surrendering, and letting the community shape what unfolds

Links & Resources

Explore Rituil (& sign up for their newsletter!) → rituil.com

Follow Rituil on Instagram → @dailyrituil

Use code THETRUTHIS for 10% off your first order from Rituil

Mentioned in this episode

The Surrender Experiment by Michael A. Singer

Eckhart Tolle: Essential Teachings Podcast

Connect with The Truth Is

Instagram → @thetruthis_pod

YouTube → @thetruthis_pod

TikTok → @thetruthis_pod

Credits

Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner
Edited by Dan Croll
Music by Will Savino → wsavino.com
Visual Identity by Sarah Gainer & Jonathan Bush
Advised by Natalie Tulloch

What I’ve always admired about Sarah — even back in business school — is how rooted she seemed in her own lane, without bending to others’ definitions of success. She’s carried that through to Badii, a business built on nourishing relationship to self, to nature, and to one another. Along the way, she’s discovered principles that feel missing in the U.S.: ways of caring for ourselves that are inseparable from how we care for each other.

Our conversation moves between the realities of corporate life and the possibility of something different — one that asks us to stop perpetuating what isn’t working and instead return to what’s essential: health, connection, and a deeper sense of care.

We talk about:

• Making sense of people, systems, and where accountability fits
• How anger can lead to clarity — and why it’s worth paying attention to
• Wellness as an everyday ritual, not a luxury
• How experience deepens intuition and self-trust
• Relatable advice for navigating big career transitions

Links & Resources

Learn more about Badii → badii.life

Sign up for the Badii newsletter → badii.life/subscribe

Listen to the Badii Talk podcast → Spotify | Apple

Follow Badii on Instagram → @badii.life

Follow The Truth Is on Instagram → @thetruthispod

Follow The Truth Is on TikTok → @thetruthispod

Credits

Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner  

Edited by Dan Croll  

Music by Will Savino → wsavino.com  

Visual Identity by Sarah Gainer & Jonathan Bush  

Advised by Natalie Tulloch

We talk about:

• How dinner as a ritual becomes a place to exhale and show up as you are
• The difference between surface-level connections and real friendships
• Letting every part of ourselves show up — not just the curated versions
• How getting honest with yourself (even through the occasional meltdown) clears the way for what’s next
• Redefining networking as energizing instead of transactional

Links & Resources

Learn more about Our Third Place → www.o3p.com

*Use code TRUTHIS for one free month of membership at Our Third Place!

Follow Our Third Place on Instagram → @ourthirdplacehq 

Connect with Katherine Naylor Pullman → @katherinenaylorpullman

Follow the podcast → @thetruthis_podcast

Mentioned in this episode:

The Way of Integrity by Martha Beck

Directional Living by Megan Hellerer

Credits

Hosted by Kathryn Flaschner

Edited by Dan Croll

Music by Will Savino → wsavino.com

Visual Identity by Sarah Gainer & Jonathan Bush

Advised by Natalie Tulloch

Follow Josh's journey on linkedIn and https://www.playing4keeps.net/ and be sure to check out his podcast Critical Role Models, "a show where two nerdy-ass podcasters, Josh [and his amazing partner] Dev, sit around and talk about Dungeons & Dragons and how to level up your skill in storytelling and role play by looking to the greats, the cast of Critical Role."

Follow Da Sauce on Instagram @dasaucejourney and get your own sauce at https://dasauce.co/! 

And be sure to check out the Free to Be Podcast and follow Lucca Petrucci on Instagram (@lucca_petrucci). 

Mentioned in this episode: The Boundaries We Need (Melissa Urban) on Pulling The Thread with Elise Loehnen

And be sure to check out the Free to Be Podcast and follow Lucca Petrucci on Instagram (@lucca_petrucci). 

Be sure to follow Allian's journey on Instagram (@allian.roman) and YouTube (A Bad Actor).

And be sure to check out the Free to Be Podcast and follow Lucca Petrucci on Instagram (@lucca_petrucci). 

Stop Telling Women They Have Imposture Syndrome (Harvard Business Review)

Mentioned in this episode: Happier Hour by Cassie Holmes

Mentioned in this episode:

Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown