Career pivots, creative calling, food storytelling, women entrepreneurs, self trust, health journeys, purpose led business, becoming.

In this inspiring episode of The Journey of Becoming, Karrie Mitten sits down with Danielle Turner, chef, author, and CEO of Forklift Media, to explore what it looks like to honor your creative calling, trust yourself, and build a meaningful life through courage and curiosity.

Danielle shares how her love of food began as a latchkey kid experimenting in the kitchen, how she spent over a decade working in politics in Washington DC, and why burnout ultimately pushed her to take a leap into culinary school with no clear plan for what would come next. Along the way, she discovered how deeply creativity, storytelling, and self expression are woven into her work.

The conversation also dives into the unexpected turn that reshaped Danielle’s purpose when her husband experienced a major heart attack and was later diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Faced with the reality of a low sodium lifestyle, Danielle refused to believe that healthy eating had to mean joyless food. This challenge became the foundation for Salt Sanity, a platform and book designed to help people eat well, live fully, and feel empowered during major health transitions.

This episode is a powerful reminder that our mess often becomes our message, and that listening to ourselves can open doors we never planned for.

What you will learn

1. How to recognize when burnout is signaling a deeper calling
2. Why creative desires often get silenced by practicality and fear
3. How to leave a stable career without having all the answers
4. The mindset shifts required to trust yourself and take action anyway
5. How personal health crises can become purpose driven work
6. Why perfectionism and self doubt are often the biggest obstacles
7. How asking for help can accelerate growth and connection
8. What it means to build a life that feels aligned, meaningful, and fulfilling

Whether you are feeling stuck in a career, navigating a health related transition, or quietly longing for something more creative and aligned, this conversation will encourage you to stop settling and take the next brave step on your own journey of becoming.

Connect with Danielle

Explore her work, recipes, and low sodium lifestyle resources at saltsanity.com

Connect with Karrie

Learn more about The Journey of Becoming and explore executive and personal transformation at UpLevelYourLifeConsulting.com

If this episode resonates, share it with someone who is standing at the edge of a change and needs a reminder that it is never too late to choose yourself and create a life you love.

Career reinvention, courage, global impact, education leadership, intuition, purpose, becoming.

In this inspiring episode of The Journey of Becoming, Karrie sits down with Cristina Santoro, founder of Teaching Up, to explore what becomes possible when you listen to your inner knowing and take the leap, even when the path is unclear. After spending 12 years in corporate America, Cristina found herself successful on paper but deeply misaligned. What followed was a courageous decision to leave everything familiar behind and say yes to a life of purpose, service, and global impact.

Cristina shares how an unexpected relationship ending opened the door to living and working abroad, ultimately leading her to serve in five countries across six years. From launching schools and working with education startups, to serving with the Peace Corps and supporting inclusive education in under-resourced communities, her journey is a powerful reminder that zigzags often lead us exactly where we are meant to be.

You will hear how trusting intuition, taking action without overthinking, and allowing fear to become a guide rather than a barrier can radically transform both your life and the lives of others.

What you’ll learn

1. How career dissatisfaction can be the first signal of deeper alignment
2. Why action and instinct often matter more than having a perfect plan
3. How fear can become a compass instead of a limitation
4. What living and working across cultures teaches about connection and humanity
5. Why inclusive education is essential for creating lasting change
6. How one brave step can lead to a global ripple effect

Whether you are feeling stuck in your career, standing at a crossroads, or longing for a more meaningful life, this conversation will inspire you to trust yourself, lean into discomfort, and take the next step forward, even if you do not yet know where it leads.

Connect with Cristina

Learn more about her global education consulting work and inclusive training resources at Teaching-Up.com

Connect with Karrie

Learn more about The Journey of Becoming and explore executive and personal transformation at UpLevelYourLifeConsulting.com

If this episode resonates, share it with someone who is standing on the edge of a decision, because one brave step can change everything.

Infertility, holistic healing, mind-body connection, emotional wellness, spiritual guidance, women’s empowerment

In this heart-opening episode, Karrie sits down with Ashley Holmes, founder of Holistic Fertility Coach Inc., to explore how women can reclaim their power, hope, and health on the journey to motherhood. Ashley shares her personal experience with infertility and how she transformed her struggles into a mission to support others through one-on-one coaching, yoga, meditation, and compassionate guidance.

You’ll hear how societal conditioning around health, success, and self-worth can create emotional and mental challenges, and how holistic approaches can help women reconnect with their mind, body, and spirit while pursuing fertility naturally. Ashley invites us to honor our emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being as part of creating a fertile foundation.

What you’ll learn

• How holistic coaching supports women with primary and secondary infertility
• Mind-body-spirit practices that enhance fertility naturally
• How to navigate emotional and mental challenges without losing hope
• Why self-care, nourishment, and trauma-informed guidance are essential
• How to reclaim your power and voice during the fertility journey
• The importance of community, support, and connection for long-term success

Whether you are trying to conceive, supporting someone in your life, or seeking alternative ways to approach fertility, this conversation will inspire you to take control of your health and healing while embracing hope and empowerment.

Connect with Ashley Holmes

Explore her work, resources, and supportive community: https://holisticfertilitycoachinc.my.canva.site/

Connect with Karrie

Discover executive and personal transformation rooted in soul-aligned strategy: UpLevelYourLifeConsulting.com

If this episode resonates, share it with a friend or loved one who is on their fertility journey or seeking a holistic approach to well-being.

People-pleasing, burnout, codependency, perfectionism, self-worth, healing, authentic leadership.

In this powerful and deeply relatable episode, Karrie sits down with Dr. Angela Downey, family physician, author, and founder of The Codependent Doctor, to explore what it truly means to heal from people-pleasing, perfectionism, and burnout.

Angela opens up about failing her first year of university, rebuilding her confidence, and eventually becoming a physician while unlearning the patterns that drove her to exhaustion. Together, Karrie and Angela discuss how to find peace and purpose on the other side of self-sacrifice, and why authenticity, not achievement, is the real marker of success.

• How to recognize and break free from people-pleasing and codependent patterns
• The connection between perfectionism, burnout, and self-abandonment
• The mindset shifts that help high-achieving women prioritize rest and self-trust
• Why “failing” can actually be your greatest redirection
• How to listen to your body, set boundaries, and create sustainable success
• Angela’s favorite tools for rewiring your thinking and practicing daily authenticity

Connect with Dr. Angela Downey

Explore her books, podcast, and community at thecodependentdoctor.com

Connect with Karrie

Learn more about The Journey of Becoming and explore executive and personal transformation at UpLevelYourLifeConsulting.com

If this episode resonates, share it with someone who’s ready to stop performing and start becoming, because healing your patterns is where your true power begins.

Affirmations, self-worth, alignment, burnout recovery, mindset, transformation, authenticity.

In this powerful and deeply personal episode, Karrie sits down with Lauren C.—coach, speaker, and founder of Align With Lauren—to explore what it truly means to rebuild your life from the inside out.

After years of “doing all the right things” but feeling disconnected and unfulfilled, Lauren shares how affirmations led her down an unexpected path, one that dismantled her old life, her marriage, and her sense of identity. What began as a quest for success became a journey toward radical honesty, self-trust, and soul alignment.

Together, Karrie and Lauren unpack the messy, miraculous process of becoming who you were always meant to be, when everything familiar falls away.

• How affirmations and mindset work can catalyze real transformation (even when it doesn’t look the way you expect)
• The truth about alignment: why what’s “falling apart” might actually be falling into place
• The emotional cost of self-abandonment and the courage it takes to stop betraying yourself
• Practical tools to rebuild your confidence and reprogram your subconscious
• What it looks like to trust your inner voice even when fear, judgment, and uncertainty show up
• How success and peace begin when you stop performing and start living in integrity

Connect with Lauren

Explore her programs and resources at Soul Savy

Connect with Karrie

Learn more about The Journey of Becoming and explore executive and personal transformation at UpLevelYourLifeConsulting.com

If this episode resonates, share it with someone who’s in the middle of their own becoming because sometimes, the breakdown is the breakthrough.

Authentic connection, sacred intimacy, feminine & masculine energy, conscious relationships, self-worth, embodiment.

In this heart-opening episode of The Journey of Becoming, Karrie sits down with Joanna Shakti—founder of Ecstatic Intimacy™—to explore what it really takes to create love that feels safe, passionate, and deeply real. Known as “The Soul Love Mentor,” Joanna shares her path from burnout and unfulfilling relationships to awakening her feminine essence and teaching others to live and love in full authenticity.

You’ll hear how our cultural conditioning around success, independence, and perfection can quietly disconnect us from our hearts—and how true intimacy begins with coming home to yourself. Joanna invites us to honor both the sacred feminine and the divine masculine, to release patterns of overgiving and self-protection, and to open to love that feels effortless, embodied, and true.

What you’ll learn:

• The difference between “performing love” and being love
• Feminine and masculine energy dynamics—and how polarity creates attraction and flow
• How to shift from people-pleasing or control into vulnerability and truth
• Why authentic self-expression is the gateway to both passion and peace
• The spiritual and somatic path of sacred intimacy: presence, embodiment, and surrender
• How to recognize when your heart is leading (vs. fear or habit)

Whether you’re single, partnered, or healing from past relationships, this conversation will inspire you to stop chasing love and start becoming it—within yourself first.

Connect with Joanna

Explore her work, retreats, and resources at EcstaticIntimacy.com

Connect with Karrie

Discover executive and personal transformation rooted in soul-aligned strategy: UpLevelYourLifeConsulting.com

If this episode resonates, share it with a friend or loved one who’s ready to experience love and leadership from a place of wholeness and authenticity.

In this powerful episode of The Journey of Becoming, Karrie Mitten sits down with Rachel Jenks, founder of Booty Kicking Ballerina, to explore how dancers and high-achieving women can heal their relationship with their bodies. Rachel shares her journey from a professional ballet career cut short by injuries and disordered patterns, to rebuilding strength, mobility, and self-trust through corrective exercise, compassionate coaching, and body wisdom.

You’ll hear how Rachel pivoted from decades in marketing back to her first love—dance—blending injury prevention, corrective exercise, and self-compassion to support long-term longevity, not just short-term performance. She opens up about scoliosis, hypothyroid, identity loss, and the mindset shift from punishing discipline to loving stewardship of the body—so you can keep “kicking booty” for a lifetime.

What we cover

• Smart conditioning for dancers: strength, mobility, and injury prevention
• Recovering from burnout and disordered patterns; moving from self-critique to body love
• Corrective exercise basics that improve balance, turns, and resilience
• Pivoting careers with courage, handling comparison, and redefining success
• Practical reframes: listening to your body, aging as an athlete/artist, and sustainable training

Key takeaways

• Your body isn’t the enemy—partner with it.
• Train for longevity: technique + strength + recovery.
• Identity evolves; you have permission to be who you are—now.

If this episode resonates, share it with a dancer, teacher, or high-achieving friend who needs a reminder that healing and high performance can coexist.

What does it really take to reinvent yourself after a life-altering transition — like job loss at 55? In this powerful and heart-opening episode of The Journey of Becoming, host Karrie Mitten sits down with three-time author, life coach, and speaker Bambi Lynn to explore how she turned heartbreak into purpose, and fear into fuel.

In this episode, Bambi shares:

• How she went from corporate life to launching a soul-led coaching business
• The mindset shift that helped her rewrite her narrative — even with a 10th-grade education
• The decision to live off her 401(k) and invest in her purpose
• What it means to live life even when you're afraid
• Her transformational coaching technique using a literal box of puzzle pieces
• How healing, storytelling, and jam-making (!) brought her back to herself

Whether you’re navigating a career pivot, an empty nest, or simply wondering if it’s “too late” to pursue your dream, this conversation will remind you: you are not behind, and your story still matters.

You’ll also hear how Bambi built her coaching practice, published three books, and became a sought-after guest on over 200 podcasts — all while redefining what success means on her own terms.