Picture two spaces.

In one, a field kitchen bubbles over with life. Under a makeshift tent, pots clatter, onions hiss on a portable hot plate, and someone’s calling out, “We need more rice!” A neighbor who's just lost everything ladles soup for another who’s just walked miles through mud.

In the second space, a yoga studio, breath slows, shoulders drop, the air smells faintly of lavender, bodies move in a quiet synchronicity, finding flow after a day that was herky jerky at best.

Some people can build both kinds of spaces.

I’ve always been fascinated by what it takes to steady yourself when the world around you is in chaos. My guest today, Fiona Donovan, Vice President of Response Administration for World Central Kitchen, has built her career as a student of that very question.

WCK, a nonprofit founded by chef José Andrés, is famous for being first to the frontlines in times of crisis–hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, war zones–anywhere people are hungry and hurting. Their teams set up field kitchens that serve fresh, hot meals with dignity and heart.

Fiona leads those teams. She oversees global relief operations, coordinating thousands of volunteers, local chefs, and community partners to deliver nourishing food to people quickly.

Before joining WCK, she worked in international development and taught in the Peace Corps. She knows what it means to be in the field, boots muddy, adrenaline high, trying to make things better fast.

In our conversation, Fiona and I trace the thread between field kitchens and yoga studios, between cooking for hundreds and centering yourself for one slow breath. We talk about how to lead with listening, how to design trust before structure, and how to tell when your body’s in reactive mode versus responsive mode. And maybe most beautifully, how to come down from long seasons of urgency without losing your purpose.

Fiona’s story is what it looks like when compassion gets operationalized. So take a breath, soften your shoulders, and maybe imagine the smell of something delicious cooking.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• The practices and hobbies that Fiona has cultivated to ground herself as she transitions out of the field
• How the work of creating welcoming, safe spaces at WCK has translated into how Fiona approaches teaching yoga
• Why it’s so important for WCK to partner closely with communities when they’re responding to a disaster
• How Fiona approaches being responsive instead of reactive, for herself and her teams, even under immense pressure
• How WCK empowers its field leaders to make decisions during a crisis without getting hung up by perfectionism
• A simple, shared practice of what we’re currently grateful for

Learn more about Fiona Donovan:

• World Central Kitchen

Learn more about Valerie Black:

• The Change Agency
• Becoming Power Newsletter
• Coaching

Resources:

• The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling, Stephen Cope

There are moments in life–many moments if we’re lucky–when we outgrow an old form. What once felt right starts to feel too small. Something inside insists: there’s more than this.

So the seed cracks. The old form gives way. And in that small rupture, something wild, something true begins to reach for the sun.

This episode is about those moments that pop us out of our own confines. The moments when the stories we’ve internalized–be helpful, hold it together, stay in the background–can no longer contain who we’re becoming.

My guest, Kriste Peoples, is a Boulder-based trail runner, writer, mindfulness teacher, and the Executive Director of Women’s Wilderness, where she helps women, girls, and nonbinary folks rediscover agency and belonging in nature.

I’m so excited for you to hear Kriste’s story about raising her hand to become Executive Director and what that moment stirred in her. In our conversation, she reminds us that becoming powerful isn’t about pushing harder; it’s about grounding deeper. And she offers some truly delicious wisdom about how to do just that.

Let’s learn what it means to shed what no longer fits so we can finally meet the sun.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Why Kriste had to learn to protect breaks in her schedule herself and not rely on staff to do it for her
• How she called BS on her story of sticking to support roles and raised her hand for the role of Executive Director
• How a memory of literally jumping into the deep end helped Kriste recognize where she was bumping into internalized fears and limitations
• How Women’s Wilderness creates spaces for participants to meet their own personal edges without comparison or competition
• How Kriste is meeting her edges and modeling the culture and experience she wants to have at Women’s Wilderness

Learn more about Kriste Peoples:

• Women's Wilderness
• Kriste's Website
• Instagram: @kristepeoples

Learn more about Valerie Black:

• The Change Agency
• Becoming Power Newsletter
• Coaching

I was a shy and intense kid. The kind who always wants to sit at the grownups table instead of running around with the other kids.

But I noticed early on that my intensity could confuse or overwhelm others, so I learned how to be me more quietly. I poured my caring into outlets that wanted me there, like theater, writing, and my horse, who always understood me.

As an adult–at podiums, in boardrooms, and even alone on my yoga mat–I would feel words pressing at my ribs. There were things I wanted to say, wanted to ask about, to try articulating, but my earnestness got buttoned up under a well-honed, cool girl armor.

What if I showed my full self and it wasn't received? What if my passion made people uncomfortable?

I learned to modulate, because people love passion, just not when it's too much. And that voice–the good girl, the good boss, the earnest striver–worked. Until it felt like a compression vest.

Eventually, I realized that power that doesn't include caring for everyone in the room is not power I want. The bravest thing I could do wasn't to hold it all together. It was to let myself be seen caring.

Today, my guest, Samara Bay, and I imagine what a future could look like if more of us cared out loud. And because she is a coach and behavior geek like me, Samara offers us a delicious exercise that we can apply to our daily lives.

Samara Bay is a speech coach, author, and revolutionary voice in every sense of the word. If you haven't read her New York Times bestselling book, Permission to Speak, you're going to want to by the time our conversation is done. Samara is helping us reimagine what authority can sound like, what power can feel like, and how we can bring that into our daily practices.

Samara reminds us that giving ourselves permission to speak is not a surface level change, it's cultural transformation. We are quite literally changing the sound of power.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• How internalized risk management patterns keep us from connecting and making a real impact
• How permission to speak creates paradigm-shifting opportunities for what power sounds like
• How rewriting the internal narrative about your audience changes how you show up
• Why we need to consistently practice speaking from connection instead of protection
• Why making our care and effort obvious matters for ourselves and our communities
• Three questions to ask yourself whenever you have an opportunity to speak

Learn more about Samara Bay:

• Permission Inc.
• Instagram: @samarabay
• Connect on LinkedIn

Learn more about Valerie Black:

• The Change Agency
• Becoming Power Newsletter
• Coaching

Resources:

• BoyMom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity, Ruth Whippman
• Talk to Your Boys: 16 Conversations to Help Tweens and Teens Grow Into Confident, Caring Young Men, Joanna Schroeder, Christopher Pepper
• Building Joyful Reflective Practices with Sara Lawson