104: Gregg Owen in the hot seat

104: Gregg Owen in the hot seat

In this gripping episode of Listen Bitch Presents: Tell Me Why You’re Special, I sit down with Gregg Owen — former Chicago murder prosecutor, former touring rock musician, and author of Convergence — to talk about high-profile murder cases, courtroom corruption, criminal psychology, and the hidden realities of the justice system. Gregg shares his unbelievable journey from performing music on tour in the 1960s and 70s to prosecuting homicide cases in Chicago during one of the most corrupt eras in the city’s legal history. We discuss murder trials, witness intimidation, Operation Greylord, courtroom strategy, legal corruption, jury psychology, missing evidence, prosecutorial pressure, criminal justice reform, and the emotional toll of handling homicide cases for decades. Gregg also opens up about the psychological impact of trying 61 murder jury trials, how courtroom tactics influence juries, and why defense attorneys play a crucial role in preventing miscarriages of justice. This episode dives deep into true crime, corruption inside the legal system, criminal investigations, high-profile murder cases, human behavior, trauma, ethics, and the reality behind media portrayals of the courtroom. We also discuss Gregg’s book Convergence, his transition from musician to prosecutor, and how his life experiences shaped his understanding of justice and human nature. If you love true crime podcasts, courtroom drama, criminal psychology, legal corruption stories, and behind-the-scenes murder investigations, this conversation is going to hook you immediately. Gregg Owen has lived two completely different lives. I’m a former Chicago murder prosecutor who took a very unusual path to the courtroom. Before law school, I was a touring rock musician who performed across the Midwest and opened shows for bands like The Doors. But a personal turning point led me to leave music, cut my hair, and apply for an internship with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. Within a few years I was prosecuting murder cases in Chicago’s 26th and California courthouse, eventually trying more than sixty jury trials — most of them homicides. My book Convergence tells the true story of a brutal double murder that was solved in days but didn’t go to trial for four years. The case unfolded in the middle of a courthouse culture so corrupt it would later trigger the FBI’s historic Operation Greylord investigation. Today I share the behind-the-scenes realities of homicide trials, courtroom corruption, and the strange path that took me from rock stages to murder prosecutions. In the late 1960s he was a touring rock musician, performing with major bands including The American Breed, whose hit “Bend Me, Shape Me” climbed the Billboard charts. Within a few years he traded the stage for a courtroom. Gregg became a prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in Chicago, where he tried 64 jury trials — 61 of them murder cases. He later became the first Chief of the Gang Prosecutions Unit in Illinois, handling some of Chicago’s most violent criminal organizations. Today Gregg writes true crime drawn from the cases he personally prosecuted. His debut book Convergence tells the extraordinary true story of a brutal Chicago double murder and the four-year legal battle that followed.

103: Katie Boyer in the hot seat

In this emotional and deeply relatable episode of Listen Bitch Presents: Tell Me Why You’re Special, I sit down with Katie Boyer to talk about burnout, mental health, chronic stress, people-pleasing, healing, and rebuilding your life after emotional exhaustion. Katie shares her experience working in an extremely high-stress library environment that slowly destroyed her physical and mental well-being. She opens up about reaching a breaking point, experiencing suicidal thoughts, and realizing she could no longer sacrifice herself trying to meet impossible expectations. We discuss boundaries, work-life balance, emotional burnout, stress-related health issues, authentic living, self-care, mental health recovery, people-pleasing, toxic productivity culture, healing from overwhelm, and learning to prioritize yourself without guilt. Katie also shares the incredible physical and emotional changes that happened after reducing stress — including improved sleep, hormone regulation, weight loss, reduced anxiety, enjoying the outdoors again, and reconnecting with peace and joy. This episode dives into mental health awareness, emotional healing, stress management, authentic relationships, self-worth, recovery from burnout, and the courage it takes to walk away from environments that are slowly destroying you. If you’ve ever felt trapped in stress, overwhelmed by expectations, emotionally exhausted, or disconnected from yourself… this conversation will probably hit you straight in the chest. This is a powerful episode about healing, boundaries, reclaiming yourself, and remembering that your life matters too.

102: Chris Smith in the hot seat

In this emotional and powerful episode of Listen Bitch Presents: Tell Me Why You’re Special, I sit down with Chris Smith, a man who survived being shot in the head, spent 49 days in a coma, and fought his way back from partial paralysis after a traumatic attempted murder. Chris shares the unbelievable true story of surviving a violent shooting during what was supposed to be a first date, waking up in the hospital after nearly dying, and beginning the long road of physical, emotional, and spiritual recovery. We discuss near-death experiences, miracles, faith in God, recovery from brain injury, overcoming trauma, resilience, survival, healing, purpose after tragedy, and rebuilding life after catastrophic loss. Chris talks openly about learning to walk again, regaining function after paralysis, dealing with emotional pain, reconnecting with faith, and discovering a mission to inspire others through his story, music, speaking, and memoir. This conversation also dives into divine purpose, perseverance, trauma recovery, hope, personal transformation, overcoming fear, surviving violence, spiritual experiences, and finding meaning after suffering. If you’ve ever felt broken, hopeless, defeated, or wondered whether purpose can still exist after devastation, this episode will hit hard. This is a story about survival, miracles, resilience, faith, and refusing to give up. November 24th, 2021, Christopher Smith was shot in the head and left for dead. For 13 hours his lifeless body lay on his kitchen floor bleeding out, with only his dog, Tiki by his side. Leslie, the woman he had his first date with, was found dead, execution style, behind his Christmas tree. Both were shot by her ex- boyfriend. For 49 days Chris was in a coma and had gone through countless surgeries…but he woke up! To this day, Christopher Smith, not only walks around and describes his Near-Death-Experience on the other side, but is also able to joke, garden, and SING in a ROCK BAND! All of this has brought him to his mission…a mission to help others from his tragedy, and to spread the message of hope, faith, and healing throughout the world. A testament to the human capacity to persevere against seemingly insurmountable odds, this is a story that will leave you amazed and motivated to never give up. As Chris would be the first one to tell you—he’s no angel but it’s his down-to-earth humor that makes him unique. He’s been a sinner many times over, but the Lord looked down and saved him, and he knows how lucky he is. A great read.” — Paul La Rosa, author and television producer for the CBS News true crime broadcast “48 Hours” . CONTACT: Christopher Smith: C: 636 679 0047 E: christopherjsmith2373@gmail.co

101: Dale Montgomery in the hot seat

In this episode of Listen Bitch Presents: Tell Me Why You’re Special, I sit down with Dale Montgomery, Director of Advanced Planning for a virtual family office, to talk about the hidden side of entrepreneurship, business growth, leadership, stress, delegation, tax strategy, nervous system regulation, and what success actually costs people behind the scenes. Dale breaks down the concept of virtual family offices and explains why many entrepreneurs making $1M+ still feel overwhelmed, overworked, emotionally exhausted, and trapped inside businesses that depend entirely on them. We discuss scaling challenges, delegation, limiting beliefs, burnout, mental clarity, decision fatigue, work-life balance, ego in entrepreneurship, and why focusing on “who, not how” changes everything for growing companies. This conversation also dives into nervous system health, brain-heart coherence, stress management, breathwork, personal growth, leadership development, tax planning, liquidity, business independence, and the emotional realities many high performers quietly struggle with. Dale explains how stress impacts creativity, relationships, problem-solving, and long-term business value — and why entrepreneurs need sustainable systems instead of nonstop hustle culture. If you’re a business owner, entrepreneur, founder, coach, creator, or high achiever trying to scale without losing your mind, this episode is packed with practical insight and real conversations most people avoid having. Dale is the Director of Advanced Planning at TRS Family Office and the author of The Virtual Family Office Advantage. His work is built around a simple reality: the more successful a business owner becomes, the more complex their financial life gets, and complexity without coordination creates blind spots. Dale helps business owners eliminate fragmented advice and move from siloed decision-making to a fully coordinated strategy. Through a Virtual Family Office and Team-Based Model, he serves as the strategic quarterback, bringing together elite specialists across five core areas, Tax Mitigation, Risk Management, Legal Services, Business Advisory, and Wealth and Legacy planning. The result is proactive, integrated planning designed to uncover opportunities, reduce inefficiencies, and protect long-term wealth. He also works closely with CPAs across the country who want to evolve beyond the traditional referral model. Instead of sending advanced planning opportunities out the door, Dale helps CPAs expand their advisory impact, increase revenue per client, and deliver higher-level strategies to their A and B clients, all without adding staff or overhead. By integrating coordinated advanced planning into the CPA relationship, he helps firms deepen client loyalty, elevate their role from tax preparer to strategic advisor, and build a more scalable, value-based practice https://TRSFamilyOffice.com [https://trsfamilyoffice.com/] Download the audio version of my book, The Virtual Family Office Advantage. The book explains what coordinated planning looks like and how a Virtual Family Office model brings the right experts together across five key areas: tax planning, risk mitigation, wealth management, legal services, and business advisory. Listeners who feel like their situation is getting more complex will walk away with a clearer way to think about their decisions, and a better understanding of what “coordinated planning” actually means. Schedule a 15-minute introduction call (optional). If a listener wants help applying the ideas to their own situation, they can schedule a short call. The goal is not to sell anything on the call. It’s simply to learn what they’re trying to solve, answer a few questions, and see whether it makes sense to take the next step.

100: Marcy Axelrod in the hot seat

In this episode of Listen Bitch Presents: Tell Me Why You’re Special, I sit down with Marcy Axelrod for a deep conversation about fear, presence, emotional disconnection, parenting, authenticity, and how people truly “show up” in life. Marcy shares her personal story of developing a stutter as a child after a major life transition and how that experience led her to study human behavior, emotional presence, and the ripple effect our energy has on other people. She breaks down her powerful framework of the three levels of showing up — from barely surviving to being fully present and connected. We dive into nervous system overwhelm, anxiety, shame, parenting mistakes, emotional awareness, fear-based living, and how so many people are physically present but emotionally unavailable in their relationships and everyday life. This conversation also explores authenticity, self-awareness, human connection, stress, emotional regulation, and the practical ways we can stop living reactive lives and start intentionally showing up for ourselves and the people we love. Marcy also shares insights from her book How We Choose to Show Up and discusses why true presence changes not only your own life — but every room you walk into. If you’ve been emotionally checked out, overwhelmed, disconnected, anxious, exhausted, or stuck in survival mode… this episode is going to make you think hard about how you’re showing up in your own life. , she  is a bestselling and award-winning author, TV Contributor, 2X TEDx speaker and visual artist. Her latest book, How We Choose to Show Up, is a #1 Bestseller, was recently awarded the Hayakawa Book Prize and has a cover endorsement by none other than Mel Robbins!.  Marcy has been interviewed in Forbes, Psychology Today, and The Marketing Journal, among others. Her approaches have been tested and proven through projects with some of the world’s largest high-tech companies (e.g., HP, SAP, Cisco). With a background on Wall Street (Lehman Brothers) and in Silicon Valley, Marcy’s work has been highly praised by professors at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, and Cornell. Based on 20+ years of research, Marcy’s latest book, How We Choose to Show Up, presents in 3-D nature’s model of how humans are designed to Show Up to thrive. The resulting model is helping thousands of people connect more deeply with themselves, others and their experiences, adding meaning to their lives, and helping companies around the world to innovate and grow.  Showing Up integrates neuroscience, psychology, behavioral economics and evolutionary biology with top consulting strategies and leading business practices, to help people, companies and societies succeed. https://choosetoshowup.com/ [https://choosetoshowup.com/]