University of Why

From Terrified to TEDx Stage: How to Turn Fear Into Your Greatest Teacher ft. Tricia Brouk

"Fear used to make me want to throw up before a simple webinar. Now I talk to it like a friend. Because it's just reminding me I haven't done something before." - Dr. Sonia Chopra "Being smart is stupid. Smart people lead through their ego nature. Wise leaders lead through their Buddha nature." - Tricia Brouk This conversation is not just about public speaking. I want to be clear about that. Because if you come in thinking this is about how to give a better presentation, you are going to miss what this episode is actually about. It is about identity. It is about the version of yourself that someone else can see clearly before you can see it at all. And it is about what happens when you finally stop hiding your message because you think it is not interesting enough or important enough or big enough for a stage. Tricia is a former professional dancer turned director, choreographer, executive producer, and TEDx coach. She has worked in film, television, Broadway and theater. She ran her own TEDx stage. She has written multiple books. And she has built a methodology around something most coaches never touch, which is the art of being seen. She made root canals sexy. And if you know me, you know exactly how much that sentence means. Today on University of Why: * Why Tricia left a career in professional dance and choreography and accidentally became one of the most sought after speaking coaches in the world * The moment a friend asked her to help with a TEDx talk and she approached it exactly like a one woman show, and why that changed everything * What it actually means to embody your message versus just delivering it, and why Tricia calls speakers high performance athletes * The nine principles inside her new book Being Smart Is Stupid and why wise leadership has nothing to do with how much you know * Why getting still is the first code, and what it costs you every time you skip it * The difference between embodying gratitude and performing appreciation, and the story of the PepsiCo CEO who wrote 400 letters to her executives' parents * What impermanence has to do with building a team that does not collapse when your best person walks out the door * Why detachment from outcomes is not the same thing as giving up, and how high performers can hold big goals without letting those goals hold them hostage * The stage manager who cursed at her in front of her entire cast and what she did in the sixty seconds that followed * Why fear is not your enemy. It is just knocking on the door. And what changes when you finally let it in * The buddha nature principle that has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with how you show up for the people you lead Follow Dr. Chopra: * Instagram: @drsoniachopra [https://www.instagram.com/drsoniachopra/] * Dr. Sonia Chopra’s Website [https://www.soniachopra.com] – Learn more about my journey and work * Explore eSchool: HERE [https://drsoniachopra.com/e-school/] * My TEDx Talk that I could not have given without Tricia’s help: YouTube [https://youtu.be/XXnhqe3TFFw?si=dxggFoDHJqUuKeQd] Follow Tricia: * LinkedIn: @triciabrouk [https://www.linkedin.com/in/triciabrouk/] * Facebook: @thebigtalkcommunity [https://www.facebook.com/thebigtalkcommunity] * Instagram: @tricia_brouk [https://www.instagram.com/tricia_brouk/] * Website: https://triciabrouk.com/ [https://triciabrouk.com/] * YouTube: @TheBigTalkwithTriciaBrouk [https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBigTalkwithTriciaBrouk] * Substack: https://livemasterclass.triciabrouk.com/art-big-talk-mchttps://triciabrouk.substack.com/ [https://triciabrouk.substack.com/] * The Big Talk Podcast with Tricia Brouk: Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-big-talk-with-tricia-brouk/id1151802385] More content from Tricia: * Big Stages: https://www.bigstagesmovie.com/ [https://www.bigstagesmovie.com/]  * The Influential Voice: Amazon [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XW772LC?asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.Y267N8RMW0JD&creativeASIN=B08XW772LC&linkCode=ssc&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d_asin&tag=onamzdr.sonia-20] * Being Smart is Stupid: Amazon [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FKCZY88F?asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.Y267N8RMW0JD&creativeASIN=B0FKCZY88F&linkCode=ssc&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d_asin&tag=onamzdr.sonia-20] * Get a free training if you leave a review of the book here: www.beingsmartisstupid.com [http://www.beingsmartisstupid.com] Disclaimer: We may earn a small commission from book purchases, at no additional cost to you Work with Tricia Here: The Big Talk Press: https://thebigtalkpress.com/ [https://thebigtalkpress.com/] Monthly Workshops: https://livemasterclass.triciabrouk.com/fba-workshop-waitlist [https://livemasterclass.triciabrouk.com/fba-workshop-waitlist] Love the episode? Please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs this message. Your support keeps this show going!

Why Most Dental Practice Owners Burn Out (And How to Avoid It) ft. Dr. Mark Limosani

"I remember being pregnant for the first time and finally feeling human to my patients. And that was the strangest, saddest, most clarifying feeling." - Dr. Sonia Chopra "1.0 was all grit and brute force. 2.0 is surrender. The ability to have faith, to trust myself, trust my team, and let things unfold." - Dr. Mark Limosani I have known Dr. Mark Limosani since he was the guy who got waitlisted at Nova Southeastern and kept showing up anyway. I remember watching him from across the program thinking, that guy is not going anywhere until he gets what he wants. He eventually got in. And then he did exactly what I always knew he would do. He built something. But this conversation was not about celebrating what he built. I wanted something harder than that. I wanted to know what it actually felt like from the inside. Because I talk about practice ownership all the time on this podcast, and I realize I have only ever told one version of the story. Mine. The woman's version. The version where burnout crept in slowly and unhealed trauma showed up through a stressed out team and a leadership style I had to completely rebuild from the ground up. I wanted to know if men go through the same thing. Or something different. Or something they just never get asked about. What Mark gave me in this conversation was something I was not fully prepared for. He is an endodontist. Precision trained, technically dialed in, used to being in control of everything inside a canal down to the last millimeter.   And here he was telling me that the biggest thing he has had to learn is how to let go. That micromanagement sucks the life out of everyone subjected to it. That dropping into his heart, his words, has been his greatest gift as a leader. Today on University of Why: * Why Mark moved from Montreal to South Florida when everyone told him the market was too saturated and too competitive for someone who was not Hispanic, not local, and spoke French as a first language * Three years as an associate, one week a month in Quebec City, and what the slow grind of building a referral base actually looked like * The team member who arrived through a random phone call and completely transformed the culture of his practice before eventually graduating from dental school herself * What it is like to be the only man leading a team of women, and why he thinks that has quietly shaped him into a better leader * The difference between how his team comes to him versus how they come to me, and what I think that reveals about gender dynamics in practice ownership * Mark 1.0 versus Mark 2.0: what he had to stop doing, what he had to start trusting, and why surrender is not the same thing as giving up * The oral surgeon who doubled his rent overnight and accidentally gave Mark the push he needed to build something better * Why vulnerability is not a weakness for men in leadership. It is an understated superpower * What the cold plunge taught him about sitting inside discomfort without trying to change it * The one thing he had to let go of between his first practice and his second, and why control is the hardest thing to release when precision is your entire professional identity Follow Dr. Chopra: * Instagram: @drsoniachopra [https://www.instagram.com/drsoniachopra/] * Dr. Sonia Chopra’s Website [https://www.soniachopra.com] – Learn more about my journey and work * Explore eSchool: HERE [https://drsoniachopra.com/e-school/] Follow Dr. Mark Limosani: * Instagram: @dr_mark_a_limosani_endodontist [https://www.instagram.com/dr_mark_a_limosani_endodontist/] Love the episode? Please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs this message. Your support keeps this show going!

The Truth About Marriage Nobody Talks About ft. Vivek Kashyap

"Marriage has been the most sacred container of anything I've ever experienced." - Dr. Sonia Chopra "Marriage is continual, consistent work. You can't just say we're good and expect to keep growing, because we each change, we each evolve." - Vivek Kashyap In this honest and unexpectedly moving episode of University of Why, Dr. Sonia Chopra sits down with someone who did not want to be here: her husband, Vivek. He resisted. He negotiated for 20 minutes. He showed up anyway. And what unfolded was one of the most grounding conversations the podcast has ever held. Vivek grew up as the perpetual new kid, moving across six states before fifth grade, quietly learning to observe rather than belong. That early training in adaptability shaped everything from how he navigates a room to why he became a dentist, how he moves through marriage, and why he still, decades later, tends to sit back and watch before he speaks. He is an Enneagram Five. A thinker. A witness. And as Sonia puts it, her mirror. Together they trace the arc of their story: from a residency program in Brooklyn Heights that somehow became the most diverse cohort in the hospital's history, to ten days of silent Vipassana meditation in Thailand as an unofficial test of compatibility, to 22 years of partnership, three children, and a marriage Sonia calls the most sacred container she has ever known. Today on University of Why: - Growing up across seven moves and six states, and what it taught Vivek about observation and adaptability - Being the only brown kid in small-town Connecticut and Texas - Eight years at Chapel Hill, collecting quarters from payphones with his entrepreneur father, and the roundabout path to dentistry - Meeting in a residency program in Brooklyn that flipped its diversity script overnight - The five-year slow burn before Vivek committed, and the light-switch moment Sonia still wants to talk about - Ten days of silent Vipassana meditation in Thailand as an unofficial compatibility test - The Hindu concept of life phases and what it means to treat marriage as a duty and a sacred container - What has surprised Vivek most about marriage - Why the people closest to us are not here to complete us, but to refine us Follow Dr. Chopra: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drsoniachopra/ Dr. Sonia Chopra’s Website: https://www.soniachopra.com Explore eSchool: https://drsoniachopra.com/e-school/ Follow Vivek Chopra: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vivekkashyapdds/ Love the episode? Please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs this message. Your support keeps this show going!

The Real Reason Women in Dentistry Feel Stuck and How to Break Free ft. Anne Duffy

"I didn't know there was anything more for me until I was 42. And I think a lot of women feel that way." - Anne Duffy "Leadership isn't about the titles or the accolades. It's about the people who come alive because of your belief in them." - Dr. Sonia Chopra In this warm and deeply inspiring episode of University of Why, Dr. Sonia Chopra sits down with Anne Duffy, founder of Dental Entrepreneur Women (DEW), for a conversation about community, late-blooming purpose, and what it really means to lead with love. Anne didn't set out to build a movement. She started as a part-time hygienist, picked up side hustles out of financial desperation at 42, and spent two decades quietly developing her leadership voice before founding DEW at 62 after her friend was bullied in a workplace review. What followed was a community built on ten principles, a magazine, annual retreats, and a ripple effect felt by women across the dental profession and beyond. Together, Anne and Sonia explore the power of CliftonStrengths, the beauty of not having a five-year plan, and why the answer really is in the ladies' room. Today on University of Why: - Growing up as the oldest daughter of five and the oldest granddaughter on both sides - Starting her first side hustle at 42 out of financial necessity - Building the largest team of female leaders at Oxyfresh - How a friend getting bullied sparked the creation of DEW - The ten principles of DEW and why she refused to cut them down to three - How CliftonStrengths changed the way Anne sees herself and others - The balcony and the basement of every strength - Why woo, activator, positivity, communication, and arranger make Anne who she is - Living a life led by faith instead of a five-year plan - Why Anne's why is simply love - The story of two neighbors who lived eight houses apart for eleven years before meeting - What it means to shout someone's name in a room full of opportunity Follow Dr. Chopra: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drsoniachopra/ Dr. Sonia Chopra’s Website: https://www.soniachopra.com Explore eSchool: https://drsoniachopra.com/e-school/ Follow Anne Duffy: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annelduffy Dew Life: https://dew.life/ Love the episode? Please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs this message. Your support keeps this show going!

Your Opioid Prescription Could Be the First Step to Addiction ft. Sharon Parsons

"How you practice dentistry has changed in the last ten years. Why are you still treating pain the same?" - Dr. Sharon Parsons "I haven't prescribed an opioid in probably eight years because I now understand pain better." - Dr. Sonia Chopra ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this powerful and emotional episode of University of Why, Dr. Sonia Chopra sits down with Dr. Sharon Parsons, one of the most trailblazing women in the history of dentistry, for an honest conversation about purpose, loss, and the mission that now drives everything she does. Dr. Parsons graduated from Ohio State University in 1981, one of just 21 women in a class of 210, at a time when quotas limited female enrollment to 10%. She built her career in an era when a man once walked into her office not for treatment, but just to look at her because he'd never seen a woman dentist. From practicing solo in Appalachia with no assistant to owning a quality-first practice in Columbus, Sharon's journey through dentistry is one of grit, independence, and quiet revolution. But this episode goes far deeper than career milestones. In 2015, Sharon lost her son Sean to an opioid overdose and her mother just eight hours later on the same day. Rather than falling into the abyss, she made a decision in that moment to move forward with purpose. She founded a nonprofit called A Voice for Sean and has since dedicated her life to educating dental and medical professionals about the realities of opioid addiction and the alternatives that exist. Together, Sharon and Sonia unpack the science, the misconceptions, and the practical solutions that every provider and patient needs to hear. Today on University of Why: * Graduating as one of the first women in her dental class in 1981 * The role of mentorship when there were no women to look up to * Choosing independence and never depending on anyone else to live * Losing her son Sean and her mother on the same day * Choosing purpose over the abyss in the face of unimaginable grief * Founding A Voice for Sean to educate on opioid addiction * Why ages 13 to 26 are the most vulnerable window for addiction * The oral surgeon who changed his entire practice after one conversation * Why opioids don't effectively treat dental pain * Non-opioid alternatives: ibuprofen, Tylenol, Medrol dose packs, laser therapy, ice * Why every dentist and every parent should carry Narcan * Treating patients like family and rethinking the prescription pad * The documentary Women Shaping Dentistry and Sharon's upcoming speaking engagements Follow Dr. Chopra: * Instagram: @drsoniachopra [https://www.instagram.com/drsoniachopra/] * Dr. Sonia Chopra’s Website [https://www.soniachopra.com] – Learn more about my journey and work * Explore eSchool: HERE [https://drsoniachopra.com/e-school/] Follow Dr. Sharon Parsons:  * Instagram: @skpdds [https://www.instagram.com/skpdds] * Facebook: HERE [https://www.facebook.com/sharon.parsons.148] * Women Shaping Dentistry documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfAkiTr5mZgHERE [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfAkiTr5mZg] * A Voice For Sean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfAkiTr5mZgavoiceforsean.org [http://avoiceforsean.org] Love the episode? Please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs this message. Your support keeps this show going!