Tiny Brave Steps: Real Women. Real Fear. Real Courage Stories.

Chery's Story: Facing Trauma As A Small But Mighty Ninja Warrior

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2395060/fan_mail/new] At 44, Cheryl Ilov walked into a doctor's office and walked out changed.  When the people she trusted most refused to believe her, she buried it. For a year and a half, she held herself together.  And then she didn't.  What pulled her back wasn't therapy or time. It was an acupuncturist who wouldn't stop talking about ninjas.  This is the story of a fussy girl in pointe shoes who became her teacher's first female black belt — and what she discovered along the way about strength she'd been carrying her whole life. CONNECT WITH CHERYL ILOV: https://www.cherylilov.com/ [https://www.cherylilov.com/] https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylilovvitalityconsultant/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylilovvitalityconsultant/] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU0oIAa1eygYtcRPuNnLv1g [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU0oIAa1eygYtcRPuNnLv1g] FIND CHERYL'S BOOKS HERE. [https://www.amazon.com/Reluctant-Ninja-Middle-Aged-Princess-Warrior-ebook/dp/B09TS18VBG/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=LIYiB&content-id=amzn1.sym.f8e88413-4697-42ea-9bf7-b28eb886330d&pf_rd_p=f8e88413-4697-42ea-9bf7-b28eb886330d&pf_rd_r=132-6014688-8064137&pd_rd_wg=ULl1I&pd_rd_r=29985f0b-fa95-4ba3-bed6-8b67818e33bd] Hosted by Bernice McDonald — Courage Architect, speaker, and author.  Need to find YOUR Next Step through a hard thing you're facing? Have a simple conversation with the Tiny Brave Steps Generator AI:  www.tinybravesteps.com [https://www.tinybravesteps.com/]. Connect with Bernice:   Email: bernice@bernicemcdonald.com Website: www.tinybravesteps.com Join me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernicemcdonald/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernicemcdonald/] If this episode moved something in you — leave a review, share it with a woman who needs it. Do YOU have a Courage Story you'd like to share? Send Bernice a message.

Mary Beth's Story: The Year The Unthinkable Struck Twice

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2395060/fan_mail/new] In January 2019, Mary Beth went in for a routine appointment and came out with a cancer diagnosis. Ten days after her own surgery, her husband received a diagnosis with a five percent survival rate.  What followed was a year that asked everything of her — and she showed up for all of it. This is a story about what you do when the weight is too heavy to carry alone. About the song you put on repeat. About the meltdown in the hotel hallway that let you walk back into the room.  About the strange courage it takes not to hold on, but to let go. Mary Beth Plank Mezo is a coach who helps women move from feeling like life is happening to them to knowing they can respond to whatever life brings. This story is where that conviction was forged. If you are the one holding everything together right now, this episode was made for you. Connect with Mary Beth: https://www.lifeleadershipessentials.com/ [https://www.lifeleadershipessentials.com/] https://www.linkedin.com/feed/ [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/] https://www.facebook.com/marybethLLE [https://www.facebook.com/marybethLLE] Find your next Tiny Brave Step: www.tinybravesteps.com Hosted by Bernice McDonald — Courage Architect, speaker, and author.  Need to find YOUR Next Step through a hard thing you're facing? Have a simple conversation with the Tiny Brave Steps Generator AI:  www.tinybravesteps.com [https://www.tinybravesteps.com/]. Connect with Bernice:   Email: bernice@bernicemcdonald.com Website: www.tinybravesteps.com Join me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernicemcdonald/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernicemcdonald/] If this episode moved something in you — leave a review, share it with a woman who needs it. Do YOU have a Courage Story you'd like to share? Send Bernice a message.

Kelly's Story: She Stopped Building Everyone Else's Dream

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2395060/fan_mail/new] For twenty years, Kelly Schuknecht was the woman behind the vision.  Two CEOs. Two decades. She made everything happen — the platforms, the books, the speaking events, the brand.  She was exceptional at it. And she was invisible doing it.  Then, a company acquisition decided she wasn't needed anymore. The layoff hit her harder than she expected. Not just professionally. Deep down, in the place where we keep the questions we're afraid to ask out loud.  Why didn't they think I was enough to keep?  The morning after, Kelly made a decision. She wasn't going to go looking for one more person to be the person behind. She opened a spreadsheet, typed three words at the top — Can We Do This? — and started building something of her own.  This episode is about what courage looks like when the wound is still fresh, and the story isn't finished yet.  It's about the dream you've been writing down but haven't let yourself say out loud.  And it's about the question Kelly's husband asked her on a hard day that changed the way she thought about fear.  You're going to want to hear it.  ________________________________________________________________  Connect with Kelly * Personal Website: https://kellyschuknecht.com/ [https://kellyschuknecht.com/] * Business Website (QUIZ is here:) https://twomilehighmarketing.com/ [https://twomilehighmarketing.com/] Kelly's Book https://authorityxfactor.com/ [https://authorityxfactor.com/]  Social Media * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyschuknecht [https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyschuknecht] * TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@kellyschuknecht [https://tiktok.com/@kellyschuknecht] * Instagram: https://instagram.com/KellySchuknecht [https://instagram.com/KellySchuknecht] * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/kellyschuknecht [https://www.youtube.com/kellyschuknecht] Hosted by Bernice McDonald — Courage Architect, speaker, and author.  Need to find YOUR Next Step through a hard thing you're facing? Have a simple conversation with the Tiny Brave Steps Generator AI:  www.tinybravesteps.com [https://www.tinybravesteps.com/]. Connect with Bernice:   Email: bernice@bernicemcdonald.com Website: www.tinybravesteps.com Join me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernicemcdonald/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernicemcdonald/] If this episode moved something in you — leave a review, share it with a woman who needs it. Do YOU have a Courage Story you'd like to share? Send Bernice a message.

Saoirse's Story: Soul Crushed or Soul Soaring

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2395060/fan_mail/new] She called herself a cliché. A woman in her mid-40s who needed to find herself.  But there is nothing clichéd about what Saoirse Temple actually did.  She left a relationship that had been slowly shrinking her — not with drama, but with years of quiet courage, one small step at a time. She packed one box. She asked the hard question. She walked through a door she had chosen for herself for the very first time at 48 years old.  And then she kept going.  Today Saoirse is a writer with nine published books and a definition of success that has nothing to do with sales.  This is a story about what it looks like to stop letting fear rescue you from your own possibilities. Connect with Saorise Temple: Website - https://www.saoirsetemple.com/ [https://www.saoirsetemple.com/] Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/saoirsetempleauthor [https://www.facebook.com/saoirsetempleauthor] Ko-fi - https://ko-fi.com/saoirsetemple [https://ko-fi.com/saoirsetemple]  (in case anyone wants to buy me a coffee to support my creative projects.) LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/saoirse-temple-64755735a/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/saoirse-temple-64755735a/] Intagram - https://www.instagram.com/saoirsealt/ [https://www.instagram.com/saoirsealt/] Substack - https://saltemple.substack.com/ [https://saltemple.substack.com/] (people can subscribe to my free newsletter: A Dash of S.A.L.T.)  Hosted by Bernice McDonald — Courage Architect, speaker, and author.  Need to find YOUR Next Step through a hard thing you're facing? Have a simple conversation with the Tiny Brave Steps Generator AI:  www.tinybravesteps.com [https://www.tinybravesteps.com/]. Connect with Bernice:   Email: bernice@bernicemcdonald.com Website: www.tinybravesteps.com Join me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernicemcdonald/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernicemcdonald/] If this episode moved something in you — leave a review, share it with a woman who needs it. Do YOU have a Courage Story you'd like to share? Send Bernice a message.

Kristin's Story: The Peace She Chose In The Face Of Cancer

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2395060/fan_mail/new] Kristin was 33 years old when a routine doctor's appointment changed everything.  The diagnosis: colon cancer.  The prognosis: unknown.  She drove home alone, in the rain, through Orlando traffic, trying to figure out how to say the word out loud to the people she loved. What happened in the two to three days that followed is not what you'd expect. This is a story about choosing peace before you have the answers. About discovering that the woman you thought you'd be in a crisis — the one who'd fall completely apart — isn't the woman who shows up. About faith that arrives quietly, in small signs, before the storm ever breaks. Kristin walked through 28 sessions of radiation, a 12-hour surgery, a near year with an ileostomy bag, and more than a dozen additional procedures.  She kept a blog. She shuffled down her sidewalk with a walker. She held onto a picture of feeling like a million bucks, a year from then. And she made it. Not just through cancer — but into a woman who, a decade later, faced job loss with that same settled knowing: I've been here before. I'll be okay. Kristin's courage story is for anyone who is in the middle of the unsurvivable thing. The peace she found is available to you, too. Hosted by Bernice McDonald — Courage Architect, speaker, and author.  Need to find YOUR Next Step through a hard thing you're facing? Have a simple conversation with the Tiny Brave Steps Generator AI:  www.tinybravesteps.com [https://www.tinybravesteps.com/]. Connect with Bernice:   Email: bernice@bernicemcdonald.com Website: www.tinybravesteps.com Join me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernicemcdonald/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernicemcdonald/] If this episode moved something in you — leave a review, share it with a woman who needs it. Do YOU have a Courage Story you'd like to share? Send Bernice a message.