The Scenic Route with Victoria Steward

Air Force to FBI to a Dating Podcast: John Petrozelli on Prepping Before You Leap

John Petrozelli has built his whole life around one rule: before you make a big move, prep the ground, study the risks, then leap. He learned it as an Air Force intelligence officer, sharpened it across seventeen years and five different roles in the FBI, and carried it into a career in cybersecurity. So what happens when a man who plans everything tells you about the one time he leapt without a plan? That is the heart of this conversation. John walked away from the military fast, on anger and instinct, and spent the next year and a half treading water before he found his footing again. If you have ever wondered what it actually costs to jump before you are ready, his answer is worth sitting with. But this is not a heavy episode. It is also the story of how John got curious instead of bitter: how he used those same intelligence skills to rebuild his life after divorce, why he finally stopped forcing the search and met the right person when he was not looking, and how all of it turned into Done With Dating, his free, podcast-driven dating platform where listeners can actually apply to date the guests. CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome to The Scenic Route 01:28 Dreaming of Becoming an Air Force Pilot 02:31 Switching From Engineering to Intelligence Work 04:27 What “Intelligence Preparation of the Battle Space” Means 07:08 Becoming an Air Force Intelligence Officer in 1998 08:07 What South Korea Taught Him About the Gray Area of Life 09:06 Combat Mission Planning for Special Operations 10:59 From the FBI to Director of Cybersecurity: Five Career Pivots 13:08 How Cyber Warfare Actually Works Today 17:25 Rebuilding His Dating Life After Divorce, and Hitting Burnout 21:23 Meeting the Right Person by Not Looking for Her 23:24 Building the Done With Dating Podcast: Three Pillars 26:50 How the Matchmaking Episodes Work 40:31 The One Time He Didn't Prep the Battle Space: Leaving the Military 44:11 From the Marathon Bombing Manhunt to a Desk Job Overnight   CONNECT WITH JOHN Website [https://www.donewithdating.co] Done with Dating Podcast: YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@DoneWithDating]/Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/done-with-dating/id1888353863]/Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/2AmpKxCWkc2RISsAdY4NYq] ABOUT VICTORIA Victoria Steward is a Corporate Exit and Financial Empowerment Coach and Certified Profit for Keeps® Coach, helping senior corporate women stuck in the "one-more-year" loop, build the self-trust and financial clarity to leave corporate on their own terms, their own timing, their own scenic route. Curious? Book a Pivot Clarity Call. [https://victoria-steward.com/pivotclarity] FOLLOW On LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-steward-coaching/] On Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/victoria.steward.coach/] RESOURCES The Can I Pivot Yet? Exit Roadmap [https://roadmap.victoria-steward.com] The 5-Minute Grounding Reset [https://reset.victoria-steward.com] Website [https://victoria-steward.com]

There’s No Magic Bullet: Rachel Smith on What Women Over 40 Actually Need to Thrive

It’s 2am. You’re three videos deep into someone promising the one protocol, the one supplement, the one secret that big pharma has supposedly been keeping from you. And here’s the part that stings: at 2pm you run a team, read the data, command the room. So why does the magic-bullet pitch land so hard at midnight? That question sits at the heart of this conversation with Rachel Smith, DNP, FNP-C, CNM, NBC-HWC, a nurse practitioner, former certified nurse midwife, and founder of Aspect Wellness, whose own path to longevity medicine took the scenic route. Rachel grew up swearing she would never work in healthcare; she wanted to write the great American novel. Then a chance meeting in a tornado shelter introduced her to nurse midwifery, she went back to school at 33 (“how bad can nursing school be?”), delivered over a thousand babies, and let her own perimenopause push her toward the work she does now: helping women build the strength and capacity to actually live the decades ahead. You’ll hear why she believes muscle is the single most important health lever for women over 40, why the number on the scale was never the real question, and why, after twenty years and a wall of letters after her name, her answer to “what’s the secret?” is the most unglamorous list imaginable: eat real food, lift heavy things, sleep, get sunshine, build relationships you trust. There is no magic plant growing in the Amazon. There never was. CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome and What Longevity Medicine for Women Really Means 02:51 Why Your Health Is the Launching Pad for Everything Else 03:43 From Aspiring Novelist to Nursing: An Unexpected Start 06:06 The Tornado Shelter Meeting That Changed Everything 07:38 “How Bad Can Nursing School Be?” Going Back at 33 10:31 Delivering 1,000 Babies and the Burnout That Followed 13:03 When Perimenopause Surprised a Women’s Health Expert 15:23 The First Pivot: Building a Medical Weight Loss Program 19:40 Moving to Florida and Going Deeper Into Coaching 22:46 Why Weight Loss Alone Was the Wrong Focus 26:28 Longevity Medicine: How Long Do You Want to Live? 31:22 The Two Levers That Matter Most: Muscle and Stress 36:30 The Protein Myth and the 2am Magic Bullet Trap 44:47 Rachel’s Book and Where to Find Her FIND OUT HOW TO WORK WITH RACHEL Aspect Wellness [https://www.aspect-wellness.com] On Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/aspectwellness/] On LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-smith-dnp/] About Victoria Victoria Steward is a Financial Empowerment Coach and Certified Profit for Keeps® Coach helping senior women in corporate build the clarity and confidence to leave on their own terms. Curious? Book a Pivot Clarity Call [https://victoria-steward.com/pivotclarity]. FOLLOW On LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-steward-coaching/] On Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/victoria.steward.coach/] RESOURCES The 5-Minute Grounding Reset [https://reset.victoria-steward.com] The Can I Pivot Yet? Calculator [https://calculator.victoria-steward.com] Website [https://victoria-steward.com]

The Most You You’ve Ever Been: Sarah Curnoles on Life After Heartbreak

What if your most devastating breakup was actually the moment your real life began? Sarah Curnoles thought she’d found her person. Five years together, talking about marriage and kids and growing old. Then one day he said: “I love you. I just don’t see a life with you anymore.” And standing at that crossroads, Sarah made a choice she’d spend the next several years helping others make too: I’m not going down the road where I fall apart. I’m finding the other path. Today Sarah is a certified breakup coach, a digital nomad, and the host of Breakup Pep Talks. She helps people transform heartbreak into the best thing that ever happened to them, and she means that literally. Not as a silver-lining consolation prize, but as the actual destination. One of her recent clients wrapped up their work together and said: “Hope has come back.” That’s the whole mission, right there. We talk about the symphony of healing she threw herself into after her breakup, why she gives clients a five-minute crying appointment every day, the “can of Coke” reframe that helps people stop idolizing the person who hurt them, and why heartbreak doesn’t have a gender. We also get into the winding, very Scenic Route path that led her here: theater, then coaching, then back to theater to pay the bills, then the breakup that finally made everything click into place. CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction: Sarah Curnoles, Breakup Coach 01:40 From Actor Dreams to Stage Manager: Sarah's Theater Career 03:37 How Sarah Found Life Coaching (While Working in Theater Offices) 05:32 The Five-Year Relationship and the Breakup That Changed Everything 08:14 Two Roads After Heartbreak: Choosing the Path You Don't Know 09:14 The Symphony of Healing: Therapy, Coaching, and Embodiment Work 12:14 The Five-Minute Crying Appointment (And Why It Works) 14:09 Why Movies Make You Cry When Your Own Feelings Feel Stuck 18:11 How Sarah Works: The GPS Method for Breakup Recovery 20:08 The Can of Coke Reframe: Seeing Your Ex Clearly 24:43 Working With All Genders: Why Heartbreak Has No Gender 29:52 Why Sarah Chose Meetup Over Social Media to Build Her Business 33:00 Do the Thing 20 Times: Consistency in the Platform That Fits You 37:40 What Sarah Wants You to Know: It’s Not About Getting Over Someone Resources From Sarah Free breakthrough call [https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=13002720&appointmentType=2184073] Meetup Community Group [https://www.meetup.com/breakup-and-divorce-support/] Learn More and Connect Website [https://sarahcurnoles.com/] Breakup Pep Talks Podcast [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIydCNJvFAwPVsJ7yPveQdcX9CWZRNEt4] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/sarahcurnoles/] About Victoria Victoria Steward helps senior corporate women stop saying ‘just one more year’ and finally understand what leaving would actually take. Curious and ready to talk it through? Book a Pivot Clarity Call. [https://victoria-steward.com/pivotclarity] Follow On LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-steward-coaching/] On Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/victoria.steward.coach/] Website [https://victoria-steward.com]

Farmers Never Hurry: Michelle MacNeil on Building a Business That Lasts

What happens when you get everything right on paper... and still feel like you are running on fumes? Michelle MacNeil is a Systems Business Coach® running her practice from a small hobby farm in rural Alberta, Canada. She works with small business owners who are doing well by most traditional measures: billing is solid, clients are happy, and on paper things look fine. But “are too successful to quit and too exhausted” to actually enjoy what they have built. Her take: it is not an ambition problem. It is an infrastructure problem. And those, she will tell you, are her favorite kind of problem to fix. In this conversation, Michelle talks about what it actually means to fail forward (not the poster version), why building your business on the leftovers of your day guarantees you will stay stuck, and how quarterly planning changed the way she shows up for both her business and her farm. We also get into the hard question: if you are going to build yourself a really crappy job, why are you doing this at all? This one is for you if you are showing up every day, giving it everything, and still wondering why you feel like you are behind.   CHAPTERS 00:00  Welcome to the Scenic Route: Introducing Michelle MacNeil 01:17  Too Successful to Quit but Too Exhausted to Enjoy It: Who Michelle Works With 02:55  Where Did You Think Your Life Was Going? Michelle's Non-Linear Path 04:30  Baby, Puppies, COVID, and a Farm: How the Big Life Shift Happened 09:40  How Running a Farm Taught Her to Work Differently With Clients 14:26  Why Every Coach Needs a Coach: The Problem With Being Too Close 15:17  Failing Forward Was Just a Poster Until the Farm Taught Her What It Actually Means 19:15  Farmers Never Hurry: The Pace Strategy Her Neighbors Taught Her 22:28  If One Hiccup Derails Your Plan, Your Plan Is Too Thin 24:15  Business Lessons From Turkeys and Non-Negotiables 29:23  Stop Building Your Business on the Leftovers of Your Day 31:26  Why Annual Goals Fail and Quarterly Planning Works 35:29  Co-Planning: Why You Actually Show Up When You Do It With Others 40:01  Business Development Is Personal Development: You Can't Have One Without the Other 41:07  Where to Find Michelle and Join the Quarterly Planning Session MICHELLE MACNEIL Website [https://michellemacneil.com] On LinkedIn [https://linkedin.com/in/michellemacneil01] Q3 2026 Quarterly Planning Session (FREE on June 29th): Register here [https://app.paperbell.com/checkout/packages/211972] ABOUT VICTORIA Victoria Steward helps senior corporate women stop saying ‘just one more year’ and finally understand what leaving would actually take. She knows the gap between the numbers looking fine and the feeling being anything but: she left the Navy with more than most people’s ‘enough’ in the bank, and her anxiety got worse. Now she helps women build the financial clarity and self-trust to leave corporate on their own terms, their own timing, their own scenic route. Financial Empowerment Coach | Certified Profit for Keeps® Coach On LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-steward-coaching/] On Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/victoria.steward.coach] Website [https://victoria-steward.com]

Leslie Ellen Mathews on Why Every Turn That Felt Wrong Was Actually Exactly Right

Have you ever been doing exactly what felt right... and had everyone around you tell you it was a mistake? My guest this week is Leslie Ellen Mathews: therapist, divorce and relationship coach, MBSR teacher, podcast coach, and one of the most multi-passionate humans I have ever had the pleasure of sitting down with. Her path has included neuro speech therapy, neuroscience research, law school, a master’s in health administration, staying home with three kids, photography, and eventually clinical social work. At each turn, the people around her told her to stop. Go back. Do something practical with her education. And at each turn, she kept going anyway. What she couldn’t have known then is that every single thread she picked up would become part of the tapestry. The camera work that made podcasting intuitive. The legal background that shapes how she supports women through divorce. The neuroscience obsession that runs underneath all of her therapeutic work. None of it was wasted. None of it was a detour. CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome & Leslie Introduces Herself: Multi-Passionate, Therapist, Divorce Coach 01:18 What Human Design Told Her About Why Corporate Life Never Fit 04:23 From Social Work to Speech Pathology: Following the Neuroscience Thread 06:48 Evaluating Brain Injuries at Barnes-Jewish: When the Work Really Lit Her Up 13:14 Single Mom, Neuroscience Researcher, Law School: How She Got There 15:08 Why She Left Law After One Year: Identity, Family, and a Pivot Nobody Understood 19:29 Photography as a Gateway Back to Creativity (and a Little Girl With a Disposable Camera) 22:25 The Reason She Needed to Experience Every Role She Ever Had 27:01 How Meditation and MBSR Changed Everything: The Path She Teaches Daily 31:35 The MBSR Silent Retreat Vision That Ended All Doubt About Going Back to Social Work 35:27 What It Means to Be a Multi-Passionate: Collector, Not Quitter 44:19 The Shame of Being Criticized at Every Turn, and What She Would Tell Herself Now 47:57 Trust Yourself: What Happens When You Stop Farming Out Your Own Authority 51:26 "Who Do You Think You Are?" Her Answer to the Voice That Still Shows Up LEARN MORE ABOUT LESLIE Website [https://leslieellenmathews.com/] The LooM Life [https://theloomlife.com] On Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/leslieellenmathews/] Podcast: Pulling Threads [https://www.youtube.com/@PullingThreads_LeslieMathews] FIND OUT MORE ABOUT VICTORIA On LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-steward-coaching/] On Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/victoria.steward.coach/] Website [https://victoria-steward.com] Curious about working with Victoria? Book a Pivot Clarity Call [https://victoria-steward.com/pivotclarity] 🎙️ This show is recorded with Riverside [riverside.sjv.io/PzzkYY], the easiest way to run a professional podcast and livestream simultaneously. Thinking about starting your own show?