102: Chris Smith in the hot seat

107: Tash Lankester in the hot seat

In this episode of Listen Bitch Presents: Tell Me Why You’re Special, I sit down with coach Tash Lankester  for a brutally honest conversation about body image, diet culture, self-worth, fitness obsession, emotional eating, sustainable habits, GLP-1 culture, women’s health, and the psychology behind transformation. Tash Lankester  shares her personal journey from restrictive dieting and toxic relationships with food into a balanced, sustainable lifestyle focused on confidence, consistency, and self-respect rather than punishment and perfectionism. We discuss how diet culture impacts women’s mental health, how self-worth affects consistency, why people self-sabotage progress, and how modern fitness culture can quietly turn into obsession and emotional burnout. The conversation also dives into: * body image struggles * restrictive dieting * emotional eating * self-sabotage * confidence building * sustainable weight loss * GLP-1 conversations * habit formation * women’s fitness * fitness mindset * food guilt * all-or-nothing thinking * discipline vs punishment * realistic health goals * consistency and motivation Tash Lankester explains why transformation starts with small achievable steps instead of overwhelming perfectionism, and why sustainable habits matter more than extreme short-term results. We also discuss how fitness trends have evolved over the years, how social media affects body image, and why so many women feel trapped between health culture and self-acceptance. If you’ve ever struggled with your relationship with food, your body, consistency, or your own self-worth, this episode is going to hit home hard. This isn’t surface-level wellness talk. This is the emotional side of transformation nobody talks about honestly. Tash Lankester, a body transformation coach who's helping women achieve something most people think is impossible: sustainable transformation that actually sticks. Tash has worked with hundreds of clients, and what sets her apart is that she doesn't just help women transform their bodies—she helps them transform their entire relationship with themselves and optimise their health in the process. She's seen women reverse PCOS symptoms so dramatically their doctors no longer recommend medication. She's helped busy women lose between 10-30kg while actually enjoying the process and falling in love with it. And she's built a community of women who don't just build their dream bodies—they gain confidence, clarity, and control over their bodies for life. But here's what's really interesting: Tash didn't start out as a coach. She struggled with her own weight and fitness journey for years. She tried every diet, every workout program, every supplement. Nothing stuck. Until she figured out the one thing that actually works—and it's not what most people think. In this episode, we're diving into the TLC Method, why most diets fail, what actually works for sustainable fat loss, and how to build a body you actually love. If you've ever felt stuck, hopeless, or like you've tried everything—this conversation is for you. https://www.tashlankester.com/ [https://www.tashlankester.com/]

106: Seth Payne in the hot seat

This episode of Tell Me Why You’re Special went deep into addiction, masculinity, military conditioning, mental health, fatherhood, emotional healing, neuroplasticity, radical honesty, and what it actually looks like to rebuild your life from the inside out. Seth is a Marine Corps veteran and performance coach who opened up about returning from Afghanistan carrying trauma, eventually spiraling into addiction, emotional suppression, and a psychiatric hospitalization in 2022. But what made this conversation powerful wasn’t just the struggle — it was the ownership. No victim mindset. No fake motivation speeches. Just brutal honesty about what happens when performance-based identity finally collapses. We talked about the pressure men feel to suppress emotions, how military culture conditioned him to disconnect from vulnerability, and how healing required him to stop numbing himself and actually feel life again. Seth also shared his journey into neuroplasticity, habit formation, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and the daily disciplines that helped him slowly rebuild peace, stability, and self-respect. One of the strongest parts of this conversation was Seth’s honesty about fatherhood and learning how to become emotionally available instead of emotionally armored. We also discussed Marines boot camp, parenting, addiction recovery, self-compassion, PTSD, mental health, emotional regulation, and why real transformation is usually boring, repetitive, consistent work — not flashy overnight breakthroughs. This episode is for men who are silently drowning. It’s for veterans. It’s for parents trying to break cycles. It’s for people who are exhausted pretending they’re okay. And honestly… it’s for anybody tired of hiding behind performance while quietly falling apart. Seth here. Marine Corps veteran, performance coach, and someone who has been through addiction, shame, mental health diagnoses, and the slow collapse of everything I thought defined me. I didn’t just survive it. I rewired it. What I found on the other side was simple and it changed everything: I wasn’t broken. I was conditioned. And if I could be conditioned into those patterns, I could condition myself out of them and into the person I actually wanted to become. That’s what I call Armor to Alignment. No hype. No surface level fixes. Just real work that leads to real change. Your mess becomes your message. I’m living proof. Your mess becomes your message. I’m living proof. Let’s talk about it. https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-payne-657787350 [https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-payne-657787350] Inst: seth.g.pn [http://seth.g.pn]

105: David Petrash in the hot seat

In this powerful episode of Listen Bitch Presents: Tell Me Why You’re Special, I sit down with David Petrash — Navy submariner, pastor, entrepreneur, author, leadership speaker, and survivor of devastating personal loss — for one of the most honest conversations about faith, leadership, mental health, surrender, and rebuilding your life after collapse. David shares the deeply personal story of how infidelity, divorce, church collapse, emotional burnout, and a mental breakdown led to a complete unraveling of his identity and eventually landed him in a mental institution for three months. Instead of destroying him permanently, that season became the beginning of a completely different relationship with God. We discuss authentic Christian leadership, overcoming mental health struggles, surrendering control, rebuilding faith after trauma, leadership pressure, divorce recovery, emotional healing, letting go of outcomes, trusting God during suffering, and why real faith is often built in broken places. David also talks about his book The Ripple of Faith, his music projects including songs releasing on Spotify, and the importance of focusing outward instead of becoming consumed by fear, shame, or self-protection. This conversation dives deep into Christianity, spiritual growth, emotional resilience, healing from betrayal, leadership burnout, mental health recovery, purpose, obedience, and trusting God when life completely falls apart. If you’ve ever questioned your purpose, struggled with faith, carried hidden pain, or wondered whether God could still use your story after disaster… this episode is going to hit hard. This is not polished church talk. This is survival, surrender, rebuilding, and faith made real. David Alan Petrash is a submariner, pastor, businessman, and water-treatment professional whose life bridges faith, service, and leadership. He served eight years aboard U.S. Navy nuclear submarines as a nuclear engineer before embarking on a distinguished career in industrial water treatment, where he became a Certified Water Technologist and award-winning corporate trainer with Nalco Water, Solenis, and Siemens. Alongside his technical career, David spent more than three decades as Senior Pastor of Grace Point Vineyard Church in Wolfeboro, NH and Connections Vineyard Church in Tucson, AZ, where he delivered hundreds of sermons that blend scriptural depth with everyday wisdom.  Today, David and his wife, Trina, co-own City Wide Facility Solutions of Southern Arizona, a multimillion-dollar enterprise serving regional businesses. Drawing from his unique background - from submarine hulls to the pulpit and the boardroom - David writes with both authority and compassion, inspiring readers to live with faith, courage, and purpose. https://www.rippleoffaith.com/ [https://www.rippleoffaith.com/]

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.