Her Sober Brother Carried Her

Famous Names Quiet Wisdom

Tom Martin could spend an hour name-dropping. 20 years making the news at CBS, next to Charlie Rose and Diane Sawyer. Clients on Oprah and in The Wall Street Journal. He does the opposite. He spends his time pointing at people you have never heard of, because he believes the wisdom the world needs is sitting quiet inside ordinary people. This is Part 1. He tells Baz about the book he spent two years writing and then threw away, the friend who walked into prisons after losing her son at Sandy Hook, and why most people stay silent about a story that could help someone else. This is Part 1 of the conversation. Part 2 continues in the next episode. About the guest: Tom Martin is a media strategist and former network news producer.  Find him at https://tommartinmedia.com/ [https://tommartinmedia.com/] or on  LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-martin-3470981/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-martin-3470981/] Subscribe and watch the full conversation on the Rise From The Ashes YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@risefromtheashespodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@risefromtheashespodcast] Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2217291/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2217291/support] If this episode is landing, pay attention to that. The Reclamation Code is your entry point. A $97 framework built for high-performing leaders who have achieved everything and privately know something fundamental needs to change. No group. No performing. Start here: bazporter.com/reclamation-code [https://bazporter.com/reclamation-code] Learn more about Baz Porter and The Prestige Architect™: https://bazporter.com [https://bazporter.com/]/manifesto

Is Humanity Worth Saving

He thinks AI will keep getting smarter until it asks one question: is humanity worth saving? His point is simple — what we feed it is what comes out, and right now we're feeding it our worst. This is Part 2 of Kevin Smith's conversation, and it goes somewhere the first part didn't. He argues we're in an epidemic of empathy erosion, but he isn't hopeless. He believes hate is taught, not born — which means kindness can be taught too. He breaks "kindness" into eight real parts you can measure, explains why he runs a 25-year wealth practice and a global nonprofit on one value system, and ends on the question he thinks matters most: what do you want said at your funeral? This is Part 2. Part 1 is a separate episode — it's the lost wallet that started everything. Listen to it first if you missed it. About the guest: Kevin Smith is the founder of Smith Wealth Advisory Group, recognized by Forbes and the Financial Times as among the top advisors in the country, and the founder of the nonprofit Kindness Worldwide.  Smith Wealth Advisory Group: https://advisor.janney.com/smithwealthadvisory/ [https://advisor.janney.com/smithwealthadvisory/]  Kindness Worldwide: https://www.kindnessworldwide.org/about [https://www.kindnessworldwide.org/about] Watch the full conversation on the Rise From The Ashes YouTube channel and subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@risefromtheashespodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@risefromtheashespodcast] Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2217291/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2217291/support] If this episode is landing, pay attention to that. The Reclamation Code is your entry point. A $97 framework built for high-performing leaders who have achieved everything and privately know something fundamental needs to change. No group. No performing. Start here: bazporter.com/reclamation-code [https://bazporter.com/reclamation-code] Learn more about Baz Porter and The Prestige Architect™: https://bazporter.com [https://bazporter.com/]/manifesto

The Wallet That Called

He drove home with shrimp sauce and a gift card. He walked inside and his wallet was gone. The money meant nothing. The photos of people he'd lost meant everything. Then a stranger appeared at his window holding it — she'd driven 2.6 miles out of her way to return it. Kevin Smith couldn't let that go. His attempt to thank her became Kindness Worldwide, a nonprofit now recognized in communities across the world and presented before 40 nations in Italy. In this episode he goes back to that morning, to a question his best friend once asked him, and to the one door he didn't answer that he refuses to miss again. This is Part 1. Part 2 is a separate episode — listen to it next. About our guest: Kevin Smith is the founder of Smith Wealth Advisory Group, recognized by Forbes and the Financial Times as among the top advisors in the country, and the founder of the nonprofit Kindness Worldwide.  Smith Wealth Advisory Group: https://advisor.janney.com/smithwealthadvisory/ [https://advisor.janney.com/smithwealthadvisory/]  Kindness Worldwide: https://www.kindnessworldwide.org/about [https://www.kindnessworldwide.org/about] Watch the full conversation on the Rise From The Ashes YouTube channel and subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@BazPorter [https://www.youtube.com/@BazPorter] Thank you to Our Partner C-Suite Network. Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2217291/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2217291/support] If this episode is landing, pay attention to that. The Reclamation Code is your entry point. A $97 framework built for high-performing leaders who have achieved everything and privately know something fundamental needs to change. No group. No performing. Start here: bazporter.com/reclamation-code [https://bazporter.com/reclamation-code] Learn more about Baz Porter and The Prestige Architect™: https://bazporter.com [https://bazporter.com/]/manifesto

Her Sober Brother Carried Her

She fell on her kitchen floor reaching for ice. Her sober brother picked her up. That moment didn't end the drinking. It ended the pretending. Jill Collins lost her husband Ed seven years ago. He went for a run, collapsed, and died of a heart attack on the spot. Fourteen years of marriage ended in a second. She got on a plane to Argentina ten days later and ran for eighteen months — through champagne lunches, through galas, through a new business she launched while quietly drinking through every night. This episode is what she found when the running stopped. She is four years sober next month. Founder of the Hyper Effect Framework for Connection. Author of The Power of Connection: Revitalizing Yourself After Loss. Founder of Jillionaire AI and the 3 Numbers Framework. She is still grieving. She says it out loud. Chapters  [00:00] Introduction & Guest Welcome  [01:55] Jill's Story: Sudden Loss [04:20] Coping Through Avoidance  [07:45] The Road to Sobriety  [11:00] Celebrating Small Wins  [12:55] Daily Routines & Self-Leadership  [16:10] Influential People & Mentors  [18:30] Books & Resources  [20:00] Perceived Failures in Business  [22:00] Inner Voice & Ego  [23:50] The 33% Rule  [25:30] Coaching Boundaries & Receiving  [27:10] Vision for the Future About the guest Jill Collins is a speaker, author, and wealth strategist. She is the founder of the Hyper Effect Framework for Connection and the founder of Jillionaire AI — the financial clarity tool built on her proprietary 3 Numbers Framework. Her book The Power of Connection: Revitalizing Yourself After Loss is out now. Find her at https://www.jillcollins.com/ [https://www.jillcollins.com/]. Watch the full conversation on the Rise From The Ashes YouTube channel and subscribe so the next story finds you: https://www.youtube.com/@risefromtheashespodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@risefromtheashespodcast] Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2217291/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2217291/support] If this episode is landing, pay attention to that. The Reclamation Code is your entry point. A $97 framework built for high-performing leaders who have achieved everything and privately know something fundamental needs to change. No group. No performing. Start here: bazporter.com/reclamation-code [https://bazporter.com/reclamation-code] Learn more about Baz Porter and The Prestige Architect™: https://bazporter.com [https://bazporter.com/]/manifesto

She Watched It Burn

She was watching TV when she smelled it. By the time the fire department arrived, the flames were above the roof of her house — and instead of panic, she felt a peace she still can't fully explain. Carol Hodges lost her daughter and couldn't speak of it for twenty years. She lost a fortune to a single high-risk bet. Then she lost her home to a fire in October 2023. In Part 2 of this conversation, she walks through the night itself, the strange calm that came with it, and how being forced to list every possession she'd ever owned turned into a full life review — and the question she now builds her work around: who am I now. This is Part 2. Part 1 is a separate episode — listen to that one first if you missed it. Chapters   [00:00] Introduction [03:30] Carole's Journey After Loss  [07:00] Discovering Personal Growth & Coaching  [10:30] Financial Lessons [13:30] The House Fire  [17:00] Life After the Fire  [20:00] Dream Building & Coaching Women  [22:30] Resources & Closing About Carol Hodges Carol Hodges is the author of The Menopause Millionaire and works with people in the second half of life on rebuilding identity and designing a life they love.  Find her at https://lifechangenavigator.com [https://lifechangenavigator.com] and on LinkedIn (Carol Hodges, with an e). Watch the full conversation and subscribe on the Rise From The Ashes YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@risefromtheashespodcast [https://www.youtube.com/@risefromtheashespodcast] Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2217291/fan_mail/new] Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2217291/support] If this episode is landing, pay attention to that. The Reclamation Code is your entry point. A $97 framework built for high-performing leaders who have achieved everything and privately know something fundamental needs to change. No group. No performing. Start here: bazporter.com/reclamation-code [https://bazporter.com/reclamation-code] Learn more about Baz Porter and The Prestige Architect™: https://bazporter.com [https://bazporter.com/]/manifesto