Why a Perfect 5.0 Rating Is Actually a Red Flag — and What Score to Aim For Instead

Teresa Phillips: From Trauma to Triumph — Finding Your Voice and Self-Love After Abuse

She won a chair in all-state band. The director turned her away. She put down her instrument and didn't pick it up again for decades. When she finally played again, it was at her father's funeral. Teresa Phillips has lived more than most — and turned every piece of it into a lantern for someone else. IN THIS EPISODE: * An alcoholic father, a baby brother lost after 18 hours, two abusive relationships, a husband who tried to kill her * How unprocessed trauma became panic attacks, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue * Moving to Texas to care for her father — and how his death cracked open everything she'd buried * The inner voice that said "Teresa, you have to change" — and why she finally listened * The Framework of the Self: self-love, self-respect, self-confidence, self-appreciation — unpacked * Why self-love is the hardest first step — and why abuse makes us stop loving ourselves first * How her father gave her music back, one hour a week, before he died * Forgiveness as freedom: not for them — to break your own chains * The morning routine that changed everything: sunrise, yoga, meditation, gratitude journal * Missteps, not mistakes — still moving, never stopped EPISODE SUMMARY: Teresa built the Framework of the Self not from a textbook but from decades of survival. Abuse, grief, chronic illness, and decades of silenced pain — all of it cracked open when her father died and she had to face what she had never processed. Four steps, taken one baby step at a time, rebuilt everything. She collects phoenixes because she is one. ABOUT TERESA: Speaker, podcaster, voiceover artist, singer, and musician. Creator of the Framework of the Self. Host of Open the Eye podcast. Broadcaster on KWVH 94.3 FM. CONNECT: https://teresaphillipsofficial.com/ COMMUNITY: https://www.wecandoitwomen.com/ If this episode stirred something buried in you, it is never too late. Join us at WeCanDoItWomen.com. A 5-star Apple Podcasts review helps more women find this show.

Why Your Teenager Can’t Talk to You — and What to Do Starting Today

She grew up with an alcoholic mother she never saw sober. At 11 she moved to her father's — safer, but still emotionally alone. Tatjana Simakova spent her childhood surviving without support. She spent the next 12 years making sure no teenager has to do the same. IN THIS EPISODE: * Growing up in Lithuania — an alcoholic mother, an emotionally absent father, and the art that kept her going * Why 12 years with teenagers led to one conclusion: the parent-child relationship is everything * How art therapy reached a 13-year-old Traveller boy who had no words for his grief * The three-part workshop: group chat, meditation, then whatever arrives on paper — no explanation needed * Why teenagers are in constant fight-or-flight on Snapchat — and what it costs their self-esteem * The mirror in Tatjana's office — and the teenagers who can't turn to look at themselves * One meal a day, no gadgets: the simplest first step any parent can take * Salvos Parenting: the online village for parents who need community and professionals in one place * Practicing in English, Russian, and Lithuanian — why mother tongue is the first language of emotion EPISODE SUMMARY: Tatjana discovered in 12 years of clinical work what her own childhood had already taught her: when a teenager has at least one trusting relationship with a parent, they can survive almost anything. Without it, everything is harder. Art therapy gave her the tool to bridge the gap — not because teenagers draw well, but because paint and paper carry what words cannot. Her new Salvos Parenting platform builds the village that parents desperately need: community, professionals, resources, and a safe place to ask questions without judgment. ABOUT TATJANA: Psychotherapist and art therapist, County Clare, Ireland. 12 years working with teenagers and families. Practicing in English, Russian, and Lithuanian. Founder of Salvos Parenting. CONNECT: https://salvustherapy.ie/ COMMUNITY: WeCanDoItWomen.com If this episode made you want to put your phone down and ask your teenager how they really are — do it today. Then join us at WeCanDoItWomen.com. A 5-star Apple Podcasts review helps more families find this show.

The Science of Empowerment with Laura Ballet — The Formula That Creates Change That Actually Lasts

At 14 she told her mother she'd write a world-changing book. It took decades, a year-long concussion, and a formula born in Olympic gymnastics coaching. Laura Ballet did it anyway. IN THIS EPISODE: * J3=E: the Olympic gymnastics formula adapted for everyday women — unpacked simply * The three fields of energy — negative, positive, neutral — and why neutrality is the superpower * The five principles: awareness, willingness, accountability, critical thinking, energy * "Negative Bob": the 7-year-old who learned to walk negativity out the door — now a champion at 15 * Subconscious contracts: how to identify the ones keeping you in the same loop * "Suspend the doubt": the single most powerful instruction Laura gives every client * How the concussion became the proving ground for everything she was writing EPISODE SUMMARY: Laura Ballet watched her brother Chris — former USA Olympic gymnastics coach — apply mindset training to elite athletes for decades. She wondered: what if everyday women had access to the same formula? The answer became The Science of Empowerment and a coaching practice built on one central truth: neutrality is where choice lives, and choice is the most powerful seat anyone can occupy. Her five principles — awareness, willingness, accountability, critical thinking, energy — don't just describe change. They create it. When a client walks in believing they're stuck, Laura asks one question: if you had high-level intellectual awareness right now, how would you answer this? They always know. The moment they voice it, the alignment begins. Information becomes knowledge. Knowledge becomes wisdom. Wisdom becomes an empowered life. ABOUT LAURA: Number-one bestselling international author of The Science of Empowerment, speaker, and empowerment coach. 150+ podcast and media appearances. Based in Farmington, Connecticut. CONNECT: https://thescienceofempowerment.com/ | Amazon: The Science of Empowerment COMMUNITY: WeCanDoItWomen.com If this episode made you ask what energy you're contributing right now — the formula is already working. Join us at WeCanDoItWomen.com. A 5-star Apple Podcasts review helps more women find this show.

Misti McCloud: NASM-Certified Coach on Rebuilding Strength, Confidence, and Self-Trust After 50

At 12, a botched surgery shattered every bone in both feet and ended her Olympic skating dream. At 315 pounds in her late 30s, she decided that wasn't her story either. Two weeks before her 52nd birthday, a corporate layoff handed her a door she never would have opened herself. She walked through it. IN THIS EPISODE: * The malpractice surgery at 12 that launched a lifetime philosophy: focus on what you can do * Losing over 100 pounds as a single mom through tiny, sustainable changes — before GLP-1 injections existed * The layoff at 52, one week of intentional stillness, and the Venn diagram that changed everything * Why six months of living expenses in savings is the breathing room that makes real choices possible * What happens when women reconnect with physical strength — and why it changes everything beyond the body * The 69-year-old client: breast cancer, a stroke, two knee replacements, couldn't rise from a toilet unassisted — now a self-described gym rat who lifts a 30-pound sewing machine alone * Why reinvention starts where staying the same becomes more painful than changing EPISODE SUMMARY: Misti McCloud built her coaching practice around what she knows firsthand. She survived single motherhood in D.C., raised a neurodiverse son, built a corporate career, and lost over 100 pounds through micro-changes made one at a time. When a layoff at 52 pushed her through an unexpected door, she took one intentional week, drew a Venn diagram of her skills, the world's needs, and what she could earn, and found her answer: NASM-certified coaching for women 40 and better. Her philosophy: when women reconnect with physical strength, the transformation is never just physical. It changes how they walk into rooms, set boundaries, and trust themselves. She is the GPS. Her clients do the driving. ABOUT MISTI: NASM-certified personal trainer, nutrition coach, and women's empowerment coach serving women 40 and better. Former corporate professional and single mother who lost over 100 pounds. Speaker and workshop leader for women's groups. CONNECT: trainwithmisti.com COMMUNITY: WeCanDoItWomen.com If this episode fanned an ember, take one step today — then join us at WeCanDoItWomen.com. A 5-star Apple Podcasts review helps more women find this show.

She Spent 8.5 Years Caregiving for a Husband with a Brain Tumor — Then Published 3 Novels in 2 Years

In his last coherent week, after eight and a half years of a brain tumor that had stolen him one layer at a time, Gerard came back. He told his wife she had been to hell. Then he asked her to promise him two things: love again, and write the novels. She scattered his ashes in Ireland and started writing that same night. IN THIS EPISODE: * A fifth-generation Michigan girl who read every library in town — and ended up in the Reagan White House * How CEO Frank Popoff found her writing speeches that didn't sound like business speeches — and her career was never the same * Meeting Gerard Cowan in a Dublin pub — the electricity, the Tuesday Club, the triplets * Eight and a half years of a right-frontal-lobe astrocytoma: personality changes, financial devastation, seizures, a broken back, and caregiving alone * How IBM's chief medical officer got them into Sloan Kettering by Wednesday morning * Gerard's final week — the deathbed promise that unlocked everything * Three novels published in two and a half years. A fourth coming. A life that is finally full. EPISODE SUMMARY: Michelle Morris has always connected with people by telling their stories — at the White House, in journalism, across corporate boardrooms, in crisis communications on three continents. But the decade she spent caregiving for a husband whose brain tumor was slowly dismantling his personality was one she lived mostly alone — too hard to explain, too strange to fit anyone's framework. When Gerard died, he gave her a permission slip she had been waiting for her whole career: write. She came home to Michigan, walked away from her last corporate job, and in two and a half years published three novels. Her characters face what she faced — the question of whether you get back up and what you build next. Her answer, in every book and in this conversation, is yes. ABOUT MICHELLE: Novelist, former Reagan White House staffer, corporate executive, and crisis communications professional. Author of Comes Around, A Quiet Town, Fresh Water, and a forthcoming fourth novel. Based in Michigan. CONNECT: http://michellesmorris.com | Amazon: Michelle S. Morris | Facebook: Michelle S. Morris, Author | Instagram: @michelle.s.morris COMMUNITY: WeCanDoItWomen.com If this episode reminded you the story isn't over, come find your people at WeCanDoItWomen.com. A 5-star Apple Podcasts review helps more women find this show.