Find Your Voice, Change Your Life

#178 The Hidden Cost of Being the Strong One

Today, I interview Shelly Grimm, who reflects on growing up alongside chronic illness and learning, from a very young age, how to take care of herself and others. Much of Shelly’s childhood unfolded in hospitals, financial strain, and ongoing uncertainty. She learned how to manage, decide, and keep going without much protection or guidance. Confidence developed through necessity. Speaking up was less about expression and more about making sure life continued to function. As the conversation unfolds, Shelly starts to recognize how much of her strength came from necessity. Naming this brings a new awareness to the cost of always having to handle things alone, and how that shaped her confidence and voice. Today, Shelly’s work supports caregivers and families navigating long-term illness and responsibility. In this conversation, we explore how voice and confidence can form through lived experience, and what becomes possible when those early patterns are finally seen and understood. __________________ Shelly Grimm is the founder of The Perpetual Caregiver Collective, a national movement dedicated to supporting caregivers and those living with chronic illness through compassion, financial clarity, and renewal. A former insurance executive with 27 years of experience in financial consulting, Shelly blends her professional expertise with deeply personal experience. Her mother was the first woman in the United States diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 1956, an event that shaped Shelly’s lifelong empathy for those facing chronic illness and the families who care for them. She is the author of her debut memoir Some Asses Just Need Wiping and the upcoming sequel Some Loves Just Need Leaving, part of her Some Just Need… book series. Shelly has been featured on Fox Business, Bloomberg, and Tom Hegna’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and was named by MSN as one of the Top 10 Most Inspirational Women to Follow in 2025. Her work through The Perpetual Caregiver Collective bridges the gap between practical financial preparedness and emotional well-being, ensuring no caregiver—or care recipient—ever feels unseen or unsupported. __________________ Find Shelly here: www.linkedin/in/shellygrimm/ www.facebook.com/theperpetualcaregiver/ www.instagram.com/perpetualcaregiver/ Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1751770/support] I’m Dr. Doreen Downing and I help people find their voice so they can speak without fear. Get the Free 7-Step Guide to Fearless Speaking https://www.doreen7steps.com .

#177 The Cost of Living in Systems Not Designed for Women

Today, I interview Katrina van Oudheusden, who reflects on how early family dynamics, expectations, and learning to be capable from a young age shaped the way she learned to push through, stay productive, and quiet parts of herself. Growing up in a large family with strong values around stability and responsibility, Katrina learned to perform well and do what was expected. As an adult, those early patterns followed her into high-achieving environments, where productivity was prioritized and bodily signals were often set aside, eventually leading to exhaustion and a sense of losing her voice. A turning point came when she began questioning whether confidence, speaking, and success were meant to be forced at all. That question opened a deeper exploration of listening to the body and recognizing rhythms many women are never taught to honor. Today, Katrina supports women in slowing down, reconnecting with themselves, and building lives and businesses that feel aligned with who they are. In this conversation, we explore how voice, trust, and presence begin long before speaking, and what becomes possible when listening replaces pushing. __________________ Katrina van Oudheusden (van Oud-who’s den) is a Business Growth Coach and creator of the CreatHER Method, a framework that helps highly accomplished women grow their businesses without burnout. With a background rooted in Disney’s legendary customer experience philosophy, Katrina brings a unique blend of strategic precision and emotional connection to everything she creates. Through her offerings, including CreatHER Business Rewire, the CreatHER Planner, and her in-person CreatHER Rest & Reset, she helps ambitious women reconnect with their natural rhythms and design businesses that flow. Katrina’s work blends the art of customer experience with the science of business scaling, turning clarity into cash flow, rest into results, and creativity into sustainable impact. __________________ Find Katrina here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrinavanoudheusden/ https://www.pinterest.com/thetruthbomb/ https://truthbombmarketing.com/go/authentically-female/authentic-female http://creatherplanner.com Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1751770/support] I’m Dr. Doreen Downing and I help people find their voice so they can speak without fear. Get the Free 7-Step Guide to Fearless Speaking https://www.doreen7steps.com .

#176 When Staying Quiet Was Survival and Listening Became Healing

Today, I interview Desislava Dimitrova, who grew up learning to stay quiet in order to keep the peace. She shares what it was like growing up in a strict home where it did not feel safe to speak, and how being quiet became a way to protect herself from a very young age. A major turning point came later in her life through a serious illness that divided her life into before and after. The long healing process forced her to slow down, listen deeply, and face her biggest fears. Through years of meditation and healing, she began reconnecting with her heart and the deeper knowing that had always been there. Today, Desislava uses her voice to help others slow down and listen to their heart. Through meditation and a personal, intuitive approach, she supports people in finding healing, clarity, and a deeper connection to themselves. __________________ Desislava Dimitrova is a holistic whole health consultant with intuitive and healing abilities. She is passionate about helping moms improve their lifestyle and live with more joy and inner peace. People she has worked with often describe her as practical and motherly nurturing, and she offers a very personal approach that works with mind, body, and spirit. She is certified in multiple healing modalities, but life experience is her biggest credential. Desislava works with mid age professional and business women who feel overwhelmed, stressed, or are going through major transitions in their lives. She helps them find peace, hear their inner voice, and move past blocks so they can take their next inspired steps with confidence and clarity, while creating a calm and safe space for healing and growth. __________________ Find Desislava here: Website: https://desi-divine.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/desislava.dimitrova.3110/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/desislava-dimitrova-30271293/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/desisdivine/ Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1751770/support] I’m Dr. Doreen Downing and I help people find their voice so they can speak without fear. Get the Free 7-Step Guide to Fearless Speaking https://www.doreen7steps.com .

#175 Layers of Awakening: What It Means to Truly Have a Voice

Today, I interview Manya Gittel who lost her voice during a stroke and woke up to something far more unexpected than the crisis itself. She describes that moment as an inner awakening she didn’t see coming, one that shifted her sense of who she was and how her voice lived inside her. Manya shares parts of her early life, shaped by her parents’ history and the roles she learned to carry as a child. These patterns became so natural to her that she never questioned them, even as they influenced how she showed up in the world. What changed after the stroke is something she explains in a way that feels both surprising and deeply human. The way she describes that shift invites you to listen closely and wonder about the places where you too might be living from habit instead of truth. Today, Manya reflects on how that experience continues to shape her voice and her presence. Her story opens a rare conversation about authenticity, connection, and the moment a person realizes they have been further from themselves than they knew. It is an invitation to explore what happens when someone finally hears the voice they didn’t know they lost. __________________ Manya Gittel is a coach and trainer from South Africa who works with people around the world. Her background spans decades of facilitation, education, training programs, coaching, participatory theatre, and deep study of the Enneagram. She is known for helping people explore truth through voice, presence, and honest connection. Manya’s work is rooted in meaningful engagement, both with oneself and with others. She brings a unique blend of insight and experience, shaped by training in both formal and informal settings and by the recognitions she has received for her commitment to personal growth and awareness. Recent life events have opened new layers in her understanding of authenticity and expression, and she now weaves those insights into her coaching. She continues to guide people toward a more grounded, truthful relationship with themselves and with the world around them. __________________ Find Manya here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manyagittel/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KnocKnockCoaching/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/masteryofselfandrelationships LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/manyagittel Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1751770/support] I’m Dr. Doreen Downing and I help people find their voice so they can speak without fear. Get the Free 7-Step Guide to Fearless Speaking https://www.doreen7steps.com .

#174 From Disfigurement to Discovery: Building Real Confidence

Today, I interview John Kippen who spent years hiding after a surgery left half of his face paralyzed. His story is one of deep courage, transformation, and learning what it really means to be seen. As a child, John grew up in a successful family and learned how to perform, achieve, and seek approval. But beneath that confidence was a longing to be understood for who he truly was. When a brain tumor led to facial paralysis, everything he knew about identity and worth was shaken. What followed was a long season of silence and isolation that eventually became a doorway to rediscovery. Through his love for magic and storytelling, John began to connect with others again. The stage became a space where he stopped hiding, shared his truth, and turned what once felt like a limitation into a powerful message of authenticity. Today, John uses his voice to help others find theirs. As a speaker and empowerment coach, he reminds us that real confidence isn’t about appearance or perfection. It begins with self-acceptance, compassion, and the courage to show up exactly as we are. __________________ John Kippen is an entrepreneur, professional magician, speaker, resilience and empowerment coach, and published author. In 2002, he was diagnosed with a large benign brain tumor that, while successfully removed, left him with permanent facial paralysis. The experience stopped his forward momentum and led him into hiding for more than twelve years. During that time, John rediscovered his childhood love for performing magic and storytelling. What began as a way to cope slowly became his source of healing. With renewed passion and hope, he came to see that his facial difference was not a limitation but his greatest superpower. Today, John lives with joy and purpose, helping others rise above self-doubt and fear. As a resilience and empowerment coach, he teaches people to get out of their own way and step into a life of confidence and connection. His guiding mottos are simple yet profound: Being different is your superpower and Feed your heart with your art. __________________ Find John here: https://www.johnkippen.com/ https://www.facebook.com/kippen/?_rdr https://www.instagram.com/johnkippen/?hl=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnkippenspeaker/ Support the show [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1751770/support] I’m Dr. Doreen Downing and I help people find their voice so they can speak without fear. Get the Free 7-Step Guide to Fearless Speaking https://www.doreen7steps.com .