The Perfectly Imperfect Journey

A Perfectly Imperfect Milestone

Four years ago, we launched our little podcast baby into the world. Back then, we couldn’t have imagined reaching this centennial achievement. But here we are—100 episodes later! It’s been a journey filled with learning, growth, and connection. Listen in as Anne and Sherry reflect on the wisdom we’ve gained from our inspiring guests and the powerful stories shared by our incredible listeners. Each conversation has shaped us, and together, we’ve explored what it means to be perfectly imperfect in an ever-evolving world.

Join us as we celebrate this milestone, honor the extraordinary community we’ve built, and look ahead to the next chapter of this journey. Cheers to 100 episodes—and the many more adventures to come!

Embrace the Different with Robin Berning

In this week's episode, Robin Berning shares her powerful story of overcoming addiction and embracing the very differences that once made her feel isolated. Throughout her life, Robin often felt out of place, questioning her place in the world. However, through moments of deep reflection and personal growth, Robin came to realize that those things that made her different were actually her strengths. 

Robin opens up about the key moments that helped her fully accept and embrace her unique path. She explains how leaning into what sets us apart—whether it’s our life experiences, challenges, or spiritual journeys—can become a source of profound growth and transformation. Her story serves as a testament to the power of self-acceptance and the freedom it brings. Robin shares valuable insights on how embracing our individuality can lead to more authentic, fulfilling lives, where obstacles turn into opportunities for empowerment and deeper connection with others.

 

Bio:

Growing up in a home shaped by the journey of recovery, Robin Berning became aware at an early age of both the pull and dangers of addiction. Despite this awareness, she faced her own challenges with addiction in her teens. At 39, a life-changing decision brought her to a program of recovery, where she embraced a new path.

Now, 17 years sober, Robin is living her best life! She views life not as the school of hard knocks, but as a school of opportunity and growth. Today, as the owner of her own business, she works as an Advanced Certified Life & Spiritual Life Coach and a Classical Feng Shui Consultant.

Robin helps others find themselves and step confidently into their truth, empowered and ready to thrive in an ever-changing world.

https://livingyourbliss.net/

The Wave with Dr. Shayna Kaufmann

Life throws both joy and challenges our way - it's how we respond that truly shapes our experiences. This week, Dr. Shayna Kaufmann dives deep into her own story and the art of riding life's emotional waves. She shares the hidden cost of resistance, the pain of ignoring our struggles, and the trap of clinging too tightly to the good moments. Despite her many successes, Shayna found true peace when she learned to let go and embrace every emotion, from anxiety to happiness.  Shayna’s journey led her to focus on the unique challenges and opportunities faced by women in middle age. From navigating the shifting dynamics of self-identity to redefining purpose in both personal and professional lives, she explores how this stage of life can be a powerful time of transformation. Tune in as Shayna shares her #PerfectlyImperfect journey and teaches us all how to ride the wave.

 

Bio:

Dr. Shayna Kaufmann is a clinical psychologist, certified mindfulness meditation teacher, decades-long Zen practitioner, and Founder of Embrace the Middle—a company dedicated to serving women in midlife. Dr. Kaufmann is also a published researcher, a community leader, popular speaker, and former faculty at Alliant International University and National University. She lives in San Diego with her husband Eric and dog Nola, and treasures visits from their daughters, Tara and Maya.

Website: https://www.embracethemiddle.com/

The Power of Paws

In this episode, we dive into the profound lessons our furry friends teach us daily. From gratitude to unconditional love, animals show us the qualities we often neglect in our fast-paced lives. Sherry and Anne share personal stories about our own pets and explore how caring for any living being—whether a pet, a garden, or another person—enriches our lives in deeply meaningful ways. 

The Life Brief with Bonnie Wan

Which mountain are you climbing? That’s the exact question Bonnie Wan asked herself when her life hit a crisis point, both at work and at home. Instead of staying stuck, Bonnie went all in—taking the same tools she mastered as an Advertising Strategy Director and turning them inward. The result? She created a Life Brief—a no-holds-barred roadmap to how she truly wanted to live. And she didn’t just skim the surface. Bonnie dug deep into her core values, peeled back her beliefs, and got crystal clear on what she wanted to feel every day.

Spoiler alert: It worked. Bonnie unlocked achievements beyond her wildest dreams, and now she’s on a mission to help others do the same with her book, The Life Brief, plus workshops and talks worldwide. Don’t miss this episode where Bonnie explores her perfectly imperfect journey.  

Bio

Bonnie is creator and author of The Life Brief, a simple and profound action-driving practice that helps  people navigate life’s biggest and trickiest decisions with clarity, creativity and courage. 

The Life Brief applies the art and science of brand strategy to how we live our lives, helping people get clear, take meaningful action, and live with greater intention and imagination.  

As Partner and Head of Brand Strategy at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (GS&P), Wan leads strategy for  Fortune 500 companies including Blackstone, BMW, Comcast/Xfinity, Frito-Lay, and Kraft-Heinz. She also  harnesses strategy to create powerful, provocative, award- winning campaigns fighting racial injustice,  child sex trafficking, cyberbullying, college campus rape, and gender inequality. Wan has been named an  Advertising Icon, an Ad Age Leading Woman, and Chief Strategy Officer of the Year.  

The Life Brief has evolved from an agency talk to keynotes, workshops and now a best-selling book. The  Life Brief: A Playbook for No Regrets Living is the essential tool for aligning your daily actions with your  ambition and values. As a Brand Strategist turned Life Strategist, Wan not only helps companies  innovate from a place of purpose, but also guides everyday people who seek to realize their potential. 

Wan has taught The Life Brief at Accenture, AirBnB, Apple, Change.org, Chief, Google, SXSW, and World  50 Group as well as for Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, and Jane Goodall’s Activating Hope Summit. 

Wan appears in Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein’s Masterclass on Advertising and Creativity and is  featured in the documentary film, The Big Flip, chronicling the lives of four women breadwinners and  their families. She has also been interviewed on Katie Couric’s Katie show and HuffPost Live. Her articles  have been featured by Fast Company, Campaign Magazine, AdAge, and Adweek. 

The Life Brief website: https://thelifebrief.com/

Well Being of We with Kerri Kelly

Kerri Kelly, author of American Detox, joins us on the podcast this week to talk about her life and the lessons she learned through the process of writing her book. Kerri takes us on parts of her journey, beginning with 9/11 and how that changed her life as she grappled with tremendous loss, both personally and societally.  Ultimately, Kerri takes a hard look at the way healthcare functions (or doesn’t), while never shying away from the role we as individuals play. While this all sounds heavy, Kerri’s willingness to laugh at herself, share her story so openly and encourage us all to think more collectively is incredibly uplifting.

 

Bio: 

Kerri is the founder of CTZNWELL, a movement that is democratizing wellbeing for all. A descendant of generations of firemen and first responders, Kerri has dedicated her life to kicking down doors and fighting for justice. She’s been teaching yoga for over 20 years and is known for making waves in the wellness industry by challenging norms, disrupting systems and mobilizing people to act. 

 

Links:

American Detox: https://www.americandetox.co/ 

CTZNWELL: https://www.ctznwell.org/ 

The Courage to Face His Pain with Julian Pistone

Julian Pistone had a lot of amazing things going for him: a great education, friends all over the world, and a fantastic job with one of the world’s most recognizable brands.  But his father's untimely death and two incredibly serious illnesses leveled Julian physically, mentally and spiritually.  As he lay completely immobile on the floor in his mother's home, Julian realized that neither numbing nor ignoring his pain was getting him through it. The only thing that helped him was to muster the courage to face it.  By being with his pain, the pain lost its control over him and a whole new way of looking at life was born.  

 

Bio

Julian Pistone is a former sales leader at Google, an international speaker, board member, and advisor to Fortune 500 companies.

 

After triumphing over two chronic illnesses, Julian's journey through pain ignited a mission to infuse courage into the world.

 

Blending nearly two decades of global corporate experience with a background in Buddhism and transpersonal psychology, Julian empowers individuals and teams to build courage, clarify their legacy intentions, and determine how they want to be remembered. His confrontation with mortality, disability, and mental illness led him to co-found Cor:age, a global impact network and retreat series that unites visionary makers — from political leaders and business executives to philanthropists, social advocates, investors, world-renowned scientists, and creatives — to catalyze change towards a more sustainable world.
Julian advocates for embracing the awareness of death to live and lead with greater intentionality, authenticity, and purpose. His speeches inspire leaders worldwide to thrive in constant disruption and consider the lasting impact of their actions on their organizations, communities, and future generations.

Alongside award-winning filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer Juan Herrero, Julian is the creator of Cor:age Journeys — a content series that embarks on a mission across civilizations to explore the anatomy of courage and the transformative power of adversity. Through raw conversations with remarkable individuals, he uncovers extraordinary stories of human resilience and hope.

Julian is a global citizen who divides his time between The Americas and Europe, and speaks English, German, Spanish, Italian, and French. He travels the world, delivering keynote speeches and interviewing some of humanity’s bravest individuals, reminding us all how our darkest moments can reveal our most profound bravery.

VICE article about Katia: What It’s Like Knowing You’ll Die of Cancer at 35

Katia | Hope, Joy, and A Little Bit of Color

 

COR:AGE CONTENT SERIES trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8G-gykphN4

Doing Life on Purpose

“Life moves pretty fast.  If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Ferris Bueller

 

We love this quote from the 1986 movie that embraces living life to the fullest.  The problem is, as we age, we have increased responsibilities and a vision of “who we are supposed to be.” We let sneaky words like ‘should’, ‘must’, and ‘have to’ sneak into our vocabulary and we lose sight of our autonomy and the choices that we uniquely own.  Listen in to hear Sherry and Anne discuss how to be more intentional in your choices, and we invite you to consider how you can do life just a little more on purpose. 

In the Blink of a Second with Claire Carr

Have you ever taken your eyes off the road, even for the briefest moment, to check your phone or look at the kids in the back seat?  That split-second glance was all Claire Carr had when she came upon a stopped vehicle—and three people—in her lane while traveling at 70 miles per hour.  As if in a movie, Claire let out a scream, cranked the wheel hard to try to avoid the stopped car and the people standing nearby.  And in that same blink of a second, everything in Claire’s world changed.  This is a story of tragedy and trauma, resilience and renewal.  

Bio
Claire is the mother of two adult children, one with neurodivergent challenges, and has been a practicing attorney in Richmond, Virginia for over 3 decades. She is a Vice President and managing partner of her firm and actively participates in the legal community, serving and chairing both local and national organizations.  In 2018, following a motor vehicle accident which changed her life, Claire started an annual fundraising auction for a national charity which raises money for children of parents who have been catastrophically injured on the job so that they can attend college, and she frequently donates her time and resources to others in need in the local Richmond community. 

Recipe for Transformation with Fanny Slater

It is not a recipe she would recommend, but Fanny Slater mixed one part alcohol, one part low self esteem, a dash of fame, and a sprinkle of insecurity, and ultimately found herself spiraling down a tunnel headed straight for rock bottom.  Luckily Fanny also had a heap of support and love from friends and family which helped her when she needed it most.  This is a story about reinvention from the winner of a cooking contest on the Rachel Ray show to an aspiring sobriety mentor. Hers is a story about finding herself, after almost losing everything.  

 

Bio:

Fanny Slater has food flowing through her genes. Her mom founded the nationally acclaimed bakery business Rachel’s Brownies in 1975, and together—her parents created an enormously successful corporation that would live on for decades. Fanny grew up in Raleigh where, at age four, she began her home-taught kitchen apprenticeship when her dad pulled up a chair next to the stove and handed her a spatula. She worked in restaurants and prep kitchens to receive culinary exposure, but was equally drawn to performing arts. At twenty-five, Fanny moved to Hollywood, California to pursue acting and improv training with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles. Several years later, she followed her stomach back to the east coast to open her own catering company. She moved to Wilmington, North Carolina in 2012.

In 2014, she beat out nearly 1,000 other hopefuls from across the country who entered Rachael Ray’s Great American Cookbook Competition. Fanny won the grand prize of a publishing contract under Rachael’s imprint, and Simon & Schuster published her cookbook, Orange, Lavender & Figs: Deliciously Different Recipes from a Passionate Eater, in 2016. In the following years, Fanny co-hosted the Food Network series, Kitchen Sink and became a regular on Cooking Channel’s longtime popular series, Best Thing I Ever Ate. 

In 2020, Fanny was living in Illinois with her husband when her longtime issues with alcohol came to a head. Within one year, she would move back to North Carolina, get a divorce, come out of the closet, and attend a 40-day rehab program. Today, Fanny is 3+ years sober and living near the beach in Wilmington with her girlfriend, two dogs, and a cat. She works as a food and beverage writer specializing in recipe development, food photography, and content creation for social media. As of recent, Fanny has pivoted her focus towards being a sobriety enthusiast who encourages others to speak up about their struggles. She uses her Instagram platform @fannyslater to bluntly share her journey of going from a self-destructive addict to an advocate for mental health, recovery, and self-love.