A LOT with Audra

What if your birthday celebration wasn't really about your birthday at all? Jen Christian turned 40 with one of the most intentional, fun, and friendship-forward celebrations I've ever seen — and it started not with a party plan, but with a personal reckoning. After navigating a postpartum fog that hit during COVID, Jen found herself asking: Who am I now? What do I value? And who are my people for this next decade? The answers led her to create "40 Things for 40" — a curated list of experiences, meals, adventures, and connections she organized into a Google site and sent to the people she loves most. No pressure. No spotlight. Just an open invitation to show up and share life together. If you're approaching a milestone birthday — or honestly any season of life where you're ready to come back to yourself — this conversation is going to spark something in you.

HIGHLIGHTS

Jen shares how coming out of postpartum and the COVID season prompted her to ask the big questions: who am I, what do I value, and who are my people?
Why loneliness can sneak up on you even when you're surrounded by wonderful people — and what to do about it
How Jen's eclectic friend group actually inspired the format of her celebration
The four "buckets" she used to organize her 40 things: places to dine, things she loves most, things to discover, and an evolution of Jen
Why she chose a Google Site to host the list (hint: her husband's class reunion inspired it)
How a Google Form made logistics effortless and her social calendar full for the next decade
Why celebration isn't about the spotlight — it's about pausing, reflecting, and connecting
Jen's definition of celebration: "It's about pausing. It's about reflection. It's about accomplishment, and it's about connection and relationship."

CHAPTERS

0:00 – Welcome and Meet Jen
1:04 – Why Turning 40 Matters
3:10 – Reclaiming Identity After Motherhood
6:47 – Pulling Back and Finding Your People
9:57 – The 40 Things for 40 Idea
12:07 – Building the List and Buckets
17:03 – Sharing It Out and Timeline
20:11 – Favorite Picks From the 40
21:37 – Why Celebration Matters
23:05 – Template Offer and Wrap Up
RESOURCES

Jen's "40 Things for 40" Template
Saltwell Farm Kitchen — between Topeka and Lawrence, Kansas (https://www.saltwellfarmkitchen.com)
Google Sites — the free platform Jen used to build and share her celebration list (https://sites.google.com)
Google Forms — used for RSVPs and tracking signups (https://forms.google.com)
ChatGPT — Jen used this to help brainstorm ideas for her final bucket of five (https://chat.openai.com)
Pinterest — also used for inspiration while building the list (https://www.pinterest.com)

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This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network.

Disclaimer: we may receive a small commission on any products purchased through the links used in this episode. I only recommend tools and resources I actually use and find valuable.

What if the path that didn't work out was actually the one preparing you for exactly where you're supposed to be? Career and leadership coach Jenna Bottolfsen joins me for a conversation about the unexpected pivots, restarts, and pauses that shape us — and why the thing you thought was a setback might actually be the most important step in your story. Jenna went from 25 years in corporate HR to a failed first attempt at entrepreneurship right as COVID hit, back to corporate, and then into the unexpected opportunity of purchasing an established business. She now runs Wallace Associates, helping people navigate career transitions, clarify their value, and take confident next steps. This conversation is full of practical tools and permission-giving perspective for anyone sitting with uncertainty about what comes next.

Highlights

Why "detours are signs too" — and how Cleo Wade's poem frames the entire conversation
The difference between a failure and a learning opportunity, and why Jenna refuses to use the word failure
How letting go of a corporate title is often the hardest — and most necessary — first step
The role values and purpose play when someone feels stuck or out of alignment in their career
Why Jenna starts every client conversation with, "What got you into this field in the first place?"
The power of "five seconds of insane courage" — and how you don't have to be brave for long, just long enough
Two practical tools: the "You Are Here" exercise and the Worst Case Scenario spiral
Why "expectations are the killer of joy" — and how loosening them opens the door to forward movement
The mindset shift from "this has to be forever" to "what's my next right step?"
How a friend's grief over a missed promotion led to the realization that the job she didn't get was actually protecting what mattered most to her

Chapters

0:00 — Introduction & About Jenna
2:02 — Detours Are Signs (Cleo Wade poem)
2:44 — Milestone Catch-Up
3:44 — Jenna's COVID Leap & Return to Corporate
4:52 — Buying Wallace Associates
6:07 — Resilience After Setbacks
8:10 — Five Seconds of Courage
10:26 — Audra's First Business Lesson
12:35 — Detours & Alignment
15:39 — Questions for When You're Feeling Stuck
20:09 — Letting Go of Identity
24:55 — The "You Are Here" & Worst Case Scenario Tools
28:19 — The Next Right Step Mindset
31:33 — Closing: Loosen Your Expectations

Resources Mentioned

In a World of Sunrises by Cleo Wade — the book Audra references and from which she reads the "Detours are signs too" poem
Wallace Associates — Jenna Bottolfsen's career and leadership coaching business
The Next Right Thing podcast 

Want to learn more?
The Thread

Be sure to follow me @audradinell on Instagram and LinkedIn

This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network.

Disclaimer: we may receive a small commission on any products purchased through the links used in this episode. I only recommend tools and resources I actually use and find valuable.

What if the most powerful lesson from the Olympics has nothing to do with the athletes?

Executive coach Jeana Marinelli joined me for a conversation straight from her last days in Florence, Italy — capping off nearly 90 days abroad that started as a one-week trip to the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. What began as a trip to see snowboarding turned into an extended season of rest, community, curiosity, and unexpected self-discovery. We talked about what it really means to be present in an experience, why we're all at risk of being passive consumers of our own lives, and how the smallest act of noticing — and then sharing what you notice — can change everything.

Highlights

Jeana packed for one week and stayed for 86 days — following curiosity, awe, and wonder every step of the way
Milano Cortina 2026 was the first gender-equal Winter Olympics (and Paris 2024 was the first gender-equal Summer Olympics) — and Jeana attended both
The Olympic spectator experience is completely different from watching on TV: no commentators, no play-by-play, just raw emotion and crowd energy
Jeana reframes "spectator" — she wasn't watching the Olympics, she was participating in a community
The difference between consuming community and contributing to it is one of the episode's central threads
A chance encounter with Jaelin Kauf's family at dual moguls — sparked by offering to take their photo — turned into a full day of celebration
How "noticing + sharing what you notice" is a simple, accessible way to build connection anywhere
Why slowing down is always the starting point for meaningful change — whether in personal life or organizational leadership
Turning 40 and the lessons of living in the gray (not everything is black and white)
The National Equity Project's definition of leadership: taking ownership over something that matters

Chapters

2:35 — Birthday Reflections
5:35 — From One Week to Ninety Days
7:52 — What the Trip Gave Her
10:29 — Handling Transition Seasons
12:37 — Spectator Experience Reframed
16:58 — Gender Equal Olympics
18:30 — Bringing It Home Through Writing
21:37 — Consumption Versus Contribution
29:38 — Noticing Wonder Daily
34:09 — Final Threads and Farewell

Resources Mentioned

2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics

Want to learn more?
The Thread

Be sure to follow me @audradinell on Instagram and LinkedIn

This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network.

Disclaimer: we may receive a small commission on any products purchased through the links used in this episode. I only recommend tools and resources I actually use and find valuable.

What if becoming a mom didn't just change your schedule — it changed you at your core? 

I sat down with Taryn Zweygardt, a therapist specializing in perinatal mental health and co-owner of Flourish, to talk about the identity shifts, the mental load, the perfectionism, and the ADHD diagnoses that so many of us didn't see coming — until motherhood cracked us open and showed us what was really there.

This is a conversation for anyone who has ever wondered why it feels so hard, why they feel so different, or why the life they carefully organized before kids suddenly feels like it belongs to a stranger.

Highlights
Motherhood often doesn't feel "natural" at first — and the shame that comes with that is real and incredibly common
Becoming a mom can act like a rock thrown into a still pond, bringing everything that's settled at the bottom rising to the surface
Society sells us a timeline — married, then kids, then house — but the cost of following that script without self-reflection can be high
Both Taryn and Audra were diagnosed with ADHD after becoming mothers, and motherhood was the thing that illuminated it
The mental load isn't just "feeling busy" — it's a specific and invisible weight that needs to be named, shared, and actively redistributed
Asking for help requires being direct — "I'm overwhelmed" isn't enough; specific asks like "Can you handle dinner on Tuesdays?" are what actually shift the load
The "hell yes or hell no" framework is a powerful filter for deciding what deserves your limited capacity
Not every ball is glass — knowing which ones are plastic (and can bounce if dropped) is a game-changer for managing motherhood and business simultaneously
Standards can and should shift with seasons — giving yourself permission to let the grass grow a little longer isn't failure, it's wisdom

Chapters

1:03 — Motherhood Changes Everything
2:08 — Expectations vs. Reality
3:02 — When It Doesn't Feel Natural
4:42 — Normalizing the Hard Parts
7:03 — Social Media and Real Life
8:45 — Identity After Becoming Mom
10:23 — Perfectionism and ADHD Revealed
11:53 — Her Motherhood Timeline
17:27 — The Pond Rock Metaphor
20:49 — Choosing Your Parenting Path
22:51 — Trust Your Parenting Gut
23:17 — ADHD Meets Business
24:38 — Capacity and Boundaries
26:48 — Hell Yes or Hell No
28:43 — Mental Load Reality
29:31 — Asking for Direct Help
31:36 — Sharing the Invisible Work
34:09 — Fair Play in Practice
36:58 — Glass vs. Plastic Balls
38:13 — Standards for This Season
39:06 — Closing Advice and Where to Find Her

Resources Mentioned

Reproductively Speaking podcast — hosted by Taryn Zweygardt
TZ Therapy — Taryn's therapy practice
Flourish — Taryn's collective (also on Instagram: @flourishict)
Taryn on Instagram: @tztherapy

Want to learn more?
The Thread

Be sure to follow me @audradinell on Instagram and LinkedIn

This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network.

Disclaimer: we may receive a small commission on any products purchased through the links used in this episode. I only recommend tools and resources I actually use and find valuable.

What does it actually take to wake up, choose differently, and become someone new?

Whether you're staring down a milestone birthday or quietly sensing it's time for a change, this conversation with Damon Young will meet you right where you are. Damon is a civic leader, executive mentor, public speaker, and founder of DK Young Consulting — and he sat down to talk candidly about what it looked like to go from heads-down in construction to stepping fully into his purpose as a connector of ideas and people. We covered the grief of letting dreams die, the power of writing something down with a shaking hand, and why 10% improvement might be the most radical thing you can do.

Highlights

The "roots before fruit" framework — why focusing on the fruit actually prevents it from growing
Why 10% improvement is more transformative than trying to nail it 90% of the time
The real cost of living with intention — and what you have to let go of to get there
How the 12 Week Year changed the trajectory of Damon's life and career
The shaking-hand moment: writing down a buried dream for the first time in 15 years
Why regret is a powerful motivator — if you let it illuminate instead of sink you
Letting fantasies and alternative lives die so you can fully choose the one in front of you
What Damon's son said at his rehearsal dinner that made all the intentional living worth it
The Kia story: a small, symbolic decision that said everything about who Damon was becoming

Chapters

0:00 – Choosing to Wake Up
1:18 – Meet Damon Young
2:58 – Turning 40 and 50
4:30 – Kids Grow Fast
7:38 – Roots Before Fruit (don't focus on the fruit — get in the soil)
11:22 – Shiny Objects and Grace
13:37 – The Power of Ten Percent
16:17 – Advice for Your Forties
19:42 – Damon at Thirty-Five
27:40 – Stress and Self-Soothing
31:13 – The Cost of Intention
33:54 – Letting Dreams Die
35:48 – Marriage and Becoming
24:57 – Facing Regret in New Decades
25:56 – Regret and Finite Time
26:42 – Heidi and the 12 Week Year
27:52 – Writing Down the Dream
29:34 – From Baby Steps to Paid Speaking
31:15 – Assessments and Finding Your Magic
33:57 – Regret as Motivation and Experiments
36:28 – Letting Go of Comparison
42:35 – The Kia Identity Shift
44:30 – Kids Notice Your Growth
45:52 – Where to Find Damon

Resources Mentioned

The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran & Michael Lennington — the goal-setting framework that helped Damon write down his dream for the first time: https://www.12weekyear.com
Arthur Brooks — author and social scientist; Damon references his concept of the "reverse bucket list": https://www.arthurbrooks.com
When Everyone Leads — https://kansasleadershipcenter.org/when-everyone-leads/
Designing Your Life — Stanford framework referenced for experimenting and "renting" ideas before committing: https://designingyour.life
DK Young Consulting — Damon's boutique consultancy focused on vision casting, executive mentoring, and public speaking: https://dkyconsulting.com
Lead Wichita — civic leadership organization where Damon serves as contract CEO: https://leadwichita.org

Want to learn more?
The Thread

Be sure to follow me @audradinell on Instagram and LinkedIn

This show is part of the ICT Podcast Network.

Disclaimer: we may receive a small commission on any products purchased through the links used in this episode. I only recommend tools and resources I actually use and find valuable.