EPISODE · Apr 21, 2026 · 55 MIN
Control: What the NICU Took and What It Gave Back
from The Life Shift | Conversations About Life Before and After · host Matt Gilhooly
Maybe you've felt it too. That sense that if you just did everything right, the story would unfold the way it was supposed to. That the checklist would protect you. That the guardrails were there for a reason. Evan Boyer followed the plan. He was competitive, driven, self-focused in all the ways that tend to work well in corporate America. And then Christmas morning 2021 arrived, and the plan was gone. His wife was rushed to the OR. His daughter was born eleven weeks early, two pounds and six ounces. And Evan sat alone in a hospital room for an hour, waiting for news about whether both of them were okay. Seventy days in the NICU has a way of teaching you things no checklist ever could. For Evan, it planted a seed. And when a second pregnancy and a professional setback arrived at the same time, that seed broke open. He left his corporate job, launched his own PR firm, and started building something that felt like his, for the first time. What You'll Hear: What it felt like to stand beside his daughter in a hazmat suit, not knowing if his wife was okay How seventy days in the NICU quietly rewired his relationship with control The moment two life events collided and made staying put feel riskier than leaving What the first slow days of entrepreneurship actually looked like (and why he doesn't pretend it was seamless) How he found community in the NICU parent world by simply reaching out when he was scared Why he thinks the version of him sitting in that waiting room needed to hear that change is okay Guest Bio: Evan Boyer is the founder and CEO of Leaders PR, a boutique public relations firm he launched after years in corporate communications. A husband, father of two, and former competitive golfer, Evan lives in North Carolina and brings a grounded, energy-forward approach to everything he does. He is active on LinkedIn and can be reached at [email protected] or leaderspr.com. Listen and follow: www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com/follow Subscribe to the newsletter: https://thelifeshiftpodcast.beehiiv.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What this episode covers
Maybe you've felt it too. That sense that if you just did everything right, the story would unfold the way it was supposed to. That the checklist would protect you. That the guardrails were there for a reason. Evan Boyer followed the plan. He was competitive, driven, self-focused in all the ways that tend to work well in corporate America. And then Christmas morning 2021 arrived, and the plan was gone. His wife was rushed to the OR. His daughter was born eleven weeks early, two pounds and six ounces. And Evan sat alone in a hospital room for an hour, waiting for news about whether both of them were okay. Seventy days in the NICU has a way of teaching you things no checklist ever could. For Evan, it planted a seed. And when a second pregnancy and a professional setback arrived at the same time, that seed broke open. He left his corporate job, launched his own PR firm, and started building something that felt like his, for the first time. What You'll Hear: What it felt like to stand beside his daughter in a hazmat suit, not knowing if his wife was okay How seventy days in the NICU quietly rewired his relationship with control The moment two life events collided and made staying put feel riskier than leaving What the first slow days of entrepreneurship actually looked like (and why he doesn't pretend it was seamless) How he found community in the NICU parent world by simply reaching out when he was scared Why he thinks the version of him sitting in that waiting room needed to hear that change is okay Guest Bio: Evan Boyer is the founder and CEO of Leaders PR, a boutique public relations firm he launched after years in corporate communications. A husband, father of two, and former competitive golfer, Evan lives in North Carolina and brings a grounded, energy-forward approach to everything he does. He is active on LinkedIn and can be reached at [email protected] or leaderspr.com. Listen and follow: www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com/follow Subscribe to the newsletter: https://thelifeshiftpodcast.beehiiv.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
NOW PLAYING
Control: What the NICU Took and What It Gave Back
No transcript for this episode yet
Similar Episodes
No similar episodes found.
Similar Podcasts
No similar podcasts found.