SoulSpeak Podcast

SoulSpeak Episode 4: In this episode of SoulSpeak, we explore what it takes to leave the security of a successful corporate career and follow a deeper calling into purpose-driven work.Donna Karaba speaks with Cory Carpenter, founder of Iron Temple Strength Club, about his transition from a senior technical role in bank IT to becoming a full-time strength coach, gym owner, and entrepreneur.Cory’s journey into strength training did not begin as a passion project. It began through injury, pain, and rehabilitation. After multiple serious leg injuries, including a broken leg, ligament damage, and a mountain biking accident that fractured his tibial plateau, Cory began exploring movement and strength training as a way to support his recovery, regain function, and return to the activities he loved.Over time, that personal recovery process became something more: a calling to help others move better, feel stronger, and reconnect with what their bodies are capable of doing.In this conversation, Donna and Cory explore the internal and practical realities of reinvention: building a bridge from one career to another, managing fear, setting boundaries, creating business systems, protecting relationships, and learning how to keep going when the path is uncertain but deeply aligned.Cory shares honest insights into:✔️ Leaving a secure IT career to pursue purpose-driven work ✔️ Building a business while still working full-time ✔️ The sacrifices, long hours, and personal discipline required during transition ✔️ Finding courage while still feeling fear ✔️ Creating boundaries after saying yes to everything ✔️ Strength training as a path to resilience, confidence, and well-being ✔️ Building community through semi-private training ✔️ Supporting aging, bone health, mobility, and long-term strength ✔️ The role of systems, scheduling, and planning in sustainable entrepreneurship ✔️ Balancing ambition, relationships, self-care, and personal healthIf you’re navigating a career transition, considering entrepreneurship, recovering from injury, or asking what it means to build a life around meaningful work, this episode offers a grounded and deeply human perspective.About Cory CarpenterCory Carpenter is the founder of Iron Temple Strength Club, a strength training studio focused on helping people build resilience, move better, and become stronger in a supportive community environment.Before opening Iron Temple Strength Club full-time, Cory spent approximately fifteen years in IT and network security, ultimately working on a highly senior technical team in the banking industry. His path into strength training began through his own recovery from significant injuries, including multiple leg injuries and a serious mountain biking accident.Through years of personal experimentation, rehabilitation, and study, Cory developed a training approach that emphasizes strength, joint health, movement quality, robustness, and long-term function. His work is especially focused on helping clients build confidence, improve mobility, support bone health, and stay active throughout life.At Iron Temple Strength Club, Cory combines personalized strength programming with a semi-private training model that fosters connection, encouragement, and community.About Iron Temple Strength ClubIron Temple Strength Club is a strength training studio created around the idea that training is more than physical. The name reflects Cory’s belief in the connection between body, mind, and spirit, and in the power of strength training to support not only physical capacity, but also confidence, emotional well-being, resilience, and quality of life.Iron Temple Strength Club emphasizes individualized programming in a semi-private setting. Clients train alongside others while working on their own personalized goals, creating a supportive community where people of different ages and abilities can feel safe, encouraged, and inspired.The gym’s approach focuses on:• Strength and muscle development • Joint health and movement quality • Bone health and healthy aging • Resilience and robustness • Movement quality and everyday function • Community, consistency, and long-term progressCory’s mission is to help people move better, feel better, and continue doing the activities they love.Resources MentionedIron Temple Strength Club    https://www.irontemplestrengthclub.comMedical DisclaimerThis episode is for educational and inspirational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before beginning a new exercise program or making decisions related to injury, rehabilitation, or medical conditions.About Donna KarabaDonna Karaba is an executive coach and host of SoulSpeak: Where Purpose Meets Presence. After two decades in enterprise technology leadership, including managing global accounts at Applied Materials and leading worldwide strategic alliances at Sun Microsystems, she pivoted into executive coaching.For more than twenty years, she has coached C-level executives, founders, and leadership teams navigating growth, reinvention, and change. Her work explores the intersection of authentic leadership, alignment, and purposeful transformation.

In this episode of SoulSpeak: Where Purpose Meets Presence, Donna Karaba speaks with Dr. PJ Sedillo about authentic leadership, identity, courage, belonging, LGBTQ+ history, giftedness, ADHD, suicide prevention, and what it means to live and lead as your true self. Dr. PJ Sedillo is an associate professor at New Mexico Highlands University, educator, researcher, author, artist, LGBTQ+ advocate, suicidologist, and community historian. His work explores gifted education, LGBTQ+ identity, resilience, twice exceptionality, ADHD, belonging, and community healing. In this powerful conversation, Dr. Sedillo reflects on coming out as a gay man, reclaiming his name as PJ, navigating fear and discrimination, and transforming lived experience into leadership, scholarship, mentorship, advocacy, and service. Donna and Dr. Sedillo explore how authenticity becomes a lifelong practice shaped by visibility, vulnerability, self acceptance, courage, connection, and the willingness to tell your own story. They also discuss giftedness, ADHD, twice exceptionality, suicide prevention, affirmation, pride history, and the importance of creating communities where people feel seen, valued, and supported. Dr. Sedillo also shares his work preserving decades of GLBTQ+ Pride history in Albuquerque through archives, stories, public memory, and his book If These T-Shirts Could Talk. His dedication to documenting community history honors those who came before, including those impacted by the AIDS epidemic, while helping future generations understand the power of pride, remembrance, visibility, solidarity, and belonging. Published work discussed:Solidarity Through PrideIf These T-Shirts Could Talk: 50 Years of GLBTQ+ Pride in Albuquerque About SoulSpeak:SoulSpeak: Where Purpose Meets Presence, hosted by Donna Karaba, explores purpose, presence, authentic leadership, healing, identity, science, consciousness, and human potential through meaningful conversations with educators, researchers, physicians, artists, advocates, and thought leaders. Rooted in Donna’s background in executive coaching, transpersonal psychology, conscious communication, and leadership development, SoulSpeak invites listeners to expand self awareness, trust the moment, express who they are, and live their own version of their best life. Subscribe for conversations on authentic leadership, personal transformation, healing, purpose, identity, consciousness, and human potential. Topics:Authentic leadership • LGBTQ+ identity • LGBTQ+ leadership • Gifted education • Twice exceptionality • ADHD • Suicide prevention • Resilience • Belonging • Pride history • GLBTQ+ history • Albuquerque Pride • Identity development • Coming out • Mentorship • Community healing • Social change • Purpose driven leadership • Self acceptance • Human dignity • Intergenerational legacy • Human potential Hashtags:#SoulSpeakPodcast #DonnaKaraba #DrPJSedillo #AuthenticLeadership #LGBTQVoices #LGBTQLeadership #PrideHistory #GiftedEducation #SuicidePrevention #Belonging #PurposeDrivenLeadership #BeYourself Mental Health Disclaimer:This episode includes discussion of suicide, mental health, identity, discrimination, and lived experience. The views expressed are for educational and informational purposes only and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any mental health condition. If you or someone you know is in crisis or considering suicide, call or text 988 in the United States to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Outside the United States, contact your local emergency number or crisis support service. Always consult a qualified healthcare or mental health provider regarding personal mental health concerns or treatment decisions.

In this second episode of SoulSpeak, we turn from clinical intervention to medical education — and ask a foundational question:Why are most physicians not trained in therapeutic nutrition?  What if the most powerful tool for preventing chronic disease isn’t taught in medical school? Donna Karaba speaks with Dr. Michael Klaper, physician and founder of Moving Medicine Forward, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to bringing evidence‑based nutrition education into medical schools.After decades in clinical practice, Dr. Klaper recognized a gap he experienced firsthand: medical students graduate highly trained in pharmacology and procedures, yet receive minimal education in the role of whole‑food, plant‑based nutrition in preventing and reversing chronic disease.In this conversation, Dr. Klaper shares:✔️ Why nutrition education is largely absent from medical training ✔️ The preventable roots of chronic disease ✔️ What future physicians need to understand about food and physiology ✔️ His mission to shift medicine from disease management to prevention ✔️ The cultural and institutional barriers to change ✔️ How young doctors are responding to this movementIf you’re interested in prevention, medical reform, plant‑based nutrition, or the future of healthcare education, this episode offers a thoughtful and purpose‑driven perspective.About Dr. Michael KlaperDr. Michael Klaper is a physician, educator, and founder of Moving Medicine Forward, a nonprofit organization committed to integrating nutrition education into medical school curricula. With decades of clinical experience in plant‑based medicine, Dr. Klaper now focuses on mentoring medical students and advocating for preventive, nutrition‑centered healthcare.https://www.movingmedforward.org/To donate: https://www.movingmedforward.org/donations About SoulSpeakSoulSpeak: Where Purpose Meets Presence explores the intersection of science, leadership, and purposeful transformation. Hosted by Donna Karaba, executive coach and former enterprise technology leader, the podcast features conversations with physicians, researchers, and thought leaders shaping the future of health and human potential.Topics CoveredMedical education • Nutrition science • Preventive medicine • Plant‑based nutrition • Chronic disease • Healthcare reform • Lifestyle medicine • Medical student advocacy • Systems change • Purpose‑driven leadership#SoulSpeakPodcast #PreventiveMedicine #PlantBasedNutrition #MedicalEducationSoulSpeak podcast, Donna Karaba, SoulSpeak with Donna Karaba, Dr Michael Klaper, Michael Klaper MD, Moving Medicine Forward, TrueNorth Health, plant based diet, whole food nutrition, lifestyle medicine, preventive healthcare, medical education reform, food as medicine discussion, health span, public health awareness, sustainable food systems, conscious leadership, healthcare innovation, transformational dialogueMedical DisclaimerThe views expressed in this interview are those of the guest and are provided for educational and informational purposes only. This content is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.Always consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your diet, medications, or health regimen.

SoulSpeak Episode 1: In this inaugural episode of SoulSpeak, we explore a question at the intersection of science, discipline, and personal responsibility: What role might medically supervised water‑only fasting play in metabolic health and long‑term healthspan? We begin with Dr. Alan Goldhamer’s professional journey. What led him to focus on prolonged, medically supervised fasting, and how his work has challenged conventional paradigms in prevention and lifestyle medicine.In this conversation, Donna Karaba speaks with Dr. Alan Goldhamer, founder of TrueNorth Health Center, to explore his experience supervising more than 25,000 medically supervised fasts and contributing to clinical research on water-only fasting and whole-plant-food nutrition. Dr. Goldhamer shares research-informed insights into:✔️ The physiology of prolonged water-only fasting✔️ Clinical research examining markers associated with metabolic health✔️ Safety protocols and medical supervision✔️ Whole‑plant‑food nutrition and structured refeeding✔️ Visceral fat and metabolic risk✔️ Emerging questions in longevity and healthspan researchIf you’re interested in fasting, metabolic health, longevity, or medically supervised dietary interventions, this episode offers a grounded, research-informed perspective.About Dr. Alan Goldhamer Dr. Alan Goldhamer is the founder and director of TrueNorth Health Center in Santa Rosa, California.  Since 1984, the Center has specialized in medically supervised water‑only fasting. Dr. Goldhamer has supervised over 25,000 medically supervised fasts and has published research on water-only fasting and plant-based nutrition in peer-reviewed medical journals. He is the co-author of The Pleasure Trap and Can Fasting Save Your Life?About TrueNorth Health Foundation Founded in 2011, TrueNorth Health Foundation advances evidence-based knowledge regarding the study of medically supervised water-only fasting and exclusively whole-plant-food nutrition. The Foundation conducts clinical research, trains clinicians in supervised fasting protocols, and publicly shares research findings to expand biomedical understanding of fasting and its relationship to long-term health.Resources Mentioned For information about TrueNorth Health Center’s services and screening process, visit: • TrueNorth Health Center: https://www.healthpromoting.com • TrueNorth Health Foundation: https://www.truenorthhealthfoundation.org • Fasting.org: https://www.fasting.org Books: • The Pleasure Trap • Can Fasting Save Your Life?About Donna KarabaDonna Karaba is an executive coach and host of SoulSpeak: Where Purpose Meets Presence. After two decades in enterprise technology leadership, including managing global accounts at Applied Materials and leading worldwide strategic alliances at Sun Microsystems, she pivoted into executive coaching. For more than twenty years, she has coached C‑level executives, founders, and leadership teams navigating growth, reinvention, and change. Her work explores the intersection of authentic leadership, alignment, and purposeful transformation.Topics covered:  Water‑only fasting • Medically supervised fasting • Metabolic health • Cardiometabolic risk • Hypertension research • Plant‑based nutrition • Visceral fat • Metabolic syndrome • Longevity science • Healthspan research • Preventive health #MetabolicHealth #FastingScience #SoulSpeakPodcast Medical DisclaimerThe views expressed in this interview are those of the guest and are provided for educational and informational purposes only. This content is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Prolonged fasting and dietary interventions are not appropriate for everyone and should only be undertaken under the supervision of a qualified medical professional. Always consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your diet, medications, or health regimen.This discussion references medically supervised fasting conducted in a licensed clinical setting with appropriate screening and monitoring. It is not intended as instruction for unsupervised fasting. This discussion does not constitute medical advice and reflects current research perspectives, which continue to evolve.