The Feminine Genius Podcast
by Rachel Wong
Celebrating the diversity of Catholic femininity, one woman's story at a time. This podcast is inspired by Pope St. John Paul II's 1995 Letter to Women and is dedicated to uplifting the dignity of women and sharing the unique feminine genius each woman has to offer.
Episodes
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THANK YOU!: The Feminine Genius Podcast series finale + some news
When the Lord calls, He calls! The Feminine Genius Podcast has been quite quiet ever since the end of season 4, and after a lot of prayer and reflection I feel that it's time to bring the podcast to a close. After spending 3+ years hearing and sharing the stories of some incredible feminine...
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A Look Back on Season 4 + What's Next...
This season has truly been the most international season, complete with the 100th episode milestone and a lot of incredible stories of different feminine geniuses from (literally) across the globe! I take some time to reflect on the season that's happened and share a little bit of insight into...
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Mental Health in the Church and the Face of Mercy — with Micole Amalu
“There’s something they have to offer from the struggles and the shape of their lives that the Church needs.” During her time as a campus missionary, Micole Amalu found herself journeying with students who struggled with their mental health, and helped them in their journey of healing. These...
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Our First Identity is Daughter of God — with Jill Simons
“The fullness of truth breeds joy, and living out of that and not allowing these lies about our identity to really percolate in our souls is something that then allows us to access that joy so much more easily.” Jill Simons shared some major truth in this episode, discussing how the Lord invited...
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Encountering Christ in Community and in the Least — with Rakhi McCormick
“I’d been searching in all different faiths. I think then it was very much an encounter with Christ in the least, with the explanation especially from this young man.” Rakhi McCormick’s journey to the Catholic faith was one of continual encounter. She was raised Hindu in a small town, and for…
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Journeying to Sainthood with Joy and Vulnerability — with Maria Raissa Espinoza
“What is youth ministry? I get paid to love teens where they are and create community and show them literally the way, the truth and the life.” Joy is the word that come to mind when I think of Maria Raissa Espinoza. Maria is a youth minister and the host of the podcast Saintly Not Salty. After...
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Serving as a Stay-At-Home-Mom and a Recording Artist — with Whitney Maslak
“In following my vocation and doing my best to focus on my family’s needs, I think God has been able to speak to me and bring out this career of being a recording artist.” Whitney Maslak was encouraged from an early age to share her musical gifts with her community. While going professional with...
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Bringing Faith and Food to the Table — with Elizabeth Varga
“You should love your God-given body, but you should also desire for that body to be how God desires for it to be.” Elizabeth Varga has a very special relationship to faith and food. In college, she was the one who had all the unique snacks — and now, she shares her plant-based recipes and the...
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100 Episodes of The Feminine Genius Podcast — with YOU!
Friends, today's episode is the 100th episode of The Feminine Genius Podcast! It is surreal to be here and this would not have been possible with all of you: this community of sisters and friends who I am so fortunate to journey with as we all learn what it means to live out our unique feminine...
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Giving Permission to Be Extraordinary — with Liv Harrison
“I want people to fall in love with people, and then they’ll want to know the creator because they’re falling in love with the art.” Liv Harrison is a powerhouse of a woman who has endured a number of crosses in her life. She is a captivating speaker and storyteller with a killer sense of humour,...
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Sharing the Gift of Theology of the Body — with Joy Katigbak
“As a human person, made male or female, your body tells you something. Your body tells you that you are created to be a gift: you are made for relationship.” Growing up in a culturally Catholic country, Joy Katigbak knows very well what it means to serve. As the Lord called her to work in...
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Saint Friends from Heaven and Earth — with Claire Ellendson
“The diversity of saints speaks to how big God is.” Claire Ellendson has a profound love for the saints, and aspires to learn as much as she can about her friends in heaven. One of the things that she’s come to appreciate is the ordinary-ness of some of these holy men and women, and through this...
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Surrender, Dependence, and When Dreams Die — with Trisha de Souza
"Our suffering sometimes gives us the capacity to understand what it means to be in heaven one day." Trisha de Souza had plans to work in politics and worked extremely hard towards that goal. But a series of health issues led to a major career shift and gave new life to an old hobby. This…
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Unmasking the Truth, Goodness and Beauty of God — with April Garcia
"We need to really be naked before the Lord. We really need to bear everything before the Lord. He is ready to take every pain, every suffering, every blemish that you have, and He will turn it into grace. He will give you grace to go through that." April Garcia was raised Catholic but spent many...
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Embracing Our God-Given Worth — with Nicole Caruso
"God is the author of beauty, and He gives us our feminine genius. He gives us our gifts and our mission, and it's so much bigger than just one industry." Nicole Caruso has always had a love for style, art and media. The intersection of her background working in the fashion industry along with…
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Finding God in the Abundance — with Sr. Josephine Garrett, CSFN
"I thought it had to be lost and left in order for me to move forward, and it was more like it had to be given over, to be transformed and made new for what was ahead." Sr. Josephine Garrett is a Sister of the Holy Family of Nazareth with an incredible story and journey. She was raised Baptist,...
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Leading Through the Gift You Are — with Rachel Harkins Ullmann
"We all should strive to be a leader in our own sphere of influence, wherever it is that God has placed us, wherever it is that we can be a gift of self to others." When Rachel Harkins Ullmann was young, she received a powerful vision from the Lord. She felt a call to step out of her comfort…
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Sharing the Gospel ‘Hear’ and Now — with Sophia Lebano
"[Hearing loss] was something that became positive for me, knowing that whatever I was given, I would find a way through God's grace, obviously, to transform it into something good." As a girl growing up with progressive hearing loss, Sophia Lebano didn't always feel supported. Through a number…
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Embracing Femininity Through Wrestling — with Alexandria Glaudé
"Wrestling is what allowed me to come into my own and embrace who I am as a woman, and appreciate my body in the way that God made it." Alexandria Glaudé didn't seek out wrestling at first. In her words, "God wanted her to wrestle." She started wrestling in high school and quickly excelled in the...
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Saying Yes to God's Mission for Us — with Lauren Costabile
"There's such beauty in that trust and faithfulness in saying 'yes' amidst those unknowns." Lauren Costabile remembers a summer serving at a camp for children and youth with special needs. In her nervousness, she connected with a camper with Down Syndrome, and she says that this was like a hug…
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Being an Open Heart for the World — with Krista Corbello
"I want to cultivate a culture of life in my daily life." Krista Corbello was raised Catholic and lived in a very culturally Catholic place, and this meant that she didn't have to think too much about calling herself 'pro-life'. But a human rights talk and meeting her biological father helped her...
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A Champion for Human Fraternity — with Chenele Shaw
"We are all trying to eradicate a sin and replace it with a virtue, so let's all be on the same page." When she was younger, Chenele Shaw saw something in her peers that piqued her curiosity. After making some poor choices in her past, she made a conscious decision to reform her life and turn to...
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Giving Life Through Creating — with Vivienne Boddy
"We're all called to be life givers, we're all called to give life and to be creatives. And in that sense, we really do share in God's image and likeness in a special way." Vivienne Boddy's artwork is instantly recognizeable and beautiful. As she prepared to enter into a new season of her life as…
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Looking Back on Season 3!
Friends, it is the season finale of The Feminine Genius Podcast! This season, we welcomed 21 incredible women who shared their stories and unique ways of living out their feminine genius. I am so in awe of each of them and the ways in which they say YES to working with God in the particular way...
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Carrying Our Crosses with Joy — with Kate Crohan
"I'm there to convey the message, not be the message of 'I can read braille, so look at me!'" Kate Crohan is a woman of deep faith who has experienced great joy in her life, but has also had her fair share of crosses. Kate is blind, and goes through life with the help and support of many loved…
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Wholeness, Fertility Awareness, and Reverencing Our Bodies — with Bridget Busacker
"This is going beyond just knowing our cycles and loving our bodies, but loving who we are as persons and recognizing the person in front of us." When Bridget Busacker got engaged, she and her now-husband started looking for a natural family planning method to start them off. But the research...
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Rebuilding the Culture Through the Heart of Women — with Kiki Rocha
** CW: In this episode, there is mention of sexual assault and sexual abuse. Please take care when listening. ** "I am convinced that when every single woman is able to encounter the God mission inside of her, there is nothing that will stop her from turning the world to Christ." Kiki Rocha is a...
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Fashion, Intentional Style and Mother Mary — with Meghan Ashley Sokolowski
"We're human—we need tangible things to raise our eyes to heaven." A lot of Meghan Ashley Sokolowski's work is rooted in beauty. As a stylist for Catholic women, she has the opportunity to help women develop their personal style that is unique to them while also being modest and fun. Since…
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A City on a Hill for God's Glory — with Amanda Lee
"God was once again inviting me to revisit this passion and this seed that He planted within me." Amanda Lee's journey to the Catholic faith was a long but beautiful one. She thought that her identity was wrapped up in academics or her athletic ability as a competitive swimmer. But through a...
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Diversity, Representation, and the Spirit of God — with Sarah Ku
"We miss out on that full picture of creation, the reflection of God through people, when we only have one voice represented." When Sarah Ku was pregnant with her second child, she found herself on the hunt for an Asian baby doll for her eldest daughter. But when she found that there were no...
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Creating a Place for Women to Belong — with Corynne Staresinic
"I really wanted to create a space that would illustrate and show a diverse range of stories from Catholic women, that would really show the beauty and the diversity of the many different ways in which we as women live out the faith." Corynne Staresinic is a convert to the Catholic faith from a...
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The Power of Now and Giving of Ourselves — with Raisa and Renai Jose
"We've seen and felt first hand how remarkable it is to be serving people. And we're asking ourselves, why not share this feeling with as many people as possible?" Raisa and Renai Jose are two young changemakers living in the Archdiocese of Vancouver. From a young age, the Jose sisters had the...
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A Champion for Truth and Community — with Samantha Stephenson
"Religion, and the especially the Catholic faith, has been talking about these things - who the human person is, why we're here - for thousands of years! So we should be part of the discussion." Samantha Stephenson has always been curious and drawn to the truth. As a convert to the Catholic…
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Shaking Up Society and Serving From the Heart — with Ogechi Akalegbere
"I think the world is so much more beautiful when everybody in different bodies can live and be their full selves." Ogechi Akalegbre is a champion for diversity, equity and inclusion in variety of arenas. Whether she's lifting at the gym, advocating for diversity or providing a space for women to...
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Sharing Faith Through Media — with Julia Strukely
"If this is not my calling, how can I still take those things that I've learned and the things I still love, and how can I use those things now?" With a background in media studies and theology, Julia Strukely has found a variety of ways to put her degree and faith into action. As she followed…
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Faith, Mental Health, and Impacting the Culture — with Regina Boyd
"If I can help marriages, if I can do one small thing to save one family or rebuild or connect, then that's impacting the culture in a larger way." When she was younger, Regina Boyd noticed that many of her friends would go to her for advice or counsel. This sparked an interest in helping others,...
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Launching Well-Formed Catholics Into the World — with Elena Nuñez Murdock
"We're all created in the image and likeness of God, who doesn't want us to survive and starve. He wants us to live abundantly." After many years of serving in ministry, Elena Nuñez Murdock pivoted from her time in ministry to become a full-time entrepreneur. It was a process that taught her many...
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We are a People of Story — with Ava Lalor
"I want to help other people tell their stories. I want to be a part of the process of helping them share what's on their heart." Ava Lalor has always been attracted to listening to and sharing stories. As she worked through her time in college, Ava found her voice not only in the writing that…
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Being a Message of Hope for Others — with Monét Souza
"I'm always trying my best to treat these students as not just a student, but a soul and a body to be nourished." When the pandemic started to sweep across the world in 2020, Monét Souza found herself wanting to share the joy and hope of Christ with other people. As an educator with a passion and...
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Holiness for All Cultures — with Sr. Desiré Findlay, CSSF
"I wanna see all sorts of cultures achieving holiness. I don't want it to just be one culture that can be holy or that can belong, but all cultures." As a young person Sr. Desiré Anne-Marie Findlay was fascinated by the holiness of saints, and she found herself similarly fascinated by different...
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Serving God in Your Unique Way — with Olivia McCarthy
"We have the unique gifts and abilities for holiness in each and every one of us." Olivia McCarthy is a wife, mom, and the host of the podcast Heart Home Faith. From a young age, Olivia was exposed to comparison culture, and this changed the way that she saw herself. But through a powerful dream,...
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Creating for God's Greater Glory — with Dom Almario
"The creative gifts I have aren't just mine, they were created within me as an image and likeness of who God is." Dom Almario's relationship with God changed when she encountered the truth of who He is at a Steubenville conference. This set her ablaze with a desire to continually pursue this…
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Chasing the Eternal Glory That Awaits — with Meesa Estuar
"I promised myself from then on that I would never take my life for granted. I would never, ever encounter anyone or do anything without the greater glory of God being my mission." Meesa Estuar's life was changed when she received a devastating cancer diagnosis. Her perspective on life and God...
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Speaking Up in the Midst of a Crisis — with Karna Lozoya
"I have to have confidence that I play an important part in this mission and have confidence in my role." When Karna Lozoya started her job as the Executive Director of Strategic Communications at Catholic University of America, she had no idea that one of her first major projects to work on…
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Connecting with God Through Music — with Theresa Ambat
"I'm doing music because this is the way that I feel so connected with the Lord." At one point in her life, Theresa Ambat made up her mind to go into bioengineering. But when she didn't get accepted into the program, Theresa found herself diving deeper into a part of her life that she might have...
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Pursuing Jesus as the Lover of our Souls — with Beth Davis
"Intimacy is for every soul! I think that's the desire of God's heart for every one of His children." Beth Davis has spent her life serving others in ministry, first as a youth minister and now as the Director of Ministry Advancement for Blessed is She. Through ministry, Beth is able to share…
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Serving God as a Media Disciple — with Emily Mastronicola
"If we don't see the beauty in media and help infuse that with our Catholic tradition, we're missing a huge moment of evangelization for the next generation." Emily Mastonicola works for the office of Youth Ministry for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in the area of communication, and she has…
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Making Our Hearts Homes for Others — with Avera Maria Santo
"Playing my part and really stepping into my role just has made me realize how beautiful life can be when lived all for Jesus, because He prepared this place for me." Avera Maria Santo is a Catholic speaker and writer who experiences same-sex attraction. Avera is open and candid about the cross...
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Living Fully as a Resurrected Woman — with Caroline Lunne
"If you make movement with expectation of resurrection, you will be met with it and miracles can happen." Caroline Lunne has always had a passion for helping other women embrace their creativity and rise up to meet God in their work. After a profound experience while on pilgrimage in Lourdes,...
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Journeying with Others on Sacred Ground — with Maribel Laguna
"When we don't address the human pillar and when we don't address increased self-knowledge, our capacity for self-gift is limited." At one point in her life, Maribel Laguna said that she never wanted to be a Catholic counselor. But as she came to learn more about the wisdom of the Catholic church...
About this show
Celebrating the diversity of Catholic femininity, one woman's story at a time. This podcast is inspired by Pope St. John Paul II's 1995 Letter to Women and is dedicated to uplifting the dignity of women and sharing the unique feminine genius each woman has to offer.
Hosted by
Rachel Wong