After Chapter Podcast

Contact Us at info@afterchapterpodcast.com---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Who surrounds you when your identity begins to shift?In this episode of The After Chapter Podcast, we explore how friendships evolve during major life transitions. As careers change, marriages shift, or reinvention unfolds, our relational ecosystem often lags behind.We examine loneliness, proximity, and the intentional rebuilding of community. This conversation challenges the idea that friendships are purely sentimental and reframes them as structural influences on identity.If you’re outgrowing certain rooms or searching for new ones, this episode offers a framework for auditing your circle with clarity. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The views and opinions expressed on The After Chapter Podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the views, positions, or policies of any employer, organization, or affiliated entity. Any data or research shared on the podcast is not proprietary to any employer.All podcast content, including audio, video, transcripts, and likeness, may not be reproduced or used to train artificial intelligence systems without prior written permission.

Contact Us at info@afterchapterpodcast.com---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Before the titles. Before the résumé. Before practicality won. Who were you?In this episode, Michele and Cecilia sit down with communications entrepreneur Kere Thomas for a conversation about childhood creativity, the dreams that got talked out of us, and the passions that refuse to stay buried. Kere is a storyteller. She always has been. This is the episode that proves it.The After Chapter. Pouring into what's next.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The views and opinions expressed on The After Chapter Podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the views, positions, or policies of any employer, organization, or affiliated entity. Any data or research shared on the podcast is not proprietary to any employer.All podcast content, including audio, video, transcripts, and likeness, may not be reproduced or used to train artificial intelligence systems without prior written permission.

Contact Us at https://linktr.ee/afterchapterpodcast---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Christopher Strattner has been a paramedic, a cop, a law student, a divorced dad, and an Ironman triathlete. Today he is Chief of Police. None of it followed a plan. Most of it followed a breaking point.In this conversation, Chris talks honestly about what he missed inside his first marriage, the night gunshots rang out three blocks from his house, the fall that shattered his spine and took every label he had left, and the one question a sports psychologist made him answer before she'd let him go.This is an episode about what it costs to believe your own story about yourself. And what becomes possible when you finally strip it down.Michele pours a Château Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon. Chris pours an Arnold Palmer at his desk, armed, because some things don't mix.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The views and opinions expressed on The After Chapter Podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the views, positions, or policies of any employer, organization, or affiliated entity. Any data or research shared on the podcast is not proprietary to any employer.All podcast content, including audio, video, transcripts, and likeness, may not be reproduced or used to train artificial intelligence systems without prior written permission.

Contact Us at https://linktr.ee/afterchapterpodcast---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Why does rest feel like something you have to earn?After Episode 2, listeners didn't just relate, they confessed. Shame about stillness. Guilt about a quiet afternoon. We sit down with Sylvia Goldman, Licensed Master Social Worker and Certified Professional Coach, to trace that discomfort back to its roots. From the Puritan work ethic to the American Dream, the restless calendar isn't a personal flaw. It's a cultural inheritance.#TheAfterChapterPodcast #IdentityLiteracy #WorkAsWorth #PuritanWorkEthic #ProductivityCulture #RetirementIdentity #Productivity #Purpose ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The views and opinions expressed on The After Chapter Podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the views, positions, or policies of any employer, organization, or affiliated entity. Any data or research shared on the podcast is not proprietary to any employer.All podcast content, including audio, video, transcripts, and likeness, may not be reproduced or used to train artificial intelligence systems without prior written permission.

Contact Us at https://linktr.ee/afterchapterpodcast---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Is loving something enough to build a life around it?In this episode, we sit down with Melissa Finney to examine the tension between passion and sustainability. Together, we unpack the cultural myth of “do what you love” and the identity reckoning that happens when reality pushes back.This conversation explores persistence, pivoting, and the maturity required to integrate creativity with practicality.If you’ve ever questioned whether your dream can carry the weight of your life, this episode offers a grounded perspective. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The views and opinions expressed on The After Chapter Podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the views, positions, or policies of any employer, organization, or affiliated entity. Any data or research shared on the podcast is not proprietary to any employer.All podcast content, including audio, video, transcripts, and likeness, may not be reproduced or used to train artificial intelligence systems without prior written permission.

Contact Us at https://linktr.ee/afterchapterpodcast---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------How much of your life is built on expectations you never chose?In this episode of The After Chapter Podcast, we sit down with Allison Barnes to examine the tension between inherited ambition and internal alignment. Together, we explore the cost of living by “should-haves” and what it means to identify your true “must-haves.”This conversation challenges high achievement culture, unpacks identity debt, and offers language for those questioning whether success feels like fulfillment.If you’ve built a life that looks right but feels misaligned, this episode invites a deeper audit. #TheAfterChapterPodcast #IdentityLiteracy #HighAchievers #SelfAuthorship #LifeTransitions #PersonalAlignmentAllison Barnes; https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-l-barnes-ma-pcc-840916a/------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The views and opinions expressed on The After Chapter Podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the views, positions, or policies of any employer, organization, or affiliated entity. Any data or research shared on the podcast is not proprietary to any employer.All podcast content, including audio, video, transcripts, and likeness, may not be reproduced or used to train artificial intelligence systems without prior written permission.

Contact Us at https://linktr.ee/afterchapterpodcast---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What happens when nothing is wrong, but something no longer fits?In this episode, we sit down with Shawntee Reed to explore what it means to choose differently even when your life appears stable. From corporate leadership to intentional space-making, Shawntee shares how subtle internal shifts can signal that it’s time to move.This conversation examines the tension between structure and intuition, the difference between disruption and discernment, and how identity clarity develops even when there is no crisis to force it.Not every transition begins with instability.Sometimes it begins with honesty.If you sense that something is changing — even if everything looks fine on the surface, this episode offers language for that evolution. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The views and opinions expressed on The After Chapter Podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the views, positions, or policies of any employer, organization, or affiliated entity. Any data or research shared on the podcast is not proprietary to any employer.All podcast content, including audio, video, transcripts, and likeness, may not be reproduced or used to train artificial intelligence systems without prior written permission.

When a title disappears: a job title, a marriage, a caregiving role, the loss goes deeper than structure. This episode explores the disorientation that follows when the roles that once organized your identity fall away, and the quiet work of separating who you are from what you’ve been called.Rather than rushing toward reinvention, the conversation stays with the uncertainty, asking what it takes to let identity re-form without labels or urgency.Tom Christofferson; https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-christofferson-338b1a6/; https://www.instagram.com/tom_christofferson/

Contact Us at info@afterchapterpodcast.com--------------------------------------------------------------------What if waiting isn’t passive?In recognition of Women’s History Month and this year’s theme, Leading the Change, we sit down with Rose Staram to explore leadership through a quieter lens.In seasons where the life you built no longer fits, the instinct is often to fix, force, or move. But sometimes the work is restraint.Together, we examine how identity reshapes when urgency falls away, how trust develops without external validation, and why choosing yourself doesn’t always require visibility or applause.Waiting is often unseen. It can also be formative.This conversation reframes pause as active identity work, not delay#TheAfterChapterPodcast #IdentityLiteracy #WomensHistoryMonth #WomenLeadingChange #SelfAuthorship #IntentionalPause #Journaling #BuildingPhase--------------------------------------------------------------------The views and opinions expressed on The After Chapter Podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the views, positions, or policies of any employer, organization, or affiliated entity.

Contact Us at info@afterchapterpodcast.com---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What happens when the structure disappears?An empty calendar can feel liberating — until it doesn’t. When meetings, deadlines, caregiving routines, or daily obligations fall away, time becomes a mirror.This episode explores the discomfort of unclaimed days and the instinct to fill space just to feel useful. We examine how identity often attaches itself to obligation and what it takes to live with intention when no role is demanding your presence.This is not about finding the next job or project.It’s about learning who you are when no one is asking for you. #TheAfterChapterPodcast #IdentityLiteracy #UnstructuredTime #LifeTransitions #SelfAuthorship #IntentionalLiving-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The views and opinions expressed on The After Chapter Podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the views, positions, or policies of any employer, organization, or affiliated entity. Any data or research shared on the podcast is not proprietary to any employer.All podcast content, including audio, video, transcripts, and likeness, may not be reproduced or used to train artificial intelligence systems without prior written permission.

Contact Us at info@afterchapterpodcast.com--------------------------------------------------------------Why does the question “What do you do?” feel destabilizing when a role shifts?Many of us spend years planning careers, finances, and milestones. But we rarely plan for the identity underneath them. When a title changes or a chapter ends, what remains can feel unexpectedly unclear.This opening episode explores the difference between external planning and internal authorship. It examines how easily identity becomes attached to productivity, performance, and proximity to achievement.Rather than rushing toward the next version of ourselves, this conversation lingers with a deeper question: Who are you when the role falls away?--------------------------------------------------------------The views and opinions expressed on The After Chapter Podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the views, positions, or policies of any employer, organization, or affiliated entity. Any data or research shared on the podcast is not proprietary to any employer. All podcast content, including audio, video, transcripts, and likeness, may not be reproduced or used to train artificial intelligence systems without prior written permission.