"I woke up one day and I started to feel. And what I felt, it wasn't pretty. I was like, I'm not happy. And that was the very first time I put myself first." — Mercedes Hernandez

Mercedes Hernandez built The SoCo Markets from scratch — 11 vendors on a closed-off side street, a vision, and no guarantee it would work. Six years later, it's one of Sonoma County's most beloved community events, drawing vendors from across the Bay Area and bringing thousands of people together every year. But this episode isn't really a business story. It's a story about what happens when you finally stop building for everyone else and start building for yourself.

In this episode of Her Story Unscripted, Mercedes shares her full journey — from a 15-year-old retail worker discovering a passion, to opening her first brick-and-mortar at 20, to creating experiences like Fork'n Good Food Festival and Roast & Rhythm. Then she gets real about the personal chapter she's been walking through: ending a 15-year relationship, living completely alone for the first time in her life, sitting with the loneliness instead of running from it, and slowly coming back to herself through counseling and a whole lot of self-honesty. This is an authentic storytelling conversation about identity, codependency, personal growth for women, and what freedom actually feels like when you finally choose it.

If you've ever lost yourself in a role — a relationship, a business, a version of who you thought you were supposed to be — this conversation will meet you right where you are. New episodes every Thursday on all major podcast platforms.

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Highlights

0:00 Opening quote — Mercedes on identity

0:39 Heather's intro + welcome to Her Story Unscripted

1:05 Welcome, Mercedes — how Heather found her

3:31 How Mercedes started in retail and discovered her passion

4:21 Opening Bow & Arrow Clothing at 20, the JC entrepreneurship program

6:07 SoCo Markets is born — from 11 vendors to 90

8:53 Growing the market calendar: Fork'n Good, Roast & Rhythm, Closet Clean Outs

10:50 What it really takes to run a successful community market

18:30 The personal pivot — ending her marriage and stepping into the unknown

21:40 Codependency, people-pleasing, and going numb

27:48 Living alone for the first time — and what she found there

32:39 Identity, worth, and what she'd leave listeners with

About Mercedes Hernandez

Mercedes Hernandez is a serial entrepreneur and community builder based in Sonoma County, California. She opened her first retail store, Bow & Arrow Clothing, at 20 years old, and went on to build SoCo Markets — a thriving platform for small businesses and local vendors that now hosts events across the Bay Area. From the Fork'n Good Food Festival to Roast & Rhythm to monthly Closet Clean Out pop-ups, Mercedes has become one of the most creative event minds in Northern California. She's passionate about giving small businesses a platform, and about building the kinds of experiences that bring communities together in real, meaningful ways.

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"We only get one life, and we don't know when that invisible clock is gonna run out. So you have to make time for people and for things that are important to you." — Christina Alonzo

It started as a normal weekend. By Tuesday, Christina Alonzo was sitting in an ER telling the doctor everything she had been quietly noticing for days. By Wednesday, the diagnosis was in: glioblastoma — an aggressive, inoperable brain cancer. Her husband Kurtis was 44 years old and had never even had a cold. From the date of diagnosis to the date of his death was four months.

In this episode of Her Story Unscripted, Christina Alonzo returns to the podcast three years after her first appearance to share the story of the year that changed everything. She opens up about becoming Kurtis's full-time caregiver while raising a toddler, navigating impossible medical decisions, and the termination email from his employer that arrived the very night he died. She also shares the story of her 200-pound weight loss journey — and how losing the weight became something far more significant than she ever expected when Kurtis got sick. This is an honest conversation about grief, love, and what it actually looks like to keep living when someone you love is gone.

For any woman who has ever taken time for granted, avoided a hard conversation, or wondered how anyone survives something this big — this episode is an unscripted reminder that life is shorter and more sacred than we let ourselves believe. New episodes every Thursday on all major podcast platforms.

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Highlights:

00:00 Cold open — Christina on the invisible clock

00:49 Heather introduces Her Story Unscripted

01:15 Welcoming Christina back — three years and a lot of life later

02:21 The normal weekend that wasn't — Curtis gets sick

5:28 The ER visit and the diagnosis — glioblastoma

7:15 Choosing chemo and radiation — a hail mary for a 44-year-old in perfect health

12:18 How quickly he declined, and what caregiving looked like at home

14:18 Curtis's death in March 2025 — four months after diagnosis

18:55 What helped Christina survive this season

22:13 The termination email the night he died

27:22 200 pounds lost — and how the GLP-1 journey intersected with Curtis's care

25:10 How to actually show up for someone in grief

36:10 Life now — Addie, memory-keeping, and saying yes

38:03 Christina's one takeaway for the listener

About Christina Alonzo

Christina Alonzo is a mother, content creator, and Sonoma County local who has walked through more grief in the last few years than most people face in a lifetime. From losing babies to navigating a sudden and devastating brain cancer diagnosis in her husband Curtis, she has shown up with remarkable honesty and grace at every turn. In the past year and a half, she has also completed a transformative 200-pound weight loss journey that changed not just her body, but the way she moves through the world. She is raising her daughter Addie with Curtis's love still at the center of their home

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"We all have a story to tell. We all have journeys, we've all been through things — and some of us are worse than others. But we all have a story to tell." — Heather Nelson

There's something that happens when a woman decides to stop performing and just say it the way it actually is. No script. No polish. No waiting for permission. For Heather Nelson, that decision didn't arrive all at once — it built slowly over five years of sitting across from women who had the courage to share the messy, real, unfiltered truth of their lives.

In this very first episode of Her Story Unscripted, Heather pulls back the curtain on the rebrand — and everything that led to this moment. She shares the honest, unscripted story of why she podcasted for five years under a name she never fully loved, what finally pushed her to start fresh, and the mission that has been quietly driving her since the very beginning — creating a space where women can show up as they are and say what they actually mean.

If you've ever felt like you were performing a version of yourself instead of living as the real one — this is the conversation you didn't know you needed. Heather isn't here to give advice or hand you a roadmap. She's here to sit with you, ask the questions nobody else thinks to ask, and remind you that your story matters exactly as it is.

In this episode, you will learn:

• The lunch conversation five years ago that made me realize women needed a space to tell their real stories
• Why I never fully loved the name Life Conversations with a Twist — and what finally made me let it go
• The months-long rebrand process that pushed me to get clear on my mission, my values, and who I'm really doing this for
• How the name Her Story Unscripted came together — and the quiet, powerful reason the word "unscripted" felt so right
• Where I'm headed with this podcast, what you can expect going forward, and why I believe women sharing their true stories is one of the most powerful things we can do

Episode Highlights

• 0:00 – The moment that started it all — women and their unscripted stories
• 0:28 – Welcome to Her Story Unscripted — the new brand intro
• 0:55 – Heather kicks off the launch episode
• 1:19 – Introducing the rebrand from Life Conversations with a Twist
• 1:56 – Five years in hospitality and the conversations that wouldn't leave her
• 3:55 – Why women's stories needed a space — the heart behind the podcast
• 5:06 – How Life Conversations with a Twist was born
• 5:36 – 200+ episodes, 160 women, and what kept Heather going
• 7:14 – The Connection Hive, Set & Strike, and finding what truly fuels her soul
• 10:02 – The decision to rip the band-aid and start fresh
• 11:21 – Naming a podcast — why it had to be perfect
• 12:03 – The moment Her Story Unscripted clicked
• 13:09 – Why "unscripted" matters — women, silence, and permission to be real
• 15:01 – What's coming — new look, new energy, big goals
• 17:17 – Thank you, and what you can do to help this podcast grow
• 19:20 – Solo episodes, Heather's personal story, and what's ahead
• 22:09 – Final thoughts — see you next Thursday

Meet Your Host:

Heather Nelson is the host of Her Story Unscripted and founder of The Connection Hive, a business strategy and community brand rooted in the belief that real connection changes everything. A connector by nature and a storyteller at heart, Heather has spent over 25 years in the hospitality industry — and more than five years creating a space for women to share honest, unscripted conversations about life, growth, and the experiences that have shaped who they are. She lives in Sonoma County, California, where she's raising a blended, biracial family, running two businesses, and podcasting with her whole heart.

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