You think you have stability. You think you have your health. You think you have all these things. But in reality, they can be taken from you at any moment without warning — Jennifer Peterson

There's a version of strength that looks like showing up for everyone else while quietly falling apart underneath it. Jennifer Peterson spent 25 years in critical care and trauma medicine — and then found herself on the other side of the emergency, bleeding out after a routine surgery, unsure she'd make it home to her own kids.

In this episode, Jennifer shares the honest, unscripted story of that near-fatal medical crisis, the EMDR work that helped her carry it, and the burnout that finally pushed her to leave inpatient medicine. She opens up about why she pivoted into perimenopause and menopause care, and why so many women are dismissed, misdiagnosed, or handed antidepressants when what they actually need is real hormone support and someone willing to listen.

If you've ever felt unheard by a doctor or like you had to fight for basic answers about your own body, this is a real life story about women's health, self-advocacy, and finding your people. New episodes every Thursday on all major podcast platforms.

Connect with Heather:

Website

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

YouTube

Timestamps
00:00 — Introduction — Heather welcomes Jennifer Peterson
03:12 — 25 years in critical care — how she got into medicine
09:41 — The 2017 surgery that nearly took her life
12:59 — EMDR and processing medical trauma
15:16 — Burnout, leaving inpatient medicine, and finding her real calling
19:01 — Why women are dismissed in perimenopause and menopause care
47:03 — Where to connect with Jennifer Peterson

About Jennifer Peterson

Jennifer Peterson is a Board-Certified Acute Care Nurse Practitioner with more than 25 years of clinical experience. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Delaware in 2003 and her Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania in 2007, and spent the bulk of her career specializing in Critical Care Medicine and Transplant Hepatology. Now based in Rohnert Park, California, Jennifer draws on that deep clinical background to offer highly personalized care in perimenopause and menopause, medical weight management, and platelet-rich plasma therapy — blending evidence-based medicine with a more holistic, individualized approach to women's health.

Website

Facebook

Instagram

Support the show

"Our brains are wired for survival. They are not wired for success." — Gina Mundy

There's a specific kind of courage it takes to walk out of your own life with nothing but a suitcase and $50 in your pocket. For Gina Mundy, that night came the day after Christmas, after 24 years of marriage, after she'd quietly stopped caring about the version of her life that looked perfect from the outside.

Gina is a childbirth attorney with over 23 years of experience investigating what goes wrong in labor and delivery, and bestselling author of A Parent's Guide to a Safer Childbirth. In this real life story about women navigating change, we talk about pitocin, doulas, and the racial disparities in birth outcomes she's still trying to understand — and then we talk about the night she left her marriage, and the brain science behind why staying somewhere unsafe can feel safer than leaving.

This is an honest conversation about advocacy, identity, and starting over more than once in the same year. If you've ever felt your brain talk you out of a decision your heart had already made, listen in. New episodes every Thursday on all major podcast platforms.

Connect with Heather:

Website

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

YouTube

Timestamps
00:00 — Introduction — Heather welcomes Gina Mundy
03:15 — How Gina became a birth injury attorney by accident
12:00 — The realities of pitocin, induction, and advocating for yourself in labor
29:01 — The unanswered question about race and birth complications
36:03 — The night she left her marriage with $50 in her pocket
44:32 — Brains wired for survival, not success — and starting over twice in one year
48:08 — Where to connect with Gina Mundy

About Gina Mundy

Gina Mundy is a childbirth attorney, bestselling author, speaker, podcaster, and mother of three based in the Detroit, Michigan area. For over 23 years she's specialized in childbirth cases and birth trauma litigation — traveling the country, analyzing medical records, and cross-examining the nation's top experts to understand why the most joyful day of a family's life sometimes goes wrong. She's the bestselling author of A Parent's Guide to a Safer Childbirth, founder of the Safer Childbirth Community, and host of The Childbirth Attorney Podcast. She recently became a grandmother for the first time.

Website

Instagram

YouTube

Facebook

LinkedIn

TikTok

Book: A Parent's Guide to a Safer Childbirth: Expecting the Best by child-birth

Support the show

"Behind every craving for alcohol is some unmet need. Alcohol is like a sticking plaster." — Kate Bee

There's a kind of struggling with alcohol that never makes it into the movies. No crash, no rock bottom — just years of feeling like something's a little off every time you reach for a glass of wine.

Kate Bee knows that feeling well. She spent her twenties and most of her adult life before thirty in what she calls the gray area, before finally stopping — for good — thirteen years ago. Since then, she's built The Sober School and helped more than 4,000 women rethink their relationship with alcohol without shame or a lifelong label. Kate and I talk about mommy wine culture, the 100-day mindset shift that finally worked for her, and the confidence that showed up once she stopped numbing it.

If you've ever wondered whether you need permission to question your relationship with alcohol, this conversation might be exactly what you need to hear. New episodes every Thursday on all major podcast platforms.

Connect with Heather:

Website

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

YouTube

Timestamps

• 00:00 — Introduction — Heather welcomes Kate Bee
• 03:12 — Kate's early drinking years and life without a "rock bottom"
• 13:05 — Mommy wine culture and how alcohol gets marketed to women
• 18:33 — The 100-day mindset shift that finally worked
• 20:30 — What changed in Kate's body, career, and confidence
• 23:34 — Heather's own honest reflection on her relationship with wine
• 40:24 — Where to connect with Kate Bee and The Sober School

About Kate Bee

Kate Bee is the founder of The Sober School, a coaching platform that helps women stop drinking and start living — without shame, labels, or deprivation. A former BBC journalist and certified life coach, Kate now empowers women across the globe to navigate alcohol-free living with confidence and joy. Her flagship program, Getting Unstuck, has supported more than 4,000 women in transforming their relationship with alcohol. Kate lives near Manchester, UK.

Website

Instagram

Facebook

X

Support the show

"I was just really in a dark place, and that's when I started Organized 365." — Lisa Woodruff

There's a stack of papers somewhere in your house you've been meaning to deal with. Maybe it's in a drawer, maybe it's a basket by the door. For Lisa Woodruff, that stack of overwhelm became the thing that changed the whole direction of her life.

In this episode, Lisa Woodruff — founder of Organize 365 — joins Heather to share the honest, unscripted story of the recession, the family loss, and the years of invisible overwhelm that led her to build a company around one radical idea: your home is a business, and you're the CEO. They talk about the five levels of work happening in every household, why paper is the hardest thing to let go of, and the Sunday Basket system that's changed how thousands of women run their weeks.

If you've ever felt like the mental load of running a home is quietly running you, this real life story about women, order, and starting over is for you. New episodes every Thursday on all major podcast platforms.

Connect with Heather:

Website

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

YouTube

Timestamps
00:00 — Introduction — Heather welcomes Lisa Woodruff.
02:17 — Lisa's path from stay-at-home mom to founding Organize 365.
08:42 — The recession, her parents' divorce, and losing her dad — all at once.
15:32 — The five levels of work happening in every home.
24:11 — Why paper is the hardest thing to organize, and what to actually keep.
31:46 — What the Sunday Basket is and how it changes your week.
44:18 — Where to connect with Lisa Woodruff.

About Lisa Woodruff

Lisa Woodruff is a productivity specialist, home organization expert, and founder and CEO of Organize 365®. After spending a decade as a stay-at-home mom, she built a company that helps women organize their homes and their paper with functional systems that actually work — including her bestselling Sunday Basket® system. Her top-rated Organize 365® Podcast has surpassed 25 million downloads, and she's the author of several Amazon bestselling books, including The Paper Solution. Lisa is in the final stages of a PhD in Psychology, where her research focuses on operationalizing the definition of housework and testing real interventions for homeowners. Her mission is to free every woman to pursue her unique passion and gift with the world.

Instagram

Website

Facebook

Email

Support the show

"If you're the caretaker of someone in any way, it will also take a toll on you. And it's okay to then say, I need someone else to help me while I help this person."— Amelia Castillo

There's a version of self-care we've all been sold — bubble baths, candles, a glass of wine we didn't even want. And then there's the real thing, the kind that shows up quietly in your skin when nobody's watching.

Amelia Castillo is a Sonoma County esthetician with 17 years of experience, and in this episode she shares the honest story of what happened to her own skin when her best friend was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. We talk about the nervous system, perimenopause and hormones, why women carry so much guilt around self-care, and what it really costs to hold someone else's hand through the hardest moment of their life.

If you've ever felt like your body was trying to tell you something, or you've been the strong one for someone else while quietly falling apart, this conversation is for you. New episodes every Thursday on all major podcast platforms.

Connect with Heather:

Website

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

YouTube

Timestamps

00:00 — Introduction — Heather welcomes Amelia Castillo.

01:49 — Amelia's 17 years as an esthetician and how her approach has evolved.

04:05 — The nervous system, the skin, and why it gets overlooked.

08:17 — Redefining self-care beyond bubble baths and wine.

23:29 — Caring for her best friend through stage four breast cancer.

19:41 — Perimenopause, sleep, and the evening routine that changes everything.

47:26 — Where to connect with Amelia.

About Amelia Castillo

Amelia Castillo is a wife, mom, esthetician, and Integrative Nutrition Health Coach with nearly two decades of experience. As the owner of Bare Skin Beauty, she is passionate about helping women feel confident in their skin through a blend of science, wellness, and real life sustainability.

Website

Instagram

YouTube

Facebook

Support the show

"It's totally her minerals, it's not her."— Dori Martin

There's a particular kind of tired that doesn't go away with sleep — the brain fog, the inflammation, the mood swings that make you feel like a stranger in your own body. For years, Dori Martin thought that was just what happens to women in midlife. It wasn't, and what she discovered instead is the heart of this conversation.

Dori Martin is a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner who uses Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis to help midlife women understand what's really going on beneath the surface. We talk about the decade of caretaking that led to her own burnout — from a divorce with two small children, to getting engaged to a man given a terminal diagnosis, to watching her own labs come back worse than his. Dori explains why mineral depletion is so often mistaken for a personality problem, and what it actually takes for a woman's body to feel safe enough to rest and recover.

If you've ever felt exhausted, inflamed, or like your moods aren't quite your own — this one will feel like a mirror. New episodes every Thursday on all major podcast platforms.

Connect with Heather:

Website

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

YouTube

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction — Heather welcomes Dori Martin.

03:25 Dori's 2006 divorce and the start of a decade of holding it all together.

03:25 Getting engaged to a man given a terminal diagnosis.

26:26 The mastermind, the flatline, and the shame of not keeping up.

14:08 What Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis actually shows.

16:11 Sodium, potassium, copper — the minerals behind mood and burnout.

38:13 Nervous system regulation, safety, and functional freeze.

46:54 Where to connect with Dori Martin.

About Dori Martin

Dori Martin is a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner and Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis specialist who helps midlife women understand the connection between mineral depletion, hormone imbalance, and burnout. After navigating her own years of unrecognized depletion — through single motherhood, caregiving, and building a business from the ground up — she now helps women read their own body's data so they can stop guessing and start healing. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband, three kids, and a whole lot of hard-won wisdom about rest.

Website

Instagram

YouTube

Facebook

Support the show

“You are responsible for your own actions, your own behaviors, your own reactions. You cannot control the actions, reactions of others.” — Donna Johnsen

Twenty-three years. That's how long Donna Johnsen was with her husband when an unplanned divorce rewrote everything she thought she knew about her own life. This week on Her Story Unscripted, she shares what happened when the identity she'd built inside a marriage suddenly wasn't there to stand on anymore.

Donna Johnsen talks with me about the messy, real work of rebuilding — journaling her way through the rumination, reading a memoir that gave her permission to stop performing grace, and eventually finding her way to humor as a way to heal out loud instead of hide. We also get into what it's like helping teenagers navigate a divorce without projecting your own feelings onto theirs, and the almost-empty nest she's facing now that her kids are grown.

If you've ever felt like you were standing at the edge of a cliff, unable to go back and scared to go forward, this conversation is for you. New episodes every Thursday on all major podcast platforms.

Connect with Heather:

Website

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

YouTube

Timestamps

00:46 Introduction — Heather welcomes Donna Johnsen.

07:48 Donna opens up about the unplanned end of her 23-year relationship.

10:15 The memoir that gave her permission to move beyond society's expectations after divorce.

13:02 Why she started journaling in her Notes app to stop the constant rumination.

17:30 How humor became part of her healing journey.

31:19 Navigating teenagers through divorce and letting them have their own feelings.

40:33 The almost-empty nest, midlife reinvention, and becoming "Mama D."

42:22 Where to connect with Donna Johnsen.

About Donna Johnsen

Donna Johnsen is the voice behind Laugh Lines and Life Goals, where she shares an honest, funny, and refreshingly unfiltered take on midlife, motherhood, and reinvention. After an unplanned divorce ended a 23-year relationship, Donna turned to journaling — and eventually to social media — as a way to process what she was going through, and has since built a community of women who find comfort in her humor and her honesty. She's the mom of two, with one child already away at college and the other headed there this fall.

Pinterest

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

Support the show