What’s really going through your yoga instructor’s mind while you’re holding that pose? This week on My First Year, Joseph Lecz sits down with his best friend from college, Bettie, aboard the Queen Mary 2, halfway across the Atlantic Ocean. As they paint and catch up, Bettie looks back on her first year teaching yoga, from rehearsing classes with her family to a phone that wouldn’t stop ringing and the nerves of having her boss walk into class.

Bettie found a new path that fit her life after years as an executive assistant. She shares the unexpected lessons, funny moments, and growing confidence that came with becoming a teacher and why you don’t have to be flexible or fit a certain image to belong in a yoga class.

An honest conversation with two longtime friends about starting something new, finding your footing, and giving yourself grace along the way

To take Bettie’s class in Northwest Chicago Suburbs, check out Pulsation Yoga in Mt. Prospect, IL

https://pulsationyoga.com/

Bettie’s Book Recommendation: The Yamas & Niyamas: Exploring Yoga's Ethical Practice by Deborah Adele

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What does becoming a shaman actually look like and how do you follow a new calling when you have bills to pay?

Michelle Bailey joins Joseph Lecz on 'My First Year' to share her journey from corporate America into shamanic work. A former chief operations officer whose preferred title is simply “Human Being,” Michelle explains what her practice involves, why she uses meditation and how she gradually built a business while balancing work and family.

The conversation gets personal as Michelle reflects on growing up around addiction, the emotions she had tucked away, and what she learned during her first year of training. We also explore intuition, spiritual guides, retreats, financial uncertainty, and a revealing exercise: writing down everything you say no to and noticing how often it’s something for yourself.

If you’re considering a career change, exploring your spiritual life, or wondering whether it’s time for a new beginning, Michelle’s story offers plenty to think about.

Connect with Michelle:
Website and retreat information: https://www.kairoswellnessct.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kairos.wellness.ct/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kairos.wellness.ct0/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kairoswellnessct
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-bailey-31b408235/

'My First Year' explores the messy, honest beginnings behind life’s big changes with stories and advice to help you feel a little less alone in your own.

Subscribe for more conversations, and tell us in the comments, Have you ever felt drawn to a completely different path?

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Tami Scime drove from Buffalo to Skagway, Alaska, for a summer job. She expected an adventure. She didn’t expect to arrive and discover her employee housing was a camper or to stay for 14 years and counting.

Tami shares what happened after the cruise ships left and finding love in a town where everyone knows your business. Also making a life through long winters, and watching tourism change the place she’d come to call home. It’s a story about following a pull you can’t quite explain, then knowing when it’s time for another new beginning.

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What was the Disney College Program really like? My friend Donna joins me to revisit our first year working at Walt Disney World—the excitement of walking into the parks, the reality of tight finances and roommates, celebrity encounters, and nights at Pleasure Island.

We also talk about how September 11 changed the atmosphere at Disney, the friendships that lasted, and the opportunities Donna wishes she’d taken. It’s a funny, nostalgic, and honest look at a first year that shaped far more than her career.

What does it really take to leave behind everything familiar and build a life in another country?

Joseph welcomes his college friend Kim to My First Year to revisit her experience moving internationally and living in South Africa. Kim shares the initial excitement, the overwhelming first impressions, the language barriers and the cultural differences that made everyday life feel completely unfamiliar.

Living abroad isn’t the same as taking a vacation. Kim opens up about navigating loneliness, finding an expat community, adjusting to family life in a new culture—and making a few unforgettable cultural faux pas along the way. She also reveals how the experience tested her resilience, strengthened her courage and gave her an entirely new appreciation for home and ranch dressing.

It’s an honest, funny and deeply relatable conversation about taking risks, finding your people and discovering what you’re capable of when everything around you changes.

Because every new beginning has a first year—and nobody has it all figured out.

Messy. Honest. Hopeful.

Subscribe for more honest conversations about the first years that change our lives.

What happens when you move to New York City even though it was never your dream?

Jess shares her journey to New York, where she moved to support her husband’s career. She opens up about her expectations, the cultural shocks, the apartment her husband chose without her and the surprising sense of peace she felt on her very first night in the city.

From mastering grocery shopping and discovering incredible restaurants to building community and learning to love the noise, energy and endless possibilities, Jess’s first year became a journey of connection, personal growth and finding home in an unexpected place.

Joseph also reflects on his own experience of living in New York, the freedom to reinvent yourself and why life here can sometimes feel like living in a movie. Together, they explore what it really takes to embrace change—and offer honest advice for anyone considering a move they’re not entirely sure they want to make.

What was it really like to work behind the scenes at The Oprah Winfrey Show and witness television history as it happened?

For the very first episode of My First Year, Joseph sits down with his friend Tracey, the woman who hired him at Oprah and helped change the course of his career. Together, they revisit the persistence it took to break into show business, the magic of walking into the Oprah studio for the first time, and unforgettable encounters with Tom Cruise, Cher, Lady Gaga and more.

From the infamous couch-jumping moment to a baby doll that somehow ended up on eBay, this candid and funny conversation reveals the stories behind the iconic television moments along with the passion, perseverance and gratitude that shaped Joseph’s first year at Oprah.