Badassery Life Kelly Young/Stevi Stoesz Kersh

Brittany was 13-years-old when her friend's home went up in flames. She grew up wanting to be a firefighter. After failing an EMT test and a husband who didn't allow her to pursue her dream, she found clarity for a new mission.

Brittany formed the nonprofit Fire Angels and focuses on helping families who have lost their homes due to house fires, and provides them with essential needs for the first 24 to 72 hours after a fire. The nonprofit also offers resources and comfort to help a family process what they’ve went through.

Brittany talks about her passion, her work, challenges, and how she and other angels are helping others.

Episode 92

Mary's work on fair trade has taken her to the Dominican Republic, Uganda, Kenya, China, and Ecuador. She leads study abroad trips to Italy and Guatemala and with “fast fashion” production at an all-time high, Mary tells us how to be more conscious consumers, among many other things.  

Mary is a senior lecturer of merchandising in the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture and Design, focusing on sustainability, fair trade and product development. She won a Trustees Teaching Award in 2016, she’s a specialist in service learning, information literacy and integrative learning. She’s also the founding director of the Eskenazi School’s Center for Innovative Merchandising and a fair trade activist.

Her interest and expertise in sustainable fashion is badass.

Jody is artistic, adventurous, animated and no doubt the most stylish guest we’ve had on the podcast. She's a healthcare lawyer by day, but she's made a name for herself in the fashion world with her eccentric style. She’s turned a passion for fashion and personal style into a meaningful way to help others feel like badasses. There’s nothing more that she’d rather do than to help others overcome personal insecurities, develop their own personal style and interact in the world with confidence.



She's a shoe lover, party planner, world-traveler, advocate, fashionista, and a true badass!

Michelle has overcome so much in her life, including a tough childhood, being placed in the child welfare system, raped in high school, became a pregnant teen, experienced homelessness, and was mentally and emotionally unstable. But that's not the half of it! She served more than two decades in an Indiana prison for the murder of her 4-year-old son.

Today, she's a scholar, artist, author, and a sixth-year doctoral student in the American studies program at New York University. She is also a founding member and board president of Constructing Our Future, a reentry and housing organization for women created by incarcerated women in Indiana and a Beyond the Bars fellow.

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"I believe that nothing is impossible for me. Through all of it, I held on to this old saying 'God don’t make junk.'” - Michell Daniel Jones

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To say Michelle is a badass is an understatement.


COF Website:  constructingourfuture.com

Website: michelledanieljones.com

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/michelle-daniel-jones/

Twitter:  COF_Michelle

Instagram: Michelle_thetruth

Dianna Boyce admits to never being good at sports growing up, but she was really good on the sidelines. Today, she's leading an All-Star Team as the vice president of NBA All-Star 2024 - the biggest weekend in basketball - which will be held in Indianapolis in February 2024. She's an incredible team player working with 24 separate committees with more than 450 people across the state to pull it off - and she's their biggest cheerleader (similar to her days growing up).

In this episode, Dianna talks about the secret sauce that Indianapolis has when pulling off some of the largest sporting events - and she would know. Dianna served as a senior member of the staff for the 2012 Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee.

But it's not all sports for this badass! She talks about challenging herself to learn something new every day. And when asked about where she gets her happiness, she responded with faith, family and friends.



Connect with Dianna Boyce on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dianna-l-boyce/

To learn more about the NBA All-Star 2024 visit nba.com/pacers/nba-all-star-2024-indianapolis

Episode 88

Brett is the Director of Kicking the Stigma at the Indianapolis Colts. She’s determined, passionate and weird (that’s how she describes herself) – others describe her as personable, loud (in voice, personality and bright colors) and ambitious. And after this interview I think you all will agree that Brett Kramer is a badass.

Brett told us that she's always struggled with high-functioning anxiety. While on the outside she may look like she has her shit together, she has an intense fear of failure and not living up to the expectations she has set for herself.

She believes sports has the power to change the world – and her role as the Director of Kicking The Stigma is a way she feels she can be part of that change.



To learn more about Kicking The Stigma visit: www.colts.com/community/kicking-the-stigma