Beneath The Story

Brea Segger
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Weekly

Every life has a story people can see. I'm interested in the story underneath. Beneath The Story is a podcast about the experiences that shape us long before we understand what they mean. Through conversations with athletes, entrepreneurs, artists, leaders, and other thoughtful people, we look back on the moments that changed them, what surprised them, and what only became clear with time. Not just what happened. What changed because it happened.

Episodes

  1. 1d ago

    EP 06 | Choosing a Different Life in Costa Rica | Carly Rowena

    Carly Rowena is a creator, mentor and entrepreneur who has spent the last 15 years sharing her life online. After building businesses, becoming a mother and creating a life in the UK that she had worked hard for, she began to question whether it was still the life she wanted. Eventually, Carly and her husband sold their home, packed their family into six suitcases and moved to Costa Rica. Today, she shares what it looks like to change your mind, follow your curiosity and build a life that feels more like your own, while helping other women do the same. Summary Carly Rowena had built a successful career, several businesses and a family life in the UK when she began to question whether the life she had worked hard to create was still the life she wanted. In this conversation, Carly shares the path that eventually led her family to sell their home, pack six suitcases and move to Costa Rica, and what happened when many of the things she was afraid of losing actually did fall apart. We talk about rebuilding her business, learning to value her own work, motherhood and the difficulty of choosing yourself when other people need you. We also talk about never knowing what you want to be when you grow up, following curiosity instead of forcing yourself into one path, allowing your interests to change, and why not everything you love needs to become a career. Carly shares what living in Costa Rica has taught her about community, raising children, living with less, and how much becomes visible when some of the noise and distraction disappear. Episode Links Website - https://www.carlyrowena.com/ Instagram -  @instagram.com/carlyrowena Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:24 Not Knowing What You Want to Be 10:17 Writing Children's Books 13:53 Social Media, Success & Authenticity 16:18 Moving to Costa Rica and Rebuilding a Business 20:03 Motherhood and Choosing Yourself 23:21 Why Choosing Yourself Matters 31:00 What Costa Rica Changed 34:01 Raising Children Differently 36:45 Community, Loneliness & Living More Slowly 41:47 Living With Less 47:26 What's Next 48:40 When the Life You Built Starts to Change 53:24 Creativity, Possibility & AI 57:58 Closing

  2. 5d ago

    EP 05 | Adversity, Overachievement & Learning to Trust Yourself | Alena Turley

    Alena Turley is a somatic therapist located in Sydney, Australia, a Hapkido black belt and business alchemist whose life has taken her through extraordinary adversity, single motherhood, homelessness, martial arts, entrepreneurship and the long process of rebuilding a life after surviving a violent attack. After reaching rock bottom in 2005, she began a very different chapter, one that would eventually shape both the life she lives and the work she does today. Summary In this conversation, Alena and I talk about what happens when the ways you've learned to survive and succeed begin to become the very things you need to question. We talk about the experiences that shaped her early adulthood, surviving a violent attack, single motherhood and homelessness, and the importance of community in helping her find her way forward. Alena shares the unexpected role martial arts played in her life, and how learning to pay close attention to the body became part of a much larger shift in how she understood herself. We also talk about surrender and why it can't always be forced, the move from overachievement toward creating more space, and how easily we can become accustomed to overriding what we know and what our bodies are telling us. At the centre of the conversation is self-trust: what happens to it through adversity and conditioning, how often we look outside ourselves for answers, and the ongoing practice of learning to trust what we notice again. Episode Links Website - https://www.alenaturley.com/ Instagram - @alenaturley Podcast - Unboxable - Somatic Self Development Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Alena's Journey 02:32 Alena's Broad Spectrum Career Path 05:03 The Significance of Attention to Detail 16:54 Breakdowns as Doorways to Growth 55:57 Building Self-Trust and Self-Compassion

  3. Sep 6

    EP 04 | Building for Impact, Not Just Profit | Ryan Macleod

    Ryan Macleod is a designer, entrepreneur, community builder and the founder of Citizen Design Build on Vancouver Island. A Red Seal carpenter with a degree in the social sciences, Ryan has built a company that brings together construction, design, apprenticeship and community development. Much of Citizen’s work today is done in partnership with First Nations communities, creating not only buildings, but opportunities for Nation members to train and build careers within the trades. Before construction, Ryan spent years touring and recording as a musician, and that creative life has never really left him. He is deeply interested in philosophy, spirituality, and the ways the things we build, from homes and businesses to communities, shape how we live. Summary In this conversation, we talk about his work with First Nations communities through his company, Citizen Design Build, and why the company began bringing apprenticeship and trades training directly into its construction projects. For Ryan, the building itself is only part of the work. What matters just as much is what remains in a community when the project is finished. We also talk about communication, and how often we communicate from our own understanding rather than considering what the person in front of us actually needs to hear. That same question shows up in Ryan's approach to design. How do you understand the people you're building for well enough to create something that actually belongs to them? From there, the conversation goes into some less obvious places. Ryan talks about mindfulness, learning to become more comfortable with discomfort, and the space that can open up when we don't immediately react to what we're feeling. We talk about how that has changed the way he makes decisions, works with people and thinks about business. There is a thread running through much of our conversation about responsibility. Not in a heavy way, but in the very practical question of what happens when the decisions we make are guided by the effect they'll have on other people, rather than simply by what is easiest or most profitable. Episode Link https://www.citizenbuilding.ca/  Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Ryan McLeod and his background 02:18 Ryan’s childhood and early influences in construction and music 04:20 The role of design and envisioning in Ryan’s career 08:16 Communication as a core skill in community building 12:40 The importance of understanding the recipient in communication 15:00 Using construction for transformational change 16:13 Practical and ethereal ways of capacity building 20:09 Learning from mistakes and the value of transformative learning 23:50 The importance of slowing down and spaciousness in decision-making 30:17 Creating space for self-awareness and discomfort 36:12 The impact of social media and digital distraction 40:19 Parenting with consciousness and communication 50:19 The impact project with the First Nations community 56:22 Impact-driven business and impact principles 01:04:36 Reimagining a conscious future in design and impact

  4. Aug 29

    EP 03 | Education, Motherhood & Beginning Again | Leila de Bruyne

    Leila de Bruyne is the co-founder of Flying Kites, a Leadership School & Teacher-Training Center serving 16,000 students in rural Kenya. A lifelong advocate for the power of education, Leila has raised more than $25 million to support critical services and expand opportunity for marginalized children, with a particular focus on girls, and her work has recognized by the Longines Women of Courage and Vision Award, The Obama Foundation's Girls Opportunity Alliance, and Bono's Herstory initiative, highlighting female leaders and activists promoting gender equality. As a writer, Leila's work has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, TED, Forbes and Motherly. Her debut novel, Eliza is a sultry and darkly funny exploration of desire, aging, and motherhood. Summary We talk about the early years of Flying Kites and what Leila had to learn about trying to create change in a community that wasn't her own. But we also talk about becoming a mother and raising three children, the ways her ambitions and understanding of herself have changed, and what it has meant to build a life around work that began when she was barely an adult. And then there is writing. Leila shares the long and often uncertain process of writing and publishing her first novel, Eliza, and what it has been like to begin something entirely new after being known for one body of work for so long. Episode Links https://flyingkites.org/ Instagram @instagram.com/flyingkitesglobal Instagram @instagram/leila.debruyne Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Leila and her impactful work 01:53 The origins of Flying Kites in college 05:58 First trip to Kenya and the impact on Leila 08:55 Building the organization brick by brick 12:07 Challenges and lessons from community work 16:01 Transformations in the community over 20 years 19:57 Empowering girls and women through education 26:03 Mentorship, leadership, and team building 33:08 Balancing motherhood, impact, and personal growth 38:58 Writing the book: inspiration, challenges, and process 50:10 Overcoming rejection and trusting the process 59:56 The importance of self-awareness and authenticity 01:10:02 Reflections on community, culture, and impact 01:15:00 Looking ahead: future projects and hopes 01:16:02 Closing thoughts and gratitude

  5. Aug 20

    EP 02 | A Life Shaped by the Great Bear Rainforest | Norm Hann

    Norm Hann is a professional stand-up paddleboarder, wilderness guide and expedition leader who has spent more than two decades exploring some of the world’s most remote coastlines. Much of his life and work has been shaped by British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest and his relationship with the Gitga’at community there. His conservation work is featured in the award-winning documentary STAND. Summary Norm and I talk about the unlikely series of decisions that took him from teaching high school in Ontario to guiding in the Great Bear Rainforest, where a place and its people gradually changed the direction of his life. We talk about his adoption into the Gitga’at Raven Clan, the 400-kilometre paddle he undertook to help protect the coast from a proposed oil tanker route, the people who have influenced him, and what decades spent outside have taught him about how he wants to live. Episode Links https://www.normhann.com/ Instagram @instagram.com/normhann Watch STAND, the award-winning documentary featuring Norm and the Great Bear Rainforest Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Norm Hann's Background 02:10 Norm's Childhood and Love for Outdoors 03:58 Journey from Ontario to the West Coast 09:11 Connection with First Nations and the Great Bear Rainforest 14:58 Decisions, Challenges, and Personal Growth 21:56 The Healing Power of Nature and Awe 30:04 Norm's Guiding Philosophy and Mentorship 40:03 Expeditions, Paddleboarding, and Environmental Advocacy 50:10 Living a Seamless Life of Connection and Purpose 01:00:10 Future Plans and How to Connect with Norm

  6. Aug 14

    EP 01 | What 49 Days in Darkness Revealed | Traver Boehm

    Traver Boehm is the author of the books Today I Rise, Man UNcivilized and 28 Days In Darkness. He’s a two-time TEDx speaker, men’s coach, and the founder of the UNcivilized Men’s Movement. He’s helped men all over the world to become UNcivilized as they wake up to the power of their hearts, the brilliance of their bodies, and the wisdom of their souls so they can blaze their own path by uniquely blending both the primal and the divine within them. Most recently, Traver completed an extraordinary 49-day dark retreat and released his latest book chronicling his first such journey, 28 Days In Darkness. He is dedicated to doing his part to help end the suffering in men, and the suffering caused by men, by guiding them through their own journey into an actualized version of masculinity. Summary Of course, I wanted to know what happens to a person in 49 days without light. What comes up when so much of the outside world disappears. But I was just as interested in what happened when he came back out. We talk about what Traver encountered in the darkness, the fears and old pain that surfaced, and what the experience showed him about identity, relationships, and our need for one another. We also get into the ache we so often try to get rid of, what happens when the person we’ve known ourselves to be starts to fall away, and learning to live without needing to know exactly what comes next. Here’s my conversation with Traver Boehm. Episode Links https://traverboehm.com/ https://www.manuncivilized.com/ Instagram @traverboehm And all podcast platforms: The UNcivilized Podcast with Traver Boehm Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Traver Boehm and His Journey 03:03 Facing Fears and Life Transformations 06:01 The Dark Night of the Soul 09:07 The Power of Choice and Responsibility 12:04 The Dark Retreat Experience 15:06 The Importance of Human Connection 17:51 Lessons from the Dark Retreat 21:09 Emerging from Darkness and New Beginnings 38:15 The Epidemic of Loneliness 46:17 Facing Darkness: A Personal Journey 52:19 The Weight of Time in Solitude 01:00:28 Emerging from Darkness: Transformation and Growth 01:08:17 The Holy Ache: Connection and Authenticity

  • 6 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Every life has a story people can see. I'm interested in the story underneath. Beneath The Story is a podcast about the experiences that shape us long before we understand what they mean. Through conversations with athletes, entrepreneurs, artists, leaders, and other thoughtful people, we look back on the moments that changed them, what surprised them, and what only became clear with time. Not just what happened. What changed because it happened.

Information

  • Creator
    Brea Segger
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    6
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Brea Segger
  • Show Website
    Beneath The Story