Joy Found Here

stephanie martinez rivera
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Welcome to the Joy Found Here podcast, hosted by Stephanie Martinez Rivera. Join us each week while we have real talk with inspiring women about life,balance, grace and permission to step off the ride. Listen in as we hear their stories, victories and fails and how to recognize and embrace the simple joy that life does offer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 11 hr ago

    All Roads Lead Back to You: Tori DaCosta on Ownership, Clarity & Letting Go

    What if the biggest obstacle to becoming who you're meant to be isn't outside circumstances, but the boxes you've been checking your whole life? In episode 275, executive coach and bestselling author Tori DaCosta shares how a pause in her corporate career led her to write No Name Bastard—and reclaim ownership over the one thing she could truly control: herself. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (05:11) From Executive MBA to a Career-Defining Pause (07:08) Life as a Primary Caregiver and the Question That Changed Everything (10:45) Naming All the Hats: The Exercise That Sparked Clarity (12:38) Work-Life Collaboration Over Work-Life Balance (21:06) Why Tori Wrote No Name Bastard (24:45) Surprising Reader Feedback and Redefining Ambition (29:05) Learning to Sit Still and the Freedom of Letting Go (42:29) Rebuilding Self-Trust Through Control, Manage, and Influence (47:51) Why Challenges Are Fuel — and Where to Find Tori Tori DaCosta is a business leader, executive coach, bestselling author, and speaker who helps people lead themselves with clarity and intention. She's the author of No Name Bastard: How Our Lives Teach Us What We Can Control, Manage, and Influence, drawing on her own experiences to help readers turn hard seasons into growth. She spent over a decade leading teams within a Fortune 50 company, holds an Executive MBA from Emory University and a bachelor's degree from Appalachian State University, and centers her work on the transformative power of ownership. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and two children and enjoys running and the outdoors. In this episode, Tori DaCosta shares the journey behind writing No Name Bastard and unpacks her "control, manage, and influence" framework. She traces her path from corporate leadership and an executive MBA to a moment of stillness that pushed her to rethink the impact she wanted to make, and offers practical strategies like scheduling one-on-one time with her kids and swapping work-life balance for work-life collaboration. She speaks to self-trust, ownership, and sitting with discomfort, using a biosphere experiment where trees fell over from lack of wind to show why resistance builds strength. She also discusses redefining ambition and success on her own terms, freeing herself from judgment, and the surprising response from male readers around people-pleasing. Connect with Tori DaCosta:  Website LinkedIn Instagram Facebook YouTube Book: Tori DaCosta - No Name Bastard Let's Connect: Website Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  2. 18 Aug

    Machan Taylor: Singing Through Trauma to Heal an Original Wound

    What happens when a search for identity across continents ends in healing an old childhood wound? In episode 274, singer-songwriter and educator Machan Taylor shares how a culture-straddling upbringing fueled a music career alongside Sting, Pink Floyd, and Foreigner—and became the seed of her memoir, Naked Out Loud. For Machan, it's the journey from never belonging to finally feeling whole. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (03:54) Machan's unconventional path into sharing her story with the world (04:05) Her birth in Japan, her musical family roots, and the move to America (06:30) Growing up an outsider in 1960s New Jersey (08:54) Discovering her voice as a source of identity and power (12:40) Childhood trauma and the drive it gave her toward independence (15:25) From local bands to the Glenn Miller Orchestra and life on the road (20:31) The catalyst for her memoir: psychedelic-assisted therapy (25:15) Turning subconscious pain into conscious healing and liberation (33:24) How journaling became her memoir, Naked Out Loud (35:10) Teaching at NYU and what's next: speaking, healing, and service Machan Taylor is a vocalist, songwriter, composer, and educator whose four-decade career has included stadium tours with Pink Floyd, Sting, and Foreigner, three years fronting the acclaimed jazz ensemble Hiroshima, and television appearances on Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show. She has released two solo albums, contributed to film and TV projects including American Beauty and Boyhood, and shared stages with artists from Aretha Franklin to Billy Joel. She holds a master's in Theory and Composition from NYU, where she now teaches at the Clive Davis Institute, and is the author of the memoir Naked Out Loud. In this episode, Machan Taylor shares her cross-cultural upbringing between Japan and a New Jersey town where she often felt like she didn't belong, and how music became her anchor through a difficult childhood. She traces her path from teenage gigs and the Glenn Miller Orchestra into decades of touring, and opens up about the unglamorous realities of life on the road. She describes how psychedelic-assisted therapy became the catalyst for her memoir, transforming a childhood wound into conscious healing, and reflects on returning to school in her fifties to pursue teaching. She closes by sharing her hope to expand into speaking engagements that help others do the same healing work. Connect with Machan Taylor:  Website LinkedIn Instagram Facebook YouTube Apple Music Let's Connect: Website Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  3. 11 Aug

    Rock Bottom to Body Freedom: Amber Romaniuk Decodes Emotional Eating & Hormones

    What happens when your body starts speaking in symptoms—and it takes rock bottom to finally listen? In episode 273, Amber Romaniuk, Emotional Eating, Digestive and Hormone Expert, shares her battle with binge eating that had her gaining and losing over 1,000 pounds. For Amber, healing wasn't willpower or a quick-fix diet—it was uncovering the hormone imbalances, gut issues, and emotional wounds driving her self-sabotage. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (00:12) Introduction to Amber Romaniuk and The No Sugar Coating Podcast (06:29) Amber's Childhood: Bullying, Grief, and the Roots of Emotional Eating (15:19) The Loneliest Years: Living in Secret With Binge Eating and Purging (18:15) Breaking the Cycle: Sugar Addiction, Triggers, and Building Self-Awareness (25:35) How Childhood Programming and Diet Culture Shape Our Relationship With Weight (27:05) The Truth About GLP-1 Weight-Loss Drugs (32:00) Gut Health 101: Stress, Digestion, and the Myths About Probiotics (41:30) Cortisol, Burnout, and the Hidden Signs of Hormone Imbalance (50:24) Getting the Right Testing: Thyroid Ranges and Finding a Functional Practitioner (57:52) Where to Find Amber: Podcast, Quizzes, and Consultations Amber Romaniuk is an Emotional Eating, Digestive and Hormone Expert with 12 years' experience helping high-achieving women build body confidence and optimal health. She hosts The No Sugarcoating Podcast, with 2+ million downloads across 600+ episodes in 90+ countries. Her expertise is personal: she overcame emotional eating after gaining and losing over 1,000 lbs and spending $50,000+ on binge foods, spending five years healing her hormones, digestion, and limiting beliefs. Today she helps women achieve Body Freedom™ and lasting confidence. In this episode, Amber shared her journey through emotional eating, binge eating, and binge-purging, tracing it to childhood bullying and family stress that turned food into emotional armor, and the rock-bottom moment that pushed her into recovery. She explained the roots of self-sabotaging food behavior, from the brain's fear response to sugar addiction and low self-worth, then covered gut health and hormone health (cortisol, thyroid, progesterone, estrogen) and their link to cravings and emotional eating. She also discussed her concerns about GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, closing with where to find her podcast and consultations. Connect with Amber Romaniuk:  Website LinkedIn Instagram YouTube X Let's Connect: Website Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  4. 4 Aug

    You're Not the Problem: Lori Montry on Healing the Nervous System, Not Fixing Yourself

    What if what you call self-sabotage is really your nervous system doing what it learned to keep you safe? In episode 272 of Joy Found Here, somatic healing practitioner Lori Montry explains why mindset and willpower alone can't create lasting change, and why the body must be part of the process. Drawing on her own journey out of high-achieving overwhelm, she introduces her Freedom Formula and makes the case that real transformation starts with safety, not discipline. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (00:12) Welcome to Joy Found Here and Introducing Lori Montry (05:12) From Harvard Law to Burnout: Lori's Early Adaptations (09:29) What Somatic Coaching Really Means (16:36) Naming Self-Sabotage in Real Life (19:11) The Adapted Self vs. The Expansive Self (25:06) Inside the Book: You're Not the Problem (28:28) Building Safety Through Small Daily Practices (38:48) The Freedom Formula: Three Phases of Change (44:00) Trusting the Body and Surrendering Control (47:28) Where to Find Lori and Get the Book Lori Montry is a somatic healing practitioner and author of You're Not the Problem: End the Overwhelm, Restore Energy, and Make Progress that Lasts. She's also the creator of the Freedom Formula, a nervous-system-based framework that helps people move out of survival mode and into lives that reflect who they are. Before this work, Lori earned her law degree from Harvard Law School and spent years in high-achievement environments that looked successful from the outside while she privately struggled with chronic stress, emotional eating, and anxiety. Her approach blends nervous system science, somatic practices, and mindset work to help people see their patterns as adaptations that once kept them safe, not personal brokenness. In this episode, Lori Montry explains why lasting change requires working with the body and nervous system, not just the mind, since old stress patterns get stored physically and outlast talk therapy or willpower alone. She introduces the "adapted self" versus the "expansive self," framing self-sabotage as a protective pattern rather than a failing, and describes building safety with these parts instead of fighting them. Lori also outlines her three-phase Freedom Formula — nervous-system safety, uncovering authentic identity, and building an aligned life — emphasizing small, consistent practices over big overhauls, and shares how her reading circle community helps readers actually integrate the book's ideas. Connect with Lori Montry:  Website LinkedIn Instagram Facebook YouTube The Nervous System Self-Discovery Quiz Book: Lori Montry - You're Not the Problem Let's Connect: Website Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  5. 28 Jul

    Whole, Not Perfect: Laura G. Patac's Blueprint for Owning Your Story

    What happens when a storyteller who's lived on five continents realizes reinvention is a skill, not something that happens to you? In episode 269, Laura G. Patac joins Stephanie to unpack how our own stories and unconscious strengths quietly shape the ceilings we hit in life. For Laura, the answer isn't more credentials, but recognizing your patterns and repositioning what you already have. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (00:12) Welcome to Joy Found Here and Meeting Laura G. Patac (06:15) Life Across Five Continents: Home Between Romania and Dubai (08:54) Reinvention as a Deliberate Practice, Not Something That Just Happens (12:50) From Teenage Poetry to a Storytelling-Driven Corporate Career (17:29) The Two Stories Everyone Carries: Self-Talk and Your Origin Story (23:46) Discovering Your Natural Talents Through CliftonStrengths (26:31) Laura's Top Five Strengths and the "Strength Traps" Hiding Inside Them (38:45) Living by Values: Freedom, Purpose, and Bold Career Decisions (45:21) Real Growth Comes From Using What You Already Have (51:35) Inside Whole, Not Perfect: Poetry, Story, and Self-Discovery Laura G. Patac is a storyteller, speaker, and Gallup-Certified CliftonStrengths® coach with over 25 years of global leadership experience across five continents. Based between her native Romania and Dubai, she is the author of Stories With Purpose and Whole, Not Perfect, a 2025 Reader Views Literary Award finalist, and co-founder of EdgeCraft™ and creator of the Strengths Velocity Lab™, helping mid-career leaders turn lived experience into strategic career advantage. In this episode, Laura shared how her life across five continents shaped her belief that reinvention is a deliberate skill built on reflection and reframing. She traced her storytelling roots to teenage poetry, carried into 25-plus years of corporate leadership, and introduced the idea that everyone carries two essential stories: the one we tell ourselves daily, and the one that brought us here. Walking through her top five CliftonStrengths, she showed how each becomes a "strength trap" when overused, from analysis paralysis to being an indispensable "fixer," tying this to her own near-burnout. She closed on strategic positioning: aligning story, strengths, values, and purpose to build visibility and influence. Connect with Laura G. Patac:  Website LinkedIn Instagram Book: Laura G. Patac - Whole, Not Perfect Let's Connect: Website Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  6. 21 Jul

    Two Ducks, One Agency: Deanna & Ashley on Business, Motherhood & Reinvention

    What happens when a Gen X president and a millennial account director decide to run a marketing agency—and start a podcast—together? In episode 270 of Joy Found Here, Deanna Dolecki and Ashley Ruggeri of Blue Duck Agency share what it's like building a boutique, fully virtual agency across two life stages—from Deanna's empty-nest reinvention at 50 to Ashley's whirlwind days as a hockey mom. They trade honest, funny stories about hiring each other, disagreeing without taking it personally, and turning their podcast, Ducks Unplugged, into an unexpected creative lifeline. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (04:16) Meet Deanna and Ashley: Blue Duck Agency's Dynamic Duo (04:57) Deanna's Path: From Undecided Grad to Agency President (09:12) Ashley's Journey: From Banking to Marketing Motherhood (13:38) The Hiring Story: Why Deanna Almost Didn't Hire Ashley (15:30) Building Trust: How They Make Their Working Relationship Work (18:02) The Podcast Origin Story: How Ducks Unplugged Was Born (25:06) Inside Blue Duck Agency: What Makes Their Boutique Approach Different (29:25) Deanna's Road to 50: Learning to Put Herself First (37:12) Generational Differences: TV Guides, YouTube, and Everything Between (40:49) Ashley on Parenting Differently Than Her Own Mother Deanna Dolecki and Ashley Ruggeri are President and Account Director at Blue Duck Agency, a boutique, virtual marketing agency near Boston. Deanna has led agency strategy for 11 years in account management; Ashley brings 15+ years in customer acquisition via banking and energy before finding marketing. Deanna, a mother of two, recently turned 50 and launched a "Road to 50" self-prioritization project; Ashley, an elder millennial and Bentley grad, raises her 7-year-old son while working. Together they co-host Ducks Unplugged, marking its first anniversary. In this episode, Deanna and Ashley reflect on navigating different life stages as colleagues and friends. Deanna opens up about turning 50, becoming an empty-nester, and learning to put herself first, touching on her divorce, dating again, and buying her first home alone. Ashley shares life as a young mother raising a 7-year-old while helping run the agency, and parenting differently than her own mother did. Both discuss the trust behind their partnership and how their podcast became a fulfilling creative outlet. Connect with Deanna Dolecki:  Blue Duck Agency Website LinkedIn Connect with Ashley Ruggeri:  LinkedIn Ducks Unplugged Podcast Website YouTube Instagram Facebook TikTok Let's Connect: Website Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  7. 14 Jul

    60% and Go: Dr. Jen Fry on Boundaries, Bold Moves, and Building a Wild Career

    What if the secret to getting everything you want is simply having the nerve to ask for it? In episode 269 of Joy Found Here, Dr. Jen Fry shares how a career built on bold requests carried her from college volleyball coaching to becoming a sports geographer, tech founder, and conflict literacy expert. For Jen, success was never about having all the answers — it was about betting on herself with just 60% of the knowledge, and being okay with hearing no. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (00:12) Welcome to Joy Found Here & meeting Dr. Jen Fry (03:56) The storytelling lesson of finding "where the bear's gonna attack" (05:28) The hotel room decision that launched her coaching career at Washington State (09:03) A winless season and getting fired from her first coaching job (12:14) Emergency back surgery, a cross-country drive, and a national championship run at Illinois (14:27) Walking away from coaching to leap into the unknown (17:05) Getting fired again—and unexpectedly finding her person (19:41) Earning her PhD and becoming a professional speaker (24:19) Launching a tech company and betting on herself with only 60% of the knowledge (35:19) Writing I Said No and honoring her late mother Dr. Jen Fry is a Sports Geographer, tech founder, speaker, and conflict literacy expert who owns JenFryTalks, a firm focused on the intersection of conflict and culture. A former collegiate volleyball coach with a PhD from Michigan State University, she now runs Coordle, a tech company simplifying youth sports travel logistics, hosts the podcast Five with Fry, and is the author of I Said No: A No-BS Guide to Boundaries Without Guilt. In this episode, Dr. Jen Fry traces her winding career path — from college volleyball coaching through a chaotic Washington State stint, a national championship run at Illinois, and a resignation driven by burnout — into higher ed administration, speaking, and eventually her PhD. She shares how boldly asking for what she wants has repeatedly opened doors, reflects on writing about her late mother in her book, and offers her core philosophies: make big decisions with only "60% of the knowledge," embrace "effrontery," and never fear hearing no. Connect with Dr. Jen Fry:  Website LinkedIn Instagram X Book: Dr. Jen Fry - I Said No Podcast: Five with Fry Let's Connect: Website Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  8. 7 Jul

    Painting Through Grief: Ksenia Merck on Love, Loss, and Ghost Flower

    What happens when an architect's structured world collides with the freedom of art—and grief becomes the bridge between them? In episode 268, Ksenia Merck shares how illustrating Ghost Flower, the novel her late husband Bill left behind, turned heartbreak into a sweeping collaboration of love, art, and legacy. For Ksenia, the journey wasn't about letting go—it was about discovering that connection, like the cosmos she paints, simply continues. In This Episode, You Will Learn: (03:58) Ksenia's warm welcome and the story behind Ghost Flower (04:19) How she balances two worlds: architecture and art (05:29) The origin of Ghost Flower's cover and Bill's final days (09:07) Sketching the cosmos: bringing the novel's imagery to life (11:00) Creating The Ghost Flower Companion Journal (12:43) Remembering Bill: her "twin flame" and exceptional soul (17:51) Finding cosmic wonder in the night sky (19:39) Art as liberation: healing through creative freedom (22:38) Layered loss: navigating grief at her own pace (24:52) A mini life review: recording Bill's books and writing her own Ksenia J. Merck is an artist, architect, and creative storyteller whose work bridges structure, imagination, and spirit. After four decades managing airport capital programs, she turned to art after the unexpected passing of her husband, William F. Merck II, illustrating and posthumously publishing his science fiction novel, Ghost Flower, and later creating its companion journal. Drawing on her travels, marriage, and fascination with the cosmos, her work explores connection, resilience, and the continuum between life and loss. Originally from Arizona and now in Florida, she shares her story of grief, healing, and creative reinvention. In this episode, Ksenia opens up about the dual nature of her life — decades in the structured world of architecture, set against the liberating world of art. She shares how illustrating Ghost Flower became both a tribute to Bill and a path through grief, describing the immersive process of sketching the novel's imagery and how those sketches led to The Ghost Flower Companion Journal. She speaks tenderly about Bill as her "twin flame" and a compassionate leader, and about layered loss — her mother, her father, and then Bill — admitting to "blowout" days while coming to believe grief isn't an ending but a continuum she still feels connected to. She closes by sharing she's recording audiobooks of Bill's books, writing her own story, and points listeners to her website and Instagram. Connect with Ksenia J. Merck:  Website LinkedIn Instagram Facebook Get Ksenia’s books! Let's Connect: Website Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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About

Welcome to the Joy Found Here podcast, hosted by Stephanie Martinez Rivera. Join us each week while we have real talk with inspiring women about life,balance, grace and permission to step off the ride. Listen in as we hear their stories, victories and fails and how to recognize and embrace the simple joy that life does offer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    stephanie martinez rivera
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    275
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © stephanie martinez rivera
  • Show Website
    Joy Found Here

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