Real Women LIVE

Jessica Stipanovic

Welcome to Real Women LIVE (formerly Sober Living Stories), a podcast where women discover what's possible on the other side of silence.  A show built on the belief that the stories we are most afraid to tell often become our greatest sources of strength, wild possibilities, and purpose.   Each week, host Jessica Stipanovic sits down with women who have lived through the moments that changed everything, from loss, addiction, betrayal, grief, reinvention, family hardship, recovery, and starting over.  These are not surface-level conversations but honest accounts of what happened, what was learned, and what changed when these women found the courage to stop performing, start telling the truth out loud, and own every version of themselves. Real Women LIVE evolved from Sober Living Stories, a podcast rooted in the power of personal transformation. While our foundation remains grounded in raw, honest stories of resilience and hope, the conversation has expanded to include topics that touch women worldwide.   Jessica Stipanovic knows this journey firsthand. Sharing her story publicly changed her life, opening doors and creating opportunities she never imagined possible.   She has spent over a decade as a freelance writer, lived alcohol-free for more than 20 years, and walked beside hundreds of women as they rediscovered their strength through adversity.  These experiences have shaped how she listens, the questions she asks, and the kinds of conversations she creates. The powerful truth when we own ours is that people don't love us less when they know our story; they love us more.  Today, she helps women discover what's possible on the other side of silence, one story at a time. Many guests go on to write books, build communities, launch podcasts, start businesses, and create meaningful impact from the very challenges they once tried to hide. As the founder of The Female Entrepreneur Organization, Jessica Stipanovic provides resources, education, and opportunities to help turn their experiences into purpose-driven platforms. Share your story. Change your life.  New episodes each Tuesday. 

  1. 6d ago ·  Video

    You Can Rebuild After Abuse And Still Raise Strong Kids

    Send us Fan Mail "Stay for the kids" is a line we often hear, but no one explains what kids actually learn when home feels tense, unsafe, or full of quiet disrespect. We sit down with Leanne Hutchinson, host of Life After Plus One, who shares what it looked like to leave a toxic relationship with her young daughter and rebuild from scratch, including the scary in-between season of couches, motels, and pure uncertainty. Her story is raw, practical, and grounded in one clear goal: create a healthy environment where your child can breathe. We also get specific about the real-life mechanics of single parenting after separation: finding stability, managing money stress, and building work that fits school runs and the emotional load you carry. Leanne explains why she chose entrepreneurship, what the early “no guaranteed income” phase really feels like, and why persistence matters, especially when you’re tempted to quit. If you’re navigating a breakup, divorce, or domestic abuse recovery, this conversation offers a steady reminder that rebuilding takes time, but it is possible. Then we move into solutions that make daily life calmer: simple self-care routines that don’t require extra money, and a co-parenting mindset shift that can lower conflict fast. Treating co-parenting like a business relationship, separating the breakup from the parenting role, and working through triggers can help you show up more grounded for your kids and for yourself.  If you’re a single mom ready for a healthier next chapter, subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review so more single parents can find this support. For more information about Leanne Hutchinson, visit https://www.lifeafterplusone.com/. Support the show ⭐ Get new episodes + Jessica’s 3-2-1 newsletter: https://www.jessicastipanovic.com/newsletter ⭐ Listen & follow Real Women LIVE: https://www.jessicastipanovic.com/podcast ⭐ Join 14K+ on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realwomenlive ⭐ Love this episode? Follow the show, leave a review, and share it with one woman who needs to hear this story. Real Women LIVE was formerly Sober Living Stories. If one of these conversations makes you think of a woman in your life, send it to her...

  2. Sep 22 ·  Video

    Early Trauma Steals Your Voice: How One Woman Took It Back

    Send us Fan Mail Trauma doesn’t always show up as a single memory you can point to. Sometimes it shows up as a life that feels “off,” a voice that doesn’t sound like yours, reactions that feel bigger than the moment, and cycles you can’t explain no matter how hard you work on yourself. We sit down with Lease Youmans, author and trauma-informed speaker, to trace how childhood sexual abuse at 12 quietly shaped decades of decisions, coping, and identity, even while she believed she was living authentically. Lease shares the moment everything shifted during a coaching session at age 50, when she realized the real breakthrough wasn’t about finding one more missing piece; it was about facing what she had disconnected from. We talk about dissociation, the need to stay busy to avoid stillness, and how trauma can influence relationships, self-worth, and the deep desire to be seen and valued. She also explains why personal growth can feel like frustration when you’re trying to build a future on an unhealed foundation. From writing her book “Triumphant: A Journey from Trauma to Triumph” to starting therapy and learning to “unmute” her voice, Lease lays out a healing journey rooted in truth and steadiness. She closes by sharing her current work through The Trauma Unit and the Trauma Unit Experience, a trauma-informed healing system designed to stabilize, restore, and rebuild without pressure or retraumatization. Find her work here: HOME | LEASE L. YOUMANS If you resonate with trauma healing, childhood trauma recovery, reclaiming your voice, and becoming your authentic self, this conversation will stay with you.  Interested in turning your story into purpose?  Visit https://www.jessicastipanovic.com Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it. Support the show ⭐ Get new episodes + Jessica’s 3-2-1 newsletter: https://www.jessicastipanovic.com/newsletter ⭐ Listen & follow Real Women LIVE: https://www.jessicastipanovic.com/podcast ⭐ Join 14K+ on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realwomenlive ⭐ Love this episode? Follow the show, leave a review, and share it with one woman who needs to hear this story. Real Women LIVE was formerly Sober Living Stories. If one of these conversations makes you think of a woman in your life, send it to her...

  3. Sep 15 ·  Video

    The First Bite, the Binge, and the 90 Pounds She Lost

    Send us Fan Mail For some women, overeating isn’t about hunger. It’s promising yourself you’ll have just a little, eating more than you meant to, and wondering why it keeps happening. Julie Kleinhans knows that cycle well. She spent years dieting and bingeing before a referral to Overeaters Anonymous gave her a different way to understand her relationship with food.  Here is her story about how she applied that solution for both health and success in her life.  Julie takes us back to sneaking sweets as a child and shares what it was like to recognize the foods that triggered her binges. She explains why abstaining from those foods worked for her when moderation hadn’t, how she dealt with the grief of giving them up, and how she lost 90 pounds. Her recovery became about more than weight: it changed how she cared for herself every day. We also talk about the support that helped her stay connected to recovery, including a 12-step community, daily structure, and prayer. Julie shares her Christ-centered approach while recognizing that women with different beliefs can find support in 12-step communities, too. Today, Julie uses what she learned to help others through Reshape and Recover, its online community and weekly Zoom meetings, and her book Twelve Steps to Recovery from Overeating. Her story is an honest look at what happened when she stopped trying to manage compulsive overeating alone. You can learn more about Julie’s book, show, and retreats at Reshape and Recover. If her story made you think about your own, explore more Real Women LIVE conversations. A new woman’s story arrives every Tuesday. Support the show ⭐ Get new episodes + Jessica’s 3-2-1 newsletter: https://www.jessicastipanovic.com/newsletter ⭐ Listen & follow Real Women LIVE: https://www.jessicastipanovic.com/podcast ⭐ Join 14K+ on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realwomenlive ⭐ Love this episode? Follow the show, leave a review, and share it with one woman who needs to hear this story. Real Women LIVE was formerly Sober Living Stories. If one of these conversations makes you think of a woman in your life, send it to her...

  4. Sep 1

    Sobriety, Songwriting & a Spirituality of Her Own

    Send us Fan Mail How do you leave a legacy through a song, and what happens when your own life needs saving first? Jessica sits down with Canadian roots singer-songwriter Sarah Smith for an honest, grounded talk about sobriety, spirituality, and the kind of creativity that feels like it comes from somewhere bigger than you. Sarah shares how growing up in a deeply Christian home gave her community and structure, then how questioning, seeking, and recovery pushed her to build a personal concept of God that actually works in daily life.  We dig into the recovery journey in real terms: getting sober at 21, diving into spiritual self-help, then later relapsing into a decade of partying that slowly turned into what she calls “soul sickness.” Sarah describes the moments she hit her knees, asked for help, and felt warmth and strength return. We also talk about practical tools that support emotional sobriety, including anger work, naming feelings, HALT, and the pause that turns a reaction into a response. If you’re navigating addiction recovery, alcohol-free living, or simply craving more inner peace, you’ll hear language you can use and practices you can try.  Sarah also connects spirituality to purpose in music. She explains why she titled her single “Your Name (God)” and how that bracket is an invitation for believers, agnostics, and atheists to choose the word that helps them live with integrity. We explore her powerful songwriting collaborations and “legacy songs,” written from real stories of love, grief, chronic pain, and opioid overdose loss, plus what it takes to stay sober while touring venues where drinking is everywhere.  If you take something from this conversation, subscribe, leave a review, and share the episode with someone who needs it. If you'd like to connect with Sarah or collaborate on songwriting during her winter writing sessions, visit Sarah Smith - A Canadian Roots Rock Singer/Songwriter or find her on social media platforms @SarahSmithMusic. Support the show ⭐ Get new episodes + Jessica’s 3-2-1 newsletter: https://www.jessicastipanovic.com/newsletter ⭐ Listen & follow Real Women LIVE: https://www.jessicastipanovic.com/podcast ⭐ Join 14K+ on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realwomenlive ⭐ Love this episode? Follow the show, leave a review, and share it with one woman who needs to hear this story. Real Women LIVE was formerly Sober Living Stories. If one of these conversations makes you think of a woman in your life, send it to her...

    Sobriety, Songwriting & a Spirituality of Her Own
  5. Sep 1 ·  Video

    One Mother's Grief Becomes Hope for Thousands

    Send us Fan Mail We sit down with Michelle Valiukenas to talk about losing her daughter after a premature birth and how that grief reshapes identity, relationships, and the way the world responds to parents in pain. She shares how noticing the hidden financial burden of high-risk pregnancy and NICU life led her to build the Colette Louise Tisdahl Foundation and speak openly so other families do not have to suffer in silence.  We talk about the parts people whisper about but rarely name out loud: the identity shock of being a mom without a baby at home, the strange social time limit placed on grief, and the way friends disappear because they don’t know what to say. Michelle shares what helped, what hurt, and why speaking her daughter Colette’s name became both healing and disruptive in the best way because it permitted other parents to tell the truth about their own losses. A major thread is the financial burden that stacks on top of heartbreak. Michelle noticed how money shapes everything in a crisis: whether a parent can stay bedside in the neonatal intensive care unit, recover postpartum, or keep life afloat when medical complications derail work. That insight led her to found the Collette Louise Tisdal Foundation, a national nonprofit providing financial assistance to families facing high-risk or complicated pregnancies, NICU stays, or loss. Over 4,000 families have been helped, and more than $2 million has been distributed. Visit to learn more: https://colettelouise.com/.  If you’ve experienced pregnancy loss or infant loss, you’ll hear language that makes room for your grief without rushing it. If you love someone who has, you’ll leave with a simple challenge: show up, keep showing up, and don’t wait for perfect words.  If this episode meant something to you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it.  ⭐ Get new episodes each week straight to your inbox: https://www.jessicastipanovic.com/newsletter Support the show ⭐ Get new episodes + Jessica’s 3-2-1 newsletter: https://www.jessicastipanovic.com/newsletter ⭐ Listen & follow Real Women LIVE: https://www.jessicastipanovic.com/podcast ⭐ Join 14K+ on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realwomenlive ⭐ Love this episode? Follow the show, leave a review, and share it with one woman who needs to hear this story. Real Women LIVE was formerly Sober Living Stories. If one of these conversations makes you think of a woman in your life, send it to her...

    One Mother's Grief Becomes Hope for Thousands
  6. Sep 1 ·  Video

    Divorce Can Destroy A Life Overnight

    Send us Fan Mail Divorce can devastate your finances, but the bigger shock is what it does to your identity. We sit down with Missy, a founder who once lived the high-output life of building and leading multimillion-dollar companies, only to watch everything unravel through a “ripple effect” divorce that wasn’t even her own. Overnight, she lost her role, her home, her income stream, and the sense of certainty that comes with success, and she spent two full years in a darkness she describes as far below “rock bottom.” We get specific about what starting over after divorce actually looks like when you have limited resources and zero energy. Missy shares the basics that helped her survive, from a pen-and-paper daily checklist to the surprising power of service work and gratitude. Then we shift into the rebuild: using your voice, launching a podcast in the middle of chaos, and moving from consuming other people’s lives to creating your own. If you’re a midlife woman wrestling with loneliness, a confidence crash, or a financial reset, this conversation is a practical roadmap for finding traction again. We also discuss women's entrepreneurship as a path to financial independence, not as a “get rich quick” fantasy, but as a sustainable way to regain choice. Missy talks about investing in yourself, embracing mistakes, and choosing authenticity in a world that feels more performative than ever. For more details: www.messiemissy.com To support the show, follow, leave a review, and share.  Support the show ⭐ Get new episodes + Jessica’s 3-2-1 newsletter: https://www.jessicastipanovic.com/newsletter ⭐ Listen & follow Real Women LIVE: https://www.jessicastipanovic.com/podcast ⭐ Join 14K+ on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realwomenlive ⭐ Love this episode? Follow the show, leave a review, and share it with one woman who needs to hear this story. Real Women LIVE was formerly Sober Living Stories. If one of these conversations makes you think of a woman in your life, send it to her...

  7. Sep 1

    Real Women LIVE Trailer

    Send us Fan Mail Welcome to Real Women LIVE (formerly Sober Living Stories) The most important stories of our lives are often the ones we keep hidden. The divorce. The diagnosis. The addiction. The betrayal. The abuse. The grief. The quiet chapters we convince ourselves no one should ever know. What if the very story you've spent years trying to hide is the one that changes everything? Welcome to Real Women LIVE, formerly Sober Living Stories—a podcast built on one simple belief: The stories we're most afraid to tell often become our greatest source of strength, purpose, and endless possibility. Every Tuesday, host Jessica Stipanovic sits down with women who have lived through the moments that changed everything. Together, they explore what happened, what was learned, and what became possible when these women stopped performing, started telling the truth out loud, and owned every version of themselves. These aren't polished success stories. They're honest accounts of loss, addiction, betrayal, trauma, grief, chronic illness, divorce, family hardship, recovery, and starting over. They are powerful conversations about what happens when we stop allowing our past to write the ending of our future. For years, Jessica kept part of her own story out of view, believing the judgment of her past would somehow cloud her future. Instead, the opposite happened. After sharing publicly that she had been alcohol-free for more than twenty-one years, she discovered that people didn't run from her; they ran toward her.   A silent stigma she'd carried for most of her adult life disappeared. Her greatest vulnerability became her greatest visibility, opening doors for her she never imagined possible.  That realization became the foundation of this podcast and an authorial platform for her upcoming book, because when one woman dares to share her story, another woman discovers the possibility of changing hers. Many of the women you'll meet here have gone on to write books, launch podcasts, build businesses, create nonprofits, lead communities, and discover purpose-driven platforms they never thought possible. Not because their stories were perfect, but because they weren't.  If you've ever believed your past disqualified you, you may discover it's the very thing that leads you to your greatest strength, deepest purpose, and wildest possibilities.  You're in the right place. Share your story. Change your life. New episodes every Tuesday. Support the show ⭐ Get new episodes + Jessica’s 3-2-1 newsletter: https://www.jessicastipanovic.com/newsletter ⭐ Listen & follow Real Women LIVE: https://www.jessicastipanovic.com/podcast ⭐ Join 14K+ on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realwomenlive ⭐ Love this episode? Follow the show, leave a review, and share it with one woman who needs to hear this story. Real Women LIVE was formerly Sober Living Stories. If one of these conversations makes you think of a woman in your life, send it to her...

    Real Women LIVE Trailer
  8. 09/12/2025

    God Wrecked My Life - In the Best Possible Way

    Send us Fan Mail What happens when liquid courage becomes spiritual bondage? Crystal Cuellar's story illuminates the unexpected path from social drinking to spiritual awakening, revealing how faith became the foundation for her alcohol-free life. Crystal's journey begins at fifteen with that first warm shot of vodka—the moment she discovered alcohol could transform her from the shy girl into someone more outgoing. What started as occasional social drinking evolved into a decade-long pattern of binge drinking that felt completely normal because everyone in her circle lived the same way. Despite not drinking daily, Crystal found herself caught in a cycle—taking periodic breaks, attempting moderation, and investing enormous mental energy to keep alcohol in her life while experiencing mounting consequences: a DWI, increasing anxiety, depression, and the persistent feeling that she wasn't living up to her God-given potential. The turning point didn't arrive as a dramatic rock bottom but as a quiet revelation while sitting alone in her apartment after yet another night of binge drinking. "If I don't stop drinking now, I am going to become an everyday drinker," she realized. This clarity became her line in the sand. Rather than focusing solely on what she was giving up, Crystal shifted her perspective to what she could gain—redirecting her energy toward working out, coaching others, and serving people. She surrounded herself with accountability through her church community, hired a sober coach, and began working with a Christian therapist. ⭐ Love this episode? Follow the show, leave a review, and share it with one woman who needs to hear this story. Real Women LIVE was formerly Sober Living Stories. Share your story. Change your life. Support the show ⭐ Get new episodes + Jessica’s 3-2-1 newsletter: https://www.jessicastipanovic.com/newsletter ⭐ Listen & follow Real Women LIVE: https://www.jessicastipanovic.com/podcast ⭐ Join 14K+ on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realwomenlive ⭐ Love this episode? Follow the show, leave a review, and share it with one woman who needs to hear this story. Real Women LIVE was formerly Sober Living Stories. If one of these conversations makes you think of a woman in your life, send it to her...

    God Wrecked My Life - In the Best Possible Way
4.9
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

Welcome to Real Women LIVE (formerly Sober Living Stories), a podcast where women discover what's possible on the other side of silence.  A show built on the belief that the stories we are most afraid to tell often become our greatest sources of strength, wild possibilities, and purpose.   Each week, host Jessica Stipanovic sits down with women who have lived through the moments that changed everything, from loss, addiction, betrayal, grief, reinvention, family hardship, recovery, and starting over.  These are not surface-level conversations but honest accounts of what happened, what was learned, and what changed when these women found the courage to stop performing, start telling the truth out loud, and own every version of themselves. Real Women LIVE evolved from Sober Living Stories, a podcast rooted in the power of personal transformation. While our foundation remains grounded in raw, honest stories of resilience and hope, the conversation has expanded to include topics that touch women worldwide.   Jessica Stipanovic knows this journey firsthand. Sharing her story publicly changed her life, opening doors and creating opportunities she never imagined possible.   She has spent over a decade as a freelance writer, lived alcohol-free for more than 20 years, and walked beside hundreds of women as they rediscovered their strength through adversity.  These experiences have shaped how she listens, the questions she asks, and the kinds of conversations she creates. The powerful truth when we own ours is that people don't love us less when they know our story; they love us more.  Today, she helps women discover what's possible on the other side of silence, one story at a time. Many guests go on to write books, build communities, launch podcasts, start businesses, and create meaningful impact from the very challenges they once tried to hide. As the founder of The Female Entrepreneur Organization, Jessica Stipanovic provides resources, education, and opportunities to help turn their experiences into purpose-driven platforms. Share your story. Change your life.  New episodes each Tuesday. 

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