The Wishful Doing Podcast

Dr. Ja'Bette Lozupone
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Biweekly

Where bold ideas meet real action—and purpose turns into power. Hosted by Dr. Ja’Bette Lozupone—speaker, strategist, and founder of Wishful Doing, the Wishful Doing Podcast is a go-to space for mission-driven leaders, changemakers, and creatives ready to shake off the doubt, disrupt the status quo, and lead with intention. Through raw, unfiltered conversations and inspiring stories, we shine a light on what it takes to build legacy, grow your impact, and stay in momentum—even when the odds are stacked against you. From student parent success and equity in education to leadership, entrepreneurship, and systems change—this is the place where you’ll find the tools, truths, and community to fuel your next move. Subscribe now and join us as we turn wishful thinking into Wishful Doing—together. Learn more at www.wishfuldoings.com and follow @wishfuldoings on your preferred socials.

  1. 5d ago

    Episode 37: Success Isn't the Finish Line: When Achievement Gives Way to Purpose

    What happens after you've achieved the dream everyone else celebrates? For Tony Covington, the end of one chapter became the beginning of something far more meaningful. In this conversation, we explore identity beyond achievement, the courage to reinvent yourself, and why the most significant work of our lives often begins after the applause fades. Every generation asks the same question in a different way: How do we prepare young people for the future? We invest in academics.We celebrate athletic achievement.We encourage college and careers. But somewhere along the way, too many young people are left to navigate life's hardest questions on their own. Who do I become?Where do I belong?Who can I trust?What happens when I struggle? Tony Covington believes those questions deserve more than advice. They deserve relationships. After transitioning from professional athletics into entrepreneurship and nonprofit leadership, Tony founded I Am Underdog to help young people build confidence, strengthen their mental wellness, develop life skills, and discover pathways they may never have imagined for themselves. In this three-part conversation, we explore why mentorship changes lives, what schools and communities can do differently, and how each of us can become part of the village every young person deserves.

    Episode 37: Success Isn't the Finish Line: When Achievement Gives Way to Purpose

  2. Sep 15

    Episode 36: How Do We Stop This? Preventing Intimate Partner Violence Before It's Too Late

    Saving Lives Starts Earlier: What Families, Friends, and Communities Can Do We have named the crisis. We have explored the conditions. Now we ask the only question that matters: What do we do—before it’s too late? In this final episode, Dr. Marissa Leslie and Dr. Timothy Golden come together to bridge clinical insight and philosophical understanding into real-world intervention. Grounded in data showing that: The majority of intimate partner homicides involve firearms The risk of lethality increases significantly when a survivor attempts to leave And systemic barriers—mistrust of institutions, lack of culturally competent care, financial dependency—limit access to safety This conversation focuses on: What early intervention actually looks like in relationships How communities can disrupt isolation and silence The role of culturally responsive mental health care What institutions must do differently—now that we know better And how we build systems that don’t just respond to tragedy, but prevent it This is not theoretical. This is about what it takes to keep people alive.

    Episode 36: How Do We Stop This? Preventing Intimate Partner Violence Before It's Too Late

  3. Sep 1

    Episode 35: When Strength Becomes Silence: Black Men, Mental Health, and the Cost of Emotional Isolation

    What Happens When Black Men Don't Get Help? We cannot talk about intimate partner violence without talking about the internal worlds that often go unseen. In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Timothy Golden, an academic philosopher specializing in African American Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, and Critical Philosophy of Race. His work—including Frederick Douglass and the Philosophy of Religion and his forthcoming Oxford Handbook of African American Philosophy—examines identity, moral agency, and the human condition under pressure. This conversation moves beyond surface-level narratives to explore: How cultural constructions of masculinity—particularly within Black communities shaped by historical and systemic pressures—can restrict emotional expression The philosophical and moral implications of emotional suppression The relationship between shame, control, and violence How high-achieving men can still be emotionally under-resourced And what happens when internal fracture meets external stress with no intervention While not all mental illness leads to violence—and we must be clear about that—the intersection of untreated mental health challenges, identity instability, and relational power dynamics can create conditions where harm becomes more likely. This episode is about context. Because without it, we oversimplify—and oversimplification costs lives.

    Episode 35: When Strength Becomes Silence: Black Men, Mental Health, and the Cost of Emotional Isolation

  4. Aug 18

    Episode 34: Why Are So Many Accomplished Black Women Being Killed by the Men They Love?

    When Home Isn't Safe: Understanding the Hidden Crisis Facing Black Women We’ve been conditioned to look for danger in strangers. But the data—and the lives lost—tell a different story. Black women in the United States are murdered by men at nearly four times the rate of white women, and in more than 90% of those cases, the perpetrator is someone they know—most often an intimate partner. Despite making up roughly 14% of the U.S. female population, Black women represent nearly one-third of all women killed by intimate partners. Let that land. In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Marissa Leslie, Chief Medical Officer, Chief Clinical Officer, and Senior Vice President at Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health—a national leader in evidence-based behavioral health care. Dr. Leslie brings a clinical and systems-level lens to help us understand: How untreated and undertreated mental illness can escalate within intimate relationships Why high-functioning, accomplished couples are not immune How patterns of coercion, control, and emotional dysregulation often precede lethal outcomes And why the most dangerous moment for a woman is often when she tries to leave We will also acknowledge recent, high-profile tragedies—not to sensationalize them, but to underscore the reality that this is not hypothetical. It is happening now. This episode is about pattern recognition. Because what we fail to name… we cannot interrupt.

    Episode 34: Why Are So Many Accomplished Black Women Being Killed by the Men They Love?

  5. Aug 4

    Episode 33: The Caregiving Cliff: What It Really Costs Women to Care for Everyone Else

    Midlife leadership collides with something most women never planned for: Caregiving. There are 53 million unpaid caregivers in the United States. Most are women. Family caregivers provide an estimated $600 billion in unpaid labor annually. And when caregiving intensifies: • Women reduce hours • Turn down promotions • Leave the workforce • Delay retirement savings This is not anecdotal. It is economic. In this final episode, we bring all three guests together to confront the structural reality reshaping women’s careers: Caregiving. • Samantha McDaniel explains the emotional and financial realities of dementia care and aging services. • Jennifer Gularson discusses the physiological toll of chronic stress and caregiver burnout. • Lisa Schneider reflects on how caregiving reshapes midlife identity and leadership decisions inside Pearl & Rose conversations. We discuss: • The real cost of assisted living, memory, and in-home care • The financial and professional consequences • How to plan before the crisis • Why women shoulder the majority of caregiving labor • The emotional and logistical realities of dementia care that women shoulder • And what structural change is overdue This episode does not soften the truth. It equips women with it.

    Episode 33: The Caregiving Cliff: What It Really Costs Women to Care for Everyone Else

  6. Jul 21

    Episode 32: Hormones, Power & Productivity: The Menopause Conversation Corporate America Is Avoiding

    Women are leaving boardrooms, launching businesses, caring for aging parents, and managing teenagers, all while their biology is shifting beneath them. And instead of education, they receive dismissal. Instead of data, they receive shame. Instead of solutions, they receive “this is just aging.” If women will spend one-third of their lives in postmenopause, why are we still treating it like a footnote? In this episode, all three voices return to examine midlife through the lens of biology and leadership: • Jennifer Gularson breaks down perimenopause, menopause, hormone myths, and longevity science. • Lisa Schneider shares how hormone literacy shifts women’s confidence and decision-making inside Pearl & Rose communities. • Samantha McDaniel reflects on how hormonal health intersects with long-term cognitive wellness and aging. We confront the economic reality that menopause symptoms cost U.S. businesses billions annually, yet remain under-discussed in leadership spaces. We unpack: • The myths we’ve inherited • The truth about hormone replacement therapy • Why so many women are misdiagnosed with anxiety or depression • The professional consequences of unmanaged symptoms • Energy, libido, sleep, brain fog, and leadership performance To be clear, this is not a wellness episode. It is a leadership episode.

    Episode 32: Hormones, Power & Productivity: The Menopause Conversation Corporate America Is Avoiding

  7. Jul 7

    Episode 31: Rebranding Midlife: Why Women Are Quietly Rebuilding Their Lives After 40

    There is a quiet exodus happening in midlife. Women are leaving jobs. Leaving marriages. Leaving titles. Leaving identities that once defined them. Here’s the controversial part, women are not unraveling in midlife because they’re fragile. Women are just finally unwilling to live misaligned, so they’re recalibrating. Nearly 30% of women consider leaving the workforce during midlife transitions — often citing burnout, caregiving, and health shifts as contributing factors (McKinsey Women in the Workplace reports). In this opening episode, we are sitting down with three powerful voices: • Lisa Schneider, founder of Pearl & Rose, who is rebranding midlife through curated community and conversation • Jennifer Gularson, a national expert in perimenopause, menopause, and longevity medicine • Samantha McDaniel, aging services professional specializing in dementia care and individualized aging We explore why so many women in their 40s and 50s are recalibrating careers, launching businesses, shifting identities, and questioning structures that no longer fit. This conversation is about: • Entrepreneurship after identity shifts • Empty nest transformation • The power of curated spaces for honest conversations • And why women need rooms where they can speak freely about hormones, burnout, caregiving, and reinvention

    Episode 31: Rebranding Midlife: Why Women Are Quietly Rebuilding Their Lives After 40

  8. Jun 23

    Episode 30: Building Beyond Yourself: Legacy, Mentorship, and Community Impact

    Success isn’t the finish line—it’s the foundation for legacy. In this heartfelt finale, Sandra opens up about what it means to give back, lift others as you climb, and build a community rooted in equity and empowerment. From mentoring women to serving on key leadership councils, Sandra’s journey reveals that the most powerful structures we build aren’t made of concrete—they’re made of connection. Sandra Hofmeister is the President and Owner of A&S Construction, LLC, a Certified Woman-Owned and Minority-Owned Business redefining what leadership looks like in the trades. Once an accountant, Sandra traded her calculator for a construction hat—rising from the back office to the boardroom in one of the most male-dominated industries in America. Today, she’s a powerhouse entrepreneur, community leader, mentor, and advocate for equity and empowerment. Recognized as a Top 50 EmPowered Leader, two-time Tradesperson of the Year, and 2025 SHERO Award recipient, Sandra is proof that when women build, communities rise. Part 3 of 3

    Episode 30: Building Beyond Yourself: Legacy, Mentorship, and Community Impact
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Where bold ideas meet real action—and purpose turns into power. Hosted by Dr. Ja’Bette Lozupone—speaker, strategist, and founder of Wishful Doing, the Wishful Doing Podcast is a go-to space for mission-driven leaders, changemakers, and creatives ready to shake off the doubt, disrupt the status quo, and lead with intention. Through raw, unfiltered conversations and inspiring stories, we shine a light on what it takes to build legacy, grow your impact, and stay in momentum—even when the odds are stacked against you. From student parent success and equity in education to leadership, entrepreneurship, and systems change—this is the place where you’ll find the tools, truths, and community to fuel your next move. Subscribe now and join us as we turn wishful thinking into Wishful Doing—together. Learn more at www.wishfuldoings.com and follow @wishfuldoings on your preferred socials.

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