Motivation N'at

NC Bulger Solutions
  • 5.0 (5)
  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Weekly

Motivation N’at is hosted by Natalie Bulger and features guests from all walks of life — each bringing their own stories, experiences, and insights to the table. Together, we dive into everything from relationships and sobriety to mental health challenges and the lasting impact of growing up too soon. On Motivation N’at, we take on life’s tougher conversations and explore how the lessons we’ve learned can shape what comes next — all in the spirit of turning life’s hot mess moments into high potential.

  1. 3d ago

    Fixing a Broken Healthcare System with Recentralized Care | Guest - Carrie Allen

    Healthcare is built around institutions. Carrie Allen wants to rebuild it around the patient. Carrie is the founder of the Holistic Health Hub, and she calls her model recentralized care. You own your health data, and your primary care doctor, your specialists and your other practitioners work together with you at the center. Right now most of us do that coordination ourselves. Carrie calls it being the project manager of your own health, and if you care for kids or aging parents, you're doing that job several times over. I spent years on the hospital side as a risk and compliance leader, so we also talk about how the system looks from the inside, and why a simple home sleep study took me almost a year. What we cover: 🔹 Why healthcare is built around institutions, and what patient-centered care changes 🔹 Being the project manager of your own health, and your family's 🔹 Specialists who never talk to each other 🔹 Prior authorizations, and a story from a breast cancer surgeon in Texas 🔹 Why practitioners in the Holistic Health Hub directory sign a manifesto 🔹 Stark Law, HIPAA and the rules a health startup has to follow but do they fully make sense in todays environment 🔹 The Well-being Concierge and the Boston network launch 🔹 Why Carrie thinks millennials may be the generation that fixes it 🌐 Connect with Carrie Holistic Health Hub: https://holistichealthhub.ap Sign the declaration: https://holistichealthhub.app/uprising Email: hello@holistichealthhub.app Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/your.holistic.health.hub/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrieallen12 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@yourholistichealthhub About Carrie Allen Carrie Allen spent over 20 years scaling consumer platforms at Zipcar, Babies"R"Us, Kaplan, Skedaddle and LocalizeOS. She founded The Human Array and, most recently, The Holistic Health Hub. The Hub connects practitioners and wellness businesses with people who want whole-person care. Each person owns their own data, and practitioners from conventional, functional, integrative and holistic care can work together around them. Carrie built it after she saw how disconnected care was in her own health journey and in the journeys of the people around her. About Motivation N'at Hot mess to high potential. Hosted by Natalie Bulger. Website: https://www.ncbulgersolutions.com

    Fixing a Broken Healthcare System with Recentralized Care | Guest - Carrie Allen

  2. 6d ago

    The Waiting Room: Faith, Grief, and the Long Silence | Guest - Natasha Minier-Robinson

    Natasha R. Minier-Robinson wrote two books while going through a miscarriage, the unexpected death of her younger sister, and a chronic illness that kept her hospitalized for most of a month. When I asked what she tells someone who's praying and hearing nothing back, she didn't reach for a verse. She said sometimes you won't have the words, and it's okay to sit in the silence. She calls the space in between the waiting room. We get into what that season does to a person's faith, why she stopped keeping faith in a Sunday box, and the advice a church mother gave her in the ER while she was focused only on getting physically well. Natasha is also a Licensed Vocational Nurse, so we talk about what medicine loses when it treats symptoms and skips spiritual health, and what it meant to be the patient a nurse prayed with. Her latest book, My Heart Is Home but Still Aches, is the second in the My Heart Is Home series. What we cover 🔹 Ten years between books, and how the writing changed from pain seeping out to naming the weight without wearing it as an identity 🔹 What it looks like to stop compartmentalizing faith from marriage, parenting, and career 🔹 Spiritual health as part of physical and mental health, from both sides of the hospital bed 🔹 The advice she got in the ER: strengthen the part of you that isn't already compromised 🔹 Why "strong in faith" has nothing to do with wearing a cross or quoting scripture 🔹 Respect between provider and patient when beliefs don't match 🔹 Getting pieces of the plan instead of the whole thing 🔹 What to do when grief takes your words away 🌐 Connect with NatashaWebsite: https://natasharrobinson.com All links: https://linktr.ee/Natasharrobinson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natasha_r_rob/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@natasha_r_rob TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@inspire.motivatelove Natasha's books 📚 All titles, all retailers: https://books2read.com/natasharrobinson 📚 My Heart Is Home (book one): https://www.amazon.com/My-Heart-Is-Home/dp/B0H19QLN87 📚 My Heart Is Home but Still Aches (book two): https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Home-but-Still-Aches/dp/B0H6S4BSHZ About Natasha R. Minier-Robinson Natasha R. Minier-Robinson is an author, poet, and Licensed Vocational Nurse who uses her voice to speak on grief, healing, and transformation. Through her lived experiences, she creates space for honest conversations that help others find hope, rebuild their identity, and keep moving forward. She is a US Navy veteran and spent most of the last five years working in mental health nursing. Motivation N'at Hot Mess to High Potential® Hosted by Natalie Bulger.

    The Waiting Room: Faith, Grief, and the Long Silence | Guest - Natasha Minier-Robinson

  3. Sep 20

    Suicide Loss Survivors and the Postvention Gap | Guests - Kelleigh Boland & Nina Hotkowski

    Suicide loss survivors get handed a pamphlet and a phone number. That's the postvention. Kelleigh Boland's brother Patrick died in June of 2020. Her family sat outside for four hours while the investigation ran, and what they got afterward was a flyer for biohazard cleanup. She and her mom started Our Black Rose because of it, and they've made nearly 500 care packages by hand since. Nina Hotkowski is a licensed clinical social worker and DBT clinician who lost her grandparents twenty five years ago and has worked with suicidality her whole career. Both of them serve on the SAFE Task Force of Allegheny County. I lost my 19 year old cousin in 2007 and my ex lost his brother Bryce in 2020. Three of us, three different points in life, and none of us had anything structured to lean on. We get into: What postvention actually means and why it feels like almost nobody is doing itWhy postvention IS preventionWhy suicide prevention research counts loss survivors instead of serving themWhat goes into a care package, and who decides a family gets oneThe stigma that keeps coworkers and friends from claiming their own griefRemembering how someone lived instead of how they died If you've lost someone to suicide and felt like no one really understood what was happening, this one is for you. RESOURCES 🌹 Our Black Rose, to request a free care package, donate, or partner as a funeral home or police department: https://www.ourblackrose.org 🌐 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ourblackrose 🌐 Kelleigh Boland on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelleighboland/ 🌐 Nina Hotkowski, LCSW: https://www.njhotkowski.com 🌐 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nina-hotkowski-9280376/ 🌐 SAFE Task Force of Allegheny County: https://www.safepgh.org/ 🌐 Indiana County Suicide Task Force: https://www.stf32.com/ 🌐 Highmark Caring Place, grief support for children and families: https://www.highmarkcaringplace.com/cp2/index.shtml 🌐 American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: https://afsp.org/ 🌐 For loss survivors: https://afsp.org/ive-lost-someone/ 🚶‍♀️Out of the Darkness Walk, Pittsburgh, October 4, 2026: https://afspwalks.donordrive.com/Pittsburgh 🚶‍♀️Find a walk near you: https://afspwalks.donordrive.com/OOTDWalks 🌐 Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance: https://www.dbsalliance.org/ 🌐 Pittsburgh groups: https://moodpeerspgh.org/ 📖 2025 Impact Report: https://www.dbsalliance.org/education/newsletters/2025-impact-report/ 📖 Surviving a Suicide Loss, American Association of Suicidology: https://www.suicidology.community/store/viewproduct.aspx?id=13916121 📖 Rethinking Suicide by Craig J. Bryan: https://www.amazon.com/Rethinking-Suicide-Prevention-Fails-Better/dp/B0BSW79QS4 🎙️ Suicide Prevention: Peer-Led Support After a Suicide Attempt | Jeremy Carter: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/motivation-nat/id1824984122?i=1000777413844 🎙️ Members of the Dead Dads Club | Caroline Degnan: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/motivation-nat/id1824984122?i=1000778400427 ☎️ 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, call or text. Allegheny County Peer Support Warmline: 1-866-661-9276, 9am to 1am daily. 📲 Follow Natalie: Instagram: @Sincerely__Natalie YouTube: @motivation-nat-pod MOTIVATION N'AT — Hot Mess to High Potential® The podcast where real life gets talked about, hosted by Natalie Bulger. New episodes every Sunday. Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: 9GPYLCQ3SB04H0QS

    Suicide Loss Survivors and the Postvention Gap | Guests - Kelleigh Boland & Nina Hotkowski

  4. Sep 13

    What Is SEO and Who Can You Trust to Do It? | Guest - Megan Pritts

    Megan Pritts has been doing search engine optimization since 2012. She got into it because a former boss sold SEO to a client before anyone at the company knew how to deliver it, then handed her the project and told her to figure it out. We start with what SEO actually covers, since most people are nodding along to a word they can't define. Megan explains the difference between the technical side and the content side, why the website and the SEO are two separate jobs, and how AI has changed what search systems look for. Then we get to how you tell whether the person you're paying knows anything, and what an honest consultant will talk you out of. She also thinks you should get a therapist before you start a business. She has reasons. What we get into 🔹 What SEO covers, and how the technical side differs from the content side🔹 Why a good-looking website doesn't get found on its own🔹 Why AI gives bad SEO advice, and what happens when you act on it🔹 What breaks when the traffic actually shows up: bandwidth, fulfillment, and orders you can't fill🔹 Leaving an agency after private equity changed what the work was for🔹 Building a client base through relationships instead of cold outreach About Megan Pritts Megan Pritts is the founder of Ducks In Rows, where she helps growing businesses, nonprofits, and startups improve their online visibility through SEO, search advertising, and strategic marketing. Known for her clear, practical approach, Megan works closely with clients to develop and implement strategies that drive measurable growth aligned with each organization's unique goals and priorities. Her work combines data analysis, creative strategy, and hands-on execution to help organizations build stronger brands and long-term results. Website: ducksinrows.comEmail: megan@ducksinrows.comInstagram: @ducks_in_rowsFacebook: @ducksinrowsLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/megan-pritts-08a41722 Other episodes you may find interesting https://youtu.be/jQoQgpRaNtQhttps://youtu.be/EDRWKnQnnpE

    What Is SEO and Who Can You Trust to Do It? | Guest - Megan Pritts

  5. Sep 6

    365 Days of Painting: Grief, Faith, and What Came After | Guest - Preston Zeller

    Preston Zeller's brother died of a fentanyl overdose. A week later he was back at work, still broken, and the people around him didn't know what to say. So he wrote one sentence in a journal: paint every day for a year, make a documentary about it. He had no idea how he'd do either. He did both. When I asked how we're supposed to support each other through this, he didn't soften it: don't compare your grief to somebody else's. It's disrespectful, and it's a losing race. We get into what those 365 days actually looked like, including the stretches where he sat down to paint and wondered whether it was doing anything at all, and what he found when he went back to scripture afterward. He'd read those passages his whole life and never once noticed how much of it is grief. His documentary, The Art of Grieving, has reached audiences in 40 countries, won multiple festival awards, and is used as educational curriculum. What we cover: 🔹 Why he went back to painting the year before his brother died, wanting a medium with no undo button 🔹 The day before the loss, a merger that doubled his company overnight. The day after, none of it mattered. 🔹 Bereavement policies that send you back to work before you can function, and coworkers who go quiet when you tell them the truth 🔹 What the year of painting actually surfaced, starting with anger 🔹 Editing a documentary about your own brother, and breaking down in the middle of it 🔹 How much of scripture is grief once you have a reason to look for it 🔹 The grief Olympics, and why comparison is a losing race 🔹 Building Psalmlog without letting it hand people easy answers or replace a pastor 🔹 Why the church adopts technology slowly, and where AI actually belongs in ministry 🔹 Journaling when you're bad at journaling, and why nobody rereads their old journals 🔹 His closing note, for anyone who's decided they aren't creative 🌐 Connect with PrestonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prestonzeller/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prestonzeller/ 🎬 The filmThe Art of Grieving: https://theartofgrievingfilm.com/filmStreaming on Amazon, Apple TV, YouTube TV, and Tubi 📱 Psalmloghttps://psalmlog.com Free to try 🎨 Also referencedLindsay Lederman, the art therapist featured in the documentary: https://lindsaylederman.com/about-lindsay About Preston ZellerPreston Zeller is the founder of Psalmlog, an AI-powered biblical guidance app for scripture-based wisdom in real life situations. He spent 15 years scaling high-growth tech companies including A Cloud Guru and ZoomInfo, and now works on responsible AI in ministry. He's also an award-winning documentary filmmaker. The Art of Grieving chronicles his year of 365 paintings following his brother's death, and is held in international libraries alongside its festival run. Motivation N'atHot Mess to High Potential®Hosted by Natalie Bulger.https://www.ncbulgersolutions.com

    365 Days of Painting: Grief, Faith, and What Came After | Guest - Preston Zeller

  6. Aug 30

    When the Pivot Pivots: Change Never Stops, Why Should We? | Guests - Chloe Drew & Jennica Giroux of Mother Earth Farm

    Twin sisters Chloe Drew and Jennica Giroux run Mother Earth Farm in Indiana County, Pennsylvania. Neither of them set out to farm. Jennica has a degree in math and economics and spent about a decade in financial services before leaving for good in 2023. Chloe trained as an elementary educator at IUP, never took the classroom job, and founded the Indiana Outdoor School instead. We get into why the farm has been three different businesses since 2013, what happened when a wet spring flooded their best growing plot and took most of a season with it, and why they both point back to volunteering as the thing that started everything. Chloe is pushing outdoor education into public schools at the cheapest field trip rate in the county. Jennica figures they'll change the plan again next year, and the year after that. What we cover:🔹 Leaving a finance career in stages, over most of a decade🔹 Training to teach and building a school in the woods instead🔹 Three business models since 2013 and why none of them was a failure🔹 What volatile weather does to a farm too small to plant a second plot🔹 Volunteering as a zero-risk way to find out what you actually want🔹 Eating local without shaming people who can't afford to🔹 Why kids who grow kale eat kale🔹 The proposed Homer City data center and what residents can ask of their county commissioners 🌐 Connect with Chloe and JennicaMother Earth Farm: https://www.motherearthfarmpa.comIndiana Outdoor School: https://indianaoutdoorschool.weebly.comUpcoming events: https://www.motherearthfarmpa.com/eventsOrders and questions: motherearthfarmpa@gmail.com 📅 Coming up at the farmNature Escape, an outdoor education day for women 18 and over, in September. Fall field trips, plus a few remaining homeschool, preschool, and kindergarten spots at the Outdoor School. Mentioned in this episodeChevy Chase Community Center in Indiana, which takes fresh produce donations - https://chevychasecenter.org/Indiana County Farmers Market, Saturdays through October - https://indianafarmmarket.org/Pennsylvania Women's Agricultural Network (PA-WAgN) - https://agsci.psu.edu/wagnSoil Sisters, the book Chloe credits with the idea of farming alongside other women 📣 On the data centerConcerned Residents of Western PA: https://www.concernedresidentsofwesternpa.com About Chloe Drew and Jennica GirouxChloe started Mother Earth Farm in 2013 after volunteering as youth garden educator at the Indiana Community Gardens and building the website for the Indiana County Farmers Market. She founded the Indiana Outdoor School, which runs entirely outdoors with no set schedule and no agenda, taking public school field trips, homeschool groups, cyber school students, and summer campers. She is a mother of three. Jennica got her start in farming in St. Petersburg, Florida, volunteering at community gardens and urban school garden programs while working in financial services. She moved back to Pennsylvania in 2017 to join her sister and left finance entirely in 2023. Motivation N'atHot Mess to High Potential®Hosted by Natalie Bulger

    When the Pivot Pivots: Change Never Stops, Why Should We? | Guests - Chloe Drew & Jennica Giroux of Mother Earth Farm

  7. Aug 23

    AI Is a Mirror, Not a Bestie: Train It to Be Your Critic | Guest - Dr. Kelly Monahan

    Dr. Kelly Monahan has spent twenty years researching the future of work, first as the lead future of work researcher at Deloitte, then at Meta, then running the Upwork Research Institute. When I admitted that my AI usually tells me I did a great job, she stopped me: AI is not your bestie. It's a mirror. And if you're already flattering yourself, it will help you do it. We get into where AI actually came from (1955, not 2022), and what happens to a profession when the entry-level work disappears. Kelly also walks through what she found when she set out to study the people getting the most out of AI and discovered they trust it more than they trust their own coworkers. Her book Reclaim the Plot: How Leaders Rewrite the Story When AI Rewrites Work is out September 29. What we cover: 🔹 AI has been around since 1955. The panic about it replacing us is nearly as old. 🔹 Three kinds of AI, and only one of them can do parts of your job 🔹 How accurate does a machine have to be before we trust it, and who takes the blame when it's wrong 🔹 The mirror problem: AI amplifies whatever bias you bring to it 🔹 Ads are coming to AI. Kelly explains what that does to a tool acting like it's on your side. 🔹 How to prompt for actual critique 🔹 What happens to a profession when nobody does the junior work anymore 🔹Data centers, energy costs, and the communities that absorb them 🌐 Connect with KellyBeyond the Desk: https://www.beyondthedesk.com/Speaking and keynotes: https://www.drkellymonahan.com/ Kelly's books📚 Reclaim the Plot (out September 29): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1394426178Sneak peek: https://www.reclaimtheplotbook.com 📚Essential, with Christie Smith (Wiley, 2025), a USA Today bestseller: https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Distributed-Generative-Human-Powered-Leadership-ebook/dp/B0DT4XY29R 🖥️ Watch her TEDxFuture of Work: Hiding in Plain Sight, TEDxHartford, 2019https://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_monahan_future_of_work_hiding_in_plain_sight Research referenced in this episode 📘 From Tools to Teammates, Upwork Research Institute, July 2025, by Kelly Monahan and Gabby Burlacu: https://www.upwork.com/research/navigating-human-ai-relationships 📘 Work AI Index, Glean Work AI Institute, with Rebecca Hines https://www.glean.com/work-ai-institute/reports/work-ai-index Two notes on the episode Herbert Simon, whose prediction about AI replacing human work comes up early on, won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1978, not the Peace Prize. Kelly flags on air that she'd want to check the date. Kelly mentions a follow-up study on AI users and loneliness. A December 2025 BMJ feature by Susan Shelmerdine and Matthew Nour is a close match, though it may not be the exact study she meant. About Kelly Monahan Dr. Kelly Monahan co-founded Beyond the Desk with organizational psychologist Kim Fazio. She was the lead future of work researcher at Deloitte, Principal Director of Global Talent Research at Accenture, Director of Future of Work at Meta, and Managing Director of the Upwork Research Institute. Her work has been published in MIT Sloan Management Review, Harvard Business Review, and Strategic Management Journal, and she's appeared on Bloomberg, CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, and Forbes. About Motivation N'at Hot Mess to High Potential® Hosted by Natalie Bulger.https://www.ncbulgersolutions.com

    AI Is a Mirror, Not a Bestie: Train It to Be Your Critic | Guest - Dr. Kelly Monahan

  8. Aug 16

    Healing Yourself and Your Marriage: How Complex PTSD Gets in the Way | Guest - Kayla Licari

    Complex PTSD isn't a recognized DSM diagnosis. That doesn't mean it isn't shaping your marriage, your parenting, or your health. This week Natalie talks with Kayla Licari, a former physician assistant who left a six-figure career after fifteen years once she realized what it was costing her body, her marriage, and her kids. They get into what complex PTSD actually looks like day to day, why it shows up as anxiety, people-pleasing, and chronic pain instead of the flashbacks most people picture, and how it forms long before anyone's old enough to remember it happening. Kayla and Natalie also talk about what it took to rebuild trust in her marriage once she and her husband realized they were speaking two completely different emotional languages, how their kids have responded to watching them mess up and repair it in real time, and the small daily habits, like learning to actually say no, that ended up mattering more than any single therapy session. Resources mentioned: 🔹 Somatic exercises playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWdxbsYN5kBDoKA3WUOZM5WvhDBtTeGBR&si=zXJmKoMdplNiwZRC 🔹 Bilateral beats playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4ROcdCaBQ9EqR4WYOAEeOM?si=KmvxPzTKSf-oa3qZdPOjYg&pi=wXmd2S4jTcqmp 🔹 Be Magnetic (code KAYLA4434 for 15% off): https://tobemagnetic.com/whats-the-pathway 🔹 "When the Body Says No" by Dr. Gabor Maté: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470923350?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback 🔹 Kayla on Instagram: @kayla.licari

    Healing Yourself and Your Marriage: How Complex PTSD Gets in the Way | Guest - Kayla Licari
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Ratings & Reviews

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out of 5
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About

Motivation N’at is hosted by Natalie Bulger and features guests from all walks of life — each bringing their own stories, experiences, and insights to the table. Together, we dive into everything from relationships and sobriety to mental health challenges and the lasting impact of growing up too soon. On Motivation N’at, we take on life’s tougher conversations and explore how the lessons we’ve learned can shape what comes next — all in the spirit of turning life’s hot mess moments into high potential.

Information

  • Creator
    NC Bulger Solutions
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    67
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © NC Bulger Solutions
  • Show Website
    Motivation N'at

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