Peaceful Hugs Podcast

Mark Zahringer

0.0 (0)
Religion & Spirituality
Updated Biweekly

The Peaceful Hugs Podcast shares uplifting, real-life stories of people helping others — guided by faith, kindness, and connection. It brings the mission of the Peaceful Hugs nonprofit to life through heartfelt conversations about service, second chances, and the power of community.

5d ago

Closing the Gender Wealth Gap, One Client at a Time

In this episode of the Peaceful Hugs Podcast, hosts Mark Zahringer and Lorelei Cromer sit down with Cindy Alvarez — co-owner of a wealth management practice under Savvy Advisors and a recent honoree on AdvisorHub's 2026 Women to Watch list — for a conversation about the accidental path that took her from English major to financial advisor, the stubborn wealth gap between women and men, why so many families never build a real budget, and what it actually takes to earn a client's trust. Cindy traces her career back to the launch of E*Trade, which convinced her that if men on Wall Street could learn to trade, so could she. At 27, she pulled $1,000 out of savings and bought her first two stocks — a tire-recycling company, not exactly a blue chip. After moving to Colorado, she started a women's investment club with friends who, like her, had 401(k)s from jobs they'd left and no idea what to do with them; wine and cosmopolitans were involved. The club grew to about fourteen women meeting monthly, and Cindy — who had once planned to teach high school English — realized she'd found a new way to educate people instead. She got licensed and became an advisor just as her marriage was ending. Mark and Lorelei push Cindy on why women still lag men financially decades later. She points to gatekeeping: many advisors won't take on a client without six or seven figures to invest, which shuts out the people who need guidance most. Lorelei raises how upbringing shapes people's relationship with money altogether — from households that treat wealth as sinful to those that never discuss it at all — and Cindy explains that her first question to any new client isn't about their portfolio, it's about their values, because no two financial plans should look the same. From there the conversation turns to the bigger picture: Gen Z is on pace to be the first generation in U.S. history to end up less wealthy than the one before it, millennials left college in debt straight into a recession, and the average age of first-time homeownership has climbed toward the mid-30s. Credit card debt, Cindy notes, is at its highest point on record — a symptom, she says, of households that have never actually built a budget. She also unpacks a distinction most investors never learn: roughly 70% of the U.S. economy is privately held, not the 30% traded on Wall Street, which is why access to private markets usually requires more wealth than most people have to spare. Cindy ties her approach back to her own childhood — her mother took her and her siblings dumpster diving for wilted flowers to deliver to nursing home residents, a lesson in community she says still drives why she takes on younger, smaller-balance clients today as an investment in the next generation. Cindy and the hosts also get honest about the industry's blind spots — an arena that has historically rated advisors on portfolio performance alone rather than how they've helped clients through a lost job, a health crisis, or a first home. The episode closes with Cindy's best piece of life advice, "leave more than you take," her second rule, "keep it simple," and her picks for a movie and book everyone should experience before they die: Casablanca, The Shawshank Redemption, and the words of Maya Angelou. --- ## Takeaways Cindy Alvarez bought her first stock at 27 with $1,000 pulled from savings — a tire-recycling company, not a blue chip — and turned early trial and error into a three-decade career in wealth management. A women's investment club that started with friends splitting a bottle of wine over their orphaned 401(k)s became the foundation of Cindy's advisory career. The real barrier to investing usually isn't a lack of money — it's an industry that often won't take on a client without six or seven figures to invest. Cindy's first question with a new client isn't about their portfolio; it's about their values, because no two financial plans should look identical. Roughly 70% of the U.S. economy runs on privately held companies rather than the 30% traded on Wall Street — a distinction Cindy says most investors never learn. Gen Z is on track to be the first generation in U.S. history to end up less wealthy than the generation before it. Credit card debt in America is at its highest point on record, a pattern Cindy traces directly to households that have never built a real budget. Cindy's mother took her kids dumpster diving for wilted flowers to deliver to nursing home residents — a childhood lesson in community that still shapes how she runs her practice today. Cindy takes on younger clients with smaller balances deliberately, calling it an investment in the wealth-builders of the next generation. Cindy's best piece of life advice: "Leave more than you take." Her second rule for anyone getting started: "Keep it simple" — investing and saving don't have to be complicated to work. Cindy's picks for a movie and book everyone should experience: Casablanca, The Shawshank Redemption, and the writing of Maya Angelou. About the Peaceful Hugs Podcast The Peaceful Hugs Podcast is a space for thoughtful, real conversations about faith, culture, purpose, and the stories that shape us. Hosted by Mark Zahringer and Lorelei Cromer, the show brings together voices from different backgrounds and generations to explore what it means to live with empathy — especially when the world feels loud, polarized, and quick to judge. At the center of it all is a simple idea: kindness matters, and we can't afford to lose it. 🎙️ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeacefulHugsPodcast
Sep 2

What You Didn't Know About Wendy Steele

In this episode of the Peaceful Hugs Podcast, hosts Mark Zahringer and Lorelei Cromer sit down with Wendy Steele — entrepreneur, author, philanthropist, and founder of Impact 100 — for a conversation about growing up with a mandate to give back, breaking ground as one of the only women in the room in 1980s banking, and building a collective giving model that has grown, entirely by word of mouth, into 80+ chapters across the U.S., U.K., Australia, and New Zealand that have given away more than $178 million. Wendy traces her drive back to her grandfather, a banker who taught her that making the world better wasn't optional — it was a mandate. She talks candidly about being one of the only women in most rooms she worked in, the weight of knowing a misstep could hold back every woman who came after her, and why she still believes gender isn't a limiting factor but a superpower. The conversation turns personal and pointed: Mark and Lorelei push on why some women still won't vote for other women, why toughness has become tangled up with self-worth in the workplace, and why vulnerability gets punished even as it's the thing that makes leaders better. Wendy shares the story of the bike accident that gave her buck teeth as a kid, and how her parents' refusal to let her feel sorry for herself became a lifelong habit of choosing optimism without ignoring reality. From there, the conversation moves into the origin story of Impact 100 itself: the $1,000 "stop-and-think" gift, the first $123,000 grant to a Cincinnati dental clinic, the phone call from People Magazine that accidentally sparked a nationwide movement, and how a research trip for the Prime Minister of Australia led to chapters on the other side of the world. Mark shares a story of his own — a man Peaceful Hugs helped after he lost his daughter's mother, both parents, his best friend, his job, and nearly his apartment, all within a few months — as a real-world example of what an Impact 100 grant makes possible. Wendy and Lorelei also get honest about the trust nonprofits have to earn back every time a high-profile charity scandal makes headlines, and why transparency and closeness to the community matter more than ever. The episode closes with Wendy's best piece of life advice, her book and movie recommendations, and a plea to get her on the cover of People Magazine at last. TakeawaysBeing raised in a family that insists you can — and must — make the world better becomes an identity, not just a value, regardless of where you land in the birth order.Gender isn't a limiting factor; it's a superpower. The only real limits are the ones we place on ourselves.Being the first or only woman in the room carries a hidden weight: a misstep doesn't just cost you, it can hold back every woman who comes after you.Strong leaders surround themselves with people who respectfully push back, not just a tight circle of friends who nod along to every idea.Optimism can be a discipline: play out the worst-case scenario in your head, then walk it back, rather than living in it.A $1,000 gift should make a donor stop and think. Feeling a gift is what connects a giver to what that gift makes possible once it goes out into the world.Small grants keep the lights on; Impact 100 was built to fund grants of $100,000 or more that actually move the needle for a nonprofit.Impact 100 has grown to 80+ chapters that have given away more than $178 million — entirely through organic, word-of-mouth growth, with no paid chapter development.One high-profile nonprofit scandal — a CEO's private jet, a seven-figure salary — can quietly poison public trust in every small, lean nonprofit doing the real work.Do what you can to leave the world better than you found it. Simple advice, rarely followed all the way through.Chapters About the Peaceful Hugs Podcast The Peaceful Hugs Podcast is a space for thoughtful, real conversations about faith, culture, purpose, and the stories that shape us. Hosted by Mark Zahringer and Lorelei Cromer, the show brings together voices from different backgrounds and generations to explore what it means to live with empathy — especially when the world feels loud, polarized, and quick to judge. At the center of it all is a simple idea: kindness matters, and we can't afford to lose it. 🎙️ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeacefulHugsPodcast
Aug 19

Why You Need Friends Who Are Nothing Like You

In this solo episode of the Peaceful Hugs Podcast, hosts Mark Zahringer and Lorelei Cromer turn the mic on each other for a wide-ranging conversation that starts with how they met and ends somewhere in the Gospel of John. In between, they cover intergenerational friendship, vulnerability, the hidden agendas we all bring to new relationships, why the church is sitting on resources it isn't using, and what it would look like to actually read the Bible instead of just arguing about it. Mark opens up about the mentor who changed his career in his late 20s — the man who told him he was smart but wrong for thinking he knew everything — and how that moment planted the seeds for the kind of friendships he now keeps across generations. Lorelei reflects on what made their first coffee shop conversation different from most: no agenda, just honesty. And from that, a friendship built on the willingness to go first in vulnerability — what she calls the gift of going second. The conversation gets honest about the church — not in a way designed to tear it down, but in a way that asks hard questions about why the body with the most resources is often the least present where the need is greatest. Mark shares a story from his seminary days about a pastor who wanted to build a church around homeless people and couldn't get funding because there was no building. And Lorelei draws a line from the women Jesus encountered in the Gospels to the way we treat people today — asking why we keep getting the order wrong, requiring people to come correct before we love them, when Jesus always did it the other way around. There's also Mark's first date update, a practical guide to reading the Bible for the first time, two book recommendations, and a teaser for the next episode on what success actually means. Takeaways The best relationships across generations start with no agenda — just curiosity and a willingness to be honest.Vulnerability is not weakness. People who won't be vulnerable are the ones who are afraid.The gift of going second — when someone is vulnerable first, they're offering you the space to open up at your own pace.We all have a book of good things and a book of bad things. Write them both down. Be honest about which one is longer.The church has enormous resources and often spends them on stage lighting instead of on the widow, the orphan, and the homeless.Jesus loved people first, then called them to change — not the other way around.You can't give grace to others beyond the degree you understand you've received it yourself.Start with the Gospels. Skip Revelation for now. The red letters will change how you see everything.The middle years of life — building wealth, chasing status — are when most of us quietly drift. Cancer, heartbreak, or loss usually wakes us back up. Don't wait for that.Kindness and listening. That's it. That's most of it.Chapters 00:15 Welcome & Virtual for the First Time — Weather, Travel & Updates 03:00 Mark's First Date in a Year (Teaser) & Where He Is Now 06:30 How Mark & Lorelei Actually Met — The Coffee Shop, No Agenda 11:00 Why Listening Changes Everything — The Mentor Who Got Through to Mark 15:30 What Older Generations Get Wrong About Younger Ones 19:00 What Younger Generations Get Wrong About Older Ones 23:00 Hidden Agendas & The Gift of Going Second 28:30 Vulnerability as Strength — And Why It Still Costs You Something 33:00 The Moral High Ground Nobody Actually Has 37:30 What We're Leaving the Next Generation — Economy, Environment, AI 42:00 The Church, Its Money & Why It Often Isn't Where It Should Be 47:30 Jesus, the Woman Caught in Adultery & Getting the Order Right 52:00 We're All Sinners — Why Pointing Fingers Is Just Self-Protection 56:30 How to Read the Bible If You've Never Known Where to Start 1:01:00 Book Recommendations: Theo of Golden & Of Church and Hate 1:03:00 Coming Up: Wendy Steele, Cindy Alvarez & a Full Episode on Success 1:05:00 Closing — What This Kind of Friendship Actually Produces Coming Up on Peaceful Hugs Wendy Steele — Founder of Impact 100Cindy Alvarez of Savvy Wealth on financial health for everyoneMark & Lorelei on what success really meansAbout the Peaceful Hugs Podcast The Peaceful Hugs Podcast is a space for thoughtful, real conversations about faith, culture, purpose, and the stories that shape us. Hosted by Mark Zahringer and Lorelei Cromer, the show brings together voices from different backgrounds and generations to explore what it means to live with empathy — especially when the world feels loud, polarized, and quick to judge. At the center of it all is a simple idea: kindness matters, and we can't afford to lose it. 🎙️ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeacefulHugsPodcast
Aug 5

Finding Common Ground In Uncommon Times

In this episode of the Peaceful Hugs Podcast, hosts Mark Zahringer and Lorelei Cromer step away from guest interviews for a candid, unscripted conversation that grew out of one of the founding ideas behind their show: exploring how their generational and gender differences shape the way they see the world. What starts as a discussion about political polarization unfolds into a wide-ranging conversation about how social media has become an accidental science experiment on all of us, how AI is beginning to reshape intimacy and relationships, how gender dynamics have shifted into new forms of hurt and defensiveness on both sides, and how faith shapes the way they each think about selfishness, grace, and love. Along the way, Mark opens up about the end of a long-term relationship and what he's learned from it, and Lorelei shares how her journalism background shapes the way she reads media and culture. They close by turning to the state of the country itself — apathy, distrust in institutions, and what it will take for the next generation to believe in America again. Takeaways Most people are moderate. It's the loudest fringes on both ends that dominate the conversation and make it feel like there's no middle ground left.The 24-hour news cycle needs conflict to fill airtime — the incentive isn't truth, it's engagement.Comparing coverage of the same story across different outlets is one of the fastest ways to see your own echo chamber for what it is.Social media wasn't built for political warfare — it was built to keep up with friends, and we let it become something else.Technology has been an accidental science experiment on every generation, and each generation has had to course-correct after the fact.AI, porn, and digital companionship offer a false sense of intimacy — none of them can replace being physically and emotionally present with another person.The "red pill" movement is, in part, a hurt response — men who feel emasculated and unseen reacting by trying to reclaim control rather than trust.Real equality was never about being identical — it's about equal worth and value, even where roles or strengths differ.Selfishness, more than any single issue, is what erodes relationships and marriages over time.Hot-button issues like abortion and transgender participation in sports get harder to solve not because compromise is impossible, but because division is profitable.Hate doesn't just hurt the person it's aimed at — it corrodes the person carrying it.Apathy, more than any single policy failure, is the first sign of a democratic republic in decline — and rebuilding trust has to start at the local, neighbor-to-neighbor level. About the Peaceful Hugs Podcast The Peaceful Hugs Podcast is a space for thoughtful, real conversations about faith, culture, purpose, and the stories that shape us. Hosted by Mark Zahringer and Lorelei Cromer, the show brings together voices from different backgrounds and generations to explore what it means to live with empathy — especially when the world feels loud, polarized, and quick to judge. At the center of it all is a simple idea: kindness matters, and we can't afford to lose it. 🎙️ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeacefulHugsPodcast
Jul 22

Grace At The Halfway Point With Fr. Matt Crawford

In this episode of the Peaceful Hugs Podcast, hosts Mark and Lorelei welcome Father Matt Crawford, a Marist priest from New Zealand who runs the Albergue Santa Cruz — a 16th-century monastery turned pilgrim hostel at the halfway point of the Camino de Santiago in Sagún, Spain. Mark recently spent time serving alongside Father Matt at the albergue, in the aftermath of one of the hardest seasons of his life, and calls the experience life-changing. Father Matt shares his unconventional path to the priesthood — from a fairly typical Catholic upbringing, through a university season of parties and drifting faith, to a series of powerful encounters with God in Japan and, eventually, a moment at his office desk in Wellington where he simply knew the priesthood was his life. He explains what it means to be a Marist ("Society of Mary") as opposed to a diocesan priest, why the order's emphasis on community and varied ministry appealed to him, and how fourteen years of teaching high school prepared him — unexpectedly — for running an albergue that serves dozens of pilgrims a day. The conversation moves into the heart of the episode: what the Camino actually is, why people walk it, and what happens to people when they do. Father Matt and Mark talk about the pilgrims who pass through in every stage of transition and grief, the cafés where strangers open up about profound losses within minutes of meeting, and the quiet, repeated moments — a blessing, a shared meal, a chat before bed — where something that feels like grace shows up. They close, as always, with the two closing questions: the best piece of life advice Father Matt has ever received, and the book and movie he believes everyone should experience before they die. Takeaways The Camino de Santiago is a thousand-year-old pilgrimage, roughly 800 kilometers and about 30 days on foot, but its power isn't really about distance — it's about the simplicity of needing almost nothing beyond a bed, food, and water.Most pilgrims who walk it for a full month are in some kind of transition — between school and work, after a breakup, in retirement, or carrying grief, sometimes a year or two after losing someone.People open up fast on the Camino. Physical exhaustion strips away the usual defenses, and strangers end up sharing some of the heaviest moments of their lives within a single conversation.Being a Marist priest means walking beside people rather than in front of them — pointing toward Christ without pushing, "with a mother's heart" rather than an agenda.A vow of obedience for a religious order priest isn't about controlling daily life — it's about being willing to go wherever the mission sends you, which is how Father Matt ended up leaving 14 years of teaching to run a monastery on the Camino.Hospitality is a ministry in itself. A cold glass of water and a piece of candy at the door can mean more to an exhausted pilgrim than almost anything else offered that day.You rarely see the fruit of a brief encounter — a confession, a hard conversation, a blessing — and there's something freeing in letting that be God's business rather than needing credit for it.The best pastoral listening often means resisting the urge to ask questions. Questions redirect people's train of thought; silence and attention let them get where they're actually going.Learning to "live with ambiguity" — not having everything sorted out, not needing to appear perfect — was some of the most formative advice Father Matt received on the way to the priesthood.Underneath real cultural differences, human beings want the same basic things: to love and be loved, to be known, and to connect to something beyond themselves. About the Peaceful Hugs Podcast The Peaceful Hugs Podcast is a space for thoughtful, real conversations about faith, culture, purpose, and the stories that shape us. Hosted by Mark Zahringer and Lorelei Cromer, the show brings together voices from different backgrounds and generations to explore what it means to live with empathy — especially when the world feels loud, polarized, and quick to judge. At the center of it all is a simple idea: kindness matters, and we can't afford to lose it. 🎙️ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeacefulHugsPodcast
Jul 8

Pain Is a Universal Language — Mark & Lorelei's Midseason Reflection

In this special midseason episode of the Peaceful Hugs Podcast, hosts Mark Zahringer and Lorelei Cromer step away from guest interviews for a conversation that is entirely their own — reflecting on the remarkable people they've met in the first half of the season, and the life-changing journeys that took them both far from home. Lorelei just returned from her third trip to Uganda, where Unbridled Acts' Mazizi program has been quietly transforming lives in the villages of Jinja and Kayunga for 14 years. She shares what it's like to watch children they once scholarshipped through school now return as staff — Ugandan nationals serving their own communities — and why a country that is only 40 years removed from civil war still manages to produce some of the most generous, content, and present human beings she's ever met. She also opens up about the pilot service trip that brought two colleagues from their for-profit partners on the ground for the first time, and what it means to build a program that is truly rooted — not dependent, but self-sustaining. Mark, meanwhile, spent a month in Spain and Portugal on a journey he had been trying to take for three years — one that finally came together in the aftermath of one of the hardest seasons of his life. What he found at a small monastery along the Camino de Santiago was not the answers he went looking for. Instead, over three weeks of facilitating daily gatherings of pilgrims from 36 countries, he found something he didn't expect: that pain is a universal language, that hugs cross every border, and that a French woman who barely spoke English could hold him tight and whisper you're going to be okay — and mean it completely. He came back without a roadmap. He came back with peace. The two also look back on the season's guests — from Temwa Wright and the Persian refugee crisis, to Jillian's raw conversation about mental health, to Reverend Antoine Colvin's vision for Detroit, to David Farmer and the unexpected revival happening among young people — and talk about what comes next. Takeaways Pain is a universal language. You don't need to share a tongue to share a burden.You don't always go on a journey to find answers. Sometimes you go to find peace with the questions.Every time you travel somewhere that stretches you, you come back a slightly better version of yourself — and shed a little of what you didn't need.The people we go to serve almost always give us more than we give them.Ugandans are some of the most generous, content, and present people on earth — not because they don't know what they're missing, but because they're not focused on it.What happens when children are believed in is incredible. Every generation deserves that.We are not doing enough to get young people outside of their own bubble — whether across town or across the world.Destigmatizing mental health care is one of the most important things we can do for every generation, especially older men who were taught not to ask for help.Technology was an accidental science experiment on humanity — and we're still figuring out how to undo the damage for younger generations.When everyone in a room is carrying a loss, judgment disappears. We need more rooms like that.Chapters 00:15 Welcome & Midseason Check-In 02:30 Lorelei's Third Trip to Uganda — What's Changed in 14 Years 07:00 Mud Huts, Malaria & What Poverty Really Looks Like 11:30 Kids They Scholarshipped Are Now Running the Program 15:00 Fatherlessness, Boarding Schools & the Next Generation in Uganda 19:30 What Happens When You Come Home From a Place Like That 24:00 Mark's Month in Spain — Three Years in the Making 28:30 The Camino Monastery & Serving Pilgrims From 36 Countries 33:00 The Room Where Everyone Cried — Stories From the Cafes 38:30 A Danish Man's Wedding Ring, a Couple's Lost Son & a French Woman's Hug 43:00 What He Went Looking For vs. What He Actually Found 47:30 Why Peaceful Hugs Is Named Exactly Right 51:00 Looking Back — The Guests That Stood Out Most This Season 55:30 Pastor Tat & Iran, Jillian & Mental Health, David Farmer & Youth Revival 59:00 Open Door Lubbock, Reverend Colvin & the Work Happening in Detroit 1:02:00 What's Coming in the Second Half of the Season 1:04:00 Closing — Thank You & Where to Find Everything About the Peaceful Hugs Podcast The Peaceful Hugs Podcast is a space for thoughtful, real conversations about faith, culture, purpose, and the stories that shape us. Hosted by Mark Zahringer and Lorelei Cromer, the show brings together voices from different backgrounds and generations to explore what it means to live with empathy — especially when the world feels loud, polarized, and quick to judge. At the center of it all is a simple idea: kindness matters, and we can't afford to lose it. 🎙️ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeacefulHugsPodcast
Jun 24

Not Fearless. Fear Proof. The Story Of Sophia Campana.

In this episode of the Peaceful Hugs Podcast, hosts Mark Zahringer and Lorelei Cromer sit down with Sophia Campana — Italian-American elite gymnast, YouTube creator, and founder of the Fire Within experience — for a conversation that is equal parts inspiring, sobering, and deeply empowering. From sneaking out of her childhood bedroom in the middle of the night to practice gymnastics in the basement, to competing in front of 11,000 fans in Italy who knew her name from a viral MTV show, Sophia's journey is one of passion, resilience, and an unwavering belief that sport should never steal the joy that started it all.Sophia grew up in Colorado with gymnastics in her bones from the age of three — crying to her parents to let her train more, offering to sleep on the gym mats so they wouldn't have to drive her home. At 15, she moved to Italy alone, unable to speak the language, to train with the national team. The transition was anything but smooth — social isolation, homesick nights, and a training culture that at times crossed deeply into abuse. She watched a young girl dragged across the floor by her ponytail and froze, unable to move. She found herself — the girl who once loved gymnastics more than anything — beginning to fear and hate the sport entirely. And she had to ask herself the hardest question: is this really what it takes to become a champion?The answer, she discovered, is no. And that discovery changed everything about the way she shows up for young athletes today.The conversation also goes deep on what it felt like to become famous in a foreign country almost overnight — opening Facebook one morning to 999+ friend requests after an MTV Italia show she'd all but forgotten about won national awards. Sophia opens up about the moment before competing in front of 11,000 fans when a rival tried to get in her head — and the mindset shift that saved her performance. And she shares the vision behind her Fire Within experience: a series of events designed to help young gymnasts reconnect with the reason they fell in love with the sport in the first place.Takeaways It's not about not having fear — it's about learning how to move through it. Even Olympians are still afraid.The most important question anyone can ask themselves is not "how do I win?" but "what does it mean for me to win at life?"Play is not the opposite of elite performance — it's what sustains it. Athletes who stay connected to joy last longer and learn faster.Empowering young athletes produces not only better gymnasts, but better humans.Abuse in elite sport was once normalized — naming it, refusing it, and educating around it is how the culture changes.When you walk into a room full of people, you can choose to see judgment or love. That choice changes everything.Parents who believe in a child's fire and get out of the way are one of the greatest gifts an athlete can receive. Chapters00:15 Welcome & Mark's Real Reason for Having Sophia On (Italian Citizenship)03:30 Growing Up With Gymnastics in Her Bones — Sneaking Out at Midnight to Train07:00 Parents Who Believed in Her Fire — Balancing Support and Boundaries10:30 Moving to Italy at 15 Alone — Excitement, Fear & Not Speaking the Language15:00 The Girls Who Didn't Like Her at First — And Became Friends Later18:30 Going Viral on MTV Italia Without Knowing the Show Even Aired22:00 11,000 Fans, One Mean Comment & the Mindset Shift That Changed Everything27:15 Elite Training Abuse in Italy — What She Witnessed and What She Froze Through33:00 The Girl Who Started to Fear the Sport She Loved Most37:30 Visiting Olympic Gyms Around the World — Is There Another Way?41:00 Champions Who Never Had to Endure Abuse — Proof It Doesn't Have to Be That Way45:15 Becoming a Role Model — Natural Pull, YouTube & Her Dad's Words49:00 The Fire Within Experience — Play, Fear & Reconnecting With Why You Started54:30 What the San Diego Chargers Coach Said About Fun and Great Athletes58:00 Sophia's Hope for the Future of Gymnastics1:01:00 Best Life Advice — What Does It Mean to Win at Life?1:03:00 Book Recommendation: Power vs. Force by Dr. David Hawkins1:04:30 How to Find Sophia & Upcoming Fire Within Event Connect with Sophia CampanaWebsite: sophiacampana.com About the Peaceful Hugs PodcastThe Peaceful Hugs Podcast is a space for thoughtful, real conversations about faith, culture, purpose, and the stories that shape us. Hosted by Mark Zahringer and Lorelei Cromer, the show brings together voices from different backgrounds and generations to explore what it means to live with empathy — especially when the world feels loud, polarized, and quick to judge. At the center of it all is a simple idea: kindness matters, and we can't afford to lose it.
Jun 10

Built To Break Made to Rise

In this episode of the Peaceful Hugs Podcast, host Lorelei Cromer and Mark Zahringer sits down with her old high school friend and fellow storyteller Danielle Damrell — serial entrepreneur, life story coach, podcast host, and founder of Rise Leadership Collective — for one of the most raw, redemptive, and deeply personal conversations the show has ever aired. These two go way back, and it shows. This isn't an interview. It's two women who carried each other through some of the hardest seasons of their lives, finally getting to tell that story out loud. Danielle's journey begins in a volatile home — a mom who never quite learned how to be a mom, an abusive stepfather, multiple elementary schools, expulsion from the Archdiocese of Denver, an eating disorder, self-harm, a treatment facility in Nashville at 15, and seven different high school enrollments before she ever walked across a stage. But in the middle of all of it, the Lord gave her a vision: standing on a stage, pointing people to freedom through story. She had a 1-point-something GPA and no idea how she was going to get there. He made a way anyway. From a single mom at 19 finishing her communications degree, to meeting her husband — the man she calls the biggest miracle of her life — to building a creative business that has helped over 65 authors tell their stories for the very first time, Danielle's arc is nothing short of stunning. But the most powerful chapter might be the most recent one: two car accidents in three weeks, a traumatic brain injury, a Judas-level board betrayal, and a ministry she had to surrender completely — all because she didn't listen when God told her to rest. The conversation also gets beautifully honest about boundaries as acts of love, trusting yourself over trusting the wrong people, and what it means to be the author of a story you didn't choose to be born into. Takeaways The Lord is the author, but you are the writer — and that means you have the power to rewrite the stories you didn't choose.Resilience isn't something you aspire to. It's something God builds in you through the things you never would have picked for yourself.When God says rest and you don't listen, he has a way of making you listen.The ultimate form of trust is sleep — believing he will work on your behalf while your eyes are closed.A boundary isn't rejection. It's a way to stay in relationship. Jesus set boundaries because he loved people.Trusting the wrong people can make you stop trusting yourself — and that's one of the most damaging things that can happen.Unprocessed emotions don't stay hidden. They destroy your relationships, even when you don't mean them to.You cannot find your purpose in your children — but when you feel like you have nothing to live for, God can use a baby to turn the light switch on.Generational patterns can be broken. You don't have to pass on what was passed to you.Lead with love — in your workplace, your home, your career, wherever you lead.Chapters 00:15 Welcome & Introducing Danielle — Old Friends, Big Stories 03:30 Damrell Designs, Created Worthy & the Evolution of a Creative Business 07:00 Growing Up in a Volatile Home — Feeling Unparentable from the Start 11:15 Catholic School to Christian School — What in the Cult Is Happening? 15:00 Expelled, Acting Out & Why School Felt Safer Than Home 18:30 Bulimia, Self-Harm & Seven High School Enrollments 22:00 Mercy Ministries in Nashville — Meeting Jesus for the First Time 27:15 Getting Kicked Out of Treatment & Hitting the Lowest Point 31:00 A Vision at 17 — Standing on a Stage, Pointing People to Freedom 34:30 Single Mom at 19, a Christian University & the Miracle of Graduation 39:00 Meeting Her Husband — The Biggest Miracle of Her Life 43:15 65 Authors, Life Story Coaching & the Heart Behind Created Worthy 47:30 Lorelei & Danielle — The Morning Everything Came to a Head 52:00 Backpacks, Safety & What It Means to Hold Someone's Story 56:15 Boundaries Are Love — And Why That Changes Everything 1:00:00 Trust God, Trust Yourself — Why Trusting the Wrong People Costs You 1:04:30 God Said Rest. She Said Not Yet. Then Came Two Car Accidents. 1:10:00 Traumatic Brain Injury, Board Betrayal & Surrendering the Ministry 1:15:30 Spiritual Warfare & Walking in Obedience When the Enemy Shows Up 1:19:00 Rise Leadership Collective — What's Coming & How to Get Involved 1:23:00 Best Life Advice — Lead With Love 1:25:00 Book Recs: The Path Made Clear by Oprah & Strong Ground by Brené Brown + Wicked for the Movie Connect with Danielle Rise Leadership Collective: riseleadershipcollective.org Created Worthy Podcast: available wherever you listen to podcasts About the Peaceful Hugs Podcast The Peaceful Hugs Podcast is a space for thoughtful, real conversations about faith, culture, purpose, and the stories that shape us. Hosted by Mark Zahringer and Lorelei Cromer, the show brings together voices from different backgrounds and generations to explore what it means to live with empathy — especially when the world feels loud, polarized, and quick to judge. At the center of it all is a simple idea: kindness matters, and we can't afford to lose it. 🎙️ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PeacefulHugsPodcast

The Peaceful Hugs Podcast shares uplifting, real-life stories of people helping others — guided by faith, kindness, and connection. It brings the mission of the Peaceful Hugs nonprofit to life through heartfelt conversations about service, second chances, and the power of community.

Creator

Mark Zahringer
Years Active

2026
Episodes

19
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 2026 Peaceful Hugs
Show Website

Peaceful Hugs Podcast