The Life of Someone Extraordinary

Tiyon L. Simpson
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Every extraordinary life has a story behind it. But what makes someone extraordinary - and what can their story unlock in you? Hosted by Tiyon L. Simpson, The Life of Someone Extraordinary brings you honest conversations with entrepreneurs, experts and creators from around the world. We go beyond success and achievement to uncover the human stories behind them - the experiences, failures, beliefs, choices and breakthroughs that shaped who they became. Come for their story. Leave with a new perspective, a fresh idea, or a reason to rethink what’s possible for your own life and journey.

  1. 1d ago

    Ben Cooley: What Happens When A Successful Leader Loses Everything?

    British born, American residing entrepreneur, leader, and former opera singer Ben Cooley joins The Life of Someone Extraordinary for a conversation about leadership, success, failure, faith, identity, and what happens when the thing you built your life around suddenly disappears. Ben went from opera singing to co-founding Hope For Justice, an anti-trafficking organisation that grew to reach more than 100,000 people every year, work alongside governments, raise tens of millions, and help dismantle a trafficking gang responsible for 450 victims. But behind that extraordinary success was a deeper struggle. When Ben eventually lost the organisation he had spent years building, he was forced to confront a crisis of identity, leadership and faith. Without the constant pressure to achieve, he began uncovering wounds he had never dealt with and questioning the relationship he had developed with success itself. In this conversation, we explore the encounter that changed the direction of Ben's life, why success became his validator, the warning signs he missed in his own leadership, and what losing everything taught him about failure, vulnerability and self-leadership. We also explore how his understanding of faith changed from performance and achievement to grace, and how rebuilding his identity, family and work eventually led to Good Service Company. This is a conversation about what success can hide, what failure can reveal, and what becomes possible when you stop measuring your worth by what you have achieved.

  2. Sep 24

    Kayleigh Fazan: Why Great Retail Is About More Than Selling

    British born, Netherlands residing retail consultant, entrepreneur and leadership expert Kayleigh Fazan joins The Life of Someone Extraordinary for a conversation about retail, leadership, customer experience, and the human side of building great teams. What began as a part-time job at New Look at 16 became a 20+ year international career spanning the UK, Europe and the Middle East. Kayleigh went on to lead retail teams and operations before building her own consultancy and working with major brands including Rituals, Gap, Hunkemöller, Currys, B&Q, Skechers and Crocs. But this conversation goes beyond a successful retail career. What happens when you stop seeing customers as transactions and start seeing the people behind them - and what does that require from the teams serving them? In this conversation, we explore why Kayleigh believes exceptional customer experience begins with exceptional team experience, how leadership and culture directly influence commercial performance, and what working across different markets taught her about adapting without losing the human connection. We also discuss the changing retail landscape, the impact of digital experiences, and why understanding human behaviour remains just as important as technology when it comes to creating businesses people want to return to. This is a conversation about leadership, culture, customer experience, and a simple idea with implications far beyond retail: the experience you create for your customers starts with the experience you create for your people.

  3. Sep 17

    Dr. Tamar Shtrambrand: What We Get Wrong About Neurodivergence

    American clinical psychologist, private practice owner, and former occupational therapist Dr. Tamar E. Shtrambrand joins The Life of Someone Extraordinary for a conversation about neurodivergence, trauma, faith, family, and learning to see the person behind the diagnosis. Tamar spent more than a decade working in occupational therapy and special education before becoming a clinical psychologist and building her own practice. But some of her deepest understanding of neurodivergence has come not from textbooks, but from raising a neurodivergent child and confronting the stigma and assumptions that can surround difference. In this conversation, we explore Tamar's journey from occupational therapy to psychology, the experience of raising a neurodivergent child, and why she believes ADHD and neurodivergence are often misunderstood. We also discuss how trauma, genetics, environment and individual wiring can shape behaviour, why the same person can be viewed completely differently when the right support is provided, and what Tamar has learned about judging people without knowing the story underneath what we see. Her journey also takes us into the more personal parts of her life - navigating difficult seasons, leaving institutional employment, building a private practice, finding her voice despite being naturally shy, and the role her faith has played along the way. This is a conversation about understanding people more deeply - and remembering that there is almost always more to someone's story than we can see.

  4. Sep 10

    Sharon Jurd: What Happens When The Person You Built Your Life With Is Gone?

    Australian entrepreneur, master coach, author, and co-founder of HydroKleen Sharon Jurd joins The Life of Someone Extraordinary for a conversation about business, grief, resilience, and what it actually means to keep showing up when you have nothing left. Sharon helped build HydroKleen into the world's largest air conditioning cleaning franchise, operating across 47 countries, while also founding SMJ Coaching Institute and building a career helping coaches, entrepreneurs and business owners transform their businesses and themselves. But her extraordinary story isn't defined by business success alone. At 29, a stroke left Sharon unable to walk or talk for 18 months. Years later, she and her husband John built HydroKleen from the ground up, going from scraping coins together for milk to creating a global franchise empire. Then, in June 2024, John took his own life. In this conversation, Sharon speaks openly about returning to work the Monday after John's funeral, building through grief, asking for help, and the decision to keep moving when life has fundamentally changed. We also explore the business lessons forged through those experiences - from building systems that don't depend on you to understanding why people don't buy what you do, but why you do it. This is a conversation about grief, leadership, resilience, and the courage to keep showing up when the person you built your life with is gone.

  5. Sep 3

    L.A. Williams III: Just Because You're Blind Doesn't Mean You Can't See

    American entrepreneur, sales leader, author, and coach L.A. Williams III joins The Life of Someone Extraordinary for a conversation about vision, ambition, limitation, and what it takes to build something real when the world keeps telling you it isn't possible. Growing up in North Philadelphia, L.A. lost his sight completely at just three years old. Yet blindness never became the ceiling of his ambition. He went on to build a career spanning music production, financial services, and automotive sales training, eventually becoming a vice president and part owner of Dealer Synergy. Today, he is building The Vision Banquet around a simple conviction: vision is a function of the heart, not the eyes. In this conversation, we explore how blindness shaped rather than diminished L.A.'s perspective, the eight sales personality types, and his VIE framework - Vision, Influence, and Execution — and why entrepreneurs often chase the outcome before doing the work required to create it. We also uncover the moments that shaped his philosophy, from a sister who refused to treat him differently to the experience that inspired his mission to help others stop living beneath their potential. This is a conversation about vision, resilience, wealth, and one powerful question: What if your circumstances don't get to decide the size of your life?

  6. Aug 27

    Stephana Oetinger: The First Person You Have To Lead Is Yourself

    American entrepreneur, leadership expert, and creator of Yogilachi Stephana Oetinger joins The Life of Someone Extraordinary for a conversation about identity, trauma, self-leadership, and what happens when the noise around you starts drowning out your own signal. After leaving home at 16 to pursue acting and modelling in New York, Stephana's journey has taken her through profound loss, family challenges, motherhood, entrepreneurship, and the ongoing work of staying grounded in who she is. She later created Yogilachi, combining yoga, Pilates and Tai Chi, before founding Powerhouse Leaders to help high-performing individuals reconnect with their physical, mental and emotional centre. In this conversation, we explore how losing her father in a house fire changed Stephana's understanding of grief and identity, why she believes the drama surrounding trauma can sometimes keep trauma alive, and what it really means to lead yourself before attempting to lead others. We also unpack her S.A.N.E. framework - Signal, Anchor, Neutralise, Execute - and the importance of learning to separate who you are from the circumstances around you. This is a conversation about resilience, self-expression, leadership, and the lifelong work of becoming more fully yourself.

  7. Aug 20

    Hugo Maynard & Shannon Roy: What Happens When Achievement Isn't Enough?

    American based former Olympian, entrepreneur, author, speaker and coach Hugo Maynard, and criminal defence attorney and judge Shannon Roy, join The Life of Someone Extraordinary for a conversation about achievement, identity, family, legacy, and what it really means to build a successful life. Hugo grew up with a powerful drive toward achievement, went on to compete at the Olympics, build businesses, and experience extraordinary moments of success - including surviving a kidnapping in Mexico with an AK-47 held to his head. Shannon built a career defending people facing some of the most serious charges imaginable, while becoming a judge and mother along the way. In this conversation, we explore what happens when professional success begins to compete with family, how childhood experiences shape the adults we become, and why titles, money and recognition can never fully answer the question of who we are. Shannon also shares the legacy exercise she uses with high achievers to reveal the difference between the legacy they think they are building and the one their families may actually remember. This is a conversation about success, fatherhood, marriage, authenticity, generational patterns, and the uncomfortable question of what your achievements are ultimately worth.

  8. Aug 13

    Phyllis Rosen: Why Your Job Shouldn't Define Who You Are

    American career and executive coach Phyllis Rosen joins The Life of Someone Extraordinary for a conversation about identity, purpose, career transitions, and what happens when the work that has defined you for years suddenly changes. After nearly two decades on Wall Street, Phyllis experienced one of the most dramatic transitions of her own life when she lost her career, her marriage, and her home on the same day. Sitting alone in an empty apartment during a New York blizzard, she realised she had never really stopped to ask who she was outside of her work. That question ultimately led her away from Wall Street and into a 30-year career helping professionals, executives, and leaders navigate the transitions that come with career change, leadership, disengagement, and retirement. In this conversation, we explore why people can become so deeply attached to their job titles, why workplace disengagement is about far more than simply disliking your job, and what happens when retirement removes the structure, community, status, and sense of purpose that work once provided. Phyllis also shares the story of a COO who initially resisted retirement but eventually discovered a new chapter he couldn't wait to begin. This is a conversation about reinvention, identity, purpose, and the uncomfortable but important question at the heart of every major transition: Who do you want to become next?

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Every extraordinary life has a story behind it. But what makes someone extraordinary - and what can their story unlock in you? Hosted by Tiyon L. Simpson, The Life of Someone Extraordinary brings you honest conversations with entrepreneurs, experts and creators from around the world. We go beyond success and achievement to uncover the human stories behind them - the experiences, failures, beliefs, choices and breakthroughs that shaped who they became. Come for their story. Leave with a new perspective, a fresh idea, or a reason to rethink what’s possible for your own life and journey.

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