A Life Worth Working – Finding Purpose & Overcoming Setbacks

Dr. Michelle Weise & Rev. Dana Allen Walsh - Personal Development & Resilience Specialists
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A Life Worth Working — Finding Purpose & Overcoming Setbacks is a podcast hosted by Dr. Michelle Weise and the Rev. Dana Allen Walsh, personal development & resilience specialists. Our guests illuminate the scraps, screw-ups, and detours of our work lives as living proof that nothing is ever wasted in these spaghetti pathways of our careers. The hardest moments we endure, from epic failures to employment gaps and crushing disappointments, all become fertile ground for new growth and endless possibilities. As we navigate the winding, messy pathways of life, perhaps the truest calling is simply this: to stay open to wonder, courageous in release, faithful in response—and to trust that, step by step, we are shaping a life worth working. michelleweise.substack.com

  1. 2D AGO

    He’s a Pastor. He Went on a Reality Show Called “The Snake.” It Was More Complicated than It Sounds.

    Episode: A Life Worth Working | Guest: Jacob Buchholz | Pastor, Deaf Culture & Reality TV Jacob Buchholz is a progressive pastor, a fluent signer in American, Romanian, and Russian sign language, the co-founder of a trans-denominational deaf church — and a cast member on The Snake, now streaming on Hulu. The show cast him because he’s from a profession that uses persuasion. He went because he wanted a nationally televised platform for a more inclusive, progressive version of Christianity. In this episode of A Life Worth Working, Jacob tells the full story: from his childhood in a deaf household where his mother led protests and ran ASL church services, to a transformative trip to Romania and Moldova that redirected his entire career, to the moment he climbed out of a shipping crate in Argentina and found out he was on a game show about manipulation. This is a genuinely surprising episode about identity, calling, courage — and what it means to hold your values in a space that wasn’t built for them. 🎧 Watch/Listen Now About Jacob Buchholz Jacob Buchholz is a senior pastor and reality television contestant currently featured on The Snake, now streaming on Hulu. He has served as a pastor in the United Church of Christ for over a decade and is currently leading a congregation in Claremont, California. About the Podcast: A Life Worth Working A Life Worth Working is hosted by Michelle Weise, a writer on the future of learning and work, and Dana Allen Walsh, an executive coach and pastor. Each week, they talk with guests who open up about the messiness, transformation, and wonder of their work lives — what they call the soul of work. 🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode. ⭐ Leave a review — it helps more people find the show. 📩 Email us: alifeworthworking@gmail.com Skilling Me Softly | A Life Worth Working is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Skilling Me Softly | A Life Worth Working at michelleweise.substack.com/subscribe

    33 min

  2. APR 28

    She Won Olympic Gold. Then She Had to Figure out Who She Was without It.

    Episode: A Life Worth Working | Guest: Shawn Johnson East | Olympic Champion, Entrepreneur & Mother Shawn Johnson won the gold medal on the balance beam at the 2008 Olympics. She was 16. She had already been told, implicitly and explicitly, that this was the point — the summit of what she had been working toward since before she could remember. What this episode of A Life Worth Working captures, with unusual honesty, is what happened to the person inside all of that achievement. The girl who felt superhuman inside the gym and panicked outside it. The teenager who said yes to every opportunity after retirement because she was too scared to have a quiet moment. The young woman who chased the next title because the last one felt hollow the moment she got it. Shawn’s story speaks to anyone who has organized their identity around performance — in sports, in school, in a career — and then had to reckon with who they are once the performance is over or the goal is reached. That experience is not limited to Olympic athletes. It is one of the most common and least-discussed features of high-achievers. What makes this episode particularly moving is how clearly Shawn can trace her own transformation: from a child who defined success as approval, to a mother who has had to deliberately, painstakingly unlearn that definition one layer at a time. She’s generous about the work it took. And honest about the fact that it’s still ongoing. 🎧 Watch/Listen Now What You’ll Learn in This Episode * What Shawn actually wanted to be before the Olympics took over * The “Hannah Montana effect”: how Shawn felt like a completely different, superhuman inside the gym * What 11 days of Navy SEAL-style training on Special Forces actually felt like — and why smiling through physical pain is not a good idea * The foundational role of her parents About Shawn Johnson East Shawn Johnson East is the 2007 World All-Around Gymnastics Champion and a four-time 2008 Olympic medalist, including the gold medal on the balance beam. She is one of the few American gymnasts ever to win Olympic gold on beam — the event she was drawn to precisely because it terrified everyone else. In the years since, she has competed on Dancing with the Stars, done a season of Special Forces, launched businesses with her husband and former NFL player Andrew East, and become a mother of three. She has also spent considerable time and effort unlearning nearly everything she was taught about what success is supposed to look like. About the Podcast: A Life Worth Working A Life Worth Working is hosted by Michelle Weise, a writer on the future of learning and work, and Dana Allen Walsh, an executive coach and pastor. Each week, they talk with guests who open up about the messiness, transformation, and wonder of their work lives — what they call the soul of work. 🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode. ⭐ Leave a review — it helps more people find the show. 📩 Email us: alifeworthworking@gmail.com Skilling Me Softly | A Life Worth Working is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Skilling Me Softly | A Life Worth Working at michelleweise.substack.com/subscribe

    24 min

  3. APR 21

    Older + Younger = Better

    Episode of A Life Worth Working | Guest: Marc Freedman | Co-Generation, Mentorship & the Multigenerational Future We talk about loneliness as if it’s a personal failing. We talk about polarization as if it’s simply political. But Marc’s life work points to a structural cause hiding in plain sight: We have built an entire society that keeps old and young apart. “We all come from divorce. This is an age of divorce. Things that belong together have been taken apart. And you can’t put it all back together again. What you can do, is the only thing that you can do. You take two things that ought to be together and you put them together. Two things! Not all things.” —Wendell Berry Marc’s story is also a quiet lesson in how calling evolves. He started out thinking older people could help younger people. He spent decades learning that what’s really possible — and necessary — is something richer: genuine co-creation, co-leadership, co-mentoring. A meeting of different kinds of wisdom. Two things that belong together, put back. What You’ll Learn in This Episode * Why Marc started his career focused on low-income youth — and how a landmark study of Big Brothers Big Sisters changed everything * How a wise college dean (who also kept Robert Putnam from dropping out) became the unlikely seed of three decades of mentorship work * What Marc means by “co-generation” — and why it’s fundamentally different from older people helping younger people * Why age segregation is “utterly against the grain of all of human history” — and what we can do about it * What Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs, and Brandi Carlisle and Joni Mitchell all have in common — and what Marc is building from that insight About Marc Freedman Marc Freedman is the founder and Co-CEO of CoGenerate and the founding Faculty Director of the Yale Experienced Leaders Initiative (Yale ELI Fellows). He is one of the nation’s leading voices on the multigenerational future and the originator of the concept of the encore career — the idea of linking second acts in life to the greater good. About the Podcast: A Life Worth Working A Life Worth Working is hosted by Michelle Weise, a writer on the future of learning and work, and Dana Allen Walsh, an executive coach and pastor. Each week, they talk with guests who open up about the messiness, transformation, and wonder of their work lives — what they call the soul of work. 🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode. ⭐ Leave a review — it helps more people find the show. 📩 Email us: alifeworthworking@gmail.com Get full access to Skilling Me Softly | A Life Worth Working at michelleweise.substack.com/subscribe

    39 min

  4. APR 14

    He Had a Film at Sundance. He Chose a Cookbook Instead.

    Episode: A Life Worth Working | Guest: Pete Lee | Award-Winning Photographer, Director & Accidental Archivist of San Francisco Chinatown “I wasn’t taking photos with my eyes. It was more with my feet and my bus pass.” What You’ll Learn in This Episode * How a Jackie Chan DVD given to a teenager who wasn’t allowed to watch TV launched an entire creative career * How Pete became a photographer by accident * The single insight about the directionality of light that unlocked everything — and why Pete learned it years later than he should have * Why Pete thinks the myth of quitting everything to pursue your passion is mostly wrong — and what he believes actually works About Pete Lee Pete Lee is an award-winning photographer and director based in San Francisco. He is the photographer behind Mr. Jiu’s in Chinatown, the cookbook from James Beard Award-winning chef Brandon Jew, which captured San Francisco’s Chinatown with the intimacy of a neighborhood documentary — and won a James Beard Award. Make sure you read my longer blog all about Pete Lee in my post: “Your Word Is Your Bond: Moral Courage in the Detours.” About the Podcast: A Life Worth Working A Life Worth Working is hosted by Michelle Weise, a writer on the future of learning and work, and Dana Allen Walsh, an executive coach and pastor. Each week, they talk with guests who open up about the messiness, transformation, and wonder of their work lives — what they call the soul of work. 🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode. ⭐ Leave a review — it helps more people find the show. 📩 Email us: alifeworthworking@gmail.com Get full access to Skilling Me Softly | A Life Worth Working at michelleweise.substack.com/subscribe

    29 min

  5. APR 7

    He Signed a Multi-Million Dollar NFL Contract — Then Got Cut after 3 Months

    A Life Worth Working | Guest: Andrew East | Former NFL Long Snapper, YouTube Creator & Family Media Entrepreneur What You’ll Learn in This Episode * How getting released from the Kansas City Chiefs after 3 months — while his wife Shawn Johnson was selling out arenas — became the most transformative moment of his life * Why Andrew turned a humiliating rock bottom into what he now calls an “unshakable confidence” * What his father’s day-long rites of passage ceremonies taught him about raising boys — and what modern fatherhood is missing * What it means to redefine success when you’re married to an Olympic gold medalist About Andrew East Andrew East is a former NFL long snapper who played for the Kansas City Chiefs and several other teams over a five-year professional career. He studied civil engineering at Vanderbilt University, where he was a two-time captain of the football team. He is married to Olympic gold medal gymnast Shawn Johnson East, with whom he has built Family Made — a wholesome, intentional family media network reaching over 10 million followers across platforms. He is also nearly finished with his PhD in psychology and co-hosts the podcast Couple Things with Shawn. The Kid Who Wanted His Name in Lights Andrew East grew up with a simple dream: play professional football and be the hero of the team. He was “footloose, fancy-free, rolling with the punches.” At Vanderbilt, he showed up as the worst player on the team by a mile. He almost transferred. Instead, he stayed — and eventually became a two-time captain. He wasn’t going to be the quarterback. He wasn’t going to be the star. He was going to be the person who made the star’s job possible. He found his niche in one of the most specialized, invisible positions in all of sports: long snapper. The guy who snaps the ball through his legs on field goals and punts. The guy nobody knows until he messes up. That lesson — finding and maximizing your specific niche even if it’s not the glamorous one — turned out to be a blueprint for the rest of his life. The Humiliation that Changed Everything Andrew signed a multi-year contract with the Kansas City Chiefs as a rookie. He remembers the moment vividly: he thought he had done it. Mission complete. He was in the NFL. Three months later, he was cut. Ten thousand dollars in his pocket instead of millions. Meanwhile, his now-wife Shawn Johnson — whom he had just started dating — was on a nationwide gymnastics tour, performing in sold-out arenas for tens of thousands of fans every night. Standing ovations. Screaming crowds. Andrew was home alone on the couch. Unemployed. Nobody quite knowing what to say to him at family events. “I felt useless and desperate. For about three months, I was just like a sad guy on a couch.” But on the other side of those three months, something shifted. With the help of people who stuck with him and spoke encouragement into him, he started to slowly rebuild a confidence that felt, this time, like it was truly his own. “Once I made it through that and realized I can contribute more to the world than just football — or just the one thing — I unlocked a new door. I shifted from self-doubt and pity to eager curiosity. Wait, there’s so much more to life. I just have to go look.” Andrew East’s story is about what happens after the dream doesn’t go the way you planned — and what you find on the other side of that failure if you’re willing to sit in it long enough to learn from it. It’s also a rare public conversation about intentional fatherhood, the crisis of male direction and belonging, and what it looks like to build a family media enterprise not as a brand exercise but as a genuine act of service. 🎧 Listen Now on A Life Worth Working Get full access to Skilling Me Softly | A Life Worth Working at michelleweise.substack.com/subscribe

    26 min

  6. MAR 31

    She Had Never Seen a Pilot Who Looked Like Her — Then She Became One

    Episode: A Life Worth Working | Guest: Refilwe Ledwaba | Girls Fly Africa 🎧 Watch/Listen Now What does it take to become the first? In this episode of A Life Worth Working, Refilwe Ledwaba shares her journey of becoming South Africa’s first Black African female helicopter pilot — a milestone shaped by resilience, exposure, and the courage to imagine beyond what she could see. Growing up in a township during apartheid, aviation wasn’t visible or accessible. The skies felt distant — not because of ability, but because of exposure. It wasn’t until she encountered a female pilot that something shifted. That moment cracked open possibility. But the path wasn’t easy. Refilwe faced financial barriers, cultural resistance, and systemic exclusion in the aviation industry. Listen to this episode if you want to hear more about: * Overcoming systemic barriers in aviation * Career pivots and professional resilience * Representation in STEM fields * The power of exposure in shaping career paths * Leadership forged through adversity Refilwe’s story isn’t just about aviation. It’s about what happens when young people aren’t exposed to the full range of what’s possible for them — and what we lose as a society when aptitude goes unseen because opportunity never arrived. In an age of rapid technological change, exposure isn’t a luxury. It’s a prerequisite for navigating an uncertain future. Studies show that kids with natural aptitude for STEM fields often don’t pursue them — not because they can’t, but because they never knew those paths existed. Refilwe knew that firsthand. And she’s spending her life making sure the next generation doesn’t have to find out the hard way. About Refilwe Ledwaba Refilwe is South Africa's first Black female helicopter pilot, a fixed-wing commercial pilot, and the founder of Girls Fly Africa — a nonprofit that has reached over 100,000 young women across Botswana, Cameroon, and South Africa, introducing them to aviation, aerospace, coding, and robotics through STEM education. About the Podcast: A Life Worth Working A Life Worth Working is hosted by Michelle Weise, a writer on the future of learning and work, and Dana Allen Walsh, an executive coach and pastor. Each week, they talk with guests who open up about the messiness, transformation, and wonder of their work lives — what they call the soul of work. 🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode. ⭐ Leave a review — it helps more people find the show. 📩 Email us: alifeworthworking@gmail.com Get full access to Skilling Me Softly | A Life Worth Working at michelleweise.substack.com/subscribe

    33 min

  7. MAR 24

    When the Doctor Becomes the Patient:

    A Life Worth Working — Sh*t Pile Series | Guest: Dr. Todd Kim | Orthopedic Surgeon About This Episode This is part of our Sh*t Pile series, where we ask guests to share one raw, unfiltered moment of failure, stuckness, or devastation that ended up fertilizing something remarkable. Rather than the shiny milestones, we dig into the messy truth behind real transformation. “It reminded me that my job is not the most important thing. For me or anyone else.” Dr. Todd Kim is an orthopedic surgeon who shares three moments with us that reshaped how he practices medicine: the humbling intern feedback that confirmed he was in the wrong field, the patient who coded after a routine surgery, and the rare heart condition that landed him in the ICU, where he finally understood, from the other side of the bed, what compassion actually means to a patient. Listen to the Full Episode For the complete story — including Todd’s journey from aspiring minister to orthopedic surgeon, his time volunteering at Mother Teresa’s home in Calcutta, and how he’s now teaching surgeons in low- and middle-income countries — catch Todd’s full episode on A Life Worth Working. 🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode. ⭐ Leave a review — it helps more people find the show. 📩 Email us: alifeworthworking@gmail.com 🎧 Listen Now Subscribe to Skilling Me Softly | A Life Worth Working to make sure you don’t miss the latest posts and podcast episodes. Get full access to Skilling Me Softly | A Life Worth Working at michelleweise.substack.com/subscribe

    8 min

  8. MAR 17

    The "Wrong" Path that Made Him a Better Doctor

    What if the path you’re meant to follow isn’t the most efficient one? Why the Long Way around Matters… In this episode of A Life Worth Working, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Todd Kim shares a deeply personal and nonlinear career journey shaped by faith, global service, doubt, and courage. From witnessing missionary doctors in rural India, to volunteering with Mother Teresa’s Home for the Destitute and Dying, to switching medical specialties mid-residency, Todd’s story challenges the myth that meaningful careers follow a straight line. This episode explores why changing course isn’t failure—but discernment in action. What You’ll Learn in This Episode * Why Todd switched residencies mid-training — leaving internal medicine to start over in surgery — and how that “inefficient” detour made him a better surgeon * What he witnessed volunteering at Mother Teresa’s Home for Dying Destitutes in Calcutta — and what it taught him about joy in impossible circumstances * The moment he got feedback that his clinical notes “read like a surgeon’s” — while he was supposed to be an internist * Why a rare heart condition that landed him in the ICU completely reframed his relationship to his work and his patients * How traumatic injuries from road accidents kill more people globally than all infectious diseases combined — and why that changes what global health needs from surgeons * What it felt like to shake Mother Teresa’s hand (spoiler: surprisingly firm grip) * Why being enthusiastic about everything can look like indecision — and why it might actually be your greatest strength 🎧 Listen to the full episode episode with Dr. Todd Kim on A Life Worth Working, and rediscover what it means to build a career rooted in service, compassion, and purpose. Skilling Me Softly | A Life Worth Working is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Skilling Me Softly | A Life Worth Working at michelleweise.substack.com/subscribe

    25 min
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About

A Life Worth Working — Finding Purpose & Overcoming Setbacks is a podcast hosted by Dr. Michelle Weise and the Rev. Dana Allen Walsh, personal development & resilience specialists. Our guests illuminate the scraps, screw-ups, and detours of our work lives as living proof that nothing is ever wasted in these spaghetti pathways of our careers. The hardest moments we endure, from epic failures to employment gaps and crushing disappointments, all become fertile ground for new growth and endless possibilities. As we navigate the winding, messy pathways of life, perhaps the truest calling is simply this: to stay open to wonder, courageous in release, faithful in response—and to trust that, step by step, we are shaping a life worth working. michelleweise.substack.com

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