A Category of One

Leslie Silverman
  • 5.0 (10)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Weekly

Welcome to A Category of One: deep, honest conversations with entrepreneurs about how we show up as the truest version of ourselves, both personally and professionally. I’m Leslie Silverman, brand strategist and curious human, and this podcast was born from one belief: when we let our light shine, we give others permission to do the same. Each week, I sit down with founders, creatives, and business leaders to explore identity, ambition, doubt, reinvention, and the uncomfortable growth no one talks about. We go beyond tactics and into: -Authentic leadership -Building a brand aligned with who you are -The inner work behind outer success -Navigating ambition without losing yourself -Becoming a category of one, not by trying to stand out, but by telling the truth If you care about meaningful work and living in alignment with who you actually are, you’re in the right place. New episodes every Wednesday.

  1. 13h ago

    How to Break Free from Diet Culture and Trust Your Body Again with Regina Oswald

    Regina Oswald spent 30 years on diets before she realized nobody else was holding the keys. She had been locking the doors of that prison herself. In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Regina, founder of the Body Mind Harmony Method and author of Liberation from the Diet Prison, to talk about breaking free from diet culture and learning to trust your body again. Regina grew up watching the adults around her swing between binge eating and severe restriction. She decided early that willpower would keep her from the same struggle, so she watched her weight like a hawk for decades. That habit stayed with her when she came to this country at 22 and through years as a single mother, when there was no room to question it. Then in 2020, launching her own clothing line during lockdown, she became her own model, cut to 1,000 calories a day, and lost twenty pounds. She also started losing her hair, fell into compulsive overeating, and later went through early menopause and a diagnosis of osteopenia. Her book reads less like a diet plan and more like personal growth. Regina calls it anti-diet. It’s built on three pillars, knowledge, awareness, and reverence, and it speaks to the reader with a warmth I felt on every page. One of my favorite takeaways was her swap of the word “deserve” for “worthy.” Deserving implies you have to earn something, and Regina believes your worth comes simply from being alive. In this episode: Why control around food can feel like safety, and why that safety is an illusionWhat a 1,000-calorie-a-day diet cost Regina’s body long after the photos were takenThe three pillars of her book: knowledge, awareness, and reverenceTrading “deserve” for “worthy”How Regina talks to herself now when stress sends her reaching for more chocolateHow much emotional energy comes back when you stop fighting your bodyConnect with Regina Oswald: Website: https://www.reginaoswald.com FB: https://www.facebook.com/regina.oswald.167 IG: https://www.instagram.com/reginaoswaldofficial Book: https://reginaoswald.com/book  Connect with Leslie Silverman: IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/ LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/ FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman Website: https://lesliesilverman.com Chapters: 00:19 Introduction to Regina Oswald and Her Journey 01:23 Introduction to Regina Oswald and her work 03:06 The meaning behind the book title 'Liberation from a Diet Prison' 05:11 The three pillars of well-being: knowledge, awareness, reverence 07:32 The nurturing approach to health and personal growth 10:39 Regina's early experiences with food, control, and body image 14:16 The physical and emotional toll of dieting and restriction 18:06 The importance of self-love, language, and worthiness 23:01 Regina's journey to self-acceptance and her mission to help others 25:58 Handling inner child and old habits with compassion 27:58 How to connect with Regina Oswald and her work

  2. Oct 28

    How to Eliminate Excuses by Defining Your Personal Culture with Mark A. Dulaney

    Mark A. Dulaney says he’s 65 going on 23. His first trip through adulthood didn’t go the way he wanted, so after two years with prostate cancer, he decided his excuses weren’t going to run the next one. In this episode of A Category of One, Mark and I talk about eliminating excuses and defining what he calls your personal culture. Mark calls himself a personal drill sergeant. He’s never been in the military, but people kept asking, so eventually he leaned into it. He doesn’t give anyone orders. He helps people follow their own. Personal culture starts with the one you were handed. From birth, you inherit expectations about who you are and what’s possible. Mark sees most people either going along with that or rebelling against it, and very few actually choosing. So when he works with someone, he asks what they want to accomplish, not what they think they can. According to Mark, the second answer is just a description of the culture you already have. At one point he pushed back on me. I said the way we do one thing is the way we do everything, and Mark disagreed. For decades he took great care of his body, but he didn’t do the same with his money or his marriages. That gap is a big part of why he’s moving with urgency now. In this episode: Why excuses and self-imposed limitations may be your most expensive habitThe difference between what you want and what you think you can accomplishHow Mark moves clients from identifying their excuses to living under self-commandWhat lions, the only cats that live in a community, have to do with accountabilityTaking a stand for your future at 65, and treating your body as the one thing you can’t replaceConnect with Mark Dulaney: Website: EliminateExcuses.com Community: YourPersonalCulture.com Book: EliminatingExcuses.me Podcast: Podcast.EliminateExcuses.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/markdulaney  Connect with Leslie Silverman: IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/ LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/ FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman Website: https://lesliesilverman.com Chapters: 00:00 Introduction and guest background 01:07 Mark's personal health journey and overcoming cancer 02:55 Why he calls himself a personal drill sergeant 03:50 Understanding and controlling your thoughts and actions 04:29 Defining your personal culture 06:26 Most expensive habit and profitable skill 08:28 The ripple effect of performing in one area of life 10:24 The importance of self-care and health at any age 12:27 Who Mark works with and accountability 14:47 The lion community and creating a supportive environment 16:57 Launching the 'Excuses' podcast and its focus 19:51 Identifying, understanding, and eliminating excuses 21:49 The significance of age and continuous growth 23:50 The importance of health and fitness for longevity 25:58 Financial security, freedom, and the why behind goals 27:47 How to get started and stay accountable 28:44 Mark's ongoing social media challenge and accountability 30:48 Closing remarks and future plans for collaboration

  3. Oct 21

    How to Stop Shoulding on Yourself and Own What’s Next with Meredith Masse

    Most of the career decisions we regret weren’t really decisions. They were shoulds. In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Meredith Masse, an executive and career coach for accomplished mid-career women, to talk about what it takes to stop shoulding on yourself and choose the career you actually want. Meredith’s turning point came on a muggy DC morning. She walked to the bus stop, watched the bus roll past without stopping, went back home, and got back into bed. She’d spent eight years in a job that looked great on paper and made her sick to her stomach every Sunday night. Getting from that moment to the work she does now took her more than a decade. Part of what she helps clients understand is how the brain handles change. The amygdala can’t tell a saber-toothed tiger from a colleague calling you out in a meeting. It reads both as danger. Meredith described a client who had a job offer written around her and was still afraid to negotiate in case they pulled it. Meredith calls that state lizard brain. Her work is about getting clients to wizard brain, where they can choose a response instead of reacting out of fear. She also asks her clients a simple question: when the should shows up, whose voice is it? Maybe it’s your mother’s, or a fourth grade teacher who got on you about late homework. And she’s clear that twenty years of work counts for something. It isn’t a reason to stay put. It’s what you bring into whatever you choose next, and that can include staying where you are and leading differently. In this episode: “Choose to or choose not to, there is no should” as a filter for decisionsWhat fear does to your body when it takes over a career decisionTracing a should back to the person who first said itStaying and upgrading how you lead, or leaving for a role that fits who you are nowWhy a coach works like a pair of reading glassesConnect with Meredith Masse: Complimentary Consult: https://mmassecoaching.co/own-whats-next-strategy-session LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredithmasse/ Connect with Leslie Silverman: IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/ LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/ FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman Website: https://lesliesilverman.com Chapters: 01:47 Empowering Choices for Professional Women 02:44 The Journey of Self-Discovery and Leadership 03:05 Introduction to the episode and guest Meredith Masse 05:02 The story behind the concept of choosing and its origins 07:01 Meredith's personal experience with burnout and realization 10:00 The role of the brain's amygdala in decision-making and stress 13:00 Energy leadership and shifting from reactive to conscious states 15:57 The impact of societal and parental influences on self-worth 18:41 Tools and frameworks for building self-trust and making choices 22:39 The importance of self-awareness and listening to your inner voice 25:26 How personal growth influences professional and personal life 30:25 The process of working with Meredith and her coaching approach 34:08 The power of asking for help and community support 36:05 Final thoughts and how to connect with Meredith

  4. Oct 14

    How to Bring an Engineer’s Mind to Entrepreneurship with David Gambill

    David Gambill spent years as a corporate aerospace engineer, including time at Boeing, moving to a new project every couple of years because he couldn’t stand doing the same thing twice. He didn’t want a career of slapping brackets on aircraft and waiting forty years for a retirement check. Today he holds a patent for an electric vertical takeoff aircraft design and runs his own firm, GNG Aero Consulting. In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with David, an aerospace engineer, inventor, and podcast host, to talk about what happens when an engineer’s mind meets entrepreneurship. His path started with a side business on eBay with his wife, then led into startups, where being chief engineer also meant thinking like a business analyst and a marketer. Who is actually going to buy this two-seat aircraft? In a company of a hundred thousand people, he points out, only a handful ever hand the keys to a customer. Working closer to that moment is part of what makes his own consulting work more satisfying. David is candid that communication was the skill he lacked most as an engineer. Hosting his own podcast became a way to build it, and a way to hear the stories behind other people’s decisions to go out on their own. We also talk about the patent process, why he wishes he’d started capturing his ideas sooner, and why he believes a title is something other people give you, the way you’d be awarded a medal, rather than something you get to hang around your own neck. In this episode: How David’s patented design rethinks where the fans go on an electric aircraftWhat startups teach engineers that big corporations rarely doWhy selling a jet and selling ChapStick come down to the same marketing questionsChoosing purpose over the paycheckWhy titles have to be earned, never claimedThe gap between having an idea and acting on itConnect with David Gambill: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgambill/ Design Your Life, Your Way: https://bit.ly/4e8QmHP GnG Aero: https://www.gngaero.com Calendar: https://calendly.com/dgambill/david-g-talk Connect with Leslie Silverman: IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/ LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/ FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman Website: https://lesliesilverman.com Chapters: 00:43 Bridging Engineering and Life: Lessons Learned 01:33 Designing Your Life: The Podcast Journey 01:53 Introduction and David Gambill's impressive background 03:32 Details of the electric plane patent and its significance 05:31 The process of patenting and controlling aircraft design 07:52 Why David chose entrepreneurship over corporate engineering 10:26 The importance of marketing and understanding customer needs 12:55 The motivation behind hosting a podcast about designing life 14:09 Expanding communication skills through podcasting 17:02 Advice for young engineers and the value of curiosity 19:36 The significance of recognizing opportunities and taking action 22:07 Interest in the yacht industry and sustainable transportation 22:33 Fun conversations with entrepreneurs and their unexpected journeys 24:54 Mindset, purpose, and the journey of success 27:22 The importance of building and acting on ideas 28:20 Closing thoughts and connecting with David Gambill

  5. Oct 7

    How to Unleash Yourself and Let Your Light Shine with David Rush

    David Rush and I met in a breakout room during an online networking group, and the conversation flowed so easily we kept it going. On this episode of A Category of One, David, host of the Unleashed podcast and founder of The Morning Rush, shares what it has looked like to unleash himself and let his light shine, and how often it took someone else seeing it first. One of those mirrors came from somewhere unexpected. After a break from his regular conversations with ChatGPT, David noticed it was responding differently. Slower, more thoughtful, saying less. When he asked if the program had changed, the answer was no. He had. It was simply reflecting him back. That exchange gave him a line he keeps coming back to: don't rush the ripening. David used to be painfully shy, a young man who could barely put a sentence together. Five years ago, in a Zoom room, another David spoke openly about the leader he saw in him, and it changed the direction of his life. He's honest about how hard it still is to receive words like that, and how easy it is to wave them off when they don't match the picture you hold of yourself. We also get into his virtual staffing work, connecting business owners with skilled assistants in the Philippines and Latin America, and why he thinks human connection will matter even more as AI keeps spreading. In this episode: Why the people around you often see your light before you doWhat an AI conversation revealed about who David is becomingDon't rush the ripening, and letting real change take its own timeWhy compliments are so hard to receive, and what shifts when you let them landWhere AI falls short and a human touch still matters in businessChoosing how you respond instead of repeating what you learnedConnect with David Rush: https://www.accessvirtualstaffing.com https://www.themorningrush.org https://www.davidrushpartners.com https://www.youtube.com/@davidrush16 https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrush16/ Connect with Leslie Silverman: IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/ LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/ FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman Website: https://lesliesilverman.com Chapters: 00:00 Introduction and Guest Background 02:09 The Power of Authentic Self-Expression 05:01 Reflecting on Personal Blind Spots 08:28 The Concept of Rushing the Ripening 09:34 The Origin of the Morning Rush Community 11:36 The Impact of External Mirroring 14:35 The Power of Spoken Life and Vision Casting 16:17 The Influence of Words and Faith 17:16 Openness to Receiving and Self-Love 18:00 The Importance of Compliments and Affirmations 19:15 The Value of Human Connection Over AI 20:24 Outsourcing and Leveraging Virtual Assistants 22:54 The Benefits of Human Touch in Business 25:33 Success Stories with Virtual Assistants 28:17 Building Relationships with Global Virtual Assistants 29:56 Lessons from Nature 31:18 Embracing Individuality and Authenticity 31:46 Choosing Reactions and Responses 32:46 Join the Morning Rush and Connect 33:31 Closing Remarks and Future Collaborations

  6. Sep 30

    How to Reprogram Your Subconscious for Success with Bri Seeley

    In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Bri Seeley, creator of Subconscious Success Optimization, who uses hypnosis to help entrepreneurs reprogram their subconscious for success. A mutual friend told us there was no world where we didn't know each other. She was right, and this conversation picked up right where our friendship started. Bri describes the subconscious as the operating system running in the background of your life, mostly installed before you turned eight. For her, that meant beliefs formed before the internet existed were still deciding what kind of business she was allowed to have. Layering positive thinking on top, she says, is like changing the wallpaper on a laptop that still has a virus. We spent time on what she calls the success threshold, the point where your subconscious decides things have gotten unsafe and quietly pulls you back. It helps explain why working harder doesn't always move the needle. Her advice is to look at your results. The walls you keep hitting show you what's running underneath. Bri also opened up about what happened when she turned up the heat on this work in her own life. It reshaped her business and her marriage, and left her living by one standard: greatness or nothing. In this episode: Why affirmations alone can't override beliefs installed in early childhoodThe success threshold and why your subconscious pulls you back to what feels safeBri's garden metaphor for clearing old beliefs before planting new onesWhy rewiring takes 30 days of repetition, not a single breakthroughHow subconscious work can ripple into relationships and other areas beyond businessWhy you can't expand a business without expanding yourselfConnect with Bri Seeley: IG: https://www.instagram.com/briseeley LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bri-seeley/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/bri.seeley Website: https://www.briseeley.com/ Connect with Leslie Silverman: IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/ LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/ FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman Website: https://lesliesilverman.com Chapters: 01:12 Introduction to Bree Seeley and Her Work 01:41 Exploring Subconscious Success Optimization 01:44 Introduction to Bri Seeley's Journey and Work 03:35 Bri shares her personal story of transformation and subconscious work 05:51 Understanding the subconscious mind and its influence 07:29 Childhood programming and limiting beliefs 10:28 The success threshold and how to raise it 13:27 Signs your subconscious may be holding you back 16:14 The process of subconscious reprogramming through hypnosis 19:09 Practical steps to rewire limiting beliefs 21:58 The importance of consistent practice and repetition 25:14 How subconscious work impacts all areas of life 27:56 Tools and protocols Bri uses for transformation 30:53 The role of growth mindset in success 33:37 Overcoming triggers and subconscious blocks 36:31 Upcoming programs and how to get involved

  7. Sep 23

    How to Apply Improv Principles to Leadership and Team Building with Scott Parker

    In this episode of A Category of One, I sat down with Scott Parker, a leadership consultant and team building facilitator who uses improv and juggling to help people communicate better. Scott and I know each other from Steamboat Springs, and we hadn't talked in years. It came out early in the conversation that we both went to college in Buffalo. Scott's business is called Just Go For It, which is a fair description of how he's worked. Stripped down, improv is a practice of receiving someone else's idea instead of shutting it down. That matters more in a conference room than most people expect, because what an employee learns from the first "no" shapes every idea they bring after it. We talk about what changes when the answer is "tell me more," and about the other half of saying yes, which is staying open enough to notice an opportunity when it shows up. Scott has spent years getting people out of their comfort zone without them realizing they left it. When people laugh together, they stop defending themselves, and that's where real communication has room to happen. That idea runs through the Chamber of Commerce he leads in Oregon wine country and the variety show he started in a divided town. I share what volunteering gave me that I never saw coming. Scott closes with what an eighth grade classroom taught him about being the same person no matter what role you're in. In this episode: Why "yes, and" changes which ideas employees bring to their managerHow playfulness gets into work that's usually dryWhat it takes to say yes before you feel qualifiedHow a variety show got a divided town laughing togetherWhat volunteering gives the person doing itWhy you can't be one person in the classroom and another person outside itLinks: Connect with Scott Parker: Website: https://www.scottparkerleadership.com/ LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-parker-89b62522/ Connect with Leslie Silverman: IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/ LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/ FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman Website: https://lesliesilverman.com Chapters: 00:19 Introduction to Scott Parker 00:44 The Power of Humor in Leadership 01:01 Introduction and guest background 02:59 The Chief Theater's history and community role 06:07 Scott's move to Oregon and community work 07:56 Integrating playfulness into leadership and consulting 10:47 The power of laughter and connection in community 13:38 Improv and the 'Yes And' approach in teams 16:38 Opportunities from being open and positive 19:37 Scott's community engagement and volunteer work 21:29 The impact of giving back and community involvement 24:11 Personal stories of influence and transformation 27:11 The importance of authenticity and fun in leadership 30:00 Scott's teaching experiences and lessons learned 31:53 The value of being true to oneself in work and life 33:43 Closing thoughts and how to connect with Scott

  8. Sep 16

    How to Turn Loss into a Global Reinvention with Liz Brown Morgan

    Liz Brown Morgan lost her mother, her marriage, and her job in the same six months. What she didn't lose was the instinct to keep moving. In this episode, Liz talks about the one-way flight to Athens that started nine months of travel across eight countries, the six weeks she spent in a sober co-living house outside Valencia, and what it took to feel like herself again after everything familiar was gone. I get into her career path too: wilderness guide, environmental lawyer, functional nutritionist, Chamber of Commerce director, published author, and now the founder of Global Love Ghostwriting, a business built on writing newsletters and welcome sequences for small, mission-driven brands. This conversation moves through grief, reinvention, and the strange gift of being seen fresh by people who only know who you are right now, not who you used to be. It also gets specific and practical: why a newsletter is one of the most underrated tools a business owns, and what actually makes people want to stay subscribed. In this episode: How Liz rebuilt her sense of self after losing her mother, her marriage, and her job at onceWhat nine months of travel and communal living taught her about identityWhy her career path looks nothing like a straight line, and why that matteredHow Global Love Ghostwriting came out of a newsletter she almost didn't want to writeWhy a nurture sequence matters more than most businesses realizeWhat it means to be reflected back to yourself by people who never knew the old version Links: Connect with Liz Brown Morgan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-morgan-food-health-sustainability/ https://globallovewriting.com/ Connect with Leslie Silverman: IG: https://www.instagram.com/lesliesilverman/ LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslie-silverman-hive180/ FB:  https://www.facebook.com/leslie.a.silverman Website: https://lesliesilverman.com Chapters: 01:12 Introduction to Liz Brown Morgan 01:39 Liz's Diverse Background and Expertise 02:02 Introduction to Liz Morgan's Journey 03:59 Trauma and the Opportunity for Transformation 05:23 Nine Months of Global Travel 06:06 Community Living in Spain 07:58 Diverse Global Community Experiences 09:56 Reinvention and Personal Growth at Any Age 11:58 Energy Flow and Self-Discovery 13:58 Growth Mindset and Lifelong Learning 15:15 Career Shifts and Decision-Making 18:38 Wild Foods and Connection to Nature 19:58 From Nutritionist to Community Builder 26:41 Inspiration for Global Love Ghostwriting 35:40 The Power of Newsletters and Direct Community Engagement 36:48 Closing Remarks and Connect with Liz Morgan

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About

Welcome to A Category of One: deep, honest conversations with entrepreneurs about how we show up as the truest version of ourselves, both personally and professionally. I’m Leslie Silverman, brand strategist and curious human, and this podcast was born from one belief: when we let our light shine, we give others permission to do the same. Each week, I sit down with founders, creatives, and business leaders to explore identity, ambition, doubt, reinvention, and the uncomfortable growth no one talks about. We go beyond tactics and into: -Authentic leadership -Building a brand aligned with who you are -The inner work behind outer success -Navigating ambition without losing yourself -Becoming a category of one, not by trying to stand out, but by telling the truth If you care about meaningful work and living in alignment with who you actually are, you’re in the right place. New episodes every Wednesday.

Information

  • Creator
    Leslie Silverman
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    36
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Leslie Silverman
  • Show Website
    A Category of One