Reframing Perspectives with Payal Beri, PhD

Payal Beri, PhD
  • 5.0 (44)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Join Payal on a journey into the hearts and minds of those who dare to reframe perspectives. Through stories of personal evolution and pivotal decisions, Payal explores how using empathy and curiosity transforms the way we build closeness with each other and within our communities. Featuring guests like social impact founders, purpose-driven entrepreneurs, and everyday people, these conversations celebrate our uniqueness and our commonality as humans. Discover how a single perspective shift can amplify, impact, and reshape your world.

  1. 3D AGO

    Money, Trauma & the Nervous System of Your Business | With Fractional CFO Cindy Kumar

    Money is one of the most emotionally charged relationships we’ll ever have.  It’s not just numbers on a spreadsheet — it becomes a mirror that reflects our beliefs about safety, worthiness, possibility, and power. In this episode of Reframing Perspectives, I sit down with fractional CFO and financial strategist Cindy Kumar, who helps founders rebuild their financial foundations so they can grow with clarity, confidence, and sustainability. Cindy doesn’t just talk about profit margins and tax strategy. She works at the intersection of financial health, emotional health, and entrepreneurial identity — where money wounds, family stories, and business decisions all collide. We talk about: Losing “everything” in the 2008 recession and how that shaped her “spend it before it disappears” pattern Why so many founders reinvest every dollar back into the business and still have nothing left The toxic narratives of “just manifest it” and “invest and the money will come” The emotional patterns behind coach-hopping, over-spending, and avoiding your numbers What happens when your entire business rests on one big client (and how dangerous that really is) And how healing your money story changes not just your business, but your relationships, parenting, and generational patterns If you’ve ever felt ashamed about your finances, scared to raise your prices, or stuck in chaos even while your revenue grows, this conversation will help you slow down, breathe, and actually see what’s going on with your money. Because when we talk about financial health, we’re really talking about how we see ourselves, how we show up for our communities, and how we build not just businesses — but our lives. Connect with Dr. Payal Beri & Reframing Perspectives: Instagram – Dr. Payal: https://www.instagram.com/dr.payalberi Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@payalberi?sub_confirmation=1 RK Empathy: https://www.rkempathy.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalberi Speaking & Media: https://www.payalberi.com

    38 min

  2. MAR 4

    Too American, Too Foreign: Identity, Belonging & Emotional Intelligence

    Is it dangerous to treat emotional intelligence as a universal standard?” We talk about emotional intelligence like it’s neutral, universal, and the same for everyone. But what happens when culture, race, migration, language, and survival literally shape how we express feelings, set boundaries, and show respect? In this powerful conversation, Dr. Payal Beri sits down with Farah Harris, a Haitian American psychotherapist, emotional intelligence expert, and founder of Working Well Daily, to explore why EQ can never be “one-size-fits-all” for people of color. They dive into: Growing up Haitian in the U.S. and feeling “too American” back home, but “too foreign” in AmericaFirst-born / “junior parent” pressure in immigrant familiesLanguage, accents, and mother-tongue shameWhy we don’t “season our chicken” the same — and what that has to do with EQHow cultural values shape grieving, anger, “respect,” and emotional expressionWhy Black and Brown kids are taught to mute their feelings for survival in white-dominant systemsIf you’ve ever felt like you don’t quite belong anywhere — not in your parents’ homeland, not fully in the country you live in — or you’ve been misread as “too loud,” “too much,” or “too cold,” this episode will help you reclaim your emotional language with context, compassion, and power. 🔍 In This Episode, We Talk About: Is EQ really universal?Haitian American, oldest daughter, third culture kidLanguage, accents & mother-tongue shame“We don’t season chicken the same”Culture, values & how we grieveBias, projection & the “two-sided mirror”Technology, capitalism & chronic reactivityThird culture kids & global muttsSafety vs. self-expression for kids of colorFrom judgment to curiosityBy the end, you’ll walk away with a reframed understanding of emotional intelligence: not as a rigid checklist, but as a context-rich, culturally-rooted way of relating to yourself and others. Connect with Farah Harris: Website: workingwelldaily.comLinkedIn: search “Farah Harris LCPC”Book: The Color of Emotional Intelligence (available where books are sold & on Audible) Connect with Dr. Payal Beri & Reframing Perspectives: Instagram – Dr. Payal: https://www.instagram.com/dr.payalberi Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@payalberi?sub_confirmation=1 RK Empathy: https://www.rkempathy.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalberi Speaking & Media: https://www.payalberi.com

    1 hr

  3. MAR 4

    You Have It All. So Why Aren’t You Happy

    My guest today, Dr. Seema Desai, knows that whisper intimately.  She’s a transformational coach, keynote speaker, and author whose journey began in a successful dental career—until burnout, misalignment, postpartum depression, and a quiet ache for something deeper forced her to rethink everything she thought success was supposed to look like. In this conversation, we talk about: Growing up as a child of immigrants and becoming the “return on investment.”Why she says dentistry became “dermatitis for my soul”People-pleasing, perfectionism, and shrinking yourself to fit a roleThe difference between happiness (external, fleeting) and joy (deep, steady)Why joy is a birthright, not a privilegeHer concept of Swa-dharma – your soul’s work and contract with the divineHow chronic misalignment and stress show up as illness, resentment and disconnectionWhy privilege isn’t the enemy – unexamined entitlement isAnd what it would mean to treat JOY as a real metric of success, not just money or status This isn’t about pretending everything is fine or chasing a perfect life.  It’s about asking: What would my life look like if I allowed even 1% more joy in? Connect with Dr. Payal Beri & Reframing Perspectives: Instagram – Dr. Payal: https://www.instagram.com/dr.payalberi Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@payalberi?sub_confirmation=1 RK Empathy: https://www.rkempathy.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalberi Speaking & Media: https://www.payalberi.com

    43 min

  4. FEB 18

    I Accept My Mom As She Is: Breaking Cycles as an Immigrant Daughter

    “I accept my mom for who she is, not for who I wish she had been…” For so many immigrant daughters, love and guilt are woven together. We grow up hearing about sacrifice, survival, and “everything we did for you” — while quietly carrying our own shame, anger, and longing to be truly seen. In this powerful conversation, Dr. Payal Beri sits down with Serena, author of Unbound: The Story of an Immigrant, to explore what it really means to honor your parents’ story without abandoning yourself. They talk about growing up Asian in the West, the unspoken rules in immigrant homes, and the moment Serena realized she had to stop waiting for her mother to become someone else — and instead ask, “What is she here to teach me?” From mother–daughter wounds and intergenerational fear to building a “bridge” strong enough for parents, kids, and future generations to stand on together, this episode is an invitation to become unbound in your own life. If you’ve ever felt torn between loyalty to your family and loyalty to yourself, this conversation is for you. 🔍 In This Episode, We Talk About: Accepting parents “as they are” vs who we wish they had beenThe unique guilt and pressure on kids of immigrantsGrowing up Asian in Canada and living between culturesMother–daughter dynamics, anger, and the grief of what you didn’t getReframing: “What is she here to teach you?”Why survival mode leaves little room for feelings or therapy“Airing dirty laundry” vs telling the truth with loveHow shame and silence create a gap between generationsBuilding a bridge between our parents’ traditions and our own livesHyper-independence, money, and the myth of “I can do it all alone”Finding the middle ground: empowered and in relationship Connect with our Guest, Serena  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serena_arora/ Buy the Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FQ381KK1?ref_=pe_93986420_775043100 Connect with Dr. Payal Beri & Reframing Perspectives: Instagram – Dr. Payal: https://www.instagram.com/dr.payalberi Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@payalberi?sub_confirmation=1 RK Empathy: https://www.rkempathy.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalberi Speaking & Media: https://www.payalberi.com

    1h 4m

  5. FEB 11

    Stop Treating Friendship as ‘Plan B’: Why All Relationships Count

    “If you don’t find a romantic, sexual partner, you will be alone forever.” That’s the story many of us are sold: if you’re not in a couple, you’re failing at connection. For David Jay, it was more than a fear — it felt like a guarantee. As an asexual person, he couldn’t see himself in the scripts our culture hands us about love, partnership, and family. Today, he’s living a life his younger self didn’t think was possible: co-parenting in a three-parent family,raising two kids,and building movements rooted in human connection and collective care. In this conversation, Dr. Payal Beri sits down with David Jay — founder of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN) and author of Relationality: How Moving from Transactional to Transformational Relationships Can Reshape Our Lonely World — to rethink what counts as a “real” relationship. They dive into why we treat romantic love as the only path out of loneliness, how capitalism and tech have turned connection into a transaction, and what it would look like to normalize all forms of love: platonic, communal, familial, and interdependent. If you’ve ever felt “behind” because you’re not partnered, wondered if you’re “the problem” for not fitting the couple script, or craved a life built on chosen family and community — this episode offers a different map. 🔍 In This Episode, We Talk About: “I will be alone forever.”Founding AVEN & naming a spectrumBreaking the couple scriptA three-parent family in real lifeHyper-independence as a trapFriendship vs ‘Plan B’Collective care → collective powerThe audience is not the communityTech, AI & connectionClass, gatekeeping & “self-made” mythsRelational agency & reframing loneliness Practical steps to build community  From game nights and taco runs to recurring meetups: small, repeatable actions that turn strangers into real relationships over time. Connect with David Jay: Book & contact: relationalitybook.com (as mentioned in the episode) Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN): asexuality.org Connect with Dr. Payal Beri & Reframing Perspectives: Instagram – Dr. Payal: https://www.instagram.com/dr.payalberi Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@payalberi?sub_confirmation=1 RK Empathy: https://www.rkempathy.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalberi Speaking & Media: https://www.payalberi.com

    59 min

  6. FEB 4

    If I Put Me First, Am I Selfish? Self-Love, Culture & Reinvention for Women

    “My whole life was curated by design to create safety… but safety was my parents’ trauma.” We’re told self-love is selfish. That “good” women, daughters, wives, and mothers put everyone else first — family, partner, community — and then maybe think about themselves. But what happens when that script leaves you resentful, exhausted, and living a life that was never truly yours? In this powerful episode, Dr. Payal Beri sits down with Dr. Jasmine Escalera, Spiritual Neuroscientist, “Queen of Reinvention,” and founder of The Courage Crew, a global community for women reinventing their lives at any age. Jasmine shares her journey from growing up in the projects of Brooklyn in the 80s and 90s to checking every box of the “safe” life (degree, six-figure job, marriage)… and realizing she was living out her parents’ trauma rather than her own truth. After divorce, a repeat heartbreak, and a move from New York to Miami, she rebuilt her life through radical self-love, boundaries, and daily choices to pick joy over fear. If you’ve ever felt guilty for setting boundaries, afraid to disappoint your family, or torn between being the “good” one and being yourself, this conversation will hit home. 🔍 In This Episode, We Talk About: Safety vs. self-betrayalGrowing up in the projects of BrooklynGiving from your core vs. your overflowGuilt, boundaries & collectivist culturesArmor, vulnerability & failed relationshipsChecklist life vs. chosen lifeMoving to Miami & healing away from the origin of painResentment, parents & self-acceptance“I choose”: transformation in tiny momentsExcuses, nervous system & comfort zonesCommunity, allies & not cutting everyone offDreaming of partnership after self-loveConnect with Dr. Jasmine Escalera: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasmineescaleracoaching InstagramThe Courage Crew (reinvention community for women): join via links in her Instagram bio or search “The Courage Crew Jasmine Escalera” Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@drjasmineescalera Connect with Dr. Payal Beri & Reframing Perspectives: Instagram – Dr. Payal: https://www.instagram.com/dr.payalberi Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@payalberi?sub_confirmation=1 RK Empathy: https://www.rkempathy.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalberi Speaking & Media: https://www.payalberi.com

    59 min

  7. FEB 1

    Surrounded by People, Starving for Depth

    So many of us are surrounded by people and still feel emotionally starved. In this Solo Reframe episode, we explore why depth, emotional safety, and being held (not just needed) matter so much—especially for changemakers and “the strong friend.” Have you ever felt lonely in a room full of people you know—friends, coworkers, other parents, your “community”—and still felt unseen? You’re not alone. And there’s nothing wrong with you. In this Solo Reframe episode, we dig into: Why so many of our relationships stay on the surfaceThe “Pinterest-perfect” performance culture that starves us of real intimacyThe hidden loneliness of changemakers, caregivers, and the “strong friend”Why being needed is not the same as being valuedHow Payal started hosting changemaker dinners with two rules: no egos, no titlesThe birth of the Empathy Storytelling Salon and what happens when people are allowed to arrive as humans, not résumésWhy depth, beauty, and emotional nourishment are not indulgences—but fuel You’ll hear stories of nonprofit founders, doctors, social workers, parents, and entrepreneurs who spend their lives pouring into others… and what happened when they were finally given a room that poured back into them. This episode is for you if: You’re the one everyone leans on—but no one really checks onYou’re craving emotionally rich friendships and community, not just networkingYou’re tired of relationships that stay in “polite small talk” You want to create spaces where people feel safe, seen, and deeply valued Connect with Dr. Payal Beri & Reframing Perspectives: Instagram – Dr. Payal: https://www.instagram.com/dr.payalberi Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@payalberi?sub_confirmation=1 RK Empathy: https://www.rkempathy.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalberi Speaking & Media: https://www.payalberi.com

    30 min

  8. JAN 28

    Legacy Isn’t Just Money: How to Protect Your Family Before Crisis Hits

    We usually think “legacy” means wills, trusts, and what people get after we’re gone. Lawyers, paperwork, awkward conversations about who gets the house… and a lot of avoidance. But what if legacy isn’t what you leave behind — it’s how you live, how you communicate, and how you prepare your family while you’re still here? In this powerful episode, Dr. Payal Beri sits down with Lisa McCurdy, estate & legacy attorney, founder of The Wealth Counselor and Defining Legacy Group, who has spent nearly two decades guiding high-net-worth families through generational wealth, family conflict, and the emotional “cancer” of things that are never said out loud. Lisa McCurdy - Wealth and Legacy Lisa shares how caring for an elderly uncle with dementia — and being forced into a public guardianship process — completely changed her career and led her to reframe legacy as connection, intention, and celebration, not just legal documents. Together they explore: Why “whatever you’re avoiding will come out” if you don’t address it head-on How unspoken stories, labels, and secrets quietly divide families over time The client who received a surprise $10M inheritance… and felt guilty accepting it Why wealth in families of color is often hard-fought and especially vulnerable How to choose the right people to make financial & medical decisions for you The role of the “anchor” (often a woman) who quietly carries the family’s emotional + logistical load How one family with 11 owners of land + a business used an apprenticeship program to create healthy succession instead of resentment If you’ve ever worried that your family might one day explode over money, wills, or “who got what” — or you’re the person everyone expects to handle everything — this conversation will help you see legacy as an act of love, clarity, and emotional generosity, not fear. Connect with Lisa McCurdy: Website – Legacy Makers & resources: lisagmccurdy.com  Lisa McCurdy - Wealth and LegacyLinkedIn: Lisa McCurdyInstagram: @lisagmccurdyConnect with Dr. Payal Beri & Reframing Perspectives: Instagram – Dr. Payal: https://www.instagram.com/dr.payalberi Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@payalberi?sub_confirmation=1 RK Empathy: https://www.rkempathy.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/payalberi Speaking & Media: https://www.payalberi.com

    51 min
See All (52)

5
out of 5
44 Ratings

About

Join Payal on a journey into the hearts and minds of those who dare to reframe perspectives. Through stories of personal evolution and pivotal decisions, Payal explores how using empathy and curiosity transforms the way we build closeness with each other and within our communities. Featuring guests like social impact founders, purpose-driven entrepreneurs, and everyday people, these conversations celebrate our uniqueness and our commonality as humans. Discover how a single perspective shift can amplify, impact, and reshape your world.

Information