Welcome to 'Heart and Soul,' the podcast where we empower and inspire women to lead their best lives, harnessing the power of their hearts and souls.
In each episode, we'll dive deep into topics that matter most to you, from self-love and confidence to career development, relationships, and everything in between. We believe that every woman has a unique strength and inner wisdom waiting to be unleashed.
What Your Bloodwork Isn’t Telling You /w Dafna Chazin
If you have ever left a doctor's appointment feeling dismissed, handed a prescription you did not fully understand, or told your labs were "normal" while still feeling terrible, you are not alone. In this episode, Mariah and Monique sit down with registered dietitian Dafna Chazin, who has spent over 15 years in women's health and now specializes in helping women with PCOS regulate their cycles and improve fertility through food and lifestyle changes. Her path to this work was personal, and that is exactly what makes her perspective so worth listening to
Episode Highlights
What Is PCOS and Why Was the Name Just Changed?
Why "Normal" Blood Work Does Not Always Mean You Are Healthy
How Dafna's Program Works: Personalized Plans, Real-Time Feedback, and Learning to Eat for Life
Four Practical Nutrition Habits That Work for Most Women
Why Eating Too Perfectly Can Actually Work Against You
How to Find Dafna and Get Support
What Is PCOS and Why Was the Name Just Changed?
PCOS, long known as polycystic ovary syndrome, was recently renamed to PMOS, which stands for poly endocrine metabolic ovary syndrome. The new name better reflects what the condition actually is: not just a reproductive issue, but a metabolic one that can affect weight, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular health. Dafna explains that many women with PCOS are not getting adequate care because the medical system tends to manage symptoms rather than address root causes. Her work focuses on getting to the source of hormonal imbalance through nutrition, which, she emphasizes, is backed by solid research and produces real, lasting results.
Why "Normal" Blood Work Does Not Always Mean You Are Healthy
One of the most validating parts of this episode is Dafna's explanation of how standard lab ranges often fail women. Most reference ranges were built using a bell curve of mixed populations, and in some cases, data skewed toward male physiology. A result can fall within the "normal" range while still sitting at the edge of optimal function, and if your body happens to be sensitive to that marker, you will feel it. Dafna approaches lab work from a functional medicine perspective, looking not just at whether something flags high or low, but whether it is in the range where your body can actually thrive. Her message: if your doctor says everything looks fine but you still feel like something is off, keep asking questions.
How Dafna's Program Works: Personalized Plans, Real-Time Feedback, and Learning to Eat for Life
Dafna's coaching program combines group support with individual guidance, starting with a comprehensive blood panel to understand each woman's hormonal picture before anything else. From there, every client receives a customized food and supplement plan tailored to their specific results, rather than a generic protocol that may miss the mark entirely. One of the standout features of her program is a meal photo journal where clients upload pictures of what they eat and receive real-time feedback, turning everyday meals into a learning opportunity rather than a pass-fail test. Her larger goal is not perfection but fluency: she wants her clients to understand their own bodies well enough that they never have to start over from scratch again.
Four Practical Nutrition Habits That Work for Most Women
Rather than overhauling everything at once, Dafna shares four evidence-based habits she returns to again and again with clients. First, eat on a consistent schedule with three meals and one to two snacks rather than grazing throughout the day, which can keep insulin elevated for too long. Second, prioritize protein at breakfast, aiming for at least 20 to 30 grams, whether that comes from eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, or a protein shake. Third, choose high-fiber carbohydrates like beans, legumes, sweet potatoes, and quinoa to keep blood sugar and energy steady throughout the day and reduce the afternoon crash many women experience. Fourth, take a 10 to 15 minute walk after meals when possible, since even brief movement helps cells draw sugar from the bloodstream, lowering blood sugar and insulin more effectively than a single longer workout session might.
Why Eating Too Perfectly Can Actually Work Against You
In one of the more surprising moments of the episode, Dafna talks about nudging clients to loosen up when their meal journals look too spotless. Rigid, all-or-nothing eating is a setup for the exact cycle she is trying to help women escape: follow the plan perfectly, hit one hard moment, abandon everything, and start over. Her approach actively builds in flexibility from the beginning, because a person who knows how to eat a slice of birthday cake and keep going is far more resilient than someone who has only ever practiced perfection. The GPS analogy she uses is worth keeping in mind: a wrong turn does not erase your destination. You just recalculate and keep going.
How to Find Dafna and Get Support
Dafna works with women dealing with PCOS, irregular cycles, and fertility challenges through her online coaching program, which is available regardless of where you live. She can be found on Instagram at @pcosnutritionistdafna, and her website includes information on her program as well as a way to reach out directly. Whether you are deep in a fertility journey or simply feel like something in your body is off and no one has given you a satisfying answer, she encourages you to get in touch and start a conversation about your goals.
All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Why You Actually Get People Wrong (and What Generations Have to Do With It)
Right now, for the first time in history, five distinct generations are alive and interacting with each other every single day, at work, at home, at the dinner table, and everywhere in between. In this episode, Mariah and Monique break down each generation, who they are, what shaped them, and how to connect with them more meaningfully. The goal is not to label or stereotype but to extend the kind of grace that comes from understanding: everyone was formed by the world they were born into, and knowing that context changes everything.
Episode Highlights
Baby Boomers: Loyalty, Hard Work, and the Weight of Unspoken Emotions
Gen X: Independent, Skeptical, and Built to Figure Things Out Alone
Millennials: Purpose-Driven, Growth-Oriented, and Changing the Conversation Around Mental Health
Gen Z: Digitally Native, Radically Inclusive, and Quietly Overwhelmed
Gen Alpha: The Most Tech-Integrated Generation Yet
How to Connect Across Generations: Empathy Over Judgment
Baby Boomers (Born 1946 to 1964): Loyalty, Hard Work, and the Weight of Unspoken Emotions
Baby Boomers are defined by their work ethic, their loyalty, and a deep respect for authority and hierarchy. Many of them grew up in households shaped by parents who had lived through the Depression or served in war, which created a culture of getting through things rather than talking about them. Emotional expression was not exactly modeled or encouraged, which means that if a Boomer in your life struggles to go deep, it is worth remembering they may simply never have been taught how. To connect well with this generation, show genuine respect for their experience, be clear and direct, and acknowledge their contributions rather than dismissing what they have built.
Gen X (Born 1965 to 1980): Independent, Skeptical, and Built to Figure Things Out Alone
Gen X grew up in the era of dual-income households, latchkey afternoons, and the earliest days of personal technology. They became resourceful and self-reliant by necessity, and as a result they tend to be skeptical of authority, fiercely protective of their autonomy, and deeply allergic to anything that feels performative or inauthentic. Trust with this generation is built through consistency over time, not promises. They also value work-life balance in a way their parents did not, which Mariah and Monique connect to why so many Gen Xers have gravitated toward entrepreneurship: they want to do meaningful work on their own terms.
Millennials (Born 1981 to 1996): Purpose-Driven, Growth-Oriented, and Changing the Conversation Around Mental Health
Millennials are the generation that brought emotional intelligence and personal development into mainstream culture, and that contribution deserves more credit than it typically gets. They came of age during a recession, with mounting student debt and the full arrival of social media, which wired them for both collaboration and comparison. They thrive when they understand the deeper why behind what they are doing, and they respond well to feedback and encouragement for growth. The flip side is that their introspective nature can tip into overthinking and burnout, so the most helpful thing you can offer a Millennial is validation without over-coddling and a sense that what they are doing actually matters.
Gen Z (Born 1997 to 2012): Digitally Native, Radically Inclusive, and Quietly Overwhelmed
Gen Z never knew a world without the internet, and that has shaped them into some of the most globally aware, authentically inclusive, and mentally health-conscious young people in history. They are also, understandably, among the most anxious, carrying the weight of constant connectivity, social media comparison, and an awareness of global issues that previous generations simply did not have access to at the same age. They value realness above almost everything else and can detect inauthenticity instantly, which is why they are among the loudest voices pushing back against AI-generated content in academic settings. To connect with Gen Z, be concise, be genuine, and create psychological safety so they feel free to show up without performing.
Gen Alpha (Born 2013 to Present): The Most Tech-Integrated Generation Yet
Gen Alpha has never known a world without AI, Instacart, or a screen within arm's reach, and they are learning and processing information at a pace no previous generation has matched. They are visually oriented, fast learners, and growing up with more emotionally aware parenting than any generation before them, which is genuinely hopeful. The challenge is that without intentional guidance, they risk developing shortened attention spans, low frustration tolerance, and a dependence on external stimulation that makes stillness and critical thinking hard to access. Supporting this generation well means encouraging creativity and independent thought, balancing technology with real-world experience, and teaching emotional regulation as an active, practiced skill rather than something they will simply absorb on their own.
How to Connect Across Generations: Empathy Over Judgment
The most useful takeaway from this episode is also the simplest: when you are struggling to understand someone from a different generation, stop asking your peers and go ask someone from that generation instead. Mariah shares a story about watching her mother offer relationship advice to her Gen X friends about navigating their own Boomer mothers, and the room shifted the moment a voice from inside that experience spoke. Generational friction is almost never about anyone being wrong. It is about people starting from completely different places shaped by completely different worlds, and judgment is the fastest way to close that door. Curiosity, context, and a willingness to ask the right people the right questions can open it back up.
All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Clutter You Can’t See: a Conversation on Spiritual Decluttering with Monique
In the final installment of their decluttering series, Mariah and Monique turn their attention to the kind of clutter you cannot see, photograph, or drop off at Goodwill. Spiritual decluttering, as Monique explains it, is not about becoming someone new. It is about removing what is outdated, borrowed, or simply no longer yours so that your truest self can come through more clearly. If physical clutter fills your car and emotional clutter fills your chest, spiritual clutter fills the space between who you actually are and the stories you have been carrying about who you are supposed to be.
Episode Highlights
What Spiritual Decluttering Actually Means (It Is Not What You Think)
How Stored Emotions Create Spiritual Stagnation
Practical Ways to Spiritually Declutter Every Day
A Simple Practice for Identifying What You Are Ready to Release
Why You Do Not Have to Do This Alone
The Bigger Picture: Letting Go as a Lifelong Practice
How Stored Emotions Create Spiritual Stagnation
One of the more grounding threads in this episode is the connection between unprocessed emotion and spiritual stuckness. When something hard happens and we do not have the tools or the space to move through it, that emotional weight does not disappear. It gets stored, and over time it can create a kind of heaviness that colors how we see ourselves and what we believe is possible. Monique describes working with clients who feel stuck or directionless, and often what they are carrying is not even theirs to begin with. The stuckness itself is a signal, the same way a cluttered car is a signal, that something needs tending to.
Practical Ways to Spiritually Declutter Every Day
The good news is that spiritual decluttering does not require a retreat or a dramatic life overhaul. Monique shares that the practices she returns to most consistently are meditation and journaling, both of which create space to observe the mental chatter rather than get swept up in it. Other approaches that came up in conversation include prayer, time in nature, rest, worship within community, podcasts and books that ask meaningful questions, and even energy work like chakra balancing. The common thread across all of them is the act of pausing long enough to hear yourself, which is harder than it sounds and more essential than most of us realize.
A Simple Practice for Identifying What You Are Ready to Release
Monique walks Mariah through a brief but powerful exercise that anyone can use: take a breath, arrive in your body, and ask yourself where you feel heavy. It might be a physical sensation, a nagging thought, or a low hum of dread you have been ignoring. From there, the key question is simply this: is this mine to carry? If the answer is no, or even maybe not, you can make the conscious choice to set it down. As Monique puts it, you do not always have to work hard to release something. Sometimes you can just decide it is released and mean it.
Why You Do Not Have to Do This Alone
A recurring theme in this episode is the value of having at least one person in your life who is willing to go deeper than surface-level conversation. Monique describes the friendship between her and Mariah as a form of mutual spiritual accountability, the kind of relationship where "how are you" actually means something. For those who do not have that naturally, she encourages seeking out an energy worker, a spiritual coach, a therapist, a faith community, or even a curated book group where these conversations can happen in a held, intentional space. Decluttering of any kind, she notes, is almost always easier when you are not doing it alone.
The Bigger Picture: Letting Go as a Lifelong Practice
The episode closes with a perspective that gives the whole series its deepest roots: letting go is not a one-time event. It is the rhythm of being alive. Monique reflects on how we are wired to accumulate, whether it is stuff, beliefs, grief, or old stories about ourselves, and that the real work is learning to release with as much intentionality as we hold on. Mariah connects this to her own experience of empty nesting, unexpected loss, and the way every ending eventually makes room for something new. The prompt they leave listeners with is simple: every day, ask yourself what one thing you can let go of. Then choose again. And again.
All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Does a Cluttered Home Really Affect Your Mental Health?
There is a reason that pile in your office has been sitting there for three months. It is not laziness, and it is not a lack of time. In this episode, Mariah and Monique get honest about the surprisingly emotional weight of physical clutter and why so many of us are paralyzed by it even when we know exactly what needs to be done. From cars full of winter clothes to closets packed with memories we are not ready to release, this conversation meets you right where you are and offers a practical, compassionate path forward.
Episode Highlights
Why Physical Clutter and Mental Clutter Are the Same Problem
How to Start Decluttering Without Getting Overwhelmed
The Power of Habit Stacking and Rewarding Yourself Along the Way
When Clutter Is Emotional: Clothes, Papers, and the Things We Cannot Let Go
Using the WAVE Method to Move Through Decluttering Resistance
Where to Start and What Resources Can Help
Why Physical Clutter and Mental Clutter Are the Same Problem
Clutter does not stay in the corners where you leave it. Mariah points out that for people with ADHD tendencies or busy, layered lives, a cluttered environment directly feeds a cluttered inner state, and the two keep feeding each other in a loop. What makes it even harder is that we live in a deeply materialist culture where stuff accumulates faster than we can process it. Fast fashion, trinkets, sentimental items from every chapter of life: it all adds up, and most of us were never taught what to do with it. Recognizing that your exterior environment often reflects your interior one is not a judgment. It is the first honest step.
Why Running from Emotions Makes Them Bigger
Clutter does not stay in the corners where you leave it. Mariah points out that for people with ADHD tendencies or busy, layered lives, a cluttered environment directly feeds a cluttered inner state, and the two keep feeding each other in a loop. What makes it even harder is that we live in a deeply materialist culture where stuff accumulates faster than we can process it. Fast fashion, trinkets, sentimental items from every chapter of life: it all adds up, and most of us were never taught what to do with it. Recognizing that your exterior environment often reflects your interior one is not a judgment. It is the first honest step.
How to Start Decluttering Without Getting Overwhelmed
The key to breaking through the paralysis is not motivation. It is structure. Mariah walks through her own plan in real time, starting with the most emotionally neutral space she has: her car. The approach is straightforward: divide what is in the space into categories (put away, trash, donate), then complete each task from start to finish without putting things down halfway. What makes this method work is the insistence on small, sequenced steps rather than trying to overhaul everything at once. One completed loop creates the momentum for the next one, and that momentum is what carries you further than willpower ever could.
The Power of Habit Stacking and Rewarding Yourself Along the Way
One of the most practical ideas in this episode is pairing a dreaded task with something genuinely appealing. If you are heading across town to drop off donations, what other errand could you fold in? A coffee stop, a car wash, a visit to a friend? Monique calls this habit stacking: lining up tasks so that the act of doing one makes the next one easier or more appealing. The dopamine hit of completing something, especially when paired with a small reward, is not a trick. It is how human brains actually work, and using it intentionally is a form of self-kindness.
When Clutter Is Emotional: Clothes, Papers, and the Things We Cannot Let Go
Not all clutter is created equal, and Mariah is candid about the difference between spaces that feel logistically messy and spaces that carry real emotional weight. Her car: not emotional. Her stack of office paperwork: oddly charged in a way she has not fully unpacked. Her closet: a full archive of past selves, past relationships, past chapters of life that she is not entirely ready to close. Monique shares her own experience of recruiting a radically honest friend to help sort through clothes, only to find herself in tears over things she had not worn in years. The insight here is worth sitting with: sometimes the clutter you cannot touch is telling you something that deserves your attention before you reach for a trash bag.
Using the WAVE Method to Move Through Decluttering Resistance
Toward the end of the episode, Mariah connects the decluttering conversation back to the WAVE acronym introduced in a previous episode: Witness, Allow, Validate, Explore. Applied to physical clutter, it looks like this: witness what is actually in front of you without judgment, allow yourself to feel however you feel about it, validate that letting go is genuinely hard and that you were never really taught how, and then explore what the possibilities are on the other side of releasing it. This reframe transforms decluttering from a chore into something closer to an act of self-respect, and it makes the hard moments in the process feel far more navigable.
Where to Start and What Resources Can Help
Mariah's honest suggestion is to begin with whatever feels least emotionally loaded, get a win, celebrate it, and build from there. For the spaces that carry more weight, enlisting a trusted, honest friend can make a real difference. Two shows worth looking up for inspiration are The Home Edit and Marie Kondo's Netflix series, both of which offer practical frameworks alongside the emotional side of letting go. And if things have gotten truly overwhelming, even the show Hoarders, as Mariah jokes, serves as a reminder of where avoidance ultimately leads. The point is simply to start somewhere, with one thing, and trust that the next step will reveal itself.
All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
WAVE: A Simple Tool for Riding Life’s Emotional Intensities
Some of the most useful things we ever learn come from a friend over coffee, not a textbook. In this episode, Mariah shares a powerful emotional processing tool she learned from her close friend Amy Fogarty, a nurse and yoga teacher based out of Santa Fe. The acronym is WAVE, and while it is simple enough to remember in the middle of a hard moment, its implications run deep. Mariah and Monique unpack it together, weaving in personal stories and a broader conversation about why so many of us were never taught to sit with our emotions in the first place.
Episode Highlights
What the WAVE Acronym Means and How to Use It
Why Running from Emotions Makes Them Bigger
How This Tool Applies to Parenting and Raising Emotionally Intelligent Kids
The Cultural Weight Women Carry Around Emotional Expression
Why Emotional Waves Are Also Where Growth Happens
A Challenge to Try WAVE the Next Time You Feel Flooded
What the WAVE Acronym Means and How to Use It
WAVE stands for Witness, Allow, Validate, and Explore, and it is designed to walk you through an emotionally charged moment rather than around it. You begin by simply witnessing the emotion: stepping outside of it just enough to observe that it is happening without being fully consumed by it. From there, you allow the emotion to exist without trying to push it down or rush it along. Then you validate it with genuine compassion, acknowledging that what you are feeling is real and that being human is hard. Finally, you explore: noticing where the emotion lives in your body, what it might need, and whether gentle movement, breath, or stillness could help it pass through.
Why Running from Emotions Makes Them Bigger
One of the most honest exchanges in the episode is when Mariah and Monique both admit that avoiding an emotion tends to amplify it. Mariah describes it as trying to swim past a massive wave only to get caught in the spin cycle, and references a friend who visualizes intense emotions as a dragon growing in the corner that only gets smaller once you walk over and befriend it. The episode draws a direct line between unprocessed emotion and the very real harm it causes, noting that people carrying unacknowledged pain tend to express it sideways, in relationships, in behavior, in their bodies.
How This Tool Applies to Parenting and Raising Emotionally Intelligent Kids
Monique brings up one of the episode's most resonant applications: using WAVE as a parenting framework. Rather than reflexively telling children not to cry or that something is not a big deal, the approach invites parents to let kids ride their own emotional waves. Monique reflects that by resisting the urge to stuff her children's emotions away, she raised kids who can now navigate their own intensity with maturity. Mariah echoes this by sharing how she handled her daughter's college rejection in real time, validating the disappointment fully before helping her look toward what might be a better fit.
The Cultural Weight Women Carry Around Emotional Expression
The conversation takes a candid turn when both hosts acknowledge the pressure women face to hold it all together. From media portrayals to professional settings where being "too emotional" is used as a criticism, women are conditioned to suppress rather than process. Mariah is quick to extend this observation to men as well, noting that boys are equally taught to stuff their feelings, which only compounds the problem across generations. The point is not that everyone should be emotionally demonstrative all the time, but that having a healthy tool for when intensity arrives is not weakness. It is wisdom.
Why Emotional Waves Are Also Where Growth Happens
In one of the episode's most encouraging moments, both women reflect on the relationship between hard emotional seasons and personal expansion. Mariah observes that looking back on her life, the periods of greatest growth almost always followed the most intense waves, not the calm stretches. The calm, she says, is necessary for gathering the energy you will need when the next wave arrives. Mariah also connects this to her work in weddings, noting that the most memorable moments in any experience tend to live in the highs and lows, not the perfectly uneventful middle.
A Challenge to Try WAVE the Next Time You Feel Flooded
Mariah closes the episode with a direct invitation: the next time an emotional wave catches you off guard, try working through WAVE before reaching for a distraction or a way out. A link to the full acronym breakdown will be available in the show notes so you can save it for a moment when you actually need it. The hosts encourage listeners to share how the tool lands for them, whether it helped them ride out something hard or gave them a new way to talk about emotions with their kids or partners. As Monique puts it, the time to learn to surf is before the big wave hits.
All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Rejection, Redirection & Radical Honesty: the LEAP Story Continues
When Mariah and Monique first introduced the women's networking group LEAP back in episode 23, it was a fresh idea built on a simple but powerful belief: that crossing networks could create something greater than any one circle alone. What they could not have predicted was how beautifully that story would continue. In this episode, they welcome Krista and Kristine, the two women who took LEAP's torch and are carrying it forward with fresh energy and a shared sense of purpose. The conversation is equal parts origin story, business wisdom, and a genuine love letter to what happens when women show up for each other.
Episode Highlights
How Career Pivots Can Redirect You Toward Your Calling
What Makes Women's Networking Different When It Is Done Right
Why Paying to Be in the Room Actually Matters
How to Make a Referral That Actually Lands
The Role of Radical Honesty in Strong Partnerships
How to Find LEAP and What to Expect When You Attend
How Career Pivots Can Redirect You Toward Your Calling
Both Krista and Kristine arrived at their current paths through unexpected professional transitions, and neither story is short on meaning. Krista lost a retail leadership position post-Covid, a role she had poured her identity into for years, only to be nudged by a financial advisor to consider the very industry she least expected. That conversation led her to become a licensed financial advisor and eventually VP of Retirement Solutions at North Shore Bank of Commerce in Duluth. Kristine's path ran parallel in spirit: after being let go from a company she had invested deeply in, including going back to earn her MBA, she launched Reinvent Your Hustle, built a national women's mastermind, hosted retreats, and later transitioned into real estate. For both women, what looked like a closed door opened into something far more aligned with who they actually are.
What Makes Women's Networking Different When It Is Done Right
A recurring theme in this episode is the difference between networking the way it has traditionally been done and networking in a way that actually fits how women connect. The hosts and guests all push back on the business-card-passing, competitive, transactional model that dominates many professional spaces. LEAP is designed around something different: a moveable format that rotates venues across Duluth, a curated sensory experience, and a structure that moves from community building into a signature "ask" segment at the end of each gathering. As Kristine puts it, you are one conversation away from your next opportunity, but you have to put yourself in the room first.
Why Paying to Be in the Room Actually Matters
One of the more candid moments in the episode comes when Kristine and Krista talk openly about the financial model behind LEAP. The annual membership is $347, individual events are $45, and the majority of that money flows back into the events themselves, with 10% going to charitable giving. Their point is not about the dollar amount but about the psychology of investment: when you pay to be somewhere, you show up. That skin-in-the-game principle is what keeps LEAP's membership engaged rather than a revolving door of faces who never return. The hosts also reflect on the original group's journey from founding to successfully selling the business, noting that abundance shows up in more ways than a revenue line.
How to Make a Referral That Actually Lands
Kristine walks through one of LEAP's most practical teaching moments: a step-by-step framework for making referrals that follow through. The process starts with understanding what someone needs and ends with a warm introduction that borrows your personal trust and bridges the gap between two strangers. Key steps include asking how the person prefers to be contacted, finding a genuine point of similarity to anchor the introduction, and following up within 24 hours before life gets in the way. The insight that every woman is already in sales, whether she knows it or not, reframes the discomfort many women feel around asking or advocating as something that just needs a clearer blueprint.
The Role of Radical Honesty in Strong Partnerships
What makes the Krista and Kristine partnership work, by their own description, is a mutual commitment to saying the hard thing with care. They did not come into this as lifelong best friends, which paradoxically gave them the freedom to be honest with each other from the start. Mariah connects this to what she calls "radical honesty," the practice of leading with truth while protecting the intention behind it. The conversation touches on how women are often socialized to manage other people's emotions at the expense of clear communication, and how releasing that habit, with the right partner, can become a genuine superpower in both business and friendship.
How to Find LEAP and What to Expect When You Attend
LEAP, which stands for Leaders, Entrepreneurs and Professionals, hosts approximately eight events per year in rotating Duluth-area venues. Upcoming events include a gathering at Salida's Mansion, courtesy of Heirloom Properties. The next event in May 2026 is free for first-time attendees, and the annual membership runs $347 for those who decide to commit. Each event blends open networking, a facilitated topic or speaker, small group reflection, and the signature ask segment. You can find current event details at leapduluth.com, and first-timers are encouraged to bring a friend or simply show up solo, because the format is designed to make you feel welcome either way.
All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Building Community in the North with Sara Zeleznikar of Odyssey Resorts
This week, we got to do something that always feels extra special—we had a guest in the studio. And not just any guest. We had Sara Zeleznikar, Director of Sales for Odyssey Resorts, and someone I had very intentionally “found” because I knew there was something aligned between us before we had even officially met.
What unfolded was one of those conversations that reminded us how much beauty there is in following a hunch, reaching out, and trusting that the right people really do end up in your orbit.
Sara shared about her work with Odyssey Resorts, the joy of creating meaningful guest experiences, and the heart behind 218 Days - a celebration of Northern Minnesota built around the 218 area code and all the hardy, creative, community-driven people who call this place home.
And honestly? The more we talked, the more it became clear that this wasn’t just a conversation about tourism or events. It was a conversation about identity, belonging, memory-making, and building something that helps people love where they live even more.
“Community doesn’t just happen. It gets built.”
In this episode, we cover:
02:21 — How Sara and Monique really connected
05:25 — What Sara does at Odyssey Resorts
08:41 — What is 218 Days?
13:28 — From 30 partners to 130+
16:17 — Why there’s no catch
22:34 — Building the team behind the vision
27:01 — Who Sara is outside of work
32:33 — Why rest is not wasted
Hey Heart and Soul Collective!
This episode was such a fun one for us because we got to have a guest back in the studio — and not just any guest. We sat down with Sara Zeleznikar, Director of Sales for Odyssey Resorts, and the conversation felt like one of those beautiful reminders that the right people really do find each other at the right time.
Of course, in true Monique fashion, this connection began with what we lovingly call “secret stalking.” She saw someone doing meaningful work, knew there was alignment, and decided to reach out. And honestly? We love that energy. Sara shared her side of the story too, and what came through so clearly was that this wasn’t just networking. It was one of those universe-level connections that turns into something meaningful.
What unfolded in this conversation was bigger than business. We talked about hospitality, memory-making, winter in the North, loving where you live, and what it looks like to build something that could one day become part of a region’s identity. Sara also shared the heart behind 218 Days, a growing northern Minnesota celebration centered around the 218 area code and all the magic, resilience, creativity, and community this region has to offer.
And honestly, by the end of this conversation, we were not only inspired by Sara — we were ready to start dreaming bigger right alongside her.
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All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Emotional Backpack: What Are You Carrying That Isn’t Yours?
What if the thing you keep asking for can’t arrive because your hands are already full?
Sometimes the deepest decluttering we’ll ever do has nothing to do with a closet—and everything to do with what we’re still carrying inside.
This conversation started with something that sounds simple on paper: decluttering. But the more we sat with it, the more obvious it became that this isn’t just about cleaning out a drawer or finally dealing with the pile of papers on your desk.
This is about letting go. Of attachments. Of identities. Of pain that became familiar. Of roles we’ve outgrown. Of versions of ourselves that helped us survive, but may not be meant to lead us anymore.
What unfolded between us was less of a neat conversation about “getting organized” and more of an honest one about grief, safety, stuckness, and the courage it takes to open your hand.
“You can’t receive what you’re asking for without letting go and creating space for something new.”
In this episode, we cover:
00:00 Birthday energy + why this topic matters right now
01:05 Decluttering beyond the closet: identity, energy, attachments
06:04 The “five-minute pile” and what we’re really resisting
10:31 Emotional clutter: resentments, scripts, guilt, and the need to be right
12:10 The key question: what’s holding on to me?
16:18 Trauma in the body, grief as release, and the “backpacks” we carry
36:32 The clenched fist metaphor: release → receive → move forward
Hey Heart and Soul Collective!
What if the thing you’re asking for can’t fully arrive… because your hands are still full? Decluttering isn’t just about closets—it’s about letting go of what you’re clenching so you can actually receive what’s next.
Today on Heart & Soul, Monique and I went somewhere tender and real: decluttering your life—not just the physical stuff, but the emotional baggage, the spiritual noise, the energetic tethers, and even the identities we’ve outgrown.
We started by naming the obvious truth: letting go sounds simple in theory, but it’s messy under the hood. Because sometimes what we’re holding on to isn’t just “a thing”… it’s a story. A version of ourselves built in survival. A pain that’s become familiar. A should we’ve carried so long it feels like a personality trait.
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All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
From Stuck to Expansive: The People Who Change Your World
What if the reason you feel stuck isn’t because you’re doing it wrong… but because you’re surrounded by the same size thinking? Sometimes the fastest way forward is simply getting close to someone who reminds you what’s possible.
Today we’re talking about something we’ve both been swirling in lately, and honestly—it’s such a simple concept, but it can change everything: expanders.
Not the kind you put on your jeans (although… we did laugh about that). We mean expanders as in people—the ones who come into your life and stretch your worldview, your confidence, your curiosity, your goals… your whole sense of what’s available to you.
And the reason we love the word expansion is because growth almost implies you already know where you’re going. Expansion is different. Expansion is that “whoa, I didn’t even know this existed” feeling. It’s next level. It’s quantum. It’s like your life suddenly has more doors than you thought were even in the building.
“Growth implies you know where you’re going. Expansion is quantum.”
In this episode, we cover:
00:00 – What Are Expanders, Really?
04:05 – Manifestation & Proximity
07:38 – Signs You’re Near an Expander
12:11 – Friendship, Partnership & Expansion
16:40 – The Restaurant Story (Magic Happens Here)
19:19 – Impact & Becoming an Expander
22:26 – Introducing The Expansion Circle
26:42 – The Practical Exercise
Hey Heart and Soul Collective!
Lately, we’ve been talking a lot about manifestation, growth, and what it actually takes to move beyond feeling stuck. And one word kept surfacing for me: expanders.
Not just mentors. Not just teachers. Not just friends. But people—sometimes temporary, sometimes lifelong—who stretch your vision of what’s possible.
From the moment I met Monique years ago, I knew she was one for me. I didn’t have the word for it then. I just knew: I want her in my life. And over time, we’ve expanded each other in ways we couldn’t have predicted.
And recently, as we’ve launched our new Expansion Circle inside the Heart & Soul community, this concept has felt more alive than ever.
Because here’s what we’re realizing: Expansion isn’t accidental. It’s intentional.
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All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wealth Consciousness: Money, Scarcity, and the Freedom to Choose
What if wealth isn’t something you chase… but something you become?
What if the shift you’ve been waiting for is less about “more money” and more about more consciousness?
The start of this year has felt… aggressive. Like the world has been loud, intense, and honestly a little wild. And yet—we’ve also felt this flicker of optimism, because we’ve been laying down plans, putting structure in place, and coming back to the work that always brings me home: reprogramming the way we think.
So today, we’re doing something a little different. We’re talking about a book that has been foundational for me—like, truly mind-pattern changing. It’s called A Happy Pocket Full of Money, and yes… the title sounds cute. But don’t let that fool you. This book is dense in the best way. It’s one of those “read two pages and sit with it for a week” kind of books. And we both have a history of returning to the books that actually change us—again and again—until we embody them.
“You don’t force abundance. You align with it.”
In this episode, we cover:
00:00 — A wild start to the year
02:36 — The book that keeps coming back
05:59 — Why abundance still feels hard, even when you ‘know better’
07:24 — Wealth consciousness vs. scarcity thinking
11:39 — Why community makes abundance easier
15:24 — How desire, belief, and reality actually work together
19:34 — Money as a tool for choice and freedom
22:25 — Why wealth can be the difference between staying and leaving
26:10 — Gratitude, giving, and remembering we live in an abundant universe
Hey Heart and Soul Collective!
Money has a way of quietly holding our fears, our stories, and our sense of safety — even when we don’t want it to. This episode isn’t about chasing money… it’s about reclaiming our relationship with abundance.
This conversation came from a place that feels very real for us right now. The start of the year has felt aggressive — heavy in ways we didn’t fully anticipate — and yet, underneath it, there’s this quiet optimism stirring. A sense that something is shifting.
We found ourselves returning to a book that has shaped our thinking before: A Happy Pocket Full of Money. Not because it’s trendy or flashy, but because it keeps meeting us where we are — especially when scarcity creeps in. We wanted to slow down, reread it together, and talk honestly about what wealth consciousness actually looks like in real life, especially as women navigating fear, systems, and responsibility.
This episode is part book talk, part personal reckoning, and part invitation — to stop playing small and start embodying abundance as a state of being.
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All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
2026 is the Year of Alignment: What to Release, What to Plant, What to Move Forward
This week, with my scratchy “sultry sick-day voice” (as Monique called it), we dove into something I’ve been swirling in lately: decision-making. Not the big glamorous kind—marriage, jobs, cities—but the quieter ones that shape our internal landscape. The ones we postpone because they feel too tangled, too emotional, or too easy to get wrong.
And as we sat together, I realized how much of my own life has been shaped by the moments I avoided choosing. The four years I stayed in a relationship I couldn’t fully commit to. The way clarity finally met me the moment I decided to let go. And the way, on the other side of every choice, there’s this incredible lightness—like opening the door that was waiting for me the whole time.
Monique echoed it beautifully: decision-making isn’t just a moment. It’s a skill. A process. A relationship with your intuition. And sometimes, the most powerful thing we can do is say out loud, “I decide.”
“Design your own life instead of letting your life be designed for you.”
In this episode, we cover:
00:00 - Happy New Year + “Hello, future you”
02:24 - Numerology: 9-year cycles + why 2026 is a “Year One”
04:12 - Snake → Horse energy: shedding, then movement and alignment
05:52 - Mariah’s ChatGPT birth chart deep dive (and why it felt so seen)
11:54 - The pressure of New Year’s + the practice of “begin again”
15:32 - Why quarterly reflections (90 days) actually work
26:19 - Intentions: “I want to feel juicy” + less scarcity, less drama
37:00 - Co-creation + getting back in the driver’s seat
Hey Heart and Soul Collective!
Have you ever felt that weird pressure at the start of a new year—like you’re supposed to wake up on January 1st and suddenly be a brand-new person? Because Monique and I are here at the very beginning of 2026 to lovingly call BS on that… and to offer a way better option: choose again.
This is our first episode of 2026, and honestly, it felt so good to be back in the studio together after the holiday swirl. We’ve been doing this podcast for almost three years now (wild), and every time we sit down, it feels like coming home—to ourselves, to each other, and to the bigger conversations we know women need.
So today, we wanted to kick off the year by sharing a handful of rituals and reflection tools that we actually use—things that help us lift our heads up, look around, and ask: Am I awake at the wheel of my own life… or am I running on autopilot?
We talk numerology (hello, nine-year cycles), astrology (Year of the Snake → Year of the Horse energy), and the surprisingly deep way ChatGPT can help you reflect when you prompt it with intention. But mostly? We talk about what it means to actively participate in your life—not just react to it.
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All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
How to Make Decisions When You Feel Stuck
There’s something deceptively “basic” about decisions—until you’re in the swirl, stuck between options, and suddenly your brain feels like a browser with 47 tabs open. In this episode, we talk about why not deciding is still a decision, and how limbo quietly drains your energy, your clarity, and your forward momentum. We share real stories (from relationships to Facebook Marketplace “manifesting portals”) that show how powerful it can be to simply choose—because a decision opens the next door.
We also break decision-making down into a six-part process you can actually use: identify what you’re truly deciding, gather data, consider alternatives, weigh both logic and emotion, choose and act, then review what happened so you can learn. Along the way, we name the real stuff that influences our choices—fear, old patterns, external voices “chirping” in our ears, authority figures, and the difference between intuition and avoidance. If you’ve been stuck, overthinking, or waiting for certainty before you move, let this be your reminder: the magic isn’t in knowing everything—it’s in choosing a direction and letting clarity meet you on the other side.
“Limbo is the real purgatory—your heart can’t move if your feet are in two different timelines.”
In this episode, we cover:
00:00 — The swirl of indecision Mariah shares her personal story of staying in limbo for years.
04:09 — The energy of choosing Why a single decision can open the next right door.
05:51 — Monique’s split-second marriage decision Following intuition without hesitation.
07:55 — What are you not deciding? How mental clutter forms when decisions are avoided.
15:55 — The role of emotions, biases, and group dynamics Wedding planning, family influence, and how external voices cloud intuition.
27:44 — Fear vs. intuition Learning to distinguish survival instinct from inner knowing.
34:12 — Real-time processing Monique vulnerably works through a business decision she’s been avoiding.
41:41 — The six components of a healthy decision A practical framework anyone can use.
43:49 — The beauty of making mistakes Why imperfect choices teach us exactly what we need to know.
Learn More about Heather
Website: HezzieMae.com
Podcast: Startin’ Some Ripples
Hey Heart and Soul Collective!
This week, with my scratchy “sultry sick-day voice” (as Monique called it), we dove into something I’ve been swirling in lately: decision-making. Not the big glamorous kind—marriage, jobs, cities—but the quieter ones that shape our internal landscape. The ones we postpone because they feel too tangled, too emotional, or too easy to get wrong.
And as we sat together, I realized how much of my own life has been shaped by the moments I avoided choosing. The four years I stayed in a relationship I couldn’t fully commit to. The way clarity finally met me the moment I decided to let go. And the way, on the other side of every choice, there’s this incredible lightness—like opening the door that was waiting for me the whole time.
Monique echoed it beautifully: decision-making isn’t just a moment. It’s a skill. A process. A relationship with your intuition. And sometimes, the most powerful thing we can do is say out loud, “I decide.”
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All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Choosing Joy Over Chaos: The Art of Becoming with Heather Wilde
Have you ever had someone show up in your life so many times in one week that you just know the universe is up to something? That’s how Heather Wilde arrived for both of us—first as a name we kept hearing, then as a woman whose presence felt like she’d always been in our circle. In this episode, we talk with Heather about the big, holy leap she took from a stable teaching career into the vulnerable world of memoir, boutique publishing, and soul-led art… all guided by intuition, spirit, and a deep desire to help others tell their stories.
Heather shares how a hospice patient’s final wish to become a published author quietly launched Hesi Mae, her publishing house, and how her work has grown to include a monthly art club, a heart-centered podcast, and an upcoming book connected to George Floyd’s legacy. We explore what it means to follow the breadcrumbs, to regulate our nervous systems instead of living on chaos and cortisol, and to embrace a season of “wintering” before the next big chapter unfolds. This conversation is an invitation to trust your timing, honor your story, and believe that joy—and creative work that feels like you—isn’t just possible, it’s your birthright.
“I realized I could be all the parts of myself—and the world wouldn’t fall apart.”
In this episode, we cover:
00:00 – Meeting Heather, the human who arrived like a ripple
02:28 – The moment her name kept showing up everywhere
06:10 – Leaving teaching + the intuitive cliff dive
08:58 – The hospice book that changed everything
13:21 – Claiming the Hesi May identity
22:18 – Scarcity, abundance, and the courage to expand
31:23 – Regulating the nervous system + the power of doing nothing
48:29 – The birth of the Monthly Art Club
56:09 – The George Floyd book: a friendship, a legacy
01:04:22 – Wintering and the season of rest
01:07:03 – Why her podcast, Starting Some Ripples, matters
Learn More about Heather
Website: HezzieMae.com
Podcast: Startin’ Some Ripples
Hey Heart and Soul Collective!
There are people who slip quietly into your life, and then there are the ones who arrive like a ripple you didn’t see coming—soft at first, but undeniable. A name you hear once, then twice, then suddenly ten times in a single week. A person who makes you wonder, how the heck did I not know you before now!
We met Heather Wilde through different portals—art, board work, book conversations, spirit nudges—but the moment she stepped into our orbit, she never stepped back out. And honestly? We wouldn’t have it any other way.
Heather isn’t just a publisher. She isn’t just an artist. She isn’t just a creator or a healer or a woman building something brave from scratch. She’s all those things PLUS is the kind of human who brings both storm and stillness. Ferocity and softness. “Female badass energy,” as we said in the episode… times ten.
And in this conversation, she let us into the season she’s in right now: the wintering, the unraveling, the rebuilding, the quiet rebellion of choosing joy and nervous system peace over the dopamine chaos we all know too well.
Her story is a reminder of what happens when you leap before the net appears—and how sometimes the leap is the first moment you realize you even deserved a net at all.
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All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Becoming the Woman My Inner Child Always Imagined
There are moments in life when everything suddenly comes into focus—when you realize the thing you’re doing right now was quietly choosing you long before you ever chose it. Sitting in the hot seat this week, I (Mariah) felt that truth settle into my bones. Josephine’s Bridal wasn’t just a business idea; it was the adult expression of the girl who once spent hours dressing her Barbies and dreaming in color. Somehow, without force or striving, I stepped into a life that feels like home.
But this season has also invited a new kind of surrender—the kind where the medicine isn’t hustle or clarity or even confidence, but spaciousness. I’m learning to embrace the “open door” era of motherhood, where the girls are becoming themselves and I’m becoming someone new too. I’m learning to rest without an agenda, to trust the timing of my life, and to let joy—not pressure—be the compass. And maybe that’s the real heart of it all: the dream wasn’t just the business… it was the ease that finally found me.
“It wasn’t the wrong timing. This business came together exactly when I was ready.”
In this episode, we cover:
00:00 — Sitting in the Hot Seat
02:00 — One Year of Josephine’s Bridal
04:50 — Week-by-Week Living vs. Wedding Industry Timelines
07:15 — The Power of Experience Over Sales
11:00 — Multigenerational Moments & Unreasonable Hospitality
13:40 — The Barbie Dreamhouse Revelation
16:00 — Finding the Zone of Genius
20:10 — What’s Next for the Business
22:35 — The Full-Circle Manifestation of Hayley Paige
26:10 — The Open Door Phase
32:00 — The Opposite Is the Medicine
37:00 — Allowing Spacious Rest
41:40 — What I Need from My People
Hey Heart and Soul Collective!
Have you ever had a moment where your entire life suddenly makes sense—like every detour, every heartbreak, every risk, every strange childhood obsession finally clicks into place? That’s what happened to me this year… and it caught me completely off guard.
This episode was my turn in the hot seat—something we make all our Heart & Soul Mastermind women do every single month. And honestly? It felt both vulnerable and energizing to share what’s been unfolding in my world.
This year has been one of the biggest shifts I’ve experienced in a long time. I hit the one-year anniversary of Josephine’s Bridal—my latest business venture—and what started as a whisper of a dream has become one of the most aligned, ease-filled experiences of my life. I’ve never felt so sure about something, and that alone has been both grounding and exhilarating.
But the past year hasn’t just been about dresses and business. It’s been about identity, motherhood transitions, rediscovery, and the wildly unexpected realization that… I am literally living out my childhood Barbie Dreamhouse fantasy. Yep. That happened.
And because nothing in my life unfolds in one tidy little theme, I’ve also been sitting with a deeper lesson—the idea that sometimes the medicine for your burnout, overwhelm, or stress is hidden in its opposite. And for me? That opposite looks like doing absolutely nothing. No timeframes. No expectations. Just open space.
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All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Stop Earning it and Start Remembering: A Conversation on Worth
This episode was born out of dozens of conversations—inside our masterminds, in coaching calls, and late-night heart-to-hearts over tea—where the same theme kept surfacing again and again: worth.
Not worth as a number in your bank account. Not the kind you prove through achievements or people-pleasing. The deep kind—the kind that’s interwoven into who you are.
We realized we couldn’t not talk about this anymore. Because both of us have wrestled with worth in our own ways—financially, professionally, spiritually—and every time we do the inner work, we see how universal it is. So today’s conversation is part honesty, part healing, and part gentle reminder: you were born worthy.
“You don’t have to earn it. You have to remember that you have it.”
In this episode, we cover:
03:14 — How the conversation on worth began
04:00 — The connection between money, fear, and worthiness
05:30 — How society chips away at our self-worth
08:11 — Perfectionism, people-pleasing, and the illusion of achievement
13:05 — The subconscious stories that keep us stuck
17:15 — The practice of neutrality and contentment
22:20 — Counterfeit worth vs. authentic worth
26:09 — The simple, radical truth: you are enough
29:18 — Journal reflections and practical ways to reclaim your worth
33:18 — A special invitation to the 2026 Heart & Soul Mastermind
Hey Heart and Soul Collective!
What if you stopped trying to earn your worth—and simply remembered that you already have it?
This conversation has been stirring in both of our hearts for months. It’s one of those themes that kept weaving its way into every mastermind, coaching call, and late-night heart-to-heart. Everywhere we looked, women were quietly wrestling with the same feeling: Am I enough?
It started with an article I (Mariah) sent to Monique last year—something about self-worth and authenticity—but back then, it just wasn’t the right time to unpack it. Now, after a year of witnessing so many women question their value, their success, their “enoughness,” we knew it was time.
So today, we’re diving deep into what it means to reclaim your worth—not because you earned it, achieved it, or proved it, but because you were born with it.
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All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
From Survival to Somatics: Redefining Empowerment in Photography
We took a tiny summer pause (thank you for loving our replays 🫶) and it just made coming back to the studio that much sweeter. Today’s guest is close to my heart—someone I met when she was a teenager working in my wedding business and who I’ve watched grow into a grounded, principled entrepreneur and artist: Michaela Rai.
Michaela is an embodiment-focused photographer (somatic-informed) who builds safety around perception long before she ever picks up the camera. She’s also a writer, speaker, and the creator of a collaborative business space in Duluth’s Spirit Valley. Her story winds through fundamentalist roots, health crises, survival, somatic therapy, and a tender homecoming to body and intuition—often with Lake Superior as teacher and mirror. This episode is about what happens when we stop hustling for approval and start honoring our nervous systems.
“Closed doors weren’t failure—they were direction.”
In this episode, we cover:
00:00 Back from hiatus & why this episode matters
00:50 Meet Michaela: embodiment-focused photography & redefining “empowerment”
05:52 Boudoir, safety, and shifting the process away from performance
11:11 Growing up in high-control religion & learning to trust the body
17:10 Health crisis, abuse, and the turning point into somatic therapy
24:28 Falling in love with Spirit Valley & the vision for a collective space
27:01 Buying the building off-market: clarity, criteria, and tenants who fit
31:36 Intuition in entrepreneurship: limits, tolerances, and saying no
37:26 Lake Superior as teacher: plunges, presence, and embodiment circles
40:43 Near-surface fine art & meditative water films—why the water saves us
Connect with Michaela
Photography & writing: https://whatwesawstories.com
Embodiment journaling circles & speaking inquiries: via her site and Instagram
If this conversation met you where you are, share it with a friend who’s learning to trust their own timing.
Hey Heart and Soul Collective!
This week’s guest, Michaela Rai, is someone near and dear to our hearts—an artist, a mother, and an entrepreneur who’s turned her personal journey of pain, faith, and resilience into a powerful creative practice.
Mariah has known Michaela since she was a teenager, back when she worked in Mariah’s wedding business. Even then, she carried a quiet confidence beyond her years—a grace that hinted at the woman she’d one day become.
Now, Michaela is a somatic-informed photographer and founder of What We Saw Stories, creating safe spaces for women to rediscover comfort, safety, and power in their own bodies. Her story weaves together creativity, trauma healing, faith deconstruction, entrepreneurship, and motherhood into one breathtaking narrative of becoming.
This conversation is an invitation—to look at perception as a sacred act.
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All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Let's Talk About Libido, Hormones and Reclaiming Your Energy with Cat and Dr. Chris Delp
This week on Heart & Soul, we sat down with our friends, neighbors, and total health rockstars, Kat and Dr. Chris Delp—the duo behind Duluth Med Spa, known for their fearless honesty, hilarious TikToks, and truly life-changing work in women’s health and hormone replacement therapy.
Kat is a former nurse turned med spa founder with a personal story of reclaiming her joy and sanity through hormone health. Chris is her husband, a longtime ER physician, and now her partner in business—aka the one who handles the science behind all the magic.
Together, they’re shaking the table when it comes to how we treat menopause, libido, testosterone, perimenopause (yes, it's a thing), and the very real mental and emotional toll of hormone imbalance. And they’re doing it with laughter, wisdom, and zero shame.
“Gone are the days when we suffer in silence. You don’t need to wait until you’re falling apart to get support.”
In this episode, we cover:
0:00 – All the libido! Meet Kat & Chris
4:10 – From nursing to med spa: Kat’s bold career leap
8:45 – What no one tells you about perimenopause
12:30 – Why “You’ll get through it” is not an acceptable answer
17:15 – The impact of estrogen on dementia, UTIs, and long-term health
22:05 – Libido, intimacy, and the real power of testosterone
30:40 – How personalized HRT works (and what to expect)
36:30 – Introducing: MyDixadril™ (yes, really)
47:00 – Insurance woes, advocacy, and preparing to pay for your own health
53:00 – Why women need to start planning for their quality of life now
Find Cat and Chris:
Learn more about hormone therapy, sexual health, and holistic wellness at https://duluthmedspa.com/.
Hey Heart and Soul Collective!
What if the things we’ve been told to just “get through” as women—hot flashes, mood swings, low libido, brain fog—aren’t simply parts of getting older… but symptoms of something that can be treated, healed, and even reversed?
This week’s episode cracked open a conversation that every woman (and man) needs to hear. We sat down with Cat and Dr. Chris Delp, the powerhouse couple behind Duluth Med Spa, to talk about all things women’s health, hormones, and sexual wellness—and let’s just say, nothing was off the table.
Monique met Cat years ago as her next-door neighbor (the kind with perfect hair, Texas charm, and three boys—just like her!). From neighborhood playdates to building thriving businesses, Cat and Chris have become local advocates for education, empowerment, and laughter in the world of health and longevity.
Together, they’re on a mission to destigmatize conversations around menopause, libido, and aging—bringing both expertise and humor (yes, there’s even a product called “Mydixadril”) to the discussion.
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All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com
Join the mastermind program: www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Laugh First, Build Trust, Change Minds w/ Danielle Thralow
What does it really take to live authentically?
For Danielle, the answer has been equal parts grit, reinvention, and courage. From farm life to the early days of internet business, from carrying $50,000 of debt to negotiating million-dollar deals, from hiding her truth to making people laugh on stage—her journey is nothing short of remarkable.
I first met Danielle as my neighbor, over a glass of wine and a lot of big questions. She was instantly someone I wanted to know more deeply. Her story is one of resilience and honesty—one that invites all of us to ask: what would it look like to choose authenticity, even when it costs you?
“Your needs can be different from your neighbors needs, which could be business related. Yours could be personal, yours could be your kids. Who the heck knows? But that's what we wanted to foster is that openness to be able to speak about whatever it is, whatever you might need.”
In this episode, we cover:
04:01 Growing up on a farm in Illinois: danger, freedom, and hard lessons
07:11 Launching a vintage clothing store, going into debt, and finding persistence
17:09 The first online sunglass sale and the magic of the early internet
29:01 Negotiating domain names and growing into a million-dollar business
44:33 Beginning her transition and navigating family, identity, and bravery
47:16 Finding comedy as a way to control the narrative and build trust
01:02:02 Leadership lessons: why diversity makes teams stronger
See Danielle live:
Danielle is always performing, and here’s where you can catch her soon:
November 8 – Headlining at Wussow’s, Duluth, MN
November 22 – Honest Dog Books, Bayfield, WI
Find her work, comedy, and upcoming shows at www.xaos.com.
Hey Heart and Soul Collective!
What does it take to build a life that feels like your own? Sometimes it looks like chasing opportunity, sometimes it looks like falling flat on your face, and sometimes it’s as simple—and as complicated—as choosing to live authentically.
Today, I had the joy of sitting down with my neighbor and friend, Danielle. We first met over wine and deep conversation, and I knew instantly she was someone special—someone who could ask hard questions, laugh easily, and live with a kind of fearlessness I deeply admire.
Her story is wild, brave, and layered. From growing up on a farm in Illinois to launching a sunglass empire on the early internet, from carrying $50,000 of debt at 18% interest to negotiating million-dollar deals in New York, and then stepping fully into her truth as a transgender woman and comedian—Danielle has lived more chapters than most of us could imagine.
And yet, the thread running through it all is simple: persistence, humor, and the courage to be real.
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All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: https://www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/
Join the mastermind program: https://www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mastermind 101: Structure, Soul, and the Hot Seat
Have you ever asked yourself the question: what the heck is a mastermind?
Years ago in the 1920’s, Napoleon Hill describes “the mastermind principle: two or more people actively engaged in the pursuit of a definite purpose with a positive mental attitude constitute an unbeatable force.”
On today's episode, we are going to unpack what is a mastermind - something that Monique and Mariah know very well. It is the background of this entire podcast and how we got here today. A “mastermind” seems to be a buzz word that has been showing up more and more, but what does it really mean?
Monique and Mariah explore their experiences uncovering the true meaning of a mastermind through their work with other female entrepreneurs creating a community of support and motivational leadership.
“Your needs can be different from your neighbors needs, which could be business related. Yours could be personal, yours could be your kids. Who the heck knows? But that's what we wanted to foster is that openness to be able to speak about whatever it is, whatever you might need.”
In this episode, we cover:
00:00 – Summer rest + why we’re sharing “best-of” episodes
01:24 – What’s a mastermind, really?
04:00 – How Mariah + Monique found each other in a Duluth mastermind
07:20 – When business needs turn into personal breakthroughs
10:45 – Creating Heart & Soul: blending leadership with humanity
13:30 – The structure: retreats, small groups, and skin in the game
20:00 – Why the “hot seat” is the secret sauce
Links from the Episode:
Think and Grow Rick by Napoleon Hill
The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks
Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagoski
Hey Heart and Soul Collective!
In this episode we break down our journey from joining masterminds to now hosting our very own!
With over 35+ years of combined experience as an entrepreneurs and business leaders, Mariah McKechnie and Monique Forcer believe in the power of a Mastermind group to propel futures and harness dreams.
A gathering of like minded individuals with skilled facilitators allows the individuals to rise together towards greater goals. Mariah and Monique experienced this magic first hand, as they met participating in a Mastermind group and became cherished friends, business partners, confidantes, travel buddies, and each other’s cheerleaders in business and life.
Now, it is time to share the power of this experience with other like-minded women entrepreneurs and business leaders, using a thought-fully crafted framework and leveraging the individual talents and the strengths of the Mastermind members.
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All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: https://www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/
Join the mastermind program: https://www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Power of Authentic Leadership with Katrina Pierson
In this inspiring episode, Katrina Pearson, the dynamic founder of Growth by Design, joins hosts Mariah and Monique for an insightful conversation that promises to uplift and empower.
Katrina’s journey from fundraising and local theater arts to becoming an influential social media presence and yoga enthusiast is nothing short of remarkable. Her commitment to nurturing potential and fostering growth makes her an exemplary beacon of leadership and empowerment. Listeners will be taken on a journey through Katrina’s entrepreneurial beginnings, from selling raspberries by the roadside to the impactful initiatives of Growth by Design.
The episode underscores the magic of collaboration and the importance of recognizing and harnessing potential, especially among women. Katrina elaborates on events like She Leads, highlighting how aligning resources and talents can ignite transformational journeys.
Her personal anecdotes and professional insights emphasize the significance of authenticity and self-belief in overcoming challenges and achieving true leadership. Join Mariah, Monique, and Katrina in celebrating this enriching dialogue filled with practical tips and inspiring tales.
“You are here, and that’s okay, but you can be here. You have what it takes already on the inside.” Katrina Pearson
In this episode, we discuss:
(00:00) Empowering Women Through Life's Challenges
(07:11) Entrepreneurship and Empowering Women
(20:52) Empowering Presence in Leadership
(27:39) Discovering Authentic Self and Connection
(31:58) Facing Fear on the Stage
(41:25) Transformative Growth in Entrepreneurship
(53:42) Finding the Right Fit for Success
Hey Heart & Soul Collective!
We are beyond thrilled to share our latest episode featuring the incredible Katrina Pierson, founder of Growth by Design!
Join us for an inspiring conversation that traces Katrina's remarkable journey from selling raspberries by the roadside to becoming a powerhouse in leadership development and entrepreneurship.
In this episode, Katrina shares heartfelt stories and invaluable insights on:
✨ The magic of authentic leadership and collaboration
✨ The transformative power of embracing one’s true self
✨ Overcoming societal pressures and finding your unique identity
✨ Her exciting new television series project inspired by personal experiences
Katrina’s dedication to nurturing potential and fostering growth, particularly among women, shines through as she recounts her path from local theater arts to becoming an influential social media presence and yoga enthusiast.
Her personal anecdotes, including the emotional highs and lows of theater auditions, resonate deeply and offer practical tips for overcoming challenges.
We also delve into the She Leads event, which Katrina helped grow into a multi-city initiative aimed at empowering women entrepreneurs. Her journey underscores the importance of recognizing and harnessing potential, and the beauty of collaboration and shared ideas.
Whether you're looking for inspiration, practical advice, or just a heartfelt story of resilience and self-discovery, this episode is for you. 🌟
www.designgrowlead.com (the She Leads conference information is also available here)
insta: katrina_lynn_pierson
facebook: Katrina Lynn (also Growth by Design)
Also find me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katrina-pierson86/
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All Heart & Soul's Details:
Website: https://www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/
Join the mastermind program: https://www.heartandsoulmastermind.com/heartsoul
Say hi to Mariah on Instagram: @mariahmckechnie
Say hi to Monique on Instagram: @moniqueforcier
Leave a review on the Apple Podcast app and the Spotify app: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️