For the woman who feels alone in it—whatever 'it' is.
Long-form intimate conversations with women navigating grief, starting over, reclaiming their voices, inhabiting their bodies and building community.
60+ episodes · 45–70 minutes · One guest one · One conversation · One Woman’s Story New episodes drop every other Wednesday · Listen wherever you get your podcasts
what the show is
Stories That Sparkle is a long-form interview podcast featuring women you could pass on the street and never know what they’d survived: cancer, divorce, career collapse, abuse, grief, starting over at 50 and beyond.
No panel. No hot takes. One woman, one hour, one complete story.
My studio is fully mobile, so I meet women where they are: my sunroom in Virginia, a Zoom from my desk in New York, other women’s living rooms across the country.
start here
Four episodes. Four ways in.
Episode 1: I’ll Go First
Guest: Marsha │ Origin story, perfectionism, starting over
The first story is my own. I sit down with my bestie Marsha in my sunroom to explain why this show exists: COVID, divorce and menopause hit at once. A mentor died. A corporate job ended. All my excuses disappeared. This episode sets up key themes the show returns to: starting over, voice, the village that gets you through.
Best for: new listeners who want to understand what this show is and why it matters.
Episode 2: Eileen’s Rule of 1
Guest: Eileen │ Military service, breast cancer, reinvention
Eileen was a self-described “ultimate hard charger.”Then breast cancer took her marriage, her business and her physical capacity almost at once. This is a conversation about what happens when the person who holds everything together has to let things fall apart.
Best for: anyone navigating illness, burnout, or the collapse of an identity, veterans
Episode 17: Intentional Intimacy
Guest: Addie │ Voice, asking for what you want, what silence costs
A conversation about sleeping in separate bedrooms turned into something I wasn’t prepared for, so I derailed it. When I listened back, I knew it couldn’t be released that way. I brought Addie back to re-record the second half and told her, and you, what had actually come up for me. It’s the most downloaded episode in the show’s run. I think I know why.
Best for: hearing what happens when the host stops performing and starts telling the truth.
Episode 10: The Healing Power of Community
Guest: Mandy │ Suicide loss, grief, community │
Mandy lost her mother to suicide. I didn’t soften that or rush past it. I gave the content warning with care, held the space, and asked the harder follow-up when it was needed. This is the episode where my interviewing changed most.
Best for: listeners navigating grief after traumatic loss.
the discoball tour
Four weeks. A trunk full of recording equipment (and snacks). a route from Virginia to denver and back. and a promise to go where the story is.
Almost 5,000 miles · 18 women · 15 cities · 4 weeks
In September 2025, with the idea of a plan and a route, I threw what I needed into the back of my car, mounted a camera to the dashboard, and drove from Virginia to Denver. I followed a route shaped by the women who said yes to being recorded. I stayed in the homes of women (and, once, two dudes) I knew well, regrouped alone in hotel rooms, and met women in person for the first time. I recorded in living rooms, sunrooms, kitchens and a park, and in between stops, in my car, on the side of the road and in parking lots. I ate at the hotel breakfast bar in Amarillo, got rerouted outside Boulder, and woke up by a lake surrounded by cornfields in Nebraska.
I learned what it means to be a roving interviewer: you have to trust the people you’re driving toward, and you have to trust yourself to handle whatever you find along the way and when you get there.
The tour episodes are the most sonically varied of the show. The road, the wind and the river are in the tape. Real conversations don’t always happen in quiet studios. And the tour became something I hadn’t planned: a place where my own voice found more room.
Ep. 37: Dig Through the Mountain
🪩 DISCOBALL TOUR EPISODE 🪩 RECORDED IN NEBRASKA
Guest: Tara │ Theme: Survivorship, the body, fierce love
Determined to tell her daughter Naomi’s story, Tara drove five hours across Nebraska to record this. Naomi was born at 28 weeks with a rare kidney disease and given almost no chance of survival. She defied every prediction. The moment Tara describes feeling “no fear” after holding Naomi’s finger for the first time is one of the most quietly extraordinary in the series.
Best for: anyone navigating illness or parenting under impossible circumstances, and anyone who wants to know what I mean by “I go where the story is.”
→ Listen to Episode 37: Dig Through The Mountain (Tara’s Story)
“Hella, your Stories That Sparkle tour has been an amazing journey for all of those who have been with you in person and thru the posts and podcasts. You have created an amazing community as you traveled across the country. Thank you.”
—From a reader, listener and subscriber
what we talk about
60+ episodes. Five core themes. One through-line: women claiming their voices and their lives.
Grief. Not just losing people: losing identity, career, relationship, the self you used to be.
Voice. Finding it, losing it, reclaiming it. What silence and shame cost, and what it takes to say the true thing out loud.
Reinvention & Starting Over. Women who rebuilt, at any time, for any reason. I’m interested in the messy middle, not just the arrival.
The Body. Survivorship, somatic healing, the body as truth-teller. It holds what the mind tries to outrun.
Community. Family, chosen family, and the extended village that makes healing, growth and change possible.
grief and loss · breast cancer survivorship · divorce · domestic violence · military service · mental health · somatic healing · menopause · postpartum · creative reinvention · entrepreneurship · LGBTQ+ identity · faith and spirituality · community building · women's financial independence · starting over at midlife · voice and self-expression · shame · building from scratch · and much, much more
a BIT About Me
I’ve spent thirty years working in PR, arts management, tour management and radio, always in service of other people’s stories, including co-hosting a show on East Village Radio. I launched Stories That Sparkle in 2025. I’m also a somatic practitioner at Embody & Create, and the person who’ll drive four weeks across the country to bring back something true.
never miss an episode
New episodes every other Wednesday. Follow, download, rate and review wherever you get your podcasts. In between, I write Tuesday Tidings on Substack: personal writing, free, every week.
want to work together?
I’m available as a roving host, correspondent, or branded-series interviewer, and I’m open to guest swaps and brand partnerships. The Discoball Tour is the proof of concept.
have a story to tell?
Stories That Sparkle is always looking for women with something to say. You don't have to be famous. You don't have to have a platform. You just have to be willing to share from the heart.