Chef Z started cooking as a child, and grew up working in over 20 restaurants in every role you can think of. Today, she is a non-profit founder, private chef to NFL players, and a popular contestant on televison’s “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Chopped.”

Her story of improvising in the kitchen - and in life - holds several important lessons for those of us who don’t want to be labeled too specifically in one career field, or who struggle with how to label themselves professionally.

Author and Coach Darcy Eikenberg believes that many people can make a cool change without blowing up their current situation. Her new book: "Red Cape Rescue: Save Your Career Without Leaving Your Job" is available now at your favorite bookseller. In this episode, we discuss ways to take control of your job situation and how to think about jumpstarting your career right where you are.

The workplace has changed dramatically over the last hundred years or so. Today, for many people, it’s less about securing food, water and shelter, and more about finding work that is meaningful and aligned with how they’re wired. In this episode, Ben Ortlip discusses why the workplace has changed and how we can apply a simple method to better understand how we’re wired, and therefore what sort of work might be best suited for us.

Filmmaker Shuja Moore is on a mission to reduce violent crime and gun violence in inner cities. After being convicted of a killing and spending 12 years in the prison system, he has an inside perspective on what it takes to make major life changes. In this episode, he talks about what led to his life of crime on the streets, the tragic event that ended a life, and about the series of experiences that helped him change his perspective and put him on a new path forward.

His current film project, Walkies, shares stories of people who have committed serious crimes and made sweeping life changes to improve their lives and the lives of people around them.

Follow him on Instagram at @shujamoore.

Sasha Purpura left a successful career in the technology industry, working for tech giants such as Nokia and Lotus, to become a leader in ensuring food sustainability and accessibility for all. Under her leadership, Food For Free has grown dramatically, increasing food distribution from ~700k in 2012 to 4.7 million in 2020. She is also co-founder of Plato’s Harvest Organic Farm and serves on the Board of Directors of the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce and Cambridge Nonprofit Coalition.

In this episode, Chuck and Sasha talk about how the fear of missing out (FOMO) can influence our behavior, how goal setting can both help and hinder, and how she pivoted from a career in technology to integrate all parts of her life in a new role.

The website is www.foodforfree.org and her email is director@foodforfree.org.

This marks the one-year anniversary of the podcast! Join me for 15 minutes as I share a few key learnings and insights from the past year, and let you know what’s in store in the coming year of Cool Change.

In this episode, I break down the meaning of “Cool,” and the meaning of “Change” as I’ve grown to understand from my guests over the past 12 months.

Dr. Gilles LaMarche is the Vice President of University Advancement and Enrollment for Life University, home to the largest single campus chiropractic college in the world. He is also an accomplished author, speaker, and executive coach. I’ll also add that Dr. LaMarche is one of the most energetic, positive, and generous people I’ve ever met.

In this episode, Dr. LaMarche tells us why he credits what he knows about chiropractic with saving his life after a terminal diagnosis about 20 years ago.

In this episode of Cool Change Podcast, Diane Hessan talks about the role of serendipity in life and how to create more of it. We also discuss her upcoming book “Our Common Ground: Insights From Four Years of Listening to American Voters.”

I enjoyed talking with Jane Turner, Executive Director of the Atlanta Children’s Museum, about her journey to leading one of the city’s cultural centerpieces. We had an honest conversation about her deciding to leave the workforce to spend more time as a mom and the identity challenges that brought with it. We talked about how getting involved in theater showed up in how she creates engaging environments at her current post and how taking risks has produced all the good things that have happened along her career journey.

We also talked about how learning and literacy fueled by play is true not only for children but also for us adults.

Listen in on our conversation for a boost of inspiration and insight from one of Atlanta’s most well-known and respected leaders.

David Risher is the CEO and co-founder of Worldreader. His early appetite for reading, coupled with his technology background, encouraged him to launch an organization that now reaches more than 13 million readers across 46 countries with content in 52 languages. Worldreader helps children everywhere access the books they need to improve their lives and live their potential.

Before Worldreader, David left his executive post at Microsoft to join Jeff Bezos in building Amazon’s first billion in revenue as Senior Vice President of Retail. When he left after just five years, Bezos wrote a personal tribute thanking David for his leadership and hid it on Amazon’s home page with a secret link.

In our conversation, we talk about how romantic and functional mindsets play into decision making and career choices, what happens when we see the potential in people by default, and the one critical life skill that travel affords us, and much more.

To learn more about David and his legacy, check out Worldreader and its influence on the promotion of literacy and transformational leadership.

When Sadie Lincoln and her husband, Chris, decided to start fitness company barre3, it was borne from a sense in which popular fitness models weren’t working for her, despite doing all the things and having all the stuff. Now with more than 175 locations in three countries, she is seeking to redefine fitness by helping people be “balanced in their body” and “empowered from within.”

This is a podcast about change, so I sat down with Sadie to learn about how she thinks about it… it’s one of the core ideas she’s espoused in her business from Day 1.

You can hear more about Sadie’s very unconventional early life and upbringing in podcasts like How I Built This and The Rich Roll Podcast, and I encourage you to do that.

In our conversation, we park on a few key themes and insights to see what makes her such an inspirational leader to thousands of people.

If you’ve ever considered starting your own business without leaving your day job, listen to how Katy Mallory partnered with her mom to do just that… all while parenting three young children.

With millions in revenue after only a few short years, and following a successful appearance on ABC Television’s Shark Tank, Katy talks with me about launching SlumberPod, the must-have device for parents who travel with babies and toddlers.

Cool Change Podcast listeners save $20 off their purchase of a SlumberPod purchased from the company website using discount code COOLCHANGE20.

A quick-hit of the most interesting and insightful lessons learned from my full-length interview with Pete Gumbrecht (ep.30). If you haven’t heard it yet, go back and listen to that one first! You’ll be glad you did.

What sailing 28,000 miles on his boat in the middle of his career taught consultant Pete Gumbrecht about life, change, value, and adventure.

My favorite leader, Rilla Delorier, discusses the importance of businesses having a soul and a story beyond the financials, the impact of fearless leadership, appealing to your tribe, and using the skills we pick up along the way in new ways and new roles.

Our invisible, inherited scripts often govern how we show up in life. Susan Eckstein, Ironman triathlete and women’s empowerment coach, shares her insights on how to take control of the stories we tell ourselves, and how one very unconventional decision opened her eyes to a more powerful way of living. Whether you want to make major life changes or just tweak certain aspects of your daily existence, this is the episode for you.

Introducing a new mini-episode format designed to pull actionable insights from podcast interviews, featuring Rilla Delorier. The idea is to unpack the stories shared in full-length interviews so that we can apply their lessons to our own lives.

In this episode, Chuck and Rilla discuss Cool Change Podcast Episode 26 with Ashley Baer. You’ll want to listen to that episode in its entirety before listening to this one.

Ashley Baer had it all growing up — living with her parents and siblings in a loving home in a safe, exclusive community — her childhood was nearly perfect… until a tragedy changed everything.

Listen in on Ashley’s story as she describes a series of events that unfolded over many years, and how she was able to make a few key changes that not only helped her recover, but is helping many others in the process.

Follow her on Instagram: @missashleybaer

Listen to her guided meditations on Insight Timer.

Practice virtual yoga with her through Village Yoga online.

In this episode I talk with Glenn Goad, CEO of Earthlink, about finding the good in challenging circumstances, and not assuming you know what someone else is going through.

His story of losing two fathers before he graduated high school, skipping college, and how he navigated the ranks of the business world to design a life of his own choosing — educates and inspires us to be more intentional about designing our own lives.