Pockets of Knowledge

In this thoughtful, uplifting conversation, Desiree Stanley sits down with Deborah Small, internationally recognized author, holistic healing expert, and creator of the Integrative Reprogramming Technique. Deborah shares how the "program" we absorb in our first seven years quietly runs on autopilot for the rest of our lives, and why simply becoming aware of it is the first taste of real freedom. At the heart of the conversation is a beautifully simple truth: you can only ever choose in the present moment. Not the past, not the future, only now. And that single shift in the now has the power to reshape both. Deborah shares how reframing a moment she once saw as the worst thing that ever happened, becoming a mother at 19, transformed it into one of the best, because it slowed her down and set her on the path to finding herself. Same event, new perspective, entirely different life. Deborah also speaks candidly about radical responsibility as the doorway to freedom. Drawing on growing up under apartheid in South Africa, she explains how she decided early that no one else got to assign her value, and because she did not accept it, it could not touch her the same way. Her teaching is both gentle and bold: others can hand you something, but you always get to choose whether to open it. When you take full responsibility for yourself, you stop waiting for anyone else to make you feel safe, worthy, or whole. Perhaps the most freeing message of all is this: you are worthy simply because you are here. Deborah opens up about releasing the exhausting, lifelong drive to prove herself through achievement, and discovering that her worth was never tied to any of it. If you have been waiting to feel like you have finally earned your place, this conversation is a warm reminder that you never had to. Bio: Deborah Small, a naturalized Canadian citizen born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, embarked on a personal journey over twenty years ago to discover who she really was and find her true purpose. That journey to self-empowerment began with yoga and grew into helping others heal, spanning five continents and over twenty years of practice across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas. Today, Deborah is an internationally acknowledged author and renowned expert practitioner in holistic healing. She holds qualifications as an Integrative Reprogramming Technique ('IRT') facilitator, Yoga Instructor, Nutritionist, and instructor of advanced breathing techniques for self-healing. She is also an experienced guide and facilitator of programs, workshops, and retreats, and holds a degree in psychology from the University of British Columbia. Connect with Deborah:Email: [email protected] Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube Books mentioned: The Self-Repair Toolkit by Deborah Small – Bookshop | Amazon The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer – Bookshop | Amazon The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle – Bookshop | Amazon Podcasts mentioned: Deb Talks | Purpose and Wisdom with Sara Landon | Abraham Hicks ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Enjoyed this episode? Leave a review and share it with a friend. The more we educate, inspire, and empower each other, the further this conversation goes. Questions or just want to say hi? Find me at PocketsofKnowledge.com or on Instagram @desireedstanley. Thanks for listening! This podcast is intended to educate, inspire, and empower you on your personal journey. Guests may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services mentioned. Nothing here is medical advice. Please consult a qualified health professional for any medical concerns.

Knowledge is power, and when it comes to divorce, it can also protect your future. Desiree Stanley sits down with MaKaela Carter, founder of Her Financial Restart and creator of The Divorce Team Method, who shares the hard-won wisdom she gained after a 28-year marriage ended and she found herself signing away her home and retirement in a three-hour arbitration, without truly understanding what she was agreeing to. MaKaela turned that experience into a mission: helping other women walk in prepared, supported, and clear about what they need. At the heart of the episode is MaKaela's Divorce Team Method, built around five professionals who each fill a critical gap: a divorce attorney to protect your legal rights, a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst to model your real financial future, a tax professional to reveal the after-tax value of any settlement, a real estate expert to value your home and its future equity, and a therapist to support you through the emotional rollercoaster so you're not making decisions from a place of fear or grief. Not everyone needs all five, but knowing they exist changes everything. MaKaela also shares eye-opening realities many women never see coming, like the fact that a woman's standard of living can drop by as much as 45% after a "gray divorce," roughly double the impact on men. She offers one piece of advice she wishes she'd had: you are allowed to slow down. You do not have to sign at the table. You can take a settlement number back to your financial professional, ask "will this actually work for me?", and return only when you're truly ready. She even suggests that starting with a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, before an attorney, can be a powerful first step. Perhaps the most moving thread of the conversation is MaKaela's reminder to give yourself grace. So many women carry shame for not knowing the right questions to ask, but the truth is you simply cannot know what you have never been taught. Whether you're facing divorce yourself or simply want to feel more empowered around your own finances, this conversation offers both practical tools and a deep sense of reassurance that you don't have to navigate it alone. Bio: MaKaela Carter is the founder of Her Financial Restart™ and creator of The Divorce Team Method™. After rebuilding her own life following a 28-year marriage and divorce, she became passionate about helping others avoid the mistakes she made and understand the importance of having the right team before signing life-changing divorce agreements. With a background in talent leadership and 25+ years of experience building teams and advising professionals, MaKaela brings a unique perspective on the power of having the right experts in your corner. She combines personal experience with practical tools to help women approach divorce with preparation, confidence, and a plan for their future. Connect with MaKaela: Email: [email protected] Website | Instagram | Substack | Linktree Books mentioned: Money & Divorce: The Essential Roadmap to Mastering Financial Decisions by Lili Vasileff – Bookshop Divorce & Money: Make the Best Financial Decisions During Divorce by Violet Woodhouse and Lina Guillen – Amazon Crazy Time: Surviving Divorce and Building a New Life by Abigail Trafford – Bookshop ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Enjoyed this episode? Leave a review and share it with a friend. The more we educate, inspire, and empower each other, the further this conversation goes. Questions or just want to say hi? Find me at PocketsofKnowledge.com or on Instagram @desireedstanley. Thanks for listening! This podcast is intended to educate, inspire, and empower you on your personal journey. Guests may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services mentioned. Nothing here is medical advice—I'm not a doctor. Please consult a qualified health professional for any medical concerns.

In this candid, honest conversation, Desiree Stanley sits down with Caroline Hood, certified sex therapist, licensed clinical social worker, and author of Sex Begets Sex, who brings 25 years of clinical expertise and a warm dose of humor to a topic most of us were taught to tiptoe around. Caroline makes a compelling case that desire doesn't have to disappear with age, motherhood, or the passage of time—but keeping it alive does take intention. Caroline challenges one of the most quietly damaging myths out there: that if intimacy takes effort, something must be wrong. We take pride in the work we put into our careers and our growth, yet we've been taught that desire should just fall from the sky. She reframes intention as the very thing that creates anticipation, connection, and joy, and helps couples see that planning for intimacy isn't a sign of a broken relationship, but of a prioritized one. Caroline also speaks to something many women feel but rarely say out loud: that they've never truly given themselves permission to see their own pleasure and desire as valid. Cultural messages about the "selfless mother" run deep, and even today's self-care conversations tend to leave desire out entirely. Reclaiming this part of yourself starts with a mindset shift—one that's invisible to everyone else but changes everything. The conversation also dives into the real foundation of intimacy: communication, and how it belongs outside the bedroom as much as in it. Caroline offers warm, practical starting points, from building a shared vocabulary to leading with loving longing rather than criticism. Whether you're in a long-term partnership or simply curious about reclaiming this part of yourself, this honest and empowering conversation is one you won't want to miss. (Please note: this episode is intended for adult listeners and includes frank discussion of sex, desire, and intimacy.) Bio: Caroline Hood is a certified sex therapist, licensed clinical social worker, writer, and executive leader exploring the intersection of desire, intimacy, motherhood, identity, and long-term love. With more than 25 years of experience working at the intersection of relationships, trauma, addiction, mental health, and resilience, Caroline brings a rare combination of clinical expertise and lived experience to conversations about sexuality and partnership. She holds a BA in Psychology from Columbia University, an MSW from USC, and an executive leadership certificate from Harvard Kennedy School. Caroline is the author of the forthcoming book Sex Begets Sex: Reclaiming Desire as an Act of Female Empowerment, a candid exploration of why desire does not inevitably disappear in long-term relationships—and how women can reclaim agency, play, pleasure, and connection in real life. A mother of three and former nonprofit CEO, Caroline writes and speaks openly about the realities many women experience but rarely discuss publicly: cognitive overload, resentment, body image, erotic identity, midlife, and sustaining intimacy amid the pressures of adulthood. Connect with Caroline: Website | Instagram | YouTube | Substack Books mentioned: Sex Begets Sex by Caroline Hood (forthcoming) Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski, Ph.D. – Bookshop | Amazon Mama Sex by Sarah Forbes – Bookshop | Amazon ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Enjoyed this episode? Leave a review and share it with a friend. The more we educate, inspire, and empower each other, the further this conversation goes. Questions or just want to say hi? Find me at PocketsofKnowledge.com or on Instagram @desireedstanley. Thanks for listening! This podcast is intended to educate, inspire, and empower you on your personal journey. Guests may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services mentioned. Nothing here is medical advice—I'm not a doctor. Please consult a qualified health professional for any medical concerns.

In this thoughtful, encouraging conversation, Desiree Stanley sits down with Nami Prakash, scientist, former corporate leader, author, and founder of The Mind Quotient, who is on a mission to make human skill development as essential as anything we learn in a classroom. Nami pushes back on the term "soft skills," and makes a compelling case that these are actually the essential skills that make everything else in life possible. Nami opens up about her own journey, including being diagnosed with complex PTSD, and the realization that reshaped her work: she had to reach crisis moments before she finally learned skills like self-awareness, self-worth, and confidence. Her powerful question became, "It's not fair that someone should have to hit a crisis to learn how to navigate life. What if we taught these skills earlier?" One of the most practical takeaways is the difference between managing your time and managing your energy. Like many of us, Nami assumed they were the same thing, until she learned that time is finite but energy is renewable. When people ask how she does so much, her answer is simple: she manages her energy, not just her clock. Whether you're navigating big transitions or simply craving more calm and presence in your daily life, this conversation is a warm reminder that the most important skills are ones we can still learn. Bio: Nami Prakash is a former corporate leader, leadership coach, author, and founder of The Mind Quotient™, a company on a mission to make Human Skill Development as essential as academic learning. After more than 20 years leading teams in healthcare communications, Nami noticed something surprising. The biggest challenges people faced weren't technical. They were human. Emotional regulation. Self-awareness. Communication. Conflict. Boundaries. The skills that shape how we lead, work, and navigate life were rarely taught, yet they influence everything. But this work didn't begin in the boardroom. With a background in science and a deeply personal journey of healing and self-discovery, Nami became fascinated by what actually creates lasting change. As she developed these skills herself, she began bringing them into the teams she led and watched people unlock confidence, resilience, stronger relationships, and greater capacity, not just at work, but in their everyday lives. That experience inspired her to leave corporate leadership and create The Mind Quotient™, where she teaches the practical human skills we were never taught through corporate programs, workshops, MQ Circles™, and executive coaching. She is also the author of Healing with Courage and the founder of MQPress™, a publishing company dedicated to advancing the field of Human Skill Development. Today, Nami is leading a movement to ensure that future generations are taught the human skills they need to navigate life with greater awareness, resilience, and intention. Connect with Nami: Website | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | YouTube Books mentioned: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho – Bookshop | Amazon The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak – Bookshop | Amazon Wayne Dyer Books – Amazon The Mountain Is You by Brianna Wiest – Amazon Podcasts mentioned: The Hell Yes Entrepreneur with Becca Pike ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Enjoyed this episode? Leave a review and share it with a friend. The more we educate, inspire, and empower each other, the further this conversation goes. Questions or just want to say hi? Find me at PocketsofKnowledge.com or on Instagram @desireedstanley. Thanks for listening! This podcast is intended to educate, inspire, and empower you on your personal journey. Guests may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services mentioned. Nothing here is medical advice—I'm not a doctor. Please consult a qualified health professional for any medical concerns.

In this warm, energizing conversation, Desiree Stanley sits down with Jennifer Kornoely, creator of She Reads She Leads, an online collaborative book group where women read, discuss, and grow together. Jennifer shares how losing her corporate job and six-figure salary as a single mom led her to start her own business, teach herself everything through audiobooks, and eventually discover the one ingredient that was missing all along: community. Jennifer explains the powerful difference between passive and active learning, and why the real magic isn't in the book itself but in the conversation afterward. When you know you're going to discuss what you read, ask questions, and hear other perspectives, your brain absorbs and retains so much more. It's why reading in isolation so often falls flat, and why gathering with other women to talk it through changes everything—turning "boring business stuff" into genuine insight and connection. The conversation also digs into money, mindset, and the stories women tell themselves. She makes a heartfelt case for women reading personal finance as the foundation, having honest conversations about real dollar amounts, and setting their future selves up for security rather than settling for less. Whether you're an entrepreneur winging it and craving a sounding board, or simply someone who wants to feed your mind something better than another hour of doomscrolling, this conversation is full of encouragement and practical wisdom. As Jennifer puts it, eat the chicken and leave the bones: take what serves you, leave what doesn't, and never underestimate the power of learning alongside other women. Bio: Ten years ago, Jennifer Kornoely lost a $100,000-a-year corporate job for reasons that had nothing to do with her performance. She was thriving as a single mother who finally felt like she'd made it when a supervisor who felt threatened by capable women let her go with no warning. The experience lit a fire in her: she decided no one would ever control her income again, and she started her own business. Leveraging her photography hobby, Jennifer built a real estate photography business. She loved the freedom, but quickly hit a wall—she didn't know how to network, market herself, handle taxes, or run a business at all. Her turning point came when she assisted another photographer who seemed to have it all figured out. The answer? Business audiobooks and mastermind groups. Jennifer traded her commute music for Audible and Libby, devoured books on finance and wealth building, and grew her business toward six figures. But consuming content alone left her isolated and struggling to retain what she learned. That gap became the seed for She Reads She Leads, the online book club community she launched just over a year ago. Built on the idea that we retain far more when we discuss, apply, and teach what we read, it's less a book club and more a "mini mastermind" for women. Jennifer's deeper mission is giving women access to knowledge, community, and financial literacy—because when women have those things, they gain the freedom, security, and choice to build the lives they actually want. Connect with Jennifer: Website | Facebook | Facebook Group | Instagram | LinkedIn Books mentioned: The Financial Feminist by Tori Dunlap – Bookshop | Amazon Podcasts mentioned: Financial Feminist with Tori Dunlap ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Enjoyed this episode? Leave a review and share it with a friend. The more we educate, inspire, and empower each other, the further this conversation goes. Questions or just want to say hi? Find me at PocketsofKnowledge.com or on Instagram @desireedstanley. Thanks for listening! This podcast is intended to educate, inspire, and empower you on your personal journey. Guests may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services mentioned. Nothing here is medical advice—I'm not a doctor. Please consult a qualified health professional for any medical concerns.