This one's for everyone who's ever felt like they had to choose between being authentic and being professional.

Jean Evans is a Networking Architect, but this conversation isn't about collecting business cards or LinkedIn strategies. It's about something much more essential: how authentic connection becomes life resourcing, especially for women rebuilding their worlds.

After being made redundant while breastfeeding one child with two toddlers around her feet, Jean discovered that learning to network wasn't just about business—it was about discovering who she was as a human being.

We dive deep into the wounds that keep us isolated—the fear of being seen as needy, the toxic self-reliance, imposter syndrome, perfectionism.

This conversation challenges everything we think we know about networking, success and the dangerous myth that we can, or should, do it all alone.

Key Themes:

• Networking as a learnable skill
• Vulnerability as permission
• Transactional networking or life resourcing?
• What's costing you connections & opportunities
• The mentality that leads to burnout, everytime
• The courage equation
• Your TRUE credentials

If this episode reminded you that none of us are supposed to do life alone, we'd love if you'd share it with someone who needs to hear that message.

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Connect with Jean:

Websites

Ignite Business Network

Jean's Newsletter, + free Top 20 Tips to Rock Your Week.

Jean's Networking Blog

Podcasts

Ignite Talks

NetworkMe

Socials

Linkedin

Instagram

Facebook

X.com

YouTube

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Subscribe to Amanda's ⁠ ⁠SUBSTACK for companion articles, tools & resources.

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Music Credit:⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Holes⁠⁠⁠⁠ By Bradley James Grace.

Amanda met Michelle at a professional speaking event, where she stood before a room & declared: "Every single person has something to offer. Everybody has value." Then she challenged everyone to prove it, right there, in real time.

In this conversation, Amanda unpacks with her, the inner panic that quickly ensued.

Michelle, aka THE PEOPLE READER, is an expert in human behaviour, president of the Professional Speaking Association and a woman who, on Dec 26th 2004, was caught in one of the deadliest natural disasters in history, the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

But what she witnessed in the aftermath wasn't devastation, it was revelation and it led to her life's work.

Tune in to hear:

• Why self-reliance doesn’t work & what the alternative is

• What happened when Amanda's ego "threw a tantrum" & quit on her recovery.

• Michelle's take on the key to our collective evolution.

• The results of Amanda's driving forces analysis (a tool developed by Michelle) & a powerful challenge to us all.

  
  

  Connect with Michelle:

  LINKEDIN

  FACEBOOK

  WEBSITE

  THE PEOPLE READER

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  Subscribe to Amanda's SUBSTACK for companion articles, tools & resources.

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  Music Credit:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Holes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ By Bradley James Grace.

What happens when you stop being a "square peg trying to fit in a round hole"?

Interior architect Stephanie O'Sullivan spent over a decade in corporate creative roles, masking her neuro-divergent nature and slowly having "anything good about it sucked away."

Then came the breakthrough that changed everything and led to a complete reimagining of what it means to be creative, authentic and unapologetically yourself.

This Conversation Is Essential Because:

It's about reclaiming your creative intelligence in a world that profits from your conformity.

It shows how breakdown can become breakthrough when you stop fighting who you are.

It proves that your "difficult" nature might be exactly what the world needs.

And because sometimes the most radical act is simply being unapologetically yourself.

Stephanie's Links:

SOSCOUT

INSTAGRAM

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Subscribe to Amanda's⁠ ⁠SUBSTACK for companion article, tools & resources.

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Music Credit:⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Holes⁠⁠⁠⁠ By Bradley James Grace.

What happens when a "big voice" changes the trajectory of your entire life?

In 1988, Emer Halpenny was holding her eight-week-old son, about to take him home from his foster family, when something extraordinary happened.

A voice, clear as day—landed on her: "What do you think you're doing? You know this is not for you. Put that baby down."

Thirty-six years later, that baby found her again.

This isn't just an adoption story—it's about the moment when you know something so deeply that no amount of logic can override it.

Here's what will astound you: This monumental decision didn't break Emer—it became her superpower. She doesn't agonize over decisions anymore. When facing anything hard, she remembers: I made the hardest decision possible. Everything else is manageable.

WATCH EMER'S TED TALK HERE

Connect with Emer Website / LinkedIn

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Subscribe on⁠ ⁠Substack⁠⁠ for creative tools & resources.

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Music Credit:⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Holes⁠⁠⁠⁠ By Bradley James Grace.

Sometimes the most life-changing revelations come from the most ordinary moments.

In this deeply personal solo episode, Amanda shares how adopting her new dog Molly six weeks ago led to a stunning realisation that "turned everything I had been insisting was true on its head."

What You'll Discover:

• The profound difference between control & love.
• How our past traumas can distort self-care.
• The importance of self-knowledge.

Plus, a question that will change how you think about your needs.

This Episode Will Stay With You Because:

• It's about catching yourself in a lie that doesn't serve you.
• It reveals how the very behaviors we resist can transform us with the right intention.
• Sometimes an ordinary moment can reveal to us what years of therapy couldn't.

Ready to go deeper? Join Amanda's SUBSTACK for free content and upgrade for €7/month to access deeper "do the work" invitations that accompany each episode.

Listen now—because some lies we tell ourselves are too costly to keep believing.

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What if 'me time' wasn’t a luxury, but a lifeline?

This episode is an invitation to step out of productivity culture and into something deeper: the quiet, profound magic of art journaling and creativity as a way home to yourself.

Whether you’re in recovery, in transition, or just feeling disconnected , this one is for the part of you that knows there’s more wisdom inside, but can’t quite get to it with words alone.

Learn:
✨ The two kinds of art & the difference between them.
✨ How creativity can support your healing journey
✨ The power of symbols, dreams & the parts of you that know the way.

This is a love letter to your creative self; the one that doesn’t need to perform, sell, or impress.
Just create. Just feel. Just come home.

If you’ve been waiting for a sign to pick up your journal, paints, or pastels… this might be it.

🎧 Listen now and subscribe to our SUBSTACK for bonus content.

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Links:

🎙 We're Sober, Now What Podcast

🎙 Enneagram Episode

🎨 Creative Comeback Kit

✍🏼 Sketchbook Revival

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Music Credit:⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Holes⁠⁠⁠⁠ By Bradley James Grace.

Amanda brings listeners along for a real-time walk through the Irish countryside with her newly adopted dog, Molly.

Recorded on a winding bóithrín in Co Tipperary, this intimate 'walk and talk' offers an immersive sensory experience, reflections on grief and healing and an invitation to reconnect with the natural world; and ourselves.

Tune in to hear:
🌿 How a simple walk became a metaphor for healing after loss
🌿 The serendipitous story behind meeting Molly
🌿 Why reclaiming movement can be an act of self-trust, not self-control
🌿 A 60-second sensory meditation you can experience right alongside Amanda.
🌿 A moment with a stranger that changed everything

If you’ve ever needed a reminder that healing is messy, brave, and deeply beautiful; this episode is for you.

Come walk with Amanda and maybe find your own little slice of happiness along the way.

Subscribe on⁠ ⁠SUBSTACK for BONUS tools & resources.

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Music Credit:⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Holes⁠⁠⁠⁠ By Bradley James Grace.

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Shout Out To:

fitragamuffin Jamie Carbaugh | Weight-Inclusive Fitness Coach

Amanda & Mel reunite after a break & unpack the emotional & practical realities of re-entering 'normal life' after time off.

Whether you're coming back from a vacation, a creative break, or just a disrupted schedule, this episode explores why re-entry can feel so rough & how to handle it with self-compassion.

They talk about:

• Why everything feels harder without routine

• Holidaying with a brain that never switches off

• Does everyone just say “fuck-it” on holidays?

• Getting 'back on track' with self awareness & compassion

• Shifting to “gray area” versus all or nothing solutions

Whether you're managing your recovery or just trying to hold it together when life gets chaotic, this is a real, relatable & hopeful episode about navigating “re-entry” with more grace and less shame.

👉 Have you ever struggled with falling apart after a holiday or break? What anchors help you stay tethered? We’d love to hear.

Subscribe for free on⁠ SUBSTACK⁠⁠ for bonus tools & resources.

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Music Credit:⁠⁠⁠ ⁠Holes⁠⁠⁠⁠ By Bradley James Grace.