Choose Positive Living with Sara Troy and her guest Edward J. Zinkiewicz (Ed), on air from September 1st
Ed sees his job as helping retirees meet the surprises, face the challenges, and learn the skills needed to thrive. Retirement is not just about how many cruises retirees can take or golf games they can play; it is about defining a new vision of purpose, creating a new supportive network, and learning to become as physically able as possible. Lately, Ed has been helping older retirees deal with the realities of downsizing and giving up driving.
Ed Zinkiewicz’s retirement didn’t start out well. His initial plan was to join his wife in the kind of retirement success she had; they had to invent a new path when her plan fell apart. Ed brings a practical, story-driven approach to retirement. After years of working with people to solve problems as a software engineer, Ed now helps retirees and pre-retirees understand and meet the real-life challenges that can appear after work ends: loss of purpose, loneliness, uncertainty, fears of aging, and concerns about independence. Ed focuses on your finding a new purpose, building a network of friends to combat lonelinC26-Edward J. Zinkiewicz (Ed)ess, and tackling the fears of aging so you can have a retirement that is vibrant, active, and meaningful.
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Sisterhood of Common Sense Lovewith Sara Troy and her guest Elle Nagy. On air from August 25th
For most of my life, I believed that success came from working harder, achieving more, and proving my worth through what I accomplished. It wasn’t until I realised that true leadership begins within that everything changed. My work is about helping women reclaim authorship of their own lives through self-leadership; not the kind that’s taught in boardrooms, but the kind that allows you to lead yourself with clarity, courage, integrity, and deep self-trust. I believe the quality of our lives is determined by the quality of our relationship with ourselves. When we consciously lead from within, our careers, relationships, health, and purpose naturally begin to reflect that inner alignment. My hope is that every woman leaves our conversation remembering that she already holds the wisdom she’s been searching for. Her work integrates psychology, identity, and nervous system regulation to help women create authentic, fulfilling lives.
Elle Nagy is a Rich Life Advisor, author of Mastering Self-LeadershipandThe Artist State, and creator of Woman Reimagined. For the past two decades she has guided ambitious women through profound identity shifts by helping them move beyond external achievement and into authentic self-leadership. Her work blends psychology, identity architecture, nervous system recalibration, and embodied feminine creation to help women create lives that feel as rich on the inside as they appear on the outside. Known for her thoughtful, challenging conversations, Elle invites women to stop waiting for life to change and instead become the conscious leader of their own lives.
Free Gift: As a thank you to Sara’s audience, I’d love to gift listeners a complimentary digital copy of my book, The Artist’s State, to continue exploring what it means to create a richer, more self-led life.
Self Discovery Wisdom is sustained by those who believe in conscious conversation. If this episode resonated with you, subscribe and, if you feel called, make a donation. Your support helps us keep amplifying voices that inspire growth, courage, and compassion. Thank you. Please join Our Forgotten Seniorsanthology and help to bring this book to awareness.
Choose Positive Living with Sara Troy and her guest Katie Eberman. On air from August 18th
After rebuilding her life following an unexpected separation, she discovered there is no single “right” path for women. Through entrepreneurship, storytelling, and resilience, she inspires women to create a life they love and a legacy that shows their children anything is possible.
After becoming a mom, I decided to become a stay-at-home mom. I kept having this pull to do more, and I started my then Virtual Assistant business with my 1 and 3 year old boys at home. In my own journey, I have had to navigate finding myself while navigating an unexpected separation from my partner of 15 years and rebuild a life that I am proud of. Through telling the stories of women entrepreneurs who inspire me, I have found courage to build a life that I love, so that I can show my kids that they can do anything that they put their mind to. My message for women is that there isn’t just one “right” path for them, and that they can choose the legacy that they leave behind.
Katie Eberman is the creative force behind Simply by Katie, a design studio that helps women entrepreneurs craft websites that feel like home and convert with ease. Having navigated the path from corporate professional to stay-at-home mom to single-mom business owner, Katie turned her pivot into purpose. Now she brings her story, her strategy, and her heart to help women step out of the exhausting social media cycle and step into a powerful digital presence that says: I’m here, I’m worthy, and I’m built to grow.
Self Discovery Wisdom is sustained by those who believe in conscious conversation. If this episode resonated with you, subscribe and, if you feel called, make a donation. Your support helps us keep amplifying voices that inspire growth, courage, and compassion. Thank you. Please join Our Forgotten Seniorsanthology and help to bring this book to awareness.
Their Story Matters with Sara Troy and her guest Giselle Roeder. On air from SEPTEMBER 1ST
Please be advised that this conversation contains difficult and graphic accounts of war, torture, rape, murder, starvation and violence against adults and children. Please listen with care and discretion.
Giselle’s Memoir developed into a trilogy. As stated in Nanaimo Magazine, “Giselle had one hell of a life.” It was impossible to fit into an ordinary book without becoming one with a thousand pages. Smiling, Giselle says, the book title could be “The Nine Lives of Gila.”
The first book, “We Don’t Talk About That,” is a riveting story of surviving WWII and its aftermath. It reads more like history rather than a memoir. It begins after WWI and outlines changes in the social makeup of many European countries, particularly post-war Germany. Unemployment and staggering inflation, where half a loaf of bread cost billions and two beers a mere one-hundred billion led to the rise of Adolf Hitler, an Austrian man. He promised work and bread and kept his promises. The following years brought an upswing in life but also carried Germany into WWII. The invasion of Eastern Germany by the Russian army brought horror with unspeakable atrocities to ordinary people. Most survivors’ attitude is “we don’t talk about that.” Part 1 of the shows with Giselle.
Gila’s life turned tragic when the fighting approached her neighbourhood. Rape, murder and hunger were part of everyday life. The Russians took her father and every 16 to 60-year-old non-disabled person to Siberia. The rest of the population, including Gila’s mother and her siblings, were evicted. They joined the trek of thousands on the road to nowhere.’ Gila was witness to gruesome acts of violence, aging her beyond her years. She barely survived diphtheria while on the road. Months later, recovering from typhoid fever, she took responsibility for her three siblings while her mother worked. Despite her interrupted schooling due to circumstances beyond her control, Gila’s determination enabled her to become a Physical Education teacher. Gila lived the first ten years of her life under the Nazis and her teenage years under communist rule. Germany’s division into East and West, with its political ramifications, forced her to escape to West Germany. Gila’s story is one of heartache, courage, pain, love, and longing for liberation.
The second book, “Flight Into The Unknown,” deals with Gila’s life in the West. She came across an ad placed by a former German man living in Canada. He looked for a new mommy for his four-year-old daughter. Intrigued, she wrote a reply, never expecting a response. A large envelope with several ‘Beautiful British Columbia’ magazines, a letter, and photographs arrived. The Canadian man’s father, a lawyer, called. “My son is not a fly-by-night. ” Gila visited the lawyer’s family. Three months later, she got ‘engaged’ by telephone. While on holiday, the lawyer and his wife organized the wedding without ever asking Gila.
Gila did not know how to disentangle herself. She left Germany seven months after answering the ad and immigrated to Vancouver, Canada. She soon realized she had made the biggest mistake of her life. Her husband used her money to pay his debts. Gila had been blinded by his well-to-do parents, thinking, ‘the apple does not fall far from the tree.’ She made the best of it and took English classes, feeling lost without mastering the language. Five months later, they moved to Winnipeg. Gila welcomed a second stepdaughter and gave birth to a son the same year. The baby kept the family together. After a bankruptcy, Gila lost her drive for life and faced suicide. She couldn’t do it because of her little boy. Her husband told her, “Their mother left the girls, and if you do that, you’ll ruin them for life.” Trials and tribulations were constant companions. After twenty years of marriage, raising the kids, and finally succeeding in her own business, the husband had an affair, leading to a nasty divorce. Gila lost everything and moved back to Vancouver, hoping to start a new life. Coming September 15th
“Set Sail for Life After 50,” the trilogy’s final book, deals with being single again and new beginnings. This book is a work in progress. To follow
Content Warning: This story contains accounts of horrific cruelty inflicted upon East German civilians. Although these painful truths need to be heard, some details may be deeply disturbing. Please listen with care.
Giselle Roeder is the author of four books: two about healthy living, followed by “Forget Me Not,” A Bouquet of Stories, Thoughts, and Memories about people who influenced her life, and last but not least, the memoir that went around the world:
“We Don’t Talk About That” – covering the riveting story of surviving WW II during her first thirty years.
Giselle sequel, writing about her life in Canada. Following her emigration to Canada in 1963, Giselle succeeded in business, was interviewed on radio stations across the country, hosted her own Television Show for 9 years, and became well-known as an international public speaker in the developing field of alternative health.
Today, she will tell us about her life under different political systems:
Ten years as a child under Nazi rule –
Ten years as a teenager growing up in Communist East Germany –
Her life as a young adult in Capitalist West Germany after she escaped from East Germany.
Giselles next show on living in East & West Germany then on to Canada
Self Discovery Wisdom is sustained by those who believe in conscious conversation. If this episode resonated with you, subscribe and, if you feel called, make a donation. Your support helps us keep amplifying voices that inspire growth, courage, and compassion. Thank you. Please join Our Forgotten Seniorsanthology and help to bring this book to awareness.
Mental Health Awareness with Sara Troy and her guest Nikolai Blinow. On air August 25th
Nikolai Blinow, LMHC. I am the creator of The Calm Hustle Method, TEDx speaker, and licensed therapist in RI & MA, with nationwide licensure coming soon.
My “why”: After years of struggling with my own burnout, inner-perfectionist, and overachiever, and the eventual discovery that I am a high-functioning neurodivergent woman with ADHD who has flown under the radar for many, many years, I’m now passionate about helping fellow ambitious women with ADHD or other types of neurodiversities embody success without the chronic stress and personal life consequences (chronic pain, autoimmune issues, stress-related health conditions, anxiety, depression, personal life challenges, the list goes on!)
I’m the daughter of an Eastern European immigrant and an American woman without a higher education who was taught that the path to success is stability and financial success. And so I developed a tendency to work hard and be a perfectionist. After a year and a half of AmeriCorps service, and obtaining my “perfect” job, I realized that the secret to being happy wasn’t creating the stability and achievement I thought I wanted. So I took a leap, went back to school to become a therapist, and eventually found my way, at aged 37, to a late-in-life high-functioning ADHD diagnosis. This explained so much about why I could never relax, why achievement felt like the secret to safety, and how I needed to heal my nervous system, to truly settle in and enjoy my success. Now, I help other ambitious women struggling with anxiety, perfectionism, and ADHD do the same.
Free monthly self-care challenges for ambitious women with anxiety, perfectionism, and ADHD who want help experiencing success without the stress:
Self Discovery Wisdom is sustained by those who believe in conscious conversation. If this episode resonated with you, subscribe and, if you feel called, make a donation. Your support helps us keep amplifying voices that inspire growth, courage, and compassion. Thank you. Please join Our Forgotten Seniorsanthology and help to bring this book to awareness.
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