AK26-23. Brownell Landrum, The Hero’s Playbook

June 9, 2025June 9, 2025Self Discovery Wisdom Podcast

Authors Kiss with Sara Troy and her guest Bromwell Landrum, on air from June 10th

My “why” is the “why.” All of the stories I tell get to the “why.” My first book is even titled, “Five Reasons Why Bad Things Happen.” I truly believe that getting to the “why” of any issue, whether it’s in real life or storytelling, is the path to healing and personal growth. Therefore, all my books, stories, and screenplays are about getting to the “why.”

Years ago, when someone told me, “Brownell, you’re an explorer. You’ll always be an explorer,” they were right. I consider myself an explorer of metaphysical mysteries, and love writing about them, whether fictional or factual. I’ve written over a dozen books, stories, and screenplays in both fiction and nonfiction. My latest projects are the We Meet Again trilogy, an epic reincarnation mystery about a famous couple reunited to change the world, The End: A Love Story to the Universe (my most personal story to date) about how a hilarious but dedicated team Upstairs is desperately trying to unite a couple on Earth, and The Hero’s Playbook: For the hero in all of us.

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Brownell Landrum is an author, speaker, innovator, songwriter, and explorer of metaphysical mysteries. Brownell’s motto is “I aspire to inspire.”

All of Brownell’s books, projects and businesses deliver a deeper, thought-provoking theme and message. Her writing includes novels: The We Meet Again trilogy, The End: A Love Story to the Universe series, the DUET stories tetralogy and the new Hero’s Playbook.

She has published two nonfiction books, Five Reasons Why Bad Things Happen: How to Turn Tragedies Into Triumph and Fifty Shades Deeper: Sometimes the Most Powerful Messages Come Wrapped in Surprising Packages. She has also written and illustrated two Wonderactive Books! Children’s books, Sometimes I Wonder, and This Isn’t My First Time. Brownell is also the writer of several screenplays and treatments for feature films, short films, and television, including Denouement: The Art of Letting Go, INSPIRITORS, and more. She’s also written and co-written several songs, including one featured in a 2015 film.

In addition to being the Executive Producer of the Life is a Trip podcast, Brownell is also the inventor of the patented DrawSuccess training program.

My motto is: Lose yourself in the fiction… Find yourself in the truth.

The Hero’s Playbook on Amazon

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Brownell’s We Meet Again trilogy on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com

Find all her books HERE

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Link to download Part One of “The End: A Love Story to the Universe” by Brownell Landrum for FREE

https://dl.bookfunnel.com

https://brownelllandrum.com

facebook.com/brownell.landrum.author

facebook.com/groups/lifeisatripstories

instagram.com/brownelllandrum

tiktok.com/@brownell.landrum

https://www.lifeisatrippodcast.com

lifeisatrippodcast.com/forgiveness-meditation

youtube.com/@brownell.landrum

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IG25-23. Colby Wilk is an Intuitive Wayfinder.

June 9, 2025July 3, 2025Self Discovery Wisdom Podcast

Ignite your heart and soul with Sara Troy, and her guest Colby Wilk, on air from June 10th

I am an Intuitive Guide, a Healer, a Wayfinder.

I help you find your way to who you really are and the life that has been calling.

Why I Do What I Do
I help people find their way by helping them discover who they really are and the life that actually calls to them.

Not the life they were taught to want. Not the identity they cobbled together to survive. But the one that fits like truth in the bones.

I do this work because I’ve lived the gap between how things look and how they feel. I’ve seen what it costs to stay in roles, routines, and relationships that no longer serve us. And I know the freedom—and the terror—that comes with choosing something more honest.

I guide people back to themselves. I help them untangle from old stories, outdated coping, and inherited pressure. Not so they can become someone else, but so they can finally be themselves, fully, powerfully, unapologetically.

This isn’t about self-improvement. This is self-return.
This is a reclamation.
This is liberation.

Because once you know who you really are—and what your life is asking of you—there’s no going back. And honestly, why would you want to?

That’s why I do what I do.

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Colby Wilk isn’t typical. With sharp intuition and a no-nonsense approach, he cuts through the noise to get you aligned with your soul’s true path—fast. Blending deep energy work with real-world results, Colby helps you find your path forward. Whether you’re stuck, seeking, or ready to soar, he’ll guide you to a life that feels richer, freer, and more you than ever before

While a counselor and coach, Colby recognized that there was a power beyond traditional therapeutic methods that could shift what seemed unchangeable — the very core of a person.

With compassion and humor, Colby guides podcast audiences to their own internal wisdom. Listeners emerge from the podcast more confident and equipped to live fully.

What Colby offers is not a miracle, although at times it is miraculous.

FREE GIFT FOR LISTENERS
The First Step to Finding Your Way – a short, powerful practice to help people reconnect with their truth and move forward with clarity.
https://colbywilk.com/the-first-secret-to-finding-your-way

To learn more about Colby and the work he gets to do:

https://colbywilk.com

https://www.youtube.com/c/ColbyWilk
Personel facebook.com/colby.wilk
Business facebook.com/p/Colby-Wilk-Wayfinder-

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All of our shows and interviews are made possible through your generous donations. If you found value in this episode, please consider supporting us her e with a contribution and a subscription. Thank you for listening. We also invite you to support the upcoming book Our Forgotten Seniors, an anthology and help bring this vital book into greater awareness.

C25-19. Brenda Coffee, Maya Blue…

May 12, 2025May 11, 2025Self Discovery Wisdom Podcast

Choose Positive Living with Sara Troy and her guest Brenda Coffee, on air from May 13th

It was a fairy tale until it wasn’t…

For a long time, that’s what successful businesswoman Brenda Coffee told herself whenever she dared to look back on her twenties and thirties. In Maya Blue: A Memoir of Survival, She Brenda opens up about the life she once lived—and all the secrecy, madness, trauma, abuse, and danger that came with it.

Brenda details her years married to Philip Ray, the genius who conceived and developed the first desktop computer terminal, followed by the microprocessor and the first personal computer. Their infamous and isolated home in San Antonio, Texas was known as the “Spy House on the Hill” for its scandalous history of harboring Nazis spies. It was in the basement of their historic home where Philip began spending every waking moment working on his self-destructive “project,” making cocaine from scratch — becoming addicted to it in the process.

Motivated by the rush and the rewards, Philip lived large and he took bold risks, and Brenda was on board with almost anything he wanted, whether it was adventurous, dangerous, sexual, or illegal.

After ten years of thrills and close calls, she began to question her blind loyalty when her husband seized on the idea of making real cocaine from scratch, and before long, their lives took a terrifying turn.

Philip Ray also created the first smokeless cigarette — Philip and Brenda were watched and threatened by the Big Six tobacco companies and/or the federal government for endangering their major revenue source. It was Brenda who coined the terms vape and vaping.

The sobering reality — after losing his battle with lung cancer, Philip left her with mountains of debt and a daunting fight to preserve the groundbreaking public company she helped him start.

Brenda embarked on a solo trip to Belize to reclaim the pieces of herself she’d surrendered to Philip, followed by a visit to the ruins of the ancient Maya city of Tikal—only to be forced into the jungle at gunpoint by the ruthless Guatemalan military. The United Nations estimates that between 1960 and 1996. 200,000 people were murdered, and 45,000 Los Desaparecido,s “the disappeared,” were killed by the Guatemalan military and the group that took her.

Her marriage to James Coffee, the man who made her feel safe, and his untimely death — he died unexpectedly on Christmas 2010 of cardiac arrest while out for a walk. She talks about grief and how his loss was the most difficult thing she’s experienced.

Brenda Coffee is also a breast cancer survivor, enduring 10 breast cancer surgeries and 8 rounds of chemotherapy.

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Brenda Coffee is a published writer, photographer, and filmmaker with a BA in journalism and film. An avid adventurer, dynamic speaker, and successful businesswoman, she was a managing consultant and former board member of a public company she sold to Big Pharma. Coffee is also a breast cancer survivor, having endured 10 surgeries and 8 rounds of chemotherapy.

She is the creator of two Top 10 websites, including 1010ParkPlace.com, home to her popular BRENDA’S BLOG, delivering straight-talk about finances, fashion, life, and relationships to the best-educated, wealthiest, most powerful demographic in history: women over 50. She resides in Texas.

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Writes Press/ Distribution by Simon & Schuster; May 20, 2025),

https://www.brenda-coffee.com.

https://www.facebook.com/brenda.r.coffee

https://www.instagram.com/1010parkplace/#

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brenda-coffee

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IG25-18. Michael Karassowitsch’s Architecture & Spirituality

May 5, 2025May 4, 2025Self Discovery Wisdom Podcast

Ignite Your Heart and Soul with Sara Troy and her guest Michael Karassowitsch, on air from May 6th

(The Architect is) At Two Vast Realms
The architect in practice as a being of the world and spirituality.

I am sharing an approach to making environments, built, planned and intentional, that support human aspiration and springs from the essence of that aspiration to fulfil human life for the individual and as each of our components of the role of being human fills here on earth. There is no separation between the integration of human intelligence, nature’s intelligence, and the intertwined life of anyone, humanity, the planet and beyond. The riches that we might find in that are greater than any that can be deposited in a bank. Finding that and making ourselves able to value that and whole in light of that has two sides: our inner work, which is currently called spirituality, and our outer space, which is called architecture. These are the two original siblings that derive from human consciousness.

I am sharing this because architecture is in the public sphere. On the one hand, to practice it is all about other people, so it must be communicated. On the other, I have driven forward long and hard to develop to the point where I can function at a level that is true according to what I (always already) knew intuitively, and in a way that can serve.

Taking this on in one’s life has started with small steps as we are all already on the path. How do we make it real? I would like people to better utilize their potential in making their life space more supportive of their health and aspirations in light of this. I cannot do it alone.

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I was born and raised in the Greater Vancouver area, studied at BCIT, the University of Oregon, Columbia’s GSAPP, and earned my doctorate at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. I’m licensed to practice architecture in New York State and India.

Shaped by my parents’ WWII experiences and my family’s life under Russian occupation, I spent my teens between Vancouver and Austria, drawn equally to the arts and the sea — even co-founding the Jericho Sailing Centre Association (JSCA). For 30 years, I’ve practiced rajayoga through Heartfulness, weaving spirituality into my life’s movements across North America, Europe, and India.

Early work in Vancouver led me to studies in Oregon and Columbia, and from there to Vienna, working with icons like Hans Hollein and Coop Himmelblau. My spiritual journey began alongside my architectural one. Returning to New York, I joined Ralph Appelbaum Associates, designing museums, then moved through Venice, Hamburg, Nelson, and frequent travels to India.

Twice I tried to settle; twice the call for deeper alignment pulled me onward. An invitation to the Heartfulness Research Institute in Bengaluru became my second life — a conscious choice to merge spiritual practice with architectural purpose. This work evolved into doctoral research under Dr. Elisabeth von Samsonow.

After six years teaching architecture in India, I have returned to Vancouver Island, with a mission: to evolve architecture that lives in harmony with nature, rooted in spiritual practice, biosphere stewardship, and integrated knowledge systems like yoga and v?stu.

Today, through my business ENVHA (Environments for Health and Advancement) and my Substack platform Office for Presencing Architecture (OPA), I offer low-threshold planning services and reflections on architecture’s unfolding future. Re-entering project work feels like living two lives at once — but both now guided by a unified vision.

A free two hour consultation that derives from this podcast. The client may go to my website and use a keyword that is presented at the end of the podcast to get the freebee.

www.karassowitsch.ca

michael@envha.ca

www.linkedin.com/in/karassowitsch

https://www.opa.earth

https://vit.academia.edu/MichaelKarassowitsch

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LM25-18. ELLIS HALL is “The Ambassador of Soul,”

May 5, 2025May 4, 2025Self Discovery Wisdom Podcast

“for the LOVE of Music” with Sara Troy and her guest Ellis Hall, on air from May 6th

ELLIS HALL: A LIFE IN FULL COLOUR, SOUND, AND SOUL

When word got out that a blind kid could play anything, doors opened wide. At 17, Milt Jackson of the Modern Jazz Quartet invited me to tour—Mama said no, but let me sit in when he played Boston. So I went to school by day, played clubs by night, jammed for 5,000 at Franklin Park, and soon formed The Ellis Hall Group. No label, just soul. We packed venues with “Ellisized” covers, caught J. Geils’ attention, and opened for legends like The Cars, Earth, Wind & Fire, Taj Mahal, The Temptations, and The Spinners—who once had me sub on bass mid-show.

In 1976, opening for Tower of Power changed my life. Seven shows later, Emilio Castillo asked me to join. While still in Boston, I scored film soundtracks—including a sex ed film shown in schools—and played with fellow blind musicians in Project Insight, collaborating with Tom Scott, Rob Mounsey, and The Brecker Brothers.

In ’84, I moved to L.A. to break into commercials, and just as I was boasting about the sunshine, TOP called. Two weeks later, I was onstage freezing in Minnesota. I did 300 shows a year with them, sang, played keys and guitar on the Power album (1987), and earned a Grammy nomination for “Some Days Were Meant for Rain,” which I later revived with George Whitty for our new WHAT!!!! project.

That run led to Kenny G’s Duotones—I was brought in to sing “What Does It Take” in Jr. Walker’s key. The album went 5x platinum and helped launch smooth jazz. Other milestones followed: working with the Muppets, scoring Chicken Run, writing a Michelob jingle sung by pre-fame Luther Vandross, and even performing at a Clinton inaugural ball.

Then came a moment I’ll never forget—Christmas 2001. After performing at Stevie Wonder’s benefit, Ray Charles saw me play and offered to sign me to his Crossover label. “Where the F have you been?” he said. We recorded 15 tracks together before he passed. They’ve never been released, but the experience was priceless.

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Covers have always spoken to me. George Whitty and I close our new album with “I Thank You,” honoring my roots. Even David Bowie heard my version of “Let’s Dance” and loved it.

Since then, I’ve written over 4,000 soul, gospel, blues, and pop songs. I’ve worked with Patti LaBelle, James Taylor, Toby Keith, Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, George Benson, Maurice White, George Duke, John Klemmer—you name it. I’ve sung on dozens of film soundtracks, including The Lion King 2, Shrek 2, Invincible, Bruce Almighty, and even sang Louis Armstrong’s voice in Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can.

I also created and toured two symphony shows: Ellis Hall Presents Ray, Motown and Beyond and Ellis Hall Soul Unlimited. George Whitty, a longtime fan, finally connected with me through my project manager Alec Berfeld. George sent me a tribute song for Ukraine called “Hug Me,” and I immediately heard the potential to lift it into something epic. That was the birth of WHAT!!!!.

But beyond all the gigs and glory, what fills me most is watching my four children grow and thrive, inspired by my journey. I am a vessel for the music, a soul ambassador, and after all this time, I’m still just getting started.