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Danielle Elliott Smith
Danielle Elliott Smith
  • I’m sitting down with my friend Melissa Clayton, founder & CEO of Tiny Tags—the personalized jewelry brand born at a kitchen table and now beloved by moms, worn by Meghan Markle, sold in Target stores nationwide, and (pinch-me) featured on Oprah’s Favorite Things 2025.  We talk about the quiet courage behind the milestones: bootstrapping for 15+ years, saying no to shiny objects, building a values-first team, and telling real stories of motherhood (the joyful, the messy, the holy ordinary). Melissa shares what focus actually looks like when you’re self-funded, how she course-corrected her brand to speak directly to moms and their villages, and why “hope” often sounds like one more email, one more DM, one more ask.

    EP 37 Hope, Hustle & Tiny Tags: Melissa Clayton on Building a Beloved Brand & Hitting Dream Milestones (Like Making Oprah’s Favorite Things!)

  • From Panic to Peace: Everyday Practices for Anxious Hearts with Amanda Willson

    From Panic to Peace: Everyday Practices for Anxious Hearts with Amanda Willson

  • Blake woke at 10:44 PM with pills in his lap and pain he couldn’t outrun. A joke on The Late Show made him laugh—right there, in that moment—and the plan changed. Since then, he’s walked into the world with giant foam boards and Sharpies, inviting strangers to add their names and stories. Ten years later: 522 boards and 34,766 reminders that we’re not alone.

    The Night Laughter Saved My Life: Ron Blake on PTSD, Community, & 522 Boards of Hope

  • Sam Bonizzi joins me to talk about two consecutive missed miscarriages, the hard pivot to real advocacy, and the long, ordinary work of finding her way back to hope.

    When “Try Again” Isn’t Enough: Sam Bonizzi on Missed Miscarriages, IVF & Finding Community

  • Some seasons of my life, loneliness wasn’t a passing mood—it was the air I breathed. I didn’t always call it by name, but my body did: tight chest, racing thoughts, that sense of being “with people” and still feeling alone. In this conversation, I sit down with Lucy Rose, founder of The Cost of Loneliness Project, to talk honestly about what chronic loneliness does to us—and how we can gently stitch connection back into our days.

    From Silent Suffering to Solid Support: Lucy Rose on Healing Chronic Loneliness

  • How to advocate for yourself, understand labs, and build a hopeful plan. In this episode of Hope Comes to Visit, Dr. Deb Muth joins me to talk about the gap between “you’re fine” and actually feeling well. We cover misdiagnosis in women, the difference between normal and optimal lab ranges, hormone patterns that masquerade as “just aging,” and practical ways to reduce everyday exposures. Dr. Deb also shares her personal journey from a frightening MS label to a full reversal by addressing infections, mold/mycotoxins, and toxins.

    Seen at Last with Dr. Deb Muth: Women’s Health, Functional Medicine, and Finding Answers

  • Pull up a chair and take a breath—then ask the question most of us avoid: who gets a seat at your table, and why? In this solo episode, I treat your table as a living metaphor for your energy, time, and love—and names what it takes to protect that sacred space without apology.

    Who Gets a Seat at Your Table? Curating Your Life with Clarity, Care, and Courage

  • Humor doesn’t just make us laugh—it hands us the mic. In this episode, Dr. Gina Barreca—award-winning professor, cultural critic, and bestselling author of Gina School—shows how wit turns grief into agency and outsiderhood into belonging. From losing her mother young to pioneering gender-and-humor studies, Gina traces the path where jokes become bridges and stories transform shame into connection.

    Back to School: Dr. Gina Barreca on Hope, Grief and How Laughter Gives Us the Mic

  • What if hope isn’t “it’ll be fine,” but “I can handle what comes”? That shift changed everything for Candice Suarez. In this conversation, Candice takes us inside a whirlwind season: a misread ulcer during COVID, a tongue-cancer diagnosis, surgery removing over half her tongue, a forearm graft, and weeks of radiation and chemo. She walks us through recovery’s gritty middle—managing pain, relearning to swallow, and returning to public speaking with a voice that invites the world to lean in.

    Planning in Pencil: Candice Suarez’s Life Drafting After Tongue Cancer

  • What happens when you treat curiosity like a business plan and community like your bottom line? Maxine Clark—founder of Build-A-Bear and the force behind St. Louis’s Delmar Divine—talks about creating brands that hold people, not just products. We explore the question that keeps opening doors for her: “How can I help?” and the multiplier that guides her work—1+1=100.

    Build-A-Bear, Build-A-City: Maxine Clark on Curiosity, Business & Belonging

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