Hope Comes to Visit

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This episode includes honest discussion of addiction and legal consequences.

What does recovery look like when the compulsion won’t let go? In this conversation, I am privileged to sit with Kelli Bauer, who lives with kleptomania—an often-hidden addiction—and has paid steep personal and legal costs. This conversation is brave and vulnerable. We talk about the difference between “shoplifting” and a clinical compulsion, how shame and secrecy keep us sick, what (actually) helps day-to-day, and why, for Kelli, hope looks like refusing to give up—one hour, one errand...

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Gentle note: we talk honestly about grief and child loss—please listen with care and kindness for yourself.

What does healing look like when the unthinkable happens? In this episode, I’m sitting with Melissa Hull—author, speaker, coach, fierce advocate, and Drew’s mom. After losing her son in a tragic drowning, Melissa has worked to choose a different ending for herself: love in motion, faith as a daily practice, grief as a path that can still lead to purpose.

In this conversation, we get real...

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Gentle heads-up: mentions of grief and loss.

If you’re new—welcome, I am so grateful you are here. If you’re back again for hope to visit—welcome home.
In this episode, I'm delighted to be chatting with K.T. Jay—the Amazon bestselling author of Inkbound Inheritance—to talk about imagination, healing through story, and the courage it takes to begin. We explore how grief shapes us, why stories can steady us, and what it’s really like to indie-publish a debut that lands on...

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I love conversations that make you want to show up for people. This is one of them.

Today’s guest is Danni Eickenhorst, the heartbeat behind Hustle Hospitality and some of St. Louis’ most beloved spots: Steve’s Hot Dogs, Steve’s Meltdown, The Fountain on Locust, and The Stardust Room.

Danni and I talk about what it really means to be “a neighborhood place”: paying people with dignity, creating spaces where everyone belongs, and...

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If you’re new—welcome. If you’re back—welcome home. Today 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 moth...

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If you’re new here—welcome. If you’re back—welcome home. Today I’m sitting with my dear friend of 12+ years, Amanda Willson, a life coach and anxiety expert who has walked this road and now teaches the rest of us how to find steadier ground. This isn’t theory; it’s real tools for real life.

We talk about simple practices that change the moment you’re in: 4-7-8 breathing to settle your nervous system, the 5-4-3-2-1 senses reset to get you out o...

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A gentle heads-up: In this conversation, we name some hard things — including suicide and sexual assault. If that’s tender for you today, please listen with care, skip ahead, or come back when you’re ready. If you need support in the US, call or text 988.

Sometimes hope is a laugh you didn’t expect.
 
At 10:44 PM on November 2, 2015, Ron “Blake” Blake was ready to end his life. A split-second laugh during The Late Show with Stephen Colbert inter...

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Hope isn’t the absence of fear—it’s the light that keeps you moving when fear won’t leave.
In this tender, no-fluff conversation, I sit with Sam Bonizzi, co-author of The Losses We Keep, as she shares how two missed miscarriages upended everything: the shock of hard news in an ultrasound room, the moment she fired a clinic that wouldn’t test her partner, and how she built a real support web—REI + acupuncture + therapy + a circle of women who “got it.”

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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.

We weave together science and story: cortisol and inflammation, yes—but also...

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If you’ve ever been told “it’s normal” when you knew it wasn’t—this episode is for you. I’m joined by Dr. Deb Muth—naturopathic doctor, functional medicine expert, and founder of Serenity Health Care Center—to talk about being seen at last: how to advocate for yourself, ask better questions, and get to root causes instead of living on prescriptions that never explain the “why.”

We dig into:

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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.

We get practical fast. You’ll hear clear, compassionate scripts for late-night crisis friendships, boundary-pushing relatives, and overflowing workloads, plus a four-part framework to sort who stays, who stands, and who Duration: 00:14:58

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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.

We dig into how many women use humor differently—not as a weapon, but as an invitation—and why inclusive laughter thrives in everyday places (yes, even the women’s restroom). G...

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Content note: candid discussion of cancer diagnosis, surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and recovery.

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 invit...

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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.

We don’t run the play-by-play; we sit with the pivots: listening to children, translating insight into action, and building places where families can a...

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Content note: pregnancy loss and medical trauma.

Entrepreneur and dad Richie Treadway joins me to talk about becoming a parent later in life, the moment everything fell apart—and the choice to keep going. 

We don’t relive every detail; we sit with what it took to advocate, to grieve, and to try again. 

Richie names the kind of love that “changes the way your heart works,” and defines hope as the resilience to not quit against all odds. 

If you’re s...

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Actress Bellamy Young, from the hit TV shows Scandal and Brilliant Minds, joins Danielle to share the story behind her advocacy for liver disease—and the caregiving journey with her dad that began when he was diagnosed with cirrhosis and later hepatic encephalopathy (HE). Bellamy speaks candidly about shame, stigma, and the moment everything changed: realizing liver disease can affect the brain, memory, personality, and daily life.

Together, we talk about the hypervigilance of caregiving, why community matters as much as treatment, and the essential practice of as...

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“I was doing what everybody told me to do… he can make eye contact and have a conversation—he can’t be autistic.”

Today, certified Master Life Coach and writer Karen Kossow gets real about the three-year journey to her son’s diagnosis—and what it means to parent neurodivergent kids while discovering your own neurodivergence. As part of the sandwich generation, Karen is supporting her children, noticing patterns in older family members, and learning herself—often all at once.

This conversation is practical and deeply compassionate. Karen reframes se...

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What happens when a woman’s pain is dismissed at one of the most vulnerable moments of her life?

For Jenny Hoffman, it nearly cost her everything. Just hours after giving birth to her daughter, Jenny hemorrhaged internally while medical staff brushed off her repeated cries for help. “I kept saying it really hurt,” she remembers, as Motrin was offered while she was losing over two liters of blood.

In this raw and powerful conversation, Jenny and I uncover the haunting parallels in our own birth experiences — moments...

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For Brian Franklin, loss came in waves — the suicide of a childhood friend, a colon cancer scare, the discovery of a benign brain tumor, his wife’s breast cancer diagnosis, and the sudden heart attack of his closest confidant. At times, the weight of it all was nearly unbearable.

Yet Brian’s story isn’t defined by tragedy. It’s defined by his remarkable capacity to reinvent. Music became his therapy, his guitar a lifeline when words failed. A bowling league offered unexpected silliness and community. And eventually, he and his wi...

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The road through addiction and recovery is rarely straight — and for Jamie Felton, it’s been marked by both unimaginable loss and profound resilience.

By age 24, Jamie had accumulated three DUIs and found herself walking home from a blackout at 3:30 AM. That was the breaking point that led her to seek help — and on November 7, 2006, she began a journey that has kept her sober for nearly 19 years.

But sobriety didn’t shield her from heartbreak. Jamie’s sons, Jack and Sam, both struggled with substance use. She p...

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What if the most difficult chapters of your life were actually preparing you for unexpected gifts?

In this moving episode of Hope Comes to Visit, award-winning writer Maria de los Angeles shares how caring for her parents with Alzheimer’s taught her the very resilience, humility, and compassion she would later need to face her own esophageal cancer diagnosis.

Maria speaks candidly about the sacred and heartbreaking realities of caregiving — from changing her parents’ diapers to sitting with the grief of loss. “It was the most beautiful and hard...

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Grief doesn’t end with goodbye. For many, it’s followed by a quiet, exhausting weight no one talks about — the paperwork, the phone calls, the endless “to-do’s” that come when your heart has already been broken.

When Adria Ferrier lost her mother after a five-year battle with cancer, she not only faced the deep ache of missing her, but also the overwhelming burden of navigating the practical aftermath. From transferring accounts to hours on hold with companies that had no clear process, she found herself spending precious time and ene...

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“Hope has to evolve and change.”

These powerful words shaped the extraordinary journey of Martha Sharkey, Founder & CEO of Today is a Good Day — a nonprofit creating a lifeline for families navigating the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

When Martha and her husband, Paul, welcomed identical twin daughters at just 23 weeks, their world turned upside down. Claire weighed barely over a pound. Mary, only slightly more. Two weeks later, they faced the devastating loss of Mary, while continuing to fight alongside Claire through 103 days in intensive care before...

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What would your life look like if you used every single second with intention?

This week on Hope Comes to Visit, I’m joined by Donald L. Dowridge Jr., a man who embodies resilience, purpose, and what it truly means to live with hope.

Donald’s early childhood was filled with pain most couldn’t imagine — abuse, neglect, and words no child should ever hear. But instead of allowing his past to define him, Donald chose to carve out a future rooted in service, courage, and determination.

Aft...

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What if the darkest moments of your life were actually preparing you for your greatest transformation?

In this week’s episode of Hope Comes to Visit, I sit down with Valerie Rowekamp, whose story is a breathtaking testament to resilience, audacity, and the power of refusing to give up on hope.

Valerie’s journey began in crisis: at just 22 weeks pregnant, her water broke, and doctors offered little optimism for her son, Rex, who was also facing multiple heart defects. Against all medical odds, Valerie carried him for...

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What happens when life breaks open in every direction? For Aimee Kandrac, it all came crashing down in a six-week period — empty nesting, a cancer scare, the end of her 23-year marriage, and selling her dream home. But from that breaking point came something extraordinary: “Amy 2.0.”

In this episode of Hope Comes to Visit, Aimee shares how she rebuilt her life with new boundaries, deeper self-knowledge, and a joy her own friends and family had never seen before. As CEO and co-founder of What Friends Do, Aimee also brings hard-won wisdom about...

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“You were the most chosen.”

These are the words Miranda Ward spoke to her son after he learned he was conceived through sexual assault. In this week’s episode of Hope Comes to Visit, Miranda shares her extraordinary journey from a moment of unthinkable violation to building a life defined by fierce love, protection, and healing.

With courage, strategy, and an unshakable belief in her intuition, Miranda navigated a system that was never designed to protect her — enduring years of legal battles and threats while raising her son as a...

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What happens when you set out on an 86-mile journey with no athletic background, no clear “why,” and only three days to complete it?

For Ian Hawkins — Speaking and Storytelling Coach at Netflix — the answer was far more than sore feet.

In this conversation, Ian shares his whirlwind trek along the historic Pilgrim’s Way from London to Canterbury Cathedral — a pilgrimage that most take a week to complete, but he compressed into just 72 hours. Along the trail, blistered and battling rain, Ian unexpectedly found himself face-to-face with unproce...

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Grief shatters us in ways we never imagine possible until we're standing in its wreckage. 

When Marty died suddenly, almost 2 years ago, on August 13, 2023, I found myself navigating the rawest form of pain while thousands of miles away in Greece with my children. The frantic journey home, the 17 days by his hospital bed, and the impossible decision to let him go fundamentally altered who I am.

Grief doesn't follow stages or timelines. 

Grief needs witnesses, not wisdom; space, not sermons.

Through this experience, I've discovered th...

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What happens when your world breaks open… and you find a way to keep breathing anyway?

In this deeply moving episode of Hope Comes to Visit, Danielle sits down with writer, speaker, and bold belief builder Kim Moldofsky, whose life changed forever after the loss of her son Isaac to suicide five years ago. Together, they explore the layered terrain of grief, motherhood, identity, and rebuilding — not with false positivity, but with grace, honesty, and deep reverence for what it means to be human.

Kim shar...

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What happens when the life you asked for arrives — and it’s not what you wanted, but exactly what your soul needed?

In this episode, I sit down with Holly Plont — a devoted mother of two, wife to her best friend, and a woman who found herself standing in the middle of the dream life she had worked so hard to build… only to realize it didn’t feel like home.

We talk about the courage it takes to pivot, to listen when life nudges (or shoves) you in a n...

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What happens when the dream doesn't look the way you thought it would — but turns out even better?

In this episode of Hope Comes to Visit, Danielle Elliott Smith sits down with former award-winning journalist and communications executive Marla Cichowski, who shares her powerful journey to becoming a single mother by choice (SMBC).

After nearly two decades reporting from the frontlines of history — from natural disasters to diplomatic breakthroughs — Marla turned the camera inward. At a time when most people expected her to settle down the “t...

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(Because You Don’t Have to Hit Bottom to Choose a Better Life)

Six years ago, I made one of the most powerful decisions of my life:

I stopped drinking.

Not because I hit bottom.
Not because I lost it all.

But because I was slowly losing myself.

I was high-functioning.
I was successful.
I was spiraling — and smiling through it.

Wine had become the way I coped.
Until it wasn’t.

This week, I’m sharin...

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There are conversations… and then there are the ones that stay with you.
This is one of those.

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Dan Peters—psychologist, executive coach, author, and host of Make It a Great One—for a deeply honest and hope-filled conversation about the power of purpose, presence, and embracing your own evolution.

We talk about:

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Hope in Action: A Story of Light and Consistency
with the radiant @CarlaBirnberg

There are people who show up with such unwavering integrity that you feel braver just being near them. That’s how I feel about Carla Birnberg.

In this episode of Hope Comes to Visit, we explore what it means to lead a mission-driven life — one grounded in heart work, radical consistency, and a commitment to showing up even when no one’s watching.

Together, we dive into what it  means to live a life ro...

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Finding Art, Hope, and Voice with Little Junior

In this deeply personal episode, I’m joined by my friend Oliver — a gifted creative, devoted father, loving husband, social worker, and the heart behind the artistic identity Little Junior. By day, he serves his community with compassion and care. But within, lives a storyteller, a poet, a music producer, and a man who has fought to find — and use — his voice in a world that often felt too loud.

Born with a hearing disability and living with noise anxiety...

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A Conversation with Wendy Faith on Surrender, Truth, and Soul Recognition

What happens when everything you’ve built no longer feels like you?

In this deeply honest episode, creative business coach, author, and late-in-life lesbian Wendy Faith opens up about what it means to walk away from a life that looks successful on the outside but feels misaligned within. After years as a prolific writer, entrepreneur, and public figure, Wendy faced a series of personal and professional betrayals that brought her to her knees — and ulti...

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Before there was light, there was isolation and there was grief. There was loss, confusion, silence. 

In this intimate first episode of Hope Comes to Visit, host Danielle Elliott Smith shares the deeply personal story behind the show — one rooted in the loneliness of struggles with alcohol and the decision to recover, the ache of sudden loss, the unraveling that followed, and the long, quiet path to healing.

From choosing sobriety to navigating life after the death of her partner Marty, and learning how to live again through pain, Dan...

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What does it mean to be still here when the odds said you wouldn’t be?

In this powerful episode, Tim McDonald shares his remarkable journey of being diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer — a diagnosis that carries only a 15% five-year survival rate. Now, just shy of those 5 years, Tim is not only surviving… he’s thriving. With no sign of cancer, he opens up about the physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges of his diagnosis, how he faced fear with radical vulnerability, and how hope became a lifeline through every stage of treatmen...

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What happens when your entire sense of safety is rooted in certainty — and that certainty disappears?

In this thought-provoking conversation, author, speaker, and business consultant Allison Carmen shares how her deep attachment to knowing what’s next became its own form of addiction — and how everything began to shift when she discovered the quiet, liberating power of maybe.

Together, we explore the illusion of control, the anxiety of the unknown, and how embracing uncertainty can actually open the door to possibility, peace, and hope.

This is an...

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In this powerful premiere interview of Hope Comes to Visit, Dr. Ashley Wellman shares her extraordinary story of heartbreak and healing after the sudden loss of her husband. With her four-year-old daughter by her side, Ashley began a journey through grief, rediscovery, and reinvention — one that led her to write a children’s book, fall in love again, and welcome a new baby into her life.

This is a tender conversation about resilience, motherhood, identity, and the quiet strength it takes to begin again. A reminder that grief and joy can coex...

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Step into the heart of Hope Comes to Visit with this special introduction from host Danielle Elliott Smith. In this short trailer, Danielle shares the intention behind the show and what you can expect from each episode. It's a gentle invitation into a space where grief, growth, and light are all welcome — and where hope shows up in the most unexpected ways.

A soulful podcast exploring real stories of growth, grief, and renewal. Hosted by Danielle Elliott Smith, each episode offers light, presence, and the quiet reminder that you’re never alon...