Stephen Schettini, also known as The Inner Monk is a former Buddhist monk, TEDx speaker, and mindfulness teacher whose life story is full of courage, transformation, and deeply practical wisdom. Stephen’s journey began in emotional chaos, born into a family of circus performers, before he sought clarity and peace through eight years in monastic life in India. Eventually, he left the monastery not to abandon the teachings, but to translate them into real-world guidance for people navigating life’s complexity with compassion and grace.

Jean and Alison spoke with Nancy Allen & Marlene McGuirt last year and they have since become friends. Nancy and Marlene, from the WeSPARK Cancer Support Center, share how WeSPARK enhances the quality of life for cancer patients, survivors and their loved ones by providing free programs and services, thereby alleviating the physical and emotional side effects of a cancer diagnosis.

Jean and Alison spoke to Henry Shukman back in 2024 and was so taken with him, he has become an insidewink classic. Henry Shukman is an authorized Zen Master in the Sanbo Zen lineage, and is spiritual director emeritus of Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His book Original Love is “a manifesto, a map, and a manual, an essential guide for spirituality in the twenty-first century replacing the concept of original sin with original love as the true foundation of our life.”

Jean and Alison had a great conversation with Carla Ondrasik about her new book – Stop Trying!: The Life-Transforming Power of Trying Less and Doing More. Carla is a former vice president at EMI Music Publishing turned motivational speaker, coach and author, who uses her 20+ years of evidence-based research to help you accomplish everything you’ve been trying to do. Stop Trying! illuminates the deception in a mindset built on trying, which can lead to anxiety, procrastination, perceived loss of control, fatigue, fear of failure, lack of follow-through, and overall life dissatisfaction.

Jean and Alison had the immense pleasure of speaking with Audrey Graves – the Braille Institute’s 2025 Teacher of the Year. For the last 20 years, Audrey has been teaching students with visual impairments at the Nebraska Center for the Education of the Blind (NCECBEV). She has taken on many roles in the education field, ranging from teacher to principal at NCECBEV. She is currently an outreach consultant. Her passion for and love of her students is so inspiring!

Jean and Alison have a wonderful conversation about resilience and healing with John Tsilimparis, MFT, about his book – “The Magic in the Tragic: Rewriting the Script on Grief and Discovering Happiness in Our Darkest Days.” John is a distinguished psychotherapist, mental health consultant, writer, podcast host, and former adjunct professor at Pepperdine University and UCLA. He is also the author of “Retrain Your Anxious Brain.”