There’s a specific kind of courage it takes to walk out of your own life with nothing but a suitcase, fifty dollars, and a credit card you weren’t sure would still work in the morning. For Gina Mundy, that night came the day after Christmas, after 24 years of marriage, after she’d quietly stopped decorating, stopped cooking, stopped caring about the version of her life that looked perfect from the outside.
In this episode of Her Story Unscripted, Gina shares the honest, unscripted story of what it took to leave — and what she’d already spent 23 years learning on the other side of the delivery room. As a birth injury attorney, she’s spent her career cross-examining doctors, studying medical records, and trying to understand why the same preventable mistakes keep happening to families again and again. We talk about pitocin, doulas, the statistics she still can’t fully explain, and the moment she became a grandmother in the very same year she had to start completely over.
If you’ve ever felt your body and your brain fighting you on a decision your heart already made — if you’ve ever stayed somewhere long after it stopped feeling safe — this conversation is for you.
What We Talked About:
In this episode, Gina and I talk about:
- The night she packed a suitcase and left with $50 in her pocket, the day after Christmas
- Why she spent 23 years defending — and studying — the medical world instead of walking away from it
- The statistic about Black mothers and birth complications she’s still trying to understand
- What it felt like to become a grandmother the same year she became a first-time renter
- Why her brain kept whispering “stay put” even after staying had already broken her
Episode Highlights:
00:00 — Introduction — Heather welcomes Gina Mundy
03:15 — How Gina became a birth injury attorney by accident
12:00 — The realities of pitocin, induction, and advocating for yourself in labor
29:01 — The unanswered question about race and birth complications
36:03 — The night she left her marriage with $50 in her pocket
44:32 — Brains wired for survival, not success — and starting over twice in one year
48:08 — Where to connect with Gina Mundy
Meet Gina:
Gina Mundy is a childbirth attorney, bestselling author, speaker, podcaster, and mother of three based in the Detroit, Michigan area. For over 23 years she’s specialized in childbirth cases and birth trauma litigation — traveling the country, analyzing medical records, and cross-examining the nation’s top experts to understand why the most joyful day of a family’s life sometimes goes wrong. She’s the bestselling author of A Parent’s Guide to a Safer Childbirth, founder of the Safer Childbirth Community, and host of The Childbirth Attorney Podcast. She recently became a grandmother for the first time.
Book: A Parent’s Guide to a Safer Childbirth: Expecting the Best by child-birth
Full Transcript:
Gina Mundy: One thing that I have learned through divorce, professionally, everything is how our brains are wired. Our brains are wired for survival; they are not wired for success. What do I mean by that? Change. So survival. If you feel safe, and that’s the thing with my family, I feel safe. So my brain is like, don’t leave. You’re safe. You know what to do. This is a safe place, and I had to overcome that. Use the success part. Overcome that to leave my family. More recently, leaving my job. I was at my job for 14 years.
Heather Nelson: Welcome to Her Story Unscripted. I’m your host, Heather Nelson, a connector, business strategist, and someone who truly believes that the most powerful conversations happen when we stop performing and start being real. This podcast is a space for women to share honest, unscripted conversations about life, growth, and the experiences that have shaped who we are. No perfectly polished narratives, no pressure to have it all figured out, just real, authentic stories told exactly as they are.
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Her Story Unscripted. I’m super excited to have Gina on. We just virtually met, but I already know this is going to be such a juicy conversation about all kinds of things that are just totally not the norm. I feel like, but you’re an attorney. You’ve written a book, and you’re about to write a second one around childbirth, which relates to me. We kind of caught up around my story, so I do have a lot of questions around childbirth and protecting ourselves and so forth. And then you’re also a podcaster. I love when all of us get together. We all collaborate and help each other grow and support, so thank you again for being here. I’m super excited to have you and have this conversation.
Gina Mundy: Ah, thank you for having me. It is such an honor to be on your podcast. And then like you just said, we just met virtually, and immediately that connection hit. I’m very excited about our conversation today.
Heather Nelson: I love it. So you’ve been an attorney, which I always love to hear from people in the legal space because I couldn’t have imagined being there. But you’ve been there 25 years.
Gina Mundy: Almost. So technically, like 23 and a half I’ve been practicing.
Heather Nelson: Wow! And where do you live?
Gina Mundy: Michigan. Just north of Detroit, probably about 50 minutes.
Heather Nelson: Okay. The other reason I love this podcast is I get to meet women from all over the world, really. But mostly the U.S. I’m in California.
Gina Mundy: I know. I’d rather live in your county. I would rather live in Wine Country.
Heather Nelson: Where I got to go after this is to do a site visit for one of my companies to add a winery. Life is hard over here.
Gina Mundy: Sounds great to me.
Heather Nelson: So tell me, how do you get to be an attorney? Is that one of those things you grew up with? This is something you were always interested in? How do you get into that line of work?
Gina Mundy: Exactly. Literally, since I was in 5th grade. 1st through 4th, I wanted to be a teacher. And then I was going to be a female police officer, a firefighter, all that stuff they teach you to be. And then something happened in 5th grade, and clicked, and that was it. And then all of a sudden, I was just going to be an attorney. I was supposed to go to law school to be more of a business attorney, real estate attorney. And you graduate law school, and you learn real quick. You just take whatever job is out there, and it happened to be in the area of birth trauma, birth injury law. They don’t teach you about that in law school. I had no idea what I was getting into. I started in February 2003. 23 and a half years ago. So it’s very basic. I wish it was more interesting, but that’s it. I stumbled on it. I fell in love with the practice of it. It’s fascinating. Medicine is fascinating. I travel the country cross examining doctors, nurses. Everybody under the sun, residents and whatnot, so you have to know the medicine.
Heather Nelson: You were a defense attorney. And when I saw your profile, I was like, oh, so childbirth. I almost assumed that you go through something traumatic, that once you got through it, you’re like, oh, I want to practice, I want to learn, and I want to support more. Or was it something that when you got out of school, you’re like, okay, this is interesting, and then you have to learn the world.
Gina Mundy: Yeah. Basically, this is interesting, and then I learned the birth trauma, birth injury world. But I got pregnant a year into being a birth injury attorney, and then you learn really quickly that birth injury attorneys basically just have elective C sections. We become scared of labor because you have to remember when you have a birth injury case or birth trauma case, there’s three different outcomes, and they’re not good. Baby passes, baby has permanent injury, or mom passes. Those are my three things that happen in my life professionally. Us in labor, it’s difficult. However, I will tell you, and I did not tell you this during the pre-show, my daughter actually just had a baby on April 13. So yes, I’m a grandma. So 23 years of knowledge, analyzing labor and delivery on medical records, and again, this has been my life. And then boom, everything came full circle April 13 when I watched my granddaughter be born.
Heather Nelson: Oh, I love that. Well, congrats. You do not look like you would be a grandma, so congrats.
Gina Mundy: I appreciate that. Work very hard not to look like a grandma.
Heather Nelson: You do not.
Gina Mundy: When she starts calling me a grandma, maybe I’ll just give in.
Heather Nelson: I had a friend. She’s like, I refuse to be called grandma. She has some cute little grandma words that her granddaughter calls. Oh, she doesn’t have to be seated in the grandma world.
Gina Mundy: That’s very normal these days.
Heather Nelson: So not to scare people who are going through a child, or most of my listeners, I would say probably have already had children, and so they kind of know the risks going into it. What percentage are these risks of losing a baby, losing mom? How common is it?
Gina Mundy: Well, I think the scariest statistic with that is almost the race. If African Americans are double for something going wrong. So right off the bat. So Caucasians are like 5% something bad happens as a complication of pregnancy or childbirth. African Americans are sometimes up to 10%. Or the figures I was reading, and I was researching this with the CDC because I don’t understand these numbers. I wrote my book like you had said earlier, and I have a podcast. But while I’m a birth injury attorney, prior to my book, prior to my podcast, I only was involved in the aftermath of something going wrong. My purpose in writing the book, my purpose in podcasting, is to get ahead of labor so moms know who I am before labor in hopes that they can prevent it. I know with the stats, they increase risk. The African American population is just out of control. But here’s the deal, most labor and deliveries go okay. It’s just a small percentage that don’t. So those exact numbers, just looking at them the other day, and it just seems a little high in my world that’s why, again, I’m out here trying to, hey, moms, if you know this, this can help you have a healthy baby. Because what I learned pretty quickly in doing these birth injury cases, they’re the same mistakes that keep happening. And the same situation over, and over, and over from my first case 23 and a half years ago to my very last case. They’re just very, very, very similar.
Heather Nelson: So your book is all about how to have a safe pregnancy to avoid a hard childbirth?
Gina Mundy: Exactly. To avoid ever meeting someone like me.
Heather Nelson: We’re glad that you exist. One of my questions is, does somebody come find you when they need it? When, of course, when things hit the fan and they now need an attorney to support them? Or when you get pregnant? Is it smart to have one? And if so, why would you need one?
Gina Mundy: I don’t think you need an attorney for childbirth. I come into play. I got two phone calls already this week. Really sad cases. One mom lost her baby during labor, which was devastating. It was 19 days ago when I talked to her. And then I have another one who had problems with the epidural, and some that didn’t go well either. So they seek me out more after something happens. In terms of having one, I’m out there. You can listen to my content, you can read the book. I just give you everything to help prep you. I have gotten a lot of calls from labor and delivery. So actually, it’s interesting you say that. I’m like, well, actually, some of them are actually in my book. I was writing my book when I did get one of the calls when a mom was in labor. I say that, probably just no, and read my content before. But you’re right, I’ve gotten those calls. Talked through things that have definitely changed the course of labor.
I had one mom, she’s a VBAC, so she’s a vaginal birth after a C section. The doctors kept pushing her to do a VBAC, and she just wanted a C section. And I’m like, listen, it is your right to have a C section if you’re not comfortable with a vaginal birth. And they also wanted to do the drug pitocin. Like jumpstarting her with pitocin, which you know that’s one of the big common factors in a legal baby case. And she knew that. So I was like, hey, that’s your right if you want a C-section? And she went back and got her C-section. And when that doctor opened her up, basically from her prior C-section, her uterus did not heal right. It was paper thin, and the baby’s hair was sticking out of it. Hence, when mom would have started to contract, especially on pitocin, her uterus would have ripped open or ruptured. The baby would have gone through, and they would have had less than 10 minutes to get the baby out before something bad could have happened. So her instincts were right. She should have had a C-section, and that’s actually I think that’s turned into chapter 5 of my book because that was a call that I had gotten before I wrote my book. But interesting you say that because I think I almost even modify my response. I’m very accessible on the internet through email, and I’m sure in your show notes, they’ll have all my information. So if you did have a question during labor, you could always email me because it does pop up right on my phone.
Heather Nelson: You think there’s a lot of preventative things that can happen prior to delivery that help you to have a safer delivery?
Gina Mundy: 100%. The subtitle of my book is Expecting the Best: Using the Power of Knowledge to Help You Deliver a Healthy Baby. So basically, the theme is you can’t just roll up to labor and delivery and hope for the best. That’s how every single case starts. It’s so sad because you talk to these parents after, and they know so much more about labor, delivery and what can go wrong in the aftermath of it happening to them, and it’s like, I know for sure. Almost, I shouldn’t say for sure. I know that if they would have had this information ahead of time, it may have helped them have a healthy baby. But there’s certain things. First of all, the most common fact in a legal baby case, all my birth injury cases, almost all of them, is the drug pitocin. So when things go wrong, it’s typically an induction of labor. So there’s a right way and there’s a wrong way to have an induction of labor. That stuff you have to know, I have a whole chapter dedicated to induction of labor. I don’t advocate induction or no induction. I just try to give parents the information. So my daughter wanted an induction of labor, which I just said okay because she was over term. She wanted one at 39 weeks, and so she was going to get one anyway. We just didn’t know, whatever. So I’m like, that’s fine. And then chapter 14 of my book, we went over what to do.
But one of the biggest things with an induction of labor is they like to start the pitocin and to keep increasing it really fast, and that makes mom contract too much. And when mom contracts too much, that can be harmful to the baby. So I know with her, we did it slowly and steadily. Let it hit her sweet spot, which meant I had to confront the doctor and the nurse and say, nope, we’re good. The nurse was so confused when they tried to increase her pitocin, seriously, off two. And pitocin is a very simple concept. You start at one, you go to 20, 1, 2, 3, and you go higher. But for the first order, it’s always until 20. And so they start, they get to one, and then I only will go up by one. A lot of doctors go up by two. But anyway, we got to two. They actually wanted to go to four still, and I’m like, four? Actually, we haven’t been on two that long. And so the nurse had to leave, regroup, and come back because she wasn’t used to somebody saying, hey! Here’s the bottom line. My daughter’s pitocin. She was 39 weeks, and it never went above four. We had a friend deliver the following week with the same practice, and they went 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, emergency C-sections, and that’s very common. These cases all end with an emergency C section. And then in being out in this world, I have also met a lot of moms who may not, everybody was fine after, but almost did have some type of birth trauma just from their induction just going so fast, and then that emergency C-section. It takes your whole day, which is one of the biggest days of your life, and it really changes it.
Heather Nelson: I never thought of the pitocin thing, which is interesting because I’ve given birth four times. My first one, they gave me pitocin. I think that was the only pregnancy that they did, and I remember getting sick. I just remember it being a lot worse than it needed to be, especially as your first. And then looking back to all my other ones, I’m like, oh, yeah, that one was definitely harder. Whether that was my first or not, but that was the only one I had pitocin.
Gina Mundy: Yeah, so that’s good then. And you went naturally every time.
Heather Nelson: Yeah.
Gina Mundy: That’s good. I think about all my friends in my advocacy out here saying, hey, one way if you can go naturally into labor, those cases are very, very few and far between.
Heather Nelson: Are you talking about epidurals too?
Gina Mundy: Yeah. Everybody gets an epidural. You’re less likely to have complications if you don’t have an epidural. But the epidural is a rough one. It’s so painful unless you’re one of those people who can mentally, but I don’t. Epidural was rough because everybody gets one. But if you can avoid, take the all natural route. Even not get the epidural, that’s even better. Another big thing, water breaking. And this is what people don’t understand. When things go wrong, it’s always after mom’s water breaks. Think about it. Babies inside, nice and comfortable, and then the intrauterine environment changes. Water comes out. Everything kind of shakes up a little bit. How does it shake up? What changes? Nobody knows because everything’s inside mom. So that’s another big decision. And again, that’s an intervention because doctors these days love to break the water. Unfortunately, my daughter did get it. Well, she got an epidural, and when they got the epidural, I wasn’t happy about this. But she kept her doula in the room, and not me. One person allowed, and I’m like, I will be staying in the room. And my daughter, I’m not a touchy feely kind of person, the doula is very touchy, and it’s okay. They breathe together. I’m like, I’m sorry, I’m not touching you. I’m gonna look at the fetal monitor strip, and I’m gonna monitor your ketosis. She’s like, the doula is staying in the room. Well, the doula apparently doesn’t know or didn’t know about not breaking the bag of water. So anyway, they broke the bag of water.
Heather Nelson: God, if you could just educate the doulas, because I feel like a lot of people have doulas. If you were to educate all of them on the do’s and the don’ts to help support, because sometimes when you’re going through birth, you’re mentally just everywhere. And then of course, listen to the doctors because you trust them enough to know what they’re doing and trust their advice. But sometimes, it doesn’t always work that way. And if you’re not someone who’s willing to advocate for yourself, it feels like that’s when the problems happen.
Gina Mundy: Yeah. And by the way, I love doulas. I recommend them highly in all deliveries. In my 23 and a half years, I’ve never had a doula involved in a birth injury case. My friends are birth injury attorneys, and they’ve never had doulas involved. I’m convinced doulas do help families bring babies into this world safely, so they’re great. And sometimes, it’s just that second set of eyes that really bridge that gap with something going wrong. So doulas, they’re amazing. They’re always very kind people. Now, with that said, I do have an episode in my podcast called the Bad Doula, because there was a bad doula who’s very very bad. But most doulas are great. But it’s like that’s every profession. That’s that’s everywhere you go. There’s going to be good, and there’s going to be bad.
Heather Nelson: Have you in your practice worked with surrogates? All my listeners know that I’ve been through this journey and about to take my second journey. I’m probably going to bring this question up. But have you practiced or had any cases when you had to deal with surrogacy?
Gina Mundy: No. Similar to the doula situation, just have never heard of one. Again, I wonder if there’s just so many eyes on you because it is a surrogacy.
Heather Nelson: Well, you do go through legal, so not only are you contracting, like the contract’s like 60 something pages, and everyone has a lawyer. You do go through the contract basically section by section, and there’s very clear expectations of things happening like who gets to make the decision on when things get hard, or if it’s mom versus baby. When do you get to make those decisions, and who gets to make them? And my first journey, we didn’t have to go through any of that. But the second one, there’s definitely been some things where I’m like, your OB saying one thing, and then you have your fertility doctor saying another thing. And then you as a woman have your own opinion and your own thoughts. And then you have attended parents who believe some type of thing. And so sometimes, having so many people’s hands in the pots, it gets really hard to navigate some. And again, mine was pre-birth. I was pregnant, but they think I had an ectopic pregnancy so they couldn’t figure out where the baby was. Everyone’s like termination because it’s not going to be a safe pregnancy for myself. Then you have dads who are like, well, what if? And it was one of those situations where I was like, oh, this one’s an interesting one. So I was curious if you, but maybe because of all of the contracts being so lengthy, you haven’t had to deal with that.
Gina Mundy: No, no, not at all. What happened with the ectopic?
Heather Nelson: I ended up taking the medication to terminate the pregnancy, which my OB highly recommended. And of course, I trusted her. She gave birth to all my kids, and so I really trust her. And then you have the fertility doctor saying pretty much supporting that. But then you have the parents who are like, but it says you’re pregnant, so you’re pregnant. But they’re like, the baby is not in the ultrasound photo. There’s no baby in the uterus. Not happening even in a week. They wanted to wait another week and do another ultrasound, and the doctors are like, no baby is there.
Gina Mundy: And the doctors are smart because there are ectopic pregnancy cases where the obese do that, and then you get to a point where methotrexate won’t work. And then it’s surgical intervention, which then hurts the tube, or they remove it. So they have to say that. They have to say, no baby in the uterus.
Heather Nelson: It’s just interesting, I was curious if you did that kind of work. Again, a lot of people come to you after something traumatic, whether they lost a baby, God forbid, we lose mom. You’ve probably not seen some great situations. How do you like mentally separate that in your day to day life and your work life?
Gina Mundy: That is such a great question. I just bottled it up for the first 19 years, and then I started to write my book. I figured out really quickly that there’s definitely, from you battling it up, some stuff deep inside of me, which is probably why I wrote the book. But anyway, I cried every single morning for three months. This was a while back now, so I’m kind of past it. But I couldn’t write the book without crying every morning, and it just all came out. Because when you’re creating a book like this, you’re going back to all of your cases. You’re going back to all of those families, and you’re like, I would make up charts. I would have graphs. I would do anything because I had to come up with what parents can do to have a healthy baby and that whole process. So there was a lot of process, I guess, the pre-writing stage where you have to go through this. I was working. I had three kids. I would do this. I’d get up at 3:00 AM and just try to sort this out before my day even started. So finally, three months after I was finally able to cope with it, I stopped crying, I guess. And I just knew I was crying. I felt probably at that point that I had gotten it.
We just talked about pitocin. The water breaking is huge. What if there’s a busy delivery unit? The baby’s heart rate, people don’t understand that. I’ve had so many doctors testify that the only way a baby can talk to me during labor is their heart rate. Okay, parents, you got to know something about the heart rate. They’re just these different things. So then I know in the end of my book, they ended up dedicating it to the families, and letting them know that they were in my prayers and thoughts, and that their stories created what’s in this book. It’s hard. This week, I’m still not used to it. This is what again? 23 and a half years later, and I have a mom who’s telling me she just lost her baby 19 days ago, and I struggle with what to say to her. I’m sorry, and I try. I’m going to pray for her and her family, but it would be hard. That night was not a good night. It was hard to sleep. I wish I had a better way to separate it, but I know what I’m doing, and trying to now get involved before labor. I’m doing everything I can, so I’m hoping that all of these feelings, and this probably my inability to separate it, that I’m at least getting out there and trying to prevent it. Even if that means one day I’m unemployed, which would be great, by the way. I would love to do real estate. Well, I remember at the beginning of your podcast, well, I was supposed to be a business lawyer, real estate lawyer. So if I can prevent this stuff from happening, I will go be a real estate attorney.
Heather Nelson: What I think everybody always talks about is how writing is so therapeutic, especially if you’ve been through trauma. You’re releasing your own trauma, but also educating others to not have trauma. Yes, you built up all 23 years of all these hard things, and you pour it into a book to hopefully educate more women, so it’s less likely to happen.
Gina Mundy: Yeah, you’re right. Writing was very, very, very therapeutic.
Heather Nelson: And your book, you’re working on book number two.
Gina Mundy: Yeah. My first book is childbirth, mainly childbirth. I’m in between this pregnancy part. The doula thing that I talked about because I had never dealt with doulas, or talked to doulas, or anything in my job. They were a little bit off my radar. And then once I published the book, the book’s all about, what are the common factors in legal baby cases? But then I publish the book, and I’m like, wait a minute. What’s not in legal baby cases? And doulas were one of them. So even writing a book, even about doulas or for doulas, again, just focusing on, hey, you guys are a big part of why babies are born healthy. This is my perspective. Just maybe giving them some more tools that they can use. I think the roles of doulas can vary. Some are advocates, some are not. Some are just emotional support. But trying to lay out more guidelines for them like, hey, it’s okay to do this. Or hey, if you have to ask questions or you have a concern, this is how you need to address it during labor. Because that concern may be more medical and they can’t be like, there’s decelerations. Your baby doesn’t have enough oxygen. Everybody would go crazy, but there’s different things that they can ask and say to raise that awareness. Even if it’s literally just bringing a nurse in and saying the baby’s heart rate keeps going down, is there something we can do? Or can we fix this? It’s just something simple, seriously. Because sometimes, another issue in these cases, the labor and delivery units are busy. They’re very, very busy. Because guess what? Babies come when babies want to come, so they get overwhelmed, and they don’t have that person going, hey, the baby’s heart rate keeps dropping. Can we do something about it? And instead, everybody’s running around and they don’t notice. And then it goes, and it’s too long or whatnot.
Heather Nelson: I love that. So it’s more specific to doulas and how they can be a bigger part of the whole process, and be a bigger advocate.
Gina Mundy: I feel like it’s getting more defined. A little bit wild west. Everybody has their own thing going on, so that is something I want to try to get in and be like, it’s okay. I’m an attorney. You can do this, whatever. Because sometimes, they’re scared to advocate. They’re scared to go beyond just adjusting mom, being there, emotionally, lighting your candles. They can do more, and I think a lot of them do. But there’s still some that don’t.
Heather Nelson: The thing I was curious about is that you mentioned in the beginning that more African Americans have a lot more birth problems. Is that here in the U.S? Or is that in their culture? And why is that?
Gina Mundy: The U.S, unfortunately. And then when I think of my cases, they’re probably the majority are African American, so it correlates with the stats. I have not talked about this before. But when I look up, you go to the CDC’s website, they’re like racism. I’m like, oh, that’s awful. I really need to do more research into that. And whether they don’t have the resources, and maybe that’s another angle that we take on trying to get them more resources or whatnot. But the CDC on their website, and they have different things for African American moms to help that they put out some, I believe, good content like, hey, this is when you should be worried. Just really directed at them to help again to decrease those numbers. That was on their website. I’m still doing my own research on this. Because similar to my book, if there is anything I can do to decrease that number, so it’s not double, that’s definitely something that I need to be focusing on. Because like I just said, I’d say 80% of my cases are African American. I wish I had a better answer for you.
Heather Nelson: Maybe it’s in the genes or something.
Gina Mundy: I don’t know. I need to be the one asking the questions, maybe with my podcast and then research, bring in the doctors that would even have a better answer than me. Maybe it’s because a lot of them do inductions. I don’t know.
Heather Nelson: Interesting. Thinking of the statistics, I’m like, that’s interesting. One last thing before I change to another topic. I’m curious when you do get a case, and this is not a percentage for you. I think just in a whole, anybody who’s dealing with these types of cases, what are the odds that families actually win cases like this? Because I’m assuming that you guys are fighting against your medical world, right? Your Kaiser and your bigger medical companies. What is the percentage of them actually winning these cases?
Gina Mundy: Majority, all day long. So the birth trauma world is pretty defined. Meaning, there’s the experts. So many things that go wrong. And if it is one of those things, it’s usually a case that can be settled. And you have to remember that in these cases, if they do not settle and the cases have to go to trial, that you have a young baby who either didn’t make it, say a family that’s lost a baby, or that baby has a brain injury, they’ve lost mom, jury-wise, juries can be obviously very sympathetic towards a family that has gone through this. Like, we’re human. Even as a defense attorney, it was so hard to sit down with these families. I always would take their depositions and show them the utmost respect. Because no matter how they treated me, I know what they have been through. So a jury is very similar. So because of that, again, pitocin induction, too many contractions, the baby gets in trouble, they don’t deliver the baby in time. You’re going to easily have an expert come in and say, yes, this baby would have been delivered 20 minutes earlier, 10 minutes earlier. This baby would be completely normal today. And a jury hears that, and it’s hard for them to think of anything else. Like, wait a minute, this could have been prevented, and that’s it. So the majority of these cases settle. They do not go to trial. If a case with, especially a brain injured baby, goes to trial, they’re rarely, rarely a no cause. It’s typically a verdict for a plaintiff for the family.
Heather Nelson: Interesting. Well, thank you for doing that work because we do need to support those situations. And thankfully, there’s women out there or people out there that are willing to support that. So yeah, thank you. Yeah, I know it’s not easy work, but it’s needed. Especially being in the world that I am and going through surrogacy, knowing that there is support out there is always helpful. All the stuff that we talked about is like your career, but I always love when women have their own personal stories that they’ve gone through. We don’t have to go into tons of detail about what you’ve been through. But one of the things you had mentioned that I have to bring up because I do think, as before we hit record, we were chatting about this that a lot of women are stuck in this situation. You left a marriage after 24 years, and you’ve been recently divorced. And you obviously mentioned that you have three kids. What was the turning point for you? And the reason why I want to have this conversation is because I do think there’s a lot of women who are sitting in their lives or listening to this podcast, and they’re stuck in a marriage that is unhealthy, or they’re not happy, and it’s just not fruitful anymore. Talk about what was that turning point for you to make that decision?
Gina Mundy: Wow. That’s maybe a couple turning points. But I think the main one is I was absolutely miserable. But a lot of the reason I was miserable is I couldn’t even get through to him. So we had to raise two teenage daughters, and we were not unified parenting. He was their friend. I was Hitler. So it was very, very difficult. There was some other stuff that had happened with the whole 2020 stuff, and conspiracy theories and stuff. I’m like, oh, my goodness, it just doesn’t stop. But I just found myself extremely miserable, unhappy. I was starting to become unmotivated. I’m a natural high energy, super enthusiastic person. Actually, many people are like, you’re a lawyer? Because I’m more high energy. I’m like, let’s go. We got this, and whatnot. And I’ve always tried to work really hard, and I just found myself almost not caring. I stopped cleaning the house. I wasn’t making food as much. I shouldn’t say I stopped cleaning the house, I wasn’t keeping it meticulously. I stopped updating pictures. I just didn’t care. I just knew deep down that something had to change, and it was really hard. Because even though I was miserable, I loved my family life. I had always dreamed about just being a mom, going places.
And then not only that, we would go as a family to events or school, like the kids’ school or something. And on the outside, we looked like the perfect family. We didn’t fight in front of people or anything of that nature. And just one day, I remember we would. It started with, I would threaten divorce and fights. And then that finally went to, I sat him down and I’m like, I cannot do this anymore. I’m miserable. You’re not happy. We’re not treating each other like we deserve, and we need to separate. And it was still hard. He did not want it. It was so hard. And then the kids started to get mad. And then it was December 2024, the day after Christmas, and I just went and stayed at a hotel. So I probably had $50 in my pocket, a credit card. He owned a financial company. So I worked, I did whatever, but he handled all finances. At that point, I was so not happy with all of that. I wasn’t even thinking too much money. But he had control over everything, so it’s almost like he had to be okay with me going to the hotel, or he would just take out the money and put it somewhere else, or cut off a credit card. That was really stupid, by the way. I will forever keep my money separate. I’ve completely reestablished my financial life separate from him, obviously. But yeah, I didn’t have much, and I went and stayed at a hotel, and I just basically never went back.
But I’ll tell you, that puts me in a really dark place. Even though I’m like, I know the future I will be happy. I kept thinking of the future Gina. I kept one year. Okay, Christmas next year, but it’s hard. You go around, you see all of these happy families, and then now you don’t have yours. I had a really hard time with this part. But he actually started dating somebody pretty quick, and then actually moved her and her kids into the marital home. I’m okay now. But when this happens, I’m here by myself in my new house and whatever. And then three of my kids, her two kids, she just replaced me, and then added two kids. And that feeling sucked because you just have your replacement, and I love my home. I loved that home. That was another hard part. I wish I didn’t like my house so much, but I did. But anyway, a year and a half later, I’m so happy. And you don’t understand what you’re in until you’re away from it, and you’re outside looking back. You just have no idea.
Again, I think I started to say when I left, it was like a really dark place. It was really hard. I cut off communication with everybody, my friends. I didn’t want to talk to anybody. I went and I just lived in this small apartment, and the people next to me were arrested for like sex trafficking. I’m an established attorney. I’m an author. I’m a podcaster living in the ghetto next to sex traffickers. This was not good. And again, I didn’t have control over too much of my finances, so I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t want to commit to anything, and this was like a short-term monthly rental so I went for it. But I think that if I would have tried to make a plan, or tried to find the right time, there never would have been a right time. And I didn’t have any other option, but just basically packed my suitcase and walked out. And I didn’t get my stuff. I would just buy new stuff. I didn’t get my stuff for nine months. Left everything. My clothes, my suits, everything. But actually, my ex and I are actually really good friends now. We get along great. We talk about kids, and it’s a much better situation, so I love that.
Heather Nelson: If anyone’s always willing to talk about it, I want to have the conversation because I do think we all get so stuck in what life looks like next, right? We’re so used to what our life looks like, the house, the kids, the holidays, those kinds of things. It’s hard to think of what that would look like after that, and how can I be fruitful? But every person that I’ve ever met who’s been through a divorce, including myself, because I’m on my second marriage as well, how much happier I am once I was on the other side. Finding joy in myself, and finding myself again. I think just finding me, like when you said you’re miserable, and your joy is ripped away from you, and you’re like, why? And then why do we just stay stuck in that when we only have one life to live, and we should enjoy it to the fullest, and we get stuck in these relationships. Whether you’re married or not, for so long, and then you’re trapped, and then you’re miserable, and then it’s just not a good place to be.
Gina Mundy: No, it’s not. I’m back to my old self. I get in my car, turn on my booty music and rock out. My kids get in my car and they’re like, mom, turn down the music. But that’s what they used to say to me before I was miserable. That’s what they would say to me. But you can do this because I am kind of a silly person. So this past Christmas was my first Christmas away from my family. I have since moved into a beautiful castle. I’m just renting it, but hey, I’ll take it for now. Yep. I have a huge family. We host a huge Christmas party every year. And this year, I was like, well, it’s my first year that my family, whatever. I’ll host Christmas, and my kids were obviously coming and whatnot. So I did a Grinch theme. I bought shirts for my mom and my sisters. What’s up, Grinches? My whole house was green. I had the Grinch tree. Everybody walks in and they’re like, oh, my gosh! And then I did the classic, returning everything on Amazon like a Grinch. It was kind of funny. It just kind of made light of it a little bit. But that’s also my personality. My family would expect nothing less for me to decorate my whole house and Grinch stuff for the first Christmas. Now this Christmas, I have my granddaughter now and whatnot. I’ll be normal.
Heather Nelson: You start your own tradition. You own your own thing. The things that you’ve been wanting to do, but you couldn’t because whatever that was like, the old tradition of what everyone expected, and why not shake it up a little bit?
Gina Mundy: You know what? Everybody said that was the best Christmas because it was just out of control.
Heather Nelson: I love them.
Gina Mundy: They were like, oh, Gina’s back to normal.
Heather Nelson: Yeah. Oh, my gosh, I love that so much for you. Thank you for sharing that. I do think it’s so important when women hear stories like that to know, one, they’re not alone. And two, they can find happiness out of a marriage. And so thank you for entertaining that conversation with me.
Gina Mundy: Oh, no problem. Let me tell you, I’m just so happy to be that year and a half out starting over. Like we talked about in the pre-show, I landed a new job. The job is amazing. It’s my dream job. I can guarantee you, if I stayed in my marriage, I would not have my dream job right now. There’s so many great things that have come because of the divorce. And then I think most importantly, I’m just back to my old self. I’m back to who I was before I wasn’t happy.
Heather Nelson: I love that. All of my listeners are women. Well, maybe some men are out there listening. But based on what you’ve been through in your career or your personal life, what’s one big takeaway that you can leave the listeners with today? A little bit of inspiration.
Gina Mundy: I love this. So one thing that I have learned through divorce, professionally, everything is how our brains are wired. Our brains are wired for survival. They are not wired for success. What do I mean by that? Change. So survival. If you feel safe, that’s the thing with my family. I felt safe, so my brain is like, don’t leave, don’t leave. You’re safe. You know what to do. This is a safe place. And I had to overcome that. The success part, overcome that to leave my family. More recently, leaving my job. I was at my job for 14 years. I was a partner in a law firm and all that stuff. And to, again, my brain was just, stay put. Just stay put. Who cares if this is your dream job? You are safe. You don’t need to change. I think our baseline for our brain can have a negative tone a little bit. What if it doesn’t work out? What if? What if? So anyway, before I started my new job, I didn’t sleep for a week.I look back on that, and I feel like I’m crazy because I resigned from my job, and I was able to tell all of my clients and my colleagues the great opportunity I have, and they are beyond. They’re sad. They are bittersweet, but they’re so excited for me to get out here and be able to advocate all the great stuff that I get to do now. And then I start at the new job, and it’s the most amazing people on the face of this earth. And it was the best first day, second day. So finally, my brain is again wired for survival, not success. It’s like, oh, you’re gonna be okay. And actually, I went to sleep. It was crazy. That was like 10 hours, 12 hours, 11 hours. That’s how much I slept for three nights in a row. I didn’t even do much. I couldn’t because my body was like, oh, you’re gonna live. You can go to sleep now. But the whole point of telling you that is sometimes, you instinctually don’t want change. It’s very natural, and you really just have to overcome it and keep thinking it’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay, and just do it. It’s so hard to overcome. But those are my two biggest things that my brain did not want me to do that I did. And once I got to the other side of both, I realized pretty quickly that those were the best decisions for me that I could have made. I’m trying to rewire my brain and try to have more of a success versus survival mode. But we’ll see.
Heather Nelson: I love that. That was beautiful and such a great reminder. We’re always stuck in our own heads and we’re stuck in what’s safe. But if you can actually rock that boat and face a little bit of fear, there’s so much beauty that comes on the other side. I love that takeaway, so thank you. Thank you, Gina, so much for being here. I love your story. I wish you lived closer so we can go wine tasting together.
Gina Mundy: I’m calling you when I get out there. I was in Sonoma a few months ago for deposition.
Heather Nelson: Please do. I’ll tell you all the great places to go, and I’ll come with you. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for sharing your story, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for you.
Gina Mundy: Oh, I appreciate it. Thank you.
Heather Nelson: That’s a wrap on today’s episode of Her Story Unscripted. Is something you heard today made you feel a little more seen, a little less alone, or just got you thinking that’s exactly why we’re here? If this episode resonated with you, I’d love for you to share it with another woman in your life who needs to hear it. And if you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe wherever you listen, or catch us on YouTube so you never miss a conversation. I’m Heather Nelson. Thank you for being here, for listening, and for showing up for real stories. I’ll see you next week.
There’s a version of your life you build for everyone else — and then there’s the one you finally build for yourself. For Mercedes Hernandez, getting to the second version meant walking away from a 15-year relationship, living alone for the first time in her life, and sitting with the kind of quiet that most of us spend years running from.
In this episode of Her Story Unscripted, Mercedes shares the honest, unscripted story of how she went from a 15-year-old retail worker with no direction, to opening her first brick-and-mortar at 20, to building SoCo Markets into one of Sonoma County’s most beloved community events — and what was happening behind the scenes all along. She talks about co-dependency, identity, the grief she processed while still inside her marriage, and what it actually felt like to choose herself for the very first time.
If you’ve ever stayed in something longer than you should have because it felt safer to stay, or if you’ve ever lost track of yourself inside a role — as a partner, a business owner, a daughter, a people-pleaser — this conversation is going to feel like someone finally said the thing out loud.
Episode Highlights:
- 00:00 Cold open — Christina on the invisible clock
- 00:49 Heather introduces Her Story Unscripted
- 01:15 Welcoming Christina back — three years and a lot of life later
- 02:21 The normal weekend that wasn’t — Curtis gets sick
- 5:28 The ER visit and the diagnosis — glioblastoma
- 7:15 Choosing chemo and radiation — a hail mary for a 44-year-old in perfect health
- 12:18 How quickly he declined, and what caregiving looked like at home
- 14:18 Curtis’s death in March 2025 — four months after diagnosis
- 18:55 What helped Christina survive this season
- 22:13 The termination email the night he died
- 27:22 200 pounds lost — and how the GLP-1 journey intersected with Curtis’s care
- 25:10 How to actually show up for someone in grief
- 36:10 Life now — Addie, memory-keeping, and saying yes
- 38:03 Christina’s one takeaway for the listener
Meet Christina Alonzo:
Christina Alonzo is a mother, content creator, and Sonoma County local who has walked through more grief in the last few years than most people face in a lifetime. From losing babies to navigating a sudden and devastating brain cancer diagnosis in her husband Curtis, she has shown up with remarkable honesty and grace at every turn. In the past year and a half, she has also completed a transformative 200-pound weight loss journey that changed not just her body, but the way she moves through the world. She is raising her daughter Addie with Curtis’s love still at the center of their home
Full Transcript:
Christina Alonzo: We only get one life, and we don’t know when that invisible clock is gonna run out, and so you have to make time for people and for things that are important to you. And I am not wasting any more time worrying about things that aren’t necessarily important. And yes, I need to make sure that I have money to pay all my bills. But I’m also not stressing out about eating at a restaurant that costs a little bit more money, or buying Addie, something that is frivolous or whatnot, because I want to enjoy the life that we have here, and we’re not going to take it with us. We can’t take anything with us, and so we’re going to enjoy the time that we have, and make those memories.
Heather Nelson: Welcome to Her Story Unscripted. I’m your host, Heather Nelson, a connector, business strategist, and someone who truly believes that the most powerful conversations happen when we stop performing and start being real. This podcast is a space for women to share honest, unscripted conversations about life, growth, and the experiences that have shaped who we are. No perfectly polished narratives, no pressure to have it all figured out, just real, authentic stories told exactly as they are.
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Her Story Unscripted. I’m so honored to have Christina here. Christina was actually on my previous podcast. I looked it up, and it was almost three years ago, March of 2023. So much has happened in your life. One of the things that I really wanted to have you on again, not only because you’ve been through a lot, but your story has always just been inspiring to me. I think you and I had met, and you were on the podcast around influencers, and you know that world, and how you’ve navigated that. And you also have gone through three deaths with little children, babies and all of that. So if anybody wants to go back and listen to that, that is an incredible story in itself. But you’ve gone through a lot in the past three years, and you still show up. I know you probably have your ups and downs in life, but you’ve always stood out as someone inspiring to me. I was like, I have to have her back on the podcast and hear all about what you’ve been up to, and how you’ve navigated such a hard time in your life again.
So Christina, welcome to the podcast.
Christina Alonzo: Thank you. Thank you for having me. Yeah, it has been quite an adventure. So much has happened since I was on the podcast last. So I guess for your audience, if they want to go back and listen, we did talk about my boys in the previous podcast. But since then, we have navigated so much more. So in November of 2024, we received a pretty life-altering diagnosis for Curtis. It was just a normal weekend. We dropped Addie off at my mom’s, we did weekly date nights, and we dropped my mom off at Addie’s and went to sushi, and Curtis just randomly got sick. I thought he had the flu. And that weekend, he just seemed a little off. He said he was tired, he was sick, like stomach flu type sickness. And he said he just felt kind of off, kind of tired. That was Friday night. Saturday, I noticed that he was walking a little weird, but he said he was just tired. And each day, there were just things that seemed a little off, and I had said I wanted him to go to the doctor. And he said no, he was just tired. And he went to work Monday morning, and my gut just said that something was wrong.
And Tuesday, I tried to get him to go to the doctor, and he would not go. And Tuesday night, he put our daughter to bed which he did every night. He said her bedtime prayers, and they did not make sense. And of course, she was little, and she didn’t notice anything. But I did. We came out of the bedroom and I said something was wrong. My background is in senior care. I was the executive director for Senior Living Community for quite a while, and I said, I’m not trying to be mean, but you are showing signs of somebody who possibly had a stroke. And I said, we need to go to the doctor. And he’s like, no, no, no, I’m fine. And we went to bed that night. And Wednesday morning, I said, we need to go to the doctor. And he’s like, no, I have to go to work. They need me, blah blah blah. And I said, if something is wrong, you’re not going to be any good to anybody. We need to go to the doctor. And he’s like, no, I have to go to work. And he went to work. And all day, I felt sick to my stomach. I knew something was wrong. I had called my mom and I was like, I have to get him to go to the doctor. I know something is wrong. And so I brought my daughter to my mom’s house. And when he came home, I was like, we need to go. I’m hoping that they just tell me that I’m crazy. But something is off, and we need to go. And he said okay.
And we went to the ER, and the doctor’s like, why are you here? And he was like, I don’t know. I’m fine. I told the doctor everything that I had been noticing, and I went back Friday, and told him the symptoms. And the doctor was like, sometimes when men show these symptoms, it could be a UTI. And I was like, oh, I knew that. I worked in senior care. I knew that. And then I was like, oh, he just has a UTI, duh. It’s easy. And they ran a bunch of tests, and the doctor came in and said, I’m sorry, but we found this massive brain tumor. We are going to transfer him immediately to San Francisco. They started him on steroids, sent him to San Francisco and did a biopsy because they suspected that it was cancer. But they had to do the biopsy first. And sure enough, it was glioblastoma, which is brain cancer where his tumor was located, and how it infiltrated his brain. The tumor in his brain was not operable. So with glioblastoma, even if they could have surgically removed the tumor, it’s not a matter if it comes back, it’s when.
So best case scenario with chemo, radiation and removal of the tumor, we were looking at maybe five years. We chose chemo and radiation even without surgically removing it, kind of as a hail mary. Curtis was young. He was 44 in perfect health. Other than that, he never even got a cold. He ran for fun. He rode his bike to work every day just because he wanted to. And so given his medical history, we thought that we should try. I thought we should try, and so we did. We did one round of chemo and radiation, and the cancer was contained. It didn’t spread anymore, which was good given how aggressive glioblastoma is. But unfortunately, that wasn’t enough. And from the date of diagnosis until the date of death was four months. Glioblastoma is very aggressive, and it was spread pretty much to his entire brain. It was a miracle that he wasn’t showing any symptoms prior to that weekend. What the oncologist and the neurosurgeon believed was that the swelling had gotten so bad, and that’s why he started to show symptoms. Typically, people find brain cancer because people are having headaches, or seizures, or losing balance. And remarkably, he wasn’t having any symptoms prior to that, or maybe not. Maybe if we could have caught it earlier, we could have–
Heather Nelson: How long do you think that he had had it? What was it that triggered it? But that would make sense, that it swelled.
Christina Alonzo: I believe now that he may have started noticing some symptoms in July. There are things now that I see that I didn’t see at the time. Curtis kept a journal, and he did write down a few times that something felt off, but he wasn’t sure what. And the first time he mentioned that was in July. Our son left for the police academy in July, and I went with him to move into his apartment that he was going to be living in during the police academy. Curtis didn’t go, and he had mentioned in his journal that we had taken Tommy to Chico, and that he had stayed here, that he was feeling really tired and off. Something fell off in his brain, but he wasn’t sure what that was. And so I believe that he started to feel different in July, but he didn’t know what that was. And then there were just other things now that make sense. You just chalk up to everyday life to work with small children and be good. Now I see that I just didn’t pay attention to much at the time.
Heather Nelson: And I feel like men are so, like you were saying, it took him a few days to even go to the doctor because they’re like, it’s fine, it’s fine. You’re like, no, something’s off. And it always takes them so long to be like, okay, let me go get help.
Christina Alonzo: And just like other things too. The kids and I talked about after, my birthday was in October, the diagnosis was in November, and he always made such a big deal out of holidays. He made everything so special. And every birthday of mine, he would decorate the house. He would go over the top with gifts, and he had been asking me what I wanted to do for my birthday. And I was like, nothing. Nothing, I don’t want anything. I don’t need anything, like. If I want something, I buy it. It was not a big deal. And he didn’t do anything for my birthday. This was the first time in 10 years he didn’t do anything for my birthday, and I didn’t think anything of it because I had said over and over, and over that I didn’t want anything. I didn’t need anything for my birthday, and so I didn’t think anything of it until after. And I was like, he would have never not done anything for my birthday. But I think after the fact, I thought about it like he didn’t think about it. It seems like after the diagnosis, I started noticing his short-term memory was all gone. I still play this game where I think about how long has his short-term memory been gone, and how much was just he memorizing, or how much was long-term memory because his long-term memory was intact. They told him he had brain cancer, that he wasn’t going to work, and he couldn’t retain that information, which almost was a blessing in disguise. He knew who we all were. He could tell you dates and things from the past, but he had no short-term memory.
Heather Nelson: In the four months, what was life like? Was he able to be bedridden, or was he able to go out and do things?
Christina Alonzo: He declined very, very quickly. So the day we went to the ER, he drove himself to work and home. He went in, they took him to UCS to, I can’t remember, we’ve had so many hospitals. He went to San Francisco to CPMC and had a brain biopsy. And it seems like once they messed with the tumor from there on out, he declined. He had trouble walking. His balance was really bad. He ended up having two massive seizures. He ended up with a pulmonary embolism. He declined very, very quickly. The chemo and the radiation did a number on his body, so he really didn’t walk much again. Maybe with my assistance, he could walk a little bit for maybe the first two weeks that he was home, but I mainly provided all care for him. He was at home. He was in and out of the hospital quite a bit, but he was mainly at home. With the brain biopsy, he spent like four days in the hospital. And then after the seizures, he spent a few days in the hospital. But he was mainly at home. And then when we found out about the blood clot, he was in the hospital for a few days, and then we brought him home. After that is when we chose to just do comfort care instead of continuing with the chemo and radiation. And then once we chose that, he was only in hospice for four days before he passed. And that was in March of 25.
Heather Nelson: If somebody was listening to this right now and is going through something like this, what advice, or what were some of the things that helped you get through this time?
Christina Alonzo: I think just taking in every moment that we had, even as hard as it was to watch him go through what he was going through, it was an honor to be able to take care of him at that time. I know that he would have done it for me in a heartbeat. I told my older kids that it’s a good lesson that you don’t marry somebody unless you’re willing to change diapers, feed them, give medications around the clock, and hold their hand while they are literally fighting for their life. Because it is hard to watch somebody you love go through something like that. And also take care of a toddler who does not understand why their dad, who was so full of life, can’t talk. She would say, why isn’t Dad talking to me? She would ask him to put on her shoes, and he physically couldn’t do it, and that was so hard for her because she didn’t understand why he couldn’t do it. Navigating her grief on top of my own, and going through it in real time, there’s always that question, is it better to have somebody die suddenly or watch them die? There’s no right answer. We went through it, we watched him go through it, and it was hard to watch somebody so healthy and full of life lose that.
And there was moments of clarity, like I said, I think there was like a blessing in disguise that he didn’t understand what was happening because I truly don’t think his heart could have handled knowing how much in pain that we were all in because there was nothing he wanted more than for all of us to be happy. Everything he did was for all of us, and so I don’t think that he could have handled it. I think he wouldn’t have cared for himself properly if he knew how much it was hurting us. But there were moments of clarity, like a couple days before he passed, he said to me, he hoped that I knew how much he loved me and how much he was going to miss me. And that for me not to be jealous that he was going to be with our boys. There were moments where he understood what was happening. But man, it was a lot. But I think given the nature of my job, I was able to spend every minute with him. I was able to be there with him, and be the one to take care of him. He didn’t have to go to rehab. I got to be there in the hospital with him, and I got to be here at home and take care of him, and so I’m grateful for that as hard as it was.
Heather Nelson: You kind of spent that time with him before. You’ve been through a ton of grief. My heart, I just get chills listening to your story and knowing what you’ve been through. Is your perception of life different now?
Christina Alonzo: Oh, yeah.
Heather Nelson: Because I think where my head and my heart sit right now is that we are constantly in human nature complaining about things. Like, this sucks about this, or this sucks about that. Sometimes we take for granted our health or our relationships, and things like that. So I guess my question is, if somebody is listening to this and it feels that way, as somebody who’s gone through such traumatic grief, what are some takeaways that you could give us that would help us to look at life in a different light?
Christina Alonzo: Since Curtis has passed, the way that I see things now is that we always think that we have time, and we don’t. There were so many things that we wanted to do, or thought that we had time to do, or plans that we wanted to make, and even simple things like returning a phone call, or planning a barbecue with friends, or things like that. There’s always things that you think you have time for, because other things take your time first, and you just don’t know. And so this last year, I’ve really focused on just saying yes as much as possible. I understand that we have to pay our bills. Everybody has to work. We live in Sonoma County where the cost of things are astronomical, but we also only get one life. We don’t know when that invisible clock is going to run out, and so you have to make time for people and things that are important to you. I am not wasting any more time worrying about things that aren’t necessarily important.
And yes, I need to make sure that I have money to pay all my bills, but I’m also not stressing out about eating at a restaurant that costs a little bit more money, or buying Addie something that is frivolous or whatnot because I want to enjoy the life that we have here and we’re not going to take it with us. We can’t take anything with us, and so we’re going to enjoy the time that we have and make those memories. And we did a lot of traveling this last year, saw a lot of friends that we’ve been meaning to see, going places that we’ve been wanting to go, and also not stressing out about things that aren’t really important. Curtis was never bothered. I used to say he was calm to my storm because everything to me was always an emergency, always. He was never bothered by anything. And the ironic thing is that they say that glioblastoma brain cancer is caused by a shift in your dna, and a shift in your dna is caused by stress, which is funny to me because he was never stressed. I’m the one who is always stressed, and so I have been trying, which isn’t going that well for me, but trying to be less stressed by things, and just live more like he did. Less bothered by things that aren’t as important, but I feel like more of us need to say yes to more things. And I think it’s harder to do when you haven’t been impacted by such hard things. I used to tell him, ironically, all the time too, that he took his job very seriously, which is not a bad thing.
But one of the things that had impacted me a lot from his death is that we received a termination email the night he died from his corporate office. They couldn’t even wait till the next day. They closed out his employee ID and all of that, the night, the day he died It just goes to show, it wasn’t like his co-workers, I’m sure, miss him. I’m sure they know he did a good job, but it just goes to show that you’re just a number. You spend your whole life, dedicated 22 years to a company, and I get that email the day he dies, and that still bothers me.
Heather Nelson: It’s a perspective that you give, give, give so much to other people, or to a job, or to a company for them to just do something like that, and you’re like, what was all that for? What was all this stress for? What were all those endless hours for?
Christina Alonzo: And that morning, he was like, I can’t go to the doctor, they need me there. You know what I mean? You just dedicate so much of yourself, and then you’re gone, and they move on. And sometimes, that’s a hard reality. But it’s just the way that it is, especially in a big corporate company. It’s not anything against a person, he was a good person, he was a hard worker, but companies still have to keep moving forward. Your family is the one who misses out on the time, and misses out on the memories and everything else, and so I think if I had a piece of advice to give to people who are like that or like him in that aspect, they will just move on, but your family is the one who will be missing something and someone.
Heather Nelson: That’s such a great reminder, for sure. I know we just had this conversation the other day about just being able to own your own business or to do your own thing, and how much freedom there is behind that to be able to pick up your kids from school. And yes, it’s stressful. But there’s so many more benefits to doing your own thing so thank you for sharing that. I know obviously that that is super triggering for you, and I appreciate you being open and honest about it. Because I do think I know a lot of people right now that are struggling with a spouse or a friend who’s battling cancer, and so I guess, my last question before we move that conversation is, as somebody who was in it, the thick of it, any advice for the people outside in your community, or your friends, or your family of ways to support a situation like that, and a hard time like that how we, as our community, can support them?
Christina Alonzo: Yeah. My number one tip is to just show up. I think that the hardest thing is sometimes you feel like you don’t know what to say, or don’t know what to do, and so you do nothing, and that makes people feel like you don’t care. And even though that’s 99.9% of the time not the case, when you say nothing and do nothing, that is hard. And so sometimes, even saying I don’t know what to say, or I don’t know what to do, but I’m here for you, or I’m thinking about you, or I love you goes a long way. Because when you do nothing or say nothing, that’s hurtful. And so even just saying that you don’t know what to do or say makes a big difference. And when somebody is in the midst of the thing, they don’t know what they need. And so asking them to make another decision is really overwhelming. So saying like, let me know if you need something isn’t helpful. And so if you know somebody who loves coffee, just drop it off on their doorstep, or send DoorDash with a coffee, or a meal, or whatnot. Because when you’re in the thick of it, you can’t make those decisions. And that I feel like that goes for when they lose somebody, lose a child, lose a spouse in the thick of postpartum, in the thick of dealing with a cancer diagnosis, just send whatever it is. Send a card, send the coffee, send the sandwich. Because asking somebody to make another decision can be so overwhelming because they don’t know what they need. They can’t even think clearly. And so having to think about anything else feels too overwhelming, and they’re not going to ask for the help, and it just feels like one more task on their plate.
Heather Nelson: Such a good reminder. Thank you for that. You’ve gone through an incredible weight loss journey. How much weight have you lost?
Christina Alonzo: Over 200 pounds, like insane. Like insane.
Heather Nelson: What was the point for you? How long have you been on this journey?
Christina Alonzo: Since October of 2023.
Heather Nelson: It’ll be three years this year.
Christina Alonzo: So in October of 2023 I started taking Semaglutide, a GLP-1, and I still am taking that. I am doing it for maintenance now, and the question I always get is, why am I still taking the GLP when I do not want to lose any more weight? And the short answer for that is I am doing it for the food noise. My biggest issue is that I have uncontrollable food noise, and I would not stop taking my medication for my thyroid. I would not stop taking the medication for my anxiety, and so as long as I can, I will continue to take the GLP for the food noise. I work very closely with my doctors. I get my labs drawn regularly just to make sure that everything is in line, and I stay on the GLP to manage that as well.
Heather Nelson: So obviously, you’re a supporter of it. I think it was one of my last few episodes of the last season, I had someone on who also went through that journey, but also created an app around it. I learned a lot about it because I think there’s a lot of stigma behind it. Everyone’s like, oh, you can just take a shot and then lose this weight. Or how you’re gonna have to continue taking this medication for the rest of your life. Also, there were so many things. But the one thing that I took away from that conversation was the food noise, and I’m like, oh, that’s really a thing. And then the more that I thought about it, I was like, oh, yeah. I’m constantly, what’s for dinner? What am I having for lunch? Oh, we’re going out to dinner. Let me look at the menu. I’m constantly thinking about food, and I’d never even thought of it. So for me, that was like a huge wake-up call why people take it.
Christina Alonzo: Yeah. So unless you deal with that, it’s not something people even realize, right? And people are like, oh, well, just don’t think about it, or just count calories or macros. Well, that makes it worse. Because when you battle with food noise and you do something, like count calories, then you’re constantly thinking about that even more. So what am I going to eat? How many calories is that? Then it gets even more constant. So one of the things for me with this journey is that food has no moral value. Food is not good or bad. Food is just food. It’s supposed to be meant for just fuel. And one of the things that I’ve been able to do this time around is that I’ve been able to use it that way, which I’ve never been able to do before. Because I’ve done lots and lots of diets before. I’ve lost weight before. I’ve lost a significant amount of weight before, but it’s consumed every part of my life. And it’s been extreme because the noise has been constant. It’s been, what can I eat? When can I eat? How much can I eat? Weighing and measuring. Where can I go? People would ask, what can you have? Now, I can have whatever I want when I want if I want something. Or if I don’t want something, when I’m full, and when I’m hungry, which has never been a thing before. And honestly, I feel like if it wasn’t for the tool of the GLP, I would have probably put on the weight that I lost when Curtis was sick and when he had passed, because food has always been an emotional thing for me.
Heather Nelson: Totally. How do you feel your mental state is now that you’ve lost weight? Do you feel like a whole new person? Because I know, especially when we’re a little heavier, we have all these thoughts about ourselves, right? How has your mindset changed since taking it?
Christina Alonzo: Going back just really quickly, if I can to Curtis, I also feel like if I hadn’t lost the weight, I would not have been able to care for him like I did, and so I would not have been able to lift him. He was tall and big, and I would not have been able to push him in the wheelchair like I was. I would not have been able to get him in and out of bed and move him to change the briefs, and to get him into the shower, and out of the shower, and do all of those things at 300 pounds. There would have been no way I would do it to physically care for him like I needed to when I was heavy. I didn’t even think about that, that needed to happen in order for me to be able to physically care for him. I used to be one of those people who said everything happens for a reason. I don’t necessarily believe that now. There’s been too many shitty things that have happened, I think, that sometimes bad things just happen. But I do think that you can find meaning and find positive things that happen from those shitty things.
One of those examples that I’ve given recently is that Asher lived 18 days in the NICU before he died, and that was just a really shitty thing. He had a very rare genetic disease that not a lot of people have had. There’s only been a handful of cases worldwide. It’s just one of those freak things that have happened. Curtis and I weren’t carriers, it was just one of those really bad lucks to draw things. He was on ECMO, the highest form of life support, which led Curtis and I to have some really tough conversations about life support and end of life care, and things that normal people in their late 30s and early 40s don’t have, especially when they’re that young. People just don’t have those conversations, and Curtis and I had a lot of those conversations about, what would happen if we were in a coma? What would happen if this or that? What we would want. Normal people just don’t have those kinds of conversations, especially when they’re so young, and we had a lot of those conversations while Asher was sick, and after Asher had passed.
So when Curtis got sick and his short-term memory was gone, I had to make decisions for him on what kind of care he was going to have. I knew exactly what he would want because we had those conversations. And if Asher hadn’t been sick, and if we didn’t go through that with Asher, I might not have known exactly what he wanted. We were together for a long time, so I knew generally what he would choose. But I knew exactly what to do for him because we had those conversations, which we might not have had yet because we were still so young. But because we had been through that together, I knew exactly what to do. And now I still like, did I do the right thing? Because it’s just human nature, but I know that I did. I know that he would have wanted me to try with the chemo and radiation even though we know it was a hail mary. I knew he would have wanted me to try, and I know that he wanted me to stop when we did. I know that I made the right choice even though sometimes I still question it. But if we wouldn’t have gone through what we went with Asher, we might not have had that conversation yet. Because usually, people wait until they’re later in life to have those kinds of tough conversations, which is another good reminder to have those conversations because you just don’t know.
Heather Nelson: But nobody wants to have them, right? It’s that uncomfortable conversation. Nobody wants to think of that. But how much more set up for success would you be if you had that conversation?
Christina Alonzo: Yeah. And it is uncomfortable. You don’t want to have to have those conversations. But again, we aren’t promised tomorrow.
Heather Nelson: Yeah. Such a great reminder. Christina, what’s life like now for you? What I mean, obviously, I’m sure you have good and bad days, but what is life like now with you and your daughter?
Christina Alonzo: So we are trying to just live in the moment, enjoy life as much as we can. Addie, she misses her dad quite a bit. I mean, we all do. We try to keep his memory alive as much as we can. We are so grateful that I have the job that I do because we have documented so much of our life, and so we have so many videos and photos. And Curtis was such a great dad. He reads to her every night, and we have all of that. He would just record, it’s almost like he knew, but he didn’t know, if that makes sense. He would read to her, and he would just set up the camera and record himself reading to her. We have her like Yoto box him reading to her so he can read her bedtime stories still. She’s only four, but she talks about him, and we try to keep his memory alive as much as we can. Her and I just try to enjoy life as much as we can, make those memories, and do things that he enjoyed. We still try to keep the family dinner with the big kids and things that were important to all of us, and say yes as much as possible.
Heather Nelson: My last question for you is, what is that one thing, that one takeaway, you’ve given us so many takeaways, there’s so many things that I’m just like, yeah, put in perspective things. What’s the one thing that you think someone needs to hear from this conversation today?
Christina Alonzo: Just say yes as much as possible. Enjoy the time that you do have. That’s been my biggest takeaway from all of this is, just say yes as much as possible.
Heather Nelson: Christina, thank you. Thank you for again being open to the conversation. I know that you are going to help so many people that are going through a situation like this, or even listening to this story. And if that happens to them, how they can manage it, or even just have a resource to reach out to. I think the other thing is like building this community of women who have gone through hard things and be like, shit, I’m going through this too. Who can I reach out to get support from, or get advice from? I just want to thank you for sharing your story. Again, I love watching you, and all the things that you’re doing. You look incredible, and I’m just so honored to have you here today.
Christina Alonzo: Thank you.
Heather Nelson: That’s a wrap on today’s episode of Her Story Unscripted. If something you heard today made you feel a little more seen, a little less alone, or just got you thinking, that’s exactly why we’re here. If this episode resonated with you, I’d love for you to share it with another woman in your life who needs to hear it. And if you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe wherever you listen, or catch us on YouTube so you never miss a conversation. I’m Heather Nelson. Thank you for being here, for listening, and for showing up for real stories. I’ll see you next week.
It started as a normal weekend. By Tuesday, Christina Alonzo was sitting in an ER telling the doctor everything she had been quietly noticing for days. By Wednesday, the diagnosis was in: glioblastoma — an aggressive, inoperable brain cancer. Her husband Kurtis was 44 years old and had never even had a cold. From the date of diagnosis to the date of his death was four months.
In this episode of Her Story Unscripted, Christina Alonzo returns to the podcast three years after her first appearance to share the story of the year that changed everything. She opens up about becoming Kurtis’s full-time caregiver while raising a toddler, navigating impossible medical decisions, and the termination email from his employer that arrived the very night he died. She also shares the story of her 200-pound weight loss journey — and how losing the weight became something far more significant than she ever expected when Kurtis got sick. This is an honest conversation about grief, love, and what it actually looks like to keep living when someone you love is gone.
For any woman who has ever taken time for granted, avoided a hard conversation, or wondered how anyone survives something this big — this episode is an unscripted reminder that life is shorter and more sacred than we let ourselves believe. New episodes every Thursday on all major podcast platforms.
Episode Highlights:
- 00:00 Cold open — Christina on the invisible clock
- 00:49 Heather introduces Her Story Unscripted
- 01:15 Welcoming Christina back — three years and a lot of life later
- 02:21 The normal weekend that wasn’t — Curtis gets sick
- 5:28 The ER visit and the diagnosis — glioblastoma
- 7:15 Choosing chemo and radiation — a hail mary for a 44-year-old in perfect health
- 12:18 How quickly he declined, and what caregiving looked like at home
- 14:18 Curtis’s death in March 2025 — four months after diagnosis
- 18:55 What helped Christina survive this season
- 22:13 The termination email the night he died
- 27:22 200 pounds lost — and how the GLP-1 journey intersected with Curtis’s care
- 25:10 How to actually show up for someone in grief
- 36:10 Life now — Addie, memory-keeping, and saying yes
- 38:03 Christina’s one takeaway for the listener
Full Transcript:
Us, as women, we feel like we have to show up and say things a certain way. We are told, and we’ve grown through life being quiet, that we can’t speak our mind. That men always led first, and it was this like no-no of women being authentic and talking about their story.
Heather Nelson: Welcome to Her Story Unscripted. I’m your host, Heather Nelson, a connector, business strategist, and someone who truly believes that the most powerful conversations happen when we stop performing and start being real. This podcast is a space for women to share honest, unscripted conversations about life, growth, and the experiences that have shaped who we are. No perfectly polished narratives, no pressure to have it all figured out, just real, authentic stories told exactly as they are.
Hi everyone, welcome to Her Story Unscripted. My very first episode under the new brand, and I am so excited. I have so much to fill you in on. I have so much that I want to talk about, and so welcome. Buckle in, grab a cup of coffee, grab a water, go out on a walk, whatever it is, tune in. I’m just so excited. I am so full of joy, and I’m just gonna dive right in.
So if you’re new to the podcast, welcome. My name is Heather Nelson. Formally, my last podcast name was Life Conversations With a Twist, and we will talk about what that entails. But I just redid my whole entire podcast. The concept will stay the same. The name is different, the brand is different, and the goals are so much more different, and so I’m just so excited. This has been so much work, and I will dive into what that looked like. But again, if you’re new, I have been podcasting for five years, so I don’t even know where to start.
So let’s fast forward five years ago where the concept of me being a podcaster even came about. So if you don’t know my journey, I have been in the hospitality space for over 25 years. I’ve worked in hotels, restaurants and rental companies. I’ve supported so many different people in our industry. And what kept happening is, every time I would show up to a meeting, I’d sit down, I’d meet someone for the first time, usually women, and we would get to talking and getting to know each other, and then they would tell me their whole entire life story. I mean, things that they might not have shared with other people, but I’ve created this energy to allow people to kind of tell me a lot. I’ve always been the sound reward for not even just women and what they’ve gone through, but just in life. I’ve built enough trust for people to rely on me to tell me things, or to have candid conversations around how they feel, or how they move forward. So I’ve always had this kind of coaching mentality.
Actually. I remember specifically sitting in one lunch meeting, and I had a girlfriend friend through industry, but also became really close to tell me about her journey with her child who had autism and learning disabilities, and all the crazy things that her life had, that she had gone through. I just sat there thinking to myself, man, so hard. Especially coming from a place where I haven’t experienced anything like that. But there was this moment in time where when she was telling me her story, I’m like, there’s got to be other women that are going through the same thing. And not only in just the situation, but all the conversations I had over the years with all of these women about certain things that have come up in their life, whether it’s losing their child to cancer, or a victim of sex trafficking, or divorce, or career changes, or hard times with their children, whatever it might be.
Us, women, we go through a lot, and we’re not alone. We’re not the only ones dealing with this, so I’m like, how can I create a space where I have women who are ready to share their story, to talk about what they’ve learned, to talk about their journey. And also, I think the most important thing is how they’ve come out on the other side? Because sometimes when you’re in the mess of a hard situation, it’s really hard to see the other side, and how a positive thing could come out of something so horrible, or something so hard, or something so challenging. But there’s this beautiful moment that happens on the other side where growth happens, and empowerment happens. And so, how can I create a space that we can have these conversations and be able to inspire and empower other women who might be going through the same thing? Or to create a space where, oh, my gosh, this lady has gone through this. I would love to connect with her. Maybe she has resources on how I can get through X, whatever the situation might be. So that is really the brainchild and the heart that I wanted to come to the table with these podcasts, and these interviews, and these guests.
So five years ago, I was like, I had this idea. I want to be a podcaster, and how do I create conversation? So that’s where the name Life Conversations With the Twist came about. The reason why it started that way is because ideally, what I had envisioned for the brand was come over to my house, let’s sit down in my lounge with a glass of wine, and have these conversations. That’s what I really wanted. That feeling to be, and that twist was that one hard thing that you had gone through.
Fast forward five years, I’ve had over 200 episodes. So I’ve interviewed about 160 women all over the world. A lot of my guests have been here, local to Sonoma County, which is where I live. But then also, I’ve expanded all over the world, and it has been truly something so special to me. Because not only has it inspired me, but I get DMs all the time. Or I see people out and about, and they’re like, your podcast is so inspiring. It’s what I need. It makes me feel less alone. And so that is why I’ve continued to do it. So to be super transparent, I’ve never loved the name Live Conversations With a Twist, for some reason. When I say it, it was just too long. And when you hear it, you kind of understand maybe what it’s about. But I really wanted the new brand name to be something that I can say one time, and you know exactly what you’re going to show up, and what this podcast is all about.
So this all started about a year ago. I had this idea, I really think I do a rebrand. I just want to elevate it again. After you’ve been podcasting for five years, every single week for five years, the consistency, I have that down. But where I really wanted to see growth is to make this podcast even bigger, even better, have even more crazier stories on. I want to broaden my reach. I want this podcast to go international and beyond. I really want it to be this thing that I’m known for.
I’ve been battling with certain parts of my career. I still love leaning in. I also own a business called the Connection Hive, which is all about helping and supporting small businesses in the hospitality space, create some strategy, and know how to move their business forward creating relationships and collaborations. And so I’ve been doing a lot of work in that. But when I really sit with it, it’s something that I’m passionate about, and I know I have so much experience and so much to share with the world, but there was still something missing in my heart. I also have an event labor company, which is called Set & Strike, and that is an event labor company here in Sonoma County, Napa County. We support people in our industry for labor needs. So we work with a lot of wineries, venues and festivals, and anybody who needs labor support. I love that business because it keeps my foot in the door in hospitality, and it allows me to be a business owner, learn, and do payroll, and kind of feed that entrepreneur soul that I have. And so that has been so fruitful, and I love it.
It’s been our biggest money maker in all of our businesses, so I’m continuing to lean into that. But I was struggling last year . What is next for me? The connection hive, I love, but it wasn’t fueling the soul. Set & Strike is great, but it’s again, not something that I’m super passionate about. So the podcast is something that I’ve always been passionate about. It’s something that I truly love. It’s something that, every time I interview a woman, I feel like she is on my podcast that day for a reason. Whatever it is that she is gonna pour out into my guests, she’s like pouring into my heart, and it’s exactly what I need in my life for that day.
And as I’ve been transitioning into this new brand, I haven’t been interviewing as much. I just started this last week of interviewing again, and my heart and energy is so different. I didn’t interview for like three months, and I was like, God, something’s missing. There’s not that drive there anymore. There’s not that passion there. I’m like, what is it? And I realized that it’s all about not having my people, my interviews. I didn’t have anybody here to feel my cup, and so that’s when I really knew that podcasting is where I want to be. I am such a curious person by nature. I love having conversations with women. I love having hard conversations. I love learning. I love asking questions to peel back the onions to understand a little bit more about their story, where they come from, and what they’ve learned from it. I think that’s something that naturally comes to me, which is why I think podcasting is exactly where I want to be.
So as I sat here last year, I was like, I need to do something different. I was like, I just want to rip the band aid off and start fresh. I mean, I have so much content. I have so many amazing interviews that people will still have access to, but how do I elevate it? And so I was fortunate to get into this small mastermind class that I use to grow The Connection Hive and kind of build out that business. And they also offer a rebranding package. I’ve been working with them since, oh, I think it’s been since like November when we started the process. And what I loved about this process is it really made me sit down and understand what my mission is. What are my values? What do I need to lean into? Where do I want to put my energy? Who are the guests that I want to have on? What is the story that I want to tell? Who are my competitors? Who is somebody that I look up to? I want to not do the same thing, but use it as a foundation. So we did all this work, it was like pages, and pages, and pages of research, and really exploring everything. And so it was such a cool process to be a part of. And so once that’s done, which takes a while, it goes into the branding world.
And let me tell you, naming a podcast, naming a business is like naming your child. It had to be the perfect name. And I knew once I heard it, it was going to be like, yes, that’s exactly what it is. And I knew I wanted something with authentic and women’s stories. And again, how does the name of the podcast, as soon as I say it, people know exactly what it is? And so I think we had hundreds of different words, and one of the words that stuck with me was unscripted. So when I got my first list of names, I would go through and say, yay, nay. And the word unscripted kind of just sat with me.
I had lunch with one of my best friends, and she was with me when we got the first list. There were so many versions of authentic unscripted or something with her story, and so it was kind of her idea and us talking together to be like, ooh, her story unscripted. And I was down to a few others. I had them listed on my whiteboard for weeks, had it on my whiteboard in my kitchen because I wanted to keep looking at them, and I wanted to see which one resonated with me, and I landed on her story unscripted> And the reason I did that is because there’s lots of reasons. But I think the main reason was us as women, we feel like we have to show up and say things a certain way. We are told, and we’ve grown through life being quiet, that we can’t speak our mind. That men always kind of led first, and it was this like no-no of women being authentic and talking about their story.
I think back to all the shows that I’ve watched, like Queen Elizabeth, and they were so miserable, and they were so unhappy. So many horrible things happened to them. And you think about all these things that are coming out with the Epstein files, and women have been told to be quiet. Or whatever story they tell has to be a lie, or has to be made up. It can’t be the real truth. And so what I loved about the word unscripted is that it allows women to show up unscripted. And even when I interview a guest, I don’t give them a list of questions. I’m like, I might give them a topic that I want to lean into based on what I know about them, or what they’ve told me about them. But I really want it to be these organic, authentic conversations about their life. And I want them to show up unscripted. I don’t want them to show up and say, well, I have to say this because X, Y, Z. No, I want you to show up and be truthful, and authentic, and the real you, and so that is where the unscripted kind of came in.
And I, for years since I’ve been doing podcasting, every time I meet somebody and they talk about themselves and their stories, I’m like, you have a story to tell. We all have stories to tell. We all have journeys, we’ve all been through things, and some of us are worse than others. Some are really traumatic, or grieving, or a lot of messiness in between. But we all have a story to tell. And so that is where Her Story Unscripted came because I want a woman to show up and tell their story unscripted, authentic. Let’s be like, no bullshit. Let’s just lay it all out there, have those hard conversations and talk about the things that people don’t necessarily talk about or ask. And I am so willing to ask those questions. I feel like over the years, I’ve gotten better about how I asked them to make them feel comfortable. So that is the new name, Her Story Unscripted, welcome.
So again, still a similar concept to what I’ve done over the past five years. But really just a new name, a new look, a new feel, new fresh. You’ll start to see on my social media. I went through old graphics that I used or old old ways of doing things, and so it was kind of cool to explore the journey of where I was when I first started to where I am today. And I truly believe that us women can lead the world in a different place. And I think that there is something super special about women showing up and being their true selves to inspire and empower others. I think the more we do that, and the more we feel comfortable doing that, the more powerful we are together, and the more change can happen in this world. So that is my mission, and that is what I want to continue to do.
I keep putting out there in the world, I want to be like the next Mel Robbins. Not necessarily what her podcast is or what it’s about, but how she is known for. That’s what she’s known for. I want to be known as a podcaster. I have so many big goals in this podcasting space. I want to be the number one podcaster here in Sonoma County. I want to be a top podcaster. I want to be asked to interview people. I truly love this work, and I want to continue to do it, and so it’s been such a process.
Once we came up with the name, that was one of the things I fed the branding team is my colors, my feel, my looks, as you can see by my background, this is me. I love black and white. If you don’t know me, I love leopard print. I love green plants. So you’ll see a lot of that in my branding, and it truly feels like me. I can’t wait to get it out in the world. I can’t wait to continue to have these powerful women coming on the podcast to tell their story. There’s so much I see for this podcast. And taking a break from The Connection Hive and really leaning into the podcast, I know that it can be so much more. So you’re going to see more social media from me, you’re going to see more emails from me. This will be my focus. This is what I’m set out to do. This is the work that I want to continue to do.
I just want to say thank you. If you’ve been a listener through my last five years, thank you. Thank you for consistently showing up each week. What I really would hope from everybody here is that if you listen to an episode or you think some of these stories resonate with someone in your life, please share it with them. This is how the podcast grows, right? I think that my growth has been great, but I think I have room for so much more, and I’m on a mission to get there. So again, please subscribe to this, and share it on social media. Again, if there’s a story that resonates with you, put it out on social, get it out there, leave a review, do all the things to support. Because again, that’s how I’m able to grow. That’s how I can get even more amazing guests on this podcast, and so much more. So that is kind of what you’re gonna expect from me.
In my last podcast, I also did some solo episodes. Obviously, this is a solo episode, but this is my launch episode so I wanted to give everybody a little taste of what is to come, and what has gone on behind the scenes. So please continue to show up and support this. And there was a reason why I said that, and it will come back to me. But I’m just so excited. I’m just so excited. This has been such a process between the branding, and then the look and feel.
And then I got a photo shoot done. I got to work with my amazing friend Alicia Park, shout out to her, who’s done all of my branding photos. She came into my home because my home is a beautiful place, and it feels just like me. And so it was really fun to do a photo shoot here in my office and in my living room, and so I just am really thankful for her. And the vision she sees it is super exciting. So you’ll see more of that. I know what I was getting at.
I wanted to talk about the solo episodes versus the regular episodes. My mind is all over the place because I’m so excited. So it was Life Conversations With a Twist. I obviously interviewed mostly people, but I would pop in from time to time to do a little check-in. Or if there was something that happened in my life that I felt the need to talk about, I haven’t decided if I want to do that or not because most of my downloads and the listeners like the interview style. But I do think that there is some power in me talking through some of my own personal things.
If you, again, are new here, or just kind of tuning in, or haven’t listened to a lot of podcasts, I’m rooted here in Sonoma County. I have four children, a blended family. I have a stepdaughter who’s out in college. I have a daughter who’s in high school. A son in middle school. And a little four year old who’s in TK. I’ve been through divorce. I remarried. I’m working through a blended family. I have a biracial family husband. Our family is biracial. I’ve been through a surrogacy journey and about to go down my second. I’m an entrepreneur. I have two businesses. I’m a podcaster. I’m very connected to the community. So that’s just a little bit about me. I think there’s a lot of things that I’ve done that I think others can get a lot of value from, and so I still might pop on from time to time to do a little solo episode, maybe it’s like a check-in. I still haven’t figured out what that is.
I also have played around with maybe doing a little surrogacy season when I get through what we’re going through. That’s again another podcast. But I do think there’s a lot of value in having other people in the surrogacy space, whether they are a surrogate, or an attended parent, or somebody that’s in the health system, or an agency talking about what that is, because I think that’s another topic that needs to be talked about more. So those are all kind of in the works at the moment, but I’m here for this podcast. I cannot wait to see it grow again.
I am just so thankful for everybody who’s shown up and supported me. And if you’re new, welcome. I hope you enjoy what you hear. Again, reviews are super important. If there’s a guest in your world, or somebody in your world that you think their story needs to be heard, please have them reach out to me. I’m definitely open to any and all guests. I’ve been very lucky enough that I get reached out to on a daily basis with guests from all over the world, but I do find value, and there’s certain topics that I think resonate more. I have my pulse on what’s going on in the world. I have a pulse about what’s going on in our communities. I have a pulse on what women need right now. And so when I am finding guests, I really want to lean into what I know people want to hear, and then ask the questions that we want to know, so that is my focus on how I interview people.
So thank you again. I know I rambled. I hope I made sense again. There’s just so much excitement behind this new brand, and I already have so many episodes recorded that are coming at you. They will still be released on Thursdays. You’re gonna get so much social media and emails from me. Sorry, not sorry, but I just want to get the word out there and share these beautiful stories, so thank you again. I can’t wait to see you next week.
That’s a wrap on today’s episode of Her Story Unscripted. Is something you heard today made you feel a little more seen, a little less alone, or just got you thinking that’s exactly why we’re here? If this episode resonated with you, I’d love for you to share it with another woman in your life who needs to hear it. And if you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe wherever you listen, or catch us on YouTube so you never miss a conversation. I’m Heather Nelson. Thank you for being here, for listening, and for showing up for real stories. I’ll see you next week.