Episodes

AI is moving at lightning speed, and the pressure to keep up is real. New tools every week, new programs promising to future-proof your business, new "opportunities" that look brilliant on paper. But here's what I've learned the expensive way: fast isn't the same as forward. In this episode, I take you backstage to one of my most personal lessons, what I call my "$35,000 Harvard experience." It was an investment that looked smart and impressive from every angle, and it quietly pulled me away fr...

He had it all. He had a suit and tie and an office on the 15th floor of the most recognizable building in Rochester, New York. Inside, though, Ben Albert was quietly miserable. Then the pandemic hit, and overnight he was laid off, broke, and officially "non-essential." In this raw and generous conversation, Ben takes us backstage to the months when he was lost. He talks about binge drinking, losing his father, his mother's illness, and doing morning affirmations with a twitching eye after a nig...

What are you still waiting to feel ready for? The book you haven't written. The stage you haven't stepped onto. The bold move you keep postponing. Waiting feels safe, but it's costing you more than you think. I know, because I waited too. Until one sentence on a Hamburg sidewalk changed everything: "What a shame, Sabine. You are so talented." Within a week, I had auditioned for acting school. In this solo episode, I share that moment and what it can teach you about the cost of waiting. I also...

Sandra Bargman popped out of the womb singing, dancing, and acting — and never stopped. But underneath three decades on Broadway, national tours, cruise ships, and cabaret rooms, she carried a quieter question: how could she be of service in a bigger way? One day, scrolling a life-coaching website, she saw two words stacked in the corner — life coach and interfaith minister — and a light bulb went off that changed everything. In this conversation, Sandra takes us from Carnegie Mellon conservato...

What do you do when life falls apart at 54 and you're convinced there's nothing left for you? If you're Teri M. Brown, you climb onto a tandem bicycle and ride 3,102 miles across America. In this episode of Become Empowered, author and speaker Teri M. Brown joins Sabine to trace an extraordinary arc — from an emotionally abusive marriage that left her doubting her own worth, to a cross-country tandem ride from Astoria, Oregon to Washington, DC with her husband Bruce, to the grief of losing him ...

There’s a stage somewhere in your life with your name on it — a talk, a camera, a Zoom box, a conversation you keep rehearsing but never walk into. And every time you get close, you slip back into the wings and whisper, “not yet.” In this solo episode, Sabine takes you back to opening night in Hamburg, where she stepped out as Pippi Longstocking with her mind gone completely blank… and the lines came back. Drawing on thirty years on stages, she hands you a four-part map for stepping into the li...

When Emma Victoria Johnson sat across from her surgeon in March 2025, the script had already been written for her: stage 4 breast cancer, no surgery, no chemo, no radiation — just two tablets and roughly 18 months. She tore that script up. In this deeply moving episode of Become Empowered, host Sabine Kvenberg sits down with Emma, joining "from the future" near Sydney, Australia, to talk about the moment a diagnosis became a decision. Emma shares why she refused to accept a palliative-only progn...

What if the problem isn't that you need more stages — but that your message isn't clear enough to earn them? In this episode of Become Empowered, Sabine sits down with speaker, author, and coach Marta Spirk — a fellow performer who traded the entertainment stage for a mission of guiding women to find their voice and own the spotlight. Marta shares her remarkable journey: growing up singing in her mother's church in Brazil, building a career in translation and interpreting, singing the national...

Imagine walking into a state government internship, handing them an evaluation that says you read and write at a first-grade level — and walking out having earned fifteen credits of A-minus. Now imagine a university committee looking at that same work and flunking you to fifteen credits of F. That's the moment Russell Van Brooklyn stopped waiting for permission and decided to solve dyslexia himself. On this episode, Sabine sits down with Russell Van Brooklyn — known worldwide as the Dyslexia Pr...

Some people find their turning point in a boardroom. Fenix Shepard found hers in a jail cell — where a total stranger looked at her with compassion and asked one question that cracked her life wide open: "Don't you think it's time to heal?" In this episode, Sabine sits down with Fenix Shepard — spiritual mentor, Navy veteran, trauma survivor, and author of Loved Unconditionally — for a conversation that goes straight to the heart. Fenix walks us back to her last rock bottom at 30, the correction...

Thirty-five years ago, Sabine met an 18-year-old dancer in West Africa — talented, a little naïve, and not yet sure she belonged anywhere but the stage. In this episode, that young woman returns as Sabine's guest: Dorina Malcheva, now Artistic Director of MJ – The Michael Jackson Musical in Hamburg, Germany, leading a team of 34. It's a conversation that moves like a memory: the smell of the airport air, the fires along a dark road, the first show they ever built together in an African club. Bu...

Jeremy Knauff spent nearly two decades building a successful marketing agency — until a severe health crisis nearly killed him and took the business down with it. In this raw, unfiltered conversation, the U.S. Marine Corps veteran and founder of Spartan Media shares what it was like to lose everything, the autoimmune condition that brought him to the edge, and the moment a fellow Marine's suicide became the turning point that changed how he showed up in the world. Jeremy walks us through exactl...

You don't find courage — you build it, one bold step at a time. In this episode, Sabine unpacks why courage is forged in the moments when everything in you screams "stop," and why the difference between a wish and a whisper might be the thing standing between you and your next chapter. Get Your Free Bold Move Kit: https://sabinekvenberg.com/get-your-bold-move-kit Connect on Social Media: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/SabineKvenberg IG: https://www.instagram.com/sabinekvenberg/ LinkedIn: h...

Jeff Luther collapsed mid-workout in front of his 16-year-old son — no pulse, no breath. Two AED shocks didn't bring him back. The third did. In this raw, unfiltered conversation, Jeff walks us through what actually happens in the space between life and death, the paralyzing fear that followed a second cardiac arrest, and the exact moment — 30 seconds at a time — that he started rebuilding his life on his own terms. We talk about ego, gratitude, the stories we tell ourselves, and why the belief ...

At almost 85 years young, Nancy Jasin is proof that the ending is never written until you write it. A retired nurse who "never really retires," Nancy joins Sabine to share a life shaped by resilience — from a violent childhood spent hiding in a closet, to 42 years of sobriety, to building three businesses and becoming an author who now sends out two poems a week. Nancy opens the doors most people keep closed. She talks candidly about PTSD, addiction, and the night on her bathroom floor when she...

What if the wisdom you're searching for has been inside you since childhood? In this Saturday Live conversation, Sabine Kvenberg sits down with visionary strategist and three-time #1 international bestselling author Joanne Weiland to explore the moments that quietly build a courageous life. Sabine opens up about the day — at just nine years old, alone in a Hamburg park — when an inner voice told her to run, and how that single moment launched a lifelong spiritual journey and her search for inne...

What happens when staying authentic costs you everything… but opens the door to something even bigger? In this inspiring episode of Become Empowered, Sabine Kvenberg sits down with author, voice actor, musician, and storyteller Aaron Ryan to talk about resilience, reinvention, creativity, and the courage to stay true to yourself—even when it comes at a cost. Aaron shares his remarkable journey from accidentally becoming a voice actor to publishing 50+ books, creating music, and building a legac...

What if your money problems have nothing to do with money? In this episode of Become Empowered, Sabine sits down with Scott Maderer — host of the Inspired Stewardship podcast with over 1,800 episodes — to unpack a truth most people avoid: financial stress is a symptom, not the source. The real problem is alignment. Scott opens up about his raw personal story: $60,000 in debt on a $40,000 teacher's salary, suicidal thoughts he kept hidden from his wife, and the radical turning point that changed...

What if manifestation isn't something you do — but something you live? In this episode, I'm sharing something personal. For my birthday, I ended up on a race track — behind the wheel of a race car — and I never planned it. What unfolded that day became one of the clearest examples of manifestation I've ever experienced in my own life. Not because I followed a formula. Because I was aligned. I also take you inside my new book GUMPTION: Sacred Whispers, Bold Moves, and the Courage to Become, wher...

He grew up in East New York, surrounded by violence, and believed he wouldn't live to see 25. Today he's sailed every inhabited continent, coached leaders around the world, and built a media company helping others find their own way. This is Josh Valentine — and this episode will stay with you. Connect with Josh: https://javalentin.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@UCK-1WRXSdXRTnZKqUAzAP2g Connect with Sabine: https://sabinekvenberg.com/resources Follow her on: IG: https://www.inst...

In this powerful episode, Sabine Kvenberg sits down with Dr. Angela Mulrooney to explore the hidden realities behind success, burnout, and rediscovering purpose. Dr. Mulrooney shares her journey from building a thriving dental career to experiencing deep burnout—and how that pivotal moment became the catalyst for transformation. Together, they unpack the pressure of high performance, the identity traps many professionals fall into, and what it really takes to realign your life and business with...

Feeling stuck, uncertain, or afraid to make your next move? This episode is your permission slip to rise. Discover what gumption really means — and why it’s the missing link between where you are and where you want to be. Learn how to tell the difference between fear that protects you and fear that’s holding you back, why failing forward is a success strategy, and how to stay focused on your boldest goals. Plus, get an exclusive sneak peek into Sabine’s upcoming memoir GUMPTION. It’s...

What if the very thing holding you back is the exact fuel you need to move forward? In this episode, I share my Fear Flip method — a simple but powerful shift that transforms paralysis into presence and fear into fire. https://go.sabinekvenberg.com/aichallenge connect with Sabine: TalktoSabine.com

What does it cost to perform a version of yourself for 45 years? Katherine Dudtscak knows that cost intimately. A former bank CEO who led teams of 25,000 across 19 countries in the Caribbean, Catherine lived at the pinnacle of the corporate world — and in the depths of a secret she couldn't name. When burnout arrived and her mother died in the same season, Catherine finally broke. And in breaking open, she found something extraordinary: herself. Today — her book's official pub date — Catherine...