KPHRED Work - Life Balance Radio

Suzanne Feit, Catie Chase
Chat and Suzanne AI for Everyday Life
### Beyond Learning Differences: Finding Your Strengths with Grit, Grace & AI

**Guest: Catie Chase — Author, Educational Consultant, Learning Specialist & Life Coach**

What happens when a young girl who struggled to read until middle school grows up to become an author, educator, and advocate for empowering others?

In this inspiring episode of *Chat & Suzanne: AI for Everyday Life*, Suzanne Feit welcomes Catie Chase, author of *A Girl's Guide to Being Me: Mastering Modern Life Skills for Success with Grit & Grace*.

Catie shares her personal journey with dyslexia and dyscalculia, the mentors who helped her succeed, and how those experiences shaped her approach to supporting students and families.

Together, Suzanne and Catie explore the importance of recognizing individual strengths, building confidence, and developing a personal toolbox for success. They discuss how AI and ChatGPT can support learning and independence while emphasizing that technology should empower us—not replace our own thinking, creativity, or identity.

Catie also shares the remarkable story of two sisters from Tanzania whose courage and resilience helped inspire her work, along with the challenges and rewards of writing her first book.

This conversation offers encouragement to parents, educators, students, and anyone who has ever felt limited by a learning difference.

**The central message:** A diagnosis does not define your future. With the right tools, support, grit, and grace, possibilities are endless.

**Learn more about Catie:** https://www.catiechase.com/

**Explore Chat & Suzanne:** https://chatandsuzanne.com/

Mary Farias and Barbara Wainwright
The Author's Blueprint - From Your Head to the World

How Children's Book Illustrations Bring Stories to Life | Juliana Castro

What really goes into illustrating a children's picture book? Much more than drawing beautiful pictures!

On this episode of Author's Blueprint: From Your Head to the World, hosts Barbara Wainwright and Mary Reiss Farias welcome children's book illustrator Juliana Castro for a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the art, strategy, and collaboration involved in bringing an author's story to life.

Originally from Colombia, Juliana is a colorful, joyful, conservation-minded artist who discovered her passion for children's book illustration while studying concept art. Today, she works closely with self-published authors to transform their manuscripts into engaging visual experiences.

Juliana explains why a great picture book isn't simply a story accompanied by illustrations. The words and images must work together, each contributing something unique to the reader's experience.

In this episode, discover:

Why identifying your ideal reader is essential before illustrating your children's book

The difference between an artist and a professional picture book illustrator

How illustrations can tell stories beyond the written words

Why authors should avoid overdescribing what the pictures can communicate

How character design, storyboarding, pacing, and page turns shape the reading experience

How color creates emotion and strengthens storytelling

Why illustrating a standard 32-page picture book can take five to six months

What authors should understand about self-publishing versus traditional publishing

How to find a trustworthy illustrator and recognize potential AI illustration scams

Why promotional assets such as coloring pages and stickers can be valuable for school visits, library events, and book launches

One particularly valuable takeaway is Juliana's collaborative approach. She involves authors throughout character development, storyboarding, color selection, and revisions, helping ensure that the finished illustrations support the author's vision.

She also shares practical advice for finding illustrators, including exploring the Instagram hashtag #KidlitPostcard, reviewing portfolios, and asking questions before committing to a project.

Whether you're writing your first children's book, preparing to self-publish, or simply curious about the creative process behind picture books, this conversation offers valuable insights into bringing a story from manuscript to finished book.

Connect with Juliana Castro: Find her on LinkedIn and Instagram, and explore her illustration portfolio.

About Author's Blueprint

Hosted by Barbara Wainwright and Mary Reiss Farias on KPHRED Radio, Author's Blueprint: From Your Head to the World helps authors and publishers bring their messages into the world through writing, publishing, visibility, and meaningful connections.

Subscribe for conversations with authors, publishers, illustrators, and industry professionals.

#AuthorsBlueprint #JulianaCastro #ChildrensBookIllustration #PictureBooks #SelfPublishing #BookPublishing #ChildrensBookAuthor

Reunion is not the finish line - it is the beginning of a much harder conversation. Chris Thomason’s story shows what really happens when an adoptee finally finds his birth mother: the shock, the secrecy, the grief, and the long work of learning to move at someone else’s pace.
After decades of carrying rejection and violence from an unstable adoptive childhood, Chris spends years searching before a chance connection, a supportive investigator, and the wisdom of birth mothers in CUB lead him to Lorraine. What follows is not a tidy happy ending, but a secret four-and-a-half-year relationship, a painful discovery of how reunion affects a whole family, and a hard-earned understanding that his birth mother has trauma of her own.
You’ll hear how Chris:
Tracks down his birth mother with the help of an investigator and a single well-timed conversation
Navigates the emotional landmines of a first call, a delayed response, and a reunion built in secret
Learns why CUB—Concerned United Birthparents—became the support system that changed everything
Faces the fallout when his reunion is discovered and his birth mother’s husband feels blindsided
Reframes reunion as a process of patience, boundaries, and empathy, not entitlement
Janet Munro guides the conversation with the perspective of a birth mother herself, bringing a rare dual lens to the episode. Together, they unpack the silence, shame, and timing that shape reunion for both adoptees and birth parents—and why healing often arrives only when everyone involved is given room to process.
This episode is essential listening if you are an adoptee searching for family, a birth parent considering reunion, or anyone who wants a deeper, more honest picture of what reunion really asks of a person. If you’ve ever wondered what happens after the search ends, this conversation tells the truth.

Economy Creators
Mary Farias & Philip Baker

What happens when life changes in an instant—and the future you imagined suddenly looks completely different?

For Philip Baker, life coach, author, and founder of Reimagining Life Coaching, that question became very real after suffering a stroke in March 2025.

In this episode of Economy Creators, host Mary Reiss Farias welcomes Philip for an inspiring conversation about stroke recovery, resilience, mindset transformation, gratitude, identity, and finding purpose through adversity.

Philip's journey of personal transformation began long before his stroke.

As a young man, he struggled with direction and purpose. But at 31, he made a decision that would change his life: he wanted the years ahead to count.

He began intentionally developing his mindset, embracing accountability, and focusing on serving others.

Then, decades later, life presented an entirely new challenge.

Following a stroke that affected his mobility, speech, and dexterity, Philip found himself confronting the very principles he had spent years teaching others.

Could he apply his own coaching to himself?

With the support of his wife, therapists, family, faith, and determination, Philip began rebuilding his life.

And something remarkable happened.

He began speaking his book into existence while recovering his speech.

His book, Restored, Not Just Renewed, became more than a story about recovery. It became part of the recovery process itself.

As Mary often says, every book needs a job.

Philip's book had one before it was even published.

IN THIS CONVERSATION

• Philip's journey from uncertainty to intentional living
• Surviving a stroke and redefining what recovery means
• The power of gratitude during difficult circumstances
• Responding rather than reacting to life's challenges
• Present-moment awareness and mindset reframing
• Choosing your identity and how you show up every day
• Overcoming limiting beliefs and developing resilience
• How Philip used his podcast and voice to support his recovery
• Turning personal experiences into a meaningful book
• Building a legacy through service and contribution
• Philip's vision for Elevatio, a global wellness network

RESTORED, NOT JUST RENEWED

Philip makes a powerful distinction between renewal and restoration.

For him, restoration goes beyond physical recovery. It involves the mind, body, and spirit—and choosing how to move forward even when circumstances cannot be reversed.

One of his most memorable statements is:

"I choose to be an asset to the world."

That philosophy is central to Economy Creators.

We aren't simply building businesses, books, podcasts, or other assets.

We're building lives around who we are, what matters to us, and how we want to contribute.

Philip's story is a beautiful example of Lead Yourself → Lead Your Economy → Lead Others.

His closing wisdom?

"The proof of your desire is in your pursuit."

And:

"Clarity of the root determines the fruit."

CONNECT WITH PHILIP BAKER

Reimagining Life Coaching
Website: https://rlc-elevate.com

Book: Restored, Not Just Renewed
https://a.co/d/0iwlEqaE

Learn more about Philip's coaching, writing, and his vision for the Elevatio global wellness network.

CONTINUE YOUR ECONOMY CREATORS JOURNEY

Subscribe to Economy Creators:
https://economycreators.substack.com/

Join the Monthly Economy Creators Workshop:
https://www.magnetminddevelopment.com/economy

Download The Economy Creators Framework:
https://www.economycreators.live/ec-framework-ebook

ABOUT ECONOMY CREATORS™

Economy Creators™ explores how entrepreneurs, authors, coaches, and leaders intentionally build lives, assets, relationships, and opportunities around who they are and the lives they want to create.

Lead Yourself → Lead Your Economy → Lead Others.

Michelle Ralls is a Nurse, Holistic Functional Nutritionist, Certified Diabetic Coach, Certified Menopause Coach, Certified Plant-Based Coach, and Certified Leadership Coach.
Victor Dedaj is a Certified Naturopathic Practitioner, Certified Wholistic Health Coach, Certified Success Principles Trainer, Nutrition Expert and Author.