Kari Fagin was having lunch with one of her mentors when he pushed a piece of paper across the table in her direction. She read 10 names...

Tonika Lewis Johnson on Speaking of Phenomenal Podcast As a teenager in the 90s, Tonika Lewis Johnson  faced a 15-mile daily commute from...

photo of Mary Schmich and Melissa Harris by Alex Garcia In this week’s Speaking of Phenomenal   episode, I sat down with two...

She was a toddler who loved dancing to music and had no trouble following instructions from her teachers at daycare. But when Anna was...

Earlier today I was browsing old stories by one of my favorite authors, Olga Kahzan, and I ended up finding one Reddit thread  she...

It was three in the morning, and Jack was writing poetry in her closet. Her son had left for college, her sister had moved to the...

Jillian Melero  had worked multiple jobs when she saw Anthony Bourdain on TV and decided to do what he was doing: travel, experience new...

Innovation isn’t just for Silicon Valley. It’s thriving in communities across the country, and Chicago is a hub for groundbreaking ideas...

Most of us have a version in our mind of how life is “supposed” to go—milestones neatly mapped out, expectations carefully placed. But...

This episode of Speaking of Phenomenal  originally aired on December 19, 2024. Some careers follow a straight path, but for Delores...

Most of   Jeanne Sparrow’s  clients hate it when she proposes the following exercise: to look at themselves from the outside, by...

As I sit down to write this, I’m reflecting on the themes we explored in Episode 10 of the Speaking of Phenomenal Podcast .  Gratitude is...

Sarah Harris started writing in January 2012 because she wanted to navigate her relationships, career shifts and her background as a...

Here is one of Tina Greenbaum’s favorite sets of questions whenever she speaks to an audience as a psychotherapist and conflict...

I’ve always loved going to school as a child. Very few of my friends can relate to it. My husband thinks I had some abnormality. But I...

Dana Hirt had been teaching children for a while when she realized that, to help them more effectively, she had to change the course of...

One day, Kimberly Lloyd came home from her job as a Chicago police officer and as she spoke to her daughter over the phone, they both...

Over four years after their last trip together, Amy and her friends Barbara , Alessandra  and Debby  - the BAAD  girls - decided to spend...

Susan Boensch decided to take surfing more seriously after moving from Chicago to the West Coast with her husband and two of their...

Krissie McMenamin spent years ignoring her anger until she finally decided to study it. She read multiple books, did a masters in...