In this episode of Embracing the Journey, Lee Bakewell sits down with Dr. Yvette Rice, founder of LLVE, LLC — Ladies Living in Victory and Excellence — for a powerful conversation about purpose, confidence, faith, leadership, and the courage to keep becoming.Dr. Yvette shares her journey from growing up in Decatur, Alabama, to becoming the first Black cheerleader at her high school, breaking barriers as a woman in engineering, stepping back into the workplace after 15 years away, and eventually building a company dedicated to helping women live and lead with purpose.This conversation explores what it means to keep showing up when the room was not built with you in mind, how confidence can be rebuilt after rejection or transition, and why purpose often becomes clearer through the challenges we face.One of the central lessons from Dr. Yvette’s story is simple but powerful: if they will not give you a seat at the table, build another table — and invite others to sit with you.In this episode, we discuss:• Choosing purpose before permission• Rebuilding confidence after setbacks• Breaking barriers in leadership and STEM• The role of faith in resilience and identity• Why self-talk shapes confidence• Giving others voice, dignity, and empathy• Building your own table instead of waiting for approvalLearn more about Dr. Yvette Rice and LLVE, LLC:https://llve-llc.com/Listen to more episodes of Embracing the Journey:https://www.raisemindset.org/If this conversation resonates with you, please subscribe, like, and leave a comment to help more people discover these stories.

Is a perfectly mapped-out life actually a success, or is it—as Anker Heegaard suggests—maybe just a little bit boring?

In this episode, I sit down with Anker Heegaard to explore the "myth of the planned life." Anker is a self-described "mutt" of experiences: born in Nepal to Peace Corps volunteers, he spent his thirteenth year navigating the foothills of Afghanistan and his late teens in Cairo following a self-described "educational pause."

We discuss how Anker transitioned from studying English and Religion at NYU to leading a specialized affordable housing finance firm for over 30 years—proving that the connection between what we study and what we become is often a "blurred" one.

We dive into:

• The Three-Legged Stool of Success: Why achievement requires a balance of personal capability, hard work, and the raw, unpredictable power of luck.

• The "Analog" Upbringing: How waking up for a 4:00 AM paper route and navigating difficult family transitions built a resilience that the modern, structured world often lacks.

• The Snowball Effect: Why it’s easy to "disappear" when things get hard, and how to find your way back.

• Leaving the Campsite Better: A philosophy for living a meaningful life in the face of uncertainty.

Anker’s journey is a powerful reminder that the most "circuitous" paths are often the most rewarding. If you’ve ever felt like you’re off-course or behind the map, this conversation is for you.

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In this episode of Embracing the Journey, I sit down with Eric Klenofsky — someone I’ve known for a long time — to reflect on the path he’s taken from a young goalkeeper to the professional game, and now into a new chapter of life.

Eric’s journey includes standout years at Monmouth University, being selected in the MLS SuperDraft, and playing professionally in the U.S. and abroad. But this conversation goes beyond the surface of that career.

We explore the moments people don’t see — the pressure of expectation, the uncertainty that comes with your associated identity, and the experiences that shape how you think, respond, and grow over time.

It was great to reconnect and hear more about the moments that influenced Eric’s perspective, and how those lessons now show up in his life as a husband, father, and coach.