In this episode, I sit down with Jeremy Swick, a young man whose life story begins in Guatemala and unfolds in Wisconsin. Jeremy was adopted as an infant after spending his first six months in an overcrowded orphanage during Guatemala’s civil war. What I didn’t fully understand going into this conversation was just how fragile and uncertain his start to life had been—and how deeply those early experiences shaped the man he’s become.

Jeremy shares openly about being dropped as a baby in the orphanage, suffering multiple skull fractures and a serious brain injury, and how doctors once believed he might never thrive. He also tells the remarkable story of discovering that one of the babies who shared his crib was adopted by another family in Wisconsin—and still lives just an hour away today.

Raised by deeply loving parents, Jeremy reflects on identity, belonging, and what it means to grow up as a brown child in a predominantly white community with parents whose lived experiences couldn’t always mirror his own. He speaks thoughtfully about curiosity as a lifeline—how learning history became a way to understand himself, his country of birth, and the world around him.

This is a grounded, honest conversation about masculinity, resilience, and what helps boys grow into men who feel seen, capable, and connected.

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Feeling motivated? Here's a short, powerful coaching experience to help you tune in, connect, and understand your son—one tiny step at a time.

Join my free 1:1 Tiny Challenge™: 3 Days to a Stronger Connection With Your Son

✨ In just 3 days, you’ll take one small step each day to understand, connect, and affirm your son—no overwhelm, no pressure, just powerful parenting in action.

Here’s how it works:

✔️ I’ll send you one simple action + reflection each day

✔️ You’ll message me back with your experience

✔️ I’ll support you personally with insights, encouragement, and next steps

👉 Ready to get started? You can just send me a note at kathy@sonhoodcoaching.com and say “I’m in!” and I’ll take care of the rest.

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Guest Bio

Jeremy Swick is a historian, storyteller, and media entrepreneur known online as The Average Historian. Born in Guatemala City and raised in Wisconsin, Jeremy has worked with institutions including the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame, and most recently served as an archivist for the Wisconsin Black Historical Society. In 2025, he left his 9-to-5 to launch Swick Media, where he helps organizations and podcasters tell meaningful stories through digital media and podcasting.

We talk about:

1. Adoption, identity, and the lifelong search for belonging
2. How early trauma can quietly shape adult behavior and resilience
3. The importance of earned support and what it taught Jeremy about growth and trust
4. Why team sports—especially rugby—can be a powerful buffer for boys’ and men’s mental health
5. Community, loneliness, and where young men feel most disconnected today
6. The pressure to “perform” versus living honestly
7. What parents can do to truly support their sons’ interests and agency
8. Jeremy also shares practical wisdom about...

In this episode of Unlocking the Parenting Code: All About Boys, Kathy sits down with Keanu Mendoza, a warm, reflective, and deeply thoughtful young man whose early life could have easily led him down a familiar path of drugs, gangs, and incarceration. Raised without his parents present, Keanu spent his early childhood with his grandmother before her passing, and later with an aunt and uncle who stepped in during his most vulnerable years.

Keanu shares openly about growing up feeling lonely, shy, and unsure of who he was — including being bullied at school, struggling with self-confidence, and longing to belong. Grounded in faith and shaped by consistent, firm, and loving guidance, he chose a different path. Today, Keanu is serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, is a first-generation college graduate, and is continuing his education with plans for graduate school.

This conversation offers hope to young people who feel trapped by their circumstances — and powerful insight for parents, mentors, and educators into what truly helps boys find their footing, their voice, and their sense of self.

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Feeling motivated? Here's a short, powerful coaching experience to help you tune in, connect, and understand your son—one tiny step at a time.

Join my free 1:1 Tiny Challenge™: 3 Days to a Stronger Connection With Your Son

✨ In just 3 days, you’ll take one small step each day to understand, connect, and affirm your son—no overwhelm, no pressure, just powerful parenting in action.

Here’s how it works:

✔️ I’ll send you one simple action + reflection each day

✔️ You’ll message me back with your experience

✔️ I’ll support you personally with insights, encouragement, and next steps

👉 Ready to get started? You can just send me a note at kathy@sonhoodcoaching.com and say “I’m in!” and I’ll take care of the rest.

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Keanu Mendoza was born and raised in California. He grew up without his parents present and spent much of his early childhood being raised by his grandmother before her passing. In his early teens, his aunt and uncle stepped in to raise him and his brother, providing the stability and guidance that would change his life’s direction.

Keanu is currently serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, the first in his family to do so. He is also a first-generation college graduate from Southern New Hampshire University, where he earned both his associate and bachelor’s degrees in business administration. At 26 years old, Keanu continues to pursue growth, learning, and service, with plans to begin graduate studies.

Family & Early Life

• Raised primarily by his grandmother; family instability and early loss.
• Met his biological father only once (around age 5–6).
• Mother in and out of his life, mostly out, and struggling with substance issues.
• Moved in with his aunt and uncle in 7th grade (age 12–13) — the adults who “stepped up.”

School, Identity & Bullying

• Growing up a shy, chubby child and being bullied at school.
• Struggles with self-confidence
• How loneliness and the need to belong made him vulnerable in adolescence.

Turning Points & Mentors

• The decisive influence of his uncle and aunt: structure, discipline, and steady presence.
• Other local mentors (neighbor/church leader) who introduced him to faith and music.
• How one person’s intervention can change a boy’s trajectory.

Choices, Resilience & Purpose

• Choosing a different path despite generational patterns of drugs, gangs, and incarceration.
• Joining the U.S. Marine Corps: finding structure, belonging,

In this episode, Kathy sits down with Joey Stoneburgh, — a corrections officer, husband, father, and podcast host — for an honest look at childhood, masculinity, mental health, and the reality of working inside Canada’s largest jail. Joey opens up about growing up between two homes, the feeling of not fully belonging, the decisions that could have taken his life in a different direction, and the personal redemption he continues to choose every day.

We dive into fatherhood, boundaries, identity, and the invisible pressures many men carry. Joey shares openly about mental health challenges, testosterone, and the work it takes to stay grounded. His story is one of self-reflection, resilience, connection — and choosing who you want to be, even when early life experiences may pull you in other directions.

**********

Feeling motivated? Here's a short, powerful coaching experience to help you tune in, connect, and understand your son—one tiny step at a time.

Join my free 1:1 Tiny Challenge™: 3 Days to a Stronger Connection With Your Son

✨ In just 3 days, you’ll take one small step each day to understand, connect, and affirm your son—no overwhelm, no pressure, just powerful parenting in action.

Here’s how it works:

✔️ I’ll send you one simple action + reflection each day

✔️ You’ll message me back with your experience

✔️ I’ll support you personally with insights, encouragement, and next steps

👉 Ready to get started? You can just send me a note at kathy@sonhoodcoaching.com and say “I’m in!” and I’ll take care of the rest.

**********

• Core values & identity

Joey reflects on honesty, integrity, inclusivity, and humor as foundational to who he is — and how these values led him into law enforcement.

• Working in corrections & mental health

How 13 years in a jail environment impacts a person, the risk of becoming hardened, and the outlets that kept Joey grounded (sobriety, jiu-jitsu, family, meaningful routines).

• Childhood in a split family

Navigating two households, complex family dynamics, feeling like he didn’t fully belong in either, and how those early experiences influenced his teens and early 20s.

• Searching for belonging as a teen

Partying, substance use, risky decisions, and the fine line between becoming an officer or becoming an inmate.

• Religion, symbolism & redemption

The surprising church visit that shifted his perspective, the powerful encounter at work that deepened his belief in good and evil, and the story behind his “redemption” tattoo.

• Boundaries & self-worth

Learning to stop people-pleasing, set limits with friends and family, and step into a stronger sense of self-respect.

• Masculine pressure, drive & self-criticism

Feeling like a failure in his late 20s, the internal pressure to be “the provider,” the battle in his own mind, and how ambition can be both a strength and a struggle.

• Fatherhood & testosterone

How becoming a dad transformed his identity, feeling “off,” low libido, and emotionally overwhelmed during that period, and his history of anabolic steroid use.

• Masculinity, mentorship & mixed messages

Outdated gender expectations, exposure to pornography, confusing early guidance from elders, and how culture shapes boys’ understanding of manhood.

• Fears for today’s society

The tension around motherhood, gender roles, and why he believes children need present, emotionally engaged parents.

• What he wants...