Ed Lubowicki is a former Division 1 lacrosse athlete at Notre Dame who now works at the intersection of athlete transition, identity, and professional development. In this episode, Ed joins Genevieve to unpack the often overlooked reality of life after sports — from the identity shifts that follow retirement to the challenge of building structure and purpose in a completely different environment.

Ed shares his personal journey from college athletics into the corporate world, including his time in cybersecurity consulting at Deloitte, where a demanding, travel-heavy lifestyle led him to reevaluate what he truly wanted. Now finishing his master’s thesis on athletic identity foreclosure, he brings both lived experience and academic insight into how athletes navigate transition.

The conversation explores the parallels between sport and entrepreneurship. Ed also shares how reflective practices, philosophy, and intentional community-building have helped him rebuild a sense of identity beyond sport.

This episode dives into the gap between athletic excellence and real-world structure, and what it looks like to intentionally design a life after the game.

Haley Paez is a Denver-based food content creator and former Division I soccer player at the University of Denver. In this episode, Haley shares her journey through college athletics — from navigating multiple coaching changes and transferring schools, to facing the intense internal and external pressures that came with competing at a high level.

She opens up about her experience with disordered eating, the physical and mental toll of injuries, and the difficult decision to step away from the sport before she felt ready. Haley reflects on the identity loss that followed and how therapy helped her reframe her past, adopting the mindset that “failure is feedback.”

Now a full-time content creator, Haley shares how she’s applied the discipline and work ethic she developed as an athlete to build a career in the digital space. She also talks about rediscovering her love for soccer in a low-pressure environment and learning to define herself beyond sport. This episode explores transition, healing, and what it means to rebuild your identity on your own terms.

If you or someone you know is struggling, Visit the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) to learn about eating disorders, find help, and how you can take action to raise awareness.

Chris Duvall is a former professional soccer player who spent eight seasons competing in Major League Soccer, playing for multiple clubs including the New York Red Bulls, Montreal Impact, Houston Dynamo, Portland Timbers, and FC Cincinnati. After retiring from professional soccer, Chris faced the transition many athletes experience — figuring out how to redirect the intensity, discipline, and identity that come with competing at the highest level.

In this episode, Chris opens up about a pivotal moment in his career when a serious leg injury forced him to confront the mental and emotional challenges of being sidelined. Initially skeptical of therapy, he eventually sought help after experiencing symptoms of PTSD following the injury — a decision that ultimately reshaped his perspective on mental health and personal growth.

Chris shares what it looked like to rebuild his life after sport: finishing his graduate degree while still playing, briefly coaching, and eventually stepping into a new career as a mortgage lender in St. Louis. He reflects on the difficulty of shifting from constantly proving yourself as an athlete, to building a sustainable life where your worth isn’t defined by performance.

This conversation explores identity beyond sport, the power of mental health support, and the challenge of learning where to place your energy after leaving a career built on giving everything to the game.

Sophia Woodland is a former Division I soccer player from Boston University, where she competed for four years while studying business and minoring in psychology, graduating in 2023. In this episode, Sophia reflects on the reality behind her collegiate career — from feeling voiceless in a difficult team environment her first two years to beginning therapy and learning to separate her self-worth from her performance on the field.

She shares how adopting a new mindset her junior year helped her reclaim some joy, and how a coaching change her senior year allowed her to enjoy the game again. For Sophia, the hardest part of leaving collegiate soccer was leaving the daily access to her teammates and built in community.

Sophia speaks candidly about the importance of coaching culture, power dynamics, and the silence many athletes feel pressured into. After the release of a documentary by Alex Cooper highlighting experiences under former coaches Nancy Feldman and Casey Brown, Sophia found herself revisiting her own experience. She discusses the fear of retaliation, the risks athletes face in speaking up, and the lasting impact of negative language — particularly around body image — during formative years.

Now based in Denver, Sophia serves as Head of Ratings at 2aDays, a platform designed to bring transparency to college athletics through coach and program reviews. Inspired by the belief that athletes have a responsibility to “leave the program better than you found it,” she is helping create space for honest feedback and systemic change. This conversation explores identity, accountability, the NCAA’s gaps in supporting athlete transitions, and the courage it takes to use your voice after years of being taught not to.

Maya Lorimer grew up in the dance studio, training competitively from the time she could walk and eventually earning a spot on the Arizona State University dance team — one of the top programs in the nation. During her time at Arizona, she balanced game days, appearances, and the pressure of re-auditioning annually just to keep her place. When her senior season was cut short by COVID, her dance career ended without the closure she had imagined. After graduating with a degree in urban planning, Maya found herself in an isolating cubicle job, struggling to adjust to life without the structure, intensity, and built-in community of dance. What followed was a pivot into social media — first as a manager, then freelancer, and now full-time content creator based in Denver.

In this episode, Maya reflects on rebuilding identity after sport, replacing the loss of team culture with new forms of community, and learning to say yes to opportunities before she felt fully ready. This conversation explores creativity, confidence, and what it really takes to build purpose beyond athletics.

Mika Mierzwa is a former collegiate volleyball player from Coastal Carolina, where she competed in both indoor and beach volleyball while pursuing a biology degree. Graduating early, Mika stepped away from sport sooner than expected — a transition that pushed her to confront how deeply her identity was tied to being an athlete. After college, she spent time living abroad in Thailand and later in Charleston, using that space to disconnect, reset, and rediscover who she was outside of volleyball.

Now a veterinary student at the University of Arizona, Mika shares how her experience as a college athlete prepared her for the intensity of vet school – from discipline and time management to resilience under pressure. She reflects on the challenge of no longer receiving external validation through sports, learning to build her own internal feedback loop, and embracing uncertainty in the seasons where there is no clear plan. This episode explores identity, transition, and trusting that sometimes not having a plan is exactly what you need.

Dr. Maddy Brill-Edwards is a former collegiate soccer player at the College of Charleston and a current general surgery resident navigating one of the most demanding training paths in medicine. In this episode, Maddy shares how a childhood plan to become a doctor, shaped by a family of physicians, evolved alongside a deep love for soccer that followed her from youth competition, to playing at a Division 1 level collegiately, and finally to playing professionally in Scotland after college.

Maddy reflects on choosing general surgery over more “glamorous” specialties, the realities of residency life, and why the intensity that once fueled her as an athlete eventually became unsustainable. She explores how stepping away from soccer during the pandemic helped her understand its role as an emotional outlet, and how returning to the game now serves as both joy and therapy. This conversation weaves together identity, discipline, mental health, and the value of having multiple dimensions beyond a single pursuit — in sport, medicine, and life.

Sarah is a former Division III basketball player whose college experience looked and felt much bigger than the label — intense time commitments, deep preparation, and three conference championships that shaped her identity and routine. After graduating, Sarah faced the familiar but often unspoken challenge of leaving sport, structure, and community all at once, while also navigating personal and family changes.

In this episode, Sarah opens up about the messy transition into the “real world,” the struggle to rebuild a sense of purpose, and the surprising role fitness played in her healing. After years of programmed training with teammates and a shared mission, she had to relearn how to move for herself — eventually finding spin, community, and joy again in Denver. Her journey led her to becoming a spin instructor, a vulnerable leap that restored routine, confidence, and a deeper focus on mental health.

Sarah reflects on redefining success beyond sport, making decisions for herself even when they’re uncomfortable, and trusting that purpose can evolve. This conversation is an honest look at life after athletics, the power of community, and learning to give yourself grace while your path unfolds.