Tracie Burress is an entrepreneur, sales executive, and author whose life story is a powerful testament to resilience, faith, and reinvention. Rising from humble beginnings on Chicago’s South Side to become a top-performing pharmaceutical sales leader and multiple President’s Club award winner, her life took a dramatic turn at age 43 when she survived a life-threatening brain aneurysm. Guided by an unshakable faith, she chose to rebuild, push forward, and pursue the vision placed on her heart—ultimately stepping into entrepreneurship and creating SockTABs, an innovative solution that took her to ABC’s Shark Tank (see socktabs.com to learn more or check out Episode 709 on Hulu, 11/20/15). After national exposure and business success, Tracie faced another profound personal challenge: the end of her 25-year marriage. While adversity tempted her to go downhill, she stayed above the fray, leaning into her faith and continuing to move forward with purpose. In her book, Survive and Succeed: From Brain Aneurysm to Shark Tank, Tracie weaves together lessons on overcoming serious health challenges, trusting God’s plan, achieving corporate success, navigating entrepreneurship, and enduring personal loss with grace and strength. A mother of two adult children, she has also developed a transformative curriculum, Ready To Be Loved, designed to help others heal, grow, and thrive in relationships and life. Her book is available at TracieBurress.com and on Amazon. Bill and Tracie dig deeper into all these topics in this moving episode. You can listen HERE or watch HERE.

Tom Cody and Kevin Brennan are both authors, national speakers, and former educators helping lead their company, Top 20 Training. They provide programs, resources and strategies to help you live better, think better, and work better. Their content may seem like something you already know but ask anyone who has experienced a session with them and they will tell you that their life has changed. Their primary audience includes teachers, students, parents, coaches and businesses however the material really is suited for anyone interested in having a better day. Our culture is more than ever full of negativity and the content offered here helps create a different path that results in a more positive culture where people are more engaged, can resolve conflict in a healthier way, and can learn from - not dwell on or avoid - our mistakes. Tom and Kevin dig into some of the latest challenges we all have no matter the profession. The many lessons here are universal and are detailed more in their books, curriculum and their training sessions. Go to their website, www.top20training.com to learn more or listen to one of their own podcasts called The Inside Ride. You can listen to this insightful chat here or view it on youtube.

The Courage of a Mother, with Cindy Parseghian

Cindy Parseghian is actively shaping the future. In 1994, she and her husband Mike founded a foundation dedicated to finding a cure for Niemann-Pick disease type C (NP-C), a genetic, cholesterol storage disorder that claimed the lives of three of their four children. The foundation joined forces with the University of Notre Dame in 2015, and together they fight daily to end this devastating disease. The Parseghian family was blessed with four children: Ara, Michael, Marcia, and Christa. Sadly, only the eldest, Ara, tested negative for the genetic disease. The diagnosis and subsequent loss of her three children brought Cindy indescribable pain, challenged her faith, and altered her life's trajectory. Just two months after receiving the diagnosis, Cindy established the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation. Since then, millions of dollars have been raised each year, fueling significant progress towards eradicating a disease that can affect the brain, nerves, liver, spleen, bone marrow and sometimes the lungs. Symptoms can hit children in a variety of debilitating ways, including losing the ability to walk, vision, hearing and speech loss, and repeated infections. Far too many young lives have ended too soon.

But story is evolving. The foundation's work is now funding revolutionary research and providing hope to future parents who may face similar challenges. Recently, the FDA approved two therapies for NP-C patients which sometimes can take place over 5 -10 years as part of the drug trials. These children/patients are able to maintain their quality of life and appear to be living longer. In addition, more young adults are being diagnosed in their early 20s usually after experiencing some form of psychosis (they have a different genetic mutation that is associated with a late on-set form of NP-C.) All of these factors are adding up to a longer life span for NP-C patients and better news for families.

Cindy's response to her tragedy is profoundly inspiring. She found purpose and strength amid intense grief and launched a foundation with a dedicated mission to help others, while always keeping her children's memories close to her heart. As you will hear in this warm and enlightening podcast conversation with Bill, Cindy expresses immense gratitude for everyone who has contributed to the cause and become part of the team to end NP-C. We encourage you to learn more about the foundation, the benefits of the research, and consider making a tax-deductible contribution. Please go to https://parseghianfund.nd.edu

You can listen to the podcast here, on your favorite streaming service or watch on YouTube.