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Pieces of a Woman

Each episode we will discuss and share real stories that are relevant, inspiring and engaging as it relates to women and the life that shape us into who we are today. Every episode will be committed to engaging conversations that will include interviews with influential women, leaders, healers, authors, and close friends. We will discuss EVERYTHING, nothing is off the table, except politics, we will leave that one off the table. DeAnna and Cristie will explore every genre from loss, grief, spirituality, divorce, marriage, raising children, blended families, infidelity, sex, menopause, girlfriends, those damn readers we now have hoarded in every room of the house, hormones, mental health, alcohol, addiction, fitness and ALL experiences and challenges that shaped us into the powerful women we have become today. Our goals and intentions are to connect our audience with services, people, and communities to help meet their needs while they explore and learn more about who they are and their purpose now and in the future. We hope our learning journey together will connect us with serious topics as well as lots of laughter and maybe some tears.

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Latest Episodes

Grief Doesn't Graduate

October 21, 2026

DISCLOSURE:

This episode contains honest conversations about grief, child loss, and suicide loss. Please take care of yourself as you listen.

Summary:

Grief has no expiration date, and this episode proves it. Cristie opens up about approaching the ten-year mark since losing her son Taylor, and what it’s really meant to carry that grief through a decade of life, love, and change. DeAnna shares her own recent losses - her mom, her stepdad, a colleague, a client - and gets honest about how she’s learning to stop suppressing and start feeling. Together, we dive into what grief actually looks like in real life: its loneliness, the confusion of laughing while still hurting, and the unexpected beauty that can come from the darkest places. We talk about the difference between grief and mourning, what it means to find community with people who truly understand your loss, and the one resource we keep recommending to anyone who doesn’t know how to show up for someone who’s hurting. This one is raw, real, and full of love. We hope it meets you exactly where you are.

Key Takeaways:

  • Cristie approaching ten years since losing her son Taylor: what grief looks and feels like at a decade
  • The difference between grief and mourning, and why moving into mourning is part of healing
  • How to hold joy and grief at the same time, and why that’s not a betrayal of your loved one
  • What actually helps when supporting someone through significant loss (including the website centerforloss.com and Dr. Alan Wolfelt’s work)
  • DeAnna’s own recent losses (her mother, stepdad, and others) and her honest struggle with suppressing versus feeling
  • The “collateral beauty” of grief: how loss can change you at a cellular level in ways you never expected
  • Why community and finding people who truly understand your type of loss is a game changer

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:


Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!

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If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite podcast app.

Leave Us an Apple Podcast Review:

Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.

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Retiring at 56...Am I Crazy?

October 7, 2026

Summary:

In this episode, Cristie shares something she has been sitting with for nearly a year: she is retiring at 56, after thirty-four years in the mortgage industry. And it has been one of the most emotional, disorienting, and surprisingly complicated decisions of her life. She talks about the fear, the imposter syndrome, the identity she is leaving behind, and the chapter she is trying to design on the other side. Because retiring does not mean stopping. It means finally getting to choose. If you have ever thought about what it would mean to walk away from the career that has defined you, this one is for you.

Key Takeaways:

  • 00:00 Welcome back: episode 111, the Costa Rica bereaved mothers retreat, and the Taylor Hagen Memorial Foundation update
  • 03:00 Cristie's announcement: retiring at 56, after thirty-four years in the mortgage industry, and why saying it out loud still feels surreal
  • 05:30 When the thought first started: the quiet nudge that would not go away, and the moment she realized she might not have the fire for this level anymore
  • 08:00 Ten months of knowing and not saying: what it felt like to design her own departure while still showing up every day for the people she leads
  • 13:00 What comes next: the book, the foundation, the Lego room, the travel, and the dream trip she and Kenny have been counting down to
  • 17:30 The fear that has lived underneath all of it: losing her identity, her relevance, the daily sense of being needed, and how she has been working through it
  • 25:00 What she would tell anyone thinking about retirement: the financial piece, the mental preparation, the fear, and the podcasts that helped her start opening up the space

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:


Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!

Subscribe to the Podcast:

If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite podcast app.

Leave Us an Apple Podcast Review:

Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.

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Reinvention Isn't Risky - It's Overdue: A Coach's Take on Starting Over

September 23, 2026

Summary:

What does it actually look like to walk away from a thirty-year career and start over from scratch?

In this episode, we turn the mic on DeAnna and she gets real about the decision to step down from her role as a brokerage owner, the identity crisis that followed, going back to school in her fifties, and building Elevated Edge Coaching one client at a time. She also breaks down what coaching actually is, why it is nothing like therapy, who it is for, and why the people who invest in it tend to be the ones who go the furthest. If you have been thinking about a reinvention of your own (a new career, a new direction, a new version of yourself) this is the conversation you need to hear.

Key Takeaways:

  • 00:00 Welcome back: the Lindsay Clancy trial, postpartum psychosis, and an important resource before we dive in
  • 07:24 On a lighter note: Ted Lasso, Theo of Golden, and the Tom Hanks casting rumor we are very on board with
  • 10:04 Today's topic — reinvention: what it looks like, what drives it, and why more people in their fifties and beyond are doing it than ever before
  • 11:54 DeAnna's story: thirty years in real estate, stepping down from Summit Sotheby's, and the six months of sitting with the question of what comes next
  • 15:10 Why she chose coaching, what the International Coaching Federation certification actually requires, and the imposter syndrome she fought through in every Zoom class
  • 21:11 The financial conversations, the spousal support, and what it really takes to make a reinvention work as a couple
  • 25:41 What coaching is, and what it is not, the difference between therapy and coaching, why the two work beautifully together, and how to find the right coach for you
  • 27:00 Why the top performers are always the ones with a coach, and what DeAnna has seen in her own clients that proves it

About the Host:


Resources Mentioned in This Episode:


Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!

Subscribe to the Podcast:

If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite podcast app.

Leave Us an Apple Podcast Review:

Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.

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What My Body Was Trying To Tell Me?

September 9, 2026

Summary:

Disclaimer: This episode is not medical advice. Everything we share is our own personal experience. Please talk to your doctor if anything sounds familiar.

Cristie did not ignore her symptoms. She went to the doctor, took the medication they gave her, and followed up. And still, for two years, nobody connected the dots.

In this episode, she shares what has really been going on, the bladder issues that started in 2024, the overactive bladder diagnosis that turned out to be wrong, the IUD she had a feeling about, and the bleeding in Costa Rica that finally led to an ultrasound that changed everything. Multiple fibroids, a uterus the size of a 14-month pregnancy, and a biopsy she is still waiting to hear back from. She is sharing this now, while she is still in the middle of it, because she does not want anyone else to feel alone, or to stop pushing for answers just because the first one did not feel right.

Key Takeaways:

  • 00:00 A note before we start: this is personal experience, not medical advice, and the only goal today is that no one feels alone and no one stops pushing for answers too soon
  • 02:13 Where it started: bladder pressure and trickle urination that began in 2024, an overactive bladder diagnosis, medication that did not work, and symptoms she kept living with
  • 05:30 The IUD she had a quiet feeling about, the spotting that started in February, and the decision to have it removed even when her doctor said she did not need to
  • 09:27 Bleeding in Costa Rica, a vaginal ultrasound, and the results she uploaded into ChatGPT at midnight because she could not make sense of what they said
  • 13:51 What postmenopausal bleeding actually means, why any spotting after menopause is always a red flag, and the endometrial cancer statistics every woman deserves to know
  • 20:18 Ovarian cancer: the symptoms most of us are dismissing right now, and the one blood test you can ask your doctor for today
  • 24:26 Why Cristie had not seen an OB since 2017, what that cost her, and why every woman needs a doctor who will actually listen

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:


Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!

Subscribe to the Podcast:

If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite podcast app.

Leave Us an Apple Podcast Review:

Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.

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Who Is The CFO In Your Marriage?

August 26, 2026

Summary:

Do you know where your money is? Do you know what you own, what you owe, and how to access it if everything changed tomorrow?

In this episode, we get into one of the most important (and most avoided) conversations in marriage: finances. Who is the CFO? Who pays the bills? Do you have a spending limit? And if your spouse passed away tomorrow, or the marriage ended, would you know where to start? We share how we each structure things, the stories we have never told, and the fire drill every couple needs to run, because no matter how much you trust your partner, knowing your own financial picture is not optional.

Key Takeaways:

  • 00:00 Welcome back, microneedling updates, and how a bereaved mothers retreat inspired a perfectly timed face peel
  • 03:45 Today's topic: who is the CFO in your marriage, and what happens if everything changes tomorrow
  • 05:30 The hybrid model, the joint account, the separate accounts: how DeAnna and Cristie each structure their finances and why
  • 08:48 Why knowing where your documents are matters as much as knowing where your money is, and the Nokbox that prompted a whole new conversation
  • 12:08 The big purchase nobody talked about: Cristie's Lego wall, Kenny's double take, and what that revealed about their communication style
  • 18:51 The real risk of turning a blind eye: what Cristie saw in the mortgage industry and why not knowing is never as safe as it feels
  • 20:26 The fire drill every couple needs to run: bank accounts, investments, passwords, estate documents, beneficiaries, and automatic payments

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:


Thanks for Listening!

Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!

Subscribe to the Podcast:

If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite podcast app.

Leave Us an Apple Podcast Review:

Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.

Open Audio Episode Page