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What does your relationship with food reveal about your relationship with yourself? We sit down with functional nutritionist and food psychology specialist Sue Van Raes to explore the powerful intersection of nourishment, identity, and self-trust. We talk about emotional eating, the cultural narratives around control and discipline, and how reclaiming pleasure and intuition in how we eat can ripple into every other area of our lives. Whether you’ve struggled with food or are simply ready for a more integrated and joyful relationship with your body, this episode offers both insight and real permission.

Topics:

• Food psychology + emotional eating
• Women’s relationship with nourishment
• Stress + hormone regulation
• Nervous system patterns around food
• Reclaiming pleasure + intuitive eating
• Identity and body trust
• Healing through nourishment
• Letting go of all-or-nothing thinking

Timestamps:

00:00 Welcome and Introductions

00:25 Sue's Background and Achievements

01:02 Developing a Sacred Friendship

02:10 Exploring the Inner Rebel

06:53 Sue's Journey of Self-Discovery

08:57 Food and Emotional Well-being

22:40 Navigating Expansion and Visibility

26:53 Serendipitous Connections and Opportunities

28:39 Overcoming Podcast Nerves

29:56 Embracing Fun and Freedom in Book Launch

31:18 Slowing Down for Authentic Expansion

32:21 Questioning Limiting Beliefs

35:21 Understanding Sensations and Food Relationships

40:08 Exploring Different Types of Hunger

46:18 The Pleasure of Reminiscing

49:39 Living with Purpose and Aliveness

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Follow Jessica: @bydesignwithjess
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In this rare and deeply honest conversation, we sit down with Jeff Salzenstein — former top-100 tennis player turned executive performance coach — for a soulful exploration of identity, grief, resilience, and the emotional reckoning that comes when success is no longer the point.

Jeff opens up about the moment he knew it was time to leave tennis, the trauma that called him into coaching, and the recent experiences that are humbling him back into his body — and back into his heart. Together, we unpack what it means to be truly seen, the edges of emotional risk that no one talks about, and the surprising places the inner rebel shows up in midlife.

This one’s for the over-functioners, the fixers, the seekers, and the late bloomers. For anyone wondering if it’s too late to change your story — or be truly seen in the one you’re already living.

00:00 Introduction and Setting the Scene

00:42 Meet Jeff Selzen Stein

01:13 Tennis Career Highlights and Challenges

01:40 The Importance of Names and Identity

04:49 Inner Rebel and Personal Growth

07:41 The Role of Creativity in Tennis

11:25 Holistic Approach to Performance

19:31 Navigating Fear and Intuition

26:14 Transitioning from Tennis to Coaching

31:13 Helping My Brother's Transformation

31:57 From Alone to Community: A Journey of Accountability

32:52 Navigating Life Transitions and Embracing New Challenges

33:09 The Struggle with Community and the Lone Wolf Mentality

35:06 Exploring Relationships and the Desire for Family

36:57 The Importance of Self-Work and Vulnerability

43:30 Caring for My Father and Facing Personal Judgments

47:59 Reflecting on My Brother's Journey and Its Impact

53:01 The Pain of Unseen Relationships and the Path to Healing

56:14 Concluding Thoughts and Gratitude

Support the show

If you loved today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaways by screenshotting this episode and tagging us on Instagram! We also have a free monthly community call on the first Wednesday of every month, join here!

CONNECT WITH INNER REBEL

Follow Inner Rebel Podcast: @innerrebelpodcast
Follow Melissa: @melissa-bauknight
Follow Jessica: @bydesignwithjess
Visit the Inner Rebel website
Check out The Nova Community and become a member https://thenovaglobal.com/

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In this special episode, we turn the mic toward Inner Rebel co-host Melissa Bauknight — and what unfolds is a deeply honest, powerful conversation about identity, expansion, and the kind of community that changes everything.

Melissa shares the story of her becoming — from high-achieving corporate sales leader silently battling imposter syndrome, to spiritual seeker, coach, and ultimately the founder of The Nova, a global women’s collective redefining leadership, belonging, and power. Through her lived experience, she offers a grounded and generous roadmap for what it really takes to come home to yourself — especially when the world you grew up in taught you to conform.

This episode explores what it means to be truly seen — and how that simple act can unlock lifetimes of untapped potential. We talk about the role of chosen family, the discomfort of being witnessed in your fullness, and the sacred rebellion of building a life that reflects who you really are.

If you’ve ever felt like the black sheep, or you’re navigating your own next chapter — in business, identity, or belonging — Melissa’s story is a reminder that transformation is rarely linear, community is never optional, and who you’re becoming is already in motion.

TOPICS:

• Navigating spiritual awakening and expanding beyond the rules we’re raised by
• How being witnessed changes everything
• The slow, courageous unraveling of identity and friendships
• The birth of a soul business rooted in alignment and integrity
• Redefining belonging through chosen family and conscious community
• Why community is oxygen — and how to create the village you long for

Support the show

If you loved today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaways by screenshotting this episode and tagging us on Instagram! We also have a free monthly community call on the first Wednesday of every month, join here!

CONNECT WITH INNER REBEL

Follow Inner Rebel Podcast: @innerrebelpodcast
Follow Melissa: @melissa-bauknight
Follow Jessica: @bydesignwithjess
Visit the Inner Rebel website
Check out The Nova Community and become a member https://thenovaglobal.com/

Send us a text

At 17, Ruthie Lindsey was hit by an ambulance and given a 1% chance of survival. What followed was decades of physical and emotional pain, masked by perfectionism and a desperate need to be liked. In this bold and tender episode, Ruthie shares how she slowly dismantled her pain story, abandoned the “basic bitch” mask she used to wear, and began reclaiming joy, creativity, and weirdness on her own terms. We talk about trauma, truth-telling, the deep grief that followed fame, and learning to live in your body again. This one is for anyone who has lost themselves in trying to be lovable—and is ready to come home to their weird, wonderful self.

Topics:

• Chronic pain and trauma healing
• The cost of people-pleasing and perfectionism
• Letting go of being “likable”
• Creativity as reclamation
• Choosing joy after survival
• Living without needing to perform
• Beauty, grief, and aliveness
• Rebuilding identity after collapse

Support the show

If you loved today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaways by screenshotting this episode and tagging us on Instagram! We also have a free monthly community call on the first Wednesday of every month, join here!

CONNECT WITH INNER REBEL

Follow Inner Rebel Podcast: @innerrebelpodcast
Follow Melissa: @melissa-bauknight
Follow Jessica: @bydesignwithjess
Visit the Inner Rebel website
Check out The Nova Community and become a member https://thenovaglobal.com/

Send us a text

What if the “good girl” in you isn’t your personality—it’s a nervous system survival strategy? In this rich and revealing episode, embodiment coach Beth Clayton breaks down the “good girl” protector archetypes and how they live in the body. We talk about how early conditioning around approval and belonging shapes our adult patterns of people-pleasing, achievement, and avoidance—and what it takes to begin reclaiming choice. This conversation is both tender and activating, especially for women who are ready to trade performance for presence and rewrite the rules of their own lives.

Topics:

• “Good girl” conditioning + protector archetypes
• Nervous system work + body-based healing
• Patriarchal performance patterns
• Embodiment as rebellion
• Shame, self-worth, and visibility
• Unlearning people-pleasing
• Power, softness, and reclaiming voice
• Self-liberation through body awareness

Support the show

If you loved today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaways by screenshotting this episode and tagging us on Instagram! We also have a free monthly community call on the first Wednesday of every month, join here!

CONNECT WITH INNER REBEL

Follow Inner Rebel Podcast: @innerrebelpodcast
Follow Melissa: @melissa-bauknight
Follow Jessica: @bydesignwithjess
Visit the Inner Rebel website
Check out The Nova Community and become a member https://thenovaglobal.com/

Send us a text

In this deeply human and unforgettable episode, Christina Miglino King returns to the show—this time joined by her partner, award-winning drag king and trans non-binary activist Lee King (aka Phantom Nips). Together, they share the story of how they met, fell in love, and built a new kind of life—one rooted in truth, presence, and the kind of connection that only comes after burning it all down.

We talk about the moments that change us: a devastating burnout, a $5 bill with a phone number, walking shirtless into the sun for the first time, saying “I’m staying” in the middle of a hard conversation. Christina reflects on what it meant to let her old life collapse—shutting down a business, grieving the identity she had built, and trusting the strange, undeniable pull of her intuition… all the way to the love of her life. Lee opens up about gender, drag, cancer, sobriety, and surviving a suicide attempt that gave them a second chance at life.

Topics:

• Ego death and rebuilding identity
• Drag, gender, embodiment, and authenticity
• Burnout, collapse, and radical redirection
• Queer love and being chosen for who you are
• Body dysphoria and healing through top surgery
• Sobriety, depression, and surviving suicide
• Starting over at any age
• The power of staying through the hard stuff
• What it means to be seen, truly seen—and stay

Support the show

If you loved today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaways by screenshotting this episode and tagging us on Instagram! We also have a free monthly community call on the first Wednesday of every month, join here!

CONNECT WITH INNER REBEL

Follow Inner Rebel Podcast: @innerrebelpodcast
Follow Melissa: @melissa-bauknight
Follow Jessica: @bydesignwithjess
Visit the Inner Rebel website
Check out The Nova Community and become a member https://thenovaglobal.com/

Send us a text

Shazia Imam is back, and we’re going deep—again. Our first recurring guest brings her signature joy, wisdom, and grounded truth-telling to this long-overdue conversation about money. We explore the emotional reality behind wealth, the power of honesty in transforming financial shame, and why your nervous system might be the most important player in your bank account. From spreadsheet jokes to perimenopause truths, this episode is equal parts practical, hilarious, and healing. If money feels like the last frontier in your personal growth, this one is for you.

Topics:

• Money wounds and emotional spending
• Visibility, shame, and wealth
• Nervous system regulation around money
• Earning from ease vs. overdrive
• Identity shifts as income grows
• Scarcity mindset vs. overflow
• Spiritual bypassing around finances
• Humor + honesty in money healing

Support the show

If you loved today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaways by screenshotting this episode and tagging us on Instagram! We also have a free monthly community call on the first Wednesday of every month, join here!

CONNECT WITH INNER REBEL

Follow Inner Rebel Podcast: @innerrebelpodcast
Follow Melissa: @melissa-bauknight
Follow Jessica: @bydesignwithjess
Visit the Inner Rebel website
Check out The Nova Community and become a member https://thenovaglobal.com/

Send us a text

What happens when the life you worked tirelessly to build no longer fits?

In this special bonus episode, Melissa sits down with Gena Chieco—former White House attorney turned soulful leadership coach—for a conversation that travels from burnout and breakdown to bold reinvention. Together, they trace Gena’s journey from prestigious public service and clean tech leadership to walking away from it all, taking a one-way flight to Paris, and rebuilding her life from the inside out.

They talk about the moment when “success” stopped feeling like enough, the sacred discomfort of not knowing who you are anymore, and the transformation that comes when you finally stop chasing external approval and start following your own resonance.

This episode is a love letter to anyone who feels like they’re circling around a next chapter but can’t quite leap. It’s about trust, truth, nervous system healing, and the unexpected freedom that lives on the other side of letting go.

✨ If this conversation speaks to you, doors for ORBIT are open until July 19th. Learn more and apply at thenovaglobal.com/nova-orbit

Support the show

If you loved today’s episode, please leave a review and share your favorite takeaways by screenshotting this episode and tagging us on Instagram! We also have a free monthly community call on the first Wednesday of every month, join here!

CONNECT WITH INNER REBEL

Follow Inner Rebel Podcast: @innerrebelpodcast
Follow Melissa: @melissa-bauknight
Follow Jessica: @bydesignwithjess
Visit the Inner Rebel website
Check out The Nova Community and become a member https://thenovaglobal.com/