Episodes

Medical Cannabis: Are You Medicating—or Numbing? Michele lives with a conflict she cannot simplify: her sister has seen medical cannabis help patients move away from highly addictive medications, while Michele’s son used the same plant to numb emotional pain. In this Spark Short, Liz and Michele ask the uncomfortable question at the center of the conversation: when are we treating a real problem—and when are we avoiding the one underneath it? They talk candidly about stigma, concerns ar...

She built a career around one question: what do you want more? For the first time on Spark Me, Michele interviews a sibling — her sister, Dr. MaryFrances Koester. And what starts as a conversation about becoming a doctor turns into something much bigger: a masterclass in pivoting, protecting your life, and knowing exactly what you're willing to trade. MaryFrances knew in third grade she wanted to be a surgeon. She went through all of medical school with that single focus, applied for surgical...

What if the boldest move of your career is the one that looks like a step backward? We're re-releasing one of our earliest and most-requested conversations. Dr. Karen Murphy, PhD, RN, graduated high school, got married eleven days later, and had her first child before most people had declared a major. Fifty years into that marriage — and a career that took her from ICU nurse to hospital CEO to Pennsylvania's Secretary of Health — she's still not done. Karen spent three decades at Moses Taylor...

Only 17% of Americans trust their institutions. Only one in three people feel like they can trust another person. And it's about to get harder to know what's even real. In this Spark Short, Michele and Liz dig into a Wall Street Journal op-ed by former Senator Ben Sasse — written while he battles terminal pancreatic cancer — about the habits humanity may need to rebuild in the age of AI. They talk about the alarming decline in trust and connection over the past sixty years, why AI-generated fake...

Corn on the cob, blueberry pie, one-item-at-a-time grocery texts from a caregiver, and a friend who texted the group chat to say Spark Me changed the way she thinks about her health. This Spark Short is a real check-in between Michele and Liz — how summer is going, how Liz's dad is doing, and what actually happened when they put Sarah Ohanesian's advice about micro shifts and productivity to the test in real life. Michele gets candid about a hard moment with her son that in the past would have s...

As she slipped off her wedding band in the middle of her divorce, Christine Kiesinger heard a voice say: you should have married yourself first. Dr. Christine Kiesinger spent thirty years in academia as an expert in relational communication — until the day the words “I’m retiring at the end of this semester” came out of her mouth before she even knew she was going to say them. Colleagues told her she had just committed professional suicide. Christine saw doors opening. In this conversation, C...

She was sitting in an airport when a stranger asked her, "where are you headed, hon?" And she realized she had no idea — not just which city she was flying to, but where her life was going at all. That moment was the wake-up call for Sarah Ohanesian, who spent over a decade climbing from intern to Chief Marketing Officer before realizing the version of success she'd built was quietly destroying her. In this episode, Sarah shares her own story of hitting the wall — chronic insomnia, a doctor's wa...

Wood stain at a historic building. White patio cushions that look like Miami. A priest who almost lost the use of his legs. And a heart health episode that made at least one of them finally make the appointment. In this Spark Short, Michele and Liz ease into things with a check-in on life — Liz's dad's latest health update, Michele's chaotic and triumphant week finishing the renovation of Scranton's iconic Electric City building, and the mystery of a wood stain that turned out to need no stain a...

A graduation, a punctured paddleboard, a sister story about white patio cushions — and a conversation that kept circling back to one woman who's changing how Pennsylvania sees leadership. In this Spark Short, Michele and Liz catch up on the small stuff — Michele's son graduating high school, Liz's very funny patio cushion saga with her sister, and a shared sense that AI is moving faster than any of us are ready for. But the heart of this episode is a continued reflection on their conversation wi...

Heart disease is the number one cause of death in women — more than two times all cancers combined. And most of us still think it's a man's problem. In this episode Michele and Liz sit down with two guests for a first on Spark Me — Dr. Jennifer Nesfeder, a board-certified interventional cardiologist specializing in women's heart health, and Courtney Deignan, Development Director for the American Heart Association in eastern Pennsylvania. Together they cover everything women need to know at every...

She was 20 years old, sitting in public administration classes in the morning and running borough council meetings at night — fulfilling the term of her grandfather, who had asked her to step in before he died. That's where Cassandra Coleman's story begins. And it only gets more remarkable from there. Cassandra is the Executive Director of America 250 PA, the commission leading Pennsylvania's role in the country's 250th anniversary — and the longest-serving 250th director in the nation across...

Sometimes an episode stays with you. This is one of those Spark Shorts. After last week's conversation with Nora Isaacs — writer, personal historian, and founder of Backstory — Michele and Liz couldn't stop thinking about it. In this Spark Short they unpack the moments that hit hardest: from the hot dog cart that changed Nora's life, to the Threshold Choir singing at the bedsides of hospice patients and NICU babies, to the morning pages practice, to the idea that your family's stories are its cu...

She was standing in front of a hot dog cart in midtown Manhattan when an 18-wheeler knocked her off her feet — and knocked her onto a completely different life path. In this episode, Michele and Liz sit down with writer, author, and personal historian Nora Isaacs — Michele's dear friend from college and the founder of Backstory, a company that helps people capture their family histories and life stories in books they can pass down to future generations. Nora's path has been anything but linear: ...

Even the most prepared families miss something. In Liz's case, it was a document sitting in a file cabinet that nobody remembered to upload to the hospital portal. This Spark Short is a real, unfiltered conversation between Michele and Liz about what's been hitting home since their episode with Cameron Huddleston — author of Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk. Liz opens up about her dad's recent health crisis, what went sideways even with everything in place, and what she's learned navigating the heal...

She was 35 with three little kids when her mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's — and she had no plan in place. You're home for the holidays. Your dad's lost weight. Your mom tells the same story three times. You go to help with a bill and realize you have no idea where anything is — no will, no account numbers, no idea who their doctor is. And the conversation you've been meaning to have? It still hasn't happened. If that sounds familiar, this episode is for you. Cameron Huddleston is an award...

he was 12 years old when terrorists bombed her father’s military headquarters — and for a day, she thought he was dead. In this deeply personal episode, Michele sits down with someone listeners have come to know and love on the other side of the mic — Spark Me co‑host Liz Graham. For the first time, Liz shares her own origin story: growing up as an Air Force brat, moving every two years across the globe from Korea to Germany to Turkey, and a childhood shaped by service, adaptability, and a famil...

What if one small idea — born from a family vacation — could change the trajectory of an entire community, an entire country, and your own family forever? This week on Spark Me, Liz and Michele reflect on one of the most moving stories they've covered: Barb Cox, a mom who turned a trip to visit her kids' former au pair in South Africa into a years-long mission that introduced lacrosse to an entire nation. What started with her sons asking, "Can they play lacrosse?" grew into organized camps, a 5...

What starts as an ordinary trip can sometimes become the spark for real, lasting change. This week on Spark Me, Liz and Michele sit down with Barb Cox, a working mom whose decision to take her two teenage sons to visit their former au pair in South Africa quietly planted the seeds of the South African Lacrosse Project. What began as “just another summer adventure” became a 12-year effort that used sport, education, and community partnership to expand opportunity for orphans and vulnerable childr...

If you're not prepared… everything changes. In this Spark Short, Liz and Michele unpack one of the most practical and overlooked skills behind confident communication: preparation. Inspired by their conversation with Professor Jamie Leddin, they explore why so many of us struggle in negotiations—and how it often comes down to w Michele shares her personal experience with emotional reactions in high-pressure moments and how preparation directly impacts her confidence. From shaky high school pr...

What if leadership isn’t something you wait to be given—but something you choose to step into? This week on Spark Me, Liz and Michele sit down with Dr. Jamie Leddin, professor of practice at Vanderbilt University, leadership expert, executive coach, and negotiation specialist, for a conversation about the everyday moments that shape how we lead. From speaking up in a meeting to asking for flexibility, more support, or better boundaries, Jamie reminds us that leadership is not reserved for people...

What if the symptoms you’ve been brushing off as “just stress” are actually your body asking for help? This week’s Spark Short is a real, honest check-in between Liz and Michele as they reflect on their conversation with menopause expert Adrienne Cotton — and the wake-up calls that followed. From realizing that OBGYN care doesn’t always cover this next phase of life, to uncovering how perimenopause symptoms can quietly impact sleep, anxiety, and overall health, this conversation is filled wit...

What if menopause wasn’t something to “get through,” but a phase of life you could understand, support, and actually feel stronger in? This week on Spark Me, Liz and Michele sit down with wellness educator and Master Menopause Now creator Adrien Cotton for a conversation every woman should hear. Together, they unpack the confusion surrounding perimenopause and menopause — from anxiety and sleep disruption to weight gain, vaginal dryness, and the feeling that your body is suddenly unfamiliar. ...

What if the biggest myth about intimacy is that it’s supposed to stay the same forever? In this Spark Me conversation, Liz and Michele unpack their powerful episode with Dr. Erin Murphy Ross — and dive even deeper into the layers of intimacy, desire, hormones, stress, sleep, and evolving expectations in the second act of life. They explore the surprising idea that many of us are still measuring our sex lives against a 22-year-old version of ourselves — without ever adjusting for stress, caree...

What if your relationship isn’t broken — it’s just overloaded? In this candid and compassionate episode of Spark Me, Liz and Michele sit down with Dr. Erin Murphy Ross — marriage and family therapist and sex therapist — to talk about the conversation so many couples are quietly having… or avoiding. Intimacy and desire in long-term relationships can feel confusing, lonely, and even shame-filled. Is it normal to feel disconnected? Why does stress kill libido? Why does it feel harder to talk abo...