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Unwritten with Steph
Life doesn’t always go as planned — but it’s never too late to begin again.
Unwritten with Steph is a podcast about reinvention, resilience, and the beauty of starting over. Each week, host Stephanie Shanks sits down for honest, heart-centered conversations with people who have faced life’s unexpected turns — and found their way back to themselves.
Through stories of transformation, courage, and self-discovery, Unwritten reminds us that our past doesn’t define us — it refines us. Whether you’re navigating midlife changes, rediscovering your purpose, or healing from the past, these raw and inspiring conversations will help you reconnect with your truth and remember: it’s never too late to rewrite your story.
Keywords: personal growth, transformation, reinvention, authenticity, self-discovery, healing, midlife awakening, empowerment, resilience, self-worth, courage, starting over
Episodes
77 episodes
Worthiness: Two Artists on Healing, Sobriety & Love
In this episode of Unwritten, Stephanie sits down with artist — and her partner — Oliver Kalkofen for an honest conversation about what it really takes to make a life out of art. They talk about growing up being told creativity would never pay,...
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Trust the Process (And the Yellow Dress)
Steph sits down with marketing pro and longtime friend Shannon Hill for a conversation that starts with a five-years-overdue headshot session and spirals into everything that actually makes a portrait work: light, timing, color, and th...
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Sales, Self Worth, and Raising Your Rates with Anna Hockett
What if sales was never about selling — and always about knowing yourself first?Anna Hockett went from a broadcast journalism degree to turning down an anchor job, to closing million-dollar software deals, to Director of Sales & Acco...
What If It All Works Out? Breaking the Fear Cycle & Choosing Love
What if instead of bracing for everything to fall apart, you got obsessed with it all working out?Recorded fresh off a camping trip in the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior, this Soulful Sunday is about the fear loop so many of us live in...
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Am I Worth It? The Story Behind Becoming A Photographer
How I became a photographer — and the question that started it all: am I worth it?In this episode of Unwritten, I share my honest origin story: buying my first camera while pregnant, building a photography business through divor...
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In the Arena with Lacey Steffes
"It wasn't a failure. It was an experience."This week on Unwritten I'm sitting down with Lacey Steffes — a self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur who's built Spa Serenity, Pause Facial Bar, Gateway Powersports, and a dirt drag series that g...
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Believe It Before You See It
Some of the hardest seasons of our lives are the ones that force us to root the fastest. This week on Soulful Sunday, Steph talks about the plant that grows out of solid rock — and why your toughest circumstances might be building your resilien...
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Don't Forget To Fill Your Cup
Happy July 3rd. This morning I sat with the birds and my journal and remembered something I'd forgotten: the importance of filling my own cup first.This episode is a real one. I get into the reality we see versus the reality we feel, and...
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The Business Stuff Nobody Warns You About With Shannon Hill
The minute you register that LLC, the wolves come for the fresh meat. In this episode, Steph sits down with her bestie Shannon Hill — calling in from her morning commute — to talk about all the stuff nobody warns you about when you start a busi...
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Worthy of More
I'm sharing the real, unscripted stories behind my own healing journey — leaving a marriage, a life, and a version of myself that no longer fit, one honest conversation at a time. No script, no perfect answers, just what it actually looks like ...
Be Selfish: Old Programming and the Permission to Receive
A Sunday morning soul session — just me this time. No guest, no agenda.It starts with a $13 dog toy and a money spiral, and opens into something deeper: what happens when I let my higher self take the wheel. Through two meditations, I tr...
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My Transformation Story
Support the showhttps://www.stephshanks.comhttps://www.instagram.com/unwrit...
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Finding Your Best Self with Dr. Harmony Ryan
Dr. Harmony Ryan is a board-certified family medicine and obesity medicine physician, and owner of Harmony Medical Aesthetics in Verona, WI. After over a decade in corporate healthcare, she made the leap to build something on her own terms — a ...
Raise Your Frequency with Dennim Daniels
Raise Your Frequency with Dennim DanielsWhat if the anxiety you can't shake, the tension you carry in your shoulders, or the physical symptoms your doctor can't explain are actually stored emotions living in your body? In this epi...
Own Your Wellness with Dr. Tes Jordens
Dr. Tes Jordens didn't leave traditional medicine to do less — she left to finally do it right. In this conversation with Stephanie, she breaks down everything midlife women deserve to know about their bodies, their hormones, and their power to...
Your Body Isn't The Enemy with Dr. Angela Hanley
Dr. Angela Hanley has been a chiropractor in Baraboo for 26 years, and she's seen the same pattern over and over: women walking into her office convinced their bodies have betrayed them.In this conversation, we talk about why your nervou...
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"What if Nobody Books?" with Laura Hulleman
When was the last time you sent out a price and felt sick to your stomach?In this episode, I sit down with business coach Laura Hulleman to talk about the one thing that stops most of us from building sustainable businesses: charging wha...
Getting Curious About Your Inner World with Tina Hallis
What if instead of fighting your anxiety, perfectionism, or that voice that says you're not good enough, you could actually befriend them? Tina Hallis introduces us to Internal Family Systems—a framework that says all those "difficult" parts of...
What’s Really Happening with Dr. Tesa Jordens
What's Really Happening with Dr. Tesa JordensYou've been told you're fine. Your labs came back normal. But you're not sleeping. Your anxiety is through the roof. Your body doesn't feel like yours anymore. And no one is listening.<...
Building a Brand That Women Trust with Dena Frisch
Dena Frisch has watched countless businesses rise and fall over her 20-year career in media. The ones that survive? They build trust, stay consistent, and show up for their audience — even when the platforms keep changing. In this episode, Dena...
Beyond the Bedroom: Honest Conversations About Sex and Partnership with Christie Bemis
In this deeply honest conversation, Steph sits down with Christie Bemis—psychotherapist, somatic sex educator, and relationship coach—to explore one of the most taboo topics in the Midwest: sex and eroticism.Christie shares her personal...
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From Colonoscopies to Christmas Cards with Betsy Bowers Hansen
Betsy returns for her second episode to talk about what really happens when you turn 45—starting with that surprise box in the mail and her eye-opening colonoscopy experience (spoiler: "virtual" doesn't mean what you think it means).But ...
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Dineo Dowd on Women's Empowerment, Hiking, and Living Authentically
What happens when women stop waiting for permission and just get outside?In this episode, I sit down with Dineo Dowd—hiker, author, and women's empowerment guide—to talk about finding freedom on the trail, building sisterhood in nature, ...
Makeup, Manifestation, and Owning Your Confidence at Any Age
In this episode, Stephanie sits down with Francesca, a New York-trained makeup artist with 35+ years of experience and a gift for helping women feel beautiful in the skin they’re in. Together they explore the truth about beauty as an inside-out...
Taking Life by the Horns with Courtney Feigl of Green Pastures Cattle Co
Courtney Feigl lives between Plain and Sauk City, raises Texas Longhorns, and has built Green Pastures Cattle Co. into a 76K-follower community—all while battling the voice in her head that says she's not good enough. In this raw conversation, ...
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