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Rise Up with April Poynter
Rise Up with April Poynter
This is the unfiltered version of April.
Rise Up is a podcast about the real stuff — healing, leading, building, and figuring it out along the way.
No single lane. No neat category. Just honest conversations and solo thoughts from someone who has spent over 20 years in boardrooms, break rooms, and every space in between.
Some episodes are about chronic blushing and breaking the loop.
Some are about the alignment gap between leaders and the people doing the work.
Some are just audio messages — unscripted, unedited, straight from wherever April is in that moment.
Because some thoughts are too real to wait for a recording schedule.
All of it comes from the same place.
Just a human. Navigating being one.
All of it is Rise Up.
Come for one thing. Stay for all of it.
Learn more at www.aprilpoynter.com
Rise Up with April Poynter
33: The Story Behind The Weight Loss: Noelle Dawson's Real Transformation - Part 1
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**Interview starts at 5:41
Everyone saw the before-and-after pictures. What they didn’t see was the mental unraveling behind them.
In this raw and powerful first episode of our multi-part series, Noelle Dawson (@transforming_noelle) opens up about the moments that led her to post her first weight loss photo on Instagram, how she became an influencer (even though she doesn't like this term), and what happened when the comments and likes started to feel empty.
She lost over 260 pounds—but she was still carrying the weight mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
In this episode we talk about:
Why she started sharing her journey online
Her childhood as an athlete and the pressure that came with it
Her father’s addiction to alcohol and heroin
The first time she gained weight
How validation became a drug
The surgery that changed her body, but not her mind
And the moment she realized she still felt like 400 lbs on the inside
This is not just about weight loss.
This is about identity.
It’s about trauma, truth-telling, and choosing yourself.
This is Part 1 of a multi-part series.
In upcoming episodes, Noelle and I go deeper into mental health, shame, betrayal, an affair, and the rebuilding of self that no one saw coming.
Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the next episodes.
For more about Noelle: instagram.com/transforming_noelle
Watch the Youtube video here: https://youtu.be/vusWQV21FWA?si=brgNy9547VGIG7KS