When Truth Sets You Free, Recovery Begins

Come and listen to our Host, Candace Gish, as she chats with today's guest, Bonnie Strati, for our “Determined, Not Distracted” Podcast Series.

This mini-series serves as your blueprint for a high-impact year, distilling success into three non-negotiables: Goal Clarity, Resilience, and Commitment. By sharpening your focus, hardening your mental toughness, and anchoring your habits in discipline, you’ll shift from chasing temporary inspiration to achieving unstoppable, year-long momentum. 

Bonnie Strati is a transformational life coach and holistic wellness guide devoted to helping people heal, awaken, and reclaim their most authentic selves. With a background in fitness, nutrition, somatic movement, emotional resilience, and spiritual development, she supports clients who are navigating life transitions, burnout, grief, or the quiet ache of feeling stuck.

A former competitive athlete and seasoned educator in health and wellness, Bonnie spent years helping others strengthen their bodies—until life called her to strengthen something deeper: her spirit. Her personal journey through heartbreak, reinvention, and spiritual awakening became the foundation of her coaching practice and her debut book, Built Stronger: The Art of Becoming Whole Again.

Bonnie’s coaching blends soulful insight with practical tools—drawing from movement, mindset work, energy healing, and intuitive guidance. She helps clients release what no longer serves them and build a life aligned with truth, vitality, and purpose.

Through her practice, Built Stronger Coaching, Bonnie offers high-touch coaching programs, restorative movement and breathwork, somatic release techniques, and wellness retreats. Her work is especially aligned with individuals in midlife and beyond who are ready not just to heal—but to rise into their next chapter with intention and joy.

Bonnie lives in Connecticut and is the proud mother of two grown sons. When she’s not supporting others, you’ll find her journaling by candlelight, walking in nature, or planning her next soulful adventure.

bonniestrati.com

FB: https://www.facebook.com/BonnieStratiCoaching

IG: https://www.instagram.com/bonniestrati/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnie-strati-b893033b/

We speak with coach and author Bonnie Strati about building strength from the inside out, shifting from rigid goals to gentle intentions, and finding unexpected joy while navigating stage four esophageal cancer. Her books offer practical prompts, honest stories, and a human path through change.

• evolution from personal training to holistic coaching
• science trends vs lasting individualized methods
• intention-led planning and weekly touchpoints
• celebrating small wins to build identity
• Built Stronger book structure and key chapter on truth
• cancer diagnosis reframed with meaning and humor
• new book on finding calm through treatment
• how to access Bonnie’s books and social links
• asking for help without shame
• reframing guilt and building habits that stick

For more Divas That Care Network Episodes visit www.divasthatcare.com

Transcript

Welcome And New Series Launch

SPEAKER_01 0:00

It's Divas that Care Radio. Stories, strategies, and ideas to inspire positive change. Welcome to Divas That Care, a network of women committed to making our world a better place for everyone. This is a global movement for women, by women engaged in a collaborative effort to create a better world for future generations. To find out more about the movement, visit divas that care.com after the show. Right now, though, stay tuned for another jolt of inspiration.

Meet Bonnie Stradi

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Well, hello everyone, and welcome back to the Divas That Care. My name is Candace Gish. If this is your very first time tuning into the Divas at Care, a huge welcome. We are now in over 34 countries around the world. We've been doing this for over 15 years and we are having a blast. I want to let you know that we have so many amazing hosts and guests on the Divasette Care. And please go check them out. Check out even our past recordings because they are so inspiring and uplifting. And we would just love to collaborate and showcase those amazing individuals that have graced us with their presence. All right, everyone, we are now starting a brand new series for 2026 for the Divasette Care. And this series is determined, not distracted. And I'm so excited about this. I'm going to be interviewing my very first guest of the year. Her name is Bonnie Stradi, and I am beyond excited to be able to get to know her. And I think you guys are going to love her. So welcome to the Divisette Care, Bonnie.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

Thank you, Candles. I'm number one.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

You are number one for 2026. Exciting. Well, I'm so happy that you've joined me today. But Bonnie, before we kind of start, would you mind introducing yourself to our listeners today? Sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Well, as you said, I'm Bonnie Stradi. I reside in Greenwich, Connecticut. I've lived on the East Coast my entire life. I've been in the fitness and wellness industry for well over 40 years. Um, branching off into uh recovery is one of my main strengths right now and trying to branch off into some coaching and things like that, working with people, but always wanting to inspire, help, and my uh my business name is Built Stronger from the inside out. So getting really to the deep core of what's inside you and knowing that you have the strength and the power within you to rise above whatever stands in front of you.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Love that. How did you get involved with that? What was the pivotal point that you decided to get into coaching?

Evolution Of Wellness And Coaching

SPEAKER_02 2:30

Um, you know what? I think it's just been a natural evolution from the personal, I became a personal trainer back in 1990 when it was kind of for the rich and famous. But my mentor was a chiropractor who looked at the body as a whole unit, right? So whenever I was working with clients, it wasn't just their physicality, how do we make them stronger physically, or how do we make their body shaped better? It was what was your sleep like? What's your stress levels like? What's your nutrition? So from there, it just kind of evolved. I got into some breaky healing, things of that nature. And now the mind really fascinates me. Matter of fact, I'm studying hypnotherapy as we speak. So it was just the kind of the evolution and the desire to continue to learn and never never be satisfied with where I was in the industry.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

I really like that. And you had mentioned the evolution. I want to talk a little bit about that because you said you started in the 1990s. How has it changed?

SPEAKER_02 3:38

Oh, a lot a lot based on a lot of science. You know, we bring a lot of science into the wellness industry, more so than we ever had back then. And the research and everything that everyone's doing in regards to the science is just every time you turn around, you know, there's a study going on.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

And everybody's always talking about it. You know, there was always this big thing. I think it's always, I think since the 70s, everybody's been talking about health in a different way. You know, let's exercise, let's do this, let's do that. But it's really, I've seen it has an eva evolution of some sort, but I don't know how it kind of where did it just explode? Like that's the part that I find very fascinating because it's like overnight, it seemed like it's everywhere.

Personalised Programs And Intentions

SPEAKER_02 4:24

Yes. Yeah. Um that's a really great question. And I'm not quite sure I have I have the answer for it. Um, but you know, the industry moves so quickly, and you have so many fads that come in, come in and out. And I think it's the ones that don't that aren't fads that stay tried and true, that people fall back on and rely on. People always go off and try a new, a new trendy, trendy thing to see if it lasts, see if it sticks, see how it fits, fits for them. But I think the I think what the evolution has become also is that it's a lot more unique to individuals, whereas it was more um before kind of a general population sort of thing. And now there's so many more individualized programs. So people are getting exactly what they need for their body, their lifestyle, and who they are in order to help them see results.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

That's fantastic. So tell me about your personalized life coaching. How does this work? So for an individual like myself that would be perhaps in Canada, you would do a lot of virtual stuff with them. How do you plan a program for them?

SPEAKER_02 5:41

Well, it starts off with initial consultation or um to see to make sure that we're a fit for one another, because just like any other thing, a doctor going to a doctor, going to whoever a psychologist or something like that, if you're if you don't have that right alignment with each other, it's not going to work. So making sure that you're that you're aligned and then working with them on a weekly basis based on on what their goals are, what comes up, and working through whatever challenges that they're that they're facing with many different modalities, you know, a lot of different tools in the toolbox.

Small Wins Over Rigid Goals

SPEAKER_00 6:22

And that's and that's what people are looking for now. And you know, with 2026 here, a lot of us are trying to figure out our goals, but now I'm distracted and I feel like I'm a failure. How do you work with people like that?

SPEAKER_02 6:35

Yeah, I think I look at it more as not so much a goal, but what is your intention for the year? So I tend to try to take a softer, a more gentle healing approach to life rather than these hard, fast, steady, you know, I have to hit you know, X amount of weight off by such and such a date. And most things within the human being are they're trial and error. So, and in that trial and error is the essence of where we really get to um learn who we are at the core. So it's really being it's really being able to sort of unravel those layers and give them the opportunity of setting that intention, working towards the intention. And then if there needs to be little tweaks along the way of that intention, you make you make the tweaks and then honoring and celebrating all the six small successes along the way.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

It's fantastic, and I love that because it's hard, and the little wins are the most important, I think, because then they they help you keep going.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

Yes, 100%. So people tend to look for the big things, and it's those little things that are just they're they're so sweet, they're so juicy.

Writing Built Stronger

SPEAKER_00 7:56

And they're wonderful and they just lighten your life. I love it. Um, so Bonnie, you have a book that you wrote. I would love to learn more about this amazing book because now you have another book that's gonna be coming out too. So it'll be number two. But why did you decide to become an author?

Truth, Letting Go, And Healing

SPEAKER_02 8:13

Oh, somebody asked me this yesterday. I went out to dinner with a with a good friend of mine, and he's like, you know, what inspired you to write a book? And I said, Ever since I was a little girl, I always loved books. And I was like, I'm gonna write a book one day. And I started writing blogs probably about um 2017, 2018. I was working with a coach, and for me as a female, I my voice was taken from me as a child, right? Whole long backstory to that. But it's years and years and years of working with therapists and coaches and things like that to overcome that and believe that I have something to say that would be inspiring to people. So I started writing some blogs. And then last January I was working for a corporation and I got I got fired. And in getting fired, I turned to writing and I just wrote and wrote and wrote all everything, everything I was feeling. I just I put it, I put it into blogs and everything. And then in March, I was in Florida visiting my mom and a good friend of mine that I had done a life coaching course with reached out to me and said, I have a favor to ask. I said, sure. And he's like, I just finished my book and I'd love for you to write the forward. And how honoring is it to write the forward for someone's book? So he sends me a copy of the book and I read the book, I write the forward. But that little ego inside of me said, Well, if he can write a book, I can write a book. And then people had always told me, you should take your blogs and put them into a book. And that's literally what I did. I used AI and I threw all of my blogs into AI and said, let's take these blogs and formulate it into a book. And with the help of, because it would have taken me probably about two years to do all that editing, and it just kind of digitally did what I couldn't do manually, and I released it um in the beginning of June.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Oh my gosh. So tell us a little bit about this book.

Who The Book Serves

SPEAKER_02 10:30

So the book is actually called Built Stronger, The Art of Becoming Whole Again. And it's uh it's a book that does not have to be read from start to finish. You can just pick up a chapter that resonates with you and read it. And it's kind of all about the crappy things that happen to us in life that give us um that allows you to see the underlying nugget of um positivity that that comes from it. I had just picked it up before I jumped on with you, and I'm managing something in my life right now. And I hit the chapter on uh, let me just find the page again, sorry. Uh it's called, it's one of my favorite chapters. It's called Truth Be Told, Freedom Awaits. Right. And it's where we really underlyingly know the truth about something, but we don't want to see it. And then when we do allow ourselves to see it and understand it from a more logical perspective, and we're able to let it go, what comes into our life after that is absolutely amazing and couldn't have happened if we weren't able to let go of that initial thing that was holding us back. And then it gives in gives an opportunity for um like affirmations or journal prompts. There's actually a journal book that goes with it, a companion book as well. I'm sorry I interrupted you.

Cancer Diagnosis And A New Book

SPEAKER_00 12:08

No, please don't. I was just gonna say, who is this book for?

SPEAKER_02 12:13

This book is for anyone who it's for anyone. Anyone who has challenges, is going through a transition, um, things, things of that nature. So that um a lot of people, uh, I think my sister-in-law had said there's just so many wonderful nuggets in it that you pick up. And I have people that my old coach even picks it up and reads it and finds something new or is able to see their selves see see themselves in a different light after reading certain chapters. So it's for anyone that um needs some deep healing, but it's a very gentle way of looking at it.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

I like how you explain that. Thank you. And you decided to write another book on top of that right away. So yeah. Tell me what this new book is gonna be about and when is that gonna be available?

Finding Joy Amid Treatment

How To Get The Books

SPEAKER_02 13:18

Okay. Well, the new book was inspired by my diagnosis of stage four esophageal cancer last year. Ironically, Built Stronger was published a week after I started my treatment. And it really Built Stronger kind of gave me a boost of adrenaline to help support me through my treatments. And then because writing is so cathartic for me and helps me, it really helps me process my feelings and be able to see them in a and put them into a different perspective. And when I was diagnosed, I got this download that I was literally told this was put on your path for a reason. You're to honor it, embrace it, and experience it. And it was one of those moments where you kind of look up and you go, What? Excuse me, you want me to do what? Aren't I supposed to be angry and crying? And and I literally was like, okay. And I ended up writing through my entire treatments. I'm still I'm still going through treatments. Um and so this book is called Finding the Calm in the Chaos of Cancer, How Cancer Made Me Happy. So as someone who goes through any kind of you know debilitating disease or chronic disease, it's there's so many challenges that that we face. And I try to put it in perspective and allow people to see the little gifts in those moments of you know, my hair fell out. And I wasn't, I knew it was gonna fall out, and I had really long, luscious brown hair. And, you know, in in those moments, it's like, who, who am I without my hair? And then as it starts to grow back, adding, you know, my little humor in of oh, I'm a human chia pet now. And then the excitement of watching it start to grow back. So it's yeah, it's those moments, and it's I'm not looking for it to be that bestseller. I want it to reach the people that will feel held and supported in reading it and know that they're not alone in what they're feeling.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

I am so excited that you came on our podcast today because I really think that the books that you have wrote are going to inspire so many people. And our Divas at Care tribe, our network of amazing individuals, they love to share that and they love to collaborate and they want to be a part of that journey. Um, how can our listeners get copies of these books? How can they go out there, read them? How can they go and share that with others?

Social Links And Resources

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Bill Trunkers on Amazon currently, and I the newest book is at the editor as we speak and getting the cover work done. So I hope to launch that. I hope to publish that one towards the middle to end of February, and that'll be out on Amazon. And then I'd like to get it on other on other sites as well, but they can definitely be found on Amazon.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Perfect. And Bonnie, can you share your social media with our listeners so they can go check out your transformational life coaching page? Um, I do know that there's like a media, you've got your blog on there, and they also have a link on there too that they can purchase your book, correct?

SPEAKER_02 16:58

Um, yes. And my Instagram is Bonnie Shrotty, my Facebook is Bonnie Shrotty. Very, very simple. Try to make try to make life easy for everybody.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

You know what? Simple is always better.

SPEAKER_02 17:13

Yes. Yes.

Asking For Help Without Shame

SPEAKER_00 17:14

And for our listeners too, I will be posting that on all of these links here. So if you're looking at a recording, the information will be on those also. So, Bonnie, one of the things I love to ask our listeners is is there any tips out there? Like I know that with our podcast series, Determined, Not Distracted, is there things that you can maybe share with our listeners to help support them with their journeys that they're going through?

SPEAKER_02 17:40

I I'm one of those people that as tough as things get for me, there was this underlying feeling that I will always be okay. So it's trusting and knowing that no matter what happens, you will always be okay. And this journey for me was a lot about learning to um reach out and ask for help, right? Because I'm I'm always the giver. So it's it's a good thing to ask for help when you when you need it and to not not be shamed or feel shameful when when you need to ask for help because it's human nature to want to help other people. So you'll find that when you do ask someone for help, they're incredibly receptive to being there to support you.

Reframing, Habits, And Kindness

SPEAKER_00 18:41

Bonnie, thank you. Thank you for sharing that because I think it it is a challenge, and I think also being a woman, it's even more of a challenge for us to ask the help. Um, and for you to say that, I just it's wonderful. It's something that I've always struggled with, to be honest. No matter what I'm going through, I don't like to ask for help. So I I like it that it's almost like you're giving permission, right? It's okay, you don't have to feel guilty.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

Now, guilt is to me, it's a wasted emotion, to be honest, but people do do feel guilty and you really have to work. I I've worked for 40, 40, 35 years of reframing everything in my head to the positive. So it's it's a practice, it's like everything else in life. Nothing needs to be for purpose perfect, but the more, the more you practice it, the better you get at it.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

It becomes that habit.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 19:47

And they say that you succeed when you have you build up a habit. So I guess every day, guys, we have to do that. It's okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

Exactly. This has been such a wonderful conversation. I've really enjoyed listening to you. I am so excited. I can't wait to go and read your book. I can't wait to share your book. Um, Bonnie, I hope that you come back on the divas that care again.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

I would love to. This is fun. You're amazing.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

Well, it's it's wonderful having guests that really inspire and share with others. And that's what we're we've always been about is how can we collaborate? How can we get to know people? And I'm just so thankful that you've come on and shared your story today.

Closing And Community Support

SPEAKER_02 20:29

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

And for all of our amazing listeners out there, as I was mentioning, I will be posting all of Bonnie's information on our social media. We're gonna share the crap out of this. Um, we're gonna get lots of people to check it out. Uh, I know that you guys are amazing, so please do that. Like, share, share, and comment on this podcast. And remember, guys, to do something kind, the world needs a lot of kindness right now. It's that ripple effect. Um, so we want to promote as much kindness as we can. So thank you so much to my amazing guest Bonnie, and thank you to all of our listeners. And thank you for tuning into this podcast about determined, not distracted. Until next time, everyone.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

Thanks for listening. This show was brought to you by Divas That Care. Connect with us on Facebook, on Instagram, and of course on divas that care.com, where you can subscribe to our newsletter so you don't miss a thing.