S3 E28 - The Final Episode of Your Favorite Self

This is it. The final episode of Your Favorite Self.

Not the end of podcasting. Not the end of Sophia. But the end of an era. 

Sophia shares why she’s closing this chapter and what’s calling her forward. What began in 2022 as a general life coaching podcast rooted in the “Favorite Self” framework evolved alongside her book, Unleash Your Favorite Self, and years of helping women let go of the “shoulds” and step into who they’re meant to be.

But growth changes you.

Over the past few months, something has been shifting. The pull toward business. Toward entrepreneurship. Toward helping women build wealth. Sophia shares her conviction that one of the most powerful ways to change the world is to put more money into women’s hands. Research supports it. Stories prove it. And she believes building businesses is one of the most accessible, transformative paths available.

This episode explores:

• Why the “Favorite Self” language is moving from front-facing brand to behind-the-scenes framework
• Her belief in regulated capitalism as a tool for impact and mobility
• A powerful story about generational wealth and education
• The real reason behind the rebrand: women in business need to be able to find her
• The courage it takes to close a chapter before the next one is ready

Sophia reflects on seasons of life, death and rebirth cycles, and a formative interview she did at 18 with a woman in her 90s who said she had lived “about seven lives.” That perspective becomes the heartbeat of this farewell.

Nothing about her core mission is disappearing. She’s still committed to helping women live their favorite lives. But now, she’s stepping more fully into leading women entrepreneurs, claiming her calling, and building something new.

There won’t be a new podcast launching next week. This is a true pause. A return to the cave. A space to rebuild with intention.

If this podcast has ever impacted you, she invites you to share that story. And if you want to be the first to hear about what’s next, make sure you’re on her email list or following along on Instagram.

Because this isn’t an ending.

It’s a rebirth.

If you are not already receiving emails from Sophia but want to get on the list, click here to download the Favorite Life Wheel Assessment and it will automatically put you in the database. 

Purchase your copy of Unleash Your Favorite Self book and the corresponding journal.

Interested in one-on-one coaching? Click here to schedule a Roadmap session with Sophia.

Download the Favorite Self app in the Apple Store or Google Play.

Connect with Sophia on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube 

Have a topic you would love to hear Sophia address on the podcast? Send your ideas to hello@sophiahyde.com 

Transcript

Sophia Hyde (00:01.998)
Hi, so I have an important announcement to make and I'm gonna just lead with that and then onto all the explaining in the back end. You are currently listening to the very last episode of the Your Favorite Self podcast. I am not ending podcasting, I am ending this podcast. Let's talk about why, let's talk about what's going on and touch on what you can be excited about for the future.

So first of all, let's start with why I started this podcast. The Your Favorite Self podcast started back in 2022 and I was a general life coach helping people with anything. I mean, we touch on all 10 spokes of the wheel, right? And all of my content for the last three years has been focused on

Really, it's centered around that wheel that we've talked about so much. Then I went on and in 2023, my book came out, Unleash Your Favorite Self. Everything that I have put out into this world has centered around letting go of the shoulds and becoming who you're meant to be in the world. And I love that and I still believe all of that. But the favorite self language is going to be moving in my business.

from the thing at the front to the thing behind the scenes. And what I mean by that is you've probably picked up on in the last few months, a lot of my language has been shifting more towards business. And I really, really deeply feel that a big part of my calling and my work in the world is to help women become wealthy.

genuinely believe that the most impactful way that we can change the world is to get more money into women's hands. And it's not even a belief. It's not even this like thought that I have. There's plenty of research and data backing up the fact that when women have money, like extra money, disposable income, they invest it into their communities. When men have an excess of money, they tend to save it or use it on themselves.

Sophia Hyde (02:30.603)
statistically more than women do. And so rather than trying to take on like an issue, there's so many causes I care deeply about, so many changes I'd love to see in this world. And I don't feel called to be somebody who starts the next nonprofit or saves the whales or, you know, like I just have so much respect for the women who've done things like starting, you know, mom's demand.

for action in guns in our schools. There's so many people who have taken on a single issue that they care about and thrown themselves into that. And that's not me. I do want to make a big impact in this world, but I don't believe that there's anything I could do that would have a bigger effect than helping women become wealthy. And the best way to become wealthy is to build a business.

Entrepreneurship. I love capitalism. Got to be honest with you guys. I'm I might be a little bit more of a progressive woman, but the reality is capitalism has broken more people out of poverty than any other method. It does need to be regulated. Taxes do need to be paid for social services like capitalism unchecked leads to a lot of greed and abuse of employees and that kind of thing. But regulated capitalism? Yes, ma'am, we are here for this. Good stuff.

You this is the American dream, right? People come to this country with nothing and my husband shot a documentary last year on a guy who came here from India with literally nothing. He was born into the lowest class. Because you know they have in India, they have all they have the different. my gosh, the word is in my mind because it wasn't in my notes to talk to you guys about this. But anyways, the class system, it's the lowest class like what used to be called like the untouchables.

If my husband were here, he would totally correct me for using the wrong language. But I didn't plan on talking about this. But anyways, he filmed this documentary on this guy who was born into the lowest class system and through a series of events was able to come to to get an education, which he wouldn't normally have had access to education. But they made him they did. The people in his village came together, helped him get access to education.

Sophia Hyde (04:52.461)
And he was able to get his undergraduate in India and then come over to America, become a physician. He went on to become a billionaire, guys, and then raised a family. And his son became a billionaire in a different industry with different ways. He did not inherit. Daddy still has all of Daddy's money. This guy was just so inspired by his dad's that he also wanted to solve problems in the world. And then he built a mega company. Capitalism does that.

Now what's really cool about this guy and this is not the purpose of my episode, but I'm now like on the stories. I to finish the loop in my head. He now he has a lot of philanthropic work, but mainly focuses on education. He has incredible resources in India of things that he is doing to provide education to people and get them out of the caste system. I was saying class caste. There we go. My brain found the word the caste system and get them get people access to education who want otherwise. And he's doing a lot of good work.

in the world and it's insane how many people whose lives he's been able to change in really powerful ways because he has money, because he started a business, because he grew his wealth. And the favorite self-concept, it's not going away because you can't become the powerful entrepreneur and business owner that you desire to be if you don't.

Those things also matter, right? You have to be your favorite self in the world. And so you've got to focus on those spokes. But I want to center the conversations more to where it's like 50-50 business and life. And I also want people to be able to find me. And ultimately, this is where the real motivation of closing this comes in. I want women in business to be able to find me on the Internet. And currently, the names that I have chosen for my brand are not going to lead them to my page.

and I can't help them if they can't find me. And so at the end of the day, this is really about shifting gears in my work. My clients have always predominantly been entrepreneur women. I've been attracting that since the beginning. But now I'm just really owning that and stepping into that. And that requires me to change my brand. And so it can be a little, you know, isn't this the life story though? I mean, like,

Sophia Hyde (07:16.653)
closing a chapter to build something else. It's what I, you you guys were here through the episodes where I, you know, made the choice to leave the community that had raised me for the last 30 years and moved to town where I didn't know anybody. Right, you guys have been following this adventure for 2025. If you've been around a while, you were here for when the book published and all the adventures around that in the beginning.

So many of my amazing clients who were some of my first episodes shout out to People like Eric Randall and April if you haven't gosh There's just so many if you guys scroll back to like the 2022 2023 area Era when I was interviewing a lot of my clients as they graduated like there's so many powerful stories And so I'm not going to take this off of the platforms I'm gonna leave it out there Because there's still

content I want people to benefit from. But I will not be publishing any new episodes. My new podcast does not launch next week. I have to end this era and this season of my life so that I can kind of go back into the cave, which was what I described when I wrote my book. I need to go back into the cave. And I need to work on this rebrand. I need to make some important decisions. And when I am ready, I'll be back.

And you know, this is a lot like this is the circle of life, right? Everything in life is the death and rebirth cycle. And we're constantly moving through phases of like all of the seasons of our lives, where one thing comes to a close, so something else can begin. I don't know if I've shared the story on this podcast of one of my favorite interviews. I'm sure I have. talk about it all the time. I love it so much. But when I was 18 years old and I worked for a magazine and I interviewed a woman who was 90 something years old.

And asked her, I was doing this, I had this column at the time called, Tell Your Tale, asking women, or I'm sorry, not women, and strangers, like I would just literally go out into the community and find a stranger and try to pull their story out of them. And I've never forgotten this woman I She was 90 something years old. And when I asked her to tell me about her life, she said to me, which one? Because I've lived about seven of them. And I was like, what?

Sophia Hyde (09:38.574)
And she said, well, do you want to know about the life that I had when I was a little girl in my parents home? Do you want to know about the the life that I lived when I first got married to my husband and I was a school teacher? Do you want to know about the life I lived when I quit my job teaching because I had three children and I want to stay home with them? I can tell you about that life or I could tell you about the life after the kids were grown and my husband and I.

we're able to do a lot of the things we wanted to do. but then for the last 20 years, he passed away 20 years ago. And for the last 20 years, I've been living a life without him. And that's been a whole different life. And so which of my lives do you want to know about? And man, have I never forgotten that. This is the life cycle. We end.

one season of our lives so we can birth a new one. And there's not a ton changing. I'm still the same. I'm still going to be Sophia in so many ways and things I talk about are still going to be the same. But I need to close this favorite self era so I can be ready to lead the women who I know I can help. But I have to help them find me. And so thank you for being here.

Those of some of you have been here from the very beginning in episode one and some of you have found me along the way and if there's anything that's ever happened on this episode like a story that stands out a particular episode that impacted you or something that you're gonna take away a nugget you gained That's been helpful to you share it Whether you ship me an email if you have my number you text me you can DM me on Instagram

I'm available in all of the different ways. But if I would love to hear stories of how this podcast has had a positive impact on your life, if it did.

Sophia Hyde (11:45.613)
Yeah, yeah, probably the best would what would be amazing is like if you are on Instagram if you like put it in your stories and tag me That would be cool I don't need to take forever to talk about this. This is what's happening If you want to know about the new podcast when it is announced and when it drops Make sure you're on my email list. And if you are not getting my weekly emails

then the way that you can subscribe is literally by downloading anything that I put into the world. So the links below that allow you to download my app or download any of the resources. All of those things will just auto put you onto the list. And so when the new podcast announces, you will hear about it. Of course, if you follow me on social media, I say social media, but really, guys, I'm on Instagram. So if you follow me on Instagram.

I also announce it there. And that's it. That's all I have to share today. Thank you guys. And remember, you deserve to live your favorite life. I hope you have the courage to step into it. Bye.