Design Review - podcast for Engineering Your Life
Welcome to "Design Review"!
With host, Robert Haines, this is the podcast for Engineering Your Life. Robert interviews people who have an active or planned project that contributes to others. The style is casual, engaging and enthusiastic.
Following the format of an engineering design review, Robert chats with guests about their project or objective, what led them to pursue it, how it's going, future plans and any connections they are seeking to support their efforts.
Along the way, there is always animated discussion about life, philosophy, boundaries, and always a discussion about uplifting others.
Come watch an episode - or more - and be uplifted by Robert's amazing, inspired, and inspiring guests from all over the world!
Design Review - podcast for Engineering Your Life
Not Unhinged - Liberated | A Conversation with Cat O'Shaughnessy-Coffrin
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Podcast Season 2, Episode 8 - with Cat O'Shaughnessy-Coffrin - 07/23/2026
I met Cat O'Shaughnessy-Coffrin on LinkedIn and have been reading her writing ever since. About work, grief, parenting, therapy, divorce, dating, and the beautifully messy realities of being human. She is the founder of Captivating Consulting and one of the most unapologetically authentic people I've encountered online.
We started out talking about leadership, branding, and communication. That lasted about five minutes.
Instead, we talked about what happens when people stop performing and start telling the truth. We explored grief, inherited family patterns, raising children without teaching them to shrink themselves, and the surprising freedom that can emerge from life's biggest disruptions.
Cat shared stories about navigating divorce in a small Vermont town, dating in midlife, and learning to approach people with curiosity rather than judgment. Somewhere between a screwdriver handed across the front row of a school concert, dating-app adventures, and honest conversations about family and healing, the deeper theme became clear.
This episode is ultimately about liberation: the freedom that becomes available when we stop trying to look perfect and allow ourselves to be fully seen.
Or, as one of Cat's former colleagues told her, maybe she's not unhinged.
Maybe she's liberated.
Life is short. Be captivating.
Connect with Cat: https://captivatingco.com
Cat's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catlino/
Engineering Your Life: https://www.engineeringyourlife.com