Trolls, Trauma, and Trophies | Greatest Hits

We’re back with a special Greatest Hits episode! Mike Lindstrom breaks down some of the most memorable, emotional, and entertaining moments from the Winter 2026 episodes of What’s Your Story.

From radio host JohnJay Van Es getting destroyed by K-Pop fans over a hashtag mistake, to Hall of Fame kicker Nick Lowery sharing life lessons on connection and gratitude, to TV anchor Kaley O’Kelley on the real challenges of raising teens in today’s world — this episode is packed with raw stories, laughs, and powerful takeaways.

You’ll also hear from life coach Pamela Hughes on her breaking point covering mass shootings, auctioneer Letitia Fry on overcoming brain injuries and cancer, influencer Julie Zander on the reality of social media life, and restaurant owner Dana Armstrong on the wild origin story behind The Dirty Drummer.

If you love authentic conversations about resilience, media life, parenting, mental health, and comeback stories — this one’s for you.

Highlights Include:

• JohnJay Van Es vs. angry K-Pop fans (and the hashtag that backfired)
• Nick Lowery on why connection > trophies
• Kaley O’Kelley on raising teens in the social media era
• Pamela Hughes walking away from news after one too many mass shootings
• Letitia Fry’s powerful journey through cancer and multiple brain injuries
• Julie Zander on influencer life and setting boundaries
• Dana Armstrong's hilarious (and heartfelt) story behind The Dirty Drummer bar

Chapters
00:00 Intro – Welcome to our Season 1 Greatest Hits
00:20 JohnJay Van Es: K-Pop troll war & hashtag disaster
03:55 How Mike & Scott first met (Tony Robbins connection)
07:30 Nick Lowery: Connection, gratitude & doing the work
11:30 Kaley O’Kelley: Raising teens, sex talks & modern parenting
15:30 Pamela Hughes: Why she walked away from news anchoring
19:30 Julie Zander: The real (exhausting) life of an influencer
23:30 Letitia Fry: Cancer, brain injuries & owning your story
27:30 Dana Armstrong: The wild origin of The Dirty Drummer
32:00 Final thoughts & what’s coming next

Drop your favorite moment from this episode in the comments!
Which guest story hit you hardest?

#WhatsYourStory #GreatestHits #PodcastHighlights

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New episodes drop weekly!

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Mike's Website: mikelindstrom.com
Scott's Website: scottleeseconsulting.com

Show website coming soon!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And so I left. And I will never forget when I resigned, the general manager at that station, she said, Well, that's fine, but you're committing career suicide.

SPEAKER_08 0:09

And I just is the type of comeback story. And then I'm like, yeah. I'm petty enough that I will remember that forever. Well, and here we can and not and you're still talking about it.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

And I just remembered that was such a gut punch.

SPEAKER_07 0:20

Welcome back to another episode of What's Your Story with Mike and Scott. This is Mike Lindstrom. My man's co-host Scott Leese is prepping for next week. He'll be in Scottsdale filming our next set of episodes. Excited about that. But today we're going to be breaking down our greatest hits from the shows that we've aired this past winter of 2026. We've got some amazing guests, media personalities to athletes, to life coaches and entrepreneurs. We'll share some insights into these exciting interviews. And you'll even get a taste of what it's like to be Mike and Scott as our guests sometimes turn the tables on us and ask us some questions. First up, radio personality, national host, John J. Vanessa, talk to the online trolls and actually putting Scott and I in the hot seat and asking us some questions. Exciting episode. Enjoy. He's Korean, bald in his 70s. Great friend of mine. I'm over 25 years. I said, Mr. Ron, this band's gone to my house. Do you want to come? Because he's Korean. He goes, absolutely. So Mr. On barely speaks English. Mr. Ron is in there. We meet the guys. Everything's great. Take a picture with the guys. I post it. Now getting back to social media. I post it. I use the hashtag. It's the band. There's like nine guys in the band, me and Mr. On. And I posted and I put the hashtag K pop hashtag uh BTS. BTS is like the biggest. Yeah, of course. They're number one. So my thought was, oh, the DTS fans are gonna see it and go, oh, he had NC2179 on the on the st on in his show. But the K-pop fans go, why would you tag BTS? You're racist. Not all K-pop bands are the same. And I was like, racist? Wow. I go, I'm doing that for the K-pop fans, for the BTS fans. But they started coming at me, so I thought it'd be fun to respond. So I was like, you don't know these guys, you know, they're not even from Korea. One that's Jeff from Chicago, and I'm and I'm making stuff up and I'm making stuff about Mr. On, how he's their grandfather. And he served the boss. Yeah. Now what happened was my bosses, now I have all new bosses now. My boss at the time did not back me up. And that was a disaster, right? That's a different story. They didn't back me up, and then it was like, take that post down. Yeah. Why would you do it? And then I got death threats from the K-pop bands. And then there was a whole story in South Korea. Oh I'm the racist white radio DJ in Arizona who hates it was freaking nuts. Dude, they came after my dog Instagram account and they came after my kids' Instagram account. They attacked everything I've ever posted. I had posts still, it was like nothing I've ever experienced before because those K-pop fans are psycho. Wow. But the radio station management didn't back me up. If I I said tell the K-pop band to make a post to say leave him alone, and they wouldn't do it. It was the management of the team, it was a disaster. So I had to pull down the video of me with interviewing the dogs. They wanted no parking lot. Where year was this? Oh my gosh. This was 2017, 2018, 2017. That's not that far along. Okay. No, not at all. But all the people that were my managers are gone now. They were they were terrible. That's so funny, man. You don't think about the whole uh hashtagging and who's gonna get offended. I mean it was like racism, that would never even cross my mind. I mean, you get it's like saying on the other side, back in the day, 98 degrees, in sync, back sheet boys, new kids on the block. I couldn't tell the difference. No. I mean, I don't know, I can now, but like, but it wasn't I I wasn't doing that. I was trying to get the followers to be fans of the music. But yeah, but have I if I would have known how management felt, I probably wouldn't have responded. But going back and forth, it was so much fun going back and forth to these people.

SPEAKER_08 3:41

And did you just like the I just like to to fire it back a little bit? I'd like to fire it back a little bit, but it can't it can back it can't back up.

SPEAKER_07 3:49

Yeah, you know. Well, like that. Unfortunately, you guys like I like these other guys that they can go back and forth with them, but they don't have to answer any questions.

SPEAKER_08 3:55

Also, if also though, if if somebody goes after you just repeatedly in like a targeted way, I'm not engaging. Yeah. I've had I've had somebody going after me for like months. Oh I don't engage. I know exactly how unstable they are. Yeah, I used to be able to stay. I'm not touching that. Say whatever you want. I'm not engaging once. Yeah, I just have people message me, did you see what so-and-so did? Do you see what so-and-so? They're still doing it. I'm just like, I don't want to hear it. Yeah, you can't. But some random person who's like, you suck at your job or whatever. I'm like, oh fuck, clown. I had to ask that question. Keyboard lawyer. Well, now how did you guys meet? Oh go ahead, you want to sell on? Mike was uh sales trainer at the first ever sales job that I had. I had uh I'd spent four years in the hospital dealing with illness and all this stuff, and I got this sales job. I've never been in sales before.

SPEAKER_09 4:43

You were sick in the hospital?

SPEAKER_08 4:44

Yeah. I got this sales job, never done sales before, startup company, and uh all of a sudden they fly this guy Mike in, and he's talking about NLP and there's like different way of thinking, and I was just like a fucking sponge at the time.

SPEAKER_07 4:58

But I'm a Tony Robbins guy. I worked for Tony. Oh, you did? Yeah, I worked for Tony. You can love Tony Robbins. Yeah, I was a Tony Robbins guy for three years. So I was taking the training that I learned from Tony and bringing it into sales and do you mean that Tony Robbins, like you worked with Tony? Oh yeah, we're employees. He's walked in here right now. You go, what's up, Mike? Yeah. So we're employees. Yeah, we're FSR, field sales reps, we're employees of the company. So we represented him on three different products Day with Destiny, Competitive Edge, and well, it's all changed. UPW is still there. But the one day seminar was called Competitive Edge. It was a sales seminar, it was geared around NLP, the psychology of cell hypnosis, right? All that stuff. So when I left Tony after he built his coaching company, I started my own practice and I got his blessing. A lot of coaches that worked for Tony directly, he went after. He said, Look, I've trained you, I didn't charge you, you worked under my auspice, there's not competes. But I was the manager of the coaches in in La Jolla. So when I left, I said, Tony, I'm gonna only carry the banner high. I love you, I'm gonna always speak I love you. I'm not taking any of the clients. I'm I'm out, but I I gotta get out. I I did my three-year run, you got what you got out of me. And one of my first clients was in the insurance business who introduced me to the tech. And this is when dot coms are starting to go crazy 20. 2004. Yeah, 2003, but after post.com. So one of the companies that we had invested in, he was a sales guy up there. So they would bring me in once every five weeks to teach them our culture of training, which is all NLP-based training. So this guy's in there just taking notes in the back like crazy. And I and he would come up to me and ask me all these questions like this is a student, this is a good dude. But all the guys at the leadership were asking him because he had just that old four years of literally cancer, addiction. That I mean, he had some challenges I didn't know about that the leader should be. So now you just open him up on a you just told it, was he allowed to tell your story?

SPEAKER_08 6:34

Oh, everybody knows my story my story that knows that knows me. Yeah. That's freaking incredible, man. Yeah. I was I you know, you go through something like that and kind of got two choices, right? Like let it hold you back forever or or let it open something up for you. And so I was just like, I need to learn this sales thing. I can change my whole entire life. Doing this, Mike was talking in this way about belief systems and all, and I was just like a fucking vessel at that point in time. Like, give me all of it. You know, and we stayed in touch over the years, and uh, you know, in last year.

SPEAKER_07 7:09

Oh no, he's in he's been a defendant for 50 plus years. That's when he had called me years later and said, All right, man, I'm on my own doing this whole thing. I I'm gonna write contracts and how much should I charge? Yeah. I'm like, here's what you should do. And he was telling me the dollar amounts. I'm like, dude, you need to raise your rates if you're gonna accuracy. I'm like, no one's ever gonna pay me that much. He's like, they will, God, they will. Oh man, I love it when the guests ask us questions. Always one of my favorite parts of the podcast. Next up, legendary Call of Fame Kansas City Chief Sticker, Nick Lowry, uh connecting with people and the importance of just doing the work.

SPEAKER_06 7:44

And we were both saying, and he said, you know, here's this massive guy. He goes, you know, the belts are great, and I was saying the Super Bowl rings are great, the trophies are great, but if you lose that connection with people, yeah, then you lost everything. Yeah. As you get older, you see how important that is. And all these people that are successful and that commit suicide or sabotage themselves because they're like, I'm at the top of the mountain, but I'm alone. Uh, and uh it's not any better up here. Uh and so that's the work you got to do when you do goal setting. Make sure your goals are how will I feel up there? And and I will share my success with everybody that's made a difference in my life. My parents, my best friends, whoever, and that's what makes it rich. And that first time I kicked a game-winning field goal, Steve Largent was holding, Dan Fouts was our quarterback, Jack Lambert was on the sidelines, he comes up to me. It's 13 all, 1982. There was football back then. There was air, there was water, it's all those things. And uh Jack Lambert was part of the steel curtain, one of the great linebackers, great defenses ever. And he's got no teeth at that point. He's and he goes, Son, I guess I had a babysitting face. He goes, We make 5,000 if you make this kick, 2,500 if you don't. Make this kick, or I'll rip your head.

SPEAKER_08 9:02

It's a great story.

SPEAKER_07 9:03

Yeah, it's great. So it's real. I mean, the money is real. That's real. That's not a lot of money back.

SPEAKER_06 9:08

I mean, back then, 30,000.

SPEAKER_08 9:10

It mattered back then, you know.

SPEAKER_06 9:12

Yeah, and but uh, I was so grateful to make it finally. And and that's the other thing is what do you do? You know, staying grateful feeds you. And I feel so grateful that I can connect with people like you guys and Mark Kerr and and all the wonderful people. Scott Passmore came down, by the way, that day. Even Scott Passmore. I'm even happy that Scott Passmore. No, he's a great friend. And Richard Stein, who's a phenomenal uh sports anchor for Fox. And what we've done is we put a human face on the homeless. It's called Champions for the Homeless. Look up championsforthehomeless.org. Um, but we've done it for 76 times over 20 years. Our next one's on Easter. And uh, you know, when people feel like you see them, they're not what happens when you're homeless is everything's mercenary. Hey kid, hey buddy, here's your sandwich, here's your coffee, here's your whatever. And there's not that personal connection. And when you're treated like furniture on the street, it's pretty rough. Pretty rough for one day, pretty rough for a week. But when you're on the street for six months and a year and whatever, and you've had been assaulted in every sense of the word, uh what I call situational mental illness happens. Yeah. Where you you just you don't know who to trust. And the stat I I was sharing is, you know, over the last three years, one million members of the Phoenix community have been evicted. One million over the last three years. That's 20% of the population of Phoenix. So, you know, a lot of people doing well. Um, but I think if you if you uh keep that sense of gratitude through all the stuff we have to work through that's not fun, it's amazing how it ends up being a beautiful thing and helping people feel like you see them is the most beautiful thing of all.

SPEAKER_07 10:59

What is your purpose and why? Is that is that pretty much tied to that? Law of the humanity things that you do.

SPEAKER_06 11:03

I think there's two of the things that you'll never regret when you look back on your you're on your deathbed, you're going, man, I'm so glad I had this time. Met so many great people. And I don't mind working hard. I worked hard, yeah, I went went to Harvard, I made it through that, did okay. Um, but once again, that ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. The the Kennedy vision of Camelot, the idea of how good can we be? Is a very different question to what's being asked now. So I love that. Um and so I get to do lots of fun things and meet lots of great people. To me, it's very simple. Surround yourself with people that you love and that love you and do the things you love.

SPEAKER_07 11:46

Yeah. What was the biggest failure or setback in your life that you learned from ever?

SPEAKER_06 11:50

Well, having to leave Kansas City was tough. That was the first year of free agency. And ironically, I'd fought for free agency as a player rep, but free agency also came with it with a salary camp, which is very responsible for the for the league, which is supposedly uh nonprofit. And uh you gotta laugh at that one. Yeah, we are. But uh I felt like I had to go because uh of some falsehoods that were played to me, and I really never wanted to leave. And I've come back to Kansas City and said if I had to, I wouldn't have left. But that was really tough. I went to the Jets for three years, and that's tough for anybody. And it was tough for us. My last two years were the Jets. We were three and thirteen and one in fifteen. Oh and once again, God writes the scripts, we don't, and it's God's timing. If you work hard, it'll happen and it'll make sense, but it may well happen when you least expect it. But it teaches you stuff, you know, and I've been able to work, been chairman of the American Indian Education Foundation, founded Native Vision, all these programs to me. All right, here's my here's my speech. You can find something that you're willing to commit to for 20 years. Um Champions for the Homeless is now about to be 20 years. Native Vision, which we started in Chin Lee with Johns Hopkins, and I got the NFL Players Association involved. That's now in its 30th year. It was on Oprah as the best new program for for Native youth. Um if you get that habit that I would do that, you never regret it because you have a legacy that's so real. It's what Harvard would call social capital. You've left something that was an intention, was a dream, you made it real for 20 years, and that's when you can end really generational curses. And the lot of people we know in life, whether it's you know a form of addiction or abuse or just poverty or whatever, where they live in a form of generational curse. And they've they're just struggling to break through it.

SPEAKER_07 13:51

So great watching Nick Laura talk about his charity work throughout the country here in the Valley of Phoenix, Arizona. His newest book hit shelves this week. Make sure you go check that out on Amazon. The link is in the description. Next up is TV personality Kaylee O'Kelly, where we talk a lot about the challenges of raising kids and demystifying adulthood and joy.

SPEAKER_04 14:13

So I do appreciate that because sometimes certain parents need guidance, right?

SPEAKER_07 14:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 14:19

We all do at times.

SPEAKER_07 14:21

The majority of parents need guidance, these us included. We've all been there.

SPEAKER_04 14:24

That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_07 14:25

So it is pretty amazing how parents don't. It's usually the parents. I mean, we always say, right, that's it flows from the parents. It does. So I have fall.

SPEAKER_08 14:32

I I know myself, so I go sit like at the corner flag away from as many people as possible.

SPEAKER_04 14:38

Well, you don't want to hear it.

SPEAKER_08 14:39

I don't want the temptation, I don't want to hear it.

SPEAKER_04 14:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 14:40

And especially if you played the sport at a high level and you listen to people talk or give advice, and you're just like, dude, Mike, that's the worst advice ever. I can't I can't fucking deal with that. I'm like, I gotta I can go way up there. I'm out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 14:53

Can't I gotta remove myself from the state? So what's the biggest challenge for you as a mother in this day and age? All said and done. Biggest challenge, number one.

SPEAKER_04 14:59

I mean, I have to I want to make sure my kids don't like end up on a pole or like, you know, under a table. Like I, right? I mean, right? Um, that's super scary for me. And then making sure we have these really odd and weird conversations, right? I mean, she's she's 12 going on 30, and my son is 14, and uh the phone is always going off. Like the phones are in my room when they're sleeping, and girls, like sending these, I mean, like I don't know what's happening because I he hasn't given me a reason to get into his phone. I really want to respect the privacy, but the second it happens, I'm in, right? Yeah, um, yeah, I mean it's the whole I'm worried about like the whole sexual thing. Yeah, you know?

SPEAKER_09 15:43

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 15:44

Because it's around it's everywhere. Yep, it's everywhere. So I do try to have conversations with my kids about it because I don't want it to be an awkward thing for them.

SPEAKER_09 15:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:54

I mean, obviously limited, but that's probably the scariest thing is a parent. And you know, the drug thing and all this stuff. But I again, you know, I I believe in fear. I think that's an important thing. Yep.

SPEAKER_08 16:04

Do you think that's is it different for you with a daughter versus your son?

SPEAKER_04 16:07

Oh, it's such a good question. And yes, you know, people say that's a double standard.

SPEAKER_08 16:11

I don't think about that.

SPEAKER_04 16:12

Uh we have two boys.

SPEAKER_08 16:13

I have to have four boys on our over three minutes. So I, you know, I've had conversations with my kids about it, but I'm like, Yeah, it's not a stressor for me.

SPEAKER_04 16:22

Well, I would say that um I think if I had a daughter, it would be it's hard it's scary for it.

SPEAKER_07 16:26

Because I know men and I know how boys think.

SPEAKER_04 16:28

That's why it's well let me tell you something. Yeah, girls think that way too. It's a lot of people. Oh, I know.

SPEAKER_07 16:33

I just but I know me. I can only speak for me and how I was. So I know how I was thinking of 13 and 14. Yeah. So that's why if I had a daughter, my daughter would be like, oh, he's and I'll be like, no, no. He's not thinking about that. This is what he's really thinking. Yes. But when because I've never been the daughter of the girl, I don't have that. I leave that to Monica. Monica has to step in and give the female perspective. Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_04 16:55

Girls can be aggressive as well. So I'm learning that. I mean, huh? My son, this girl was hat. I mean, he brought brought her to our house. I was like, she's a pen of hell, right? She went what you want to do with my son, right? And I'm I was just freaking now. So that's when I realized I'm like, I have to have all these conversations. So, you know, I I called his dad and I'm like, Can you have the conversations? I'm not having that conversation. I'm like, Yes, you are. So the conversation had to happen, and we we did this whole sex ed, you know, class for him. And he's like, ah, it's so embarrassing. Well, I'm gonna put my daughter through it too. Yeah, you know, we'll leave that to the experts. But I really I mean, I don't did your parents to talk to you about sex when you get my.

SPEAKER_07 17:36

My dad was an anomaly. My dad was over the top the other way. Like he talked about things probably more openly. He's still like the grandpa now that says things he shouldn't say.

SPEAKER_04 17:44

Oh, I like it.

SPEAKER_07 17:45

Yeah, he's he's that grandpa that should have been. Bring him out. Yeah, Skip should have his own TV show. But I but I was exposed to things a little much differently where my mom was not. My mom was more proper, and my parents divorced when I was two, so they lived apart, I lived apart, so it was weekends with mom, you know, dad over here. So I had mom being more this way, dad this way, so it was an even mix. But I just think with but now because that's the benefit of social media, I believe, because they see so much of this stuff, it's not a big deal.

SPEAKER_08 18:10

Yeah, like they're also they're also doing it less. That's what I'm that's what that's what they're sexually active, they drink less, that's right. Drinking less than massively less than our generation.

SPEAKER_09 18:19

Isn't that great?

SPEAKER_07 18:19

The lowest generation drinker for it's not a big deal. The sex thing, they're doing it later. Yeah, kids are the younger generation's getting married later because they've been exposed to this stuff where we didn't. Like if I saw my dad's Playboy underneath the sink, which I did at nine, I'm like, whoa, what's this? That yeah, this is interesting. Yes, and then those feelings come over a little boy. Rhett's got it on his phone at 16. He's like, Oh, yeah, accidental scroll from TikTok. Yeah, whatever. That's a boobo. Well, whatever. But it's no big deal.

SPEAKER_04 18:47

Yeah. So I think when you make it a mystery, it's like, oh, there's shame and all that. But yeah.

SPEAKER_07 18:52

So I think that's the benefit to this younger generation putting things off the drugs, the alcohol, the things like that, because it's it's there's no mystery to all that stuff.

SPEAKER_04 19:00

But see, all this is a mystery to me. I did not know that. So as a parent, that kind of makes me feel like that's the one.

SPEAKER_08 19:04

Well, we're only just a little bit ahead of you. So I have a senior and a sophomore in high school. Okay. You have a junior and a freshman. And you're right.

SPEAKER_07 19:11

You're, I mean, we're all pacing. Yes. So every year we could teach each other.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

That's great.

SPEAKER_07 19:16

It's so true. Always awesome. Kaylee's perspective on having girls, raising kids. Always good to connect with other uh parents on the podcast. Should check out the rest of this wide-ranging interview that we had. Up next, though, is Pamela Hughes on the moment she was done with being a news anchor and discovering the art of life coaching, her new venture. Enjoy.

SPEAKER_03 19:39

I think it was 2017 where there was the Vegas shooting.

SPEAKER_07 19:42

Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:43

And honestly, to be honest, it sounds so morose, but I mean it is what it is. When well, yeah. Yeah. Because as a talk show, yeah, you're talking about everything that's happening locally, in the state, in the country, in the world. And it's news. So you're talking about what other people are talking about. I had one mass shooting in me a year. I could handle one mass shooting a year. And that year we had Vegas in that was in October. And that was the largest mass shooting in US history at the time. And then in December that year, there was a shooting in Texas at a church. And at that time, it was the largest mass shooting at a place of worship. And then two months later was Stoneman Douglas down in Parkland, California at the high school, when that was the deadliest shooting at a high school at the time. And I got my feet underneath one shooting, and then there was another, and there was another. And then, you know, you have all these things that are happening locally, kids bringing guns and murder suicides and all this stuff. And I remember one time cracking the mic, and this is before they did the whole like YouTube, like you can see people on TV, you know, while you're broadcasting, it was seriously just us and the microphone. And I was on with my co-host at the time. We were getting word of breaking news of a school shooting. I don't even remember where it was. And you know, we were catching people up to speed with what was happening, and then we went to a break. And on our show, I was more of the fact-based person, journalism background, and my co-host was more like the color funny guy. Yes. And we came back and he's like, All right, you know, breaking news, yada yada, Pamela, give us the very latest. And I was done. And I looked at him, I'm like, there's a girl that's dead. Bruce. And he looks at me, like, wait, this wasn't part of the script. So there was there was a young lady, she was 13 years old, who woke up this morning worried about her math test and worried about, you know, what her friends were doing that weekend, and she's not going home tonight. That's the breaking news. And he looked at me and he's like, Okay, and he started like, you know, going into the facts because I was just done. Yeah. And I really Realize like at that point, what am I doing? Like, what am I doing? It was news always had an impact on me, but I didn't realize how much until fast forward into 2018. There was um I was at Walmart and Gilbert with my husband and my daughter. And because I was in I was the managing editor and the news director for a period of time, I got all the the news alerts from ABC National News because they never took me off their email or their cell phone list. So whenever there was like breaking news anywhere in the country, I got it before everybody else. And I'm in Walmart with my husband and my daughter, and I'm getting alerts of a shooting in El Paso, Texas, out of Walmart. And I'm in a Walmart in Arizona. And so just a few states later, a few states over, you're looking at this going okay. Um you start to think about it differently. Went to work that Monday talked about the shooting in Texas for three hours. Tuesday, we're talking about um, you know, what to do if you're in a big box store and they're shooting and all the things. Well, that Wednesday I had to go back to that same Walmart to get my daughter her birthday gift. There was something that she wanted that she found that weekend. You can't buy it when the kid's there, right? So I had to go back and I wasn't even thinking, like the shooting wasn't even on my mind, but your body keeps score. And I pulled into the Walmart parking lot and I had my first panic attack ever.

SPEAKER_07 23:32

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 23:33

And that was that wake-up call of I knew you know, reporting on the negative things that are happening in this world was having an impact on me, but I didn't know how much until that moment. And at that point, I'm like, something's gotta get. And I was like, all right, I I gotta I gotta do something different. And I'd been to therapy before. I'm not opposed to therapy, it just didn't work for me. Um and a friend said, You gotta get a life coach.

SPEAKER_09 23:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:00

I mean, this is you know, 2019, 2018. And I'm like, what the hell is a life coach? Seriously.

SPEAKER_07 24:06

It's a great question. It's a great question.

SPEAKER_03 24:07

And I was desperate. And so I said, okay, like I was desperate to try anything. And that one decision absolutely changed my life, changed my perspective. And so much so that like I walked away from a 20-year career in broadcasting where I mean, I had the paycheck, I had the notoriety, I had the familiarity to help other people take back the power that they were unknowingly giving away.

SPEAKER_07 24:33

That's such a great take, such a great energy and a perspective on things. Love learning about other people's journeys. So rounding it out, wellness advocate and influencer, Julie Xander, on her recommendations for becoming an influencer and the importance of taking time for yourself.

SPEAKER_05 24:48

I'm gonna sit back and relax. Yeah, it's tough. It's tough. It's a it's when anybody ever asks, so Julie, what would you tell somebody about becoming an influencer? I go, don't. You know, it's it does it never shuts down. It's 20 years.

SPEAKER_08 25:03

You have to temper that advice with the other advice of you better build a fucking following in a brand. And then you're right. I I understand both sides of it. And it's difficult to navigate a tough thing.

SPEAKER_05 25:15

Well, you know, being a hundred percent influencer, that's for those people that think I'm going to become a you know full-time influencer, that's a lot of work. But you're absolutely right. Every single person, no matter what your career is or what you're doing, you have you truly need to have a presence on social media.

SPEAKER_07 25:35

It's stressful.

SPEAKER_05 25:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 25:36

Right? Yeah. But do you ever have a day where like eff it? I'm not, I'm not addicted to anything today. Seriously.

SPEAKER_05 25:42

Um deep down, yes, but I still probably do it. You still do it, huh? Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 25:46

Are you addicted?

SPEAKER_05 25:47

No, definitely not. No.

SPEAKER_07 25:48

Because that's a thing.

SPEAKER_05 25:49

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_08 25:50

There's a difference between being addicted and needing a paycheck to I I can look at it as like I gotta go to work today. Right.

SPEAKER_05 25:58

At what point You're right, but I think uh there was a point where I thought if I don't post today, people are gonna forget me.

SPEAKER_08 26:07

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 26:08

And that's not true, right?

SPEAKER_08 26:10

It depends how long you can go between.

SPEAKER_05 26:12

Right.

SPEAKER_08 26:12

Yeah, no, I go long enough, people could.

SPEAKER_05 26:15

But listen, if I went on vacation for two weeks and I didn't post, maybe if I did, maybe two weeks, people would be like, Did she die?

SPEAKER_07 26:22

Well, you do well, you've you brought that on yourself. That's about I would think that. I would because you I follow you and I'm like, hmm, well, that's been like five days. That's weird. Oh, oh, she must I would say, oh, she must be on vacation. No, two weeks, I'm thinking, hmm, she got a job, did what happened what happened? I'm not like religious. I mean, you have people that are like you're but you can quarter how many people is a quarter of a million.

SPEAKER_08 26:44

Yeah, that's a lot you manage that a little bit though, potentially. You could like do a video or something and say, I'm gonna be out of here for the next like week or two. Yeah, right. You can also schedule things, like you can we could go produce a bunch of content right now, schedule it out, so but we're actually offline, you know.

SPEAKER_05 27:02

It ends up being what I I still even out of town, I will still post every day, but it winds up being so much less than what I do, like so scaled down. Like, here's one video a day. The stories might not be there, right? The but it's it's still enough.

SPEAKER_07 27:17

What's your rules for posting? Okay, so well, I'm gonna be real here because that's how I roll. Okay, I'll see your butt.

SPEAKER_05 27:22

Oh, yeah, I've seen your body.

SPEAKER_07 27:24

I was not expecting that. No, she does she will be sitting there doing like the well, you can talk about it, the firming up or whatever, and she'll do the angle where you can see her like doing the the clinicians behind, and you can see her like in a thong live, dude, live, like shooting a video, like she doesn't care. She puts herself out there. So, what are the rules on that? Like, you've you put yourself out there, girlfriend. I mean, let's be real. Yeah, what are the rules? Like, where's your where's your guardrails or not?

SPEAKER_05 27:48

My guardrails are don't get kicked off Instagram.

SPEAKER_07 27:52

So you push the envelope?

SPEAKER_05 27:54

Yeah, yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_07 27:55

Really?

SPEAKER_05 27:56

Sex sells.

SPEAKER_07 27:58

You should definitely check out the rest of that interview for sure. And also, Julie has had me on her podcast, Julie Xander. If you go on Instagram, you can see that live. It was a ton of fun. Julie will be back with us in the studio for an encore in the next couple weeks. So in our next segment, Letitia Fry, auctioneer, auction tainer, as she calls herself, talks about finding fulfillment while dealing with multiple brain injuries, cancer, and overcoming challenges.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

It was last year was tough. And I, through a series of things, ended up getting a concussion and post-concussive syndrome again. After I thought, oh yeah, the brain injury days are long behind me. No, no, no. Alice went back down the hole. Complete with the memory losses. I it was just a nightmare. It lasted six, seven weeks. And um, but instantly what I did, I was like, okay, wait a minute. We've been here before. What do we do? Okay, absolutely no substances, get off caffeine, no alcohol, make boundaries, sleep 10 hours a night. Like you instantly, what what are the tools? What do I get? Yeah, go with the flow. Don't you can't do a meeting, cancel it. Like instantly let go. Instantly. And that post-concussive syndrome went away in a moment. I personally feel like it was kind of a test. Like, let's see if she forgot before we accepted. Yeah. Let's see if she really learned it. You know, and I mean, even under here, I'm in a medical bra. I just had my fifth surgery from complications from breast cancer 13 days ago. So, you know, um, which is humbling. And again, I was like, wow, five surgeries. Even though my cancer was was really treated great and successful, I developed seromas, I d had all these complications from the radiation, which again, that's my cup of tea. But what did it, what did it teach me ultimately when I was talking to my surgeon? I go, he's like, Well, yeah, I go, dude, we're done. I don't care what it looks like. I don't care that I'm proud of my scars. Why do I have tattoos? Because they remind me of like different parts. My scars do the same. So I explained to him, I said, I have learned the lesson. I am not my body. My value doesn't come from the way I look. Doesn't my clients? I used to think it was all about the dress I was wearing or what I look like. You know, you when you're a model, I had an eating disorder as a kid. You know, it's hard to get out of that mindset until you suddenly you realize your value is not from any of that.

SPEAKER_09 30:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:13

And that was breast cancer. And the craziest thing about breast cancer is that I had taken up meditation and mantra and all these different things for quite truly peaceful, quiet mind. My kids were both gone out of the house. I hadn't dated in years, I had no one in my life. And I looked at the calendar and for some reason I was homeworking for six weeks and I had five weeks of radiation ahead of me. And I went through it alone. And I went to bed happy and I woke up happy. And every day I'd say thank you, God, because and I'm like, how is this happening? So I just let go. I just let go. And it was beautiful. Cancer sucks and it's a thief. And I'm so grateful. There were five people that when I got diagnosed were going through it with me. There's one of two left standing, you know. And so whatever in the other stuff, but I I what a beautiful journey. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 31:06

What a what a you know what's funny? Uh the it's not funny, it's ironic or not, the way the universe works. But when I first met you, I didn't know all this stuff. I saw you on stage doing your thing. Um, everyone around at my table was like, oh my God, can you imagine doing that job? That's a crazy type of job. She's so confident, she's so smart. Yeah, some people knew who you knew you. I didn't know you until I read the book. That's I mean, that's what inspires us with this podcast is what your story. The vulnerability, what you've always said is a superpower. Vulnerability is a superpower. You've been massively vulnerable with the story that you wrote in the book. To me, that's what makes you that person that see they see the real you, not that person that's on that stage, the auction. What is it? That's the auction tailor.

SPEAKER_02 31:46

Thank you, Alice Cooper, for that one.

SPEAKER_07 31:48

Yeah, you and you and Alice are close.

SPEAKER_02 31:50

I love Alice and Cheryl, man. That's that's that's someone you should have on your podcast. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_07 31:56

Wait, wait, hold on. Time out, time out. I told you. He sent me a text. You're sorry. He's I'll I can show it to you. He sends me a text from the airport in Austin. He flew in and he goes, Next time we film in March, we gotta get the following on the his name was listed on there.

SPEAKER_02 32:07

Oh yeah, I can introduce you. And did you really?

SPEAKER_07 32:10

Yeah, that would be awesome. I only know I have mutual friends that know him. I've never I've met him at golf course stuff.

SPEAKER_02 32:14

And and honestly, what's going on with Solid Rock, which was his nonprofit in the valley, the incredible impact of which my child that we talked about that was more emotional in the spectrum went through the program. And and literally Alice walks on water, as does Cheryl and the entire team, because they help save my child's life. You know, um my child's a phenomenal singer, and and I mean, I can't speak enough about that nonprofit.

SPEAKER_07 32:37

Letitia's story is nothing short of amazing. Scott and I were blown away. Also, you got to check out her book. It's called No Reserve. Take ownership and live your life without limitations. Amazing book. Wonderful author, great friend. So good to have her on the podcast. Coming into the home stretch here on this episode, TV personality, Heidi Goitier on the art of comeback and letting a little pettiness power her career.

SPEAKER_08 33:04

In hindsight, my kids, I'm a single dad and have been for years now. So my kids are pretty independent. You know, sometimes they wake up before me and they're like cooking eggs and bacon and stuff, and I'm like, Yeah, I'm at it. Can I get some of that?

SPEAKER_00 33:16

Yeah, you're like, yeah, but me. I would call and text and just make sure everything was good and and it was always good. So yeah.

SPEAKER_08 33:23

Well, I we love Mike and I both love like a good comeback story, good underdog kind of story and university and stuff like that. I th I was listening to you talk about um how you left the business a few times. Each of those could be viewed as like a comeback and a return and a bounce back. And I I I wonder I never talked to somebody who's left an industry so many times and gone back to it so many times. Usually you leave with like a bad taste in your mouth or a negative kind of experience, but that wasn't the case for you. But how do you keep getting back on the horse again after stepping after stepping away so many times?

SPEAKER_00 34:03

Well, I I don't know what else I would do. I don't know what else I'm good at. I've given anything else a real shot. The first time I left the business, um, I had done about a little over four years in Flagstaff and I had had two babies and I was missing the bedtime, the story time, the bathtime, and and I just thought, you know, there are people who will say they don't believe in regret. Well, I do, and I didn't want to get to the later years of my life and regret missing that time with my kids. So my husband at the time was making more money and got a job down here in Phoenix. And so I left. And I will never forget when I resigned, the general manager at that station, she said, Well, that's fine, but you're committing career suicide. Oh, said that to me.

SPEAKER_08 34:51

And I just this is the type of comeback story, and then I'm like, yeah, I'm petty enough that I will remember that forever. Well, and here I can and not and you're still talking about it.

SPEAKER_00 35:00

And I just remember that was such a gut punch because I thought, oh my gosh. So I'm literally choosing my kids or my career. Like that's the choice. And I think for a lot of women and men too, that is often the choice. And I just remember thinking, okay, well, again, if I'm going to regret one or the other, I will regret this not being with my kids. I will regret that more because I don't get this time back. So, like I said, I I stepped away, was at home for six years, had my third baby. And then I could kind of feel my marriage not heading in the direction it needed to, or that I wanted it to. And my youngest was in preschool. And so it's like, why am I a stay-at-home mom? You know, it's costing me$500 a week to send him to schools. Um, I that's when I went back and I had to start at the bottom, you know, I was an associate producer, which is basically a writer. Um, after being an anchor in Flagstaff, again, small market, Flagstaff, about as small as they get.

SPEAKER_08 35:58

You go back to the bottom of the totem pole. Yeah, and just work up.

SPEAKER_00 36:03

And I just remember every opportunity I was given, I said yes.

SPEAKER_07 36:09

And finally, entrepreneur, restaurant owner Dana Armstrong tells us a story behind the naming of the restaurant bar, the dirty drummer. Her dad started this business 50 years ago, 5-0, uh, mainstay in Phoenix, tells some great stories involving having celebrities, bar fights, bands, and what her father taught her about the importance of having fun in life. Enjoy.

SPEAKER_01 36:33

So I'm gonna tell you the backstory to the name, first of all. Let's go. All right. So my dad's name was Frank Armstrong, and he was born in Yuma, Arizona in 1936. And um, they moved back up here to Phoenix in the 40s, and then he went on to go to North High and then down to U of A, where he became the um president of his fraternity. So he's a really social guy. His whole life was kind of based around having a good time and being active and fitness. So he came, he brought his fraternity up to ASU and then he graduated from there and uh then went on to be a coach at Ingleside.

unknown 37:13

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 37:13

So I know that he had a big impact on all of his students' lives because a lot of them come into the drummer today and find me. Well they're in their 70s. That's crazy. And they tell me, like, you know, what a positive impact he had on their lives. So that's that's really cool. That makes it very meaningful. And so, anyway, some of his students there were like Linda Carter, um, Steven Spielberg, and a guy named David Werner. Okay, so David Werner was a good athlete too, and he went on to play football at Acadia. And during one of their really important games, which is down in Yuma, Dave made some crazy play, I don't know, like an unorthodox play that won them the game, and then it earned him the nickname Dirty Dave. Okay. So fast forward 10 years, 1975, my dad Frank, is uh no longer uh in the education system. He's in the bar business. And his friends are calling him Drummer based on um they said he had they remind he reminded them of a comic book, no, not comic, like a novel character named Bulldog Drummond. Okay. So he he's a partner in different bars around town. But there's so many of them, I can't remember the names, but The Cottage, um, Calhoun's, which is now Little Woody. Little Woody, yeah. Um, Harvey's Weinberger. So he was a partner with Harvey. And Dirty Dave is now a Vietnam veteran and he has a degree from ASU in industrial design and an interest in the bar business. So he approaches his old coach, Frank, at Harvey's, and they go have a beer and talk about starting a bar together. And so, of course, they my dad agrees because his philosophy is always just go for it.

SPEAKER_09 38:54

Yeah, hello.

SPEAKER_01 38:55

And so he um they start the process of getting the liquor license, and the first thing they need is a name. So they look at each other and it's just like, well, you're dirty. I'm drummer, and that's how great.

SPEAKER_07 39:07

That's awesome. So good. Yeah, that's so good. That's really good.

SPEAKER_01 39:10

So that's the origin story of the name.

SPEAKER_07 39:11

The way your was that that they got that whole thing going like 1975. 1975, okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:16

Yeah. This is it also influenced from my dad, but I would say, and he said this direct quote. He said, you know, you go for it, try your hardest, but have fun. That's the most important thing in life. Have a good time.

SPEAKER_09 39:30

You're having fun, aren't you?

SPEAKER_01 39:32

I am I am now having fun mostly.

SPEAKER_09 39:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

Are you guys having fun? Yeah. What percentage of the what percentage of your time is fun?

SPEAKER_07 39:43

Yeah. It's a great question, actually. Yeah, that's a great question. I would say 90%. 90%. I'm not this having fun. I'm having fun 90%. But I but I love what I do. You love what you do. There's the 10% that you don't love. Like the thing, the the little things having to do uh invoicing and billing and chasing down money and stuff like that. I I hate people ghosting, hate, don't like flying, hate it. I mean that sounds like more than 10%. No, but that's but but dude, I haven't full I haven't flown in three months, for example. Okay, I'm gonna jump on a plane on Sunday to go to Nashville. Yeah. I haven't flown in three months. I used to travel all the time, as you well know. There would have been 50%. Yeah. Because I hated it. I was on the road all the time. Maybe that's why my percent is higher. I I think traveling too much. I bet it does. I mean, if you're home a lot, which I've made a concerted effort to do in the last two years, it's my happiness has gone up. So by staying home. By staying home, not having to be on the road all the time.

SPEAKER_01 40:36

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_08 40:36

Yeah, it sounds fun and sexy and interesting to go to different places. And and it is at first, I think. Yeah, I agree. Yeah, gotta be on a where's my bed, where's my couch?

SPEAKER_07 40:47

Taxi. See, Sunday, I gotta be at the airport on Sunday, Sunday at eight o'clock to get to get on a 920 flight. I don't, I'm not pumped about that. I'm pumped about the people and the clients and everyone I'm gonna meet and be in front of. But the the the thought of I had to go to bed early the night before.

SPEAKER_08 41:02

I'm gonna get on a plane in a few hours. All I want to do is go to the dirty drummer and have a lot of time. That's what I want to do.

SPEAKER_07 41:06

That's what I'm talking about. That's fun. Yeah, that's what I want to do.

SPEAKER_01 41:09

You can do both.

SPEAKER_07 41:10

I love it. It's great. All right, so I'm gonna go on the record here, but this is public. Best wings in town. Period. Thanks, Mike. Well, that's a wrap. Another week with What's Your Story, Mike and Scott. Be sure to check out our socials and subscription below. We'll be going live in our tapings this coming Monday. So make sure you hit the subscribe button and go behind the scenes with us in studio and beyond. I'm Mike Lindstrom on behalf of Scott Lees. We will see you next time.