Episode 74: Bryan Wempen – Sober Is Better
Beyond 6 Seconds: Neurodiversity stories from neurodivergent people
08/19/19
•42m
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Bryan Wempen is a speaker and an author. His latest book, "Sober Is Better, My Note to Self," describes Bryan's journey into daily drinking and finding his way to living a sober lifestyle.
In this episode, Bryan walks us through his story – how early trauma and a feeling of disconnectedness led him to become a high-functioning alcoholic by high school, his experiences with drugs during his college years, what it was like growing his career while struggling with addiction, and what motivated him to go into recovery. He also describes the tremendous support that the recovery community has provided him, as well as the impact his book has had on readers.
You can learn more about Bryan at www.BryanWempen.com and buy his book on Amazon at Sober Is Better: My Note to Self.
Bryan Wempen's full bio:
Bryan Wempen was born in Redwood City California, the future world-famous Silicon Valley. He was adopted at two days old and started a journey across several states with his new parents to live in the mountains of Wyoming. At age four, his family moved to the Midwest and began the farming life in Nebraska. Fourteen years from when his story started, he experienced his first alcohol blackout. By 18-years-old he was in trouble with the law and entirely dependent on alcohol.
Bryan started with drugs his freshman year in college while driving to his national guard duty. He experienced a willingness for recovery from drug use for the first time in 1993 and eventually stopped for good in 1996.
Once the drugs were gone, his dependency on alcohol quickly worsened. At this time Bryan found himself quietly working to avoid legal issues arising from his drinking while working to maintain his roles as successful corporate executive, husband, and stepfather.
More years of blackout drinking, humiliating and demoralizing behavior added to the guilt and shame of addiction. Bryan began questioning if he can stop his drinking. It all changed in May 2010 when he found his answer about quitting. Bryan couldn't hide from himself any longer and asked a longtime sober friend for help. He has been successfully sober since then.
His first book in 2015, "Note to Self: A Collection of 99 Life Lessons," was received well by the recovery, healing, and spiritual communities around the world. In his current book, "Sober Is Better, a Note to Self," Bryan shares his journey into daily drinking and finding his way to living a sober lifestyle. He highlights how awkward, messy, and beautiful addiction-recovery is for all on this path to sobriety.
Since his last book in 2015, Bryan has remarried and enjoys working with behavioral healthcare technology clients. He currently resides in Kansas City, Missouri.
Previous Episode
Episode 73: Jordan Gross – The Journey to Cloud Nine
August 12, 2019
•41m
Jordan Gross is a Northwestern and Kellogg School of Management graduate, a two-time startup founder, a TEDx speaker, and a #1 best-selling author. His upcoming book, "The Journey to Cloud Nine," provides a new approach to the personal development world by using fictional storytelling to reveal some of life's most meaningful principles.
In this episode, Jordan describes his own journey to Cloud Nine – how he lived life "by the book" and worked at a lucrative but uninspiring job, then quit to focus his energy on content creation, coaching and public speaking. Now he is a certified coach who helps people find direction in their lives and careers through his company Cloud Nine Living.
He also demonstrates some tips on how to overcome fear, based on the 5-step process from his first book, "Getting COMFY" (Calm, Openness, Movement, Funny, You).
Connect with Jordan on LinkedIn and visit his website www.JourneyToCloudNine.com to subscribe to his newsletter.
Next Episode
Episode 75: Rachel Werner – Consulting, Motherhood and Entrepreneurship
August 26, 2019
•30m
After working for years in the corporate, nonprofit, and public sectors, Rachel Werner founded RBW Strategy, her women-owned consulting firm based in the Washington, DC Metro area. She's an expert in the full lifecycle of grants activities, and currently provides fundraising, project management and strategic planning support to nonprofit, public sector and for-profit clients. She is also an award-winning business owner who was recently recognized as a SCORE Client of the Year!
On this episode, Rachel shares:
- Why she transitioned from working at a Big 4 management consulting company after having her first child
- How her experience prepared her to become an entrepreneur, build her client base, and differentiate her business
- What it was like starting her business while pregnant with her second child
- The preconceived notions she had to overcome about having a home-based business
- How she defined her work/life boundaries as an entrepreneur, and found support from other entrepreneurial mothers through an accelerator called Her Corner
- Her experiences pitching and working with her clients
- Her advice for new entrepreneurs
You can find out more about Rachel at her website www.rbwstrategy.com, on LinkedIn or by emailing rachel@rbwstrategy.com .
Rachel's full bio:
Rachel Werner, Owner and CEO of RBW Strategy, a women-owned consulting firm located in the Washington, DC Metro area. She has over 16 years of experience in the corporate, nonprofit, and public sectors. Due to her experience as a project manager, grant seeker and grant manager, she has expertise in the full lifecycle of grants activities, and currently provides fundraising, project management and strategic planning support to nonprofit, public sector and for-profit clients. Since the beginning of her career, she has helped to garner over $32 million in grants and contracts and has managed over $2 billion in grant funding. She graduated from Vassar College with a Bachelor of Arts and received a Master's Degree in Public Administration from New York University's Wagner School of Public Service. She has also obtained a Certificate in Grants Management (2012), is a certified Project Management Professional (since 2014), and is a Certified Grants Professional (since 2010). She is actively involved in the Grant Professionals Association and regularly conducts in-person and online trainings, most notably at the Grant Professionals Association Annual Conference, the National Grants Management Association Annual Conference, CharityHowTo, Candid, Center for Nonprofit Advancement and Catalogue for Philanthropy.
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