Pamela was told by her high school art teacher that she couldn't paint. She showed her! Today, Pamela is living her badassery life supporting herself alone with her artwork. That's something Pamela says not many artists -- and not many female entrepreneurs can say. Pamela Bliss has found a niche and a portfolio that has given her credibility in the field. She's not afraid to tackle any project no matter how big or small. Pamela paints large-scale interior and exterior murals and regular canvas s...
Sep 06, 2021•28 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Jasmine West is the owner of Muva’s Kitchen – soul food, down home cooking. She opened her restaurant in 2020, amidst the pandemic. The date of her opening is significant and very personal. It falls on the anniversary of the day she was shot at 11 times and left for dead. Her friends were shot and killed. She was 21. When she recovered, she turned to sex, drugs, and partying to take away the pain. She ended up getting pregnant and that changed her life. Her parents were addicts and she wanted a ...
Aug 16, 2021•31 min•Season 3Ep. 2
In her senior year at Indiana University, this badass woman was a 10 time All American swimmer breaking Big Ten records. Years later, Jenn Cristy is making records on her own. She's running an entertainment company, recording from her home studio, and performing concerts. Back at IU, she was discovered by Hoosier rocker John Mellencamp when she sang the National Anthem at an IU basketball game that he attended. In this episode, Jenn talks about growing up in a white family, where kids in her sch...
Aug 02, 2021•31 min•Season 3Ep. 1
This badass woman was the long-time anchor of Channel 13 Eyewitness News’s Sunrise and Noon programs, the side-kick on the Bob and Tom Show, an Indy-based, nationally-syndicated radio show, and a popular emcee for (more than we can count) community events. She dishes the dirt on her career, celebrities, and how she's reinventing herself after decades in the spotlight. Today, she's learning to adjust to being an empty-nester, finding her tribe, and building a career as a writer, speaker, voice an...
Jun 28, 2021•29 min•Season 2Ep. 13
Lucy talks about life growing up, challenges and successes, love and loss, and so much more. During her first 5 years of motherhood, Lucy was raising a medically fragile child with special needs as well as suffered the loss of her mom to breast cancer and her stillborn son. Her story is one of hope after loss, love after heartbreak, and having an inner mother warrior strength during life’s most difficult times. Lucy is a mother of four, wife, dog mom, youngest of 12 kids from the South Side of C...
Jun 14, 2021•34 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Leslie is a mother of two, including one special needs child, an advocate for the special needs community, a singer/songwriter, a fashion designer (clothes and accessories), and she's a survivor of an assault 20 years ago that was a gang initiation (she was at a movie theatre when she was attacked and stabbed multiple times. Leslie has seen it, done it, lived it. All the beauty, disappointment, sadness and glory of her life can be found in her songs. She talked about her career, her music, her c...
May 03, 2021•32 min•Season 2Ep. 11
After being bullied as a kid, Alexa channeled her energy into writing a fashion blog at the age of 12. At 14, she scored tickets to the 2012 Fashion Week in New York City, by 17 she moved to Brooklyn, NY, studied high school online and continued to pursue fashion, which ultimately landed her sponsorships with Forever 21, British Airways and Jet Blue. She started a nonprofit in 2016 and so on and so on. Today, she's the CEO of Life Unfiltered with Alexa and produces her own podcast. We talked to ...
Apr 19, 2021•29 min•Season 2Ep. 10
"An electrical fire took her son. An arson expert took her freedom." Kristine spent 17+ years behind bars after being arrested and charged with setting a fire that claimed the life of her three-year-old son. In 2012, the Indiana Court of Appeals overturned her conviction after lawyers argued that arson evidence was wrong and key documents had been withheld from the defense before trial. Kristine was set free — 17 years, one month, and 16 days after her wrongful arrest. Today, Kristine is the co-...
Apr 05, 2021•30 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Michele knows firsthand about INVISIBLE WOUNDS and how it can affect the individual and their loved ones. She’s the mother of 2 Veterans: a US Marine Combat Veteran and a US Navy Sailor. She’s also the daughter of a deceased Retired US Air Force LT. COL. Since 2017, Michele has been traveling the country in an RV raising awareness of PTSD, Suicide and Mental health in our military heroes. It’s part of a program called "Operation 22 to ZERO.” -- 22 veterans die by suicide every day. Michele uses ...
Mar 22, 2021•29 min•Season 2Ep. 8
This badass adventurous woman traveled to Alaska in 2017 to watch the famous Iditarod sled dog race, then returned as a volunteer at the Iditarod Ceremonial Start in 2018, and ultimately as a sled dog handler and trainer in 2019 - which is what she's doing now. The Iditarod is nearly 1,000 miles of dog sled racing in brutal conditions along a trail that takes mushers from Anchorage over mountain ranges and flat tundra to the western coast of Alaska, and finally to a town called Nome. Sherri expl...
Mar 07, 2021•30 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Malina Simone Jeffers (Mali) was called an Oreo growing up (black on the outside, white on the inside). Today, she's called a cultural architect, creative placemaker, community builder, artist advocate, and has even been referred to as “the unsegregator” by the Indianapolis Star because of her tireless work in diversity and racial equity. She talks with us about growing up in white schools and neighborhoods, her career path, spearheading the effort to have local Black artists create a Black Live...
Feb 24, 2021•31 min•Season 2Ep. 6
This badass woman is a wife, hands-on mother of 4 boys, licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, author, speaker, podcast host, and an avid reader (in the last five years she’s read over 250 books). She’s building her own company helping serve overwhelmed moms, while homeschooling her four sons. But it hasn’t always been easy. She’s been through a divorce and bankruptcy, yet she’s overcome them and come out of it with a life she loves. Amber packed up her family and traveled across the U.S. for 1...
Feb 15, 2021•31 min•Season 2Ep. 5
The two women behind Two Chicks Whisky talk about falling in love and getting married, their blended family, and how they went from baking desserts for school events to a food truck to a successful bakery, despite having any formal culinary or baking experience at all. Before the bakery, Paige was a bus driver in Avon; Rhonda continues to work full-time as a probation officer. They talk about overcoming challenges (including being a same-sex couple in a small town) to become successful bakers an...
Feb 11, 2021•27 min•Season 2Ep. 4
“I want to tell the stories of Black women and girls, and deliver the truth to all those folks who got us twisted—tangled up in racist and sexist lies. I want my writing to advocate for my sisters. We are better than alright. We are amazing.” Tamara is an author and writer who specializes in the ever-evolving space where current events, politics, and pop culture intersect with race and gender. We talked with Tamara about all of those things, and more. Tamara is also the Vice President of Communi...
Feb 01, 2021•28 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Did you know that human trafficking earns global profits of roughly $150 billion a year for traffickers, and that behind drugs, trafficking is the second most profitable organized crime in the world AND the average age a victim enters trafficking is 12 to 14 years old. Kellie Leeper is doing something about it! She's the Director of Communications & Development for Ascent 121 , a nonprofit that provides advocacy and recovery services for Indiana teen survivors of sex trafficking and exploita...
Jan 18, 2021•26 min•Season 2Ep. 2
In 1988, Susie and her seven year old daughter were kidnapped and held hostage in the trunk of her car. Her husband was a prominent bank executive and was the target of a bank robbery. They survived, but Susie suffered PTSD. She lost her career, her home, and ultimately her sense of safety and security. In her memoir "Getting to Forgiveness - What a Near-Death Experience Can Teach Us About Loss, Resilience, and Love", Susie talks about how she was able to deal with her near death experience. We ...
Jan 04, 2021•31 min•Season 2Ep. 1
This badass woman leads the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization, where she oversees a staff of 13 professional planners and an annual distribution of $47 million for transportation projects in an area that encompasses 1,520 square miles and includes eight counties and 27 cities and towns. That’s pretty badass! She describes herself as determined, dependable, and practical; while others may describe her as impartial, reliable and persistent. We talked with Anna about her career (and b...
Dec 21, 2020•29 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Ambre is the creator of Ambre Blends , a natural fragrance line she started in her basement before growing it into an international success. She's a driven and successful business owner, a mentor, a civic leader, a spiritual healer, a devoted friend and a true badass. She stays connected to things that feed her soul and helps her be creative. She talks with us about starting her business, how their fragrances are developed, giving back to the community, family life, and her '77 pinto....
Dec 14, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 29
In this episode, we talked with KJ about her badass radio career, her work at the Make-A-Wish Foundation (where she has granted over 300 wishes), her podcast: The Kinda Nerdy GIrls, and her work as the Kitty Correspondent for Pet Pals TV. She's the second oldest of nine kids who grew up working on a farm, helped run a restaurant, and survived a house fire - all before she could drive. KJ talks about the most out-of-the ordinary/weird things she's done, her passion for pets (she has 4 rescue cats...
Nov 30, 2020•39 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Stevi is a loving caregiver to her 103-year-old mother (technically her grandmother) – the hardest, most important and remarkable job she’s ever had. She’s living her badassery life as a confident woman who knows who she is and why she’s here: “to build community and protect animals”! She’s a badass biker babe who started a biker club for women, a devoted animal lover who has four special needs dogs of her own, and the co-host of the Badassery Life podcast who allowed us to turn the mics on her ...
Nov 16, 2020•31 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Amber grew up in Decatur, Indiana, graduated from Purdue University, then went on to do amazing social work. Some who know her have called her a saint for the work she's doing, to which she responds "there are two requirements for sainthood: being dead and being in Heaven and I'm not either". Rose founded PeaceCycle, a small startup business that gives employment opportunities to Haitians. She talks about her journey in creating PeaceCycle (she admits to being naïve) , the challenges of living i...
Nov 02, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 27
In this episode the Badassery Life team decided to talk about the things going on in their lives. Stevi talked about caring for her 102-year-old mom, Kelly talked about a few new podcasts she's producing, and Ginny talked about her recent trip to Disney World - and all three talked about the upcoming holidays and whatever else was on their mind.
Oct 25, 2020•24 min•Season 1Ep. 26
DeAndra Dycus feels vulnerable every time she hears about another shooting in our city. She admits it's tough navigating through so much grief. Her son, DeAndre, fell victim to gun violence at the age of 13. He was at a birthday party when a fight broke out and a gun was fired. 20 bullets were shot into the house. One bullet hit one person – Dre. That one bullet – a bullet that shattered her son’s skull – permanently altered the course of his life and DeAndra's life. This episode tells a story o...
Oct 18, 2020•29 min•Season 1Ep. 25
This badass woman is a two-time cancer survivor, a wife (to a husband who is currently living with cancer), a mom with three kids, the founder of Joy's House - a nonprofit in Indianapolis that provides adult day service and caregiver support for adults living with life-altering diagnoses and their families who care for them. She's also the only badass women we’ve interviewed who raises chickens and goats on top of everything else she has going on in her life. Tina McIntosh describes herself as a...
Oct 05, 2020•29 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Marisa handles investigations relating to social services and welfare issues, including child abuse and neglect, poverty, elder abuse, human trafficking, domestic violence and access to mental health services. While at the Indianapolis Star, she was among the investigative team that exposed officials at USA Gymnastics and their team doctor, Larry Nassar, in what turned out to be the largest sexual abuse scandal in sports. That award-winning investigation led to the documentary film, “Athlete A,”...
Sep 21, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Sara describes herself as an ever-evolving badass female, communicator, writer, reader, motivator, fitness trainer, adrenaline junkie, explorer, sister, daughter, wife, and friend. She is constantly pursuing opportunities to make the world a better place and has a deep passion for storytelling. She's a guest blogger and social media host for Fittest Travel, and the host of her own podcast, Facing Fear with Sara, where she features individuals who are living unapologetically authentic lives and d...
Sep 07, 2020•33 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Saundra Mitchell is the author of nearly twenty books for tweens and teens. For twenty years, she was the head screenwriter and an executive producer with Dreaming Tree Films on their various teen filmmaking programs. Saundra's latest book, "All the Things We Do in the Dark", is on the shortlist for the Indiana Authors Awards (winner to be announced Sept. 1). But before becoming a successful author, advocate, and mom, she overcome incredible grief, pain and anguish. Saundra grew up poor, was sex...
Aug 24, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 21
When we asked this badass woman what, if any, challenges she faced, she said: "I'm a black woman in Indianapolis, where do I start?". We decided to start by asking her more questions. In this episode we talk with Jill English about racism, the disproportionality in the child welfare system, investing in change, addressing systemic racism, being vulnerable, and having difficult and uncomfortable conversations. Jill English has worked in child welfare for more than two decades and although her rol...
Aug 10, 2020•37 min•Season 1Ep. 20
This badass woman is a powerhouse business trailblazer and a leader in bringing farm-to-table dining to Indianapolis. She opened her first Indianapolis restaurant in 1989. She’s a former sex crimes prosecutor who has a lifelong passion for food – a passion that has led to a successful collection of establishments. She’s known as a tireless worker, a charismatic host and speaker, and an impassioned feminist and believer in “female capital.” We talked with her about growing up, the importance of f...
Jul 27, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Lindsay launched her debut book - the first book in spirituality and self-development with F*** in the title. She wrote it for rockers in mind, but in this 224-page memoir and personal development book, Lindsay shares her personal experiences with bullying and abuse, the celebrations of living a creative life, and wisdom learned along the way. She talks with us about how her book, how her spider tattoo got her into the band Cold (she's the bassist), cancelled tours because of the pandemic, being...
Jul 13, 2020•33 min•Season 1Ep. 18
