The Messy Side of Awakening with Michelle Garside
Surviving Roots: A Crash Course in Turning Pain into Potential
Release Date: 10/08/2025
From Surviving to Free: Motherhood at 20, DV Recovery, Self-Forgiveness, and Reinvention
Surviving Roots: A Crash Course in Turning Pain into Potential
What if your “glow up” isn’t a makeover… it’s freedom? In this episode of Surviving Roots, Cari Fund sits down with Michelle Fairburn—mother of two, creator, and living proof that rebuilding a life doesn’t happen overnight (and doesn’t need to look polished to be powerful). Michelle became a mom at 20, navigated profound loss and a mother wound, and later survived a fast-moving relationship that turned abusive after marriage. Together, Cari and Michelle unpack the real behind-the-scenes of healing: self-forgiveness, faith, identity, parenting while evolving, and what it takes...
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Breaking Free From a Narcissistic Partner: Financial Protection, Parenting, and Exit Strategy with Camille Zhuk
Surviving Roots: A Crash Course in Turning Pain into Potential
What does it really take to leave a narcissistic relationship—without losing your finances, your children, or yourself? In this powerful episode of Surviving Roots, I sit down with Camille Zhuk, founder of The Breaking Free Project, a strategic support platform designed to help individuals—especially parents—safely exit narcissistic relationships. With a background in business and finance and specialized training in narcissistic abuse recovery, coercive control, domestic violence advocacy, and behavioral profiling, Camille offers something rare: clear, logical strategy paired with deep...
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The Mental Load of Motherhood and Why Asking for Help Changes Everything with Diana Arango
Surviving Roots: A Crash Course in Turning Pain into Potential
Motherhood isn’t just hard — it’s heavy. And one of the biggest invisible weights? Feeding everyone… every single day. In this episode of Surviving Roots, Cari Fund sits down with Diana Arango, co-founder + CEO of Chefpost, a platform connecting busy families with vetted personal chefs on demand. Diana shares the real story behind Chefpost: how her own burnout as a working mom sparked a mission to help families reclaim time, presence, and connection at home. In this conversation, we cover: The mental load of meal planning (and why it’s exhausting) Why “balance” is a myth —...
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Reinvention After Loss: Confidence, Healing, and Finding Love Again at 40
Surviving Roots: A Crash Course in Turning Pain into Potential
At twenty, she found her father after a fatal accident. At forty, she lost her husband to cancer. And somehow—she found herself again. In this deeply human conversation, lifestyle and beauty creator Rachael Potash shares how she turned unimaginable loss into a story of reinvention, healing, and hope. Now a mom of two and a bonus mom to four, she’s helping women over 40 feel seen, confident, and hopeful again through fashion, beauty, and honest storytelling. Rachael opens up about: 💔 Losing her husband at 40 and rebuilding her life from scratch 💫 Navigating motherhood, grief, and a...
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The Golden Child Effect: Breaking Free from Roles That Keep You Small
Surviving Roots: A Crash Course in Turning Pain into Potential
What happens when the “good daughter” wakes up to the truth? In this week’s Surviving Roots episode, Cari Fund sits down with Lauren Smallcomb — certified mind-body practitioner, trauma survivor, and author of Golden Child: My Descent to Scapegoat and Rise to Freedom. Lauren shares her journey from being the adored “golden child” in a rigid, religious family to becoming the scapegoat when faith, politics, and identity collided. Together, Cari and Lauren explore what it means to break free from high-control systems, redefine forgiveness, and rebuild a life rooted in freedom, grief,...
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The Cost of Self-Abandonment: Why Boundaries Heal More Than They Hurt
Surviving Roots: A Crash Course in Turning Pain into Potential
What if setting boundaries isn’t about pushing people away — but about finally choosing yourself? In this powerful and deeply relatable conversation, Harvard-trained clinical psychologist Dr. Sabrina Romanoff joins Surviving Roots host Cari Fund to unpack the hidden patterns that shape our relationships — from friendship breakups and people-pleasing to the repetition of childhood wounds in our adult lives. Together they explore: Why boundaries are acts of preservation, not rejection. How self-abandonment begins in childhood — and how to stop repeating it. The psychology behind...
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The Messy Side of Awakening with Michelle Garside
Surviving Roots: A Crash Course in Turning Pain into Potential
In this raw and soul-stirring episode of Surviving Roots, Cari Fund sits down with Michelle Garside—co-founder of Soul Camp Creative, a sacred strategy house helping purpose-driven people and organizations tell their most authentic stories. Michelle has spent her career creating transformative spaces like Soul Camp, The Enchantment Experience, and The Connecticut Women’s Club. But beneath all that success is a story of radical truth-telling, recovery, and what it really means to belong. Together, Cari and Michelle dive deep into the loneliness that hides beneath high achievement, the...
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From Divorce to Book Deals: Asha Elias on Reinvention, Writing, and Motherhood
Surviving Roots: A Crash Course in Turning Pain into Potential
Writer, mother, and reluctant socialite Asha Elias joins Cari to talk about reinvention, resilience, and the real story behind her rapid rise as a novelist. From launching Pink Glass Houses to celebrating the release of The Namaste Club, Asha opens up about writing, grief, raising two kids post-divorce, and how dating a younger man has taught her about love and softness in relationships. Asha has contributed to Cosmopolitan magazine and is a regular columnist for Miami New Times. She lives in Miami Beach. This conversation is honest, inspiring, hilarious, and packed with reminders that you can...
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Outsource the Overwhelm: Peacock Parenting, Delegation & Redefining Time with Proxy
Surviving Roots: A Crash Course in Turning Pain into Potential
What if parenthood came with a delegation plan, a support team, and a mission statement? In this powerful conversation, I sit down with Christine Landis—former CEO turned intentional parenting strategist and founder of Peacock Parent—to unpack how executive-level planning, outsourcing, and mindset shifts can radically reduce burnout and bring joy back to motherhood. We explore: The hidden mental load modern parents carry How to apply “time is money” thinking to family life Why delegating isn’t selfish—it’s self-preservation How Christine’s new membership platform Proxy...
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From Grief to Awakening: How ‘My Drumbeats’ Became Her Healing Anthem
Surviving Roots: A Crash Course in Turning Pain into Potential
In this soulful episode of Surviving Roots, host Cari Fund welcomes Haitian-born artist and yoga teacher Anick Vorbe, author of the spiritual memoir My Drumbeats. Together, they explore how grief can become a sacred portal of awakening. Anick shares her healing journey through the sudden loss of her brother, her experiences with ayahuasca, and how writing this book became a way to reconnect with her voice, her culture, and her purpose. We discuss plant medicine, raising conscious children, and what it means to write for the collective. This conversation is a heart-opening...
info_outlineIn this raw and soul-stirring episode of Surviving Roots, Cari Fund sits down with Michelle Garside—co-founder of Soul Camp Creative, a sacred strategy house helping purpose-driven people and organizations tell their most authentic stories.
Michelle has spent her career creating transformative spaces like Soul Camp, The Enchantment Experience, and The Connecticut Women’s Club. But beneath all that success is a story of radical truth-telling, recovery, and what it really means to belong.
Together, Cari and Michelle dive deep into the loneliness that hides beneath high achievement, the spiritual disconnection that fuels addiction, and the messy, beautiful process of coming home to yourself.
Michelle opens up about her recovery from bulimia, addiction, and alcoholism—and how shame became the doorway to her power. She shares the story behind her upcoming 2027 book, Not Awakened, which challenges the illusion of “perfect enlightenment” and invites us to embrace our full, human messiness instead.
✨ Inside the episode:
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The loneliness that success can’t fill
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Motherhood as a spiritual practice of imperfection
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Recovery and radical truth-telling
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The healing power of community and belonging
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“God comes through guys”—how love can become a mirror for awakening
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The anti-guru message behind Not Awakened
💬 “Loneliness is a spiritual hole.”
💬 “We become the choices that we make.”
💬 “Maybe we’re not meant to be enlightened—maybe we’re meant to be human.”
Follow @cari.fund and @survivingrootspod for more stories about truth, healing, and becoming who you were meant to be.
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