Sharjuan Burgos, Mental Health Services for Military Members & Family
Healing Charlotte Podcast
Sharjuan Burgos, Outreach Director at the is on this episode of the podcast. She spent 27 years of active duty service in the Army and is now responsible for linking the community to the services offered at the clinic. Once she retired from the military, Sharjuan was hired at the clinic and believes her understanding of military life(enlisted member, officer, spouse, & mother) enhances her ability to bring the community together. "We want to break down the stigma behind mental health. We also want to make sure people will get comfortable and used to saying the words that need to be...
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David Sanchez, Porn & Sex Addiction Therapist
Healing Charlotte Podcast
and a therapist specialized in porn & sex addiction, betrayal trauma for partners, and childhood trauma. David's work focuses on helping men in these areas as well as assertiveness training. David always had an interest in people as he watched his mom as a hairstylist listen to her clients. He earned his undergraduate degree in Psychology but found himself in sales after college. After some psychological testing, he learned that he would be a good therapist, so he returned to school to get his Master's in Counseling. His career started off in home therapy by using a system approach of...
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Kate Willis, Functional Medicine Nurse Practitioner
Healing Charlotte Podcast
Nurse Practitioner who focuses on women's health with virtual patients in North Carolina. She has been with Hormone Wellness MD since 2023, a practice that focuses on hormones and sexual wellness in women. "For those who are willing to meet in a virtual format, it often works better for their schedules and we can accomplish really everything we need to accomplish over the telehealth platform." Kate has always gravitated towards comforting others starting when she was a young child. She began her career in the medical field as an Oncology Nurse and found her way professionally to...
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Megan Gelabert-McGee, Pilates Instructor
Healing Charlotte Podcast
On this episode of the podcast, we meet Megan Gelabert-McGee from . Megan comes from a professional dance background and heard about Pilates through her community while dancing for 2 professional companies in New York. She took a front desk job at a 2nd generation from Joseph Pilates studio. Many of the apprentices in the training program needed practice hours and this is where Megan started her introduction to Pilates. She began to notice not just the exercise component but an improved mental state and with her dance(i.e. balance). She completed her training from there about 20 years ago. ...
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Kristen Bunich, The Intuitive Dietician
Healing Charlotte Podcast
On this episode of the podcast, we meet Kristen Bunich, a Registered Dietician and owner of “.” Intuitive eating was created by two dieticians in the 90s and by now has over 200 research studies on it. The adoption rate increased in the last 10 years. It’s based on 10 principles and fosters a positive relationship with food as we move away from restrictive diets. The principles work on hunger, fullness, satisfaction, and movement and is a more holistic approach looking at what other factors are influencing our bodies. The original researchers were frustrated that diets weren’t...
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Kaley J. Taylor, Conscious Breath-work Facilitator
Healing Charlotte Podcast
doctors to help us get out of our heads and into our bodies. This modality can benefit anyone who is breathing. Contraindications are for those with heart conditions, epilepsy, and newly pregnant. It can be approached from physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual places. This is a deeper experience than coping skill type of breath-work. "Using our breath as a flashlight to shine within the parts of our bodies where we might be holding, suppressing, repressing, and using the breath, we are able to shine the light and dispel those shadows. In doing that we are able to live more fully,...
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Charlie Petrizzo, Project 2 Heal
Healing Charlotte Podcast
his episode features Charlie Petrizzo the Founder and CEO of . His organization is the only non-profit in the United States that focuses on expert animal husbandry and rearing of outstanding pedigree Labrador Retrievers to serve the service dog industry. Charlie's path leading up to starting was marked by tragedy and triumph during his childhood. He suffered from two accidents in his childhood; one was when he was 4 years old and was struck by a car and suffered a traumatic brain injury and paralyzed on the left side of his body ~1 year, and electrocuted at age 16 that burned 70% of his...
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Heather Siblik, Dish Course
Healing Charlotte Podcast
Heather Siblik the founder of is on this episode of the podcast. Her journey in creating really began 5 years ago when she moved to Charlotte from Wisconsin for a relationship that ended shortly after. She remembers how much effort, courage, and time it took to meet people and make friends. This is what sparked the idea for , a dinner party with strangers organized by categories. The categories have ranged from "Must Love Sushi" to "Starting Over" to "New in Town." Heather has found that even within the categories, there is still a lot of diversity in ages, stages of life, and situations. ...
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Austin Buergermeister, Live Well Chiropractic
Healing Charlotte Podcast
Austin Buergermeister a Chiropractor from in Lake Norman is the latest guest on the podcast. His journey started out while in school at UNCC where he majored in Exercise Science and minored in Public Health. He knew he wanted to help people but had not found in what way yet. A Chiropractor came to speak at one of his classes and his interest was piqued. About the same time, he hurt his back lifting in the gym and decided to give Chiropractic a try. He felt 85% better after his first session and continued to heal quicker than he had in the past. From there, he was hooked. He attended Palmer...
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Daisha Williams, CleanAire NC
Healing Charlotte Podcast
Today's guest is Daisha Williams who is the Environmental Justice Manager for . utilizes action, education, and innovation in their partnerships to restore the environment. They started in 2003 as CleanAIRE Carolina where volunteers banded together to improve air quality and noticed the link between that and climate change and public health. Their focus today is on climate change and air quality; addressing it through advocacy, education, and community-driven research and programs. has 4 programs; health, policy, citizen science, and environmental justice. The Health program provides...
info_outlineThis episode is with Abby Glen, the owner and founder of Shelves Bookstore. Shelves just celebrated their 2-year anniversary as an online and pop-up new book store. Shelves started as a pop-up store partnering with local coffee shops when COVID-19 hit. Abby quickly shifted to an online model and has now moved to offering both options to purchase books. Abby has wanted to open a bookstore for a long time but waited until she got out of debt first. In preparation, she did a lot of research online on how to run a bookstore, and started to reach out to local businesses to partner with her.
Abby's history with books starts back when she was young remembering the encyclopedias in her home and visiting the library often with her family. As a teenager in Philly, she started going to a bookstore and was pleased to find books that she could relate to. Around this same time, she joined a book club through Essence magazine and was delivered "Flyy Girl" by Omar Tyree.
"It was the first time I read a book that I could see myself and my neighborhood, and my friends, and my family, and my school, and everything on the pages."
From there, Abby began swapping the books around to her friend group, much like she does with her "Reading is a Lifestyle" bookclub. This subscription service launched in February but is not a traditional bookclub. You pick 3 categories of books you are open to and each month you will be surprised with a book from 1 of your 3 categories. They also conduct a monthly zoom hangout where readers discuss their own books and hear about the others that were sent out.
"The only reason I've managed to get as far as I've gotten to or where I have gotten to is because I stayed curious and I've managed to convince a couple of other people to be curious with me."
Abby enjoys working with people who are serious in changing narratives. She likes people who are curious like her and have an open mind to consider new perspectives or new ways of doing things. She is currently partnered with Enderly Coffee and Mint Hill Roasting Company for her pop ups. As far as her own self-care, Abby enjoys journaling and spending time with friends. She wants to heal Charlotte's literary scene. Currently, we only have 1 other independent new bookseller and few authors come to town. Abby wants to change that and is looking forward to her brick and mortar store in the future as a gathering space for fellowship, friendship, and camaraderie. She believes by doing this and supporting other small businesses here it creates our city's culture. She is inspired by author and therapist Nedra Glover Tawwab who recently wrote, "Set Boundaries, Find Peace."
"It's your people who determine what the culture's gonna be and your small businesses set the tone of a city."
Visit their website to purchase books or join the bookclub. If you live in Mecklenburg County, local pickup is available at Enderly Coffee, some areas are eligible for local delivery, or you can have your books shipped anywhere. Follow along on social media or subscribe to the newsletter for all information including the next pop-up location.