loader from loading.io

Entrepreneurship, Reinvention & Real Confidence with Natalie Bevacqua

The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper

Release Date: 11/18/2025

What You're Willing to Risk Shapes the Life You Get (The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Jason Boulette) show art What You're Willing to Risk Shapes the Life You Get (The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Jason Boulette)

The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper

You can do everything right in your career and still find yourself staring at the ceiling at 2 am, wondering what exactly you’re building. The title sounds impressive, and the salary looks good, but somewhere along the way the thing that was supposed to give you a life started quietly taking it. The years go faster than the days, and it’s easy to look up one morning and realize the schedule you built isn’t the life you meant to have. This episode is about what you’re willing to risk to change that, and how much of your time you’re okay trading for comfort. Work-life balance sounds...

info_outline
Proof You Can Start Over Without Walking Away From Everything ft. Michele Trongaard show art Proof You Can Start Over Without Walking Away From Everything ft. Michele Trongaard

The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper

Twenty-three years is a long time to spend earning a reputation. Michele Trongaard has one that precedes her everywhere she goes in this industry, and after sitting across from her for this conversation, I understand exactly why. Michele is stepping away from her role as a district CFO after more than two decades in public school finance, and she's doing it on her own terms, heading into a new chapter rather than just closing the book on the old one. I wanted to talk with her about what actually built that reputation, because it wasn't the budgets or the balance sheets. It was something much...

info_outline
What the Best Leaders Can't See About Themselves (The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Brian Vogel) show art What the Best Leaders Can't See About Themselves (The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Brian Vogel)

The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper

Picture your ideal Tuesday. You come in with a clear head, a short list of things that actually matter, and a couple of hours of uninterrupted time to think strategically about where you're taking this thing. Now picture your actual Tuesday. Six fires before noon. Three decisions that landed on your desk that someone else should have made. A calendar that left no room for anything except reacting. And somewhere around four in the afternoon, the quiet feeling that you've been incredibly busy and somehow accomplished nothing. If that second picture is more familiar, this episode is for you. My...

info_outline
You Were Creative Once. Find Your Way Back. (The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Maria Gatling) show art You Were Creative Once. Find Your Way Back. (The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Maria Gatling)

The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper

When was the last time you made something? A drawing, a photo, a collage, a doodle in the margin of a notebook. Something you made with your hands because something in you wanted to. Most of us have to think about it. And the longer we think, the further back the answer goes. Somewhere along the way, we handed our creative lives back. Not all at once, and not on purpose. Just gradually, between the jobs and the responsibilities and the screens and the schedules, the things we used to make got quietly set aside. And we told ourselves we’d get back to them. And then we didn’t. And eventually...

info_outline
The One Thing Your Competition Can Never Buy or Copy (The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Joe Fusco) show art The One Thing Your Competition Can Never Buy or Copy (The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Joe Fusco)

The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper

Here's a question I want you to think about before you hit play. When was the last time you felt like the work you were doing actually mattered? Not mattered as in the numbers went up or the boss was happy. Mattered in that way where you finished a day and felt genuinely full rather than just done. Most of us have forgotten what that feels like. Or maybe we never had it to begin with. This conversation goes deep on that. My guest Joe Fusco and I got into what actually makes a company great, why people don't fit in a spreadsheet no matter how hard we try to make them, and what it really...

info_outline
Hurricane Katrina at 21: The Story the Media Never Fully Told featuring Sandy Rosenthal show art Hurricane Katrina at 21: The Story the Media Never Fully Told featuring Sandy Rosenthal

The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper

Here's a question I want you to think about before you hit play. When was the last time you felt like the work you were doing actually mattered? Not mattered as in the numbers went up or the boss was happy. Mattered in that way where you finished a day and felt genuinely full rather than just done. Most of us have forgotten what that feels like. Or maybe we never had it to begin with. This conversation goes deep on that. My guest Joe Fusco and I got into what actually makes a company great, why people don't fit in a spreadsheet no matter how hard we try to make them, and what it really means...

info_outline
Pressure-Proof Leadership with Claire Hayek (The Ripple Effect Podcast) show art Pressure-Proof Leadership with Claire Hayek (The Ripple Effect Podcast)

The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper

Be honest. When’s the last time you actually felt calm, not just looked calm? Because those are two very different things, and most of us have gotten so good at faking the second one that we forget what the first one even feels like. You handle the hard conversation. You keep your voice steady in the meeting that’s falling apart. You hold it together for everyone else in the room. And then later, alone in your car or lying awake at night, it all comes flooding back. That gap between performing calm and actually being calm is something my guest today has spent her entire life studying,...

info_outline
Is Your Survival Brain Leading Your Team? (The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Dr. Annie Campanile) show art Is Your Survival Brain Leading Your Team? (The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Dr. Annie Campanile)

The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper

Most of us have spent years learning how to communicate better.  Better words, better models, better frameworks. And yet somehow the same conflicts keep happening, the same conversations keep getting avoided, and the same people keep making the room tense the moment they walk in. Dr. Annie Campanile has a different theory about why, and it starts somewhere most leadership training never goes. Watch to learn what's actually driving workplace conflict beneath the surface, why the protective patterns you developed as a kid are probably still showing up in your leadership today, and what your...

info_outline
Honest Thoughts on Surviving Online Hate (The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Ileana Garcia: Part Two) show art Honest Thoughts on Surviving Online Hate (The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Ileana Garcia: Part Two)

The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper

If you caught Part 1, you know Ileana Garcia doesn’t hold anything back. Part 2 goes even further. We start with something that still stings a little: the Wall Street Journal feature that was supposed to be a proud moment, but turned into a pile-on. Ileana walks us through what actually happened behind that headline, why the internet turned on her over it, and how she’s made peace with something her own brother calls “engagement by enragement.” From there, we get into the harder stuff nobody really talks about out loud: the anonymous accounts that stitched her videos together to mock...

info_outline
What Dating Looks Like After 50 (The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Ileana Garcia) show art What Dating Looks Like After 50 (The Ripple Effect Podcast ft. Ileana Garcia)

The Ripple Effect Podcast with Steve Harper

Have you ever had that moment where you realize the life you built isn’t actually the one you want anymore? Today’s guest knows that feeling better than almost anyone I’ve talked to on this show. Ileana Garcia (you probably know her as Illy in the Streets on TikTok) has spent the last few years turning her gray divorce and everything that followed into some of the most honest and funniest content out there. If you’ve ever gone through a divorce after 50, or you’re staring down starting over at 50 and wondering if you have it in you, this conversation is going to feel like sitting...

info_outline
 
More Episodes

Every entrepreneur has a moment where they look in the mirror and quietly wonder if they are fooling everyone around them. I have had that moment more times than I can count, and in this episode of The Ripple Effect Podcast, I sit down with someone who once admitted she felt the exact same way at the height of her confidence on stage. Her name is Natalie Bevacqua, and our conversation dives deep into the parts of the entrepreneurial journey most people never talk about.

If you have ever struggled with imposter syndrome, felt the urge for a midlife reinvention, or wondered whether you could start over as an introverted entrepreneur, I want you to hear this.

Natalie and I go all the way back to Austin in 2005. When I first met her, she walked into every room with a level of confidence and charisma that made people lean in. I assumed she had it all figured out. What I later learned is that behind that confidence lived a woman who was just as nervous, anxious, and uncertain as the rest of us. In this interview, we revisit that moment and unpack what it means to lead while still wrestling with doubt, how to stop caring so much about what other people think, and why the messy, unpolished parts of our stories are the most relatable and powerful.

Natalie Bevacqua opens up about leaving Austin, moving to a brand new city in her 50s, and starting from scratch. Imagine being a woman entrepreneur, well-established and successful, suddenly landing in a place where you know no one except your husband. At a time when many people begin settling into routine, she chose to rebuild her community, her business, and her identity from the ground up. That kind of midlife reinvention takes courage most people never access, and she walks us through exactly what that journey taught her.

As we talk, she shares how her entrepreneurial path has been shaped by overcoming self-doubt, trusting herself, and learning how to build authentic connections instead of forced networking. We explore how introverts can thrive in business, how personal growth changes in our 30s, 40s, and 50s, and why entrepreneurship remains one of the greatest gifts we have.

With over 25 years as an entrepreneur in the health, wellness, and beauty industry, Natalie has dedicated her career to empowering women to prioritize their well-being while creating lives of purpose and meaning. As a breast cancer and melanoma survivor, she has learned firsthand the importance of nurturing both inner and outer health. Those seasons deepened her passion for helping women build confidence, resilience, and radiant health from the inside out.

Natalie hosts wellness programs, her signature Wellness Wednesday texts, and Women’s Circles, all designed to help women feel supported, strong, and seen. If you are seeking wellness guidance, community, or mentorship to rediscover your own glow, she would love to connect with you.

If you feel stuck, uncertain, or disconnected from your purpose, I hope this interview reminds you that reinvention is possible at any age. You can start over in a new city. You can shift careers. You can take control of your future. You can grow even while scared. And a single conversation or small moment of courage can create a Ripple Effect that changes everything.


If you have not yet grabbed a copy of my book The Ripple Effect: Maximizing the Power of Relationships for Your Life and Business, you can find it at ripplecentral.com along with other resources to help you expand your influence and deepen your connections in everyday life.


Ripple with Natalie Bevacqua
Instagram: @nataliebevacqua

Ripple with Steve Harper
Instagram: http://instagram.com/rippleon
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rippleon
X: https://twitter.com/rippleon
Website: http://www.ripplecentral.com

Stay in the loop by being a part of the Ripple mail list: https://ripplecentral.com/subscribe