Free to Be Mindful Podcast | Mindset, Permission and Real Talk for the High-Achieving Woman
The Free to Be Mindful Podcast is a weekly mental health podcast for high-achieving women, hosted by licensed therapist, speaker, and Latina mom coach Vanessa De Jesus Guzman, LPC, NCC.
Fifteen honest minutes with someone who actually gets what it's like to build something impressive and still feel like you're disappearing inside it. We get honest about ambition, identity, and the parts of ourselves we've quietly put on hold.
Each episode is unfiltered and grounded in mental health insight, for the woman who's tired of holding it all together and ready to come back to herself. It ends with a short guided reflection, a chance to give yourself permission for the one thing you've been putting off.
It's like a conversation with a friend... who happens to be a therapist.
New episodes drop every week.
Episodes
320 episodes
Stop Code Switching and Start Showing Up | Ep318
Stop code switching and start showing up: that's what I'm learning to do as a first gen, Dominican, high-achieving woman who's spent years adjusting my voice for every room I walk into. In this episode, I open up about the bridge generation, wh...
Chasing Gold Stars As An Adult | Ep317
High-achieving women don't need gold stars to keep chasing validation, we just found more sophisticated adult ways to earn it. As a licensed therapist, I see this constantly in the women I coach, and in myself. This episode is about what happen...
Why Should Women Play Smaller to Prove They Rest | Ep316
Why should women play smaller just to prove they know how to rest? In this episode, I unpack the real difference between ambition that comes from fear and ambition that comes from something alive, and why wanting more and actually resting can b...
The Podcast For The Part Of You Nobody Checks On | Trailer
You've been the strong one for so long it started to feel like your whole personality. Free to Be Mindful Season 8 launches with a new trailer, and this one's for the high-achieving woman nobody's checking on, the one everyone counts on at work...
How to Stay Emotionally Connected When Life Gets Busy | Ep315
Summer is here and so is the quiet disconnection that comes with it. Longer days, busier schedules, kids home, and somehow you and your partner are co-managing the season instead of actually connecting. In this episode, licensed therapist Vanes...
Slowing Down is Indeed a Leadership Skill | Ep314
Every summer, something shifts. The schedule loosens, the pace changes just enough to notice... and our brains completely miss the memo. If you've ever found yourself mentally planning the next quarter while your kids are finally at camp, this ...
What Do You Actually Want | Ep313
My daughter turned two this month. I watched her eat her birthday cake with zero regard for the mess, completely absorbed in the moment, not thinking about what was next. Just entirely, joyfully present. And somewhere between the frosting and t...
Building Without a Blueprint | Ep312
Seven years ago, a mom broke down in front of her during a home visit, and that one moment cracked open everything. Not a business plan. Not a five-year roadmap. Just a clear, quiet knowing that moms needed support too, and that she was going t...
Why Rest Cannot Wait for a Special Occasion | Ep311
The first thing Vanessa felt when she finally gave herself a break wasn't relief. It was guilt. And that moment, that voice that said we don't do that, we just handle it, is exactly what this episode is about.If Mothe...
When Your Calendar Is Full and You're Running on Empty | Ep310
Some weeks the calendar wins. Last week Vanessa was up until 3am two nights in a row, not scrolling, actually working, and she woke up the next morning running on empty. In this episode she gets honest about the inherited...
Why Can't You Just Let People Help? | Ep309
The strongest woman in the room is often the last one to let support in. Not because no one's offering, but because managing has been her strategy for so long she doesn't always notice when something is available. This episode is about that cos...
Train Your Brain Like an Athlete | Ep308
What if the loudest critic in your kid's life isn't in the bleachers... it's in their own head? Dr. Peter Economou, licensed psychologist, Zen teacher, and Olympic-level competitive swimmer, joined us for a conversation that's equal parts pract...
How to Take Credit for How Far You've Come | Ep307
There's a word that sneaks into how so many high-achieving women describe themselves, and it's doing more damage than we realize. It's the word "just." Just a mom. Just changed careers. Just started something. And it costs us more than we know....
How to Trust Your Intuition and Live a More Fulfilled Life | Ep306
Some of us have pushed that quiet inner voice so far down we've forgotten it was ever there. But what if intuition isn't something you're born with or without, what if it's something you can practice, develop, and lean into right now, in the mi...
Why the Wrong Voices Are Keeping You Stuck | Ep305
There is a version of productivity that looks impressive on a spreadsheet and exhausts you before you even start. If you've ever downloaded a free resource, opened it, and immediately felt worse about your own life... this one is for you.
The Future of Latino Mental Health | Ep304
What does it look like when a community invests in its own future? In this special Podcasthon episode, Vanessa sits down with Dr. Angela Vargas - licensed psychologist and inaugural Futuro Fund board member - to share the story behind the Latin...
Stop Shrinking, Start Showing Up | Ep303
You soften your opinions so no one feels uncomfortable. You deflect compliments before they can land. You say yes when you mean no - and then spend twenty minutes explaining the no you finally gave. This episode is about the quiet, everyday way...
Performing and Celebrating on Empty | Ep302
WATCH THIS ON YOUTUBE TOO!You organize the panels. You write the statements. You celebrate every woman around you, and somewhere in the middle of all of it, you forget to let any of it land on you. This episode is not for the role you pl...
Positive Psychology - Real Science or Just Fluff? | Ep301
Is positive psychology real science… or just another version of “just think positive” that ignores real stress?In this episode of the Free to Be Mindful Podcast, Vanessa De Jesus Guzman sits down with positive psychology expert Diane Lan...
The Hidden Loneliness of Being Highly Capable | Ep300
Being the one who “has it handled” can look like strength from the outside, but it often comes with an invisible cost. In this episode of the Free to Be Mindful Podcast, Vanessa De Jesus Guzman explores why highly capable, high-functio...
Rebuilding Emotional Connections with Your Partner | Ep299
Emotional connection in relationships often fades quietly - not because something is wrong, but because life gets full. Parenting, work stress, cultural expectations, and emotional fatigue can slowly replace curiosity, affection, and presence. ...
When Stress Becomes Your Normal Baseline | Ep298
You finally slow down… but your body doesn’t.In this episode of the Free to Be Mindful Podcast, Vanessa De Jesus Guzman explores what happens when chronic stress becomes so familiar that it no longer feels like stress at all...
Love on the Spectrum Inspired App | Ep297
In this episode of the Free to Be Mindful Podcast, Vanessa De Jesus Guzman sits down with Jamie Castano, LCSW, and Britt Moser, two of the co-founders of Synchrony, a first-of-its-kind social app designed to help neu...
The Invisible Leadership No One Sees | Ep296
In this episode of the Free to Be Mindful Podcast, Vanessa De Jesus Guzman explores the invisible leadership moms practice every day - at home, at work, and in the moments no one sees. Released on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, this conversation r...
Lifestyle Shifts Supporting Longevity and Well-Being | Ep295
Lifestyle Shifts Supporting Longevity and WellbeingTaking care of your health can feel overwhelming, especially when so many approaches promise big results but don’t last. If you’ve ever wondered why healthy habits are hard to sus...