The Quiet Warrior Podcast with Serena Low

At nine years old, Laura Bratton was told she would go blind. The diagnosis landed softly at first — the way impossibly hard truths sometimes do with children, held at a distance by the mercy of a young mind that couldn't yet process what was coming. The real reckoning came in eighth grade, when the sight loss accelerated and the grief hit with full force: panic attacks, debilitating depression, and the particular ache of becoming invisible to the people around her — not through cruelty, but through the silence of others who simply didn't know what to say.
In this episode, Laura joins Serena Low on The Quiet Warrior Podcast to trace the path from that wilderness — through survival mode and years of deliberate inner work — to the grit and gratitude framework at the heart of her book, Harnessing Courage, and her organization, Ubi Global. What emerges is a conversation about confidence as something built rather than born, invisibility as something that happens not just to those with visible differences but to quiet achievers everywhere, and grief as a doorway — one that has to be walked through slowly, not bypassed on the way to the solution.
This episode speaks directly to introverted professional women who have ever felt overlooked, underestimated, or afraid that their presence doesn't quite register.
Questions Answered in This Episode
What does it actually feel like to face a life-changing diagnosis — and when does the emotional reality finally land?
Why do people ignore or sideline those who are different, and what is really at the root of that behavior?
What is the simplest, most respectful thing you can say to someone whose experience you don't understand?
How are fear of others and lack of self-confidence connected — and what does confident people's behavior look like in practice?
Is confidence something you are born with, or something you build?
What is the difference between grit and toxic positivity — and how do you practice gratitude without bypassing the pain?
Why is healing not a destination, and what does it mean to recommit to a practice every single day?
How do you begin to move through grief without skipping the part that actually gives you the strength to move forward?
Key Takeaways
The grief has to come first. Sitting still is not weakness. It is the work.
Laura describes the pull to jump from loss straight to solutions — and why sitting in the loss, uncomfortable as it is, is the very thing that creates the strength to move forward. Invisibility is a wound that speaks. Being ignored at a lunch table, not because of cruelty but because others didn't know what to do — Laura names exactly what that silence said: your presence does not matter. It is a message quiet achievers know from their own experience, even without a visible difference.
Fear of the unknown, not indifference, is usually the reason people don't reach out. The root isn't that others don't care. It's that they are afraid of saying the wrong thing — so they say nothing. And the silence widens into distance.
The simplest bridge is naming the discomfort out loud. Laura's friend said: "I don't know the best way to help you. Let me know what you need." That was enough. The conversation moved on. Genuine curiosity — asked in a tone of care, not interrogation — is the bridge most people never think to build.
Confidence belongs to neither introverts nor extroverts — it belongs to anyone willing to build it. Laura is clear: confidence is not a personality type. It is a capacity. The people most willing to ask how to help, she has noticed, are the ones already comfortable in their own skin.
Grit and gratitude are not traits you acquire and keep. They are a daily choice. Laura has practiced gratitude for 25 years and is still practicing. On the days she doesn't, she feels the difference. Recommitting every morning is not a sign of failing to heal. It is what healing looks like.
Healing is not a destination. Releasing the idea of an arrival point — the day everything is finally better — is itself an act of healing. One good day at a time is not a consolation prize. It is the framework that takes the pressure off and makes the next step possible.
Memorable Quote
"I used to think of healing as a destination. It took me a long time to learn — it's about progress. It's about recommitting every single day. There's no end." — Laura Bratton
 Episode Chapters aprox.
00:00 — Introduction: Laura Bratton, Harnessing Courage, and Ubi Global
00:46 — The diagnosis at nine: why the reality didn't land until years later
01:43 — High school, grief, depression, and survival mode
02:18 — How sight loss affected studies and friendships — and what invisibility really felt like
07:06 — Why this happens everywhere, not just in school
07:27 — The root of the problem: fear of the unknown, not indifference
09:01 — The simplest bridge: how to reach someone whose experience you don't understand
10:41 — A real-world example: what Laura's friend said that made everything easy
13:00 — The connection between self-confidence and willingness to show up for others
14:07 — The introvert-extrovert conversation: where does Laura sit?
15:48 — Is confidence innate or built? Laura's answer
17:06 — Grit and gratitude: the two words that became the foundation of her healing
18:59 — Why these aren't words you master once — they are a daily practice
20:43 — Healing as a journey, not a destination
21:25 — Recovery, one good day at a time
23:03 — What to do when you are in the middle of grief or major transition
25:06 — How to find Laura and her book
About Laura Bratton
Laura Bratton is the author of Harnessing Courage and the founder of Ubi Global, an organization dedicated to empowering people to overcome challenges and obstacles through grit and gratitude. Diagnosed with an eye disease at nine, Laura navigated the traumatic transition to full blindness through her teen years and has spent the years since turning that experience into a framework for resilience that she shares through speaking and coaching worldwide.
Connect with Laura and find her book at laurabratton.com.
About The Quiet Warrior Podcast
The Quiet Warrior Podcast is a show for introverted professionals navigating visibility challenges and what leadership looks like when you’re quiet by nature.
If this episode resonated, please rate and review the show on your listening app. Your support helps more introverts become Quiet Warriors.
Work with Serena
Host Serena Low is a trauma-informed coach and former lawyer who brings lived wisdom to every conversation, meeting quiet women leaders at the edge of their career crossroads, and guiding them towards clarity and congruence.
Book a Diagnostic Call with Serena to determine if your next career move is stay/go: https://calend

Work with Serena Low at serenalow.com.au. 
Loved this episode? Leave a review to help other Quiet Warriors find the show.
This episode was edited by Aura House Productions

Can hypnotherapy help heal childhood trauma? Does it work for anxiety? Can it change your personality—or simply help you understand yourself more deeply?
In this episode of The Quiet Warrior Podcast, Serena Low speaks with clinical hypnotherapist Craig Meriwether about the science, misconceptions and practical applications of hypnotherapy.
Craig explains how subconscious beliefs formed in childhood can continue influencing confidence, relationships, anxiety and emotional wellbeing long into adulthood. He also addresses common myths about hypnosis, including whether people lose control, whether everyone can be hypnotised and how hypnotherapy differs from stage hypnosis.
If you've ever felt intellectually aware of your patterns but unable to change them, this conversation explores why lasting change often happens beneath conscious awareness.

Questions Answered in This Episode
What is clinical hypnotherapy?
How does hypnotherapy work?
Can hypnotherapy help anxiety?
Can hypnotherapy help childhood trauma?
Does hypnotherapy change your personality?
Is hypnotherapy safe?
Can hypnotherapy help introverts?
What is the difference between hypnosis and stage hypnosis?
Why do subconscious beliefs affect adult behaviour?
How many hypnotherapy sessions do most people need?

Key Takeaways
Hypnotherapy is a collaborative process—not mind control.
The subconscious mind often develops protective strategies during childhood that continue into adulthood.
Anxiety and fear can be viewed as protective responses rather than personal flaws.
Healing often involves updating subconscious beliefs that no longer serve us.
Trust, safety and client autonomy are essential components of effective hypnotherapy.
Chapters (approx)
00:00 Introduction to Craig Meriwether
02:15 Craig's journey through anxiety and depression
06:30 What hypnotherapy actually is
12:30 Myths about hypnosis and stage hypnosis
18:00 Can everyone be hypnotised?
27:00 Conscious vs subconscious mind
33:00 Why childhood experiences shape adult behaviour
36:30 Can hypnotherapy help introverts and social anxiety?
42:00 Serena's biggest insights from the conversation

About Craig Meriwether
Craig Meriwether is a clinical hypnotherapist who helps people work through anxiety, trauma, confidence issues and subconscious patterns that may be preventing them from living the life they want.
Connect with Craig
https://releasethepast.com 
About The Quiet Warrior Podcast
The Quiet Warrior Podcast is a show for introverted professionals navigating visibility challenges and what leadership looks like when you’re quiet by nature.
If this episode resonated, please rate and review the show on your listening app. Your support helps more introverts become Quiet Warriors.
Work with Serena
Host Serena Low is a trauma-informed coach and former lawyer who brings lived experience to every conversation, meeting quiet women leaders at the edge of The Transition and guiding them towards clarity and congruence.
Book a paid Diagnostic Call with Serena to determine if your next career move is stay/go: https://calendly.com/serenalow/diagnostic-call

Work with Serena Low at serenalow.com.au. 
Loved this episode? Leave a review to help other Quiet Warriors find the show.
This episode was edited by Aura House Productions

There is a particular grief that comes with outgrowing the people who once matched your pace, and no one tells you it is allowed to hurt and be right at the same time. In this conversation, Serena Low sits down with executive coach and author Steve Barton, creator of the Game of Ten framework, to explore what happens when old friendships fall away, old certainties dissolve, and the question underneath it resurfaces — am I enough as I am, right now, before I fix any thing? Barton, who built a family flower business from $200,000 to $2 million before a mental health awakening changed the course of his life, shares the concept of compassionate detachment (which he calls Tenkaré) as a way to care fully without absorbing other people's pain, and explains why chasing perfection is, in his words, a cat chasing its own tail. This is a conversation for the reader still in the messy middle of becoming who they already are.
Questions Answered
What is the Game of Ten framework and what does it mean to "already be a 10"?
What is compassionate detachment, and why did Steve Barton coin the word Tenkaré?
Why do friendships and relationships fall away during a period of personal growth?
What is the difference between letting go of a person and letting go of a thought about that person?
Are introversion and extroversion fixed traits, or learned responses to early conditioning?
Why does the chase for perfection never resolve?
How can helpers, coaches, and therapists avoid taking on other people's pain as their own?
Key Takeaways
Outgrowing someone you love does not make you disloyal. It means you grew, and the grief that comes with that is allowed to exist without being fixed.
Regrets and mistakes are not identity. The exhausting work of trying to earn approval assumes the two are the same thing - they never were.
Compassionate detachment is not coldness. It is the boundary that lets a coach, therapist, or caregiver keep showing up without absorbing what was never theirs to carry.
Introversion and extroversion were shaped early, in what got praised and what got silenced as a child; they are not fixed at birth.
Letting go is not about the person, the place, or what happened. It is about releasing the thoughts still looping about them, and doing it for yourself, not for their apology.
Perfectionism has no finish line because there was never a race. 
Chapters (approx.)
00:00 — Welcome and introduction to Steve Barton
01:20 — From the family flower shop to a $2 million business
04:14 — The awakening: therapy, mental health, and what changed
09:05 — When growth means people fall away
09:54 — The train analogy: still on board as people come and go
12:41 — Introducing the Game of Ten: you are the carrot, not the stick
14:59 — Why we're afraid to be loved, and how thoughts became identity
21:59 — Surrender and the hardest, most freeing thing: being yourself
24:26 — Introversion, extroversion, and how personality gets conditioned
27:16 — Compassionate detachment and the birth of "Tenkaré"
33:19 — Skill versus identity: why perfectionism never ends
36:37 — Awareness as the key that unlocks the chains
37:04 — Where to find Steve: website, book, and LinkedIn
39:31 — Closing thoughts
About Steve Barton
Steve Barton is an executive coach, author, and creator of the Game of Ten, an awareness-based framework that helps leaders operate with greater clarity, confidence, and performance. He brings over 47 years of real-world business experience, having grown a company from $200,000 to $2 million in annual revenue. His work blends practical business strategy with a deep understanding of human awareness, decision-making, and emotional intelligence. Steve is co-author of The Father, the Son, and the Aha Moment and is currently writing his next book on the mindset, emotional clarity, and inner alignment needed to succeed in both business and life.
If this conversation resonated with you and you want to learn more about reducing or ridding yourself of fear, self-doubt, guilt and shame and to learn more about The Game of Ten, schedule a Discovery Call with Steve at www.stevebartoncoaching.com.
About The Quiet Warrior Podcast
The Quiet Warrior Podcast is a show for introverted professional women navigating visibility, leadership, and career and personal growth.
If this episode resonated, please rate and review the show on your listening app. Your support helps more introverts become Quiet Warriors.
Work with Serena
Host Serena Low is a trauma-informed coach and former lawyer who brings lived experience to every conversation, meeting listeners at the edge of The Transition and guiding them towards clarity and congruence.
Book a paid Diagnostic Call with Serena to determine if your next career move is stay/go: https://calendly.com/serenalow/diagnostic-call

Work with Serena Low at serenalow.com.au. 
Loved this episode? Leave a review to help other Quiet Warriors find the show.
This episode was edited by Aura House Productions

There is a particular kind of stiffness that comes from believing your intellect is the only thing that will get you through. You put forward the version of yourself that has the answers, the version that never lets the mask slip, because somewhere along the way you learned that being seen as capable was the same thing as being safe. Then life takes the choice out of your hands. A cancer diagnosis. A five-year survival window. A 925-kilometer walk across France and Spain with nothing but a change of clothes and a set of questions you thought you had already answered.
This week's guest is Alexander Ee, a former lawyer, management consultant, and corporate real estate executive who left a decades-long career in the boardroom to walk the Camino de Santiago after losing his wife, Regina, to cancer. What began as an attempt to outrun grief became something closer to a reckoning: with the mask of competence he had worn since childhood, with what it means to let people see him without it, and with a small stone he almost didn't pick up. Alexander shares the story behind his book, A Glimpse of Heaven, and what quiet courage actually looks like when the applause isn't the point.
Questions Answered in This Episode
What is the Camino de Santiago, and why do people walk it after loss?
How do you know when you're performing competence instead of being yourself?
What does the "stone tradition" at Cruz de Ferro mean, and why is it hard to let go?
How does faith help someone process grief and rebuild a sense of purpose?
Why do quiet, retiring people sometimes step forward when it matters most?
What can someone navigating grief or a major life transition take away from this story?
Key Takeaways
The exhaustion of always having to look like you have the answers, and the relief of finally letting that go
Realizing that the friends who saw every flaw were the ones who made you feel most accepted
The strange, almost physical weight of carrying something you haven't admitted you need to release
Discovering that purpose doesn't arrive as a plan, it arrives as a talent you're willing to lend to someone else
Watching a quiet, retiring friend step into the spotlight exactly when the moment called for it, and realizing that same courage lives in all of us
Learning to take grief one day at a time, rather than trying to picture an entire life without the person in it
Notable Quote
"You can command your fingers to open, and then they don't."

Chapter Approximate Timestamps 
00:00 – Introduction to Alexander Ee
00:53 – From law to consulting to corporate real estate
02:08 – His wife Regina's cancer diagnosis and the decision to stay home 04:48 – Rediscovering faith through prayer and humility
08:27 – What really inspired the Camino de Santiago
11:34 – Dropping the mask: discovering he was "quite likable"
19:51 – The stone he almost didn't bring, and letting go at Cruz de Ferro
26:05 – How grief still resurfaces, and where he finds comfort
28:19 – Finding purpose through talents used for others
31:09 – Money, achievement, and mistaking identity for what doesn't last
36:23 – Turning an annual pilgrimage into a fundraiser
37:15 – Community, quiet courage, and the ethos of the Quiet Warrior
39:33 – The friend who stepped up when it mattered
42:12 – A message for anyone navigating grief or transition
43:34 – Alex’s book, A Glimpse of Heaven: Grief, Self and Community on the Camino

About the Guest
Alexander Ee is a former lawyer, management consultant, and corporate real estate executive based in Singapore. After the passing of his wife, Regina, he walked the 925-kilometer Camino de Santiago, an experience that led him to write A Glimpse of Heaven: Grief, Self and Community on the Camino, currently available in bookstores in Singapore. He has since completed the pilgrimage three times and now works for a Singapore charity, with this year's walk serving as a fundraiser.
About the Host Serena Low
I'm Serena Low, former lawyer turned Root-Cause Coach, and I work with professional women on one question: should you stay and rebuild, or leave on your own terms. It starts with one Diagnostic Call, where we get underneath the stress to what's actually driving it — the root cause beneath the symptoms. Book your call HERE.
Enjoyed this episode?
Leave a review on your listening app to let us know what you enjoyed.
Share this episode with someone who’s walking through grief and transition.

Work with Serena Low at serenalow.com.au. 
Loved this episode? Leave a review to help other Quiet Warriors find the show.
This episode was edited by Aura House Productions

Jennifer Kornoely didn't choose to leave corporate. The choice was made for her.
She was meeting every goal, delivering every metric — and her manager let her go anyway. Because he could. A single mum with no severance, no safety net, and suddenly no income.
What she did next wasn't a triumphant pivot. It was a survival decision that slowly became something she chose.
In this episode, Jennifer shares how she went from real estate photographer who didn't know what she didn't know, to the founder of She Reads She Leads — an online book club and community for women who are done waiting for someone to hand them the financial and business knowledge they were never taught.
This conversation is for you if you've ever wondered: why does everyone else seem to know how this works — and why didn't anyone tell me?
What We Talk About
The moment everything was taken away 
Jennifer was performing well. She was hitting all her numbers. And she was still let go — because a man didn't like her and had the power to act on it. She talks honestly about what it feels like when your income, your health insurance, and your professional identity disappear overnight — and why this story is far more common than women are willing to admit.
What you don't know until you start 
Photography was the skill. But pricing, client contracts, pitching a major brokerage, knowing which clients to avoid — none of that came with the camera. Jennifer names the invisible gap between being brilliant at your craft and actually running a business. It's not a confidence gap. It's a knowledge gap. And no one hands you the curriculum.
How audiobooks in empty houses changed everything 
Doing solo real estate photography means hours of silence. Jennifer started filling that silence with personal finance audiobooks. Ideas took root. Conversations shifted. She started asking better questions of the women around her — and realizing she wasn't the only one hungry for this.
Why women need community — not just mentors 
There's a difference between learning from someone and learning with someone. Jennifer found that the real breakthroughs in her community happened not in the expert-to-student moments, but in the Zoom calls where a woman said I feel like I'm behind — and three other women immediately said you're not. Here's what I did.
Building a community as an introvert 
Jennifer didn't want to be center stage. She didn't want to be pitching to ten people a day. So she built something that fits who she actually is: smaller groups, intentional relationships, facilitated conversation rather than performance. She talks about the 30 seconds of discomfort at a networking event that leads to a one-on-one — and why that's a strategy, not just a consolation prize.
Women as multipliers 
When Jennifer says women don't just grow what they're given — they multiply it — she means it practically. Better investors. Better savers. Better negotiators. And yet: messaged from scarcity instead of abundance. Told to clip coupons while men are told to dominate markets. This conversation names that gap directly.
Why entrepreneurial thinking belongs to everyone — even if you love your job 
Jennifer makes a case that hits differently in this job market: don't wait until you need these skills to build them. If you lost your income tomorrow, would you know how to replace it? The answer to that question is worth sitting with.
Three Starter Books for Women and Money
Jennifer recommends these three books as the foundation - read all three before moving to investing or business finance.
The Financial Feminist — Tori Dunlap On gender inequality in money, and why financial messaging has always been different for women.
Rich AF — Vivian Tu On evolving from financial basics into wealth-building — from someone who spent years watching how high-net-worth people actually think and operate.
Get Good with Money — Tiffany Aliche On budgeting and tracking with intention, not shame. Because you can't improve what you don't understand.
All three are written by millennial women, all three are active on social media, and all three make this knowledge accessible in a way the previous generation of finance advice never did.
Connect with Jennifer
She Reads She Leads

Download Jennifer's free resource: the three best books across six business categories — personal finance, wealth building, networking, outsourcing, and more.
Join the She Reads She Leads Book Club for ongoing conversation between monthly Zoom sessions.
Work with Serena Low
I work with quiet women leaders in loud corporate spaces that reward extroversion. For trauma-informed guidance on how to be visible and get the recognition you deserve without depleting or draining yourself, visitserenalow.com.au.
Enjoyed this episode?
Leave a review on your listening app so more introverts can find The Quiet Warrior Podcast.

Work with Serena Low at serenalow.com.au. 
Loved this episode? Leave a review to help other Quiet Warriors find the show.
This episode was edited by Aura House Productions