We're just back from a week in Montauk where the agenda was quite literally no agenda. We lounged like beach bums under an umbrella and watched the waves dance in and out. As I soaked in the sun, I thought to myself: this is the real prize. The real winning at life. The real freedom. Using your time well. Because I'm the person who could easily talk myself out of taking the time–too busy, not enough money, all the what ifs. But these are the moments that make life worth living. As cliché as that sounds.

This week on the Bound & Determined podcast, I'm talking about just this. I sat down with Brian Herriot, author of Time Freedom: Rethink Your Work and Money to Create a Life You Love Now (out Sept. 15!), speaker, financial advisor, and entrepreneurship coach. He offers a new and different take on wealth-building, lifestyle design, and retirement, building customized, comprehensive Time Freedom Forecasts for his clients in just one day. Brian is working toward a world where everyone has the time and support to define what success means to them and focus on building character over building resumes.

The conversation left me thinking deeply about how I define success, what I want to do with my time, and even how I think about retirement savings. And we are NOT talking about "work-life balance" or even "financial independence"... it's far more nuanced than that.

If you're ready for some inspiration around a different way of living (one that aligns more with your values), this episode is NOT to be missed.

Let's talk about that stubborn little voice that pops up right when you're deep in a chapter revision or staring down a proposal section, whispering this isn't quite right or wait, actually, THIS is the thing. We've all been there.

Most of us have been trained to override it. To defer to a coach like me, an agent, the editor, the comp titles, the "what's selling right now." And look — data and outside perspective matter. Decades of expertise count for something.

But the truth is, every single decision comes down to a judgment call only you can make. And if you've spent years talking yourself out of your own instincts, that moment gets a lot harder.

Which brings me to this week's pod guest, Denise Soler Cox.

Her new book, What Will They Say?, is literally built around this tension — the voice in your head asking "what will they say?", versus the truth you actually need to tell.

She spent years drawing out the cultural patterns that keep women — especially Latinas — quietly sabotaging their own success by staying small, staying silent, staying safe.

Writing What Will They Say required her to trust her gut enough to say the unsayable thing, on the page, in public, forever. And she listened to her gut relentlessly, even when a book deal was on the table, she moved in a different direction.

Many authors I've worked with hit the point where the outside advice and the gut-check don't agree — and the ones who finish, who publish something true, are the ones who learn to trust the gut and take the advice in stride.

Denise is a sought-after voice on culture, identity, and belonging. She has spoken on over 400 stages, including two TEDx talks and SXSW 2026. She has partnered with Ralph Lauren, Amazon, Microsoft, and L'Oréal, among others — and in 2020, Apple Podcasts North America recognized her podcast The Self-ish Latina as both a Featured Podcast and Featured Host, with listeners in 32 countries. She has appeared as a culture expert on NBC Nightly News, and her work has been featured in Forbes, CNN and PBS.

I sat down with Denise for this week's episode of Bound & Determined and we got into all of it — the fear, the family stuff, the moment she decided her story was worth telling anyway. If you've ever felt that tug-of-war between your gut and everyone else's opinion, you need to hear this one.

Memorable speeches stay with us. They hit us in the gut. They hit us in the heart. They make a call for us to activate.

But, writing a speech that delivers is an art.

When was the last time you heard a talk or keynote where you felt seen, where you carried it with you, where you took action from its contents? It's probably been a while.

If you're looking to write a book, it's likely you're also looking to get on stages–they go hand in hand. But, they're two very different skill sets.

This week on Bound & Determined, I'm chatting with THE expert on effective keynotes, Brian Miller. Brian is a message design consultant whose TEDx talk, "How to Magically Connect with Anyone," has surpassed 3.7 million views. He is the founder of Clarity Up Consulting, a boutique firm specializing in core messaging and message design for experts, leaders, and founders. Brian is one of five co-founders of core messaging as a formal discipline and has consulted on more than 45 TEDx talks with a combined 20 million views across 30+ subject areas and 11 distinct industries. He is also the author of The One-Page Keynote (Rethink Press, 2026)

In this episode, you'll learn about how authenticity and presence require actual preparation, and why half the struggle of writing a good speech is understanding your audience.

We had a ton of laughs on this episode and I just know you'll love it!