“What are you going to do with your life?”
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That unexpected question from an eighth-grade student shook Dr. J. Michelle Vann to the core. As a longtime educator with multiple degrees and years in the classroom, she wasn’t prepared to answer. But the question lingered. It stirred something inside her that would eventually lead her away from traditional teaching and into a deeper calling.
On this episode of Your Radical Truth, host Margaret Mary O’Connor welcomes Dr. Vann for a conversation about wellness, mindset, and the life-changing impact of stepping into your true purpose. Dr. Vann is a TEDx speaker, bestselling author, wellness coach, and founder of both Sistas Can We Talk and Vantastic Solutions. Her message is grounded in faith, fueled by service, and delivered with a unique blend of wisdom and humor.
Turning Private Struggles Into Public Healing
What started as small workshops to help young adults transition into life after school quickly evolved into something bigger. Dr. Vann began hearing from women who were desperate for honest conversations about health, mental wellness, and aging. That led to the creation of Sistas Can We Talk, a nonprofit dedicated to filling the health and wellness gaps that many women quietly carry.
Dr. Vann explains that many women are navigating menopause, emotional fatigue, and chronic conditions without the benefit of shared wisdom from mothers, grandmothers, or aunties. Her nonprofit creates a safe space to change that.
Stop the Merry-Go-Round
One of Dr. Vann’s most recognized books is Stop the Merry-Go-Round, I Want to Get Off, a powerful metaphor for the stuck feeling so many women
experience. Life appears to be moving, but in reality, nothing is changing. Through this book and her coaching programs, she helps women identify those patterns and step into a life of clarity and growth.
She calls out the “stinky breath syndrome,” where we are often unaware of the patterns that hold us back, even though those around us can see them clearly.
Leadership Without Permission
Dr. Vann shares a vital truth that resonates across all stages of life. Leadership is not about having a title. It is an activity. It is something we choose to engage in, no matter our role or environment. Whether you are a student, a teacher, a janitor, or a CEO, leadership begins with taking responsibility for your actions and your growth.
Through her training at the Kansas Leadership Center, Dr. Vann gained powerful insights that now guide her clients. Leadership is not something granted from above. It is something we live every day.
The Power of Words and the Mind
As a certified practitioner of neurolinguistic programming, Dr. Vann teaches that words matter. She listens closely to how her clients speak about themselves and helps them reframe their inner dialogue. If your brain hears something often enough, it begins to believe it. Dr. Vann’s work helps clients replace harmful language with affirming truth, building a mindset that supports health and wholeness.
Wellness as a Spiritual Practice
Dr. Vann also brings a faith-based lens to wellness. Through her training in Christian counseling and certification with Revelation Wellness, she teaches that wellness is not just about exercise or diet. It is about honoring the body as a temple of the Holy Spirit. Nourishment, movement, and mindset are all essential components of spiritual alignment.
Her book Healthy Plates, co-authored with Dr. Norma, blends recipes, devotionals, and journaling to help families reconnect around food, faith, and legacy.
Writing, Coaching, and Community Impact
In addition to her solo books, Dr. Vann has contributed to several anthologies and devotionals. Her coaching practice, Vantastic Solutions, provides personalized support for women in transition, helping them move through change with purpose and power. Her nonprofit serves as a community hub for women to grow, share, and lead.
She believes that when we partner with God, we stop relying on our own strength and step into something greater. Her message is simple and profound. You already have the tools. Now it’s time to use them.
Explore Dr. Vann’s Work
Dr. J. Michelle Vann is the evangelist of wellness, with community service at heart. A featured TEDx speaker and international presenter, she is an Amazon bestselling author of books that help women heal their minds, bodies, and spirits. She is the owner of Vanntastic Solutions, a confidence coaching practice specializing in wellness, and the founder of Sistahs Can We Talk, a nonprofit working to fill gaps in health disparities among women. As an educator and wellness coach, Michelle lives by George Bernard Shaw’s belief that “life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” Dr. Vann serves in her local church and various community organizations. She married Dr. William Vann for 34 years, and they have two adult children.
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About Margaret Mary O’Connor
Margaret Mary O’Connor, as a member of the Catholic Laity, thought she knew everything about the Catholic Church, at least until she came upon a centuries-old Scandal of lies and cover-up by the Hierarchy of that Church. Frankly, she was fed up being lied to by her own Church, about its own past Church’s History
on Women priests. With that realization, she truly felt in that moment, the monumental feeling of betrayal by her own Church.
Follow Margaret, as she travels down this Highway of Radical Truth where lies and outright coverup will be disclosed. Millions of Catholics are unaware of that past presence of Women Bishop’s, Women Deacons, as well as Women Priests, all there hiding in plain sight, in Early Church History.
As the complicity of this centuries-old Scandal continues, Margaret wants her fellow Catholics to learn the actual truth of this matter for themselves. She strongly believes, at minimal, any Catholic deserves the actual truth of this matter. To say that change is needed is hardly an understatement. She doesn’t let the Church’s betrayal stop her from uncovering some very fascinating Church Skeleton’s – one which very well might help solve our current priest shortage issue today.
Margaret Mary O’Connor has been called, “The Modern Day David” on many occasions. On a mission to reveal carefully guarded secrets of the Catholic Church, she unveils the truth through her well-researched writings.
Author of Scandal in the Shadows and Journey of a Celiac’s Soul, Margaret Mary is a force to be reckoned with.
