DunnWise Consulting

06/05/2026

Season 1, Episode 6

"My best birthday ever was one week after my leg was amputated."

That's not a sentence you hear every day.

In this week's episode of DunnWise Perspectives Podcast, Adrienne Slaughter shares the incredible story of losing her leg to cancer at age 14, finding strength through faith, family, friends, and self-confidence, and spending the next 45 years proving what's possible.

Some people inspire you with what they've accomplished.

Adrienne inspires you with how she chooses to live.

🎙️ Faith, Family, Friends, and a Little More Faith

Find this episode of DunnWise Perspectives Podcast on my website or wherever you find your podcasts.

https://www.dunnwise.com/podcast/episode/24ddabe8/faith-family-friends-and-a-little-more-faith-with-adrienne-slaughter

06/05/2026

How often do we make ourselves smaller because of someone else's expectations?

Recently, I had the opportunity to interview my friend Andrea Davis, CBCP, CEM Davis for my podcast. I knew Andrea as a successful executive, speaker, and business owner. What I didn't fully appreciate was everything she had overcome to get there.

Her story reminded me that standing up for yourself doesn't always look dramatic.

Sometimes it looks like taking the next step when you're scared.
Sometimes it looks like pursuing goals that only make sense to you.
Sometimes it looks like starting over.

And sometimes it simply means refusing to let other people define what's possible for your life.

As I reflected on Andrea's journey and my own, I realized that some of the most important decisions I've made weren't about proving anything to anyone else. They were about refusing to shrink.

My latest blog explores that idea.

👉 What is one time in your life when you refused to shrink?

When I met my friend, Andrea Davis, we both served in volunteer roles with the American Red Cross. She was working for the Disney Corporation as the Director of Global Crisis Management and Business Continuity. I was the Director of Community Relations for Farmers Insurance and managed the company's...

05/28/2026

Thirty-one years ago, a guy at a party looked at my removable Jeep radio and said: “I’d like to see the rest of the radio.”

Apparently, that was enough to start a 30-year marriage.

This week’s blog is part love story, part reflection, and part collection of donkey “ass” jokes that somehow became a long-running tradition in our marriage.

But underneath the humor is a bigger question:

If you could go back knowing everything you know now, would you choose
the same life again?

The same love.
The same mistakes.
The same lessons.
The same person.

Mike and I celebrate 30 years of marriage this week, and writing this piece reminded me that the best relationships aren’t perfect. They’re built through laughter, compromise, kindness, and choosing each other again and again over time.

And sometimes they begin with a Jeep radio.

Be sure to read and check out the old-time photo we couldn’t afford when we eloped.

“I’d like to see the rest of the radio.”Possibly the best pick-up line ever.It may not have been intended as a pick-up line, and it certainly wasn’t love at first sight, at least not for me. But it did begin a friendship that eventually turned into a 30-year marriage.On May 30, Mike and I wi...

05/22/2026

What do toxic workplaces, disaster recovery, leadership, and Betty Crocker have in common?

In this episode of DunnWise Perspectives, Andrea Davis shares hard-earned lessons about resilience, courage, and learning from “cretins, vipers, and everything in between.”

What do toxic workplaces, disaster recovery, leadership, and Betty ...

05/21/2026

At a recent Writer’s Retreat hosted by author and publisher Jennifer Grace, five women spent a weekend writing, reflecting, crying, laughing, and sharing pieces of our stories out loud.

It reminded me how vulnerable storytelling can be. Not because our stories are perfect, but because they’re real.

Sometimes the memory attached to a simple photograph, toy, or random object holds more meaning than we realize. And sometimes sharing that memory helps someone else feel a little less alone.

That experience inspired this week’s blog, The Stories We Carry.

Earlier this month, I attended a Writer’s Retreat. I had never attended this type of retreat, or honestly any retreat that spanned more than a few hours. Author, publisher, and retreat leader Jennifer Grace invited four women into her home, where we spent a long weekend eating, drinking, writing, ...

05/14/2026

Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong?

Not picked for the team. Left out of the conversation. Quietly questioning your worth, while everyone else seemed more confident, more accepted, more certain of themselves.

My latest podcast conversation with Jason Rappoport reminded me that bullying is rarely just about the moment itself. It’s about what we carry forward from it.

The way we see ourselves can become distorted by the experiences we survive.

And sometimes healing begins when we finally allow ourselves to see our worth through a different lens.

🎙️ The Strength You Don’t See

This conversation will resonate with anyone quietly carrying battles no one else can see.

Were you bullied as a child? Or felt left out, unwelcomed, and friendless?If the answer is yes, you’re not alone. Bullying may be on a decline, but it’s not gone.For me, I only remember getting punched once. In the chest. I went home crying. It hurt.A few years later the pain was emotional, not ...

05/07/2026

What if something you believe about yourself isn’t actually true?

Would it change anything?

Or would you still show up, do the work, and build something meaningful
anyway?

In my podcast interview with Tremale Delano, LEED AP, his message confirmed, the story you tell yourself matters.

He built his life around a belief about who he was and where he came from.

That belief shaped his decisions, his effort, and ultimately his success.

Later, he learned it wasn’t true. And yet, the results were very real.

It’s a powerful reminder that belief is where everything starts.

This week’s blog expands on that idea and what it means for how we approach our goals.

What if something you believed about yourself wasn’t actually true? But it still shaped your life anyway?I have always believed the mind is a powerful tool. It was instilled in me at a young age. My mom even believed she could cure her cancer with a positive mindset.While I wouldn’t go that far,...

05/04/2026

I don’t believe in coincidences.

This episode went live a few days earlier than planned. Maybe someone needed to hear it now.

Jason Rappoport’s story is not an easy one. He was born with a serious heart condition. He battled addiction. He lost his father. He has faced death more than once.

And yet, he’s still here.

Through the support of family, friends, doctors, and a community that refused to let him do it alone, Jason rebuilt his life. Today, he is living proof that strength is not always visible, and that no one has to face life’s hardest moments on their own.

If you’ve ever felt like you were fighting something no one else could see, this conversation is for you.

🎙️ The Strength You Don’t See

Find the episode on my website or wherever you subscribe to your favorite podcasts.

https://www.dunnwise.com/podcast/episode/28956616/the-strengths-you-dont-see-with-jason-rappoport

04/30/2026

This week marks 45 years since my mom passed away.

I wrote about what stayed with me and the people who helped shape who I became.

If you’ve experienced loss, whether it’s fresh or decades old, I hope this resonates.

When the phone rang in my room at 2:00 am, I couldn’t answer it. I knew who was calling, and I didn’t have the courage to pick up.I heard my dad get up and walk to the rotary phone in the kitchen. I followed him. His words didn’t surprise me, but they still hurt more than I ever imagined.“Sh...

04/24/2026

I used to think greatness came from talent, opportunity… or maybe even luck.

This conversation challenged that.

My latest podcast guest, Tremale Delano, LEED AP, grew up in the foster care system, being passed from home to home before the age of two.

What changed his life wasn’t his circumstances. It was what someone chose to believe about him.

His foster mom didn’t see limitations. She saw potential.

And more importantly—she expected greatness.

That belief became his foundation.

But here’s where the story takes an unexpected turn…

The belief that drove him for years, pushed him, shaped him, fueled his success...turned out not to be true.

And yet, it still led him exactly where he is today.

🎧 Episode 3 of DunnWise Perspectives - Believing Your Way Into Greatness - is available wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also find it on my website: https://www.dunnwise.com/podcast/episode/1bb0f710/believing-your-way-into-greatness-with-tremale-delano

If you’ve ever questioned your path… or your story… this conversation is worth your time.