"From Foster Care to Author and Advocate" with Tori Hope Petersen

This week, Tori Hope Petersen’s memoir, Fostered: One Woman’s Powerful Story of Finding Faith and Family through Foster Care, will release. Tori is a former foster youth, foster care advocate, and is passionate about foster care reform, adoption advocacy, and vulnerable populations. In addition to her advocacy work, Tori was crowned Mrs. Universe in 2021.

In this episode, I talk with Tori about the powerful story she tells in her forthcoming memoir about growing up in the foster care system, how God’s love has shaped her story, what are helpful and not so helpful ways to support foster youth, and her authentic thoughts on being in the pageant world.

JohnsonOctober 17, 2022torihopepetersen, fostered, belovedinitiative, fostercare, fosteryouth, survivorsthrivingandwriting, adoption, adoptionadvocacy, impossiblebeauty, melissajohnson

"Why Soul Care Matters" with Manda Carpenter

Manda Carpenter is an author, speaker, advocate, and the co-host of A Longer Table Podcast, alongside her husband, Eric. Manda has written two books, the most recent being Soul Care to Save Your Life. Manda is very passionate about “seeing people own their full identity and do their inner work,” as she puts it.

In today’s episode, I talk with Manda about why she’s so passionate about foster care, the importance of radical honesty in her own story, why tending to our inner world and wounding is so important, how slowing down is pivotal for self-awareness and soul work, and how beauty so often occurs in the unseen.

JohnsonAugust 29, 2022mandacarpenter, soulcare, soulcaretosaveyourlife, melissajohnson, impossiblebeauty, impossiblebeautypodcast, fostercare