Cynthia James is an incredible human who has lived so many lives inside one life, it's hard to sum her up.

I first met Cynthia earlier this year, sharing a stage at a conference before a mutual friend reconnected us months later. What's really stayed with me isn't the showgirl years or the cheque Ed McMahon handed her on TV — it's what got passed down to her through her lineage. Cynthia comes from a line of women who survived a great deal, and what came down to her through her grandmother wasn't the weight of it — it was a knowing. A voice in the body she learned to trust over her own mind, the thing that kept telling her when a chapter was finished, long before it was convenient or rational or anything she wanted to hear.

In this episode:

• Growing up in a redlined Minneapolis neighbourhood she didn't know she was being kept inside
• One of the first Black showgirls on the Vegas strip, and her grandmother's reaction to the feathers
• The Star Search producer's single question before the finals, and the $100,000 that followed
• The song running through her head when she woke up crying during a painful divorce
• A conversation about what it costs to trust that voice, and what it gives back.

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Cynthia James: Emotional integration leadership coach, international speaker, author of six books, and host of The Women Awakening Podcast.
Website: cynthiajames.net
Instagram: @cynthiajames777
Cynthia's Books: What Will Set You Free · I Choose Me · Does My Voice Matter
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This conversation touches on trauma and healing. If it brings something up for you, be gentle with yourself, and reach out to someone you trust.

The Unknown Path is a podcast about the untold stories behind success — real conversations with extraordinary people about the parts of their journey nobody asks them about.

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Instagram: @jemfuller