Spark Me

Spark Me was born out of countless honest talks with girlfriends about how life keeps shifting — and how incredible it is when women support each other through it.Co-hosts Michele Dempsey and Liz Graham bring humor, heart, and just the right amount of “did-we-really-just-say-that?” honesty to real conversations about careers, family, identity, health, relationships — and all the curveballs life throws in between.

Spark Me is a society podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 49 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Spark Me, a society show with 49 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #50

  Never Say Never: Can a Machine Actually Create?

  Sep 10, 202635 minS1

  What if the most important skill in the age of AI isn't technical at all — it's curiosity? In this Spark Short, Michele and Liz unpack their conversation with Heather Cybulski, the transformation consultant helping companies bring AI into their teams. What starts as a debrief quickly turns into one of the most honest conversations they've had on the show — two women in their second act trying to figure out what this technology actually means for their work, their kids, their creativity, and their brains. Liz makes the case that there's something irreplaceably human about creation — the John Steinbeck letter, the Wright brothers building a machine to fly when no plane existed. Michele pushes back: never say never. They land somewhere in the middle, and the disagreement is the point. They also get into the parts nobody has answers for yet. What happens when AI stops being a tool and becomes the worker? What do teachers do when the detection software can't keep up? What are we losing when we let a machine do our critical thinking for us — and what does the research actually say about handwriting, typing, and memory? But this isn't a fear episode. It's a curiosity episode. Michele shares how she used AI to turn a study guide into a game her son actually wanted to play. Liz talks about a friend who released an album and a novel using AI as a creative collaborator. The takeaway isn't "be afraid" or "it's all fine." It's: pay attention, stay engaged, and don't bury your head in the sand. In This Episode You'll Learn: Why approaching AI with curiosity instead of fear changes what you're able to do with it The difference between AI as a tool and AI as a worker — and why that shift is unlike any technology before it How AI is opening creative doors for people without technical training (what "vibe coding" actually means) Why handwriting and cursive fire up your brain in ways typing doesn't — and what the new research out of Norway found Practical ways parents and teachers can rethink learning in an AI world How to use AI to make learning more engaging for kids who don't thrive sitting still Why the human "imperfection" may be exactly what makes creative work resonate What James Patterson said about AI that reframes the whole creativity debate The real-world resource and infrastructure costs behind the AI boom Why Michele believes we'll look back on this moment as genuinely unprecedented Resources From This Episode: The full conversation with Heather Cybulski John Steinbeck's 1956 letter to Marilyn Monroe Norwegian study on handwriting vs. typing and memory retention Films referenced: Her , Ex Machina , 2001: A Space Odyssey , The Terminator The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett Keep Sparking If this conversation resonated with you: Follow Spark Me wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss a Spark Short Share this episode with a friend who's either excited about AI or quietly terrified of it Leave a rating or review — it helps other women in their second act discover the show Tag us when you're listening and tell us: what's one thing you've tried with AI — or one thing you're still refusing to hand over?

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  Episode #49

  AI Is Moving Fast. You're Not Behind.

  Sep 3, 20261h 12mS1

  What if the thing standing between you and AI isn't the technology at all — it's just not knowing where to start? Heather Cybulski helps some of the world's largest companies figure out what AI actually means for the people who work there. She's also built a twenty-year career at the front edge of technology while raising three kids in a small town in Northeastern Pennsylvania — which turns out to be its own lesson in designing a life on purpose. Liz and Michele get into the thing most of us are quietly feeling: the tools are moving so fast that even the people who are excited feel ten steps behind. How do you know what's safe to connect? How do you get a whole team using this the same way when everyone's prompts produce different answers? Heather's answers are refreshingly unglamorous — treat an AI agent the way you'd treat a new hire, start with something ordinary like your kid's math homework, and remember that excitement and nervousness feel identical in the body. The only thing separating them is what you believe is coming next. In This Episode You'll Learn: Why building your career around a short list of non-negotiables beats taking the first good offer Why fear of new technology is almost always a "where do I start" problem in disguise The 18-month dashboard that now takes 18 minutes and 18 dollars Brené Brown's framing of excitement versus nervousness, and why it's the key to any change effort How to think about AI permissions the same way you'd onboard a new employee The single best final prompt Liz uses on every analysis Why nobody is an AI expert right now — and why that's an opportunity, not a threat Resources From This Episode: Brené Brown on excitement and nervousness Tools discussed: ChatGPT , Claude , Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot Worth looking up: agentic AI , vibe coding Connect with Heather Cybulski Keep Sparking If this conversation resonated with you: Follow Spark Me wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss a Spark Short Share this episode with a friend who's excited about AI but has no idea where to start Leave a rating or review — it helps other women in their second act discover the show Tag us when you're listening and tell us: what's the one ordinary, annoying task you'd hand off first?

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  Episode #48

  Medical Cannabis: Are You Medicating—or Numbing?

  Aug 15, 202634 minS1

  Medical Cannabis: Are You Medicating—or Numbing? Michele lives with a conflict she cannot simplify: her sister has seen medical cannabis help patients move away from highly addictive medications, while Michele’s son used the same plant to numb emotional pain. In this Spark Short, Liz and Michele ask the uncomfortable question at the center of the conversation: when are we treating a real problem—and when are we avoiding the one underneath it? They talk candidly about stigma, concerns around insufficient patient guidance, workplace drug testing, and why legalization without thoughtful regulation can leave patients and families navigating difficult choices. The conversation also returns to MaryFrances’s larger lesson: build a life around what matters to you, even when others judge the choice. From choosing family time over a surgical path to bringing Oreos instead of homemade cookies, the point is the same: no one else lives with the consequences of your decisions. In this episode The difference between managing symptoms and numbing emotional pain Why personal experience can make this conversation complicated, not ideological Regulation and patient-guidance gaps that can leave people unsupported How judgment shows up in women’s career and family choices Why a pivot is not a failure, even after years of training The emotional cost of becoming a family’s medical translator during a parent’s illness Resources From This Episode: Full episode with MaryFrances Episode with Brenda Zane MaryFrances's cannabis care consulting Keep Sparking If this conversation resonated with you: Follow Spark Me wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss a Spark Short Share this episode with a friend who's weighing a career pivot, navigating a loved one's substance use, or carrying the caregiver role for her parents Leave a rating or review — it helps other women in their second act discover the show Tag us when you're listening and tell us: what's the choice you made that other people didn't understand?

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  Episode #47

  Medicine, Motherhood, and Medical Marijuana

  Aug 6, 20261h 3mS1

  She built a career around one question: what do you want more? For the first time on Spark Me, Michele interviews a sibling — her sister, Dr. MaryFrances Koester. And what starts as a conversation about becoming a doctor turns into something much bigger: a masterclass in pivoting, protecting your life, and knowing exactly what you're willing to trade. MaryFrances knew in third grade she wanted to be a surgeon. She went through all of medical school with that single focus, applied for surgical residency, and was already in it when she watched the residents around her drop their kids at daycare at five in the morning and pick them up at seven at night. She went to dinner with her husband and told him she was quitting surgery for emergency medicine. It was a decision that took real soul-searching — she loved surgery — but she chose shift work, and she chose a life she could actually be present for. Then there's the other role she never applied for: the doctor in a family of six siblings. Michele and Liz go deep on what it costs to be the one everyone calls — the translator, the advocate, the person who gets the text with the photo of the weird rash. And when their parents got sick, that role became something else entirely. MaryFrances describes being the intermediary between oncologists, neurologists, and five siblings all asking her the same questions at once, while carrying knowledge none of them had yet. She calls it the most stressful time of her life. When COVID emptied out the ER, MaryFrances started researching how to become a medical marijuana physician on the drive home from Florida. She started with a large certification company, didn't like what she saw — she describes it as a card factory — and left to build her own practice. Now she runs what she calls a true medical practice, and she's candid about all of it: what cannabis genuinely helps with, where Pennsylvania's program falls short, why she thinks the state's real motivation is tax revenue, and the honest line she draws with her own patients between medicating and numbing. Michele — whose son has struggled with marijuana misuse — pushes on both sides of that, and the result is one of the most balanced conversations you'll hear on this topic. In This Episode You'll Learn: Why MaryFrances left surgery mid-residency, and the question she asked herself to make the call How to set boundaries when you're the family's go-to expert — without shutting the door completely What it's like to be both the doctor and the daughter while your parents are dying The "wall" she's built in emergency medicine, and why it makes her better at her job The difference between THC and CBD — and why she believes CBD is the most underrated part of the plant Which conditions she most commonly certifies patients for, and why she thinks people dismiss "anxiety" too quickly How cannabis may help with perimenopause and menopause symptoms, especially sleep Why she believes 70% THC products shouldn't be on dispensary shelves for most patients The question she asks every patient: are you using this to numb, or to medicate? Why she deliberately scaled her business back when it started taking off Resources From This Episode: Cannabis Care Consultants — Dr. MaryFrances Koester's practice Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Program, PA Department of Health Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt EM:RAP (Emergency Medicine: Reviews and Perspectives) podcast Jordan Peterson's Psychology of the Bible lecture series Spark Me episode with Brenda Zane on addiction Keep Sparking If this conversation resonated with you: Follow Spark Me wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss an episode Share this episode with a friend who's the "designated expert" in her family — or with anyone weighing a career pivot against the life she wants Leave a rating or review — it helps other women in their second act discover the show

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  Episode #46

  From the Corner Office to a Cubicle — and Back Again

  Jul 30, 202657 minS1

  What if the boldest move of your career is the one that looks like a step backward? We're re-releasing one of our earliest and most-requested conversations. Dr. Karen Murphy, PhD, RN, graduated high school, got married eleven days later, and had her first child before most people had declared a major. Fifty years into that marriage — and a career that took her from ICU nurse to hospital CEO to Pennsylvania's Secretary of Health — she's still not done. Karen spent three decades at Moses Taylor Hospital in Scranton, working, as she puts it, in every department but one, and ending as President and CEO of the system. Then she did something almost nobody does: she left the corner office, the executive assistant, and the title to work out of a cubicle at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. She calls it one of the most gratifying stretches of her professional life. It humbled her, surrounded her with people half her age, and reminded her that the denominator kept getting bigger — from one patient at the bedside, to a community, to the nation. This conversation is about drive, but it's also about the scaffolding underneath it: a grandmother who said you go, I've got them , a husband who never once called to ask what time dinner was, and two male mentors in 1980s Scranton who pushed her forward when almost no one was pushing women anywhere. Karen is direct about what that support made possible — and blunt about how much harder it is without it. She's also blunt about money. Her story of interviewing a brilliant young woman who went ten full minutes without asking about compensation is the moment most listeners tell us they replay. And her advice for anyone stuck? Stop trying to change the room. Get out of the department. Now Karen is staring at what she calls a blank sheet of paper — and instead of dreading it, she's building the next purpose on purpose. In This Episode You'll Learn: Why leaving the corner office for a cubicle was one of the best career decisions Karen ever made How a job she hated became the turning point that sent her back to school — twice What her father told her about CEOs that changed how she saw her own ceiling Why she believes women systematically under-ask for compensation, and how that gap compounds for an entire career How to tell the difference between stress you can control and stress you can't Why the support system around you determines how far your ambition can actually go What she'd tell any woman labeled "too aggressive" at work Why "get out of the department" is better advice than trying to fix a broken culture How to build a new sense of purpose when the one that defined you ends The one book she tells every aspiring leader to buy — for about five dollars Resources From This Episode: The First-Time Manager — Karen's go-to recommendation for leaders at every level The Way We Were (1973) — Karen's pick for the character she'd most want to be Risant Health The Steele Institute for Health Innovation, Geisinger CMS Innovation Center (CMMI) Pennsylvania Department of Health Keep Sparking If this conversation resonated with you: Follow Spark Me wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss a Spark Short Share this episode with a woman who's about to negotiate — or who's talking herself out of it Leave a rating or review — it helps other women in their second act discover the show Tag us when you're listening and tell us: what's the one time you asked for more and got it?

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