This episode of Couples Unfiltered is sponsored in part by Color Story Florals in Vista, CA. We’ve partnered with them to feature handcrafted floral arrangements in our episodes, designed with 80% locally grown California flowers.

Use code UNFILTERED10 for 10% off your next order at croziersflowersvista.com or call 760-726-3800.

From Marseille, France, to Michelin-starred kitchens and national television, Christophe Rull has built an impressive career rooted in discipline, precision, and passion. Known for appearances on Netflix's Bake Squad and Food Network, Christophe and his wife, Wilma, have brought an authentic French pâtisserie experience to North County San Diego.

But this episode isn't just about pastry.

In this conversation, Lionel and Natalie sit down with Christophe and Wilma Rull to explore the partnership behind the business. Together, they discuss balancing marriage and entrepreneurship, navigating different strengths and personalities, building a shared vision, and creating a life that blends ambition with family.

Christophe shares his journey from France to Southern California, while Wilma offers insight into the strategic leadership and support that helps transform creative vision into reality. Their story is a powerful reminder that successful partnerships often thrive because each person brings something different to the table.

Whether you're married, running a business with your spouse, or simply curious about what makes a partnership work, this episode offers honest conversation, practical wisdom, and plenty of inspiration.

Guest: Christophe & Wilma Rull

@christopherullpatisserie n instagram

Christophe Rulls Patisserie

251 North City Drive suite 121, San Marcos, California 92078

This episode of Couples Unfiltered is sponsored in part by Color Story Florals in Vista, CA. We’ve partnered with them to feature handcrafted floral arrangements in our episodes, designed with 80% locally grown California flowers.

Use code UNFILTERED10 for 10% off your next order at croziersflowersvista.com or call 760-726-3800.

In this deeply moving episode of Couples Unfiltered, we sit down with Rob and Emilee McGowan, a couple married for more than 28 years whose relationship began as friendship and evolved into a lifelong partnership shaped by love, resilience, and unimaginable loss.

Long before romance, Rob and Emilee were close friends building separate lives and families. Both were raising children and navigating parallel chapters before friendship slowly turned into love, creating the foundation for a blended family rooted in trust, connection, and shared purpose.

Their lives changed forever when their son, Myles, was diagnosed at age three with a rare pediatric brain cancer called Ependymoma. After a courageous fight, Myles passed away in 2008. Rather than allowing grief to define them, Rob and Emilee transformed heartbreak into purpose by founding Myles Ahead of Cancer, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting caregivers and families navigating childhood cancer diagnoses, caregiving, and the devastating loss of a child.

Through advocacy, compassion, and partnerships with organizations like Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times and the Long Beach Ronald McDonald House, Myles Ahead of Cancer continues to provide meaningful support, community, and resources for families walking through the unimaginable.

Learn more or support their mission:
MylesAheadOfCancer.org
Instagram: www.instagram.com/MylesAheadofCancer/

In addition to their nonprofit work, Rob, also known as Skinny Black, co-hosts Skinny Black’s Lounge Podcast, a video-style podcast centered on culture, humor, real conversation, personal growth, and authentic dialogue from the perspective of Black men. Alongside co-hosts JT (CT) and Uncle Rennie (Tubbs), the podcast creates space for vulnerable, thoughtful, and often hilarious conversations aimed at strengthening relationships and community.

Watch or follow:
YouTube: Skinny Black’s Lounge Podcast
Instagram: www.instagram.com/skinnyblackslounge/
Host Instagram: www.instagram.com/sbl_host/

Together, Rob and Emilee also lead Diving Within, a coaching and consulting practice focused on executive coaching for Black men through shadow work, strategic authenticity, and personal growth, while also helping couples strengthen communication, emotional connection, accountability, and intimacy.

Learn more:
www.divingwithin.net/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/divingwithincoaching/

This conversation explores friendship, marriage, grief, resilience, healing, and legacy, and what it truly means to keep choosing one another through life’s hardest seasons.

Season 3 kicks off with an honest conversation between Lionel and Natalie about what really makes relationships work and why communication alone is not enough. Inspired by a conversation with an older client, they explore the idea that true connection comes from understanding your partner’s past, triggers, fears, and emotional needs.

Throughout the episode, they open up about childhood experiences, family dynamics, emotional safety, and how past pain can quietly shape reactions in present-day relationships. Using a real moment involving their daughter and a misunderstood text message, they break down how unresolved experiences from childhood can influence parenting, conflict, and the way couples respond to one another.

Lionel and Natalie also share updates on life outside the podcast, including Lionel’s career transition into insurance, their upcoming Juneteenth celebration in San Marcos, and the growth of their community work through Couples Unfiltered.

This episode is a raw and thoughtful reminder that healthy relationships require maintenance, patience, accountability, and the willingness to truly listen without ego. From emotional healing to keeping the “new car smell” alive in marriage, this conversation is filled with practical insight, vulnerability, humor, and real-life perspective for couples navigating love, family, and personal growth together.

For more information about their Juneteenth Celebration, go to couplesunfiltered.com/juneteenth or get your tickets at: https://events.humanitix.com/the-freedom-table/tickets