In this episode of Keeping Abreast Dr. Jenn Simmons sits down with keynote speaker, author, and 2025 Dynamic Woman of the Year Erika Rothenberger for a conversation about what happens when life forces you to stop playing small. Erika had a day in 2022 that changed everything. What she did on the other side of it is what this conversation is about. Dr. Jenn and Erika get into the trauma we avoid, the life we keep deferring, and why the hardest moments tend to be the most clarifying ones.

If you have ever survived something hard and wondered what you are supposed to do with it, this episode will give you your answer.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What Erika survived in 2022 and why she considers it the greatest turning point of her life
• Why playing it safe is the most dangerous thing a woman can do
• Why Dr. Jenn believes a breast cancer diagnosis can be an opportunity and what that actually looks like in practice
• The real reason most women never go after the life they want and why it has nothing to do with time, money, or circumstances
• Why the trauma you have been avoiding is not behind you. It is driving you.
• A simple daily method that takes 36 minutes and rebuilds your entire mindset from the ground up
• The science behind why the people you surround yourself with are either quietly lifting you or quietly costing you
• The gap in Pennsylvania law that leaves women unprotected and the legislation Erika is fighting to change
• Why the most powerful thing a woman can do for her health right now has nothing to do with her body
  
  

Episode Timeline
01:07 Introducing Erika Rothenberger
03:09 Energy, seasons, and the permission to give 60%
06:56 Erika's story and the morning that changed everything
12:41 Playing small vs. playing large
16:36 Fear, inertia, and the life you keep putting off
19:45 Writing the book and going public with her story
27:32 Why healing is a choice you make every day
32:27 How to protect your time and fuel yourself first
35:35 Why no is a complete sentence
38:01 Finding the good in every setback
40:02 Why a breast cancer diagnosis can be its own kind of punch
43:00 Why your circle determines your ceiling
45:22 What Erika took away from watching Mel Robbins
50:57 The Audacious Summit, October 2025
52:45 Money, legacy, and what you are building
59:22 Finding your thing and going after it
1:05:44 Where to find Erika and closing thoughts

Where to Find Find Erika Rothenberger:
Website: erikarothenberger.com
Instagram: @erikalearothenberger
Book: Audacious Expansion

To talk to a member of Dr. Jenn's team and learn more about working privately with Dr. Jenn visit: https://calendly.com/stephanie-1031/clarity-call

To get your copy of Dr. Jenn's book, The Smart Woman's Guide to Breast Cancer, visit: https://tinyurl.com/SmartWomansBreastCancerGuide

To purchase the auria breast cancer screening test go here https://auria.care/ and use the code DRJENN20 for 20% Off.

Connect with Dr. Jenn:
Website: https://www.jennsimmonsmd.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrJennSimmons
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drjennsimmons/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dr.jennsimmons

In this episode of Keeping Abreast, Dr. Jenn Simmons sits down with James Maskell, health economist, founder of the Evolution of Medicine, and the architect of a movement to reverse cognitive decline, to make the case that Alzheimer's is not a death sentence. It is a solvable problem that medicine has been approaching the wrong way for 40 years.

James flew to South Africa when his father collapsed and was expected to die. Every doctor in the room was preparing the family for the end. James walked into his father's house and saw black mold on the wall. Days after moving his father out of that environment, he was opening his eyes. Two weeks later, the doctor declared he had no terminal illness at all.

This is the episode to send to anyone who's been told a declining mind is the only end of the story.

In This Episode, You'll Learn

• Why there is no effective drug for Alzheimer's and why 40 years of pharmaceutical research has been chasing the wrong target
• What the 6 root cause categories driving cognitive decline actually are and why they are the same ones driving breast cancer
• What the first randomized controlled trial on reversing Alzheimer's showed and why 91% of participants got better without a drug
• Why catching even a single point drop on a cognitive test can prevent full decline if you act on it immediately
• How biotoxins like mold can trigger what looks exactly like end stage Alzheimer's and how removing the cause reverses it
• Why loneliness and loss of purpose are not soft factors but measurable root causes of cognitive decline and breast cancer
• What the Blue Zones actually have in common and why it has nothing to do with supplements or technology
• Why community is one of the most powerful clinical interventions we have and how to start building it today

Episode Timeline
00:00 Why Community Is the Most Powerful Clinical Intervention We Have
07:15 40 Years of Alzheimer's Drugs and Nothing to Show for It
12:57 Why Neurologists Are the Last Doctors to Accept This Science
18:23 The Myth That You Were Healthy Right Up Until Your Diagnosis
26:03 Catching Cognitive Decline Before It Becomes Alzheimer's
30:41 The 6 Root Cause Categories Driving Cognitive Decline and Breast Cancer
33:21 The Science Behind Why Your Social Circle Shapes Your Health Outcomes
37:41 How Retirement, Isolation, and Lost Purpose Are Fueling Chronic Disease
41:20 Trying to Change the System Is the Wrong Goal
45:51 Why the Chronic Disease Crisis Will Force the System to Collapse
53:10 How Real Health Change Starts at the Grassroots Level
59:08 Final Thoughts on Taking Your Health Back

Where to Find James Maskell:
Instagram: @mrjamesmaskell
Website: jamesmaskell.com

To talk to a member of Dr. Jenn's team and learn more about working privately with Dr. Jenn visit: https://calendly.com/stephanie-1031/clarity-call

To get your copy of Dr. Jenn's book, The Smart Woman's Guide to Breast Cancer, visit: https://tinyurl.com/SmartWomansBreastCancerGuide

To purchase the auria breast cancer screening test go here https://auria.care/ and use the code DRJENN20 for 20% Off.

Connect with Dr. Jenn:
Website: https://www.jennsimmonsmd.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrJennSimmons
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drjennsimmons/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dr.jennsimmons

In this episode of Keeping Abreast, Dr. Jenn Simmons sits down with Broadway star, bestselling author, and master communicator Renee Marino to make the case that self-advocacy is not a career skill, it is a health act. Renee went from five Broadway shows and a Clint Eastwood film to co-hosting Tony Robbins's global summits, and every door she walked through opened because she asked.

She was the only actress in the entire Jersey Boys Broadway cast not called in to audition for the film because a middleman dropped the ball, and if she had not looked the casting director in the eye and asked for the role she was already playing eight shows a week, she would have watched herself be replaced on screen while Clint Eastwood waited for her to walk through a door she never knew was open.

This is the episode for any woman who has ever left an interaction in work, the doctors office, or in their personal life feeling dismissed and said nothing.

In This Episode, You'll Learn

• Why losing your voice shifts your body chemistry toward defeat and stress, and why Dr. Jenn calls speaking up a health tool, not just a mindset
• Why no agent, manager, or doctor will ever advocate for you as powerfully as you can advocate for yourself in the room
• What keyboard confidence is costing women in their health relationships and why a text is almost always the wrong tool for an important conversation
• The two questions to ask before hitting send on any message, post, or reply that actually changes how you communicate
• What breast cancer screening looks like when the technology is built to actually show you what is there, not flatten and irradiate you
  
  

Episode Timeline:
00:00 Introduction to Renee Marino
04:10 The power of asking for what you want
06:50 Navigating Rejection
09:53 The Importance of Hard Work and Integrity
12:41 The Role of Communication in Success
15:15 The Journey to Becoming Mary Delgado
18:14 The Impact of Speaking Up
25:47 Speaking up as self-advocacy
31:39 Lessons from the kitchen table
37:37 Why she wrote Becoming a Master Communicator
40:05 The three communication homes
44:44 Balancing technology with real connection
47:47 Women, voice, and the difficult label
1:06:35 Experiencing breast screening that treats you like a person
1:12:08 Glam and Grit: an event built for real connection
1:14:45 Final thoughts and takeaways

Where to Find Renee Marino:
Instagram: @iamreneemarino
Book: Becoming a Master Communicator

To talk to a member of Dr. Jenn's team and learn more about working privately with Dr. Jenn visit: https://calendly.com/stephanie-1031/clarity-call

To get your copy of Dr. Jenn's book, The Smart Woman's Guide to Breast Cancer, visit: https://tinyurl.com/SmartWomansBreastCancerGuide

To purchase the auria breast cancer screening test go here https://auria.care/ and use the code DRJENN20 for 20% Off.

Connect with Dr. Jenn:
Website: https://www.jennsimmonsmd.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrJennSimmons
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drjennsimmons/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dr.jennsimmons