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Heartful Wonders

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by Vlada Bortnik

4.7(13 reviews)
15 episodes
Updated Daily
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Podcast Overview

<p>What does it look like to follow your heart? Heartful Wonders is a podcast celebrating the beauty of staying open-hearted through candid conversations with people who're choosing to follow their heart—often without a roadmap, permission, or a clear destination. Join host Vlada Bortnik, CEO of Marco Polo, for stories of intuition, vulnerability, and the magic that shows up when the heart leads. New episodes every other week.</p>

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Publishing Since

1/15/2026

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Recent Episodes

Episode thumbnail for Following Your Heart When the Cosmic Signs Stop | Sehreen Noor Ali, Founder of Te Cura Labs

July 14, 2026

Following Your Heart When the Cosmic Signs Stop | Sehreen Noor Ali, Founder of Te Cura Labs

<p>Gary Vaynerchuk wrote Sehreen Noor Ali a check after a 5-minute meeting, and President Biden heard her pitch. Sleuth still didn&#39;t make it.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Sehreen Noor Ali co-founded Sleuth, a venture-backed pediatric AI platform Fast Company recognized as a World-Changing App in 2024. The startup eventually closed. The reckoning that followed shaped what she now teaches senior leaders through Te Cura Labs about positioning and identity. In this conversation she traces the hospital moment that opened her up, the years of inner work that followed, and the reframe of purpose that emerged on the other side.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;In this episode:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;The moment in her daughter&#39;s hospital room when she chose meaning-making over collapse&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Why &quot;every cosmic sign said yes&quot; didn&#39;t mean Sleuth would succeed&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The reframe: life is more interesting than chasing one purpose&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;How anger becomes a teacher when you let it move through you instead of holding it&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The shift from measuring success by what you produce to how present you can be&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Recalibrating to yourself as the filter for what&#39;s true, instead of outsourcing it to experts&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;▶️ Watch the full episode now.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Subscribe to Heartful Wonders for new conversations every other Tuesday about following your heart when the path isn&#39;t clear.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;👤 About Sehreen Noor Ali:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;When Sehreen Noor Ali&#39;s daughter was diagnosed with a confusing medical condition, she did what many mothers would do: left her career and dove in. That search for answers led her to build Sleuth, a venture-backed pediatric AI platform Fast Company recognized as a World-Changing App in 2024.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Between building Sleuth and eventually closing it, she began noticing a pattern. The most capable, purpose-driven leaders she met weren&#39;t struggling with balance or execution—they&#39;d outgrown the systems and roles that once rewarded them, without yet having language for what came next. That unresolved tension showed up everywhere: in how they allocated energy, described their work, and stepped into new opportunities.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Today, through Te Cura Labs, she works with senior leaders, founders, and operators at those inflection points—when clarity about direction unlocks everything downstream, including revenue, thought leadership, and positioning.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Before this, Sehreen worked on digital diplomacy at the U.S. State Department, founded an award-winning edtech network, and spent years as an early hire at several startups. She lives in New York City with her husband and two daughters.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;💻 Sehreen can be found:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;Website: https://www.sehreen.com/&lt;br&gt;Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sehreennoorali/&lt;br&gt;LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sehreennoorali/&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;✨ About Vlada Bortnik:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;Vlada Bortnik is the CEO and co-founder of Marco Polo, the video messaging app designed to help people feel close without sacrificing time, privacy, or wellbeing. A Ukrainian refugee who arrived in the U.S. at 11, she built the company alongside her husband Michał while raising two young children, guided by her belief that technology should strengthen human connection, not exploit it. Today, she leads Marco Polo as a profitable, mission-driven company and speaks candidly about balancing parenthood and entrepreneurship while building ethical technology that scales.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;💻 Vlada can be found:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vlada&lt;br&gt;Substack: https://heartfulwonders.substack.com/&lt;br&gt;Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vladabortnik&lt;br&gt;Marco Polo: https://www.marcopolo.me/&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;📎 Resources mentioned:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;Sleuth: https://www.sleuth.com&lt;br&gt;Te Cura Labs: https://www.sehreen.com/&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;Episode is produced by:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;Mun Yee Kelly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mun-yee-kelly-769868/&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;#HeartfulWonders #PersonalDevelopment #SelfDiscovery #HealingJourney #LifeLessons #Mindset</p>

Episode thumbnail for Following Your Heart When You're Still Trying to Be Enough | Derek Haswell, 10% Happier Co-founder

June 30, 2026

Following Your Heart When You're Still Trying to Be Enough | Derek Haswell, 10% Happier Co-founder

<p>Derek Haswell co-founded 10% Happier, and even on day 8 of a silent retreat, he was still performing for no one.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Derek built 10% Happier over a decade, working with the best meditation teachers in the world. He&#39;d been doing inner work all along. Eight years ago, sobbing in bed next to his sleeping three-year-old, he saw his own proving-yourself wound already showing up in his son&#39;s body. Then in 2020, day 8 of a silent retreat, sitting in the sun and holding his belly in for nobody, the same wound cracked open at a different level. The years that followed reshaped his life: he saw the shield he&#39;d been using in his marriage (a hypothetical husband he was always beating in his head), left 10% Happier to coach mission-driven founders, and a year and a half ago had a five-minute conversation with his wife about what the next nine years should look like. They both already knew the answer was a farm. Their hearts had been pulling them there for years, and now they&#39;re building it in Upstate NY together.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;In this episode:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;The silent-retreat moment that exposed the unworthiness wound underneath a decade of meditation work&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Why &quot;falling in love with yourself&quot; does what willpower can&#39;t (and how a late-night snack proves it)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The &quot;hypothetical American husband&quot; shield that was recycling the same fights in his marriage&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;What he saw in his sleeping 3-year-old that cracked open his parenting frame&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Why awakening doesn&#39;t have to look like Eckhart Tolle&#39;s bench moment&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The five-minute conversation with his wife that ended with them choosing to build a farm together&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;▶️ Watch the full episode now.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Subscribe to Heartful Wonders for new conversations every other Tuesday about following your heart when the path isn&#39;t clear.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;👤 About Derek Haswell:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;Derek Haswell co-founded the award-winning meditation app &amp; media company, 10% Happier, where he spent the better part of a decade producing content with some of the world&#39;s best meditation teachers &amp; scientists. He now spends his time as an executive coach, helping mission-driven founders &amp; leaders drive more impact while becoming more aligned, and as the co-founder of a non-profit farm school with his wife (and three kids) on their farm in Upstate NY. He&#39;s also a proud caretaker of two very ornery miniature donkeys.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;💻 Derek can be found:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;Website: https://www.derekhaswell.com/&lt;br&gt;LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drhaswell/&lt;br&gt;X: https://x.com/DRHaswell&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;✨ About Vlada Bortnik:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;Vlada Bortnik is the CEO and co-founder of Marco Polo, the video messaging app designed to help people feel close without sacrificing time, privacy, or wellbeing. A Ukrainian refugee who arrived in the U.S. at 11, she built the company alongside her husband Michał while raising two young children, guided by her belief that technology should strengthen human connection, not exploit it. Today, she leads Marco Polo as a profitable, mission-driven company and speaks candidly about balancing parenthood and entrepreneurship while building ethical technology that scales.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;💻 Vlada can be found:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vlada&lt;br&gt;Substack: https://heartfulwonders.substack.com/&lt;br&gt;Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vladabortnik&lt;br&gt;Marco Polo: https://www.marcopolo.me/&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;📎 Resources mentioned:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;Light Signal Fires (non-profit farm school): https://www.lightsignalfires.org/&lt;br&gt;10% Happier: https://www.tenpercent.com/&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;#HeartfulWonders #PersonalGrowth #SelfDiscovery #InnerWork #ConsciousParenting #HealingJourney #Mindfulness #EckhartTolle</p>

Episode thumbnail for She Saved a Million Babies. The Wound Driving Her Took 10 Years to See | Jane Chen, Embrace Founder

June 16, 2026

She Saved a Million Babies. The Wound Driving Her Took 10 Years to See | Jane Chen, Embrace Founder

<p>Jane Chen founded Embrace, the nonprofit behind life-saving infant warmers that have helped save over a million premature babies in underserved communities. She&#39;s also a TED speaker and the author of Like a Wave We Break. In this conversation, Jane traces the childhood violence she didn&#39;t connect to her work for a decade, the burnout that forced the reckoning, and what it took to feel worthy of her own life again. They go all the way back to Jane&#39;s early-20s career pivot, when one New York Times article moved her enough to quit consulting for unpaid work in central China. From there, the conversation tracks the decade she spent building Embrace, the moment the company shut down, and the healing journey that followed.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;In this episode:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Why high achievers are often running from something they haven&#39;t named yet&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The childhood pattern that shapes whose pain you&#39;re drawn to fix&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;What 13 years of secret beta blockers before every public talk really cost&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The &quot;ideal father&quot; exercise that didn&#39;t work, and the photo that did&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Why no one else can give you the words &quot;you are enough&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The Diana Chapman question that took years to grow into&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Quitting a cushy consulting job for unpaid work in China, and why her body knew first&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Parts work, inner-child healing, and the Indonesia healing journey after Embrace shut down&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;▶️ Watch the full episode now.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Subscribe to Heartful Wonders for new conversations every other Tuesday about following your heart when the path isn&#39;t clear.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;👤 About Jane Marie Chen:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;Jane Marie Chen is a speaker and leadership coach whose work invites us to meet ourselves with courage and compassion. She is the co-founder and former CEO of Embrace Global, a nonprofit organization that&#39;s helped to save over 1 million premature babies in underserved communities with a low-cost, portable incubator. Her work has been recognized by President Obama, funded by Beyoncé, and featured in media around the world. Jane is also a TED speaker and author of the best-selling memoir, Like a Wave We Break.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Today, Jane coaches leaders to cultivate self-awareness so they can lead from love rather than fear—and create lasting impact in the world. When she isn&#39;t writing or teaching, Jane can be found surfing waves around the world.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;💻 Jane can be found:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;Website: https://www.janemariechen.com/&lt;br&gt;Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janemarie.chen/&lt;br&gt;LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janemariechen/&lt;br&gt;TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@janemariechen&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;✨ About Vlada Bortnik:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;Vlada Bortnik is the CEO and co-founder of Marco Polo, the video messaging app designed to help people feel close without sacrificing time, privacy, or wellbeing. A Ukrainian refugee who arrived in the U.S. at 11, she built the company alongside her husband Michał while raising two young children, guided by her belief that technology should strengthen human connection, not exploit it. Today, she leads Marco Polo as a profitable, mission-driven company and speaks candidly about balancing parenthood and entrepreneurship while building ethical technology that scales.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;💻 Vlada can be found:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vlada&lt;br&gt;Substack: https://heartfulwonders.substack.com/&lt;br&gt;Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vladabortnik&lt;br&gt;Marco Polo: https://www.marcopolo.me/&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;📎 Resources mentioned:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;Like a Wave We Break (book): https://www.janemariechen.com/booktour&lt;br&gt;Embrace Global: https://www.embraceglobal.org/&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;b&gt;Episode is produced by:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;Mun Yee Kelly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mun-yee-kelly-769868/&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;#HeartfulWonders #HealingJourney #InnerChildHealing #FollowingYourHeart #FounderBurnout #SocialImpact #FemaleFounders</p>

15 total episodes available

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What is Heartful Wonders?
<p>What does it look like to follow your heart? Heartful Wonders is a podcast celebrating the beauty of staying open-hearted through candid conversations with people who're choosing to follow their heart—often without a roadmap, permission, or a clear destination. Join host Vlada Bortnik, CEO of Marco Polo, for stories of intuition, vulnerability, and the magic that shows up when the heart leads. New episodes every other week.</p>
How often does this podcast release new episodes?

This podcast updates daily.

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This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.

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