Heartful Wonders

About Heartful Wonders

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.

Publisher

Vlada Bortnik

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

15 Jan 2026

Latest episode

6 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

21 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   6 Oct 2026

   How to Find the Courage to Change Your Life

   Shelley Huff got fired, went through a bankruptcy, and lost a good friend in one year. It took her months to call it grief. Shelley Huff led Serta Simmons Bedding as CEO through Chapter 11, and when the company changed hands, she was out of the job that had defined her. At a retreat, Arthur Brooks told her she'd gone through three deaths. Months later her brother asked if she'd ever researched grief, and she finally had a word for what she was feeling. Two years of reflection followed, along with a therapist-prescribed puppy and a new practice of giving up control. Today she's the co-founder of The Interval, a community for senior executives and founders in the in-between. 🎯 In this episode: - How to grieve a job loss when your identity is your career - Why getting fired feels like a death (and a bankruptcy does too) - Who are you without your job title? Processing the end of a work identity - Why the next job can be a painkiller, and how to know if you're escaping pain - Letting go of control and trusting the process: the sabbatical, the therapist, and the puppy - Leading 3,700 employees through Chapter 11 with prayer ▶️ Watch the full episode now. Subscribe to Heartful Wonders for new conversations every other Tuesday about following your heart when the path isn't clear. 👤 About Shelley Huff: Shelley Huff is the co-founder and CEO of The Interval, a community for founders and C-suite leaders navigating career transitions and the space between leadership chapters. She is also a Contributing Columnist at Inc. Magazine. Through her writing and interviews, she explores how ambitious leaders reflect, redefine, and shape what comes next - whether returning to the C-suite, building portfolio careers, launching new ventures, or pursuing entirely new creative paths. Shelley brings more than 20 years of executive leadership across global consumer and retail organizations, including serving as CEO of Serta Simmons Bedding and as a Global Officer at Walmart. Throughout her career, she has led major transformations spanning e-commerce, merchandising, supply chain, and product innovation. She is an Executive in Residence at the University of Arizona and a board member of her YPO chapter, SF Bay. She is a member of the International Women's Forum, and the Fortune Most Powerful Women network. 💻 Shelley can be found: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelley-huff/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelley-huff/) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/huffshelley/ (https://www.instagram.com/huffshelley/) The Interval: http://theintervalcommunity.com/ (http://theintervalcommunity.com/) ✨ About Vlada Bortnik: Vlada Bortnik arrived in the U.S. from Ukraine as a refugee at 11. She went on to co-found Marco Polo, a video messaging app that helps people feel close, with over 10 million downloads, 2.5 million five-star reviews, and a Webby Award. The company remains independent and profitable, with no ads. Newsweek named her to its Most Loved CEOs list, and Anthem named her Product Leader of the Year. She built Marco Polo alongside her husband Michał while raising two young children, and she's open about what it takes to do both. 💻 Vlada can be found: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vlada (https://www.linkedin.com/in/vlada) Substack: https://heartfulwonders.substack.com/ (https://heartfulwonders.substack.com/) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vladabortnik (https://www.instagram.com/vladabortnik) Marco Polo: https://www.marcopolo.me/ (https://www.marcopolo.me/) 📎 Resources mentioned: Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans: https://designingyour.life/ (https://designingyour.life/) Arthur Brooks: https://arthurbrooks.com/ (https://arthurbrooks.com/) Access Alignment: https://www.accessalignment.com/ (https://www.accessalignment.com/) Episode is produced by: Mun Yee Kelly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mun-yee-kelly-769868/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mun-yee-kelly-769868/) 💛 More Heartful Wonders, in writing — Vlada's reflections, poems, and personal notes about an ongoing choice to stay open-hearted and listening inward → heartfulwonders.substack.com #HeartfulWonders #CareerChange #PersonalGrowth #HealingJourney #EmotionalIntelligence #ConsciousLeadership

2. 

   22 Sept 2026

   How to Trust Your Intuition | Woniya Thibeault, First Woman to Win Alone

   How do you trust your intuition when you're starving? Ask the first woman to win the survival show Alone. Woniya Thibeault is a naturalist and ancestral skills teacher. Long before the show, she was bending herself to fit a marriage that wasn't working, no matter how hard she tried. Her body refused. She started to get panic attacks so bad she couldn't run anymore. She left at 27 and learned to treat her body as an ally instead of something to push through. That's what got her through 73 days on Alone Season 6, where she walked off on her own terms rather than let a group of men decide for her body. Woniya went back for Alone: Frozen and won. She'd spent years trying to become a mom, and it only happened once she let go: a surprise pregnancy at 47, her son Hawthorne at 48. Today she's raising him on her own land in her hometown while teaching people to rewild themselves. 🎯 In this episode: - How to trust your intuition and listen to your gut - How to listen to your body when your brain says push through - Is it intuition or fear talking? How Woniya tells the difference - Why she chose to leave Alone on her own terms - Surviving the Arctic in handmade buckskin and traditional gear - Asking trees for permission (and the birch that fed her) - Becoming a mother at 48, after letting go ▶️ Watch the full episode now. Subscribe to Heartful Wonders for new conversations every other Tuesday about following your heart when the path isn't clear. 👤 About Woniya Thibeault: Woniya Thibeault is a naturalist, craftsperson, and ancestral skills instructor whose work helps people live more connected to the natural world. She is best known for her two wilderness adventures on the History Channel's survival show Alone®. She credits her ability to survive long-term in harsh northern climates not to brute strength, but to her commitment to living with the land in a humble, respectful, and reciprocal way. Her debut memoir, Never Alone: A Solo Arctic Survival Journey, tells the story of her weeks alone in the Arctic wilderness during Alone® Season 6. Learn more, order the book, or join her online community at www.woniyathibeault.com. 💻 Woniya can be found: Website: https://www.woniyathibeault.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/woniya_timelessways Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/buckskin.revolution/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJqeQWXKz7vpLnu8Sde7Xrg ✨ About Vlada Bortnik: Vlada Bortnik arrived in the U.S. from Ukraine as a refugee at 11. She went on to co-found Marco Polo, a video messaging app that helps people feel close, with over 10 million downloads, 2.5 million five-star reviews, and a Webby Award. The company remains independent and profitable, with no ads. Newsweek named her to its Most Loved CEOs list, and Anthem named her Product Leader of the Year. She built Marco Polo alongside her husband Michał while raising two young children, and she's open about what it takes to do both. 💻 Vlada can be found: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vlada Substack: https://heartfulwonders.substack.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vladabortnik Marco Polo: https://www.marcopolo.me/ 📎 Resources mentioned: Never Alone: A Solo Arctic Survival Journey by Woniya Thibeault (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/Never-Alone-Arctic-Survival-Journey/dp/1960303007 Alone on the History Channel: https://www.history.com/shows/alone Woniya's Patreon (monthly gatherings + Alone watch parties): https://www.patreon.com/woniyabuckskinrevolution Episode is produced by: Mun Yee Kelly: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mun-yee-kelly-769868/ #HeartfulWonders #WoniyaThibeault #AloneShow #AncestralSkills #Intuition #Rewilding #NeverAlone

3. 

   8 Sept 2026

   How to Know If You're Making the Right Decision

   How do you know if you're making the right decision? Yong Kim picks whichever option scares him most. He says it's always the right call. Yong Kim is the co-founder and CEO of Wonolo, a workforce platform he's been building for twelve years, and the author of the novel When River Loves Deborah. He talks with Vlada Bortnik about coming to the U.S. from Korea at 15, the night he tried to run away from boarding school, why every major decision in his life has come from picking the scariest option, and the 2 AM journaling habit that became his first novel. In this episode: - Coming to the U.S. from South Korea at 15, and the night he almost ran away from boarding school - The teacher who fought for him, and Yong's case for second chances - Reading his own essay about racism in front of the entire school - Leaving a stable Wall Street career with three young kids and a mortgage to start Wonolo - How to know if you're making the right decision, and the question Yong asks himself at every hard moment - Why every pivotal decision Yong has made has come from picking the option that scared him most - The fear of making the wrong decision, and why Yong says there are no what-ifs when the choice is truly yours - The reframe that all emotions stem from love — hate is soured love, fear is wounded love - Why suffering can be a sign your heart is online, not a sign something's wrong - The 2 AM journaling habit that became Yong's first novel, When River Loves Deborah ▶️ Watch the full episode now. Subscribe to Heartful Wonders for new conversations every other Tuesday about following your heart when the path isn't clear. 👤 About Yong Kim: Yong Kim was born in South Korea and immigrated to America alone at the age of fifteen. He earned a mathematics degree from the University of Chicago, a master's in statistics from Harvard University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He began his career as an economic consultant and investment banker before discovering his passion for entrepreneurship. Today, he is the founder and CEO of Wonolo, a leading workforce solution backed by top Silicon Valley investors. He is also the author of the novel When River Loves Deborah. He is a devoted husband and father of three daughters, splitting his time across Philadelphia, Boston, and San Francisco. 💻 Yong can be found: - Website: https://wonolo.com - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yongkookkim/ - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yongkimauthor/ ✨ About Vlada Bortnik: Vlada Bortnik arrived in the U.S. from Ukraine as a refugee at 11. She went on to co-found Marco Polo, a video messaging app that helps people feel close, with 10 million+ downloads, 2.5 million five-star reviews, and a Webby Award. It's still independent and profitable, and it runs with no ads. Newsweek named her to its Most Loved CEOs list, and Anthem named her Product Leader of the Year. She built the company alongside her husband Michał while raising two young children, and she's open about what it takes to do both. 💻 Vlada can be found: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vlada - Substack: https://heartfulwonders.substack.com/ - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vladabortnik - Marco Polo: https://www.marcopolo.me/ 📎 Resources mentioned: - When River Loves Deborah by Yong Kim (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DNFRYHX5 - The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka — the book Yong struggled with in his boarding-school English class (Project Gutenberg): https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5200 #HeartfulWonders #PersonalGrowth #Mindset #EmotionalIntelligence #HealingJourney #Mindfulness #Podcast

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

16 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

8 ratings