Power to Pursue

About Power to Pursue

Welcome to Power to Pursue Podcast, a groundbreaking podcast hosted by Rachel DesRochers, a serial entrepreneur and nonprofit founder. This podcast aims to celebrate and normalize the diverse pursuits of women—from perfecting their morning coffee to building successful businesses. With a focus on inspiring and empowering listeners, the Power to Pursue Podcast features interviews with women from various backgrounds, including entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and everyday heroes. Rachel DesRochers (https://www.racheldesrochers.com/) is a serial entrepreneur, international speaker, thought leader on the power of gratitude, community builder, mother, dreamer, author, and podcast host. Gratitude and community are the foundation of everything she creates. Her diverse projects, businesses and nonprofit are housed under her umbrella, The Gratitude Collective (https://www.thegratitudecollective.org/). They include: The Incubator Kitchen Collective, a shared-use commercial kitchen space; Good n' Local, a regional wholesale food show celebrating and accelerating growth in the local food ecosystem; and her largest project to date, Power to Pursue, a women’s empowerment movement offering programming in multiple cities. Additionally, Rachel is a board member, advisor, and consultant. With more than two decades of experience, she shares her insights on healthy entrepreneurship, heart-centered community building, the power of gratitude, and women's empowerment. As a speaker, she has  inspired audiences worldwide with her authentic and engaging style. Her innovative spirit and community impact have been recognized with numerous awards and accolades. When not managing her multiple businesses, Rachel revels in being a mom to three wildly wonderful children.

Publisher

Rachel DesRochers

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

16 May 2025

Latest episode

20 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

1 of 45 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   20 Oct 2026

   In Pursuit of Permission to Pause

   What happens when the life you've worked so hard to build no longer aligns with the life you want to live? In this episode of the Power to Pursue Podcast, host Rachel DesRochers sits down with Mary Tettenhorst of Impact Talent Strategies for an honest and inspiring conversation about redefining success, embracing change, and finding the courage to pursue a life rooted in purpose. After spending more than two decades helping individuals, teams, and organizations grow, Mary took a leap of faith and launched her own business, turning a dream she'd carried for years into reality. But her entrepreneurial journey also unfolded alongside profound personal loss, reminding her that growth and grief, ambition and grace, can coexist. Together, Rachel and Mary explore the pressures women place on themselves, the importance of giving ourselves permission to pause, and why our definition of success deserves to evolve as we do. From mentoring the next generation of leaders to navigating life's unexpected transitions, Mary shares powerful insights on creating meaningful impact without losing sight of what matters most. This conversation is a reminder that it's never too late to dream bigger, change direction, or redefine what a fulfilling life looks like. Because the pursuit isn't just about what we accomplish. It's about who we become along the way.

2. 

   22 Sept 2026

   In Pursuit of a World Without Alzheimer’s with Mary Miller

   What does it mean to be present when life looks nothing like you expected? In this deeply personal episode of the Power to Pursue Podcast, Rachel sits down with longtime Cincinnati business and community leader Mary Miller for a conversation about leadership, caregiving, grief, gratitude, and learning to make the most of the days we are given. Mary shares her journey from leading Jancoa and helping create the Dream Engineer program to stepping away from her career after her husband, Tony, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Together, Mary and Rachel open up about loving someone through dementia, the realities of caregiving, asking for help, finding joy alongside grief, and why taking care of ourselves matters when we are caring for others. Their conversation is also deeply personal for Rachel, whose mother lived with early-onset Alzheimer’s. Now, Rachel and Mary are turning their experiences into action as co-chairs of the 2026 Greater Cincinnati Walk to End Alzheimer’s. Join them on Saturday, October 3, as thousands come together to honor those we love, support caregivers and families, raise awareness, and help fuel the work toward a future without Alzheimer’s. And through all of it, Mary offers a powerful reminder: we don't have to have the future figured out to appreciate the life that's in front of us today. Because sometimes the most meaningful thing we can pursue is presence.

3. 

   10 Aug 2026

   In Pursuit of Changing the Landscape

   What does it look like to build something from scratch, and believe in its potential long before you know exactly where it will lead? In this episode of the Power to Pursue Podcast, Rachel sits down with Gabby Blocher, CEO of Sunflower Fuels, to talk startups, sustainability, motherhood, fundraising, and what it really takes to create something new. Gabby is a Cincinnati native, Marine Corps veteran, mom of three, and longtime member of the startup community. Today, she leads Sunflower Fuels, a company working to put unused land back into production by growing miscanthus, a crop with the potential to support emerging markets while creating a positive impact on the environment. And while the opportunity is big, Gabby is candid about the reality of building it. Raising money is hard. Growth takes time. There are huge wins, difficult stretches, and plenty of uncertainty along the way. But for Gabby, that's also what makes entrepreneurship exciting: the chance to look at blank space and create something that hasn't existed before. Rachel and Gabby also talk about raising kids while building a company, what it means for children to see their moms lead and create, and why it matters for women to see other women stepping into industries, opportunities, and leadership roles they may not have imagined for themselves. Gabby is in pursuit of making a positive impact on the planet her children will inherit—and doing it in a way that is sustainable, economically viable, and built to last. Because sometimes changing the world starts with looking at unused ground and seeing what could grow there.

Inside a recent episode

In Pursuit of... Thriving, Not Surviving

Published 11 Nov 2025 · Transcript excerpt

[…] No, but it's like, and when you, there's a practicality of it, right? Like there's a level of caring there because you said it exactly was like, we've been a hindrance, but we're actually the greatest solution, right? Like, so what does advocacy or access or policy look like? Like, what are you uncovering? What are you seeing? And what are the solutions that you're helping companies integrate? Yeah, I think it's a lot easier than companies are making it. And that may sound funny because it's a new problem. But I think we're dealing with this concept of menopause, which is ageist and it's sexist at its core, right? […]

Reach and audience

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

Spotify

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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