What if the parts of you you’ve worked hardest to hide are the ones quietly shaping everything?

Cari opens a deeper layer of the work by naming what most of us instinctively avoid—the emotions, patterns, and experiences we’ve tucked away in order to function, belong, or feel in control. She calls it “trash,” not to diminish it, but to make it approachable enough to finally turn toward.

Because what we push down doesn’t disappear. It lives in the body, in the nervous system, in the subtle ways we react, connect, withdraw, or overcompensate. Even when we don’t see it, others can feel it. And often, we’re living inside stories about ourselves that were built to protect us—but no longer tell the truth.

Through her own experience, Cari shares how panic interrupted the version of reality she had been holding onto. What felt like something breaking was actually something surfacing. Beneath the anxiety was a deeper recognition—about fear, about love, about the gap between who she believed herself to be and what was actually there.

From that moment, the work became clear: not fixing, not avoiding, but learning how to look. Learning how to stay. Learning how to tell the truth without turning away.

This isn’t a one-time excavation. It’s a relationship.

And what we find, if we’re willing to keep going, has the potential to change everything.

The Treasures in the Trash:

1. Naming What We Avoid – Cari defines “trash” as the parts of ourselves we hide, suppress, or feel shame around.
2. The Shadow Is Already Seen – Even when we don’t acknowledge our shadow, others can feel it through subtle, unconscious signals.
3. Panic as Truth Rising – Her early panic attacks weren’t random, but a breaking point where buried truth demanded to be felt.
4. The Lie We Learn to Live In – She uncovers how the story of a “perfect life” protected her from facing deeper pain.
5. Turning Toward Instead of Away – The episode invites a lifelong practice of meeting ourselves fully and using what we find as fuel for growth.

About Cari:

Cari Jacobs-Crovetto is an executive and leadership coach and the founder of Brave Directions, where she works with senior leaders and C-suite executives to strengthen interpersonal and team relationships, navigate conflict skillfully, and deepen self-awareness, influence, and confidence.

Before becoming a coach, Cari spent three decades in marketing and product leadership roles across Fortune 100 companies, media networks, consulting firms, and venture-backed startups. In 2019, she was named one of Forbes’ Top 50 Chief Marketing Officers.

Cari brings together decades of operating experience with more than 45 years of Buddhist meditation study and practice, integrating deep inner work with practical leadership development.

She facilitates the renowned Interpersonal Dynamics (“Touchy Feely”) course at Stanford Graduate School of Business where she also coaches grad school students, leads meditation classes and leadership workshops, and hosts the podcast Finding Treasures in the Trash.

Her mantra: Fierce Heart — where compassion meets bold, badass leadership.

https://www.bravedirections.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/carisf/

https://www.instagram.com/cari_bravedirections/

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Mentioned in this episode:

This show was brought to you in part by the Magic Thread Media Network. To learn more visit: https://magicthreadmedia.com/

There’s a moment in every life where something cracks open—quietly or violently—and asks us to look closer. Not at what’s polished or presentable, but at what we’ve hidden, avoided, or quietly abandoned within ourselves.

This opening episode is an invitation into that space.

Cari Jacobs-Crovetto shares a life shaped by both deep sensitivity and profound disruption—early vision loss, emotional instability at home, panic attacks, and the relentless pull toward understanding herself more fully. What emerges is not a story of overcoming, but of turning toward. Again and again.

This isn’t about fixing what’s broken. It’s about reclaiming what was never meant to be thrown away.

And maybe, just maybe, the parts of you that feel like “too much” are the very places where your life begins again.

The Treasures in the Trash:

1. An Invitation to Turn Toward What We Avoid – Cari reframes shadow and discomfort as the starting point for real, lasting transformation.
2. A Childhood Shaped by Unseen Reality – Growing up without clear vision deepens her connection to intuition and inner awareness.
3. Living Without Emotional Safety – Early exposure to addiction, instability, and fear creates patterns that later demand healing.
4. Panic as a Catalyst for Awakening – Debilitating anxiety becomes the doorway into embodiment, presence, and inner exploration.
5. Choosing Courage Over Avoidance – The episode closes by naming resistance as the entry point into truth, integration, and self-reclamation.

About Cari:

Cari Jacobs-Crovetto is an executive and leadership coach and the founder of Brave Directions, where she works with senior leaders and C-suite executives to strengthen interpersonal and team relationships, navigate conflict skillfully, and deepen self-awareness, influence, and confidence.

Before becoming a coach, Cari spent three decades in marketing and product leadership roles across Fortune 100 companies, media networks, consulting firms, and venture-backed startups. In 2019, she was named one of Forbes’ Top 50 Chief Marketing Officers.

Cari brings together decades of operating experience with more than 45 years of Buddhist meditation study and practice, integrating deep inner work with practical leadership development.

She facilitates the renowned Interpersonal Dynamics (“Touchy Feely”) course at Stanford Graduate School of Business where she also coaches grad school students, leads meditation classes and leadership workshops, and hosts the podcast Finding Treasures in the Trash.

Her mantra: Fierce Heart — where compassion meets bold, badass leadership.

https://www.bravedirections.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/carisf/

https://www.instagram.com/cari_bravedirections/

Thanks for listening!

Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page.

Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!

Subscribe to the podcast

If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

Leave us an Apple Podcasts review

Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you are enjoying the show, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts.

Mentioned in this episode:

This show was brought to you in part by the Magic Thread Media Network. To learn more visit: https://magicthreadmedia.com/