StepStories Podcast

Host Robin Breuner welcomes actor PJ King to the Step Stories podcast to discuss how Stanislavski-based method acting became cathartic for him, helping him access and express childhood pain and ultimately launching his acting career. PJ shares a difficult upbringing marked by alcoholism, his parents’ separation when he was 13, becoming a caretaker for younger siblings while his mother worked and later struggled with alcoholism, and an emotionally shut-down relationship with his father, who later remarried and formed a new family. He describes discovering an older adopted sister at 21, getting sober at 27, and using recovery, therapy, spirituality, and forgiveness to face truth and build intimacy, leading to meeting his wife Lila. As a stepfather and father, he emphasizes inclusive family language, openness without judgment, discipline, and teaching kindness; he also mentions returning to theater and narrating Bar Rescue.PJ KingEmail: pjking1169@gmail.com Facebook: FB/PjKingInstagram: IG/officialpj_kingRobin Breuner Email: robinbreuner@gmail.comWebsite: www.robinbreuner.comInstagram: stepstoriespodcastIGFacebook: stepstoriespodcastFBLinkedin: RobinBreunerLinkINPodcast: StepStories PodcastThreads: @robinbreunerYouTube: StepStories Podcast YouTube

Host Robin Brunner welcomes Step Stories guest Amy Evans, a wife, mother, stepmother, and cancer survivor from Peachtree City, Georgia, to share lessons from building a blended family of four kids (Carson, Jack, Lydia, and Gage) and navigating years marked by serious illness. Amy describes easing the kids into the relationship through “play date” introductions, aligning parenting styles, and thoughtfully blending traditions like Christmas and family ornaments. She recounts the family supporting the children through their stepfather’s stage four colon cancer and death, her own 2015 triple negative breast cancer treatment, and later her father-in-law’s multiple myeloma while living with them. Amy also shares the 2020 loss of Gage’s father to aggressive cancer, emphasizing resilience, open communication, and how strong co-parenting helped. She updates listeners on the kids’ adult lives and reflects on what she’d do differently.Amy EvansEmail: aevans0721@icloud.comFacebook: FB/Chris & Amy's - Our StoryRobin Breuner Email: robinbreuner@gmail.comWebsite: www.robinbreuner.comInstagram: stepstoriespodcastIGFacebook: stepstoriespodcastFBLinkedin: RobinBreunerLinkINPodcast: StepStories PodcastThreads: @robinbreunerYouTube: StepStories Podcast YouTube

Join host Robin Breuner in this week’s Best Of episode of the Step Stories Podcast as she welcomes renowned stepfamily expert Dr. Patricia Papernow, who has spent five decades researching, teaching, and practicing in stepfamily relationships and is the author of Surviving and Thriving in Stepfamily Relationships and The Stepfamily Handbook. Dr. Papernow explains why stepfamilies differ fundamentally from first-time families, why clinicians receive little stepfamily training despite widespread prevalence, and why what works is not intuitive. She emphasizes that parents should retain discipline and authoritative limit-setting, while stepparents build trust through “connection, not correction,” warmth, and one-to-one time; harsh discipline by stepparents can be toxic. They discuss “stuck insider/outsider” dynamics, moving slowly for kids, communication skills, gray divorce and later-life stepfamilies, and planning for end-of-life care, inheritance, and sentimental items, including after a parent’s death.Dr. Patricia PapernowEmail: ppapernow@gmail.comWebsite: https://stepfamilyrelationships.com/Books: Surviving and Thriving in Stepfamily Relationships The Stepfamily HandbookRobin Breuner Email: robinbreuner@gmail.comWebsite: www.robinbreuner.comInstagram: stepstoriespodcastIGFacebook: stepstoriespodcastFBLinkedin: RobinBreunerLinkINPodcast: StepStories PodcastThreads: @robinbreunerYouTube: StepStories Podcast YouTube

On this week’s episode of the Step Stories Podcast, Host Robin Breuner welcomes writer Tracey Mishel about her adoption and blended-family experience. Adopted through the Louise Wise Adoption Agency, Tracey grew up in Suffern, New York, knowing she was adopted, alongside an older adopted brother, amid family anxiety and conflict. As a high school senior she received a surprise call from her birth mother, Toby, triggering fear from her adoptive parents and warnings from the agency; Tracey initially cut off contact, then later exchanged letters while hiding it from her parents. She eventually met Toby around a friend’s Aspen wedding, met three half-brothers, and describes Toby’s intense push for connection and her work helping others find birth relatives. After conflict, they were estranged for years until Toby’s terminal brain cancer prompted reconciliation, and Tracey maintains relationships with her half-brothers and later connected with her biological father and new half-siblings. She reflects on parenting, writing her book, and advice for open, compassionate adoption relationshipsFeedspot is an RSS Reader that lets you follow your favorite podcasts alongside blogs and news in one place:https://podcast.feedspot.com/blended_family_podcasts/https://podcast.feedspot.com/stepparent_relationship_podcasts/Tracey Mishel:Email: traceymishel@gmail.com Robin Breuner Email: robinbreuner@gmail.comWebsite: www.robinbreuner.comInstagram: stepstoriespodcastIGFacebook: stepstoriespodcastFBLinkedin: RobinBreunerLinkINPodcast: StepStories PodcastThreads: @robinbreunerYouTube: StepStories Podcast YouTube

In this week's Best Of episode, Robin interviews stepmom coach Kristen Skiles, founder of Stepmomming.com, host of Stepmom Made Easy, and author of “Stepmomming Made Easy,” to discuss her work supporting stepmoms worldwide and her annual virtual Stepmom Con. Kristen shares her blended-family story, including marrying a single dad, navigating early high-conflict dynamics, and the unusual experience of her husband’s ex-wife and her new husband living with them for three months, which challenged boundaries but helped Kristen release unrealistic expectations and accept she isn’t her stepdaughter’s mom. They talk about adding two sons after a fertility journey, Kristen’s experience as a stepdaughter, why remarriage divorce rates are high, differences for stepmoms partnered with widowers, and what Stepmom Con offers, including expert interviews, live chat, connection hours, and upgrade options.Kristen SkilesEmail: kristen@stepmomming.comWebsite: Stepmomming.comInstagram: Kristen Skiles (@stepmomming)Facebook: Stepmomming Blog Pintrest : Stepmomming with Kristen SkilesThreads: Stepmomming Made EasyBooks: Stepmomming Made Easy Strategies Everything/Robin Breuner Email: robinbreuner@gmail.comWebsite: www.robinbreuner.comInstagram: stepstoriespodcastIGFacebook: stepstoriespodcastFBLinkedin: RobinBreunerLinkINPodcast: StepStories PodcastThreads: @robinbreunerYouTube: StepStories Podcast YouTubeTikTok: www.tiktok.com/@stepstoriespodcast/video/7569378260706938126

Robin Breuner welcomes author and memoir coach Suzanne Sherman to discuss her book, Living in the Long Shadow: Surviving a Legacy of Mental Illness (publishing Sept. 29). Suzanne recounts her earliest memories of her mother’s sudden-onset schizophrenia, her father’s lack of explanation, and the family’s upheaval, including her mother’s overdose attempt when Suzanne was 10 and later diagnosis and treatment with Thorazine. She describes her parents’ separation, her father dating a woman who became her stepmother, and how Suzanne, at 14, moved in with her father and new wife, initially facing rejection behind closed doors before the relationship improved over time. Suzanne also reflects on her mother’s eventual suicide, a letter explaining she couldn’t live with or without medication, and a later “sign” that brought comfort. She closes with advice that love and feeling valued matter most in stepfamily relationships.Feedspot is an RSS Reader that lets you follow your favorite podcasts alongside blogs and news in one place:https://podcast.feedspot.com/blended_family_podcasts/https://podcast.feedspot.com/stepparent_relationship_podcasts/Suzanne Sherman:Email: suzanne@suzannesherman.com Website: http://www.suzannesherman.comFacebook: FB/suzanne.sherman.14Instagram: IG/suzanne_sherman_authorLinkedin: IN/suzannesherman Books: Living In The Long ShadowRobin Breuner Email: robinbreuner@gmail.comWebsite: www.robinbreuner.comInstagram: stepstoriespodcastIGFacebook: stepstoriespodcastFBLinkedin: RobinBreunerLinkINPodcast: StepStories PodcastThreads: @robinbreunerYouTube: StepStories Podcast YouTube

Host Robin Breuner welcomes Alex Feldman to this week’s episode of the Step Stories podcast to discuss his complex blended-family upbringing and how it shaped his empathy and worldview. Alex describes growing up in Santa Cruz with divorced parents who co-parented 50/50 while living four blocks apart, and how his father’s earlier marriages and relationships resulted in much older half-siblings (Lauren and Jenna) and a half-brother (Evan), plus a stepbrother (Chris). He shares developing closer sibling relationships mainly in adulthood, the role Jenna played as a family “glue,” and his reflections on being the youngest and receiving more consistent parenting. Alex also explains Burning Man as a temporary gifting-culture city and connects it to valuing creativity, diverse backgrounds, and learning from everyone, ending with advice that genuine listening is a modern superpower.Alex Feldman:Email:  afeld11@gmail.com   Robin Breuner Email:  robinbreuner@gmail.comWebsite:  www.robinbreuner.comInstagram: stepstoriespodcastIGFacebook: stepstoriespodcastFBLinkedin:  RobinBreunerLinkINPodcast:  StepStories PodcastThreads:  @robinbreunerYouTube: StepStories Podcast YouTube

On this week’s episode of the Step Stories Podcast, Host Robin Breuner welcomes PR specialist, writer, and advocate Diana Daniele to talk about her blended family and health journey. Diana describes secondary infertility, choosing adoption, and how social workers coached her on respectful adoption language and on not owing strangers personal details; she recounts being asked “Where’s the real mom?” and later apologizing to her daughter for sharing her adoption status. She explains raising a biological son and adopted daughter seven years apart, fearing sibling rivalry (“I’m the real child”) that never materialized, and discusses open adoption, ongoing contact with her daughter’s birth mother via an agency, and reunion at 18 framed as “more love.” Diana also shares five years of chronic migraines, depression and a suicide attempt, and being cured in 2014 by hirudotherapy (leeches), which helped her reconnect with her children; she concludes that love is the answer for parenting. Diana Daniele:Email:            dianadaniele@me.com Website:        https://dianadanielepr.com/ Substack:      @musingtimewithdianadanieleIG:                  ig/dianadanieleprFB:                 fb/diana.f.danieleLinkedin:       in/diana-foutz-danieleYoutube:        @Diana-Daniele Robin Breuner Email:  robinbreuner@gmail.comWebsite:  www.robinbreuner.comInstagram: stepstoriespodcastIGFacebook: stepstoriespodcastFBLinkedin:  RobinBreunerLinkINPodcast:  StepStories PodcastThreads:  @robinbreunerYouTube: StepStories Podcast YouTube

In this week’s Best Of episode of The Step Stories podcast, Robin sits down with Cameron Normand, CEO of Stepfamily Solutions and host of the Stepmom Diaries podcast. Cameron shares how she shifted from a 23-year career as a lawyer and policy executive on Capitol Hill and for Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures into stepfamily coaching after becoming a stepmom of four in a high-conflict situation and struggling to find resources. They discuss why stepfamilies are underserved, how untrained guidance can harm families, and Cameron’s Step Family Coach Academy built around research and Dr. Patricia Papernow’s framework. Cameron highlights common challenges like the “stuck outsider” role, Mother’s Day and event dynamics, the importance of encouraging parent–child one-on-one time, and key advice for stepparents: focus on connection over correction and be less hard on yourself. 2026 Stepmoms Summit Affiliate Link Cameron NormandEmail:  cameron@stepfamilysolutions.comWebsite: https://stepfamilysolutions.com/contributors/cameron-normand/Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/stepfamilysolutionsFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/stepfamilysolutionsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stepfamily-solutions/Podcast: Stepmom Diaries TikTok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@stepfamilysolutionsPintrest : https://ro.pinterest.com/stepfamilysolutions/ Robin Breuner Email:  robinbreuner@gmail.comWebsite:  www.robinbreuner.comInstagram: stepstoriespodcastIGFacebook: stepstoriespodcastFBLinkedin:  RobinBreunerLinkINPodcast:  StepStories PodcastThreads:  @robinbreunerYouTube: StepStories PodcastYouTube