# Leslie Ellen Mathews on Why Every Turn That Felt Wrong Was Actually Exactly Right

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-scenic-route-with-victoria-steward-7782802/leslie-ellen-mathews-on-why-every-turn-that-felt-wrong-was-actually-exactly-right
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-scenic-route-with-victoria-steward-7782802/leslie-ellen-mathews-on-why-every-turn-that-felt-wrong-was-actually-exactly-right.md
Podcast: [The Scenic Route with Victoria Steward](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-scenic-route-with-victoria-steward-7782802)
Published: 2026-06-03T10:00:00+00:00
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Duration seconds: 3456

## Resource

Have you ever been doing exactly what felt right... and had everyone around you tell you it was a mistake? My guest this week is Leslie Ellen Mathews: therapist, divorce and relationship coach, MBSR teacher, podcast coach, and one of the most multi-passionate humans I have ever had the pleasure of sitting down with. Her path has included neuro speech therapy, neuroscience research, law school, a master’s in health administration, staying home with three kids, photography, and eventually clinical social work. At each turn, the people around her told her to stop. Go back. Do something practical with her education. And at each turn, she kept going anyway. What she couldn’t have known then is that every single thread she picked up would become part of the tapestry. The camera work that made podcasting intuitive. The legal background that shapes how she supports women through divorce. The neuroscience obsession that runs underneath all of her therapeutic work. None of it was wasted. None of it was a detour. CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome & Leslie Introduces Herself: Multi-Passionate, Therapist, Divorce Coach 01:18 What Human Design Told Her About Why Corporate Life Never Fit 04:23 From Social Work to Speech Pathology: Following the Neuroscience Thread 06:48 Evaluating Brain Injuries at Barnes-Jewish: When the Work Really Lit Her Up 13:14 Single Mom, Neuroscience Researcher, Law School: How She Got There 15:08 Why She Left Law After One Year: Identity, Family, and a Pivot Nobody Understood 19:29 Photography as a Gateway Back to Creativity (and a Little Girl With a Disposable Camera) 22:25 The Reason She Needed to Experience Every Role She Ever Had 27:01 How Meditation and MBSR Changed Everything: The Path She Teaches Daily 31:35 The MBSR Silent Retreat Vision That Ended All Doub…

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