Weathering Life w/ Belinda Jensen & Lee Valsvik

Joan Steffend, a beloved, award-winning news anchor for KARE 11. A pioneer host of HGTV Decorating Cents, plus specials such as HGTV Dream Home, White House Christmas, and the Rose Parade. After leaving regular TV work, Steffend shifted focus. She has written inspirational books. She has been involved in nonprofit/kindness-focused work. We are treated with a conversation with her on how she spends her days now and what projects she is working on.

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Life brings storms and sunshine, and our guest knows both. Boyd Huppert joined KARE 11 in 1996. For three decades, he's told Minnesotans' stories on 'Land of 10,000 Stories,' like a friendship between a WWII veteran and the preschooler next door. He has a national Emmy, 24 Murrow Awards, and a spot in the Minnesota Broadcasters Hall of Fame, and he now coaches storytellers across 49 newsrooms nationwide. In 2021, he shared his own health journey with viewers.

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Many Minnesota families are turning their attention to hunting season, and that's why Laura Schara is joining us. She co-hosts Minnesota Bound, where she joined her father, Ron Schara, on a show that has spent 30 years on TV sharing the stories of people who love the outdoors. A city girl with country roots, she also hosts 'Wild in the Kitchen,' creating field-to-fork wild game recipes, and she's now taken up competitive mounted shooting. Whether it's the marsh, the kitchen, or the saddle, Laura knows how to weather it all.

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Katie Dorn’s memoir Magnolias in Winter recounts the years she spent caring for her beloved sister Ginny after a terminal cancer diagnosis, navigating hospital rooms and everyday life while Ginny was a single mother of three young daughters, and ultimately adopting the girls after Ginny’s death; through honest reflections on grief, faith, sisterhood, and caregiving, Dorn shows how unexpected signs of hope—like magnolias blooming in a Minnesota winter—can appear amid profound loss, offering companionship and encouragement to anyone carrying both love and heartbreak at once.

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Randy Shaver joins us and talks about his transition to retirement after 40+ years at KARE 11. He is far from fully retired but loves his new pace of life. This is his favorite and busiest season, hosting a live-streaming prep football show called Strib Varsity on Friday nights. Even though he has been covering prep sports his whole career, he talks about why this show is different and so exciting and satisfying. He updates us on his amazing charity, The Randy Shaver Cancer Research Fund, that he runs with his wife, Roseann. He and his wife love that both of their boys and their grandchildren live close, and they get to spend plenty of time with them.

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Five WNBA championships and a reputation as one of the toughest competitors the game has ever seen. She built a legacy on the court, and now she's shaping the next generation from the sideline. This week, we're thrilled to welcome Rebekkah Brunson, assistant coach of the Minnesota Lynx and one of the greatest players in WNBA history. From championship banners to the coaching bench, she's seen it all, and she's here to talk about it.

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Ben Leber spent a decade as an NFL linebacker (2002–2011), suiting up for the Chargers, Vikings, and Rams. Today he’s a familiar face and voice across Minnesota media—host of Twin Cities Live on KSTP, Vikings analyst on Fox 9, gameday sideline reporter for the Vikings, and a mainstay on KFAN. In this episode, we talk about his transition from the field to the studio and sideline, the lessons from his upbringing that shaped his success in every chapter of his career, and, of course, his take on the Vikings and predictions for the season.

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Jonathan St. Clair started the Wave Maker Tour, and we had to talk to him about his remarkable summer. He traveled to 30 Major League Baseball ballparks in 30 days, traveling (planes, trains & automobiles) across the country, always donning a life jacket with a message about something that affects every family: water safety. Jonathan and his wife Julie founded the Jasper Ray Foundation in 2014 after their son Jasper's drowning death who was only 21 months old. They have a mission centered on drowning prevention and child safety. One of his most impactful days was the day he came to Target Field accompanied by the Taylor Family, the founders of Abbey’s Hope.

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Our guests today are Tigirlily Gold — sisters Kendra and Krista, the North Dakota-raised country duo who won the ACM Award for New Duo or Group of the Year and have racked up hits like ‘Shoot Tequila’ and ‘I Tried a Ring On.’ They perform Saturday, Sept 12 at Buckhill in Burnsville and have a new record coming out next month!

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Karen Ruth began flying airplanes before she ever earned her driver’s license—an early leap that sparked a lifelong path in commercial aviation. A Burnsville native, she logged experience on fishing charters and Schwan’s cargo trips before reaching Delta, where she recently became the airline’s longest-tenured female captain. Her seniority No. 17 ended April 18, after she flew her final wide-body mission from Dublin to MSP.

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This week we talk to an undrafted baseball player who fought his way to the major leagues, became a gritty leadoff hitter on TWO championship teams, scored one of the most important runs in Minnesota sports history, experienced baseball on two continents, and then spent the last two decades plus telling the story of the game he once played. Oh, did we mention that he is also a gardener! Dan Gladden joins us this week on Weathering Life with Bel & Lee.

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What happens when your kids aren't little, but haven't left the nest? You're still wearing all the hats, but feeling a pull toward your own goals. Sarah Colbert realized so many moms feel stuck between the roles they love and the things they still want to pursue. That’s why she created “Balanced Mom Life,” a top 2% global podcast! The transition no one warns moms about when kids begin needing us differently.

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Kathleen Vohs, a leading social psychologist and Chair in Marketing at the Carlson School of Management, joins us to explore what makes life meaningful. We discuss struggle, purpose, connection, life transitions, and why discomfort can be an important part of growth. Plus, we dive into the idea that “bad is stronger than good” and how negative experiences can shape us more than positive ones.

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I invited Paul Douglas on the podcast because he's been my mentor and played a pivotal role in my career. We discuss how our paths first crossed, why mentoring and giving back matter, and how Paul's remarkable career in weather and technology evolved. A serial entrepreneur, he has founded or co-founded several weather-tech companies that ended up playing a role in the movies Jurassic Park and Twister

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Cory Cove is one of the driving voices behind KFAN’s Power Trip Morning Show. He’s best known as the creator and host of the wildly popular Initials Game, a fast‑paced trivia showdown that’s become a Minnesota staple and even spun off into live events around the country and a board game. Beyond radio, Cory is also a dedicated poker player who’s taken his talents to the felt at the World Series of Poker, adding another competitive arena to his already eclectic resume.

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Weathering Life isn't about having all the answers. It's about enjoying the forecast with the right company. Amelia Santaniello exemplifies this with all of the career moves she has made successfully and how she continues to challenge herself even as she starts her fourth decade of broadcasting. With her many talents, she creates a space where the people around her are lifted by her, and her bright light shines on them, and that includes her husband and co-anchor Frank Vascellaro. Through it all, they also raised three beautiful children, and that is not easy with the broadcast evening schedules. She talks about all of it and enlightens us on how she weathered the storms along the way.

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This week, we’re diving into the art of transition in the restaurant world—a business built on constant change. Chef John Mihajlov of Amplified Hospitality joins Bel and Lee to share lessons on resilience, evolution, opening and closing restaurants. Plus, the inside scoop on the new Mystic Lake Amphitheater and its food.

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Our guest this week is our friend Mark Rosen, a beloved fixture in Minnesota sports for nearly five decades — the longtime WCCO‑TV (Channel 4) Sports Anchor. Mark faced the heartbreaking passing of his wife, Denise, after her battle with a brain tumor — a deeply personal journey he shares with us honestly and with grace. Now, he’s navigating what he calls his “second chapter.”

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This week we sit down with Eric Perkins. Perk at Play Productions is his amazing company, and he tells us all about how he started it and how it has evolved. A proud dad of three amazing children, we chatted with him during Father’s Day week. Being a hands-on Dad was one of the reasons he made a huge change in his life right after the pandemic. We talk about his forecast moving forward and how it might seem risky to leave a career and go out on your own, but how rewarding it is once you make the decision.

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Dave Ryan has had a storied career in radio here in Minnesota. How did he land the job in the first place and how did he decide that this was the time to say goodbye to his loyal audience? What is his forecast looking forward, and how does someone transition out of such a rigid early morning minute-by-minute schedule that has been their life for 33 years?

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