# Choosing Joy Through the Journey: Resilience, Connection, and Living Unstoppable – Amberly Lago

An episode of [Amplify Speakers Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1874167939), 23 Aug 2026, 30 min.

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Choosing Joy Through the Journey: Resilience, Connection, and Living Unstoppable – Amberly Lago Summary In this episode of the Amplify Speakers podcast, host Chris Sund interviews Amberly Lago. She shares her powerful journey of overcoming adversity, finding joy through pain, and inspiring others to live unstoppable lives. This episode highlights the importance of connection, gratitude, and resilience in transforming challenges into opportunities for growth. Takeaways · Amberly Lago's personal story of overcoming a motorcycle accident and chronic pain · The importance of connection and community in healing · The role of gratitude and perspective in cultivating resilience · The Unstoppable Life Women Mastermind and its impact · The significance of joy as a strategy during hard times · The story behind the title of Amberly's latest book, 'Joy Through the Journey' · The ripple effect of small acts of kindness and authenticity · Amberly's experience with vulnerability and authenticity on stage and social media · The importance of self-compassion and giving oneself grace · The impact of mentorship and encouragement in personal growth · Resilience is built through perspective shifts and gratitude · Connection with others is a vital part of healing and growth · Small acts of kindness can have profound ripple effects · Joy can be cultivated even in the midst of pain and adversity · Authenticity and vulnerability open doors to opportunities and deeper connections Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Amberly Lago's story and achievements 01:22 Amberly's motivation to share her journey of resilience 02:10 The power of connection and community in overcoming adversity 03:35 Amberly's childhood experiences of cheering others on 05:00 The inception of the Unstoppable Life Women Mastermind 06:55 The impact of the 'Unstoppable' event during the pandemic 07:24 The inspiration behind the book 'Joy Through the Journey' 10:05 Understanding joy versus happiness in difficult times 11:09 Amberly's diagnosis with complex regional pain syndrome 12:28 Using gratitude and perspective to spark joy 14:21 The Spark methodology and Kindle Connection 16:09 A pivotal moment that deepened Amberly’s connection to others 20:25 The story of the sparkling water that inspired sobriety 24:40 The importance of being a good human and living with heart 28:21 Reflecting on pride and personal growth in the past year 29:31 Closing thoughts and encouragement to live unstoppable Quotes "You have a PhD in heart." "You never know who's watching." "You are a light in the world." Links Amberly Lago’s Profile: https://amplifyspeakers.com/amberly-lago/ Amberly Lago’s Website: https://amberlylago.com/ Amberly Lago’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amberlylago/ Amberly Lago’s Podcast: https://amberlylago.com/podcast Amberly Lago’s Book: https://amberlylago.com/books

## Transcript

Chris Sund: Welcome to the Amplify Speakers Podcast. I'm your host, Chris Sund. And today's guest is someone who doesn't just talk about resilience. She has lived it. Amberly Lago is an internationally recognized keynote speaker, a two times best-selling author, a TEDx speaker, a peak performance coach, and the host of the Amberly Lago Show, a podcast ranked in the top 1% globally. Amberly has shared this stage with some of the biggest aims of personal development, and she brings her message of grit, resilience, and human connection to organizations including Google, Lululemon, and Athleta. But what makes Amberly's story so powerful is what sits behind all of these accomplishments. After a devastating motorcycle accident, she's endured 34 surgeries. She fought to save her leg and learned how to navigate life with. Chronic pain. But instead of allowing that experience to define what was possible for, she turned it into a mission to help other people move through adversity and find strength, purpose, and even joy along the way. I have been looking forward to this conversation so much. Please welcome everyone, Amberly Lago.
Amberly Lago: thank you, Chris. I have been looking forward to this too and so enjoyed just talking. We've been talking for a while and we're like, yeah, we're we're doing an interview today. So thank you so much for having me on.
Chris Sund: Absolutely. I mean, like I shared earlier, you're somebody who absolutely inspires me. I enjoy reading your content and and we were saying, I just put it out there. There's times where like I get in my own head or think of things, and you've put things out there that that just make it realize like it's okay. And so I'm so excited to tell. And for people that maybe haven't heard all of your story and some of the things, and just showed the world who Amberly Lago is. So.
Amberly Lago: Well, thank you. And that makes me feel good that something that I shared resonated with you. And I think that is, you know, that always helps. And it's one of the reasons I do what I do is is the it's that connection with others. And when you know, I'm not the only one, or they've been through that too. And look, they're getting through it or they've achieved something. They've been through something hard and they got through it. So that was the main reason I start that's why I wrote my first book. and then, you know, tried to figure out social media, which I had not used at all. And my kids were making fun of me for even trying. But that that passion for showing others that they could get through hard things far outweighed the fear that I had of putting myself out there.
Chris Sund: Well, let's talk a little bit about connection because you're somebody that is always cheering others on. I i
Amberly Lago: Mm.
Chris Sund: I'll get on social media and I will look at somebody's posts and there you are in the comments and with the nicest, sweetest things ever. And I'm like, it's just can't be a coincidence. And you can tell when somebody is like, is that person? You're just like a natural cheerleader. And so yeah.
Amberly Lago: Well thank you. And we were talking earlier and I was like, Well, I was the mascot of my high school and I was the, you know, I was the choreographer for the drill team, for the cheerleaders, for a cappella, for drama, and always loved cheering people on. And I'll tell you something that I just thought about that's kind of funny is in high school, you know, you have all the different clicks or whatever. And I guess I was in like the popular crowd. And one of the friends in the crowd in in the group said, Amberly, you can't be talking to everybody. If you want to be with us, then you can't talk to all these other people and band and the you know, it's horrible. High school can be people can be so cruel. And I said, well, I'm going to be friends with whoever I want to be friends with. And I'm going to keep talking to everybody. And So they stopped talking to me for a while and then they came back a couple of days later and said, Well, I guess you can still be friends with us. I guess you're gonna still talk to people. But so I think it's always been in my heart to cheer people on and see people win. And I think it's really that joy, that you can spread joy is contagious. And so I I do love that. I think that's why I started the Unstoppable Life Women Mastermind, because I want to see other women rise up, get on stages, start their shows, write their books. And I think if more people realized that, you know, this had this mindset of abundance and that we all rise as we lift others, I think the world would be a better better place if we just helped each other.
Chris Sund: Yes. You know, when was there like a defining moment or anything that said this is I want to make the unstoppable event, would you say?
Amberly Lago: Well, actually my husband thought I was crazy because I had planned on starting this unstoppable event and mastermind that and I will br never forget the date because I had worked on it for six months. I was launching it on March sixteenth of twenty twenty. And that was my birthday. And it was also when the world shut down. And my husband was like, You're gonna start something called unstoppable when the world just stopped. And I said, Yes, I sure am. And so I did, and it started out with 13 people and then 45 people and then, you know, 145 people until this last year we had 230 people and donated all proceeds to Call to Freedom, which is an organization that helps survivors of human trafficking. So I thought What can we do not to just empower women and give them a stage to share their message, but also have it be a ripple effect and go for the good of others? And so that's what we did. And I think that, you know, coming together, I really wanted people to realize that when we come together, we can be unstoppable.
Chris Sund: Man, what a great reason to have it. And you know, we were talking earlier, just that that impact that you make and how I know that can have like a ripple effect where the one person you do, it it goes to the next one. One of the things you talk a lot about is is joy. And obviously it has to be an inspiration to to your latest book. Where, you know, where did that come from? Was there something that was like I mean, to write a book, to have that passion, because it's so much work. What was the
Amberly Lago: It is.
Chris Sund: main inspiration behind it all?
Amberly Lago: well, I can't take credit for that title because I had a friend of mine, we were talking, and he actually wrote the foreword to the book. His name's John Gordon. He's my favorite author. He's my he's actually my favorite speaker. such a good, good man. And we were talking, he said, Amberly, I'm really good at titles for books, and your next book should be called, you know, Joy Through the Journey. And I was like, okay, thanks, John Gordon. I'm gonna write that on a sticky note. It was on a sticky note on my computer for like two years. And I didn't realize how much I did, I talked about joy until I had this, you know, I thought, well, if I ever get around to writing that book, I would love to have Wiley publish it. Lo and behold, I get an email from Wiley, and they're like, Hey, do you have a book idea? I pitched this book of joy through the journey. And I come out of my office and my husband I told my husband, Hey, I just got a book deal. He goes, when are you gonna have time to write another book? And so he wasn't quite the reaction I was hoping for. But I took a good hard look at my life and was eye sparking joy. And I realized life had gotten very eventful and very full, very lifey, which there were some really good things happening. But I was starting to let the things slip that brought me joy. And I thought, I can't write a book about joy unless I am sparking some joy in my life. And I looked back at all the messages through my newsletters, through posts, and I didn't realize how much I did actually talk about joy. And when it came down to it, everything I share in the book is not from something that I've read about, it is from something that I have lived through. So I share some very vulnerable moments of, you know, about sobriety, about hitting, hitting the wall, hitting rock bottom, but using joy as a strategy to get through those moments, that it's not something that you achieve at the end of the accomplishment or, you know, through a hard time and you
Chris Sund: It is a wonderful message. I think a lot of times people attribute joy with happiness. And they they are
Amberly Lago: Mm-hmm.
Chris Sund: very similar. And I think it comes from going, okay, if I'm doing something fun, right, then then joy comes with it. Or I'm doing some with someone I like, then joy comes with it. I think it's a very different message to think of. But when you're going through something hard, that's not usually the first word that comes to people's minds. So How do you talk about that and how do you get that lens when somebody is going through those moments that are heavy and hard to bring joy into them?
Amberly Lago: Well, I mean, first of all, I I wanna say I don't understand every single person's situation, but I do understand pain. I and I do understand heartbreak and hard times. And you know, I was diagnosed with this nerve disease that's called complex regional pain syndrome. And when I was first diagnosed with it, it felt like a life sentence because there's supposedly no known cure. And I've tried everything under the moon to try to get a cure, even gone out of the country to try radical treatments. But to be told, you know, I was told I would never work again. I was told I'd be wheelchair bound for the rest of my life. And I thought that can't be the life for me. And I realized that, you know, it's not our circumstances that define us, but it's our resiliency in what we choose to do, what's left. And we can choose joy. And the easiest way to do that for me, because I still wake up in pain every day. And I mean, you should see me when I get out of bed. It takes a while when I'm hobbling around to kind of work through the pain, and I'm just grateful that I can walk because I was bedridden for so long. And so I really talk about ways that I have been able to cultivate resilience and spark joy. And the first and easiest way that I share that is something really simple. And it's to shift your perspective. And the easiest way to do that is with gratitude. And You know, gratitude is alchemy. It really turns what you can't do into what you can do, and what you don't have into what you do have. It really shifts your perspective and gets you focused on what is good in your life. And it's something that I do every day. It's something that allowed me to get through moments in the hospital when I couldn't get out of bed and I was going through surgery after surgery. And so I think it also when I was writing my book, I had to learn to really prioritize soul care, not just self-care, but soul care and think about what are the things that really light me up, what are the things that
Chris Sund: Yeah, well, the perspective that anyone can get from reading your books, and from learning from you. I mean, you've been through a lot of things that, you know, most of us would hopefully imagine we don't have to go through. And to hear you say how much that, you know, you could tell the connection piece has helped you. I don't wanna dig into it too much, but if you wouldn't mind sharing like You know, when is one of those moments something sparked in you when you said it that like really goes, Man, I needed that if I didn't have that, you know, it could have been a different outcome.
Amberly Lago: well talking about connection, I think you know, I always had a really big life. I had a successful career. And going through surgery after surgery was hard, but that wasn't the hardest part. It was when I got home from the hospital and I was diagnosed with this incurable disease. I had lost my career. I had two point nine million dollars worth of medical expenses. I could not get out of pain and I had so much shame about the way that I looked now. I mean, I'm completely scarred and deformed from the hip down on my right side. And my world got really small. I did not want people to know that I was in pain. I did not want people to pity me. I didn't want to admit that I needed help. I think growing up in Texas, I had this like. Idea that if I was vulnerable or if I shared that I needed help, that it would somehow make me look weak or feel like a burden. And I didn't want that. And so my world got really small. And it was, I was actually at a point where I thought my husband could find another wife. My kids could get another mom. They don't, they deserve so much more. And I was ready to give up. And, you know, I went from Being this successful business owner and an athlete sponsored by Nike, to all of a sudden I was drinking every day to try to numb out the pain. And it was in that moment that I connected with God first. I got on my knees and I prayed and I was like, I need help. And I feel like that gave me that little bit of courage that I needed to reach out to one person. And that was so scary to me to reach out to one person and share that I needed help. She was a former client of mine who I knew that was sober, and I told her, Hey, I think I got a problem. I need some help. And she goes, I got you. I'm gonna take K, you know, I'm gonna help you. I'm gonna take you to a meeting. Well, I didn't hear from her for a week. And it was to the point where I was like, I I think I might die. And I really need help. And I share that not to make her look bad. I share that
Chris Sund: I absolutely agree with that. And that same connection that you use both in yourself and that you teach about it, you know, earlier you're sharing, and and I just kind of want to bring it up again because it's such a great story, is that you've made that ripple effect doing things you didn't even realize you were doing. Right. And so I would love you to just kind of like go back to that night when you ordered a glass of sparkling water and how That made a big impact on someone else's life.
Amberly Lago: Yeah, you you just never you never know who's watching, right? I mean, you just and I share that with the ladies that I coach, like and even you saying how you saw me comment on somebody's post, did you know that that's how I actually got my TED TEDx talk? I mean, it was the 10th and it was the Berkeley 10-year anniversary, and I had a curator that had been watching me. On social media, not just what I was posting. She was looking at how I responded to people. And she asked me to speak at the 10th anniversary TEDx talk. I thought it was a joke. I got a mess, a DM on Instagram. And I emailed her back and we got on a call. I was like, lo and behold, it was real. And I was so intimidated. I had imposter syndrome. Everybody else had all these initials. behind their name. I was the only one that did not have a PhD and she could tell I was intimidated. And and I said, well, yeah. I said, I'm not trying to promote my book. I'm not, or anything like that. But I'm, she goes, are are you feeling insecure about that? And I said, well, yes, I am. I said, is there any way we could put at least like author behind my name? She goes, look, I said, because everybody else has a PhD. She goes, you know what? You have a PhD in heart, and that's why we want you on our stage. And that changed everything for me. So I wanted to share that story. Anybody who is ever struggling with feeling insecure, remember you have a PhD in heart, and you can do all those things. But I I share that also like because you never know who's watching. And so I had just spoken at this huge event and All the speakers were being taken out to this VIP night at this fancy party, and everybody's ordering drinks. And I order my sparkling water, not thinking about it. And the guy next to me who was a speaker, I just met him at this event. And he told me a year later, he said, Yeah, Amberly, I didn't want you to feel awkward or bad about you were ordering water and everybody else was drinking. So I I ordered water. You
Chris Sund: We we had a good chance talking earlier about about your daughters and how proud you have to be of everything that they're doing in in their own lives. But I I really want to circle y you made a comment, man, it hit me. When you were talking about yourself and what it felt like to go on that TEDx stage, and they said you have a PhD in heart. And when I think of my own kids, I tell people, regardless of what they decide to do in their future, whatever career path or anything they want to do, if there's one thing that I know I just want them to be, it is good humans. And so in the category of I think what matters more in life than anything, any profession, because man, I hope a job title doesn't go under under the gravestone.
Amberly Lago: Mm-hmm.
Chris Sund: Having a PhD in heart might be one of the best compliments I've ever heard.
Amberly Lago: Wow, isn't it? That shifted everything for me. Like, talk about sparking joy, that just was like it sparked joy, but it gave me that little bit of confidence that I needed to keep practicing every single day and to step onto that stage, which was amazing. I mean, can you believe that was the first stage for speaking that I had ever Stepped on. And I'm glad I didn't really know at the time that that would be on TED.com and that it would have, you know, hundreds of thousands of views because I probably really would have been even more scared. But you never know, just one person breathing that little bit of encouragement into you can shift everything. And so I think it's important, you know, when you think of somebody to reach out to them, to encourage someone, to see someone, to see their gifts so they can go out there and be a light in the world.
Chris Sund: I completely agree and you are definitely one of those lights in the world. Before I wrap up, I I really just have to know this. That event planner that DM'd you, have you ever told her that you reshare the story of what she said to you?
Amberly Lago: yes. We actually she is an angel. We actually have become friends and I haven't talked to her in a while. But yes, she knows I talk about her and her husband. And you know, you meet some people and you just instantly connect, kind of like how I feel about you. Like I'm like, you've you you're stuck with me now for life. We're friends for life. But there's just some people you connect on a deeper level. Like you just get it. You get them. I don't know if you feel that way, but I think energy's everything and everything is energy. And there was something about her. We just connected and she knows that story and we've become friends ever since. And I don't even know if she still I haven't talked to her and it's been a year. So I need to reach out to her today. This is my sign to reach out to her.
Chris Sund: that. Well, I I have one more and I said that was gonna be it, but as we kind of close and wrap this up, I would love to know if you looked at this year, what is something that has made you very proud?
Amberly Lago: something that's made me very proud is giving giving myself grace so I could take the kind of my foot off the gas a little bit and be very present with my daughter who's about to go to college. I think that really being in alignment. with my values and my vision and doing things to really take care of myself so I can take better care of others.
Chris Sund: That is something to be very proud of. Well, I want to make sure everyone that is listening to this, I hope you've already heard of Amberly. If for some reason you haven't, go to the show notes because Amberly's website's gonna be in there. A link to the page that has information on her books, as well as her podcast. You'd be crazy not to check all of it out. And I just wanna say a very huge thank you, Amber Lee. This has been such an away amazing way to start the day having you on here.
Amberly Lago: thank you so much, Chris. And I can't wait to have you on my show. So y'all have to to listen just so you can hear Chris's story. So I just appreciate you so much.
Chris Sund: Thank you so much. Right back at you.

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