Episode notes
Who are you when you separate your identity from the expectations placed on you?
In this episode of Inherited: The Podcast, we sit down with Denise Joseph, Owner of Called Into Confidence, Public Health Analyst, and Whole Brain Thinking practitioner, for a powerful conversation about identity, confidence, culture, faith, purpose, and understanding how we think.
Originally from Trinidad, Denise knows what it feels like to live between worlds—navigating cultural expectations, professional responsibilities, and the quiet pull toward a deeper purpose.
Her work combines lived experience, public health, Whole Brain Thinking and HBDI®, and a faith-centered approach to helping purpose-driven people move from confusion to clarity and step confidently into their calling.
In “Finding Your Identity Without Losing Yourself,” we explore how the expectations we inherit can quietly influence the decisions we make about our careers, relationships, leadership, and even who we believe we're allowed to become.
In this episode, we discuss:
• Cultural identity and navigating life between different worlds • The expectations families and communities can place on us • How inherited definitions of success can shape our choices • Understanding your individual thinking preferences • Whole Brain Thinking and HBDI® • Confidence versus certainty • Why self-awareness can change how we communicate and make decisions • Code-switching and navigating professional environments • The experiences of Black and Latina professionals • Faith, identity, purpose, and discovering your calling • How to recognize when you're carrying someone else's expectations or fears • Breaking generational patterns without rejecting where you came from • Finding clarity when you constantly second-guess yourself • Building confidence without losing the parts of yourself that matter
Denise challenges us to consider that sometimes what we inherit isn't only trauma.
We inherit expectations.
We inherit ideas about success.
We inherit fears.
We inherit cultural messages about what is acceptable.
And sometimes we inherit a version of ourselves that was shaped around what everyone else needed us to be.
Understanding where those messages came from gives us an opportunity to decide which ones still belong in our lives.
Because finding yourself doesn't have to mean rejecting your family, faith, culture, or community.
Sometimes it means understanding everything that shaped you—and finally giving yourself permission to choose what comes next.
About Denise Joseph
Denise Joseph is a Public Health Analyst, Whole Brain Thinking practitioner, and Owner of Called Into Confidence. She helps purpose-driven individuals better understand how they think, recognize their strengths, communicate with confidence, and move toward greater clarity in their personal and professional lives.
🌐 Connect with Denise: calledintoconfidence.com
About Inherited
Inherited: The Podcast explores the stories, beliefs, trauma, resilience, culture, and emotional patterns passed from one generation to the next—and asks what we will intentionally choose to heal, redefine, and carry forward.
🎙️ Real Stories. Deep Roots. Generational Healing.
Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and share this episode with someone who may be trying to discover who they are beneath everything they've been told they should be.