The emPOWERed Half Hour

How to Harness Fear and Emotions for Lasting Change with Dina Cataldo

• Becca Powers / Dina Cataldo • Season 1 • Episode 70

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What happens when you start listening to your heart and follow a path that aligns with your true self?

In this transformative episode of The EmPOWERed Half Hour, Becca welcomes Dina Cataldo, a former criminal prosecutor turned certified master coach, to share her inspiring journey from the courtroom to helping others navigate their lives with intention and authenticity.

Dina dives deep into how surviving cancer at 29 was a wake-up call that sparked her quest for alignment and led to a career and life she truly loves. Her story sheds light on the importance of tuning into emotions, facing fear, and finding clarity in life’s pivotal moments.


Key Moments You Won't Want to Miss:

  • Dina’s realization during chemotherapy: “Why does this feel more peaceful than my job?”
    While undergoing chemotherapy for cancer at 29, Dina found herself reflecting on why she felt more at peace during treatment than she did in her career. This moment became the catalyst for reevaluating her life and seeking a path that aligned with her true self.
  • The value of trying, failing, and pivoting to discover what works for you.
    Dina shares how embracing trial and error is a vital part of personal growth. Instead of fearing failure, she reframed it as a necessary step toward discovering what truly resonates with her values and purpose.
  • Breaking free from societal molds and asking yourself, “What do I truly want?”
    Dina highlights how many of us make life-defining decisions early on, often based on societal expectations rather than genuine desires. She discusses how questioning these choices can lead to profound clarity and freedom.


About Dina

Dina Cataldo is a leading legal industry expert, Master Certified Coach, and speaker. A former criminal prosecutor, she now helps lawyers take control of their lives and law practices in her private coaching. She's also the creator of Time Peace for Lawyers™ and the host of the popular podcast “Be a Better Lawyer.” Dina's insights and advice have been featured on various prominent platforms, including speaking at the Alabama State Bar Annual Meeting, and speaking on podcasts like “Law Firm Autopilot” and “Maximum Lawyer Podcast.” Through her coaching and speaking, Dina has positively impacted the lives of thousands of lawyers, helping them manage their time, overcome overwhelm, boost self-confidence, and find fulfillment in their legal careers. Her empathetic and strategic approach has made her a sought-after coach among partners, solo practitioners, and boutique firm owners. Dina Cataldo is a trailblazer in the legal industry, and she continues to inspire and empower big hearted female lawyers, to achieve professional success and personal fulfillment. 


Connect with Dina Cataldo


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Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies

Becca Powers: Welcome to another episode of the empowered half hour. And I am bringing you another brand builders group, friend of mine, Dina Cataldo. I am so excited to have this conversation with her because as I was reading her bio, I was like, wow, that is really freaking cool. And. She's had a massive career transition too.

So two things that I love to talk about. I love to get into what have you done with your life? What's happened? And wow, you did this great thing. So Dina is a certified master coach and a former criminal prosecutor. And Dina, I would love to welcome you to the show. Welcome. Thank 

Dina Cataldo: you. I'm so glad to be here, Becca.

Thanks for having me. 

Becca Powers: So, oh my gosh. And I just noticed your necklace too. So if you're watching the YouTube, you got to check out Dina's necklace. It is absolutely gorgeous. Is that a Phoenix? It's a Thunderbird. Ooh, beautiful. I just caught my eye. I was like, oh my gosh, I didn't notice that when we were chatting initially.

 So let me ask you the first question, your background, what led you to the transition from being a criminal prosecutor to being a certified master coach? I'm sure there's a story there and I want to know. 

Dina Cataldo: I mean, it did not happen overnight. Let me just start there. So for anyone listening, who's like, Hey, I'd like to make a change.

 it, Came over time and me sure persistent, right? So honestly the first time I had an inkling that my trial career was not going to be What I needed in my life that it wasn't going to be the thing was when I was 29 years old I was in the first couple years of my career as a trial attorney and I was diagnosed with breast cancer and I Yeah.

And I'm thinking to myself, 29 years old, like that's not supposed to be happening. And there were a couple other gals in my same class who also had different types of cancer and they both passed on. And so I was like, I had so much survivor's guilt around that. And I was wondering like, what am I supposed to do with my life?

But on top of that, I had this thought when I was in chemotherapy. why does this feel like a vacation compared to my job? Why am I so calm? Why do I feel so good? I thought this was supposed to be the part where I hated life and I was enjoying myself and I knew that wasn't right. So that was my first inkling that the path that I was on wasn't for me.

 I felt like I not just owed it to myself to look at other things, but also knew that I needed to figure it out, but I didn't start trying to figure it out right away. I just tried to figure out how could I live my life as a criminal prosecutor and be calm and not feel stressed out. And so that's really what got the ball rolling for me to try to do something different.

But I kept reverting to old habits and I didn't realize that habits become ingrained in our brain. We just do them over and over again. Ooh, you're speaking my language. Right? Keep going. So I didn't know any of that. I didn't have a coach. I had never heard of coaching at that point, but I was just.

Struggling trying to figure things out. started changing little things in my life. Like when do I wake up in the morning? How do I feel in the morning? And I started figuring that out on my own kind of stumbling through. But at the same time, I was also. Drawn to yoga. And so I started doing yoga and that was something that opened something up inside of me to, yeah, like have a belief that there's something else out there for me.

So I did yoga teacher training and I tried that and think that this is something that. So many of us believe that we should just know what our path is and what we should be doing. It should just be like this revelation of what we do and what we forget. And what I see so many times with the lawyers I work with is that we have to just try things and fail at them and not like them.

And so I tried, you know, Teaching yoga and it wasn't for me. I love doing yoga, but I didn't really enjoy teaching yoga And then I moved on to another thing and I tried painting and I tried writing and I did all these things and I'm like You know, none of these are cutting it But I did know that I wanted to create a business like I wanted something else outside of the law Sure, I kept seeing over and over in my journals on my bucket list.

Okay. You want to start a business? Why aren't you doing it? And what came up for me when I asked myself that question was, oh, you're scared. You're scared of starting a business. And 

Becca Powers: I 

Dina Cataldo: was like, wait a minute, if I'm scared of it, I need to move towards it. And that was something I learned in yoga is, oh, you're scared.

Let's move towards it. Let's go towards it. So I, Thought, well, what do I do? I start a business. And the only thing I knew at that point in my life was tea. Okay. Well, I can make a loose leaf tea business online. I can be a criminal prosecutor full time. It's something I can put my foot in the water.

And I did the whole shebang, right? Got designer labels, had friends come and test my recipes. Like it was, I had a website, I was selling it online. But what I was doing is I was bringing those old habits of working really hard as a prosecutor into that business. And I was killing myself. I understand.

Right. Like, and I think as high achievers, we're driven to succeed. And what we've been taught is if we work harder, that we're going to, we're Be successful. And I brought that all with me. So when I got into business, I started, listening to all these podcasts and, really trying to learn what it meant to be an entrepreneur.

And that's where I was introduced to the concept of coaching. And that's where I started learning. Oh, wait a minute. Maybe I don't have to be killing myself to do this. Maybe there is an easier way. And that's when I started, I hired a coach and they started teaching me, Oh, There's a different way to do this.

I can actually work less and be more successful. And that was so counterintuitive to my brain that I needed that. assistance, I needed somebody to show me how and to constrain myself instead of killing myself by working harder, which is what my brain always told me to do. So then I was like, I need to share this with the world.

I want to be a coach. I started coaching people while I was a criminal prosecutor. And then a couple of years ago, I left the DA's office to be a coach full time. 

Becca Powers: Wow, that's awesome. There is so much in what you said that I'm like, where do I want to go next? But, something that's up for me is, I think where I want to go next, because maybe it's up for the audience to, you had mentioned that, fear was the thing that was preventing you.

And so you journaled on that. And then, took the philosophies you learned in yoga and moved towards the fear because you knew it was just what I'm guessing is like a figment of your imagination, right? That's what fear that tells us we can't whatever, but I want to talk more about that because as I am moving into the next level of myself and a lot of our listeners are Moving into their next level of themselves and doing exactly what you did, exploring what's next to them.

They're mid to senior level in their career, and they're starting to think about that. And then that voice of fear comes in. Should I be doing that? Could I do that? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So what have you learned? by addressing fear. 

Dina Cataldo: Well, first of all, you're never too old to change things, right?

Like I was a criminal prosecutor for almost 16 years before I left to coach full time, I was what 42, And so I see so many people close themselves down immediately. And honestly, I was that way too. When I first even thought about the possibility of leaving, my brain said, no, no, no, no, you should be reasonable.

You should stay here And even when I was building my business, my brain said, no, no, no, you shouldn't be spending money on this. This isn't reasonable. And I had to have relentless belief in myself. Just like that. Can you repeat that? Relentless belief in myself. And if I wasn't believing, even though I had just this little kernel that said, no, do this, do this.

And I had, 90 percent of my brain saying, no, no, no, this is bad. This is scary. You shouldn't be doing this. Nobody else is doing this. You don't have any evidence that this is going to work. You shouldn't be wasting your time. You shouldn't be wasting your money. But I had this little kernel that was like, no, but this is the thing.

And it feels so good. Like I need to keep going. Yes. And that really reminded me, if I don't keep going, I'm going to regret this for the rest of my life. And I would. 

Becca Powers: Yeah. I really appreciate that. You said that, you know, it's something you might regret for the rest of your life because, I have a lot of different things that have gone on in my life.

I'm the sole survivor of my family. I am extremely careered, but also, um, making that pivot into this, you know, into my message full time, right? That looks like a lot of keynote speaking and podcasting and writing books and all that stuff. but there's this piece that. holds us back.

And what I really like is that you said you can do it And I remember when I started this journey of mine four years ago, I was sitting in a very senior sales level position and I work for Cisco systems still. I was like, am I crazy to write a book? The first thing I did, I didn't mean to start a personal brand.

I just wanted to write a book and I had gone through my own healing journey. And I thought process that I went through, I had journaled enough that I thought I could repeat it for someone else, I really struggled with, should I do this? Should I not do this? And then I did it and I was like.

Oh my God, this is cool. And then I ended up with a readership of over 3000 in a year and a half. And I'm like, Oh my God, how did that happen? But reason I even share that piece is that, for the audience, I hope you're hearing Dina when she's saying she's a cancer survivor.

She's a career transitioner. She's now in her passions and she went through this whole exploration process. I have two and I really think that there's a beautiful message in here to give yourself permission to explore just because you are. Containered in this thing that you created, you know, most of us, maybe, like you said, didn't purposely choose our career, but then we got good at it.

Or maybe we did choose a career based on the 22 year old version of ourselves and, stayed with it. We only get to live this life once. And so this is where I'm coming to, I like connecting the dots of everything you said. we only get to live this life once. So what is it, when you get to those final reflection states that you want your life to be?

And so, I asked you what inspires you about this conversation that we're having? Like if you had to share a statement or a message to the listener, what would you tell them? 

Dina Cataldo: I think we need to pay more attention to how we feel. I really do. I think that In my life, like in my childhood, I was taught that emotions didn't matter that you just suck it up and you keep going.

And so anytime I felt pressure or I felt angry or I felt any kind of emotion, anxiety, whatever it was, I always shoved it down because I was taught that wasn't even something that you talked about. And so one of the reasons why I felt so stressed as a lawyer. was because I wasn't allowing myself to even recognize I had feelings, take those into account and, and even ask for help because I didn't want anyone.

I was also scared, right? That, Oh, if I ask for help, then they're going to think I'm less than right. But really I was thinking I was less than that. I didn't deserve help that I should know all the things, which if I look at logically, I can say. Oh, obviously you wouldn't know all the things, but emotionally I was really scared and I never had that development of safety for myself to feel those feelings.

So it made a lot of sense that I was just very reactionary to them and kind of hiding away thinking that my old pattern of working really hard, staying late hours, working on weekends, that somehow that. Working that would help me get to the next level and it just wasn't working. And I was like, what is going on here?

All those things that used to work aren't working. I got to do something different. And so one of the big things I learned in coaching was how to access my feelings, all those feelings of disappointment and frustration and all those things, shame, because I think there's a lot of shame that we don't allow ourselves to feel.

I would agree, right? And of course, we don't want to feel those things, but we need to feel those things because they're like our compass. So we have this inner compass, this inner guidance, which is our emotions. And so if we are feeling anxiety. Why are we feeling anxiety? And what is the result of that?

Which direction is that going to take us? If we can transmute anxiety, right, and we can recognize why we feel that way and start making changes, we can begin to change the direction that we go. But we've got to start Allowing ourselves to admit that we have feelings and that you 

Becca Powers: know, there's so much truth in what you said.

I, and it's funny because, for the listeners, we've never met before and there's so many synergies. I, you know, I'm a certified yoga teacher too. I'm a certified life coach. So I've gone down similar. Exploration paths, But there's a word that you said that really stuck out for me. Cause like in this current moment in time, I'm a little obsessed with this word and it's transmutation.

 I want to like, talk about that for a second, because it's such a deep word. And even though you're wearing your Thunderbird too, like for me, that represents like transmutation a little bit. And, for the audience, you know, I talk about transformation a lot, which is Fine and perfect because, personal transformation, professional transformation, that's  the theme of a lot of what I talk about, but under that is a bigger word.

And that's transmutation and transmutation to me is like the true ending. Of something and then turning it into something else. So it's not just like, Hey, I made a metamorphosis, but it's like, I turned my fear into faith, truly, or that's just an ARCA that I'm using, but for the audience, it's truly like the turning of something into something else.

It doesn't mean that you'd never feel something again, but inside you, you've reconciled. This thing, maybe it's shame and you've turned it into, resilience but I would love to ask you your thoughts on transmutation. Cause I think it's such a, it's a cool word, but it's a better, Yeah.

Dina Cataldo: I love the, how you described it. And I had an experience yesterday with a client that I think can really shed some light on this because transmutation doesn't even necessarily mean that you're turning your life inside out, a subtle shift in thinking. Like yesterday I was talking to a lawyer.

And he was telling me how he was frustrated that there was no leadership in his firm, it's a four person firm and it's a family firm. and he said, well, nobody is taking the reins here and it feels like it's all over the place. and I said, okay, but I knew from working with him, just like a session or two.

He's the leader in his firm, he's organizing the meetings. He is thinking about the bonuses at the end of the year. He is looking at the software, making decisions around the software, and then going to everybody about the software and saying, Hey, is this something that we want to implement?

 but he came to it with such a sense of nervousness around what other people were thinking about him, being the person who's doing all the things and he didn't want to step on anybody's toes. and I said, you realize you are the leader in your firm, right? And at first he started to feel a lot of anxiety.

He said, well, that sounds like a lot of responsibility. But as we started coaching, he was like, Oh, Well, I'm already doing it. Like he started to recognize it. I am a leader in my firm. And what happens if I just decide it's okay that I still, I'm going to ask for their opinions. I'm not going to step on anybody's toes.

 I'm very respectful and they obviously trust me because they keep agreeing to all the things I bring to them and nobody else is stepping up and it's like, well, maybe they want me to be the leader. 

Becca Powers: Yes. Right? 

Dina Cataldo: And so he had to transmute his idea of what a leader was, which was implicitly, Oh, I'm going to order people around and I'm going to be like the dictator in the office versus I'm just steering the ship.

That's all. I'm just kind of steering it. And they want me to, so that transmutation could be something that's already happening in your life, but you don't recognize it. or you might be taking those actions, but if you don't recognize it, you can't transmute. So if you're seeing, oh.

I am a leader in my firm. You start to show up differently. You start to say, it's okay for me to do these things and I feel more confident and I feel more empowered. And then you get to grow your business in this example, the way you want to while taking other people's input, just like you would if you were in any other company.

And it was really amazing to see this taking place in front of my eyes, this self concept that he didn't have of himself before. 

Becca Powers: That is incredible. And it makes me want to ask you a question and I hope you're okay with this let's play with the audience for a second. if someone's listening and like, Oh my God, I love this conversation of transmutation, what type of question would you encourage them to ask themselves?

Dina Cataldo: Hmm, What comes to mind is asking themselves what they want. Because what I have found is that very few of us ask for what we want because we've never even asked ourselves the question, what do I truly want? always been asking, what do other people think I should do? What do I think other people would think about me if I did this certain thing?

Or, should I? go after the promotion because everybody else is going after the promotion or that's what's expected of me versus saying. Okay, what do I want? Do I really want this promotion? What would it mean for me to have that promotion? Or, do I really want to keep working here? what is it that I have here that I like?

But what are the things that it's holding me back from? What am I losing out on if, fill in the blank. What am I losing out on if I go after the promotion? so I think that's a two part question. One is what do you want? And then really working at asking yourself and I like to do these things like before I go to bed is maybe I'll journal on it and I'll set an intention before I go to bed.

And sometimes I'll wake up in the morning with these beautiful awarenesses that I didn't have before I went to sleep. And that's because if we focus our attention on something, then oftentimes. When we go to bed, our subconscious and you know, I think that there's more to it than that. I think that there's like this beautiful, connection that we have with The all right, that I agree, drop into realizations we've never had before.

And when we do that, we can start to really question everything around us. Why have I been going after this particular path for so long? is there a reason? And sometimes I think it was always expected of me to go in this direction. There's a lot of questions there that I just 

Becca Powers: know. I love that.

And that's kind of where I wanted to go. I wasn't sure if you're going to be okay with me putting you on the spot like that, but I was like, Hey, let's start to unpack this a little bit because, I call it the societal molding, and I don't always mean it in a bad way. I think we get these like the societal programming of, job, house, spouse, kids.

And for some, is a recipe for happiness and fulfillment. But I think that more often than not, you get midway through your career and then realize, Oh, where am I in this? I love that you ask, what do I want? Because that's what I found myself asking. I worked myself to an emotional collapse on the bathroom floor about eight years ago and I never stopped to ask myself, what do I want?

I just kept. Going and powering through and going and I think that if there's a listener in here that question What do I want? Maybe they're oxygen, so I appreciate you sharing that All right, so we got about seven minutes left. I'm gonna ask you another question. Why are you passionate about your work?

Oh my gosh 

Dina Cataldo: I get to watch people change their lives And I get to be a part of that. And it's so fun because, you know, as a criminal prosecutor, there's a no win situation in every case. Nobody wins in those situations. And it's not profession where I felt really lit up.

It feels very heavy and I began coaching and seeing how people just after one session, start to make shifts. They feel lighter in, and you can see it the people that I get to work with are coming to me. So overwhelmed, these lawyers are frustrated. they are even angry sometimes.

And it's because they're living out of alignment with what they're doing. Their true self. Hey, you said another word that 

Becca Powers: I 

Dina Cataldo: love, 

Becca Powers: but keep going. 

Dina Cataldo: Yes. Right. And they don't realize it because they've been told all along, this is the path you're supposed to follow. But when we feel frustrated, when we feel angry, we're out of alignment with something.

 if we don't question it, we're just going to stay stuck in that cycle. So when I get to work with these lawyers, they start to realize, Oh, wait a minute. There's something else that's possible. Wait a minute. I can do that and I'm just opening up a door or I'm opening up curtains to a window and they get to see life differently and then they can take action differently and then their whole life transforms.

 to me, I just can't imagine doing anything else. who knows what the future brings, but when I watch this, it's so fulfilling and it feels so good. Good. that's really why I keep doing what I'm doing and I feel really driven to do it. 

Becca Powers: Oh my gosh. Yeah. Like I started to like tear up a little bit cause I could feel your passion.

 it's so cool when you see other people with similar like missions or like heart centeredness cause I'm just like vibing with you so much, but you said a word that I want to talk about in the last couple of minutes and that's alignment and that's what I feel. in my work too, really what I'm trying to bring people to, I really address a lot of high performers and we are saying when we were first getting to know each other, a lot of my people are still working full time and they're mid to senior level career and they're just starting to be like, is this.

It And so often I find that as I'm getting into the personal conversations, what I find is they're just misaligned. they're no longer aligned to their values. They're no longer aligned to their desires. and that's why I was saying in the beginning, this self exploration needs to happen again.

And we need people like you out there in the world that are holding the space for that. so I just really want to commend your work, but I also want to, if you don't mind, like talking about alignments a little bit more for a listener and why is it important that they pause enough to consider alignment?

Dina Cataldo: Yeah. So this kind of goes back, well, it does go back to the conversation we were having about emotions. And the emotions are really great signals to tell us, are we in alignment? I think they're a gift. I think that the anxiety and the fear, it's a total gift, When I went back and I thought about my cancer and the cancer that I had diagnosed in 29 years old, I think about that as a gift.

the best thing that ever happened to me because it made me aware that I had feelings. Wow. This is great. I feel great during this chemo. It's fabulous. And I feel stressed when I'm, doing the trials and I didn't really understand, and I was kind of fumbling through, but. And maybe that's where, if you're listening to this, you feel right now is that you just know that you feel stressed or you feel overwhelmed, or you know that you feel frustrated or you feel angry or you feel resentful, like maybe you just can feel that right now.

And that's a gift because it's telling you there's something out of alignment. You might not know what it is right now, let's just use the example of resentment. When we feel resentment, we're out of alignment with the truth that we have. So 

Becca Powers: that's a good one, right? So 

Dina Cataldo: like the holidays are coming up.

And so a lot of people are going to Thanksgiving or, they're going to other holiday dinners or whatever it is, and they're doing it out of a sense of obligation. And they go to these dinners feeling resentment and frustration, and then they're angry that they were there, or the same thing, maybe they're putting up lights, or they're going to parties that they don't even want to go to, but they haven't paused to even notice how resentful that they feel, or how frustrated they are, and they haven't asked themselves, what do I want?

Maybe I don't want to go to this dinner. Maybe I don't want to put up the lights. Maybe I don't want to do these things. if we don't pause and notice that we're angry and frustrated and that just means we haven't asked ourselves what we want and then followed through on what we want, we just think, oh, this is how life is.

I'm going to go to Thanksgiving every single year. I'm going to feel horrible every year. And this is just the way things have to be. And that's simply not the truth. You get to have the life that you want, but you only get to have it if you start noticing where you're out of alignment and start asking yourself these questions.

Becca Powers: That's beautiful. so we're at the point of wrapping up, and so I wanna ask you another question. and this is kind of more of like a statement or, a power message for the listeners. What advice would you give them to fuel their future and fulfillment? 

Dina Cataldo: there's a piece of wisdom that I received and it's to always follow a path that has heart, right? And that's a quote from Don Juan in the Don Juan books, Carlos Castaneda penned and following a path with heart, you can never go wrong. If you are open and loving and kind and. True, like you truly feel your heart opening up in whatever you're pursuing.

That's the path with heart and anything else is denying ourselves. So that would be. The advice I would give is, are you following a path with heart or are you following a life that isn't? 

Becca Powers: Yeah. That's beautiful. I'm tearing up again. You got me twice. You know, you got me twice. I appreciate you coming on the empowered half hour so much.

I know this is going to be a great episode for the listeners. if they would like to follow you and hear more about you. How can they do that? Well, 

Dina Cataldo: first place to find me is be a better lawyer podcast. And it's a place where I talk to lawyers specifically, but I know a lot of non lawyers get mileage out of it because we talk a lot about mindset.

A lot of the things that we've talked about here are in alignment with the topics that I share. maybe that'll fuel them where they need some extra fuel one day. and then you can also find me on LinkedIn, Dina Cataldo, Kat and Aldo like the shoe. And, I'm on Instagram as well. 

Becca Powers: Well, again, it's been an absolute pleasure meeting you, getting to know you.

And I am glad we are in the same community at BBG, cause now I get to stay in touch with you too. 

Dina Cataldo: Absolutely. Absolutely. 

Becca Powers: All right. Well, thanks again. Thank you.