MANSFIELD — When Sarah Brokaw found herself hesitating to attend her 15-year high school reunion — unmarried and without children — she was struck by a question that would define her future work.
“Do I go empty-handed and feel ashamed … or do I show up and say, I’ve accomplished so much?” she said.
That internal dialogue eventually became the foundation for Fortytude, her bestselling book on navigating life’s transitions with strength and clarity. On May 1, Brokaw brought those insights to Mansfield’s Renaissance Theatre for her first-ever public appearance in the state.
“What I’ve noticed so far in Mansfield is this sense of community,” she said. “In Los Angeles where I live, we don’t have the sense of community that I see here.
“It could be that it’s smaller, but I also think it’s the type of individuals who choose to live here. You really are focused on community.”
Brokaw headlined the 2025 Kaleidoscope series kickoff in conversation with Jessica Hiser, director of marketing and advertising for Spherion Mid Ohio.
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As a licensed therapist, certified coach, and author, Brokaw has spent years helping people face fear, overcome personal challenges, and approach aging with empowerment. Her work centers on five core values — grace, connectedness, adventure, accomplishment, and spirituality — which she identified through conversations with women across the country.
“These women were saying they were confused about who they were and why they didn’t feel relevant,” Brokaw said. “It had a lot to do with what they didn’t accomplish.”
The values emerged through a grassroots research effort; Brokaw visited women from various cultural backgrounds, asked them to reflect on a list of 20 values, and repeatedly heard the same five.
Each value held a different meaning for each woman. Grace, she said, was inspired by women who had survived breast cancer, while connectedness was about “women trying to find their community.”
“How do we support each other and lift each other up, and then how do you connect with yourself?” she said.
Thursday’s conversation also touched on how societal expectations shape identity. Brokaw reflected on men in her practice struggling with emotional expression and connection.
“A lot of the men who come into my practice are emotionally illiterate,” she said. “They are needing that place to explore their emotions, identify what they are, and label them.”
Hiser echoed the universal relevance of the five values.
“You don’t have to wait until your 30s to start living them. They come with every season,” she said.
The evening also included personal reflections from Brokaw, including her experience volunteering in New York on 9/11. She recalled a young man with bloodshot eyes, looking for his brother who worked on the 108th floor.
“There’s no word of advice I can give you that’s going to make you feel better, but what I can say is if you do have faith, pray,” she told the man.
Brokaw also addressed broader concerns about mental health in modern life, pointing to decision fatigue, social media comparison, and isolation.
“We make 35,000 decisions a day on average,” she said. “At the end of the day, we want to give our brains a break, we pick up our phone and scroll and act impulsively.”
Looking ahead, Brokaw expressed her belief in lifelong reinvention.
“I still think about those five core values and how much I’ve been able to modify those values in my own world,” she said. “I believe it’s something I’m going to carry until I’m six feet under.”
Julia Wyant, a senior from Lexington High School, said she wants to be a therapist someday. She asked Brokaw about the impacts of media and mental health.
“It’s just a conversation that we need to start,” Wyant said. “We just need to lead by example … I think we need to definitely start more conversations about mental health and this was a perfect way to inspire a lot of people to do that.”
Joe Bocka said he would be looking forward to Brokaw’s next book, where she promised to include more perspectives from men.
“It got me thinking, and I think it also gives me an insight into what needs women have that are different than men, and how to try to be a part of making that happen,” he said.
The Kaleidoscope Speaker Series is presented by the Richland County Foundation, Mansfield/Richland County Public Library, Renaissance Performing Arts Association, and Richland Source. The series will continue with two additional speaker events planned on Oct. 2 and Nov. 6.
A follow-up discussion will take place at Relax, It’s Just Coffee on May 15 at 5 p.m. The event will feature Reneta Music, founder and executive director of the Music Academy of Karate and Empowerment, and Dr. Joseph Bocka, MD, a board-certified physician with a broad background in mental health.
Katie Ellington Serrao and Hayden Gray contributed to this reporting.