Debi Cost-Finn on Music as Medicine, Single Motherhood, and Rising After Cancer | STRONG LIKE a GIRL.
Debi Cost-Finn raised her son alone on food stamps, built a career bringing therapeutic music into hospitals, was diagnosed with breast cancer 85 days after her wedding, and flushed her medication down the toilet rather than lose herself. Her story is proof that strength isn't about holding it together. It's about what you do when you can't.
CHAPTERS:
0:00 - Cold open
0:33 - Tanya introduces Debi Cost-Finn
1:36 - Welcome and Nashville life
2:51 - The quiet child who became an empath
6:19 - How empathy shaped a career in healthcare music
7:58 - The medial prefrontal cortex: music's "sweet spot"
10:00 - Music First: reducing pharmaceuticals through music
11:14 - Healthcare's shift toward person-centered care
16:07 - Heavy metal as a coping mechanism and comfort music
18:09 - Trying to go a full day without music
21:13 - Naming Orion and looking up at the stars
23:31 - Single motherhood, SNAP benefits, and survival
32:07 - "Has he ever seen you fail?"
38:06 - What people misunderstand about women in survival mode
40:17 - Marrying Dave on New Year's Eve during COVID
41:00 - Breast cancer diagnosis 85 days later
47:10 - Cancer as catalyst: creativity and not waiting for "one day"
50:57 - Investigative genetic genealogy and solving cold cases
58:01 - The Phoenix tattoo and its meaning
59:28 - Generational trauma and preserving family stories
1:01:18 - "Who are you now?" and The Breakfast Club
1:03:13 - Rapid fire questions
1:07:07 - What "Strong Like a Girl" means to Debi
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Coro (therapeutic music in healthcare): https://www.coro.health
- The Doe Project (cold case organization): https://www.dnadoeproject.org
- Ramapo College (investigative genetic genealogy program)
- StrengthsFinder assessment
- GEDmatch (genealogy DNA database)
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STRONG Like a Girl is a podcast about women's empowerment, resilience, and telling the stories of strong women. New episodes drop regularly. Subscribe so you don't miss one.