From Brain Tumor to Brand Strategist: Lori Osborne’s Lessons on Healing and Caregiving

In this heartfelt and eye-opening episode of The Sharegiving Secrets, I welcome web developer and brand strategist Lori Osborne to share her powerful story of starting over—twice. From overcoming a life-altering brain tumor diagnosis to caring for her mother in her final days, Lori’s resilience, honesty, and vulnerability offer hope and practical wisdom to anyone navigating caregiving, grief, or reinvention.
· Listeners will hear:
· How Lori turned adversity into a thriving creative business
· Why caregiving nearly broke her—and what employers and families need to do better
· The brutal toll of unsupported caregiving and how we can shift the conversation toward compassion
· Tips for surviving family conflict and protecting your health as a caregiver
Lori’s story is a candid reminder that caregiving is not just an act of love—it's a crisis that requires support, boundaries, and systemic change.
Lori’s bio:
Lori Osborne is affectionately known as The Authority Amplifier. She’s the founder of BizBolster Web Solutions and the creator of The Authority Blueprint™. With nearly a decade of experience in brand strategy and website design, Lori helps Thought Leaders identify and clarify their brand and translates it into authority-driven websites that attract aligned clients and amplify their impact online.
When she's not building powerhouse brands, Lori enjoys coastal life near Amelia Island, Florida, alongside her amazing husband and two adorable fur babies.
Link to Complimentary Brand Audit:
5 Steps to Evaluate Your Brand & Online Authority:
Lori Osborne EP 43
Deborah 0:01
Welcome, everyone. So glad you could be here with us again for this edition of the Sharegiving Secrets. Today, my guest is Lori Osborne, who has a lot of great information to talk about regarding self-care and caring for others that I know you're going to find especially valuable.
Deborah 0:19
So, I'd like to introduce Lori. Welcome, and tell us a bit about yourself.
Lori 0:24
Well, hi, Deborah. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Where do I start? I have been a business owner for the last nine years. I'm a website developer and brand strategist. I have an amazing second husband and a couple of adorable fur babies, and I live near the ocean in Florida.
Deborah 0:47
That sounds fantastic. And yet I know there's a lot of backstory there. And people who have been following my show know that I have a little one, too, because I had to start over at 60, which was no picnic, as the judge pointed out to me when she said it's all right. Well, we're going to resolve this, but do you know how the world is to 60-year-old women? So, starting over was really my theme in deciding to speak with you today about your experiences.
Lori 1:16
So where do we begin? How do I start over? What can you tell me about that? You know, I've started over a couple of times, but I would say, you know, post-divorce being one. But the most recent was nine years ago when I was diagnosed with a brain tumor in meningioma, benign brain tumor. But, you know, to me, starting over is recognizing what you've been impacted by and then getting up and going anyway. Resilience. It's all about resilience. And for me, I'm just I'm very stubborn. And I'm an only child, and I have kind of always been very stubborn. And when I was diagnosed, I just said, I may not be able to work again, but I'm not going to sit and do nothing. And actually, for the first year and a half that I was healing, I didn't even allow myself to have the TV on during the day. I made myself do something to learn and grow. And that was when I discovered that even though I'd been in I.T. for 20 years, I'm a really great web developer. And I never I'd never been creative before in my job. And I was so shocked that I could do this and went, you know, I bet I bet business owners could use some help building their websites and my business grew. And because of that, I say I'm very grateful for the spring tumor, but it is it's a decision starting over as a decision is what it really comes down to. Am I going to sit here and wallow on this and feel sorry for myself or am I going to pick myself up by my bootstraps and move forward and make a difference regardless of my circumstances.
Deborah 3:00
That is a wonderful story to share with everyone who's listening to us today. I love how you positioned it, that adversity was kind of the mother of creativity for you, that you found a whole new aspect of yourself that was always there, but you hadn't had before. And then it's a decision. And some of some people don't make that decision. They decide, OK, that's it. I'm checked out now and they miss the whole wonderful rest of their lives. So, I know you also had a caregiving experience that you wanted to share with us. So, could you talk a bit about that as well?
Lori 3:38
Sure. So, I am I have lost my mother and grandmother both at 63 to cancer. And so, the most recent caregiving was my mother. Again, I am an only child, and my mom was also divorced. So, it was really it was me and my brand-new husband. We literally had not been married. Well, she got sick while we were engaged. So here, you know, welcome husband to this new world of mom living eight hours away. And we had to move her three times in two months. And then when we thought she was going to be OK, then we find out, no, she's got more cancer and was moved to hospice almost immediately. And it was, you know, she was only in hospice for 10 days, but it was the longest, most grueling 10 days of my life. And I cannot I honestly cannot imagine how caregivers do it long term because it was, so I mean, honestly, it was so devastating. I came back to my job and my boss was angry with me for taking so much time off work. And I hadn't been diagnosed with this brain tumor yet. I actually ended up with a stroke from the brain tumor and the stress from how my boss reacted. So, you know, it's not even just the time and care with the human being that you're taking care of. It's the damage, potential damage to yourself afterwards and ongoing. Like that was a an incredibly traumatic experience in the long term, you know, as well as the short term, not to mention for my poor mother, but it. Yeah, I don't you know, I if I was to wish anything would be different with just that I had more support because being an only child, I had so many decisions to make. I remember her ex-husband kept coming around, which I finally had to ask him to not. But at one point, her ex-husband and my uncle questioned me having her in hospice and off of food and that she was out of it. And they said, I might as well just put a bag over her head. I mean, it was devastating, you know, like that's going to bring tears to my eyes, but it was, you know, I again, and I, you know, I'm one of these people I would never be a nurse. It is not who I am. It's, you know, I love people to death. I think I'm a great caring person, but I am not a caregiver at heart. And I have so much respect for people that do it because that 10 days again was the hardest days of my life. Wow, that is quite a story of challenge, personal challenges to you. And I want to explore a bit more about how you met them and what you might recommend to others who might be going through the same thing.
Deborah 6:32
I once was teaching a stress management class, and someone had just returned to the workforce after losing a parent and was still grieving about this. And she was interested in the stress techniques, but sometime during the day, the boss had taken her aside and said, “You have to stop grieving now. This is long enough. You need to end it, and you have to come, you have to be here.” And she came up to me and she said, I have to go home because it's not you. I just can't be here with this kind of pressure anymore. I'm astounded by how unfeeling and unthinking some people can be about it, but it exists everywhere. So if you could, if you wouldn't mind going back, I know this was hard for you to tell that story today, but if you could go back a little bit, what should an employer, maybe not that one, but what should an employer do for a person who's just coming back or dealing with caregiving while they're still trying to work, which we all probably need to do?
Lori 7:33
Yeah. Well, I mean, first and foremost, actually be understanding, you know, get out of your running this department and being productive and worrying about the bottom line and, you know, just stop and look at the situation and go, you know, it's a female boss. Like, that's the hardest part was a female of all people should even more have that understanding. But it's really, you got to stop and care. And unfortunately, that's why I got out of corporate America. I mean, corporate America so often does not have that caring philosophy. It's all about the bottom line. And I would just encourage any employer boss, anyone having to deal with people going through it to just stop and ask them what they need. Instead of, you know, barraging them with more stress, and just recognize that this is one of the hardest things in life that we have to go through. And we all lose a parent at some point. And yeah, just be understanding. It seems like that's so basic, and it shouldn't have to be said. Like, it just should not have to be said.
Deborah 8:50
I agree. You'd think that people would understand and be kind about major life events. And we also know now there's been a lot more research that sometimes caregivers are become sicker than the people they're caring for, due to this kind of stress. And yes, you know, the experience that you were talking about is not uncommon to suddenly have a major health crisis of your own. So, we're going to lose employees, we're going to lose caregivers, and a lot of people are going to be underwater because we just can't keep up anymore. So that compassion becomes really critical, I think, to workplace survival and the company's survival, but they, you know, to be that short-sighted and not see it is a problem. As far as the other big challenge you mentioned was about family not supporting you at the same time. If you're willing, would you like to talk a little bit more about what they could have done?
Lori 9:56
Well, not questioned my decision in that way would be the first thing. You know, I honestly, I wish I had more family just in general, had people that I could call on. Fortunately, my mom had some very great friends that were there for me and gave me the support, but, you know, they weren't able to make those hard decisions. And I really, I just think for family it's, if you're not the decision maker, be supportive of the decision maker, give input that's helpful. And, you know, as opposed to saying something like, you know, why don't you just put a bag overhead, maybe say something like, could you explain to me why you chose this direction, or maybe I need to understand better how hospice works. For those that don't know that the attitude is pain management, and they're not going to force feed you if you don't want to eat, it is an end-of-life experience. And my mom had her last surgery was colon cancer like she, you know, it, it wasn't, she wasn't really able to eat anyway but she was, she was mostly gone. And I just think if you don't understand like be, just be caring to the person going through it because that person providing their caregiving is at their end, and they are so stressed and so strapped in so many ways to just come at it that way is just and consider it and mean. So, I think it's just really stopping and if you don't know something, ask versus being judgmental.
Deborah:Yeah, the, the thing I try to convince caregivers to do is to think of yourself as a manager. Yes, you started to do this because you love someone, but it's going to require an awful lot of rational thought from you to make good decisions be manage your time and the whole enterprise of the things that your person needs you to do for them. And other people need to get that point as well so it's not just the caregiver who must assume a different identity, but the families now in a different relationship and everybody else the employer and anyone else who comes into that circle so I think you very wisely put your finger on the most important things that we do need to talk about. So I'd like to turn to the brighter subject of reinventing yourself and not just as a caregiver I think this is useful for everyone. Could you tell us more about your work?
Lori:So, when I recovered from my surgeries. The surgery by the way was not to get rid of the tumor because it's part of my carotid artery and what happened is when they went into it was on my optical nerve and my left eye was drooping, they nicked the carotid and caused a brain bleed, which caused my left eye to go mostly blind. So, I had double vision for a year and a half, and had to like, wear a patch over my eye and if you've ever lost vision and one eye it's completely disorienting your, you lose your balance you lose your ability to pour, miss the glass a lot that sort of thing. So, during that time, the first thing I did was I built the website. I called it health net like grandma because I want to talk about meningiomas and cancer and life challenges just to get it out. And then I said I discovered that, wow, this is really fun, and I can be creative, and I have skills, and I took that from there. We were actually in Colorado at the time, and we decided, since I may never work again, we decided to move to Florida to be near the ocean and in a much lower cost of living area, so we wouldn't have the pressure of me working. And then I just started really pursuing this idea of the websites, and then understanding branding was my next step to it. And I, I love branding I love all of it honestly it's it is my passion that this is, this is my calling, but really understanding the purpose of branding, and then aligning that, you know, in a world of online authority and helping people establish their authority online and by the way I love your brand that you've got going behind you it's beautiful, but really just that's where I really developed over my businesses been in business almost nine years now. And over the last couple of years I've really kind of leaned into the brand strategist part, because I was doing it but I wasn't recognizing the power of it, and how important it is to establish your identity, and then live it like that's the next step you can have a branding talk about all day but if it's not your brand and you're not living it, it's not going to connect anyway.
Deborah:For sure. Those, those are such important facts and I'm hoping that you will make sure I have all the links because I want to put them in the show notes to your website, and as well to your service because everybody needs to think about branding if they are a manager, you have to convey that message to the world whether it's to work in an office, or to become a speaker or any vote that you're thinking about picking up next, as you exit the caregiving stage hopefully to not reenter it again, because it is very hard. You have a brand already and you've thought it through, you approach it. I think was a much more coherent and strong vision of how you're going to live that life, so I don't want you any more caregiving experiences except the good ones. Thank you, that are full of love and enjoyment, but it is, it is a really challenging journey and that coherence that a brand can bring to you could be tremendously helpful. So, if you could look back as far back as you want to go. What advice would you give yourself about how you approach this long sequence where you were both finding and losing parts of your identity. What would you say to yourself say when you were 10 years old about what's going to happen.
Lori:Wow Deborah that's a hard question. Give me a minute to think about it. You know, I've learned a lot about myself in the last few years, and I think being, and I know I've said this a couple of times already, but it was it was very impactful on me to be an only child of a primarily single mother. And also, I'm, you can tell I'm an extrovert my mother was my opposite and an introvert and also had no clue how to show affection and encouragement so I will I really lived my life trying to prove to her that I was good enough, and I have been guilty of that even as an adult. I also had abandonment issues from fathers disappearing so at 10. I'd already lost one family at 12 I'd lost two at 12 I would say to myself, This isn't your fault. And I've really had, you know, I've just really learned that in my core over the last two years of really knowing that I didn't have anything to do with any of those things that happened to me as a child and happened to my mom. Yes, I was part of it. And I was there, but those men did not leave me because I was a bad child or there was something wrong with me. And I think it's just so important that we. When we think back on our childhood that we realized that not everything that happened to us was because of us and sometimes we need to do some deeper work to really know that in our core because we end up doing so much out of that misalignment. I mean I married someone that I was I was in an abusive marriage for 18 years and I guarantee you I married that person because I did not have any self-confidence and I thought I needed this man to take care of me. And if I had realized early at 12 that it wasn't me, my life probably would have been completely different.
Deborah:That is a very poignant story, and I appreciate your going along with the oddball question there came out of the blue and volunteered so much of yourself to answer it. I'm thinking about so much back there that that to unpack but our episodes probably not long enough, but I think it's a whole book in there somewhere.
Lori:There is, there is a book coming.
Deborah:I'll be on your on your list. I hope for PR for that.
Lori:The things we know at 10 are based on a 10-year-olds understanding of reality and children tend to take on themselves what is happening to their parents and feel very responsible so it's no surprise that you felt that way. And certainly, it often takes a long time to understand and really live in your true self, which is one hand tragic because all those years spent thinking things were one way.
Deborah:But it's beautiful because you have the whole rest of your life to be creative about who you actually are and discover that which is a wonderful journey. Yes, yes. So, I appreciated our chance to talk and I'm sorry it's coming close to an end, but we know there's a book coming. Could you tell me some other things that we should look for in order to find Lori Osborne out there in the real world.
Lori:Well, absolutely. You said a link; I will be sharing the link. It's primarily for entrepreneurs but anybody that is curious how you are showing up online and if your authority is showing up online I have an authority visibility audit that I will offer you that I will take a look behind the scenes of how you're showing up and then I'll meet with you and go, This is working and this isn't working. And this is what you need to do to improve showing up with that authority, no matter where you're doing that. No matter where you're trying to show up. So, and my website is bizbolster.com my business is this bolster. I'm on LinkedIn would love to connect with anyone here on LinkedIn that's where I'm most active. And that's probably it.
Deborah:That is a lot and that's great. So, there are a lot of places that people can find you. I want to thank you so very much for being my guest today I learned a lot. And I know my listeners will too and maybe we'll do another interview sometime to find out how all of that is going and progressing, and I wish you much success. Is there anything else that you would like to tell our listeners before we sign off.
Lori:I just want everybody to know that your authority and brand is in you. You just need to find it clarify it and live it so that it shows up for everybody else.
Deborah:And that is such a relief to know. Thank you, Lori Osborne, for being my guest today.
Lori:Thank you so much.