About Dr. Victoria Ranade

a letter to you

Hi there,

Thank you for joining me here!

I’m Dr. Victoria Ranade, a board certified licensed clinical psychologist, which basically means I’ve spent thousands of hours sitting with people through the absolute messiest, heaviest, and most difficult and vulnerable parts of being human.

The truth is that life can be breathtakingly beautiful, but it can also be filled with times of great darkness and sorrow. There are times when you experience burnout, grief, and self-doubt that make you wonder how to keep going.

So if you are currently going through something like this, welcome. I’ve been there too.

This is a podcast, but it’s also a community of listeners who believe in the power of the human voice and spirit. As a clinical psychologist, I am drawn to existential, humanistic, and transpersonal approaches; these are traditions that honor the whole person, including the search for meaning, authentic self-expression, and connection to something greater than ourselves.

I believe there is a light inside us that no darkness can ever overcome. This light is more beautiful than any sun rise or sunset, and honoring this light within us is among the most important work of our lives, because it is calling us home to ourselves.

Sometimes we just forget that it’s there. This podcast is about remembering.

Consider this space your invitation to slow down, take a breath, and gather your strength. We’re going to share real stories, honest encouragement, and wisdom from people who have walked through the dark and found their light again. Because as Ram Dass once said, "We’re all just walking each other home."

Welcome to innercalling.Wherever you are today—I’m glad you’re here!

My story

I'm Taiwanese American and neurodivergent. I live with bipolar ii. When I was a young adult, I had a nervous breakdown. I was alone in the world and it was a very difficult time.

But it was actually an innercalling that saved me. To me, an inner calling is the light within you, the one no darkness can overcome. It speaks in the language of whispers and intuition, gently guiding you back home to yourself, even in the dark. It is the place within you that is the best of you, the highest point within you.

So I know firsthand what it's like to struggle against your own limitations, and to try to put into words what is beyond language. I know what it's like to feel weird, to live within systems not designed for you, systems that feel as if they keep you down, and all the energy it takes to rise to the best of yourself. I know what it’s like to have to overcome yourself and your own nervous system.

innercalling is a space for honest conversations about what it means to trust the truths you know deep inside yourself, despite all the pressure and challenges of the modern world.

Inspiration

The guests I invite are diverse, they may be experts or community members, leaders or spiritual teachers, but above all, they are everyday people. As a clinical psychologist and keeper of sacred stories, I am endlessly fascinated by people and the power of the human voice and spirit. Each person who sits with me has often overcome very difficult things just to be here, and yet so much of it remains unsaid and unknown. You, the listener, bring your own unsaid things too.

That’s why even though I don’t know you, you already inspire me.

I’m also inspired by the ancient art of sitting around a warm fire, listening to stories that stay with you long after the fire goes out. In a world that has less time and space for humanness, innercalling is a space where we wrestle with what it means to be human, and where that humanity is honored and held.

I believe in honest, organic conversation, the kind that happens in a therapy room. This is my homage to the lineage I come from: clinical psychologists, keepers of the human voice, of stories and conversation that heal.

Here, there is no advice and nothing you need to do or accomplish or gain. You are simply invited to slow down, listen, and trust what you already know inside yourself.

Show Topics

• Depression & Suicide Prevention

• Psychedelic Medicine

• Neurodivergence in Girls & Women

• Asian American Mental Health.

• Existential Psychology: Meaning & Purpose · Life, Existence, Death & Mortality · Spirituality ·

• Science & Nature

• Spirituality & Ancient Wisdom

• Women’s Mental Health & Wellness

• Leadership.

• Intuition, Inner Knowing, Finding Your Voice

• Creativity

• Interconnection + Interbeing.

• Business

• AI & Psychology

Values & Intentions

Every episode is an invitation to explore what science can teach us, and to honor the wisdom that lives within stories, intuition, and our connection to something greater.

I care deeply about nuance and about making space for truth that's complex and voices that are diverse. But more than anything, I believe in the power of conversation as something healing in its own right. This is the kind of organic, wandering exchange that psychologists have long understood to be healing. In an age of algorithms and AI, this is what's at risk of being forgotten. This is a slower, more honest space.

FAQ: Why is there a dog on your podcast art?

That is my dog Mei Mei. She represents how I followed an inner calling to discover my deep love of dogs.

A few years back, I met a shaggy old Welsh Terrier with one eye whose name was Iris. Even though I had no interest in dogs at that time, I fell in love with Iris. This led me to get two Welsh Terriers of my own, Mei Mei and Kai Kai. Thus, Mei Mei symbolizes what happens when we each follow the inner callings that arise within ourselves, no matter how spontaneous. We discover parts of ourselves and of life that we never could have imagined.

FAQ: Why do you leave sounds like dogs barking, garbage trucks beeping in the background?

Because life is happening all around us and I love capturing that beauty. Algorithms are quietly reshaping what it means to be human, optimizing our experiences until the rough edges — the very things that make us real — are smoothed away.

The beauty of being human lives in imperfection, in the unscripted moment, in the sound of the world continuing outside the window.

FAQ: What inspired you to create this space?

I remember the moment I decided to create it. I was sitting in my doctor's office when something unexpected happened. She finished with my visit, and then just... kept talking about the fear and division she was seeing in the world. About how disconnected people had become from one another. About how it was affecting her too. She talked to me for a half an hour, about the world we were experiencing.

And I realized: I missed this. The kind of conversation you have with someone in your own community — unhurried, unscripted, not trying to sell you anything or tell you what to do. Just two people being honest with each other about what it means to be alive right now, regardless of political beliefs, just as humans. This kind of connection is quietly disappearing. innercalling is my attempt to cultivate a space where our natural humanity is honored and held.

FAQ: How do you find your guests?

I personally invite people I am genuinely inspired by and with a message I believe in. Each guest is someone I have a real connection with, whether we know each other in life, or whether something they created found its way to me: a book, an article, a piece of work that spoke deeply to me. There is always a connection before there is an invitation, and I hope the connection inspires you too.

FAQ: How is your show different than others?

As a clinical psychologist, I guide conversations in a way that is natural and flows with the moment. I'm simply here to honor guests and feature the beauty of their experience and voice. This is what clinical psychologists do: we meet each person in awe, as if they are a sunrise, with genuine unconditional positive regard. Through this practice, I hope you too are inspired to deeply listen, and to meet each person you meet in life, regardless of their circumstances, where they are. This is the beauty of my discipline, which is deeply humanistic, and what I bring to this show.

FAQ: What is the point of the conversation?

The point is simply to be present with the guest and see what organically emerges between two humans, just like a jazz performance. I invite you to go on this journey with me, to see what we learn from each guest.

Thanks for joining me here. I know there are so many other things you could be doing so am very grateful for your support in creating a community where we remember and honor the beauty of what it is to be deeply human.

With gratitude,