Aline Smithson
Aline Smithson is a visual artist, editor, and educator based in Los Angeles. She is also the Founder and Editor- in-Chief of LENSCRATCH, a daily journal on photography.
In this conversation, Aline talks about her trajectory to fine art photography: from painter, to fashion editor to photographer. We discuss roadblocks and fear, long-term projects, the nuances of rejection, building community in the art world, and much more!
Emily Bernard
Emily Bernard is an author and professor. She holds a B.A. and Ph. D. in American Studies from Yale University. Her most recent book is the essay collection “Black is the Body: Stories from My Grandmother’s Time, My Mother’s Time, and Mine”. In this wide-ranging conversation, Emily speaks on motherhood, fear, forgiveness, rejecting shame and staying true to who you are as an artist. We also dive deep into having “the blues” - and I truly think it was the most joyful conversation on depression I’ve ever had!
Mary Gauthier
Mary Gauthier is a Grammy-nominated songwriter, and author. She has a gift of making outsiders feel like insiders, which is a beautiful thread throughout her new memoir “Saved by a Song.”
We talk about making a life out of being creative, the vulnerability of performing, the beauty and wonder of being a late bloomer, and why the maybe’s we get are worse than the “nos”.
Lidia Yuknavitch
Lidia Yuknavitch is the nationally bestselling author of the novels The Book of Joan, The Small Backs of Children, and Dora: A Headcase, and the memoir The Chronology of Water. Her newest book Verge is a collection of short stories. She also has a TED Talk “The Beauty of Being a Misfit” that has been viewed by millions. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
Lidia and I had a wide-ranging conversation about being a misfit, the in-between spaces of life, the blurry lines between fiction and nonfiction and the ways in which art can save us.
Andrew Duhon
Andrew Duhon is a singer-songwriter from New Orleans.
In this episode, we chat about the search for belonging, self-acceptance, and finding the profound in the minutia. Andrew also talks about songwriting and art making in a way that is mesmerizing and inspiring. As he says, “No one else is you, no one else can tell your story. It is your human tale to tell.”
Nadia Owusu
Nadia Owusu is an author and urbanist who grew up between Africa and Europe and now lives in Brooklyn.
In the episode Nadia talks about her memoir Aftershocks and the ways growing up between cultures shaped her life. We also chat about claiming, naming, and accepting mental illness as a part of one’s identity, and the gifts of memoir.
Pam Houston
Pam Houston is the author of many books including the memoir, Deep Creek: Finding Hope In The High Country, Cowboys are my Weakness and most recently Air Mail: Letters of Politics, Pandemics, and Place (with Amy Irvine). Pam is also a fantastic teacher and the co-founder and creative director of the literary nonprofit Writing By Writers.
In this episode we talk all about place, writing, non-traditional parenting, and living an authentic life. She also tells us about her incredible experience running into the narwhal migration!
Rachel Eliza Griffiths
Rachel Eliza Griffiths is a poet, visual artist, and novelist.
In this episode we chat about her stunning collection of poetry and photography, Seeing the Body. Some of the topics we speak on include monumental grief, memory, sadness as a superpower, taking action against despair, and pushing away the useless pressure of likability. Rachel Eliza also tells us about her many selves as an artist.
Josh Telles
Josh Telles is a Celebrity and Food Photographer based in LA. He has photographed artists like Nicole Kidman, David Lynch, Mary J. Blige, and so many others.
In this episode, Josh tells us about his path to becoming the photographer he is today. We chat about vulnerability in photo making, chronic anxiety, telling other people’s stories through photography, “post-creative depression” and much more!
Cig Harvey
Cig Harvey is a photographer and writer based in Maine. She is the author of three sold-out books, and Blue Violet, her new book of photographs, drawings, and writing will be out in May.
In this episode, we talk all about books, intuition, her photography process (hooray for “date nights” with photos!), and the importance of noticing in art making.
Mickey Guyton
Mickey Guyton is a powerhouse vocalist and songwriter.
In this conversation, we talked about being an introvert in the public eye, preparing for motherhood, mentorship, and The Bachelorette.
We also talk about the urgency of leaning into who you are. As a Black woman in Country music —a traditionally white-and male-dominated industry— Mickey tells us about the revelatory moment when she embraced all that makes her unique and how her life has changed since then.
Mickey has been spotlighted in Billboard magazine as one of Country Music’s “female game changers,” and in Entertainment Weekly as one of the “new queens of country music.” Her new EP, Bridges, featuring the songs “What Are You Gonna Tell Her” and "Black Like Me," is available now.
Valerie June
Valerie June is a singer, songwriter, poet, and multi-instrumentalist. She also (so wonderfully) describes herself as a “professional dreamer.”
In this episode she speaks on finding home on the road and within oneself, her writing practice, manifestation, and how to be a “Light-Worker.” We also chat about being hermit-like, moving through sadness, the joy of nature and letters, and much more!
Valerie radiates warmth and you can feel it every moment of this conversation.
Naomi Shihab Nye
Naomi Shihab Nye is a Palestinian-American poet, Young People's Poet Laureate through the Poetry Foundation, and editor of poems for the New York Times Sunday magazine. She has written or edited more than 30 books, most recently Cast Away, The Tiny Journalist, Voices in the Air, and Everything Comes Next.
Dawn Landes
Dawn Landes is a singer-songwriter and delightful person. In this episode we chat all about art and life. We get into her album ROW about the incredible story of Tori Murden McClure (the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean!), her life as a new-ish mother, our love of memoirs, Patti Smith, and much more.
Lissie
Lissie is an American singer-songwriter.
In this episode we talk all about vulnerability. On feeling “oversized” emotions and the creative side of that, trauma (collective and personal), comparative suffering, and the special bonds we can form with animals. She also speaks on her quarantine experience, what it’s like living on a farm in Iowa, on the kindness in openness, and her favorite musical memory.
I think if you’re a deep-feeling kind of person like me you’re going to get so much out of this episode!
Christine Shevchenko
Christine Shevchenko is a Principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre. I spoke with her last month about life as a principal ballerina - and what that looks like during quarantine! I love hearing stories about the moment people recognize the thing that brings them to life - and she shares her moment, when she knew she wanted to be a dancer. Christine also tells us what makes global water charities and refugee organizations so important to her, and reflects on falling and getting back up, on stage and in life.
Tara Schuster
Tara Schuster is an author, playwright, and Comedy Central’s VP of Talent and Development.
In this episode we chat all about her new book , Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies: and Other Rituals to Fix Your Life from Someone Who has Been There. We talk rock bottoms, re-parenting, becoming your own champion and making new friends as an adult. Tara tells us why “should” is her least favorite word and she has some wise words to share about not comparing our pain to others.
I so enjoyed this conversation with Tara and have a hunch you’ll be nodding your head “yes!” along with me as you listen to her.
Carolyn Forché
Carolyn Forché is a poet, translator, and activist whose work has been translated into over twenty languages. Her books of poetry are Blue Hour, The Angel of History, The Country Between Us, Gathering the Tribes, and In the Lateness of the World. Her memoir, What You Have Heard Is True, describes her time in El Salvador shortly before and during the civil war there, and was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award for Nonfiction. Carolyn is also a Co-Chair with Gloria Steinem of Hedgebrook’s Creative Advisory Council.
Tina Lifford
Tina Lifford is an actress, playwright and author. She currently plays Aunt Vi on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network’s show Queen Sugar, and you might also recognize her from her roles on Scandal and Parenthood. She is also known behind the camera as a playwright, and author of The Little Book of Big Lies.
As you will find within moments of listening to Tina, she exudes positivity and light. In this episode we chat about her quarantine experience, her role as Aunt Vi on Queen Sugar, and ALL about inner health, well-being and the human experience. She talks about going from the surviving self to the thriving self, producing authentic art, cultivating inner resilience, and the unifying power of music. She unpacks the powerful phrase ”Up until now, from this point forward” and how daydreaming and reconnecting with gratitude can turn your day around.
Gina Chavez
Gina Chavez is a bilingual singer-songwriter based in Austin, TX.
Singing in both English and Spanish, her record Up.Rooted topped both the Amazon and Latin iTunes charts following a feature on NPR's All Things Considered. Her Tiny Desk concert made NPR’s top 15 of 2015.
In this wide-ranging conversation we talk about her Latin roots, releasing music during the pandemic, breaking through the noise as an independent artist, learning how to step back from the comparison game, and self-giving love. She also speaks on her most recent song Ella (about persisting in times of trouble), and her theme music on Brené Brown’s new podcast.