Obi is offering our podcast listeners a special discount! Find a trained peer supporter on peers.net who understands exactly what you're going through, then use code "BEVOYA" to book up to 4 FREE SESSIONS and share it with any teen or young adult in your life who could benefit from some extra support. A bit about this episode: I've been wanting to …

Megan Cornish is a former social worker and writer who's been tackling big questions about how mental health is discussed on Linkedin. That's where she caught my eye: I loved her authentic, honest voice and risk-taking in what tends to be a pretty stuffy and status-quo environment. I felt like Megan was wrestling with the same kinds of things I was…

Ximena Vengoechea is a user researcher, writer, illustrator, and the author of the new book, Rest Easy: Discover Calm and Abundance through the Radical Power of Rest. In this conversation, we dig into what rest really means and why it's not just napping, for example. We talk about her path to writing and her first book, Listen Like You Mean it: Rec…

Kevin Kelly is best known for co-founding the award-winning Wired magazine in 1993, but his work spans widely beyond that. He's the founder of the Cool Tools website and podcast (which I've appeared on in the past!), which has been reviewing tools daily for 20 years. He also puts out the Recomendo newsletter with Claudia Dawson, who has also appear…

B Dukes is so many things. A queer, non-binary filmmaker, a photographer, an activist, a student, and a healer. They tell the incredible story of their journey from a child in the backwoods of South Carolina to the world of Silicon tech...with many stops in between. We talk about what ancestral healing means, the fascinating world of psychedelics b…

Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Scientist and Director of the Creativity and Emotions lab at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Born in Croatia, Zorana shares cultural perceptions of creativity. Her research centers on the role of emotions in creative work. Zorana and I were lucky enough to get to work together on t…

Jeffrey Sparr is a father, husband, mental health advocate, teacher, and nonprofit founder who used his early experiences with OCD to fuel his life as a self-taught artist. In this conversation, Jeffrey and I talk about what he's learned from helping people use creativity as a means of self-expression and what an unlikely candidate he was for this …

Claudia Dawson is a psychonaut -- and if you don't know what that is, you should listen to this podcast. She co-produces one of my favorite weekly newsletters, Recomendo, which features 6 tools for thought each week. She's the Founding Editor of a publication called Phantom Kangaroo, "an eerie place for poems." In this conversation, we cover everyt…

Larz May is the founder of an incredible mental health nonprofit called #HalfTheStory. The nonprofit's mission is to empower the next generation’s relationship with social media through advocacy, education, and providing access to resources. What I love about Larz is her ability to cut through social media's rapidly evolving landscape and point to …

Rosie Acosta has studied and taught yoga and mindfulness around the world. She is the award-winning podcast host of Radically Love and the author of You Are Radically Loved: A Healing Journey to Self-Love. A first generation Mexican-American, Rosie grew up in East LA in the 1990's. We talk about how she taught herself to reframe her perspective as …

Could there be a more natural and intuitive connection than mine with the Anxiety Sisters? I don't think so. Abbe Greenberg and Maggie Sarachek have built an online community of 200K people and host a popular podcast called The Spin Cycle. In their work, they blend their personal experience with their professional training as counselors, mental hea…

Jessica Poundstone is an artist who lives and works in Portland, Oregon. Named a Top 100 artist by Saatchi Art, Jessica has found creative process through intuition and exploration. She says, "I work on each image until I feel everything click into place: that feeling of 'rightness' tells me it’s done" -- I love that. Jessica's journey through the …

Dr James Kaufman is a Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut and the author/editor of more than 50 books, including Creativity 101 and the Cambridge Handbook of Creativity with Robert Sternberg. In this podcast, we talk about the connection between mental health and creativity, a topic that endlessly fascinates me. It …

Starring Emmy award-winning actress Tatiana Maslany, Realm presents the official continuation of the hit series Orphan Black. 'Orphan Black: The Next Chapter' Season 2 premieres October 29. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.…

Peter M. Krask, a New York-based writer and photographer, is the founder of an unusual consulting business called The Creativity Guide. Using his twenty years of experience in theater, television, visual art, and business, Krask acts as a personal "project whisperer" for creatives and entrepreneurs. His consulting work is informed by the practical …

Michael Phillips Moskowitz is the founder of AeBeZe, a cutting-edge research product lab dedicated to establishing a new mental health standard called "Digital Nutrition™." Their app, Moodrise, brings together curated images, videos, and audio to positively affect brain chemistry. Michael has also served as a Middle East foreign policy research ana…

Zach and Michael Zakar call themselves the "Middle Eastern Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen," which gives you a taste of how funny they are. Writers, models, and actors, the Zakar Twins most recent book, "How to Be Fucking Happy," is out now. I love this line from their book description, "Happiness takes practice, so grab a pen because you're writing thi…

Maurice Chiang is the CEO and Co-Founder of Prairie Health, a new startup bringing genetic testing to a patient-centered approach to mental health. This is incredibly promising and forward-looking! Genetic testing provides useful information to psychiatrists and prescribing physicians about to how to treat people with varied cultural backgrounds. D…

Kevin Dedner is the Founder & CEO of Hurdle, a startup dedicated to building a pipeline of mental health professionals who understand how to help people with varied cultural backgrounds. On the Hurdle website are the thoughtful words: "Your culture will always be honored." Kevin's path to this work is fascinating. In this interview I describe him a…

Pelumi, whose full given name is Oluwapelumi Ajibade, is a research coordinator at the University of Washington, where she is involved in fascinating work about interracial communication and anxiety. In this conversation, we cover all kinds of things including Pelumi's experiences as a Nigerian-American woman, her future as an obstetrician (fingers…

Do you or someone you love have bipolar disorder? If so, this episode is for you. Dr Bill Selig is a clinical psychologist in the Bay Area and author of the new book "When Your Partner Has Bipolar Disorder." In this episode Bill and I talk about changing perceptions of bipolar disorder, the best new treatments, and the relationship to creativity (w…

This episode, which will be simultaneously released here and on Vanessa Soto's new book coaching podcast, is a behind-the-scenes on book publishing. In it we discuss how I approached writing GET OUT OF MY HEAD, the stops and starts of the process, and surprise learnings along the way. Vanessa is a Managing Director at Charles Schwab and Book Propos…

Suhail Rasheed is an Indian writer, editor, and curator currently living in Dubai. A longstanding member of the Beautiful Voyager community, Suhail has written about his mental health journey in the past, but in this very special and personal interview he covers new terrain. Childhood abuse is not a topic that is often discussed in his culture. He …

It was such a treat to have this conversation with superstar Product Manager Anamita Guha. Anamita is the Global Lead of Product Management at IBM, where she focuses on Quantum computing (yes, we talk about what that means) and she's dedicated to inspiring the next generation of female innovators and pioneers. As a national ambassador for the Ameri…

Joshua Kemble lives in Antelope Valley, California, where he is an Art Director and illustrator. A Xeric Award Winning Cartoonist, Josh's newest book is a labor of love: an autobiographical graphic novel about depression and panic attack called Two Stories. In this conversation, Josh and I talk about the comic book artists he admires, why "making" …

Dr. Tameika Lawrence holds a doctoral degree in counseling psychology and is a member of the Hudson Valley Psychological Association and the American Psychological Association. She's the author of Outgrow Your Comfort, a 6-step self-help model and book. In this conversation, Dr. Lawrence and I talk about how she felt "different" growing up, and how…

Robert James is a podcaster and mental health coach originally from the UK. Robert developed OCD at the age of 16 and spent his twenties trying everything he could to face it. He read every book he could find on the topic and made a commitment to personal development. This rough ride taught him some lessons along the way, and now he helps others to…

Caitlin Schiller and I first met on the audio platform Anchor many years ago. I liked her immediately: she clearly has a love of language and is sharp as a whip. Caitlin lives in Berlin and works as an Executive Producer of New Content at Blinkist, where she produces and co-hosts the podcast Simplify. A true word person, Caitlin's been writing onli…

Comedian Sara Schaefer is proud of her new book, GRAND: A Memoir, and she should be! It is the kind of delightful and moving tale that makes you feel like you know Sara, even more so if you listen to her read it, as I did. I loved talking to Sara about what it was like to write this book after years of comedy writing, how her own internal critic (n…

Johnny, aka "The Anxious Beard," is a former nurse who was born and raised in Southern California (though he spent time in Las Vegas as well). He describes himself as having "31 flavors of mental health:" anxiety, panic, and agoraphobia disorder, as well as ADHD and a learning disability. Johnny's been married for 12 years to his high school sweeth…

In honor of World Mental Health Day, today's special guest is singer and activist Meredith O'Connor. Meredith originally came to attention when her music video for the song "Celebrity" went viral on Youtube. Her music was then featured on Teen Nick, and she began to tour and perform around the world. She then found her voice as an anti-bullying act…

Born and raised in Quebec City (he's French-Canadian), Patrice worked in pharmaceutical marketing in Boston when he experienced serious mental health challenges that almost took his life. His recovery took him on a new career path and led him to California, where he found a government-funded role I didn't even know existed: Certified Peer Specialis…

Amanda Stern is the author of Little Panic, a memoir about growing up in 80's New York with undiagnosed panic disorder. She also wrote The Long Haul, and eleven books for children. She's an advisory board member of the non-profit The Child Mind Institute. The founder of New York City's iconic Happy Ending Music and Reading Series, widely considered…

Writer Rachel Murphy and I work at Pinterest together. Earlier this year we founded Pinside Out, Pinterest's first mental health employee resource group. Rachel recently launched her own new mental health site, Us & Our Stories, a place to have real conversations around emotional wellbeing from a Christian perspective. Rachel lives in San Francisco…

Mental health writer Cassie Clark grew up in Appalachia and moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina when she married her husband Brandon 17 years ago. Cassie writes a blog, Cozy in Carolina, which she describes as "hygge anxiety writing." In this interview we talk about homeschooling, her diagnoses of PTSD, OCD, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and …

Jordan Brown is a mental health advocate, writer, and entrepreneur. Since 2016, he’s been blogging to make mental health more accessible and meaningful (a project near and dear to our hearts). Formally trained as a social worker, Jordan considers his mental health struggles and open-heart surgery the greatest, most life-affirming lessons. He is the…

I've known Leslie Dotson Van Every for over a decade. We first worked together at CBS, where she rocked her role as Director of PR. Since then, she's led communications and content for companies like Overstock, Scribd, and Future Family. In her spare time(!), she and two partners built a powerful and well-respected community action group called Sol…

Ryan Fan is a writer and special-ed teacher in Baltimore, Maryland. A co-editor of the Medium publication Invisible Illness, Ryan is a passionate advocate for new writers in the mental health space. In his free time, Ryan runs marathons. To read some of Ryan's writing on his faith, mental health, and education, follow him on Medium @ryanfan.…

Ashwini Dodani is a poet and writer who lives in Mumbai, India. Originally trained as a mechanical engineer, Ashwini switched career paths to work in the ever-evolving realm of social media, helping support the launch of major TV shows from the likes of Amazon in India. We talk about his adopted city and I learn how Mumbai is a way of life, but Bom…

This the first experimental episode of the Beautiful Voyager podcast! I talk with Logan Johnston, community builder extraordinaire. Logan and I first met years ago at a startup called Outdoorsy ("the Airbnb of RVs"). He now works with community leaders of Facebook Groups. We delve into social media use and community-building in a difficult environm…

On the "Close Up with the Hollywood Reporter Live: Indie Filmmakers" panel The Hollywood Reporter journalist Piya Sinha-Roy joins actors and actresses from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival for a frank, in-depth conversation about their work, inspirations and latest projects. Panelists include Lana Wilson (Miss Americana), Lee Isaac Chung (Minari), E…

For the third consecutive year, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) hosted the "Women Breaking Barriers Year 3: Where Are We Now?" panel at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. This special panel takes a look back at 2019 and discusses the progress and new challenges that have risen for women in the entertainment industry over the last year.…

On the "Close Up with the Hollywood Reporter Live: Indie Actors" panel The Hollywood Reporter journalist Mia Galuppo joins actors and actresses from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival for a frank, in-depth conversation about their work, inspirations and latest projects. Panelists include Kendrick Sampson (Miss Juneteenth), Winston Duke (Nine Days), Am…

On the “Growing the Story” panel, presented by Pure Leaf Cold Brew Iced Tea, SVP of Programming and Marketing at AMC Patrick Connolly joins emerging filmmakers from the 2020 Sundance Film Festival for a candid conversation about the process of bringing a story to life, from its inception to the big screen. Panelists include directors Eleanor Wilson…

IFC Films EVP of Acquisitions and Production Arianna Bocco sat down with filmmakers Ekwa Msangi (Farewell Amor), Haifaa al-Mansour (Mary Shelley), Hanelle Culpepper (Star Trek: Picard), actress Jackie Cruz (Orange Is the New Black) and producer Monica Levinson (Wander Darkly) for the “Women on the Front Lines: Changing the Game” panel recorded Frid…

State of the Union star Chris O’Dowd and writer Nick Hornby join award-winning entertainment journalist Stacey Wilson Hunt to discuss the upcoming SundanceTV short series, which will make its debut at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. State of the Union follows Louise and Tom (Rosamund Pike and Chris O’Dowd) who meet in a pub immediately before thei…

Following a screening of the SundanceTV & Ancestry short film Railroad Ties, a live panel discussion features renowned documentarian and Sundance Film Festival alum Sacha Jenkins, revered Harvard historian and PBS's Finding Your Roots host Henry Louis Gates Jr., Ancestry historian Lisa Elzey, featured historian Melissa Collom, and featured descenda…

Chiwetel Ejiofor (The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind), Stephen Merchant (Fighting with My Family), Nisha Ganatra (Late Night), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Dan Gilroy (Velvet Buzzsaw) and Gavin Hood (Official Secrets) join The Hollywood Reporter's Rebecca Ford for a candid discussion about their work at the Festival and beyond. This episode was recorded o…

Octavia Spencer (Luce), Kyra Sedgwick (Girls Weekend), Jenna Elfman (Fear the Walking Dead), Keri Putnam (Executive Director, Sundance Institute), Silvia Bizio (HFPA member) and Cassian Elwes (Film Producer) sit down with Hollywood Foreign Press member Elisabeth Sereda to take a look back at 2018 and discuss the progress and new challenges that hav…

Jim Gaffigan (Light From Light, Them That Follow), Jillian Bell (Brittany Runs A Marathon), David Oyelowo (Relive), Zawe Ashton (Velvet Buzzsaw), Rhianne Barreto (Share), and Griffin Gluck (Big Time Adolescence) sit down with Rebecca Keegan of The Hollywood Reporter for a frank, in-depth conversation about their work, inspirations and latest projec…