Above Average

You've spent years building something people trust with their face. Then somewhere in the middle of running the business, the brand, and the household, the version of you that started it all can get buried under everything you're holding. Nicole Smith is the injector behind @lipsandlattes and the founder of HēBē Skin Health in Claremont and Laguna Beach, and a mom of three. A routine antibiotic on...

Somewhere along the way, "this is hard" became the highest compliment we paid motherhood. Lorissa and Alex get into why hard-versus-easy is the wrong filter entirely, what they would put in its place, and why calling motherhood the hardest job in the world might be doing moms more harm than good. What We Cover → The filter Alex uses instead of hard-versus-easy, and why it changes how you see almos...

You used to be the person who would book the flight without thinking twice. Then you had kids, and the part of you that loved to go somewhere got packed away with everything else, and you started to wonder if it was gone for good. Amanda Kellner Klein decided it wasn't. She's a brand partnerships exec, she writes about traveling after kids on her Substack, and her almost-four-year-old already has...

Lorissa woke up one morning and finally felt ready to let go of the kids a little. After touring 25 schools and finding every one of them terrible, she realized the schools were never the problem. The timing was. A hosts-only catch-up on the pull between loving your work and loving being home, and how you actually know when it's time to let go. What We Cover → The real reason Lorissa said no to 25...

Allison Brewer opened her med spa with a one and three year old at home, no door on her treatment room, and no front desk because she wasn't sure anyone would show up. Two weeks in, so many patients were walking through the door that she had to hire a front desk. She's the founder of Masters MedSpa in Irvine and a second generation injector who travels the world to stay at the top of her field. Sh...

You picked a major at eighteen, and somehow that one decision still gets to decide what you are allowed to do with the rest of your life. In this catch-up, Lorissa and Alex get into leaving corporate, translating those skills into something of your own, and why the systems that actually stick are the ones built around how your brain works instead of someone else's. What We Cover → Why the major yo...

By the time you fall into bed at the end of the day, your body has nothing left. Not for affection, not for intimacy, not for the part of your relationship that used to be effortless. Nobody told you this was the trade. Cindy Scharkey has been an OB/GYN nurse for almost 40 years, and what she kept hearing from women is that nobody is having this conversation. So she started having it. What You'll...

Sometimes you're in the rhythm and everything feels good. Sometimes the rhythm breaks and you have to rebuild the whole thing. In this catch-up, one of us is in each season. Alex and Lorissa catch up on where they each actually are right now.. one of them in the most grounded season she's had in a while, one of them hitting a wall and re-working how she runs her week. The conversation wanders into...

You keep trying new supplements, new workouts, new morning routines, and something still feels off. The thing nobody is checking is usually the thing running underneath all of it. Dr. Sam Riley is back for round two. This time we go deep on blood sugar.. why it sits at the root of hair loss, insomnia, weight that won't budge, hormone issues, fertility struggles, and the anxiety that seems to come...

Eight months of broken sleep and a head full of shoulds. This is the mini where Alex talks about sleep-training Scarlett, and the hardest part of it actually being just undoing everything she'd told herself about what she was supposed to do. Lorissa, who's immune to the shoulds, has great advice on how to ignore the conflicting noise. What We Cover → Why "what's best for the baby" isn't what you t...

You've tried the charts, the timers, the consequences, the gentle approach, and your kid is still melting down every morning before anyone's out the door. What Randy Free teaches is the middle ground many parents are actually looking for, somewhere between gentle parenting and old-school discipline, and it works for all kid (even neurodivergent ones). Randy Free is a family counselor and retired i...

Nobody warns you that getting dressed postpartum is going to make you cry before church. Lorissa and Alex talk about body changes after kids, the identity shift that comes with them, and what actually helps. What We Cover: - The postpartum closet meltdown nobody warns you about and why it costs you more than time - How Lorissa went from always being "the smallest" to gaining 80 lbs and completely...

Two moms break down every system they use to run their households, businesses, and families without losing their minds. If you've ever felt like you're doing a million things and none of it is running smoothly, this one's for you. What You'll Learn → The weekly rhythm that replaced seven nightly "what's for dinner" spirals with one 30-minute decision → How a $75/week hire fits into a system that r...

We have our first guest ever on the pod, Dr. Sam Riley. He's a chiropractor who practices frequency medicine, which means he looks at the whole person: structural, emotional, and biochemical. We get into why "fixing your nervous system" might be missing the point, what's actually behind high cortisol and that tired-but-wired feeling, and why emotions show up in the body more than most people reali...

We're back for Episode 2, and today we're getting into delegation - why it's so hard for high achievers, where perfectionism sneaks in, and how to figure out what to hold close versus what to let go. We also go off on some tangents (as we do) about childhood, how our pasts shape our parenting, what it means to keep growing instead of chasing "perfect," and why nothing has to be permanent. What we...

To find Alex: → Learn more about private coaching: https://alexpayetta.com/private-coaching → Get clear on your finances with The Money Map: https://alexpayetta.com/money-map → Follow her on Instagram @alexpayetta https://www.instagram.com/alexpayetta/ To find Lorissa: LORISSAVIOLET.com @lorissaviolet Try Batch Protein Rice! https://amzn.to/3NFxaGD