Happiest Hour with Paula Devine

In this episode, I sit down with Ashley to talk about the powerful reminders and mantras that can help us slow down, get out of our own way, and come back to ourselves. Some are simple. Some are a little silly. But sometimes the words we repeat to ourselves are exactly what we need to hear. We talk about “pressure is a privilege,” trusting the process, choosing yourself, letting go of what other p...

Whitney Kell helped build the coaching division of a publicly traded weight-loss company, where she coached thousands of medical professionals as the business grew into a billion-dollar company. Her work today focuses on helping people understand their triggers, not simply as something to avoid, but as doorways to greater awareness, healing, and truth. Clean & sober from Cocaine and crystal me...

In this episode of The Happiest Hour , I’m joined by Cindi Roberts, also known as the Sober Sexpert — a certified recovery coach and sexual health educator who helps women in recovery rebuild confidence, reconnect with themselves, and navigate intimacy and relationships without alcohol. Cindi shares her own experience being deeply immersed in mommy drinking culture , where alcohol was woven into s...

Samantha Parker is an entrepreneur, mom, wife, podcast host, and the CEO and Creative Media Director of The Iconic Method, a social media company based in St. George, Utah. In this episode, Samantha shares what it’s looked like to build a business, raise a family, and step into a new chapter of life alcohol-free. We talk about her sobriety journey, personal growth, entrepreneurship, and what chang...

Today I’m sitting down with one of my closest friends, Courtney Young, for a conversation that feels especially personal and 10 years in the making. We talk about how her relationship with alcohol evolved over the years, what finally led her to sobriety, and the fear that can come with being honest about something you’ve worked so hard to keep private. Courtney shares what she’s learned about hers...

In this episode of The Happiest Hour I sit down with Leontine, from the Sober Expat on Instagram, to talk about what happened when she started getting honest about the life she really wanted. She had dreams, including moving to Bali, but kept noticing that drinking, distractions, and the habits surrounding alcohol were getting in the way of actually moving toward them. Through journaling, yoga, an...

In this episode of The Happiest Hour , I had the pleasure of sitting down with Kelley Kitley, psychotherapist, author, podcast host of America’s Social Worker . Kelley has appeared on national programs including Good Morning America , TODAY , and Live with Kelly and Mark , sharing her expertise on mental health, motherhood, relationships, and recovery. This was a full circle moment for me as seein...

Catching up with Ashley Runyan on life with teenagers, our big plans at the Happiest Hour and what's next for women in midlife and how we move through all of it with a clear lens thanks to sobriety and ditching alcohol. If you're tired of the vicious cycle and want to take a peek of what living alcohol-free could look like for you, join the 6 week Group Coaching Experience. No pressure, no...

For almost ten years, Ashley Kelsch owned Teddies for Bettys, a lingerie and sexual wellness boutique in Austin, where she spent countless hours with women in dressing rooms talking about bodies, relationships, and the quiet disconnection so many of them carried. That experience, combined with her own history of using relationships, work, and wine to escape herself, became the foundation for her c...

In this episode of The Happiest Hour , I sit down with Amber Carter—fitness and yoga instructor, retreat host, author, and fellow sober woman—for an honest conversation about what happens when life begins to unravel… and why that isn’t always a bad thing. We explore what empty nesting can teach us about identity, purpose, and the opportunity to become curious instead of fearful. If you’ve ever won...

Artist Mel Cherigate shares how a life that looked functional slowly unraveled after grief and alcohol took hold. A mom, wife and after two trips to rehab, she found lasting recovery—and rediscovered her creativity, purpose, and herself. We talk about healing through art, rebuilding a life from the inside out, and why it's never too late to start over. Her honesty and openness is a true testam...

In this episode of The Happiest Hour , I sit down with Laura Silverman, founder of Zero Proof Nation and Booze Free in DC, to talk about what it was like choosing an alcohol-free life long before the sober curious movement existed. After two hospitalizations by the age of 24, Laura knew something had to change. But in a world with virtually no non-alcoholic options and very little community, stayi...

This week on The Happiest Hour, I sit down with Jes Landau for an honest conversation about motherhood, stress, and the quiet ways alcohol can slowly become woven into everyday life. For Jes, instagram @jeslandau, what started as sharing a nightly bottle of wine with her husband became a ritual, a reward, and eventually a crutch. Following her divorce, she found herself working in wine sales while...

In this short solo episode, I talk about the mindset shift that changed everything for me. For years, it was easy to blame stress, overwhelm, difficult seasons, or other people for why I kept drinking. But staying on that merry-go-round only kept me stuck. The hardest truth to face was also the most freeing: alcohol wasn't helping me survive my life—it was making my life harder. When I stopped poi...

This week I'm joined by Kristen Beckett, the woman behind the viral Mocktailsandmarathons Instagram reels. We talk about the slippery slope of gray-area drinking in motherhood—how "normal" drinking slowly turned into blackouts, hiding alcohol, and constantly justifying it because nothing "bad" had happened... yet. Kristen shares her experience with postpartum depression, th...

This week on  The Happiest Hour , I’m joined by author Mary Alice Stephens for a conversation that felt like sitting across from a friend who just gets it. We talk about her incredible book, the stories behind it, and the moments that made us both stop and question what had become so normal. We get into: • Mommy wine culture and the messages women absorb about alcohol • The “witching hour” and usi...

Had a great conversation with Whitney Cowell from LifeWithWhit on TikTok. We discussed how two things cane be true at once. We can still hold on to old memories that were fun yet also recognize the bad moments. Yet, if we hold onto one, we must acknowledge the other. We talk about having a sober wedding, faith, and combining our life with friends inside and outside our world of recovery. What an a...

My friend Shannon and I have been walking this journey together for years, and this conversation is one of the most honest we’ve had. We talk about motherhood, friendship, and the subtle ways alcohol had us performing instead of truly connecting—showing up physically while missing pieces of ourselves emotionally. This episode is about what changed, what surprised us, and how choosing differently g...

This week I got to sit down with a very special soul and friend, Brenda. We met through Lighthouse Sobriety Academy. From the moment you meet her, you feel her energy, joy, and deep sense of peace—but her journey wasn’t always that way. We talk about her complicated relationship with alcohol, unhealthy relationships, and how drinking looked different during different seasons of her life. Because a...

This week on The Happiest Hour, I sat down with Ashley , mom of two, fitness coach, UGC creator, and someone whose story felt surprisingly familiar. We talked about what happens when alcohol doesn’t necessarily create a dramatic rock bottom… it just quietly stops working. The overthinking. The exhaustion. The feeling of doing all the things but not fully feeling like yourself. Ashley shares how sh...

We talk a lot about triggers like parties, stress, and celebrations—but what about the quiet moments? The nights home alone. The hotel room. The empty house. The moments when nobody’s watching and that little voice says… who’s gonna know? In this episode, we talk about one of the hardest and least discussed parts of changing your relationship with alcohol: drinking in private, negotiating with you...

This week I sat down with Juliet Warner for an honest conversation about sobriety, relapse, faith, motherhood, and what recovery actually looks like behind the scenes. We talk about relapse and finding our way back. AA, God, and the magic of the 12 Steps Parenting teens and becoming a more present mom. What recovery gave us that alcohol never could This isn’t a conversation about perfection. It’s...

In this episode of The Happiest Hour with Paula Devine , Paula sits down with Dana Bowman for an honest conversation about motherhood, nightly wine habits, menopause, sugar addiction, perfectionism, and the complicated relationship so many women have with alcohol. They also talk openly about relapse — not as failure, but as part of Dana’s story and a turning point that became intentional, honest,...

This week Ashley & I get honest about the thoughts, fears, and mental gymnastics that came with drinking. Waiting for a reason to stop, hoping something external would make the decision for us, the anxiety after the nights out, and the realization that so much of what we called fun was actually exhausting us. If you've ever wondered why you kept going back even when you knew something felt...

In this Friday series episode, Ashley and I are sharing 3 things that really stuck with us in early sobriety and beyond. The fears, the shifts, the small moments that actually matter and what it looks like when everything feels new and a little uncomfortable. Not the polished version...the real version. If you've ever wondered : "Could I actually do this?" or "What does it reall...