Honing In

As a lover of coffee, books, and creatives who dare to share their work with the world, today’s guest is a literal dream come true! Morgan Eckroth, a Portland-based barista and creator who has amassed nearly 8 million fans sharing coffee tutorials, inventive drink recipes, and barista stories online, is here today to talk about their new book, Coffee, For Here . After landing a job at their local...

It’s my 40th birthday this week! I couldn’t reach a milestone like this without wanting to hone in on its deeper meaning. Luckily, my friend, bee scolnick, a writer, witch, and weirdo who makes meaning out of mess, is here to help me unpack the numerology of it all.   We talk about the significance of turning 40 both numerologically and personally. We also explore the paradoxes and portals we trav...

When we think about agriculture, we often consider the foods that we eat and the farmers who cultivate them, but before plants emerge through the soil, there’s already a world of collaboration taking place. Artist, writer, plant enthusiast, and Associate Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University, Keitlyn Alcántara explores these unseen worlds and distills her knowledge so that we can grow al...

Cody Cook-Parrott is your small business owner’s favorite small business owner. The vulnerability that they bring to every aspect of their work has inspired thousands of students, colleagues, and peers, myself included! Writer, artist, and movement practitioner who builds simple structures that help artists make work, Cody’s focus is attention, creative ecosystems, and research, so your practice b...

If our websites are our homes in this vast digital landscape, then jess herrera, a Venezuelan graphic designer, writer, and restless creative, is an architect. Informed by their experience moving through the immigration process, farming, and being in tune with their own humanity, they build human-first digital spaces for real needs. Together jess and I unpack the “user experience” when it comes to...

Have you ever made your morning beverage and sat down at your desk, only to find yourself utterly confused about which task needs your attention the most? The next thing you know, you’ve spent an hour “cleaning up” your inbox, and you’re left feeling like every task is somehow urgent and can wait a little longer. I can describe this so well because before I started researching productivity in 2018...

We’ve all heard the term “coach,” but what happens when we challenge the structure of a coaching container and invite it to be a truly collaborative experience? These curiosities are the inspiration for the collaborative coaching project of Interval Paper. Founded by coach, certified somatic practitioner, and writer Erica Ando, PhD and coach, interdisciplinary artist, writer, and End-of-Life Doula...

When we talk about publishing, it’s usually the finish line for any aspiring author. For Emily Larned, Associate Professor and the incoming Director of Graduate Studies in Art at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, publishing is an artistic practice within itself. She’s been publishing since 1993, when she made her first zine. Currently, her imprint Alder & Frankia publishes new collaborati...

On today’s episode of Honing In, we’re asking a big question: how can our society address the rapid growth of AI technologies in a way that feels ethically intact? Philosopher of technology, Dr. Madelaine Ley, suggests an explorative approach that invites us to slow down, reflect, and feel, not just to moralize or optimize. Madelaine guides us through how her motivations and interests have develop...

School’s out for summer…which means it’s finally time to pick up those projects you’ve been dreaming of starting (or avoiding entirely, whoops). Before you develop a 9-to-5 bootcamp or timeblock your days into oblivion, take a deep breath and consider what an effective approach to productivity could look like for you this season. On today’s solo episode of Honing In, Dr. Kate Henry walks listeners...

Navigating multiple career paths simultaneously may seem fragmented, stressful, and a nightmare for calendar scheduling, but Taylor Elyse Morrison , a portfolio careerist and PhD student who believes people build identity through action and interaction, is here to show us that it’s quite the opposite. As a neurodivergent, multi-passionate person, the challenge of balancing various projects creates...

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Harpinder Mann. Harpinder Mann, RYT-500, SEP (she/her), is a trauma-informed yoga teacher, Bhakti student, and author based on Tongva land (Los Angeles). Rooted in her Sikh spiritual background and Panjabi ancestry, she shares yoga as a sacred path of remembrance and liberation. Practicing since 2013 and teaching since 2018, she guides students in...

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Amelia Hruby. Amelia Hruby is a feminist writer, educator, and podcaster with a PhD in philosophy. She is the founder of Softer Sounds podcast studio, and the host of Off the Grid, a podcast about leaving social media. Her new book, Your Attention is Sacred Except on Social Media is out now. Here are some of the things Amelia and I discuss: Amelia...

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Shivani Mehta Bhatia. Shivani Mehta Bhatia is a facilitator, advisor, and writer based in New York City. She works with senior leaders at justice-rooted organizations -- especially queer folks and women of color -- helping them use conflict as diagnostic information about power, culture, and what needs to change. She came to this work after a deca...

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Jillian Hess. Jillian Hess is Professor of English at Bronx Community College, part of the City University of New York. She is the author of How Romantics and Victorians Organized Information, a 2022 book from Oxford University Press about commonplace books, scrapbooks, and albums. She also writes the weekly newsletter, Noted , exploring how brill...

Let’s do a deep dive into aspirational goal setting! New Year’s Resolutions not going as well as you’d hoped? Stuck in a cycle of laying out elaborate project plans only for them to get derailed in two weeks? Optimism Bias and the Planning Fallacy are likely be to blame! This solo episode is all about why we set unrealistic goals and how we can use the 3-step Proactive Plans and Acute Actions fram...

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Melissa Kaitlyn Carter. Today's episode features brand new theme music, created by Melissa herself!!! Melissa Kaitlyn Carter is a Brooklyn-based musician, performer, and creative facilitator. She is the frontwoman of the indie-folk project Hattie, described as “achingly honest and full of heart.” As a performer, Melissa has worked across the Unite...

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Gabrielle Felder. Gabrielle Felder (she/they) is a writer, data analyst, and aborisa born and raised in Orange County, California and is currently based in Los Angeles, California. She explores the history of the African diaspora, drawing from her interdisciplinary background in ecology, anthropology, and data analytics. Passionate about community...

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Catherine LaSota. Catherine LaSota is a badass creativity facilitator, and she is here to help you build and sustain a creative practice that works for you, taking into account your resources, capacity, deep desires, and unique vision.  She parents two young children in Queens, NYC, and in addition to her MFAs in Sculpture and Creative Nonfiction,...

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Jen Carrington. Jen Carrington is a gentle business coach and specializes in supporting small business owners to build and run simple and spacious businesses where they can honor their humanness whilst also making a steady and thriving income. Jen has spent the past decade working with hundreds of clients as they bridge the gap towards their versi...

Welcome back to Honing In and a solo episode all about intentional time management. Today I’m discussing routine, rhythms, and rituals and sharing ways we can create more structure and freedom in our schedules.   Some of the topics I cover: Conscious and unconscious approaches to time management My own opening and closing routines for my days How to reverse engineer a solution when you have an obs...

Welcome back to Honing In and my interview with Stephanie Graham. Stephanie Graham is a Chicago-based lens-based artist and podcast host whose work explores social class, subcultures, race, and gender—often blurring the lines between truth and fiction to spark conversation. She's fascinated by how we connect and how our shared experiences shape who we are. Stephanie hosts noseyAF: conversations ab...

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Bee Scolnick. Rebecca "Bee" Scolnick (she/her) is a writer, witch, and weirdo, who wants to help make meaning out of mess. Her books The Witch’s Book of Numbers: Enhance Your Magic With Numerology and Marriage by the Numbers: Planning Your Wedding Using Numerology are out now, and she pens swimming in the soup on Substack. She is also one-third of...

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Dr. Eric Darnell Pritchard. Dr. Eric Darnell Pritchard (they/them) is an award-winning writer, cultural critic, and Brown Chair in English Literacy and Associate Professor of English at the University of Arkansas. They are also on the faculty of the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College. They earned their BA in English-Liberal Arts (m...

Let’s talk about the power of theme words! It’s my 39th birthday! This solo episode is about the reflection and intention-setting practices I engage with every September. I explore theme words that have guided me, the interplay of my yearly tarot card, and the practices I want to focus on during Quarter 4. Curious about choosing your own theme word for the next year, month, project, week, or day?...