Success, Rewritten

What happens when the stigma surrounding bipolar becomes part of how you see yourself? Emily sits down with psychotherapist, author, and mental health advocate Dr. Andrea Vassilev to talk about living with bipolar, overcoming self stigma, and building an identity that goes far beyond a diagnosis. Dr. V shares her own journey from being diagnosed with a mood disorder at 14 to experiencing years of...

Emily shares the most expensive business mistake she has made during her first ten months as an entrepreneur and what the experience taught her about choosing the right partners. She explains why she initially hired a higher priced podcast production company for Success, Rewritten , hoping for a collaborative relationship that included production, strategy, and organic growth support. Over time, s...

Paul Gilmartin spent years making people laugh on television and in comedy, but behind the scenes he was struggling with depression, addiction, shame, and the lasting effects of childhood adversity. Those experiences eventually became part of what inspired him to create The Mental Illness Happy Hour , a podcast built around vulnerability, honest conversations, and helping people feel less alone. I...

Michael Filosi built a dental practice nobody wanted into one of the most desirable practices in his market. What started with possums in the walls, no computers, and no website eventually grew into a thriving business that attracted four private equity buyers. In this episode of Success, Rewritten , Michael shares what it took to go from struggling with the technical side of dentistry to becoming...

Emily introduces Say the Words , a new event series beginning with a suicide symposium on September 24, 2026, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She shares how conversations with people who have experienced suicide loss opened her eyes to how much stigma, uncertainty, and discomfort still surround the topic, even within mental health spaces. Emily explains why bringing together practitioners, loss survivors...

Dr. Emily Guarnotta is a psychologist, mom of two, and cofounder of Phoenix Health who specializes in supporting families through infertility, pregnancy, postpartum, loss, and parenthood. In this episode of Success, Rewritten , Emily opens up about experiencing postpartum depression after becoming a mother, despite being a mental health professional herself. She shares why she struggled to admit s...

Craig Smith is a professional speaker and live TV host who has spent more than 15 years learning what makes a message truly connect. In this episode of Success, Rewritten , Craig shares his journey from sports broadcasting to sales, QVC, and professional speaking. He opens up about chasing money, getting caught in the "golden handcuffs," and eventually realizing that enjoying his work mattered mor...

Emily reflects on her experience speaking at the 2026 Pool Nation Women Summit and shares some of the most important lessons from her Success, Rewritten keynote. Emily looks back at the early years of her career when being constantly busy, needed, and productive felt like proof that she was successful. Behind that success, however, she was slowly burning herself out. She shares how a manic episode...

Jordan Kernen is a teacher and mental health advocate who knows firsthand how difficult it can be to recognize when you need help, and how powerful life can become when you finally accept it. In this episode of Success, Rewritten , Jordan shares her experience with anxiety, depression, OCD, and anorexia, tracing her mental health journey back to college when two traumatic events left her searching...

Christine Burns spent more than two decades building a corporate career before a layoff forced her to confront a difficult question: who was she without the job title, salary, and professional identity that had defined so much of her life? In this episode of Success, Rewritten , Christine shares how panic attacks, career pivots, money scarcity, and eventually losing her corporate role pushed her t...

Ali Schwartz spent years building a successful corporate career while treating singing, songwriting, and dance as a side passion. Eventually, she realized the creative work she was doing outside her day job was what truly energized her. In this episode of Success, Rewritten , Ali shares how she went from working at Yelp and Fortune Media to pursuing music full time. She discusses treating creativi...

In this solo episode of Success, Rewritten , Emily shares why sleep has become one of the most important foundations of her mental health, productivity, and long-term success. She reflects on how she once viewed needing less sleep as a strength, and how that mindset changed after experiencing a manic episode and hospitalization in 2018. Emily explains how consistent sleep habits, earlier wind-down...

Quint Boa has spent more than 25 years building a global video and animation production company through constant changes in technology, from VHS tapes and DVDs to social media, animation, and generative AI. In this episode of Success, Rewritten , Quint shares how anxiety often pushed him to stay ahead of industry changes, how his background in psychotherapy shapes the way he approaches storytellin...

Mikel McGee did not set out to become a florist. Before 414loral became a beloved Milwaukee flower shop, before the bouquet bar, weddings, workshops, farmers markets, and the bigger space on Historic King Drive, Mikel was working in nonprofits with survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking. She had a master’s degree in criminal justice. She had student loans. She had a full-time job wit...

What do the founder of JetBlue, the co-founder of Kayak, the founder of Bonobos, and Olympic gymnast Simone Biles have in common? They have each spoken publicly about living with ADHD or bipolar disorder while achieving extraordinary success. In this solo episode of Success Rewritten , Emily explores what their experiences reveal about mental health, entrepreneurship, achievement, and the assumpti...

J Johnson Jr borrowed $100 from his mom at 14 to put his first app on the App Store. It hit #7 on paid entertainment apps. That instinct to spot the trend early and just build the thing has followed him ever since. In this episode, Emily talks with J Johnson Jr, founder of High Frequency Highway, about a journey that runs from #1 in the nation for track at age 17, to walking away from D1 athletics...

Content note: this episode is an honest conversation about suicide loss. If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, free and available 24/7. Jay Laughrey and Charlotte Maya met at a yoga studio. He complimented her ring, she told him the story behind it, and within minutes they had found the one thing nobody wants to have in common: they...

Most of us have been touched by suicide in some way, either directly or through someone we know. But when someone we love is struggling, most of us don’t actually know what to do. Not because we don’t care. Because nobody taught us. That gap has a name: suicide literacy . Emily talks about what suicide literacy means, why it matters, and how having the right language can help us respond with more...

Charlotte Maya was terrified she'd be ostracized by her community after her husband Sam died by suicide in 2007. Instead, being open about it drew people closer. In this conversation, Charlotte talks about writing her memoir, Sushi Tuesdays , raising two young sons through grief, and the messy, nonlinear reality of loss. She shares why asking someone directly if they're struggling can open a door...

Jay Laughrey has built Proteus Pools into a thriving pool business, but the road there was rocky and started with losing his brother and mentor, Jeff, to suicide in 2009. In this episode, Jay shares what it was like to watch Jeff's rapid decline into depression at a time when almost nobody talked about mental health, the day he got the call that changed everything, and the words from a police offi...

The mental health advice entrepreneurs don't want to hear is that working less can actually make you more effective in your life and business. I can prove it, because it happened to me. In 2018, I had a manic episode that turned into psychosis. I was hospitalized, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and spent three months on medical leave from a full-time job I loved. When I came back, I rebuilt my w...

Subscribe to the newsletter at Success, Rewritten for more conversations like this one. The language around mental illness is completely wrong. Gabe Howard, a sought-after mental health speaker, author of Mental Illness is an Asshole and Other Observations, and host of the Inside Bipolar podcast, joined me to crack that wide open. We both live with bipolar disorder, but our experiences land in ver...

Can you turn $5 into $10 million? Mignon bet the last $5 she had for dinner to build a bakery business that has sold over five million cupcakes and crossed $10 million in revenue. She didn't know how to bake initially. She had six kids, a stack of bills, and a customer who promised to pay her the next day. She gambled the $5 on cupcakes instead of groceries, turned it into $60 by morning, and $600...

For deeper reflections on work, resilience, and redefining the way we live, subscribe to the Success, Rewritten newsletter. Mental health and mental strength are not the same thing. Amy is a psychotherapist, host of the Mentally Stronger podcast, and the author of 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do. Her TEDx Talk has been viewed over 24 million times. But the part of her story most people s...

Pre-Order Totally Nachrageous here . If you're sitting on a creative idea waiting for permission, this episode is about the person who stopped waiting. Today’s guest, Alex P. Taylor, sent his cookbook proposal to ten publishers on April 2nd, 2025. Typically, it would have taken 6 months to 2 years to receive a response from publishing companies. He heard back in a week, and by Easter, he had a sig...