Outside the Box with Dr. Janeane Bernstein

Marianne's days are filled with schedules, structure, and soccer. There's just one problem: Marianne is a maker. She needs every minute of her weekends to scheme and dream, draw and design, to build and rebuild! This is the story of how a creator with a crackerjack imagination finds a not-so-great way to skip practice and create her masterpiece. But will her dad understand? Told in delight...

Nurit Siegel Smith, recent honoree at the 2025 She Rocks Awards , is the Executive Director of Music Forward Foundation , a national 501c3 organization part of the Live Nation Entertainment family with a mission to transform lives, empower careers, and champion a more inclusive music industry.  Prior to Music Forward, she held key positions spanning two decades at various arts and entertainment or...

In this episode, we are excited to welcome Sarah Kennedy, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and the Assistant Program Director for Orange  County Survivor Support Services of Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services. Sarah began her social work career in community mental health  serving children and adolescents involved in the child welfare system.  Her experience also includes  providing mental health...

Peggy Rajski (she/her) is an Oscar-winning filmmaker, LGBTQ+ ally/activist, and  entrepreneurial leader. A long-time feature film producer in the world of  entertainment, Rajski made her directorial debut on the short film Trevor (1994), a  poignant comedy about a young teen whose world is turned upside down when  word spreads at school that he might be gay, and his thoughts turn toward  suicide. ...

Your Reality, a short film written and starring Tatjana Anders and directed by Top Tarasin, which seeks to highlight the impact of gaslighting, has recently surpassed over six million views on YouTube. The film, which has received 17,000 comments from people sharing their own experiences with gaslighting, follows a successful PR manager who slowly loses her grip on reality after falling in love wi...

Free Mom Hugs’ mission is to celebrate the LGBTQIA community through visibility, conversation and education and hugs.   Valencia Foster is the Free Mom Hugs Southern California State Chapter Lead, and a native of Los Angeles. Valencia has had a long and rewarding career in pharmaceutical and biotech sales and marketing. Currently, she is an Associate Director in  field marketing as a Thought Leade...

On this week’s episode of Outside the Box, Janeane sits down with GRAMMY award-winning musician and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Matt Sorum. Sorum discovered the power of music at an early age after seeing The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show and being captivated by Ringo Starr on the drums. Sorum’s professional music career spans decades with world-renowned bands including The Cult, Guns...

Grant Faulkner is the Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and the co-founder of 100 Word Story. He recently published The Art of Brevity: Crafting the Very Short Story. He's also published Fissures, a collection of 100-word stories; All the Comfort Sin Can Provide; Nothing Short Of: Selected Tales from 100 Word Story; and Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to...

Heidi is a pioneer in social change finance and business, and a mother of two children. After serving as a wealth manager at UBS Wealth Management, in 2014 she founded Anastasia Finance and serves as an impact investing guide/concierge to women, millennials and their families and help activate global systemic change. When imagining what would be needed to achieve moonshots such as the SDGs by 2030...

Rewind to 2020, and there we were in the pandemic. I felt isolated, depressed and disconnected socially - until I signed up for my first CanAm Ryker riding class and life has never been the same. Thanks Saddlebackridertraining and Jonathan Armstead, Global Partnerships Manager for Can-Am On-Road, for taking the time to talk to me about his role at one of the most forward thinking and inclusive com...

Kylee McGrane-Zarnoch is the Founder and Executive Director of A Moment of Magic Foundation, a mental health advocate, and content creator that has amassed more than 100,000 followers across social media. In December 2014, Kylee had the idea to dress up like a princess and visit local children's hospitals. After her first visit to a 202 bed hospital in New York, she fell in love and A Moment of Ma...

Willie is currently the Stan Richards Professor of Creative Advertising at SMU's Temerlin Advertising Institute, where he teaches classes related to creativity and portfolio development. Willie Baronet was the owner and creative director of GroupBaronet from 1992-2006. His design and advertising work has been featured in CA, Graphis, The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), NY Art Directors,...

Academy Award-nominated, Emmy-winning director Julie Cohen speaks with host Dr. Janeane about her latest film, EVERY BODY - a revelatory investigation of the lives of intersex people, created in partnership with NBC News Studios Cohen directed the project alongside producers Tommy Nguyen and Molly O'Brien and consulting producer Shana Knizhnik. Executive Producers are Elizabeth Fischer, Liz Cole,...

APAIT has held a distinctive record of providing high quality programming through its vision – to advocate, educate, and achieve optimal health and well-being for vulnerable communities. APAIT’s mission is to positively impact the quality of life for vulnerable communities experiencing behavioral health challenges, housing insecurity, and at-risk for HIV/AIDS. APAIT is grounded by its core values...

As a teen, Aidan did work exchange programs for Lines Ballet of San Francisco, American Conservatory Theatre and San Francisco Academy for the Performing Arts under legendary opera singer Richard Nichol. Once Aidan became documented, he went on to perform in over 30 theatrical productions with some of the best theatre companies in the nation including American Conservatory Theatre, American Musica...

Sky Bergman, Filmmaker, Professor Emeritus of Photography and Video at California Polytechnic State University Talks about #ageism, #filmmaking, #photography, #intergenerational, and #diversityequityinclusion Sky Bergman is an accomplished, award-winning photographer. Lives Well Lived is Sky’s directorial debut. Her fine art work is included in permanent collections at the Los Angeles County Museu...

Heidi Zuckerman is CEO and Director of the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) and a globally recognized leader in contemporary art. She is host of the podcast About Art and author of the Conversation with Artists book series. Appointed in January 2021, Zuckerman led the museum in opening its new home in October 2022 designed by Morphosis Architects under the direction of Pritzker Prize winner Thom...

Chicago native Michael Fosberg has spoken at nearly a thousand high schools, colleges, government agencies, corporations, law firms and not-for-profits over the past fifteen years, utilizing his award winning autobiographical story, told in the form of a one-man play, as an entry point for meaningful dialogues on race and identity. His work with groups such as; The Boeing Company, United Way World...

Terra Lopez is Backline's Community Manager and head of Artist Partnerships. Terra works directly with artists, brands, and partners to help spread general awareness about Backline's life-saving services while also engaging with the Backline community via social media content and messaging. more: otbseries.com

Sam Lamott is a single dad, college drop-out, ex-meth head, who came out of a ten-year bender at the age of twenty-two with severe clinical depression, a two-year-old, and zero life skills. Simply put, there is nobody more genuinely curious about how to be a human being. Featured in Itunes New and Noteworthy 2018. Featured in Apple top 200 podcasts in Health 2018. Featured in Apple top 200 podcast...

Adia Fadaei is a 20-year-old Iranian-American mental health and suicide prevention advocate from Los Angeles, California with over six years of experience in crisis intervention, suicide prevention, public speaking, and psychoeducation outreach. Her passion for eradicating the stigma surrounding mental health and suicidality began during her work in high school at Teen Line as a hotline listener,...

OUTSIDE THE BOX features Sam G, a 2023 Advisory Board Member for Born This Way Foundation. Born This Way Foundation was founded in 2012 by Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, to support the mental health of young people and work with them to build a kinder and braver world. This team of Advisors will play a pivotal role in the planning and execution of programs and campaigns core to the...

Dr. Janeane was a recent guest on NAMI OC's mental health podcast, Anxiety Sucks , with hosts Breann and Chris. They had had such a great conversation about the importance of creativity, intergenerational connections, prioritizing your own mental health and more. Of course, she wanted to invite them on Outside the Box to continue the conversation! NAMI Orange County is dedicated to improving the l...

Jake Shimabukuro, one of the most exceptional and innovative uke players in the history of the instrument, joins host Janeane on Outside the Box. On November 12th, 2021, the acclaimed Hawai’i-born ‘ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro will release ‘Jake & Friends,’ his most creatively ambitious project to-date, featuring collaborations with a who’s who of music royalty, from Willie Nelson and Bette...

Right To Be is a people-powered movement working to build a world free of harassment and filled with humanity. We are a team of educators, motivators, and facilitators who are listening, guiding, and cheering you on. Every day, we train hundreds of people to respond to, intervene in, and heal from harassment. We hold space for people experiencing harassment to share their stories for affirmation a...