A Joyful Rebellion

Sarah Marshall spent over two decades attending Burning Man — starting in 2001 when she arrived tightly wound, ready to bolt, and wholly unprepared for a place that asked for the full, unguarded version of herself. A military veteran turned engineer who had recently transitioned, she wasn’t ready to be seen. What she found, eventually, was a gift economy that knocks down social walls, a participat...

Drewbie Wilson did everything right. He climbed from $40,000 a year in insurance to half a million, landed private jet trips, built a commercial gym in the garage, and bought the second fridge — the garage fridge, which he’ll tell you is the true sign you’ve made it. Then in 2023, he walked away from all of it. The corporate politics had gotten unbearable, the golden handcuffs had gotten tight, an...

Most of us are really good at looking like we've got it together. Becca Eve Young decided to stop pretending. She's a coach, author, and former corporate climber who did all the things — MBA, corner office, company going public — and watched it all collapse in the same year her dad died, stranded alone in rural Mexico during a global pandemic. What came out the other side was a book called It's Go...

Aaron Ryan didn't wait for someday. He left a steady career, burned the bridges behind him, and started building something entirely his own. Nearly 50 books later, he's watching the two creative industries he's devoted his life to — voiceover and fiction writing — get quietly dismantled by AI. And he's got thoughts about it. Aaron is a prolific sci-fi author, voice actor, and dual storyteller whos...

Most people move through the world without thinking about how they move through the world. The door opens. The bathroom fits. The seat is reachable. For Jenna Udenberg, none of that has ever been a given.  And after nearly four decades navigating life from a wheelchair, she has stopped waiting for the world to catch up — and started educating it. Jenna is an educator, author, and founder of Above...

Most of us spend our careers trying to become important. We perform, we climb, we accumulate — and somewhere along the way we confuse being needed with actually being useful. Chip Scholz has spent decades coaching leaders through exactly that confusion, and he'll tell you plainly: the freedom you're looking for is on the other side of not needing to matter quite so much. Chip is a leadership coach...

What if the only way to save the planet was to kidnap the world's billionaires and dose them with psychedelics? That's not a joke — that's Diana Colleen's debut novel. But here's what makes it more than just a wild premise. Diana is a trained psychedelic facilitator. She's lived through the kind of trauma these medicines are designed to help heal. And she genuinely believes billionaireism is a pat...

After spending decades performing at the highest levels of classical music, Kate Kayaian did something almost unthinkable in her industry: she walked away. In this episode of A Joyful Rebellion, Kate shares the deeply personal process of untangling herself from an identity she had carried since childhood and learning how to build a life that actually reflected who she was becoming — not just who p...

At 20 years old, Kenneth Kunken broke his neck during a college football game at Cornell University and was told he likely wouldn’t survive the week. Doctors warned his family that even if he lived, he’d spend the rest of his life in a nursing home with little hope for independence. They were wrong. In this episode of A Joyful Rebellion, Ken shares the long road from catastrophic spinal cord injur...

Most people think they need a new idea to make more money—but what if they’re just overlooking what’s already there? Bart Merrell helps people create financial security by monetizing what they already know, already do, and often completely ignore. From building a DJ business at 15 to working internationally and turning everyday skills into income streams, Bart’s built his life around one simple qu...

Why do so many people say they want change—but keep repeating the same patterns? In this episode of A Joyful Rebellion, James sits down with Kristan Swan to unpack the uncomfortable truth behind personal growth, identity, and self-awareness. Kristan shares her journey from business coaching entrepreneurs to helping people reconnect with themselves through journaling, group conversations, and spiri...

What kind of conviction does it take to begin a nearly 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail hike at 72 years old? For Rand Timmerman, the answer is layered in grief, sobriety, brotherhood, faith, and unfinished business. A Vietnam veteran, longtime attorney, and recovery advocate, Rand set out on the Appalachian Trail with his brother shortly after overcoming alcoholism and while processing decades of emo...

Burnout doesn’t show up when it’s convenient. It shows up when you can least afford to slow down. In this episode, Garrett Wood breaks down what burnout actually looks like—not the Instagram version, but the real, physiological, day-to-day experience of it. From sleep disruption and irritability to chronic pain and identity collapse, Garrett walks us through the five stages of burnout and why high...

A joyful rebellion isn’t reckless—it’s intentional. In this conversation, novelist Cinda Gault breaks down a truth most people avoid: the hardest part of living on your own terms isn’t courage—it’s clarity. Because if you don’t know what you actually want, every decision becomes harder. Cinda’s path wasn’t linear. She helped start a women’s crisis center in the 1970s, worked in a men’s prison, ear...

Episode Summary What happens when the system meant to protect you becomes the thing that wears you down? In this powerful episode of A Joyful Rebellion, James sits down with Lisa Johnson — educator, author, and co-founder of Been There Got Out — to talk about surviving legal abuse, reclaiming identity, and rebuilding life after a high-conflict divorce. Lisa shares her deeply personal journey throu...

Episode Summary In the early 1990s, college soccer coach Scott Martin walked into an emergency room with flu-like symptoms. A month later, he woke from a coma to learn he had contracted necrotizing fasciitis — and that his mother and brother had been forced to choose between letting him die or amputating both hands and parts of his feet. What followed wasn’t a cinematic comeback. It was 30+ years...

Episode Summary Some people rebel by getting louder. Carrie Birde rebelled by getting gentler. After years of writing in secret—carrying shame, creative fear, and a persistent who am I to do this?—Carrie finished A Small Tale of Uncommon Grace, a novel that intentionally pushes back against a culture saturated with noise and dystopia. Instead of resistance, the book is driven by acceptance. Instea...

Episode Summary Creatives are often told business has to be rigid, serious, and exhausting — spreadsheets, rules, and hustle until you lose the joy that got you started. But what if the real rebellion is treating your business like a game instead of a grind? In this energizing conversation, James sits down with Paul Pape, creator of Gamify Business and the beloved “Santa for Nerds,” to explore how...

Episode Summary  In this deeply resonant episode of A Joyful Rebellion, James sits down with choreographer, director, educator, and somatic movement analyst Alexandra Beller to explore the profound intersection of art, healing, embodiment, and authenticity. Alexandra has spent over 25 years helping artists unlock body-based creativity, cultivate rigor without harm, and create work rooted in truth...

Episode Summary What if aging wasn’t something to fear… but something to design? In this empowering conversation, bestselling author and leadership expert Erika Andersen introduces the radical idea at the heart of her new book The New Old: that your “third act” can be your most vibrant chapter yet. Drawing from research, decades of coaching experience, and her own personal reinvention, Erika break...

Episode Summary  In this episode of A Joyful Rebellion, James sits down with writer, programmer, photographer, stand-up comedian, and self-described “professional dabbler” Matt Savino to unpack the winding path behind his debut book A Land Without a Continent. What starts as a practical decision to drive his Toyota FJ Cruiser through Central America turns into a life-shifting adventure spanning bo...

Episode Summary Leadership isn’t about titles, charisma, or being the loudest voice in the room. According to Dr. Matt Kutz — professor, Fulbright scholar, organizational coach, and author of Becoming Epic — leadership begins with learning to lead yourself. In this raw, energizing conversation, Matt challenges the watered-down pop-culture version of “everyone’s a leader” and explains why true lead...

Episode Summary Award-winning journalist and novelist John DeDakis joins A Joyful Rebellion to talk about the craft—and catharsis—of writing. From getting tear-gassed in the middle of an anti-war riot during his college days to serving two decades as a White House correspondent and CNN senior editor, John’s 45-year journalism career shaped both his worldview and his fiction. Now, as the author of...

Episode Summary When his marriage ended and his life unraveled, Melbourne-based entrepreneur Wes Towers found himself sleeping under his desk—emotionally exhausted and completely untethered. What followed wasn’t an overnight transformation but a two-year process of unlearning, rebuilding, and rediscovering what joy actually feels like. In this raw and human conversation, Wes and James unpack what...

Episode Summary Creativity isn’t a lightning strike—it’s a practice. In this candid conversation, songwriter–novelist–systems thinker Mark Firehammer unpacks why creativity is a habit you can train, and how treating it like a system beats waiting for the muse. We get the backstory of his new novel The Echo and the Voice (published under a pen name that honors his mother’s Swedish family), and the...