Artist Recovery Podcast

Lindsey Kirkendall is the founder and CEO of Revolution, a business consultancy helping musicians and artists build sustainable, scalable, and profitable businesses through non-traditional revenue streams. She's also co-founder and VP of Storyteller Media in Tampa, a 15-plus-year veteran of B2B/B2C sales, national radio promotion, and entertainment production for CMT and MTV, and a hypnothera...

What does it take to interview Magic Johnson, Pope Francis, and refugees in camps across Africa with the same depth of curiosity? On the Artist Recovery Podcast, host Rich Wright sits down with Dr. Rod Berger, clinical psychologist, journalist, and author of The Narrative Edge: Authentic Storytelling That Meets the Moment. This conversation revolves around the real roots of a storyteller's li...

What happens when a sensitive soul stops hiding their gifts and starts using them to heal? This conversation goes very deep as Rich Wright sits down with Deanna Scaldaferri, a Licensed Massage and Bodywork Therapist, Usui Holy Fire Reiki Master, and Intuitive Life Coach, and walks through her story from a childhood in suburban New York all the way to the sacred space of energy healing. Deanna is t...

What happens when hard-earned success starts to feel empty?  This deeply honest conversation of the Artist Recovery Podcast, host Rich Wright sits down with accomplished wedding photographer turned storyteller James Walters to explore three-plus decades behind the camera, the slow unraveling that comes with life's hard resets, and the path back to joy, creativity, and authentic self-expressio...

What happens when a homeschooled girl from suburban Florida follows the spark of creativity across continents, careers, and a complete reinvention of the fashion industry? This conversation of the Artist Recovery Podcast revolves around the life of Courtney Barriger, author, eco-fashion designer, filmmaker, and founder of the sustainable clothing label Holding Court. Courtney shares the full arc o...

What happens when a Ouija board becomes a doorway you never meant to open? Best-selling thriller and horror author Scott Wells joins Rich Wright on the Artist Recovery Podcast to share the true, spine-chilling experience behind his book "Marked by the Ouija," a story so haunting it includes a death threat that came true exactly two years later, to the date. But this conversation goes far...

What happens when the people who are supposed to guide you tell you that you don't belong? For author and educator Cathelina Duvert, that question became the seed of a lifetime of creative recovery, deep self-discovery, and ultimately, a debut novel born from the pain she refused to keep carrying alone. In this episode of the Artist Recovery Podcast, Rich Wright sits down with Cathelina Duver...

What happens when a 25-year CNN veteran, a former White House correspondent who interviewed both Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, a decorated thriller novelist, and a grief-through-writing advocate all walk into the same conversation? You get John DeDakis — and one of the most unexpectedly profound episodes of this entire season. John is the creator of the acclaimed Lark Chadwick mystery suspense s...

What does it look like when a creative director loses everything at the height of his career and builds something better on the other side of sobriety?  In this episode, Rich Wright sits down with Grant Curtis, founder of Curtis Creative Agency and United Headwear, for a raw, unfiltered conversation about addiction, identity, and the grit it takes to start over with clarity. Grant spent nearly 16...

What happens when a life spent observing, feeling, and questioning everything becomes the very foundation of a creative calling?  In this episode, Rich Wright sits down with Lucinda Sage-Midgorden, a storyteller, educator, author, podcaster, and lifelong student of the human experience whose creative journey is as layered as the stories she tells. Lucinda grew up moving from town to town across th...

What happens when a lifetime of being told "no" finally meets the one voice that says "yes, do it anyway"? In this conversation, Rich Wright sits down with author, book coach, and creativity mentor Amy L. Bernstein for a deeply honest and soulfully resonant exchange that every creative who has ever doubted their right to create needs to hear. Amy is the author of Wrangling the...

What happens when the thing they punish you for turns out to be the very thing that saves you? Kirsten Rudberg: author, screenwriter, producer, and host of the Bite-Sized Blessings podcast has lived most of her life outrunning a label she didn't yet have: artist. Born in Illinois, raised across continents of Guyana, Pakistan, and the American Midwest, Kirsten grew up navigating worlds that di...

What does it look like when a creative keeps building while quietly carrying the weight of imposter syndrome, a fractured family foundation, and a soul still figuring out if it wants to stay? Paul Delaurier has spent decades answering that question through his work. A strategic designer and creative technologist born and raised in Detroit, Paul built his career from the ground up — literally start...

What happens when a boy raised between two worlds — a rabbi's son in an all-gentile neighborhood, a scholarship kid in the middle of Manhattan — refuses to stop learning, creating, and evolving? Michael Wendroff's story is exactly that kind of full-circle journey. In this episode of the Artist Recovery Podcast, marketing consultant and debut thriller author Michael Wendroff joins Rich Wr...

What happens when a rebel artist stops fighting the system — and starts building her own? In this episode Rich Wright sits down with Julia Stege — pioneering graphic designer, branding artist, and creator of Magical Marketing — for a deeply honest conversation about creative identity, resilience, and what it truly means to build a heart-centered business. Julia's story is one that artists, cr...

What happens when a child with a photographic memory, ignored by his parents and silenced by nuns, decides to figure out the human race — on his own? You get Jim Marshall. In this episode of the Artist Recovery Podcast, host Rich Wright sits down with one of the most quietly revolutionary thinkers alive today — author, inventor, and polymathic scholar Jim Marshall. With over 50,000 hours devoted t...

What happens when a little girl who just wanted to please everyone grows up to help transform how an entire corner of an industry works? In this deeply personal episode of the Artist Recovery Podcast, host Rich Wright sits down with Jessica Rennard — President of NuSource, long‑time sustainable fashion operator, and one of the most quietly influential voices in the resale and circular fashion spac...

What happens when a kid who cried for three days because summer vacation started — ends up designing custom collectibles for Disney, The Tonight Show, and Nickelodeon from a basement in Nebraska? That's just the beginning of Paul Pape's story. In this deeply honest and wildly inspiring conversation, Rich Wright sits down with Paul Pape — artist, designer, TEDx speaker, and founder of Gam...

What happens when a quiet, neurodivergent kid who couldn't raise her hand in class grows up to found a literary press, publish award-winning fiction, and write the novel she dreamed of since second grade? You get Laura Stanfill — and this conversation is one you don't want to miss. Laura Stanfill is the founder of Forest Avenue Press, author of Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary, and...

What happens when a lifelong storyteller is forced to confront his own mortality? In this powerful episode of the Artist Recovery Podcast , Rich Wright sits down with musician, author, and cancer advocate Ray Hartjen — a man whose life has been shaped by movement, reinvention, and one life-altering diagnosis: multiple myeloma. Born into a military family in 1964, Ray’s childhood was marked by cons...

What if the very thing you thought was holding you back… was actually shaping your voice? In this powerful episode of the Artist Recovery Podcast, Rich Wright sits down with award-winning historical fiction author Teri M Brown for a deeply human conversation about shyness, identity, reinvention, motherhood, creativity, and the courage to step forward before you feel ready. Teri’s journey didn’t be...

What happens when a fenced-in yard becomes a blueprint for building culture? In this powerful episode of the Artist Recovery Podcast , Rich Wright sits down with Diarra “Uncle P” Collazo — veteran entertainment consultant, DJ, entrepreneur, and founder of platforms that helped shape Detroit’s hip hop ecosystem. Born and raised in Pontiac, Michigan, Diarra’s journey began not in boardrooms or studi...

What happens when a creative soul refuses to choose just one identity? In this deeply human episode of the Artist Recovery Podcast, host Rich Wright sits down with Siquoyia Blue—musician, author, technologist, entrepreneur, and self-described modern-day renaissance woman—for an unfiltered conversation about resilience, intuition, and redefining success on your own terms. Siquoyia is the creator of...

What happens when recovery doesn’t just save your life—but reshapes your hands, your work, and your legacy? In this powerful episode of the Artist Recovery Podcast, host Rich Wright sits down with Jimmy Garcia, founder of Mean Mug Pistons, a Texas-based creative venture where reclaimed engine pistons are transformed into hand-carved sculptures known as Mean Mugs. What starts as a conversation abou...

What happens when a creative spirit grows up surrounded by competition, comparison, and expectations—yet refuses to follow the status quo? In this deeply reflective episode of the Artist Recovery Podcast, host Rich Wright sits down with accomplished author, educator, and resilience advocate Sharon Neiss Arbess for an honest conversation about creativity, perseverance, and the long road to trusting...