Attention Different | Adulting with ADHD

What happens when a parent knows something is different about their child, but no one seems to listen? In this episode of the Attention Different Podcast, Stephen Tonti and Aaron Smith sit down with 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐚 𝐑𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫, neurodiversity consultant, special education advocate, and founder of Journey to Bloom, to discuss what it really takes to support neurodivergent children beyond a diagnosis. Drawing from...

Have you ever wondered why friendship can feel so much harder than it seems for some people?  In this episode, Aaron Smith and Stephen Tonti lead a thoughtful conversation with Caroline Maguire, an ADHD coach and author of Friendship Skills for Neurodivergent Adults , about how neurodivergence shapes the way we build, maintain, and navigate friendships. Here, she shares practical frameworks and co...

What if behaviors like hyperfocus, pacing, and going blank weren't signs that something is wrong, but clear data about how you work best? Rita Ramakrishnan is a neurodivergent executive coach, former Chief People Officer, and founder of Iksana Consulting. Diagnosed with ADHD in university and autism at 35, she spent nearly two decades navigating corporate environments at Accenture, PwC, and E...

What if the reason you hold yourself back isn't a personal flaw, but a survival mechanism your brain built to protect you? In this episode of Late Not Less , host Devin Pitts-Rogers sits down with Alice Draper, founder of podcast guesting agency Hustling Writers and host of the award-winning podcast My Rejection Story . Together, they embark on a candid, deeply personal conversation about rej...

🧠 What if the story you're telling yourself is the very thing keeping you stuck?  More importantly, what if changing it is more achievable than you think? Ryan Mayer is back on the show, and in part 2, hosts Stephen Tonti and Aaron Smith go deeper into the internal landscape of ADHD: the narratives we run on repeat, the science behind visualization and mental rehearsal, and why asking for he...

What happens when the thing you believe is helping your ADHD brain is actually making things harder? In Part 2 of our ADHD & THC series, hosts Stephen Tonti and Aaron Smith move beyond the research and into the deeply personal side of cannabis use, ADHD, anxiety, depression, and recovery. Stephen shares his own journey through daily THC use, self-medication, emotional struggles, Dry January ex...

🤔 Ever wonder if THC is helping your ADHD… or just helping you tolerate being overwhelmed a little longer? In the second part of this powerful conversation, hosts Stephen Tonti and Aaron Smith welcome back Dr. Roberto Olivardia to continue unpacking the complicated relationship between ADHD, THC, dopamine, executive functioning, sobriety, and self-awareness. This episode goes deeper into what can...

Why do ADHD brains overthink everything, avoid transitions, and somehow turn “one more task” into a three-hour spiral? In this episode of Late, Not Less, host Devin Pitts-Rogers sits down with ADHD coach and Attention Different co-host Aaron Smith for a relatable conversation. Together, they explore overthinking, burnout, mindfulness, productivity guilt, body doubling, and learning how to work wit...

🔥 Why do so many ADHD adults struggle with food, eating habits, and shame around nutrition, even when they know what they’re “supposed” to do? In this episode of Attention Different, registered dietitian and ADHD nutrition expert Rebecca King joins hosts Stephen Tonti and Aaron Smith for an honest conversation about dopamine, binge eating, restrictive dieting, emotional eating, and the exhausting...

[𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: This episode contains a discussion about suicidal ideation and mental health struggles] 💭 What happens when you spend decades believing you’re “lazy” or “bad”, only to discover your brain was working differently the entire time? In this episode of Late, Not Less, host Devin Pitts-Rogers sits down with actor, voice actor, tabletop RPG creator, and nonprofit founder 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞 𝐉𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐤 f...

Is cannabis helping your ADHD, or making it harder? And how do you know when a coping tool has become a crutch? As Stephen says in the episode, “We’re not here to proselytize against or for marijuana. We’re trying to balance our lived experience with what the experts teach us.” In this deeply personal episode of Attention Different, hosts Stephen Tonti and Aaron Smith open up about their own long,...

💡 Is the substance that “helps you relax” quietly making your ADHD worse?  Today’s guest stresses: this isn’t about moralizing the issue, it’s about what the science says. In this episode, hosts Stephen Tonti and Aaron Smith welcome back returning guest, clinical psychologist, and Harvard Medical School lecturer Dr. Roberto Olivardia, to unpack one of the most critical topics for today’s ADHDers:...

What happens when a Navy pilot builds her life on discipline and pressure, and it finally stops working? In this episode of Attention Different, hosts Stephen Tonti and Aaron Smith sit down with ADHD coach and former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot 𝗧𝗼𝗿𝗶 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗼𝗻 to unpack why so many ADHD adults rely on stress, fear, and urgency just to function. From a high-achieving military career to burnout and...

💡 You know exactly what you need to do, but you still can’t make yourself do it. Sound familiar? You keep telling yourself “just start”, but your brain won’t cooperate. Why does this happen? In this episode of Attention Different, hosts Stephen Tonti and Aaron Smith sit down with executive function coach and former special education teacher Sean McCormick to unpack what’s actually behind the dail...

💡 What if your “anxiety” was never anxiety at all? What if the real story was missed for years? In this episode, Heather DeAngelis, ADHD specialist and Columbia-trained therapist, sits down with hosts Stephen Tonti and Aaron Smith to unpack the reality of late-diagnosed ADHD in women. Drawing from both her clinical work and personal experience, Heather shares how high-functioning women are often...

🔥 What if ADHD treatment isn’t just about the right medication… but a completely different approach to care? In this episode of the Attention Different podcast, hosts Stephen Tonti and Aaron Smith sit down with ADHD clinician and pediatrician Scott Keel to unpack what’s broken in traditional ADHD care and what it actually looks like to treat the whole person. Building a practice rooted in lived e...

Why do ADHD brains feel like they’re running 47 emotional tabs at once? And what happens when empathy, nonstop information, and a chaotic world collide? In this episode of the Attention Different Podcast, Stephen and Aaron unpack an important topic that many ADHD adults experience but rarely hear explained clearly: hypersensitivity, trauma, and emotional flooding in a chaotic world. Aaron and Step...

Why do so many adults with ADHD grow up believing they’re just lazy or unmotivated? Meredith Carder—ADHD coach, writer, and author of It All Makes Sense Now — joins Late, Not Less host Devin Pitts-Rogers to unpack the moment when ADHD finally clicks into place in adulthood. Meredith shares how recognizing ADHD while evaluating her child felt like “someone turning on the lights in an old house.” Su...

“Self-care stops being self-care when you’re doing it to prove you’re good enough.” In this episode of the Attention Different podcast, co-founders Aaron Smith and Stephen Tonti explore a surprising question: Can self-care actually become toxic? Drawing from Aaron’s work as a therapist and ADHD coach and Stephen’s storytelling perspective, the conversation unpacks how modern productivity culture h...

What does it mean to be diagnosed with "anything but ADHD?” How many times do you have to be dismissed before someone finally listens? If you've ever left a doctor's office feeling unheard, unseen, or handed the wrong label, you're not alone. For Jessi Sorensen — TV producer, documentary filmmaker, and late-diagnosed ADHD adult — that question became the foundation for her feat...

Your relationship with food and your ADHD brain are more connected than you think. 🧠🍽️ Nicole DeMasi Malcher is a Registered Dietitian, Diabetes Educator, and founder of Damasi Nutrition and Eating with ADHD, a virtual nutrition practice helping neurodivergent people stop dieting, heal binge eating, and rebuild their relationship with food and body image. She discovered her own ADHD at 33, after...

Ever wish you had a personal assistant who actually gets your ADHD brain? Sharon Pope built one. In this episode, Sharon Pope—founder of Shelpful, an AI-powered task manager designed specifically for ADHD, joins Aaron and Stephen to talk about entrepreneurship, automations, and why "stumbling to arrival" is the most honest way to describe the ADHD experience. Shelpful is an AI task manag...

This is about redefining what success means for your ADHD brain and building a life that works with you, not against you. Join Attention Different co-founders Aaron Smith, LCSW, and Stephen Tonti, MFA, for this dynamic panel discussion from the International Conference on ADHD 2025: Connect Learn Thrive (November 2025). In this panel discussion, Aaron and Stephen bring together some of the brighte...

🔥 Why do ADHD brains thrive with movement, structure, and shared space, but stall in isolation? In this episode of Attention Different, we sit down with Elan Marko, founder of Deep Work Sprints, to unpack why so many ADHD entrepreneurs struggle to follow through, not because they lack motivation, but because they’re working against their own nature. Elan shares insights from his in-depth research...

What if ADHD isn’t something you “outgrow,” fix, or hide, but something you learn to work with ? In this episode of the Attention Different Podcast, we sit down with Diann Wingert—former psychotherapist, entrepreneur coach, and host of the ADHD-ish podcast—for a deeply human conversation about adult ADHD, late diagnosis, masking, and radical self-acceptance. Drawing from decades of clinical work,...