Behind the Brilliance

This is a solo episode with 8 musings for 2018. They cover things like celebrating wins, clearing clutter, and other important stuff. As always, my shenanigans are sprinkled throughout. Let me know what you thought of this episode! @LisaNicoleBell Show Notes: http://bit.ly/BTB147

Luchina Fisher is an award-winning writer, director, and producer. Her latest film, Birthright, challenges the war on reproductive rights in America. As an accomplished artist and dynamic woman, Luchina shares hard-won wisdom and reflections on a wide range of topics including:  -her early days as a writer -how she ended up living with Gladys Knight  -why she doesn't believe in staying in her lane...

A listener from Twitter asked whether I felt a responsibility to use my platform good. I answered. In detail. Black women are centered and I share my thoughts on protests, converting points of view, economic empowerment, and much more.  

A listener from Twitter asked whether I felt a responsibility to use my platform good. I answered. In detail. Black women are centered and I share my thoughts on protests, converting points of view, economic empowerment, and much more.  

Idil Ahmed has amassed a following of more than 1 million people on Twitter (@idillionaire), Instagram, and Facebook by delivering inspiring and illuminating content. An author, entrepreneur, speaker, and science enthusiast, Idil has made it her life's work to help as many people as possible operate from a place of power and clarity. In this conversation, we talk about her journey, the practical a...

Dr. Michael Breus is the leading authority on sleep in the United States. He is a clinical psychologist and one of 163 psychologists in the world with his credentials and distinctions related to sleep disorders. In this fast paced conversation, I bombard him with my burning questions about sleep, coffee, alcohol, travel, beauty and all of the other random things we all need to understand about sle...

Roderick Cox is just one of a handful of African-American conductors in the world. He is currently the associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra and has gained national attention for his outstanding talent. During this conversation, he pulls back the curtain on his process, his dedication to his craft, the hard lessons he's learned about excellence, and much more. We cover:  -how Roderick got...

Kelly Hoey is an author, speaker, and angel investor. Her book, Build Your Dream Network, is a guide for making modern career connections that power a career you love. Whether you're an indie artist or a high powered C level exec, Kelly's advice is useful.  In this conversation, we cover:  -Why Kelly decided to start going after equity instead of paychecks (and you should too)  -How the New York T...

A'Lelia Bundles is a four time author, public speaker, journalist, and television producer. Her Madam CJ Walker biography On Her Own Ground is being produced for TV by Octavia Spencer and LeBron James. We talk about A'Lelia's dynamic career, her approach to decision making, and the lessons she learned from the first self-made American woman millionaire - her great-great-grandmother, Madam CJ Walke...

Angela Nissel is the bestselling author of The Broke Diaries, a television writer, and all around dope and funny woman. We talk about her varied and fascinating career, the best lessons she's learned, and why she'd rather have money than fame.  We cover a lot of topics including:  -Angela's experience co-founding Okay Player with Questlove (and the funny story of how they met) -Angela's book, The...

This episode is a short and sweet compilation of questions. They'll challenge you, inspire you, and make you think. Journal about them, discuss them with friends, or just think on them. They're the perfect way to prepare for 2018.  PLUS! I share deets on the first digital download, Higher Concerns. It's available now at HigherConcerns.com or BehindtheBrilliance.com. Use the code "BTB" to get $5 of...

Rachel Hill is a former corporate superstar turned wanderlust warrior. She left a 6 figure salary at a Fortune 50 company to backpack through Asia. She's been traveling ever since. Now she runs RachelTravels.com, a travel blog and business that delivers useful and inspiring advice on traveling the world...or your own backyard. Topics Covered:  -how Rachel discovered she was depressed and what she...

Duane Spires is a serial entrepreneur who brings passion and enthusiasm to everything he does. We covered a LOT in this episode including the details of his journey to building multiple $1M+ businesses, his take on dealing with setbacks, how he handled friends who didn't support his wins, and much more.  This conversation covers:  -how Duane turned a $5 loan from his mom into an empire (and later...

Influencer, actress, and entrepreneur Africa Miranda stops by to chat about her journey from a girl with New York City dreams in Alabama to star of Bravo's "The New Atlanta" to dynamic woman birthing a luxury beauty brand.  During this talk, Africa opens about the best and worst parts of her path and shares the secrets to her resilience. We cover a lot of topics including:  -Africa's approach to m...

Nitasha Tiku is a senior technology writer for WIRED. Her past work includes writing for Gawker, BuzzFeed, Inc, and The Verge. During this chat, we cover a lot of topics including:  -How Nitasha broke into journalism (and her advice for people who want to break into any creative field)  -Nitasha's observations about founders who do well -How Nitasha dealt with intense criticism and scrutiny (usefu...

It's the Season 7 kickoff of Behind the Brilliance!  The cynics say the advice about waking up early, meditating, and all of the other usual stuff is overblown and doesn't account for the role of LUCK in being successful. I agree with them so I decided to devote an episode to ways we can make our own luck.  Some stuff is legitimately beyond our control (like dicks/vaginas, skin color, etc) but the...

Season 6 was a solid collection of conversations from an eclectic array of folks including writers, entrepreneurs, actors, and artists. I'm grateful to the amazing guests who generously shared their time and opened up about their experiences and lessons learned. I'm also grateful to you, the listener, for joining me in this special little community of people who want to be, do, and have more as we...

My nickname for this show is the Creativity Meets Commerce. Jessica has designed systems and processes for her work and offers frameworks for other artists. Her work deals with the hard stuff: staying out of your own way, thinking about the bigger picture of your goals, managing limited time, deciding to charge for your creative work. During this conversation, we covered a lot of ground on how to...

Felecia Hatcher is a White House Award-Winning Entrepreneur, Globally Sought after Speaker and Author who works to rid communities of innovation deserts and creates cool books, products and courses to help Start-Ups, Creatives and Broke Entrepreneurs follow their most epic dreams.  In this conversation, we talk about her journey from C student to award-winning entrepreneur. We talk about the $1 mi...

In the last solo episode of Season 6, I share some thoughts on weaving minimalism into our lives in practical ways. Of course, shenanigans are sprinkled throughout for our mutual amusement.  This episode covers:  -the Fleeing Suitcase exercise  -delaying purchases (aka the Amazon cart for life) -curating + auditing what we own (and why we should do it regularly) -the importance of gratitude and ce...

My nickname for this episode is the Sanity Show. It's full of fresh ideas and perspective on getting things done with grace, staying sane when you're ambitious, and learning how to leverage relationships to fulfill your personal and professional potential. Tiffany Dufu is the author of the new book, Drop the Ball. We covered a lot of topics including time management, renegotiating relationships, c...

In the last Q+A episode of Season 6, I answer a question about how I discovered and implemented my system of values and a question about choosing between a lifestyle business and a scalable business.  Topics covered in this episode:  -Why I decided to clarify my values  -The process of choosing and implementing a new values system -How to troubleshoot faulty values -How to choose between a lifesty...

Kristi and I had such a good conversation that lasted about 2 hours. We talked about her essay "Enjoli - read it at http://bit.ly/KristiEnjoli ,why you're never too old to start over, and much more.  Kristi is a writer and soon-to-be author who penned the (popular and somewhat controversial) essay "Enjoli" on Medium last summer. The response opened a floodgate of reactions from people discussing a...

On Part 2 of Tipsy Talk, listener Priscilla asks about sustaining herself as an artist. I shared my experiences, and we covered a lot including:  -why financial literacy is a must for creatives -high level marketing considerations for artists -rethinking how much money is "enough"  -why doubling prices is often a great idea  -much more!  Share this episode with friends who are trying to work out t...

This episode is probably in my top 10 favorites of all the BTB episodes because of how practical and important the conversation was. It wasn't until the past couple of years that I stopped obsessing over making more money and started thinking more deeply about what money actually represents in my life. Most so-called finance gurus repeat platitudes about skipping lattes and "saving more" without e...