Dear Family,

Priscilla Molina is the voice of a new and diverse generation, someone we all need to pay attention to. Growing up, she frequently went to work with her parents who immigrated from Guatemala, doing homework while her mom cleaned houses or her father fixed someone's leaky pipes. While some may have seen her parents as laborers, she saw leaders, inspiring her to lead her community and help those in...

Parenting is a 24-hour gig you don't get paid for but at least it's priceless!!! This solo-podcast is sure to boost your happiness and create a more blissful family life. We discuss things like:   *Putting yourself first and being selfish  *Being an open-book role model  *Letting your kids be a little bit naughty  *Discussing sad and tragic stories *Encouraging them to talk to strangers and handle...

Tracy Hargen is a born and bred Southern girl. Even though she did a stint in New York and New Jersey after meeting her Yankee husband, she currently lives in Georgia. She finds it hilarious when her gigantic Harlequin Great Dane and her tiny black and white Chinese Crested run through her office when she's on an important client call.    Tracy has worked in Corporate America for over 30 years, bu...

Today we have three generations of one amazing family, Barbara Bruner, a mother and grandmother, Dedan Bruner, a father and son, and Ella Bruner, a daughter and granddaughter. The Bruner's are here today to discuss healthy single parenting and co-parenting and to dispel any myths about Black parenting while shining a light on the power and positivity of diversity.   Ella Bruner is 9 years old and...

Imagine eavesdropping on a mother and daughter's most intimate, honest, and raw therapy session where they hash out the past and share family secrets in hopes of coming to a life-changing understanding. Also, imagine laughing at some truly wild and unbelievable stories. Imagine no further because this 50th Dear Family, podcast episode is all of that and more!    Laurie Kallen Schwent is a creative...

Janice Hayes Kyser is a biracial woman who grew up with a front-row view of race relations. Born to a Black Alabaman father and to a White British mother, she saw firsthand how her mother's White allyship educated others in the 60s and how her father was not treated as an equal in both the air force and in life in general.    Janice adopted a Black son from the foster care system when he was just...

"Mama!" we heard George Floyd call to a woman who died two years earlier, a sacred invocation, like a prayer invoking God's presence because mothers are our first protectors. When George called for his Mama, he called on me too. After our newborn wails after inhaling its first breath, we exhale with relief. We instantly begin to consider their safety with the underlying desire for them to inherit...

Gregg Garfield is the owner of CardConnect E.V. and Chip In, a credit card processing company. His girlfriend, Anneliese Johnson (AJ) is a mother of two teenage daughters and a wealth manager. Gregg and AJ heartedly support the peaceful protests for Black Lives Matter, but they're concerned about the spread of coronavirus as large groups stand elbow to elbow with many civilians, cops, and firefigh...

Pirie Jones Grossman was born and raised in South Texas. She grew up with a bipolar and schizophrenic mother who struggled with drugs and alcohol. When Pirie was just five years old, her mother put a gun to her head and was later institutionalized. Pirie developed a depth of self-loathing and a need to be loved that would follow her into multiple marriages.    Despite it all, Pirie went on to beco...

Under state law, teenagers aren't legally old enough to have sex, but that didn't stop three teens, Luca Wheeler, Charlotte Sedaka, and Jed Siegel from forming a condom company and consent initiative called Condom With a Conversation. This amazing trio sourced a 100% FDA-approved condom and designed a package that includes questions encouraging a couple to make sure both parties are on board and f...

Wally Lamb is the author of not one, but six New York Times best-selling novels that speak to generations of readers who recognize their own struggles within his characters. He was twice selected for Oprah's Book Club with She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True , a current HBO limited series starring Mark Ruffalo as identical twin brothers, one with paranoid schizophrenia.   The human stru...

Elsa Mora is an artist and curator born and raised in Cuba. In her culture, mental illness is not a secret and she would know because she grew up surrounded by family members who had bipolar, depression, schizophrenia, autism, and alcoholism.    Elsa moved to Los Angeles to pursue art in 2001 and then to Upstate New York with her husband and two children in 2014. She continues to make art, now foc...

ROBERT KOLKER's book Hidden Valley Road is currently Oprah's Book Club pick and already at the top of the New York Times Best Seller's list. He's also the bestselling author of Lost Girls, now a Netflix movie and named one of the New York Times 100 Notable Books and one of Publishers Weekly's Top Ten Books of 2013. As a journalist, his work has appeared in New York magazine, Bloomberg Businessweek...

Dr. Sam Fink is an internal medicine specialist in private practice in Tarzana, California. He's currently treating patients with coronavirus and has been on the frontline of educating the public on COVID-19 on KTLA, CNN, FOX, and more.   Dr. Fink's daughter, Sarrica Fink is a registered nurse who practiced at Cedar Sinai Medical Center in LA. She's currently working at a Digital Health Innovation...

Because this episode is about owning our failures, I'm celebrating my 40th Dear Family, podcast episode, something a year ago I thought impossible. We'll discuss why #40 is meaningful in history, science, religion, & pop culture & why you should fail and fail often. Let's look at our failures the way the Japanese look at broken pottery. In Kintsugi pottery, broken pieces are bonded with precious g...

Dwana White is dangerously provocative, loves dinner parties, is a fan of the dialectic, and is a professional funny girl who believes in the mind-body connection. She's here today to discuss systemic racism, white privilege, and how in the black community, mental health is not always discussed because of stigma.   Dwana grew up in Austin and San Antonio. She began modeling as a child, continuing...

Sheltering at home for the better good of mankind is shifting our perspectives to focus on what is most precious in life- our health and our family. Family support is more critical now than ever and yet we're being asked to celebrate Easter, Passover, or Ramadan together but apart. These spring holidays remind us of rebirth and growth, like the symbolic egg on the seder plate or in an Easter baske...

Jen Gotch is co-founder and chief creative officer of the multi-million dollar business ban.do. The brand's goal is to make you feel better with their bright, optimistic products. Her 250K Instagram followers love her mental health advocacy as she bears her heart with a lot of spunk, humor, and personality.    Jen's just written her first book, a memoir called "The Upside of Being Down," about how...

Yes, we need to stay informed with facts about this novel virus. Yes, we need to social distance and stay home. Yes, we need to flatten the curve to keep our health care workers safe and supplied. But we also need to stay positive and mentally healthy to boost our moods and our immune systems. Because this is a pep talk, let's remember, fear and panic can pass from person to person, like a virus,...

David Katz is a mergers and acquisitions lawyer by day and an unassuming hero by night and on the weekends. For the last 30 years, he's been a first responder search and rescuer who has been awarded multiple valor awards, including one for taking the Robert Blake trial shooter down with his own bare hands outside of a courthouse.    As the team leader of the L.A. County Sheriff's search and rescue...

The word pandemic in of itself sounds scary, maybe because it has the word panic in it. Now that the coronavirus pandemic has been declared a national emergency across the nation, this once remote virus no longer feels like someone else's problem. We've all been put on high alert so it's no wonder we're feeling anxious about protecting ourselves and our families. But let's take a deep breath, mana...

What do you value most in life? I posed this profound and open-ended question to my Dear Family Members private Facebook group as a crowdsourcing experiment. Unsurprisingly to me, the top answers were FAMILY and HEALTH. Listen to this short solo-podcast to hear why we are so deserving of being in alignment with our universal values to find love and abundance.   SHOW NOTE LINKS: Dear Family Members...

Lisa Heffernan has an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. She is a New York Times bestselling author who has worked as a financial trader and as former vice-president at Goldman Sachs.   When her son went off to college she burst into tears in the produce aisle and came to the conclusion there was very little support for soon-to-be empty-nester parents like herself. Lisa understood high s...

A short solo podcast and a moving spoken poem about my mom and my hero about polar extremes. The earth is bipolar and so is my mom.   "Bipolar is a family affair...a  celestial radiance sparked from passed down traumas and shared hopes."    Warning- This is a highly emotional and sensitive topic that may trigger some, so please listen with caution and care.    ******   Wishing you love, happiness,...

An Unforgettable Two-Part Series- Here's Part TWO Terry and Rachel Winter aren't just my Dearest Friends turned Dearest Family members, they're also the second married couple in history to ever be nominated for Academy Awards during the same year but with different movies. Terry was nominated for writing The Wolf of Wall Street and Rachel for producing Dallas Buyers Club. Terry loves to tell a goo...