Good Life Project

Love. What makes it work? And, keep working for life? That's where we're headed in today's conversation with legendary co-founders of the Gottman Institute a/k/a the "Love Lab," Julie and John Gottman. Drawing upon Julie's decades of clinical observations and John's 40 years of breakthrough research with thousands of couples, they've developed stunning insights into what makes relationships w...

Hailed by Rolling Stone as “a genre unto herself,” Brooklyn-based composer and guitar phenom (http://www.kakiking.com/), Kaki King, has released 9 albums, performed on every continent, presented at the Kennedy Center, MoMA, LACMA and The Met and created music for film and TV. In 2015 Kaki launched "The Neck is a Bridge to the Body," a groundbreaking multi-media performance integrating guitar and p...

Alexia Vernon (https://alexiavernon.com/) is a transformational speaking and women’s leadership expert, coach and author who shows entrepreneurs, business leaders and change-makers how to develop the mindset and behaviors needed to walk into any room, or onto any stage, and speak with "moxie" - so they can radically (and positively) impact their audiences, businesses and communities. Now, branded...

Continuing with our special Music in May Thursday episodes, my guest today is Toronto-raised former elementary-school teacher turned MC, spoken-word artist, poet, and international bestselling author , Humble the Poet (http://humblethepoet.com/). In today's conversation, we explore not only Humble the Poet's journey from teaching to music, rap, video and spoken word, but also how his experience as...

If you’ve heard the name of my guest today, Stedman Graham, there’s a good chance it’s been offered in the same sentence with his long-time partner in life, Oprah Winfrey. What’s not as often told is Stedman’s own, deeply-compelling personal journey. His path from small-town kid to pursuing a degree in education while simultaneously serving in the Army, playing basketball in the European leagues,...

Born in Memphis, spending summer months with his great aunt and uncle in a small west Texas town, while being raised in Washington, DC, Clarence Greenwood aka Citizen Cope (https://citizencope.com/welcome) grew up influenced by the production techniques of George Martin, Dr. Dre and Willie Mitchell while listening to everything from Willie Nelson, to John Lennon, Bob Marley, Outkast and A TribeCal...

Moving from New York to Los Angeles, LaRayia Gaston (https://www.linkedin.com/in/larayia/) was struck by the extreme poverty she saw in a part of the city known as skid row, and how close it was to extreme wealth. Raised to always lead with love and be of service, she could not turn away. While simultaneously launching and building her own design and branding agency, she founded Lunch On Me (LOM)...

Jimmie Vaughan started playing blues guitar when he was a kid and now, more than 5 decades later, he just never stopped. Growing up in Dallas in the 50 and 60s, Jimmie and his little brother, Stevie Ray used to spend their time listening to music and figuring out how to play it on guitar. By the time Jimmie was about 15, he’d already been getting paid to play in a band 6 nights a week and decided...

Jim Kwik (http://kwikbrain.com/) is the founder of Kwik Learning, host of the top-ranked Kwik Brain podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kwik-brain-with-jim-kwik/id1208024744), and a globally-acclaimed expert in speed-reading, memory improvement, brain performance, and accelerated learning. This is pretty surprising, given that a brain injury left him learning-challenged and labeled the...

Thrust into the world of presidential politics in her twenties, Laura Gassner Otting (https://lauragassnerotting.com/) found herself working in the White House, before a series of events led her to launch her own firm, and grew it into a powerhouse in the non-profit search world, then eventually sell the company to focus on her next act. Having worked at the highest levels of power and potential,...

Growing up between New York City’s South Bronx and Queens in the 1970s,  Rosanna Durruthy's  ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmdurruthy/ ) family and home were often the place where everyone gathered, people from all walks of life had a place at the table. Now, the Head of Global Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at LinkedIn, Durruthy works to bring all voices to the table and empowe...

Lori Gottlieb is a psychotherapist (http://www.lorigottlieb.com/) and New York Times bestselling author who writes the weekly “Dear Therapist” advice column for The Atlantic. She has written hundreds of articles related to psychology and culture, many of which have become viral sensations all over the world. A contributing editor for the Atlantic, she also writes for The New York Times Magazine, a...

From the outside looking in, Leon Logothetis (https://leonlogothetis.com/about/) had everything. But, from the inside looking out, he was dying a little bit more every day, fiercely lonely and falling apart. So, he made a radical decision that led to several trips traveling across America without cash, sustaining himself only on the kindness of others and giving back along the way. This journey in...

Abby Wambach’s  (http://abbywambach.com/) name is synonymous with soccer. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, FIFA World Cup Champion, and the highest all-time goal scorer ever, she is an icon. But, that's not the whole story. Not by a long shot. Her new book,  Wolfpack , (https://amzn.to/2F6gxNx) and the movement and company she’s launched along with it, is a reclamation. It's a call to&n...

At the age of seven, Shobha Rao (https://shobharaowrites.com/about/) moved from India to the United States and found herself in a world of wonder and discovery that's never left her. In fact, as we'd discover in today's conversation, she is so committed to presence and wonder, her cellphone has no internet, nor does she ever use her camera. And, when she teaches students, she invites them to have...

Seane Corn (http://www.seanecorn.com/) is an internationally celebrated yoga teacher known for her impassioned activism, unique self-expression, and inspirational style of teaching. Featured in magazines, TV, radio, and Oprah.com, Seane now utilizes her fierce commitment to action and her massive platform to bring awareness to global humanitarian issues. Since 2007, she has been training leaders o...

Growing up in the Dominican Republic, Laura Peña (http://www.laurapena.com/about) discovered a love of design, animation, filmmaking, storytelling and technology that led her to New York City to study. Her fierce commitment to her craft created a fast name in the space, led her work with many of the top brands in the world, and eventually found her own creative design lab, JelloMonsters. But, an e...

My guest today, James Victore, has been described as part Darth Vader, part Yoda, prolific storyteller, designer, provocateur, artist, activist and teacher. James Victore is the designer and creative thought leader whom people look to find clarity and purpose in their life and work. James is widely known for his timely wisdom and impassioned views about design and its place in the world. At the he...

Growing up outside Newark, NJ, the daughter of a first-generation mom from the Dominican Republic and a dad who grew up going back and forth between Harlem and the Deep South, Judge Victoria Pratt  (https://judgevictoriapratt.com/) found herself in the role of translator, advocate and champion at a very young age. That deep desire to serve at the sweet-spot between justice and humanity n...

Scott Barry Kaufman (http://scottbarrykaufman.com/) has a Ph. D. from Yale, and an M. Phil from Cambridge and now teaches at Barnard. Not bad for a kid who was labeled as lesser-than, put into special-education and told he didn't have the intelligence to achieve anything significant. It took a single moment in 9th-grade, where a teacher took note of his innate curiosity and abilities and prompted...

Aleksandra Scepanovic was born into a nation soon to be at war. Growing up in then Yugoslavia, she found herself entering adulthood in the middle of the Bosnian war. While she lived in the relative safety of Belgrade (at least in the early part of the war), she left to head into the heat of the war zone, on a quest to discover not just the highly-filtered stories being reported by a state-controll...

At 38,  Suzy Batiz (https://suzybatiz.com/) was depressed and struggling through her second bankruptcy. A handful of years later, she'd built a $400-million company around bathroom odor, with zero-debt. But, the journey was anything but traditional. Standing in the eye of the storm, Suzy experienced what she calls "the surprising luxury of losing everything." She'd lived through poverty, sexu...

What if there was a pill that would give you instant access to your greatest potential every time you needed it most? What if that pill was free, had zero side-effects and worked in nearly every domain of life. Especially the ones where so many struggle, from public-speaking and socializing to high-stakes decision-making, sports and nearly any other endeavor where being at your best mattered? And,...

At 18 years old, Maggie Doyne, decided to take a gap year that turned into her life’s work. Traveling to India and then Nepal, she felt called to make a difference in Nepali children’s lives. So, she took her life’s savings, then $5,000, moved to Nepal, bought property there and co-founded the BlinkNow foundation (https://blinknow.org/pages/our-history) along with a Nepali friend, Top Bahadur Mall...

Garrard Conley is the author of the New York Times Best Selling memoir  Boy Erased ( https://amzn.to/2CioQ7k), now also a major motion picture (http://www.focusfeatures.com/boy-erased). Growing up in a small town, immersed in a faith-based community, Conley survived conversion therapy before becoming a writer,  activist and speaker (http://garrardconley.com/). He lectures at schools and...