Solace and the City

This week I spoke with Dr. Sarah Church, the founder and executive director of Wholeview Wellness. Dr. Church is a clinical psychologist who has more than 20 years of experience in research, program development and treatment of patients with substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders. Before starting Wholeview Wellness, Dr. Church served as the Executive Director of the Division of Sub...

Today I am officially 100 days sober! I seriously can't even believe that I have this huge milestone to celebrate. It seems like just yesterday that I was hitting the three-week mark. I've been wanting to record this episode for a while now, because there are truly so many things I've learned about alcohol (and sobriety for that matter) since I stopped drinking. If any of this resonates with you,...

This week we're going back to basics with my friend and mentor, Ariella Grosse! I first met Ariella when I was looking into graduate schools for social work and was in desperate need of assistance in navigating the application process. At the time, Ariella was a first-year MSW student at the Columbia School of Social Work, and she was instrumental in my decision to apply and ultimately be accepted...

Today I am so excited to share my conversation with Annie Grace, who is the author of This Naked Mind,  a science-based and compassion-led approach to reinvent your relationship with alcohol. At 26, Annie Grace was the youngest Vice President in a multinational company’s history, and her drinking career began in earnest; by 35, she was in a global C-level marketing role, responsible for 28 countri...

She's back! When I decided to become alcohol-free, the first person to reach out and congratulate me was the one and only Joanne Irizarry. I met Joanne two years ago when I invited her to be a guest on my podcast and talk about A Safe Place Inside Your Head, a non-profit she co-founded to raise awareness about suicide prevention. Since then, Joanne has been a friend, a mentor, and a mother figure...

This week I am so excited to share my conversation with Sarah Levy, a writer and author who explores sobriety, relationships, culture, and identity. Sarah has appeared in The New York Times, TIME, The Cut, Vogue, Glamour, Elle, Refinery29, and Cosmopolitan, among other publications. She just released her first book, a memoir called Drinking Games, where she discusses her journey to sobriety, among...

I am officially 50 days sober! And what better way to celebrate than by releasing a new episode with Carl Radke from Bravo's Summer House!  Summer House is a reality show featuring about ten professionals in their twenties and thirties who work in Manhattan and spend their summer weekends in a share house in Montauk. The show centers around the drama that inevitably unfolds over the course of the...

This week, in the spirit of Valentine's Day, I was so lucky to have Lindsey Metselaar BACK on the podcast. Lindsey is the host of one of my favorite podcasts of all time, We Met At Acme. Three years ago, I had the opportunity to interview Lindsey and talk about when and if we should disclose our mental health conditions while dating. (Check out the episode titled "We Met At Therapy" to hear the OG...

I have officially hit my one month of sobriety milestone! For the first time in a really long time, I feel truly proud of myself for putting my mind to something and sticking with it. My conversation with Elizabeth was definitely a motivating factor to help me push through the tough days, and I am so grateful that she agreed to be a guest on Solace and the City. In this episode, Elizabeth talks ab...

I am officially 29 days sober! This is also an exciting time for me to share my conversation with Chris Shatek, a Life and Sobriety Coach for High-Functioning Drinkers.  Before becoming a life coach, Chris spent over 20 years in the radio business as an on-air personality. He entertained hundreds of thousands of people and met celebrities from Taylor Swift, Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, Hulk Hogan,...

When I first started my sobriety journey, I spent hours scrolling through TikTok to not only search for potential guests, but also to find a sober community that I could lean on in the inevitable tough times that I would face down the road. And then I came across Ally, this beautiful, radiant, successful woman exuding a sense of confidence a self-assurance that I was striving to emulate. At the ti...

I'm officially fifteen days sober! When I first decided to create this "Solace and Sobriety" series, I spent hours scrolling through TikTok to find the perfect guests. I came across Crissy's profile and was so inspired by her own journey and decided to take a leap and send her a DM. Within a few hours, Crissy agreed to come on the podcast, and I am overjoyed to be sharing our conversation with you...

I am officially one-week sober! In this week's episode, I had the incredible opportunity of interviewing my friend Hope Woodard to learn more about her decision to cut out alcohol from her life. We talked about SO much, including Hope's views on the gray areas of sobriety, the ways in which meme culture has normalized binge drinking, dating while sober, how alcoholism leads to disconnection with o...

New Year, New Beginnings? In this solo episode, I discuss a recent life choice that I have decided to make after months, even years, of reflection. To be completely honest, this may have been one of the most difficult recordings that I have ever released. However, I truly hope that sharing my thoughts with the world not only holds me accountable for my actions but also resonates with anyone who is...

...But maybe you'll listen?  In this 22-minute episode I talk about my return to Austin, my new life as a graduate student, my intense field work placement, my part-time job, and many meltdowns I've had in the past two months.  I hope to shed some insight into how I'm navigating a difficult time in my life and share that recovery from anything isn't linear.  At the end of the episode, I ask for fe...

This week I had the incredible opportunity of interviewing eclectic jewelry designer and lifetime creative, Natalie McMillan!  Natalie is the founder and sole creative behind her namesake lifestyle brand Natalie McMillan. Using her affinity for artistry, Natalie works across a number of mediums focusing on unique and slightly off-beat pieces. In this episode, Natalie walks me through her creative...

This week I had the absolute pleasure of inviting my friend Keauno (also known as Keke) Perez to be on Solace and the City!  You may know Keke from his appearance on the Netflix reality show called Twentysomethings in Austin that premiered in December of last year.  I've gotten to know Keke personally by virtue of living in this fantastic city, so I was so excited when he agreed to share his story...

This week I had the honor of speaking with Dr. Julia Steinberg, an Associate Professor of Family Science at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, to unpack the effect of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade on women's mental health.  Julia Steinberg received a PhD in social psychology in 2008 from Arizona State University and completed the Charlotte-Ellertson po...

This week I have a very special episode for you all!  I sat down with Natalia Ochoa, a Psychic Medium and spiritual mentor, who talked about her profession and even gave me a reading at the end! Through her infinite curiosity in metaphysics, Natalia trained to develop her Psychic and Healing abilities to be able to  bring a spiritual and heart-centered spin to media and business.  N...

This week I had the incredibly opportunity of speaking with Parker Foster, NY-based filmmaker and founder of the mental health organization Be Here Now.  Growing up learning how to film in the skate world, Parker quickly found the value of bringing an authentic and raw feeling to his work. In this episode, Parker and I talk about how he came to love and find solace in filmmaking and what led him t...

This week I had the honor of speaking with Gigi Robinson, a digital artist, health & wellness advocate, current M.S. Candidate at the University of Southern California, and the first Sports Illustrated Model who openly battles a chronic illness.  In this episode, I speak with Gigi about the work ethic, ambition, and tenacity that helped her transition her photography skills into those that create...

Maddy Price was born to two Canadian parents which allowed her to compete for the Canadian Team in Track and Field. Maddy is a 400 meter sprinter and 4x400 relay specialist who graduated from Duke University in 2018 and completed a Masters of Management Studies in 2019 while supporting the track and field team through volunteer coaching up until June 2021. Maddy just barely missed the 2016 Canadia...

We are BACK! After a brief hiatus, I am so excited to share the recording of our first live podcast with Joanne Irizarry of A Safe Place Inside Your Head.  If you have been following Solace and the City since its inception, you may remember when I first met and recorded with Joanne during March of 2021.  This past week, I had the privilege of speaking with Joanne again at Soho House Austin for an...

First things first, I wanted to apologize for my two-week hiatus from posting episodes for Solace and the City.  I discuss the reasons for my absence in the intro, but ultimately I can only attribute this to the difficulties of balancing a full-time job with a self-run podcast!  Nevertheless, I am back with an incredible episode featuring the co-founders of Presently, Emily and Lindsay S...

This week I am so excited to share my conversation with Alexis Haines.  Born Alexis Neiers, this former wild child grew up in the public eye and was involved in the scandal known as "The Bling Ring."  Alexis got sober at nineteen years old after facing up to six years in the correctional system due to a burglary conviction.  As the star of the E! Reality series Pretty Wild, Alexis became a media s...