Take the Elevator

Send us Fan Mail We made it to the 400th floor—and instead of just celebrating, we’re reflecting. Have you ever found yourself saying, “I used to love doing this…” —but now it feels different? Heavy. Forced. Or maybe it’s just gone altogether. In this episode, Gen and Kory unpack the real reasons joy fades—from pressure and burnout to identity shifts and comparison. More importantly, they explore...

Send us Fan Mail Somebody always says, “That’s my dog”… right up until the barking starts, the mess happens, or the vet needs a call. We lean into that tension with a playful label, “deadbeat dog dads,” and then we get honest about what responsible pet parenting actually looks like when you share a home, a schedule, and two very real dogs with very different personalities. We swap stories about ou...

Send us Fan Mail A word game that uses puzzle pieces sounds like a gimmick until you watch how fast it turns into strategy. We’re hanging out with Julian and Debbie Montgomery, a powerhouse creative couple who went from Minnesota to Los Angeles and somehow ended up building a real tabletop game you can actually hold in your hands. Julian brings the storyteller brain and the systems brain, composer...

Send us Fan Mail Your team notices more than you think. They catch the tone behind your “no,” the silence after a hard question, and the subtle ways favoritism can creep into decisions. We sit down as Gen and Kory nd get candid about good leadership vs bad leadership, not as a theory, but as something we’ve lived through from two different vantage points: leading in a formal role and working along...

Send us Fan Mail Spring cleaning sounds simple until you realize you’re not just sorting closets, you’re sorting your life. GentheBuilder and Kory kick off a spring reset that starts with a real health win, then widens into a bigger question we all need to ask: what feels heavy that used to feel light? We talk about decluttering as a tool for clarity, not perfection. From there, we challenge the “...

Send us Fan Mail Something shifted for us in the last few months, and it isn’t a big dramatic breakthrough. It’s smaller than that, and more useful: we started noticing the glimmers. The little sparks that make you smile when the world feels heavy. So we leaned into them and talked through what’s been giving us hope, momentum, and a sense of control when so much feels out of control. If you’re cra...

Send us Fan Mail A murder sentence is supposed to mean something. So what happens when a family hears “50 years to life” and then, years later, gets a phone call saying the person who killed their loved one could be released under California Prop 57? We talk with Crystal (with support from her partner, Jonathan) as she shares a raw, detailed account of being pulled back into the justice system aft...

Send us Fan Mail One knock at the door can rewrite a family’s entire future. GentheBuilder and Koryy welcome Crystal Davis, an educator and longtime community leader, to share a story she never expected to carry: the murder of her teenage brother and the years that followed. Crystal walks us through the day everything happened, from a normal routine at home to the frantic rush to Kaiser Fontana, a...

Send us Fan Mail Big news first: we’re hosting a live story time at Barnes & Noble Rancho Cucamonga, and that spark of momentum inspired a conversation about momentum’s secret engine—fresh eyes. When a problem keeps circling back, more effort isn’t always the fix. Often, it’s our perspective that needs to move. We dig into the mental traps that keep challenges stuck: familiar thinking that rus...

Send us Fan Mail Kory and Gen dive into the stubborn gap between starting and finishing—why “almost” masquerades as effort, how it drains confidence and momentum, and what finally helped us ship creative work, grow a business, and say yes to a Barnes & Noble reading for The Fuzzy Furry Forest. This isn’t about hustle myths or productivity theater. It’s about the quiet power of devotion over hy...

Send us Fan Mail Sometimes the biggest lift in your life isn’t flashy — it’s foundational. In this episode, we uncover the story of Alexander Miles, the Black inventor who made elevators safer in 1887. His quiet innovation didn’t just improve a machine — it protected lives. And it reminds us that the most powerful elevation often starts with unseen upgrades. From there, we ride through Fontana roo...

Send us Fan Mail Ever wonder what keeps a show alive after hundreds of recordings? We pull back the curtain on our near-500 journey, the “eavesdrop” energy listeners love, and the quiet rituals that make us want to press record again.  Valentine’s Day is sweet, but the real magic is in what happens the other 364 days. We share the practice that’s sustained us for twenty years: unveil yourself slow...

Send us Fan Mail Press pause, breathe, and build a life that runs on ease instead of willpower. We open the new year by resetting our pace and sharing the small, durable habits that actually stick: a movement-first Pomodoro that racks up 10,000 steps at home, a simple nutrition stack, and a two-minute rule that empties mental clutter before it grows legs. We watched motivation turn into momentum....

Send us Fan Mail What if January isn’t the starting line it’s made out to be? We open the door to a kinder New Year by tracing how we got here, from the Julian calendar to Pope Gregory’s fix and the symbolism of Janus, the two-faced guardian of beginnings and endings. That history reframes winter as a season for clarity and hibernation, so if your energy feels low right now, you’re not broken—you’...

Send us Fan Mail The best leadership lesson we learned this year wasn’t about getting it right—it was about knowing when to pause, own the mess, and rebuild with care. On the next episode of Take the Elevator , Gen and Kory sit down with Tamara and Danya—early childhood educators, professors, and the duo behind Talk Early To Me and TD Growth Unboxed —to close the year with an honest conversation a...

Send us Fan Mail What if your media diet shaped your mood, ethics, and generosity more than you think? We close the year by reexamining entertainment—what we watch, why we watch it, and how it quietly rewires our days. With a 16-day sabbatical as a backdrop, we unpack the pull of short-form video, the lure of shock-based virality, and the hidden costs of counterfeit products that undercut creators...

Send us Fan Mail The mics are back on and so are our hearts. After a brief pause, we’re catching you up on a season that blended creative momentum with honest conversations about grief, memory, and what it means to keep elevating when the holidays press on tender places.  We sat with the complexity of the season. Gen reflects on training with grief educator David Kessler and how it reframed loss f...

Send us Fan Mail What if the “difficult” child isn’t difficult at all—but unseen, unheard, or simply in need of glasses? We sit down with Tamara and Dania of TD Training and Growth Unboxed to unpack how playful teaching, trauma-aware practice, and better language can transform early learning into a place where every child belongs. They don’t just work with kids; they teach the teachers and lift up...

Send us Fan Mail Author, speaker, and founder Karla Chinen, a Latina powerhouse, invites us into a life shaped by resilience: parenting two autistic kids, discovering her own late diagnosis, and building Empathy for Autism California so families aren’t reduced to numbers or left out by language and culture. We talk about the moments that matter: a mother demanding a same-day diagnostic letter so e...

Send us Fan Mail Feeling stretched thin by the news cycle? We took a breath together and mapped the moments that still shine.  If you’re craving a reset, you’ll find practical ideas here: micro‑gratitudes you can name today, ways to support water access advocacy, and simple rituals that bring joy back into the calendar. Listen, then tell us the one small thing you’re grateful for right now. Subscr...

Send us Fan Mail Creative stamina isn’t built by pushing harder; it’s built by choosing the right kind of pause. A If you’re craving momentum without burnout, this is your map: rest, gratitude, uplift, brave rooms, and steady community. Hit follow, share this with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a quick review to help others find the show.  What’s one small change you’ll make to refuel this...

Send us Fan Mail What if the spark you want isn’t missing—it’s just waiting for a better container? We  zoom into the heart of our series on relationships: how creativity sustains love and trust across seasons. For parents, it’s not about elaborate plans; it’s about small acts that make a child feel uniquely seen—voices in bedtime stories, joint kitchen experiments, and rituals that turn chores in...

Send us Fan Mail Boldness gets mislabeled as being loud, forceful, or always “on.” We take it somewhere more genuine—courage guided by compassion, presence over performance, and the steady choices that bring peace into love, friendship, and family. From Kory’s childhood story about standing up for a new friend to GentheBuilder’s journey of unlearning cultural performance, we map the moments when b...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever given someone advice only to have it backfire spectacularly? Or received well-meaning guidance that felt more like criticism than help? In this first installment of our three-part "ABCs of Relationships" series, we tackle the complex art of advice—when to give it, how to receive it, and why the source matters more than you might think. Drawing on our 22+ ye...

Send us Fan Mail What does it truly mean to create a safe space for children in today's complex landscape? This question lies at the heart of our passionate conversation about protecting childhood innocence while preparing kids to navigate an increasingly challenging world.  We explore this tension between protection and freedom, examining how parents and caregivers can create environments wh...