The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey

My guest for The Happy Hour # 266 is Jaci Velasquez. Jaci released her first album at just 16 years old and is a multi-platinum selling, Grammy nominated artist as well as author, actress, wife, and momma to two boys, Zealand and Soren. Her newest book When God Rescripts Your life: Seeing Value, Beauty, and Purpose When Life is Interrupted releases this week! Jaci and I start off the show talking...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 265 is Latasha Morrison. Latasha is a bridge-builder, reconciler, and a compelling voice in the fight for racial justice. She is the founder of Be the Bridge , a non-profit organization equipping people to serve as ambassadors of racial reconciliation. LaTasha has been recognized as a leading social justice advocate by organizations such as Facebook’s Community Leader...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 264 is Rebekah Lyons. Rebekah is a national speaker, bestselling author, and podcaster. Rebekah is as an old soul with an honest, contemporary voice, and she invites others to discover and boldly pursue their God-given purpose. Alongside her husband, Gabe, Rebekah finds joy in raising four children, two of whom have Down syndrome. Friends, I'm so happy to welcome back...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 263 is Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith. Saundra is an author, speaker, and board-certified internal medicine physician with an active medical practice near Birmingham, AL. Saundra has been featured in many media outlets including Redbook, Daystar, Women's Day, Prevention, and MSNBC. Her newest release is Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 262 is Sarah Mae. Sarah is the author of  The Complicated Heart: Loving Even When it Hurts , the story of how Sarah learned to love and forgive her alcoholic mother. She also hosts  The Complicated Heart podcast , and speaks all over the country encouraging women to walk in freedom. Sarah lives in Lancaster, PA with her woodworker husband, Jesse, three kids, and two n...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 261 is Kat Armstrong. Kat is a ministry leader, speaker, and author of No More Holding Back .  She has a Master's from Dallas Seminary, and is also the co-founder and Executive Director of  Polished Ministries . She and her husband Aaron live in Dallas, TX with their son Caleb. Friends, one note about the beginning of our conversation. Kat and I talk about losing her...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 260 is Tess Clarke. Tess is the co-founder of  Seek the Peace and the Director of  We Welcome Refugees . She has a passion to see refugee and immigrant women protected and empowered along with helping the American church recognize and revere the image of God in these women.  Friends, if you hear the topic of this show and think this episode might be a political one, l...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 259 is Bianca Olthoff. Bianca describes herself as a passionate Jesus-loving, Bible-teaching, book-writing MexiRican who loves to help people navigate life, connect in community, and live significantly. Bianca's new book, How to Have Your Life Not Suck: Becoming Today Who You Want to be Tomorrow comes out August 27. I always love a chance to talk with my friend Bianca...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 258 is Emily Maynard Johnson. While many of you may know Emily from The Bachelor and Bachelorette, Emily is an author, mom and wife to Tyler. Emily and her husband Tyler are parents to four children, Ricki, Jennings, Gibson, and Gatlin.  Emily and I start off talking about how her friend's nomination helped land her a spot as a contestant on The Bachelor. Emily also s...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 257 is Becca Matimba. Becca is a visual storyteller and captures and creates honest, compelling narrative through her work in production, photography and acting. Becca describes herself as a lover of film, people, and culture and currently resides in Austin. You guys, I loved having my friend Becca on the show today! Becca and I talk about what it was like to grow up...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 256 is Kim Lewis. Kim is a "Little lady with Big ideas!" and is best known for her work as the Lead Designer behind ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” and Founder of Kim Lewis Designs. Kim's work has been featured on ABC, HGTV, TLC, National Geographic, Spike TV and FYI's "Tiny House Nation." Most recently she designs restaurants, boutiques, and hotels around the...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 255 is Lauren Eberspacher. Lauren is a wife to her farmer husband Eric and mom to her three farm babies. They live in Milford, Nebraska where they own and operate a fifth generation grain farm. When Lauren isn't busy doing all things farming, she is a blogger and speaker, and author of her first devotional, Midnight Lullabies - Moments of Peace for Moms . Lauren and I...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 254 is Dr. Andrea Holman. Andrea serves as an Associate Professor of Psychology at Huston-Tillotson University where she teaches, conducts research, and gives talks and trainings around the city about race, racism and privilege and their impact on interpersonal relations. She also uses her expertise to assist foster/adoptive parents pursuing interracial adoption throu...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 253 is Stevie of Built by Stevie . Stevie was born and raised in South Florida and describes herself as a long, windy road Christ follower. Stevie now lives in Nashville where she is a #carpentHER and designs and makes furniture full time through her all female run company, Built By Stevie. Stevie and I start off the show talking about how learning to install a ceilin...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 252 is Darbie Angell. Darbie describes herself as a confident girl entertaining with style and consumed with wanderlust. At 20 weeks pregnant and put on bed rest, Darbie started her luxury dinnerware business. Darbie's products can be found in Macy's, Bed Bath and Beyond, Dillard's, Bloomies, Kendra Scott stores, Amazon, and many more. Darbie's company also employs 3,...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 251 is Vivian Mabuni. Vivian is a national speaker and writer with a passion to share the hope and life found through intimacy with God. With 30 years of ministry experience on staff with Cru (formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ), she loves teaching about the Bible and providing practical applications. I'm so happy to welcome my friend Vivian back to the show!...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 250 is Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Elisabeth is an Emmy Award–winning talk show host, former broadcaster, and New York Times best-selling author of The G-Free Diet and Deliciously G-Free , and her latest book Point of View . Elisabeth is married to former NFL quarterback and current ESPN NFL analyst Tim Hasselbeck, and they have three children—Grace, Taylor, and Isaiah. You...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 249 is Allie Casazza. Allie is the host of The Purpose Show podcast , course creator & world-renowned mom inspirer. Allie spends her days working from home with her husband, Brian, playing Super Nintendo with their four kids, and reading loads of books. She's been featured for her realistic philosophy of minimalism on popular media like Good Morning America, ABC News,...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 248 is Pam Tebow. Pam encourages women to use the incredible influence God has given them to eternally impact their world. She has appeared on  Good Morning America  and has won national awards for her ministry work, including Commission for Women's Inspiring Woman of the Year in 2013, Extraordinary Woman of the Year in 2015, and the National Pro-Life Advocate of the...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 247 is Alia Joy. Alia is an author and speaker who believes the darkness is illuminated when we grasp each other's hand and walk into the night together. Alia writes poignantly about her life with bipolar disorder as well as grief, faith, marriage, poverty, race, embodiment, and keeping fluent in the language of hope. She lives in Oregon with her husband, her mother,...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 246 is Jordan Lee Dooley. Jordan is an author, podcaster, and lifestyle entrepreneur whose mission is to equip women with the tools they need to show up for what they’re made to do. Jordan's first book,  Own Your Everyday , released last week and is a great encouragement for women to find purpose in their everyday, right where they are. Jordan is happily married to he...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 245 is Jasmine Star. Jasmine is a photographer and business strategist who dropped out of law school to pursue her dreams. Jasmine built an internationally recognized and award-winning photography business, and also founded Social Curator. Through Social Curator, Jasmine empowers entrepreneurs to build a brand, market it on social media, and create a life they love. S...

On today's show, Episode #244, I'm celebrating the 5th birthday of The Happy Hour! My guests for this special show are two of my team members: Amanda Brown and Lyndsey Sweeney. My team and I thought what better way to celebrate five years of The Happy Hour than to answer questions from you! You guys sent in some really great ones, and we tried to cover it all. On the show today you'll hear us chat...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 243 is Kate Merrick. Kate is an author, speaker, mom of three, and the cofounder of the Reality family of churches with her husband Britt. She also specializes in making up dances to The Greatest Showman soundtrack, riding a surfboard, horse, or roller skates, and adding more butter to pretty much everything. She lives in Carpinteria, California with her family, five...

My guest for The Happy Hour # 242 is Lincee Ray. Lincee is an author, speaker, and accidental blogger from Texas who now writes for Entertainment Weekly and the Associated Press. She can be found at her popular website iHateGreenBeans.com, where she makes it clear that she believes it's important to tell your story -- even if it makes you seem a little crazy. Lincee and I start off the show chatti...