Behind The Brilliance

The funny and smart Issa Rae joins me to chat about her path to creating the hit webseries, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl along with her new project, Color Creative. Shenanigans and laughter abound as we discuss personality types, shifts in the entertainment industry, our deep love of The Wire, overcoming insecurities, and why we won't let people pick our brains.  

Mega talented actress and playwright Jozanne Marie stops by to share her breathtaking story of overcoming poverty and abuse to deliver an award-winning one woman show that's been hailed by the LA Times, the NAACP, and many others.

In this solo episode, I answer listener questions on multitasking, my favorite books and resource, and finding new friends when you've made a positive life change.

In this episode, the amazingly smart Chris Dannen (writer for Fast Co, Maxim, Wired + technologist) graced my virtual couch with his thoughts on overcoming personal resistance to achieve goals, unleashing one's inner badass, detaching your identity from your title at work, and tricking yourself into forming good habits. This is one of my favorite episodes ever. Listen with a pen and pad handy - it's that good.

Like the bottomless mimosas at a well-done brunch, ideas tend to flow and flow and flow...and flow. Sometimes it's hard to decide what to pursue next. In this solo episode, I share my experience of trying to choose among any given group of ideas and the things I consider before I make moves.

In this episode, I share thoughts on habits - the little things that make a big difference in our lives and careers. I also explore ways to form new habits and hack daily routines to make change easier. And of course, I shared a couple of book recs because #nerdlife.

In this episode, social media director and editor-at-large for Revolt, Julian Mitchell, talks with me about his career, music, his legacy, and what motivates him. He also explains the impact Ralph Emerson had on his life and shares his philosophy on social media.

In this solo episode, I talk about my recent 3 day cleanse and digital detox. I also dive into what I call the "joy formula", how to create yours, and how I discovered mine. Lots of happy thoughts and inspiration in this episode...kind of like a trip to Target.

In this solo episode, I share thoughts on the interesting and complicated ways relationships change when one person experiences success. I discuss my experience on getting rid of the green eyed monster (we've all been there) and how to deal with jealousy.

Actress, writer, and producer Brandi Ford stops by to talk about her HBO award-winning film, Muted. We covered the inspiration behind Muted, dealing with a creative identity crisis, work/life balance as a working mom and wife, and what happens when a West Coast girl discovers the virtues of the South.

In this episode, I share the necessity and urgency of seeing The Wire, a few thoughts on friendships and hand written notes, and the simplest, most effective way to be a game changer.

In this episode, Lisa shares her thoughts on the importance of decluttering and streamlining your life. She also shares like a gazillion books, her favorite TED talk and and the 5 areas you should declutter before year end.

In this episode, Lisa follows up episode 21 with Benoni Tagoe with a discussion on setbacks. She shares her thoughts and experiences with setbacks and how she's overcome them. She also offers book recommendations (surprise, surprise) and shares her thoughts on failure and why ambitious people have to make peace with it.  

Creative entrepreneur Benoni Tagoe stops by to pull back the curtain on his success as the creator of The Bizz Plan, the head of business development for Issa Rae Productions and a music industry thought leader. We chat about his work in music, digital entertainment, and business as well as depression, Fifty Shades of Grey, and why there's no future in frontin.  

In this episode, entrepreneur, journalist, and author Shane Snow stops by to discuss his body of work, how his company was born, and what he learned while writing Smartcuts. The book analyzes the lives of people and companies that do incredible things in implausibly short time. Shane and I cover why hard copy books are better than e-readers, what we want to add to our bucket lists, and the virtues of being an independent thinker. It was awesome.

In this episode, Lisa shares her best advice on time management and passes on great insight from high profile achievers on how to get more done in less time. She also recommends strategies for feeling less stressed while setting and pursuing big goals.

In this episode, Lisa shares her advice on dealing with writer's block and creative dilemmas. Based on her experience and that of successful creatives and entrepreneurs she knows, she offers five ways to deal with feelings creatively stuck.

Award winning filmmaker and digital media maven Wadooah Wali stops by to talk about her film, Gaze of the Beholder, and give Lisa the scoop on what it took to get the film made. She also talks about her career in PR with companies like Demand Media and Full Screen and also shares her thoughts on the realities of modern storytelling.

Lisa shares her reflections on the Cindy Gallop episode and the #LisaLikes pick, Psychocybernetics. She also shares why victory boards are just as important as vision boards and shares a random story from high school. She also gets all Iyanla towards the end with an inspiring rant about keeping yourself motivated.

Creative entrepreneur Cindy Gallop stops by to share her thoughts on porn, startups, and the importance of taking consistent positive action. We cover her startups - Make Love Not Porn and If We Ran The World along with her philosophy on being a woman over 50 and her advice to other entrepreneurs.