Once Upon a Conversation

Gillian Abbott: What if Success Was a Life of Peace?

Gillian Abbott is an actress (she was the female lead in a touring Broadway company of Dirty Dancing), a dancer (she was in Cirque Du Soleil), a choreographer, and a meditation and breathwork teacher. She finds deep joy in helping people meet themselves authentically and honestly, sometimes for the first time. Listen to this interview in which she reflects on her journey as a performer, on taking off some of the masks we wear, on reimagining what success might look like, and much, much more.

Yael Shy: Unblending From the Inner Voice

Yael Shy is a teacher of mindfulness and meditation. She spent years working at NYU, where, among many other things, she founded a program called MindfulNYU, which was the largest campus-wide meditation initiative in the country. She is the author of a book called “What Now? Meditation for Your Twenties and Beyond” and currently teaches and consults on mindfulness for a wide range of organizations and individuals.
Listen to this interview in which Yael shares her insights on dealing with anxiety, her techniques for befriending the harsh inner voice many of us deal with, her favorite Jewish and Buddhist wisdom tales, and much, much more.

Alyssa Petersel: You've Survived 100% of Your Toughest Days

Alyssa Petersel is the founder and CEO of My Wellbeing, a platform that helps connect therapy seekers with therapists and coaches. She’s also an author and a therapist herself. Her work is motivated by a desire to help people find wellness.
Listen to this interview in which Alyssa shares tools that can help us live with greater self-compassion and balance. A self-described “recovered perfectionist” and “recovering workaholic”, Alyssa gives helpful insight on how to be gentler with ourselves, how to live with more mental wellness, and how to celebrate the winding roads of our journeys, challenging as they sometimes may be.

Kyle Berlin: Puppets, Sunsets, and the Joy of Connection

Kyle Berlin is a creator of documentary theater and was a cast member with the touring Bread and Puppet Theater troupe. He spends a lot of time thinking about compassion, community and how we might begin to build a more gentle and humane world.
Listen to this interview, in which Kyle reflects on the importance of art, on ambition, on the definition of “home”, on theater’s healing power, and much, much more.

Brooke Eby: Living and Laughing in the Face of ALS

Brooke Eby is a 34-year-old, who was diagnosed in 2022 at the age of 33 with the neurodegenerative disease ALS. It is a disease with no cure and an average survival time of two to five years.
In the time since Brooke’s ALS diagnosis, she has raised lots of money and a tremendous amount of awareness of the disease, through platforms including Instagram, TikTok, and even an appearance on the Today Show. As she’s been dealing with the remarkably challenging reality of ALS, she’s been modelling for us all what it can look like to respond to immense difficulty with courage, with hopefulness, and often, in her case, even with laughter.
Listen to this interview in which she reflects on her ALS journey, on striving to live in the present, on finding laughter and blessings even in illness, on how much we take for granted, and so much more.

Tez Steinberg: The Courage To Cross an Ocean

Tez Steinberg is an endurance artist. In 2020, he rowed solo across the Pacific Ocean, from California to Hawaii, with no prior experience, on an epic 2700 mile journey that took 71 days. He’s run ultramarathons and done Ironmans. Along the way, he has modelled an inspirational attitude towards pushing one’s limits and dealing with challenges, setbacks and even, sometimes, tragedy.
Listen to this interview in which Tez reflects on lessons learned from rowing across an ocean, on the power of solitude, on responding to a heart attack at age 34, on setting goals that force you to grow into them, and so much more.

Natasha Japanwala: Learning to Savor It All

Natasha Japanwala is a writer, educator, and lover of people. Born in London and raised in Karachi, she currently lives in Washington, DC. 
Listen to this interview in which she reflects on reading, writing, splitting one’s heart between different homes and cities, weathering life’s more difficult seasons, and much, much more.