The Wellness Wonderland Radio: | Self-Help | Health | Creativity | Spirituality | Yoga | Fitness | ...

 I've been following Rachel's Instagram and drooling over her recipes and food styling for years, so when she was suggested as a guest by multiple listeners I knew I wanted to have podcast a conversation with her. One of the stranger things about hosting this podcast is that I get to invite myself into the homes and offices of people I've never met before. Rachel was chill, welcoming, and even sent me home with a delicious treat--a recipe she'd created that day.  Not only is she a natural in the kitchen, she is kind, open to share, smart, and funny which you'll hear throughout our two hour tangential conversation which coved everything from changes in social media to relationships to cooking. We spoke about how she being unexpectedly fired from her job which ended up leading to her successfully make a career out of her passion for healthy recipe development and love of desserts. We talk about slowing down, the importance of presence, her start in blogging, how she made it her career, changes in Instagram,  di

This episode starts and ends with me catching up [gushing] with you about how I've been feeling lately and sharing some things I've been too nervous to share on the podcast before. I talk about saying yes to too much, buckets of life, my general feeling of overwhelm as well as sharing what I've been loving and grateful for in the last month.  This week I interviewed the smart, genuine, and fascinating entrepreneur Karen Behnke founder of my favorite make-up brand Juice Beauty.  I'm obsessed with their products so I'm real happy I loved Karen their founder just as much. She honestly was one of the nicest, most down-to-earth people I've ever interviewed for this podcast. In this episode we talk about how we're both from Michigan, wellness in the 80’s, being vegetarian, being an entrepreneur, why green apples are great for your skin and how much we both love eating them with cinnamon on them, using food for beauty, finding your passions and turning that into a profession, motherhood, body-image, the sexism she's

I was introduced to the Handel Group over 3 years ago by Mastin Kipp who coached in their life coaching method. Ever since I've followed closely them work and even interviewed their former president Laurie Gerber in 2013 the year this podcast began. Since then became aware of their founder and today's guest Lauren Handel Zander as the tough, 'says it like it is', 'no non-sense' life-coach to successful people such as  Dr. Mark Hyman and Elena Brower. She recently launched her first book Maybe It's You and when her publicist reached out for her to come on the podcast, I said absolutely and immediately set a date. We met a few weeks ago in person to record this between her packed day of client sessions and meetings. While Lauren is indeed tough which you'll hear in this episode, she is also deeply caring, empathetic, and full of wisdom. As she says, she deeply loves human beings and believes everyone is capable of living their dream if they simply release some blocks and negative patterns preventing them from c

I stumbled across Minka Brooklyn soon after moving to New York. It was one of those very Brooklyn places I was very thrilled existed and couldn't wait to check out now that I lived in the city. Aki, the founder was kind, nurturing, and sweet right off the bat. She gave me a tour of the space and a full treatment of Reiki and flower essences, both of witch I had never experienced. I knew immediately I wanted to now more about Aki, her story and the genesis of her holistic healing wonderland, Minka.  We recorded this conversation a few weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon in her cozy office. We talked for hours on everything from holistic healing to her fascinating story of immigrating from Japan at 18, moving to New York, dealing with depression, motherhood, and entrepreneurship.  We get into so many topics including dabbling in lots of different things, healing tools for depression, wellness, connecting to your true purpose, tarot readings, activism, self-care, masculine/feminine energies, flower essences, reiki,

I met Jamie last year through my best friend Simi who raved about her. We met when I was in town for my book launch and stayed in touch over the internet. When I moved to NYC I new Jamie was one of the people I was dying to get to know more and eventually record a podcast conversation with.  While we'd only hung out a handful of times, speaking to her felt like speaking to an old friend. The conversation flowed with ease and meandered into a million directions from intuitive eating to making big decisions, uncertainty that comes with them, self-care, body image, eating disorders, comparison,  self awareness, and career transitions. I caught up with Jamie in a really pivotal moment in her life, she's in a new romantic relationship and about to move away from the east coast for the first time. I can't get enough of Jamie, we had dinner last week and her chill energy, sound advice, and earnestness is magnetic. We recorded this in her Manhattan apartment a couple weeks ago, hope you love listening as much as I lo

The weird thing about the internet is that you can discover people and without meeting them in person know quite a lot their tastes, interests, and life. If you follow them long enough you start to feel like you  eventually even feel like you're friends. Of course you're not fully friends because they know nothing about you. Today's conversation is one of the rare (yet becoming more frequent for me) occasions where an internet friend becomes a real friend live on the podcast (over Skype in this case). I've been getting to know Christine for years through being entertained by her Vlogs, discovering new music & brands through her favorites videos, style tips from her daily uniform series, and feeling inspired from her apartment tours & intimate interviews on YouTube. I'm so glad this conversation lived up to my expectation of what Christine would be like live. She was ever bit as thoughtful, earnest, and wise as she comes off in the hundreds of YouTube videos. While Christine went to film school and beg

Full show notes:: here The coolest thing about the internet is how it allows you to connect with people all over the world you otherwise may never known. While I only met Tero Isokauppila for the first time this summer when we recorded this conversation in person while he was here in New York, we've been friends on the internet since early 2013. Tero's from Finland and founded the popular superfood mushroom brand Four Sigmatic over five years ago. While I've loved Four Sigmatic's products ever since I was one of the first bloggers in America to try them, my knowledge on the fungi kingdom, foraging, and the benefits of utilizing mushrooms was limited until this conversation. Wellness wise, we got identifying adaptogens, how to use powerful herbs, ‘mushroom hacks’, and why not all water is created equal. He answered everything I was curious about in the fascinating fungi kingdom. Beyond mushrooms we had a meandering conversation where we discussed everything from entrepreneurship,  inclusivity in the wellness i

My favorite part of being in New York are all the interesting, creative, talented people I serendipitously meet. Some of them, like today's guest Dr. Emily I know immediately after meeting them that I've made a life friend. Not only are we both from Michigan, Emily and I connected right off the bat over a million similar interests, mutual friends, and ideas for collaborations. Her expertise of the human body and her feminine approach to chiropractic are unmatched. She's a chiropractor and founder of Midtown Manhattan's Urban Wellness Clinic, where sure curates a team of expert healers from a personal trainer (shout out Trainer Matt who is the best!), to an acupuncturist, to a masseuse. It was her dream to built this clinic in New York and we get into the goal setting and visioning of how she made that dream reality.  We discuss ways fitness can be harmful to the body, reprogramming bad body patterns, the body working holistically, the importance of breathing and belly breathing, “tech neck”, bio hacks for eve

full show notes here! Today's guest Nicole is so impressive to me. Not only is she a single mom of two, author, and founder and CEO of a start up, Splendid Spoon she is beautiful, present, articulate, and so engaging whenever I speak with her. We met a few months ago when we were speaking at Wanderlust and her peaceful energy made me immediately want to know more about her and be her friend. She has this calm energy even though she's doing so much somehow making it seem easy. We connected in so many ways, from our philosophy with food and body image, to our love for journaling, to practicing mindfulness and so much more. I loved the way this conversation meandered in so many directions as usual. We covered being a single mom, navigating a divorce, entrepreneurship, single tasking, feeling our feelings, living from your heart vs. head, food as medicine, career transitions, mindful eating, motherhood (and how 'you birth your own healer'), New York City, style tips (I love her style) and way more. I loved this e

full shownotes + photos of the event here. I wish every episode of the podcast could be recorded live in front of an audience in a cozy coffee shop while sipping high-vibe magical tonics. We recorded this a few weeks ago live at The End, a coffee shop in Brooklyn that is home to the unicorn latte and many other magical plant alchemy drinks. It's such a special place to me which I explain in detail in the episode but I discovered the adorable coffee shop months before moving to NY and then serendipitously met the owners and this week's guests Bret & Madi only a few days after moving. They are two of the most lovely people I've ever met and their businesses reflect the positive energy each of them radiate.  The night we recorded was bursting with so much love, joy, and magic, I went home that night on a high and have been eager to release this episode ever since. We not only get into how Bret & Madi came together to start The End and their first business the Montauk Juice Factory, but as usual the conve

I've loved Latham for years. She was one of my first ever guests and her saying yes to doing my podcast back in 2013 when I was getting started gave me the confidence to keep going. You'll quickly hear why I adore her. She is present, genuine, smart, articulate, and kind; all of which comes through in this episode. I spent a lovely Saturday morning with her in her beautiful apartment in Manhattan and we talked for almost two hours about everything from her meeting with Oprah to living in NYC  to the value of surrounding yourself with beauty.  We talked about cultivating a supportive community of women & the importance of supporting other women. One of my favorite parts of the interview was her definition of feminism which is my favorite I've heard so far. We discussed the need for inclusion and accessibility in the wellness industry, why balance is a myth, motherhood, and so much more, just listen. She's amazing and I adore this long, deep conversation. Let us know what you think. Notes from the Show:-Lat

A few months ago when I spoke at The Good Fest in Philly I met a slew of fascinating people, including today's guest Chris Cieri the founder of Franklin and Whitman. However, we can barely call it meeting since we hardly spoke because the weekend was so packed.  We kept in touch though and next thing I knew Chris and I became a great friends. He is creative, ambitious, genuine, and the kind of guy who would (as he says in the episode) help you with your oxygen mask before securing his own much to the chagrin of every flight attendant. Chris is the founder of the instagram famous Philadelphia based all-natural skincare line Franklin & Whitman a company that not only is cruelty free but also donates 5% of their sales to animal shelters. He's an impressive guy--juggling his young business, a high level tech job, and being a father and husband. We get into how he makes it all work and how his motto 'perfectly imperfect' helps. This conversation is so rich--we covered our addiction to our phones and occupying

This episode feels so cozy to me. Listening to it brought back all the joy I felt when we recorded a couple weeks ago in Ruby's beautiful Brooklyn apartment. Sitting across from her surrounded by lush plants, shinny crystals, and cool photography-- I never wanted to end the episode and after two hours of flowing conversation it was truly hard to leave. Ruby is one of those people you meet and immediately want to be around and listen to. Not only does she have a soothing voice (complete with a British accent) with it she tells stories of her life in London as a fashion and lifestyle journalist, spews fascinating spiritual and astrology facts, antidotes of falling in love and moving to New York City, starting her online magazine The Numinous, and musing being a Material Girl in a Mystical World.  I'm proud of this conversation and how it effortlessly meandered into such interesting areas. We of course talked about her journalism career where she interviewed everyone from Lady Gaga to Claire Danes but also thing

A few years ago I was a mess around food and my body. My entire life revolved around what I was eating next. If I wasn't preoccupied with my next meal, I was thinking about what I'd eaten earlier and what that meant for what or how much I'd allow myself to eat later. On the rare occasion I wasn't thinking about food, googling gluten-free-dairy-free recipes, or checking out another vegan restaurant's menu I was thinking about my body and how I was terrified of it changing in a way I wasn't comfortable with. I'm embarrassed to admit all of this but that was my internal reality until I found the work of today's repeat guest Isabel Foxen Duke. Isabel showed me there's another way to live. She taught me why I and so many people fall into an obsession with thinness and therefore dieting and consequently food, all as a result of thinness as a standard of beauty in our culture and the pervasive diet culture that has created. She taught me about fat phobia and how I had internalized it. She taught me about intuitive e

 I stumbled across today's guest Sam Zabell's podcast Adulthood Made Easy while doing research before my interview with Ashley Ford.  Sam had Ashley on her podcast a few months before I did and as I listened to that episode I knew I wanted the articulate and curious host Sam to also be a guest on my podcast. Sam moved to New York City to pursue a career in magazine writing after studying journalism at Northwestern. She found herself not only writing for Real Simple Magazine, she also hosted their podcast Adulthood Made Easy.  This conversation was recorded in her Manhattan apartment. We talk about podcasting, life in your 20's, relationships, body image, side hustles and hobbies, living in New York and so much more. If you enjoy this episode let us know over in the Facebook Group. Also a quick reminder about the upcoming LIVE PODCAST recording I'll be having at The End in Brooklyn. Come be a part of the conversation. Being able to record these episodes live has been such an incredible shift for me.  -Sam's In

Today I have Taran and Bunny Ghatrora, sisters and co-founders of Ellebox as well as a podcast listener Q&A in the intro of this episode making it a very packed nearly 2 hours. I know it's been a while since I've done a Q&A episode, so I thought I'd add some in to this episode.  I'm not an expect on anything but I did very earnestly answer all the questions I received.  This episode feels like a big sleepover where I get to chat with you guys through your questions in the beginning then my interview with the co-founders of Ellebox feels like girl talk too.  I love Ellebox and believe in what they are doing but after this interview with the CEO sisters my love for Elle box hit new heights. You'll get to hear some about Ellebox and how it came to be but also we discuss growing up, periods, family, feminism, moon cycles and more! Hope you love this episode and if you haven't already tried Ellebox they are offering a FREE BOX to all listeners who want to try it out, so there's nothing to lose.  -Ellebox's

This episode makes me so happy. From the experience of the recording to the interview itself, I'm so proud of this conversation and excited for you to hear it.  I talk with the amazingly wise psychiatrist and founder of Positive Prescriptions Dr. Samantha Boardman. We spoke for over almost two hours on an array of tools the uses to help her patients and wisdom she accrued over her years as a practicing therapist in New York City. Dr. Sam radiates a kindness and has an energy that is so pure and inspiring. In re-listening to her episode I was inspired all over again. Her website, Positive Prescription is dedicated  to sharing inspiration around tweaks and changes people can make that are life-enhancing and resilience-building. We discuss many of these little changes and additions people can add to their lives to enhance the good and joy in the everyday. Everything she offers is all science-backed, research-driven, actionable, productive and digestible. I hope you get something valuable out of this episode, I k

-Anjie's Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Pintrest-check out her Holistic Spaces Podcast and her book 108 Ways to Create Holistic Spaces-listen to my past podcast episode with Anjie here-I met Anjie through my friend Sasha Jones who has been on the podcast here and also did a special birthday interview episode (about me!) recently-mindfulness meditation we go to at the Rubin Museum (held weekly)-pdf image of my room layout-the bagua map for feng shui— Show Sponsors — Try it FREE for 30 Days Enter "Let It Out" in the "How Did You Hear About Us?" sectionIf you are a freelancer, business owner, or have a small business on the side you know how hard it can be to keep on top of business finances. I know, and that is why I integrate the best tools out there that allow me to spend my time on doing what I do best, into my business. Freshbooks is one of those go-to tools. With FreshBooks you can easily send clients professional customized invoices, easily keep track of business expenses, get paid

Ever since my friend Jess Murnane told me about Phoebe I wanted to be her friend. It wasn't until I met her in person for the is podcast that I truly realized how smart, funny, wise, and interesting she is. She's one of those people I could talk to for hours and in this episode I did. We recorded this conversation a couple weeks ago in Williamsburg, Brooklyn over cranberry kombucha. Phoebe recently wrote her second book book, The Wellness Project, which highlights so much of what I have been trying to integrate into my life over the past couple years: balancing healthy habits with enjoyment of life (or as Phoebe describes it health vs. hedonism). We also talk about the balance between being ambitious and letting things happen without  pushing and about following your passion even when the path is unclear. Between all these topics you'll hear about my kitchen horror stories (knife scars and all) along with laughs of us bonding over being only children and loving New York City. This is my favorite episode I've

My boyfriend and I spoke in person with executive chef Chris Zabita at his NYC market to table restaurant Society Cafe a couple weeks ago. We talked about everything from picky eaters to cooking for yourself as a chef to the competitive nature of the restaurant industry.  Since moving to New York I’ve been recording most of my interviews in-person and I’m loving it because it allows way more intimacy than Skype can, hopefully you can feel that and it's a welcome change to the show. I’ve also been exploring the plethora of restaurants in the city Cafe Society being one of them. This interview was a blast to record and I hope you enjoy eavesdropping on this candid conversation.  Chef Chris gave us a look into what it is like to be a chef, how he feels about popular foodie trends, how he feels about picky eaters modifying his dishes, and much more. -Society Cafe's Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter-Chef Chris's Instagram-We talk about the Union Square farmers market and other green markets across NYC-Some