Good Life Project || Inspiration | Motivation | Happiness | Meaning | Success

With culinary training from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, and a relatability that seems to light up the screen, many people know Giada De Laurentiis as the Emmy award-winning television personality of shows like Food Network’s Everyday Italian, Giada at Home, Giada’s Weekend Getaways, as a judge on Food Network Star and Winner Cake All, an NBC Today Show contributor, and a successful restaurateur with restaurants GIADA and Pronto by Giada in Las Vegas, as well as GDL Italian in Baltimore. Or, maybe you know her as the author of nine New York Times bestselling cookbooks, including her most recent, Eat Better Feel Better (https://amzn.to/2NQEJfi), which deftly navigates the sweet spot between delicious recipes and a more healthful approach to cooking and eating. But, what you may not know, and what Giada shares in the pages of this new book and our deep-dive conversation, is how her upbringing in a dynastic family of film, both in Italy and Hollywood, shaped everything from her love of food and cooking for othe

Connie Lim, whose artist name is MILCK, rose to widespread attention after a video of an a capella performance of her song "Quiet" on the street at the 2017 Women's March exploded into the public’s consciousness going viral and becoming embraced as an anthem for the movement. That moment and the impact and reach of the song led to a major record deal and collaborations as a songwriter that launched the career she’s been working to build for years. But that career almost never happened. MILCK grew up in an enclave of LA, the child of immigrants from China, and was drawn to music from her earliest days. She wrote her first song at 7 years old and studied classical piano and opera. Yet the pressure of intense perfectionism and the expectation she’d eventually leave music behind to follow the family tradition into medicine led her into years of profound emotional struggle. Eventually, she hit a point in college where she decided it was time to choose herself over the expectations of others, as well as the bu

Jen Hatmaker grew up in the church, surrounded by family and community, eventually rising up to become a central figure. But, over the years, she became increasingly uncomfortable with not so much the core tenets and teachings, but rather the trapping and limitations of the institution. She struggled with what she saw as a stifling of power, expression and contribution in the context of women, the exclusion of LGBTQ+ and gender-fluid or nonconforming people and more. So, she did something she knew would leave her labeled a pariah and outcast by many. Still, it was the thing she couldn’t not do.Jen had no idea what was next, or even if faith, or any approach to organized religion would play a role in her life, let alone her vocation. But, over time, she came back to those same core tenets, but in a way that felt far more expansive, equitable and inclusive, and build a new community that welcomed all into more of what she described as a “wild faith.” She’s since written numerous books, including NY Times bestse

Melissa Bernstein, along with her husband Doug, is the Co-Founder of the legendary toy company Melissa & Doug, which has created over 5,000 children’s products and sold billions of dollars of toys since its inception. Melissa and Doug started the business in their garage in 1988, and they’ve been on a mission ever since to provide open-ended, inventive, non-technologically driven playthings for young children. Sounds like a dream life, but throughout Melissa’s remarkable career, she kept secret her lifelong battle with severe, existential depression and anxiety. She spoke about it publicly for the first time on Good Life Project a few years back and that moment became a bit of an inciting incident to come more fully out of the shadows, share her story in a bigger way and begin to devote herself to building community, experiences, and solutions to help others moving through struggle and darkness feel less alone. Among those offerings is her moving new book, LifeLines: An Inspirational Journey from Pro

My guest today is Glasgow born photographer, Mark Mann, who has built a stunning career, photographing many of the most iconic celebrities in the world, from Robert Redford, Michael Douglas, Iggy Pop, and the Black Eyed Peas to Seinfeld, Rihanna, Queen Latifah, Stevie Wonder, Bradley Cooper, Willie Nelson, and hundreds of others. Funny thing is, Mark pretty much stumbled into photography in the most unexpected way in his late teens, then ended up on a plane to NYC where, with little experience, he found himself dropped into the world of hip hop and music, focusing some of the early icons in the space. He fell in love with the stories people’s faces told and started spending more and more time developing his signature approach to hyper-vivid, close-up, black and white portraits that, in some way, capture a moment, a mood, a vibe or story. But behind the scenes, it hasn’t been a straight line or an easy path. The reality of the photographic life is not an easy one, but, for him, it’s been the source of pro

Christa Couture is an award-winning performing and recording artist, filmmaker, writer and broadcaster. She is also proudly Indigenous (mixed Cree and Scandinavian), queer, disabled, and a mom. Her seventh album Safe Harbour was released on Coax Records in 2020. As a writer and storyteller, Christa has been published in Room, Shameless, and Augur magazines, she’s gone viral on CBC with an article and photos on disability and pregnancy. Christa’s also a frequent contributor to CBC Radio and is currently the weekday afternoon host on 106.5 ELMNT FM in Toronto. Her life has been both extraordinary and fiercely engaged. She is utterly and awake, connected, and alive, which is a powerful state, given the stunning amount of loss that’s touched down in her life, from the loss of her leg as a child to the loss of children, a sense of identity, community, and the need to find a way to reimagine life, to not just exist, but also live in the face of deeply challenging circumstance. In her debut memoir How to Lose E

Lama Rod Owens is a Buddhist minister, author, activist, yoga instructor and authorized Lama, or Buddhist teacher, in the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism and is considered one of the leaders of his generation of Buddhist teachers. He holds a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School and is a co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love and Liberation, along with my friend and past GLP guest, Rev. angel Kyodo williams. Lama Rod is the co-founder of Bhumisparsha, a Buddhist tantric practice and study community. Has been published in Buddhadharma, Lion’s Roar, Tricycle and The Harvard Divinity Bulletin, and offers talks, retreats and workshops in more than seven countries. He’s also someone who has spent a lifetime exploring and working with the often blurred lines between love and rage, which also happens to be the title of his latest book, Love & Rage: The Path to Liberation Through Anger (https://bookshop.org/a/22758/9781623174095). Its prophetic truth, timing and

Mari Andrew is what I’d call a flaneur, she navigates the world in search of moments of discovery, wonder, serendipity and connection. That novelty often drops her into those flickering moments of aliveness - that is her muse. It’s found an expression in the form of beloved illustrations and words on her Instagram account with a community of more than 1M people and her first book. But these last 4 or 5 years have led Mari into entire seasons of deep struggle, reflection, and, ultimately, revelation that’s taken her from park benches in New York’s East Village to hospital wards in Spain and random alleys in Rio. In her new book, My Inner Sky: On Embracing Day, Night, and All the Times in Between (https://amzn.to/3bi0NIJ), Mari shares some of these moments, from an illness that temporarily paralyzed her in a foreign country to finding home within herself again and seeing the world anew. It's a call to spend more time finding grace in the truth of whatever life brings you, rather than wishing and waiting fo

My guest today, Chicago-born and raised, Roy Kinsey, is a bit of an anomaly. A black, queer-identified, rapper, and librarian or as he puts it, Rapbrarian. Roy’s escape from trauma and creative outlet as a kid was writing and music and also a love of books and learning. He began sharing his words and beats, rapping at a young age, but really began to elevate his pursuit of music-making in college, performing and refining his craft. Graduating, he began making a name for himself, performing, recording and releasing albums, while simultaneously earning degrees that would find him working as a librarian by day and an artist by night.A few albums in, Roy began to feel like an essential part of him was being kept from his music and also his community, so he made the decision to come out as queer on an album at a time very few others in the space of rap and hip-hop were out. It was a moment that would transform him and his music. Roy has since released a series of powerful albums, including his latest powerful refl

Jamie Kern Lima thought she’d spend her life in the world of broadcast TV, where after graduating, she began working her way up as a journalist, then eventually news anchor where a bright career was laid out in front of her. Then, the camera started picking up a genetic skin condition that she struggled to hide and threatened to derail what she’d worked for. That experience set in motion a quest that eventually led her out of broadcast journalism and into the world of entrepreneurship where she’d eventually found IT Cosmetics, a company she started in her living room and would eventually sell to L’Oreal for $1.2 Billion, becoming the first female CEO in L’Oreal’s 100+ year history. Her journey, though, was anything but smooth, with years of 100+ hour weeks, living hand-to-mouth, miles of no’s and countless dark nights of the soul and even a single moment that would either shut the company down or launch them into the stratosphere, which by the way, it did. Jamie is passionate about inspiring and mentorin

When Marine sniper Jake Wood arrived home in the States after two brutal tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, he wasn't leaving war behind him. Ten years after returning home, Jake's unit lost more men to suicide than to enemy hands overseas. He watched in horror as his best friend and fellow Marine, Clay Hunt, plunged into depression upon returning, stripped of his purpose, community, and sense of identity. Despite Jake's attempts to intervene, Clay died by suicide, alone.Reeling, Jake remembered how only one thing had given Clay a measure of hope: joining him in Haiti on a ragtag mission to save lives immediately following the 2010 earthquake. His military training had rendered him unusually effective in high-stakes situations. He wondered if there was a way to help communities in crisis, often in the wake of natural disasters, while providing a new mission to veterans? With that, he built on the early missions to co-found the now-iconic Team Rubicon, a disaster relief organization with over 140,000 volunteers th

At 73, Denise Kaufman is the ultimate renaissance woman, an active member of the ‘60s Bay Area psychedelic rock scene who’s seen and done it all - and continues to do it all. The longtime singer and bassist is a member of Ace of Cups, the pioneering all-female psychedelic rock band that opened for Jimi Hendrix, The Band, Janis Joplin, and more, and that shared the stage with the likes of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. She continues to play and record new music with the recently reunited group, which has been praised by Rolling Stone, Billboard, CBS This Morning, NPR All Things Considered, The Guardian, and has recorded new songs with Bob Weir, Jackson Browne, David Freiberg, and more. A deeply spiritual person who has been exploring energy flow and community connectedness for over half a century, Denise also is a trained yoga teacher who has taught Madonna, Quincy Jones, and more. She splits her time between Venice Beach where she practices and records with the Ace of Cups (https://amzn.to/2OO

Miles Chamley-Watson is on a mission to take fencing mainstream. A British-born, 6-foot-four Black man, covered in tattoos with bleached blond hair, he breaks pretty much every generations-old assumption and mold about what the staid, traditionally-conservative and often elitist sport is about. Miles actually struggled a lot as a young kid, especially with focus, attention and school, until one day a teacher introduced him to fencing. That moment changed everything. He was obsessed and it gave him a physicalized way to learn and develop intense focus that soon became the driving force in his life. Miles wanted to be the best in the world and win the Olympics. And indeed, already a world champion and an Olympic medalist, he’s well on his way. Miles also decided to redefine the public perception of the sport, to make it more modern, alive, high-profile and appealing to a younger generation, especially those often excluded from the pursuit. And he’s on a mission to reimagine the financial side of this sport

Born in New York City to a Tunisian father and a Swiss mother, Suleika Jaouad attended The Juilliard School's pre-college program for the double bass, and earned her BA with highest honors from Princeton University and an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington College. Leaving music behind, she thought she’d a war correspondent, but her plans were cut short when, at age 22, she was diagnosed with leukemia that led to a brutal 4-year stint in and out of the hospital, with multiple rounds of chemo, and a bone marrow transplant. She began writing her New York Times column and Emmy-award winning video-series “Life, Interrupted” from her hospital room at Sloan-Kettering, and has written reported features, essays and commentary for New York Times Magazine, Vogue and NPR, among other publications. Suleika served on Barack Obama's Presidential Cancer Panel, the national advisory board of the Bone Marrow and Cancer Foundation, and the Brooklyn Public Library’s Arts & Letters Committee. She is also the

Born in the short-lived West African country of Biafra, Louis Chude-Sokei and his mom fled the country during the war that would take the life of his father, a figure of such great reverence in the country that it would create a set of expectations about who Louis was and should be that would follow him well into his adult life. Landing first in Jamaica, where his mother was from, then eventually making their way through DC, to LA, he spent his life, as the line from the Bowie song, Space Oddity, goes, “floating in a most peculiar way.” That song, in fact, has been a bit of a lifelong obsession for Louis, along with Bowie and his music and, in fact, it’s the name of his moving new memoir, Floating in a Most Peculiar Way (https://amzn.to/36NqRZh), his evolving exploration of everything from identity and race to science fiction and music. Louis is now Professor of English at Boston University where he directs the African American Studies Program. He is also the author of influential and award-winning

My guest, today, Renee Jain, started into her career as a tech entrepreneur who secretly suffered with her own sometimes dizzying and even paralyzing anxiety. One day, a panic attack led her to step back and re-examine her life, seek help and begin to acquire the skills and understanding to live with more ease. It was transformative. But, along the way, something she never expected began to happen, she began wondering why every child doesn’t learn those same skills early in life, so they can live with more ease and joy. Solving that problem became her driving cause. Renee earned her Master’s degree in Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and founded her own ed-tech company, GoZen!, to help a new generation of kids, parents and therapists. She is recognized as a pioneer in marrying technology and child psychology in a unique approach that nurtures the hearts and minds of kids. Through her writing, product invention, masterclasses, and children’s advocacy, she works to build the emotion

What would it take to make you rethink a deeply held point of view or belief? That’s one of Adam Grant’s recent fascinations. Adam is an organizational psychologist and TED speaker who helps people find meaning and motivation at work. He has been Wharton’s top-rated professor for 7 straight years. As an organizational psychologist, he is a leading expert on how we can find motivation and meaning, and live more generous and creative lives. He has been recognized as one of the world’s 10 most influential management thinkers and Fortune’s 40 under 40.Adam is also one of TED's most popular speakers, his books have sold millions of copies, his talks have been viewed more than 25 million times, and his podcast WorkLife with Adam Grant has topped the charts. His pioneering research has inspired people to rethink fundamental assumptions about motivation, generosity, and creativity. And he is a former Junior Olympic springboard diver. Adam’s new book, Think Again, is a fascinating deep dive into how to come to form a

Ellen Harper has been around the folk music scene her whole life. Her mother, Dorothy Chase performed and taught banjo and guitar at Hecht House in the 1950s in Boston with Bess Lomax Hawes and her dad, Charles Chase repaired any and all instruments that came his way. Ellen learned to play, perform and teach guitar and other folk instruments at her mother’s knee and eventually, the family moved west to Claremont, California where they create the iconic Folk Music Center that became a hub for all the biggest names in folk, from Dylan to Joan Baez, Pete Seeger and so many other lesser-known, yet equally important players. Ellen’s kids grew up in that same place, surrounded by those same people and, in fact, one son Ben Harper, caught the music bug and has since become an acclaimed singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist in his own right. In 2000 Ellen participated in Ben’s documentary Pleasure and Pain filmed by iconic rock photographer, Danny Clinch, whose also been a guest on the podcast. That led to

My guest today, Tara Brach, has been one of my teachers for years, though she never knew it. Back in the early days of podcasting, I stumbled upon her weekly dharma talks or Buddhist teachings and meditations that she’d offer at her Insight Meditation Center in DC, record, then air as podcasts, and the blend of her gentle presence, her deep wisdom that was clearly not just studied, but also lived, her humility, real-world sensibility, and humor drew me in. Tara’s teachings blend Western psychology, she’s also a clinical psychologist, along wtih Eastern spiritual practices, mindful attention to our inner life, and a full, compassionate engagement with our world. The result is a distinctive voice in Western Buddhism, one that offers a wise and caring approach to freeing ourselves and society from suffering.She is kindness and insight embodied, and I’ve learned so much from both her offerings and also the way she seems to move through life over the years. Which is why I was so excited to be able to spend some ti

I first learned about today’s guest, Jason Naylor, through his art, which at that point, started appearing on walls and buildings all over New York City, and now is featured all over the world and on products, shows, in fashion and beyond. Jason is originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, where he grew up in a Mormon community and eventually felt called to step away and define his own path. After getting his BFA in graphic design from Brigham Young, he moved to New York City where he began his career in MAC Cosmetics’ Creative Department as a designer, but the whole time, he was creating his own work and starting to paint these hyper-vivid murals on walls around the city, often featuring inspirational words and quotes on the side. His style just kind of exploded with energy and kindness and playfulness. As his work caught on, leading to more and bigger commissions and collaborations with companies like Coach, Sephora, and Pepsi, he left his full-time gig and went all-in on his own art, now running his own b