Hello Protagonists!

Welcome to another episode of the Creative, Inspired, ALIVE podcast—where we go behind the scenes with the storytellers shaping our culture.

Our next guest, Amie McNee, is a writer, teacher, speaker, and incredible advocate for creativity. Her mission is to dismantle the limiting narrative surrounding creatives so that we may each become the Artists the world needs us to be. She has published three works of historical fiction, and her non-fiction, We Need Your Art, is our September book club pick.

Today, we talk about:

* the insidious problem of perfectionism,

* the abundance of small goals,

* the infinite appetite for art, and

* the glorious importance of choosing yourself, among other delights!

💕, Joanna

🎥 Watch the Conversation

You can watch the full video on:→ [Our Website] | Youtube | Substack app

Captions and full transcripts are always available on the website version (just click the “CC” button or the transcript tab below the video).

🎧 Prefer to Listen?

Stream the episode wherever you get your podcasts:→ Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible | or your favorite platform

🎙️ Browse all past episodes HERE

📝 Want to Ask a Future Guest a Question?

We invite the community to submit questions via our community chat—available in your browser or in the Substack app. We love including your curiosities in the conversation!

Connect with Amie McNee:

You can find Amie McNee on Instagram, Substack, and her website. Her book on creativity, We Need Your Art, is available in bookstores everywhere or from your favorite online retailer!

Hello Protagonists!

Welcome to another episode of the Creative, Inspired, ALIVE podcast—where we go behind the scenes with the storytellers shaping our culture.

Our next guest, Catherine Cho, is the acclaimed author of The Devoted and the memoir Inferno. She was shortlisted for The Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year 2020 and shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize. Catherine also runs her own literary agency, Paper Literary. Originally from the United States, she now lives with her family in London.

Today, we talk about:

* the dual life of an agent and writer,

* researching the underbelly of society,

* the future of literary fiction,

* finding the beginning of a story,

* and so much more.

💕, Joanna & Evelyn

🎥 Watch the Conversation

You can watch the full video on:→ Our Website | Youtube | Substack app

Captions and full transcripts are always available on the website version (just click the “CC” button or the transcript tab below the video).

🎧 Prefer to Listen?

Stream the episode wherever you get your podcasts:→ Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible | or your favorite platform

🎙️ Browse all past episodes HERE

📝 Want to Ask a Future Guest a Question?

We invite the community to submit questions via our community chat—available in your browser or in the Substack app. We love including your curiosities in the conversation!

Connect with Catherine Cho:

You can find Catherine Cho on her website. Her newest novel, The Devoted, is available in bookstores everywhere or from your favorite online retailer!

Hello Protagonists!

Welcome to another episode of the Creative, Inspired, ALIVE podcast—where we go behind the scenes with the storytellers shaping our culture.

Our guest, CHLOE BENJAMIN, is the New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists and The Anatomy of Dreams. The Immortalists was a #1 Indie Next pick and was named a best book of 2018 by NPR, The Washington Post, and Entertainment Weekly. Her latest book, Under Story, is the September Good Morning America Book Club pick and is out now.

Today, we talk about:

* the lushness of language,

* questions that haunt us,

* taking care of ourselves in the writing process,

* and so much more!

💕 Joanna

🎥 Watch the Conversation

You can watch the full video on:→ Our Website | Youtube | Substack app

Captions and full transcripts are always available on the website version (just click the “CC” button or the transcript tab below the video).

🎧 Prefer to Listen?

Stream the episode wherever you get your podcasts:→ Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible | or your favorite platform

🎙️ Browse all past episodes HERE

📝 Want to Ask a Future Guest a Question?

We invite the community to submit questions via our community chat—available in your browser or in the Substack app. We love including your curiosities in the conversation!

Connect with Chloe Benjamin:

You can find Chloe on Instagram or on her website. Her newest novel, Under Story, is available in bookstores everywhere or from your favorite online retailer!

Hello Protagonists!

Welcome to another episode of the Creative, Inspired, ALIVE podcast—where we go behind the scenes with the storytellers shaping our culture.

Our guest, Mara Brock Akil, is an award-winning writer, producer, director, and showrunner. At the age of 30, she became the youngest African American showrunner on broadcast network television with her sitcom Girlfriends. She created BET’s first drama series, Being Mary Jane, and co-created the romantic drama, Love Is, on OWN. She founded Story27 with Netflix and is currently creating her sixth series, the teen drama Forever. Her debut novel, The Revelation of Dionne Daphne, was just published by Storehouse Voices.

Today, we talk about:

* the public and private lives of women,

* comparing screenwriting and crafting novels,

* the magic of female friendships,

* our collective healing through story,

* and so much more.

💕, Joanna

🎥 Watch the Conversation

You can watch the full video on:→ Our Website | Youtube | Substack app

Captions and full transcripts are always available on the website version (just click the “CC” button or the transcript tab below the video).

🎧 Prefer to Listen?

Stream the episode wherever you get your podcasts:→ Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible | or your favorite platform

🎙️ Browse all past episodes HERE

📝 Want to Ask a Future Guest a Question?

We invite the community to submit questions via our community chat—available in your browser or in the Substack app. We love including your curiosities in the conversation!

Connect with Mara Brock Akil:

You can find Mara on Instagram or on her website. Her newest novel, The Revelation of Dionne Daphne, is available in bookstores everywhere or from your favorite online retailer!

Hello Protagonists!

Welcome to another episode of the Creative, Inspired, ALIVE podcast—where we go behind the scenes with the storytellers shaping our culture.

Our guest, Evelyn Skye, is a New York Times bestselling author and founder of our very own Creative, Inspired, ALIVE community. She has written eleven novels, including collaborations with Netflix and Disney, spanning young adult fantasy to heartwarming contemporary women’s fiction. Her novel The Incredible Kindness of Paper was named one of Newsweek’s Best Summer Reads of 2025. Her latest book, Ideal Life, is out now.

Today, we talk about:

* optimization culture,

* Evelyn’s secret writing sauce,

* multigenerational points of view,

* among other delights!

💕, Joanna

🎥 Watch the Conversation

You can watch the full video on:→ Our Website | Youtube | Substack app

Captions and full transcripts are always available on the website version (just click the “CC” button or the transcript tab below the video).

🎧 Prefer to Listen?

Stream the episode wherever you get your podcasts:→ Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible | or your favorite platform

🎙️ Browse all past episodes HERE

📝 Want to Ask a Future Guest a Question?

We invite the community to submit questions via our community chat—available in your browser or in the Substack app. We love including your curiosities in the conversation!

Connect with Evelyn Skye:

You can find Evelyn here at Creative, Inspired, ALIVE, and on her personal Substack, Spare Time with Evelyn Skye. Her newest novel, Ideal Life, is available in bookstores everywhere or from your favorite online retailer!

Hello, Protagonists!

Welcome to another episode of the Creative, Inspired, ALIVE podcast—where we go behind the scenes with the storytellers shaping our culture.

Our guest, Jessica Goldstein, is a style, arts, and humor writer. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Marie Claire, Vulture, and the humor site McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. Her debut novel, Retro, published by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, is out now.

Today, we talk about:

* the ins and outs of time travel,

* crafting humor,

* books in pop culture,

* writing opinion pieces in major publications,

* and so much more.

💕 Joanna

🎥 Watch the Conversation

You can watch the full video on:→ Our Website | Youtube | Substack app

Captions and full transcripts are always available on the website version (just click the “CC” button or the transcript tab below the video).

🎧 Prefer to Listen?

Stream the episode wherever you get your podcasts:→ Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible | or your favorite platform

🎙️ Browse all past episodes HERE

📝 Want to Ask a Future Guest a Question?

We invite the community to submit questions via our community chat—available in your browser or in the Substack app. We love including your curiosities in the conversation!

Connect with Jessica Goldstein:

You can find Jessica on X, Bluesky, and her website. Her newest novel, Retro, is available in bookstores everywhere!

Hello, Protagonists!

Welcome to another episode of the Creative, Inspired, ALIVE podcast—where we go behind the scenes with the storytellers shaping our culture.

Our guest, Sarah MacLean, is a New York Times, Washington Post & USA Today bestselling author. Vulture Magazine writes - “MacLean is a master at weaving passion and vulnerability equally in her characters. When it comes to historical romance, she’s one of the best…” These Summer Storms is her first contemporary novel. In addition to her novels, Sarah is a leading advocate for the romance genre, speaking widely on its place as a feminist text and a cultural bellwether.

Today, we talk about:

* putting everything on the page,

* romance vs. women’s fiction,

* what romance teaches us,

* the power of our pleasure,

* and so much more.

xo, Joanna & Evelyn

🎥 Watch the Conversation

You can watch the full video on:→ Our Website | Youtube | Substack app

Captions and full transcripts are always available on the website version (just click the “CC” button or the transcript tab below the video).

🎧 Prefer to Listen?

Stream the episode wherever you get your podcasts:→ Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible | or your favorite platform

🎙️ Browse all past episodes HERE

📝 Want to Ask a Future Guest a Question?

We invite the community to submit questions via our community chat—available in your browser or in the Substack app. We love including your curiosities in the conversation!

Connect with Sarah MacLean:

You can find Sarah on Instagram and on her podcast, Fated Mates. The paperback of her newest novel, These Summer Storms, is available in bookstores everywhere.

Hello, Protagonists!

Welcome to another episode of the Creative, Inspired, ALIVE podcast—where we go behind the scenes with the storytellers shaping our culture.

Our next guest, Donna Jackson Nakazawa, is an award-winning science journalist and an internationally-recognized speaker whose work explores the intersection of neurobiology and human emotion. Her book, Girls on the Brink: Helping Our Daughters Thrive in an Era of Increased Anxiety, Depression, and Social Media, was named a best book of 2022 by The Washington Post. Her latest book, Mind Drama: The Science of Rumination and How to Outwit Your Inner Defeatist, is out now.

Today, we talk about:

* rumination - what to do about the negative looping stories in our heads,

* protecting space in our brain for creative insights,

* the creative process of non-fiction writing,

* among other delights!

xo, Joanna

🎥 Watch the Conversation

You can watch the full video on:→ Our Website | Youtube | Substack app

Captions and full transcripts are always available on the website version (just click the “CC” button or the transcript tab below the video).

🎧 Prefer to Listen?

Stream the episode wherever you get your podcasts:→ Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible | or your favorite platform

🎙️ Browse all past episodes HERE

📝 Want to Ask a Future Guest a Question?

We invite the community to submit questions via our community chat—available in your browser or in the Substack app. We love including your curiosities in the conversation!

Connect with Donna Jackson Nakazawa:

You can find Donna on Instagram. Her newest book, MIND DRAMA: The Science of Rumination and How to Outwit Your Inner Defeatist, is available in bookstores everywhere!