Sara Schiller, co-founder of the Sloomoo Institute and Bowdoin College alumna, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to share how curiosity, resilience, and joy shaped her unlikely path from rural Maine to a national cultural phenomenon. Raised in Winterport, Sara credits her Maine roots—and the confidence she built at Bowdoin—with fostering a lifelong curiosity that led her into art, business, and entrepreneurship. After early work in hospitality and corporate leadership, her passion for art and public experience took shape through Wooster Collective, a groundbreaking street art blog that helped demystify contemporary art for a global audience.

Following profound personal challenges within her family, Sara co-founded the Sloomoo Institute as a joyful, hands-on space where creativity, sensory play, and human connection come together. What began as a short-term experiment has grown into multiple locations nationwide, welcoming hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Deeply rooted in Maine values of openness and ingenuity, Sara’s story is one of fearlessness, imagination, and purpose.

Join our conversation with Sara Schiller today on Radio Maine—and don’t forget to subscribe to the channel.

Radio Maine is sponsored by the Portland Art Gallery

Liz Kovarsky, founder of the Electric Cottage Collective in Brunswick, Maine, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to explore a new model for creativity, wellness, and community connection. A trained social worker, artist, and educator, Liz created Electric Cottage Collective as a shared, embodied space that brings together creative coworking, arts practice, and wellness—challenging the ways modern culture often separates mind from body. Drawing on her background in social work, art education, and movement practices like dance and yoga, Liz shares how her own experiences of burnout and disconnection led her to imagine a more accessible, community-centered approach to healing and creativity. At the heart of her work is the idea of “practice over perfection,” emphasizing process, mutual aid, and collective care rather than productivity or profit. Grounded in Maine’s strong sense of place and community, Electric Cottage Collective offers sliding-scale and inclusive programming that invites people to show up as whole humans.

Join our conversation with Liz Kovarsky today on Radio Maine, and be sure to subscribe to the channel.

Radio Maine is sponsored by the Portland Art Gallery

Jeff Mao, founder of Knead and Nosh, educator, author, and former statewide leader in educational technology, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to reflect on a career shaped by curiosity, adaptability, and community. A Bowdoin College graduate, Jeff began as a teacher and coach before becoming a central figure in Maine’s pioneering one-to-one laptop program, which helped transform how students and teachers across the state engaged with technology and learning. In recent years, Jeff has brought that same systems-thinking and love of experimentation to food, launching Knead and Nosh and earning statewide recognition for his bagels—including the award-winning Sichuan Dragon bagel, inspired by his Chinese heritage and culinary history. He shares how education, technology, and food intersect through storytelling, science, and culture, and how Maine’s farmers markets and food community have become an extension of his lifelong work connecting people. Thoughtful, wide-ranging, and deeply rooted in place, Jeff’s story is one of reinvention and purpose.

Join our conversation with Jeff Mao today on Radio Maine, and be sure to subscribe to the channel.

Radio Maine is sponsored by the Portland Art Gallery

Marnie Girado, Fair Manager, Exhibitor Relations; for Affordable Art Fair NYC & Boston, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to talk about making art more accessible—without sacrificing depth, quality, or curiosity. With a background in art history from Bowdoin and advanced training in Victorian and Edwardian art, Marnie brings a sharp eye and deep love of context to contemporary art spaces. From transparent pricing to thoughtfully curated booths, she shares how affordable art fairs help connect artists, galleries, and new collectors—often for the very first time. Along the way, she reflects on trends, color, Maine’s influence on the Boston art market, and the many career paths available beyond museums and galleries.Tune in for a thoughtful conversation about access, aesthetics, and the joy of seeing art find its way onto people’s walls.

Join our conversation with Marnie Girado today on Radio Maine, and be sure to subscribe to the channel.

Radio Maine is sponsored by the Portland Art Gallery

Elizabeth Ross, founder of The Art of Being and a longtime leader in wellness and population health, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to explore what it truly means to pause, pay attention, and reconnect in an increasingly distracted world. Drawing on two decades of work in corporate health—and a pivotal, stress-induced medical crisis—Elizabeth traces her journey from data-driven wellness strategy to a deeply human, experiential practice rooted in mindfulness and presence. She shares how the rise of the attention economy, smartphones, and AI has reshaped our nervous systems, relationships, and sense of self, and why simple acts of pause can be profoundly restorative. Based in Maine, Elizabeth creates unplugged gatherings, potluck conversations, and art-centered experiences that foster intergenerational connection, community, and reflection. Her perspective blends science, lived experience, and compassion, offering a hopeful vision for reclaiming our time, attention, and humanity—together.

Join our conversation with Elizabeth Ross today on Radio Maine, and be sure to subscribe to the channel.

Radio Maine is sponsored by the Portland Art Gallery

James Mattison is a Maine painter and newly represented artist with the Portland Art Gallery whose work explores landscape, process, and the often-overlooked pockets of the state. In this episode of Radio Maine, Mattison joins host Dr. Lisa Belisle to reflect on his artistic journey—from growing up in central Maine and studying graphic design, to returning home after time away and fully committing to painting. A former Portland Museum of Art security guard, Mattison has experienced art from many angles, shaping a thoughtful, process-driven studio practice rooted in drawing, photography, and oil painting. He shares how mentorship helped him understand the importance of process, experimentation, and to learn to loosen realism in favor of a style that feels true to him. A standout moment centers on a striking painting inspired by massive log piles along the Allagash—a homage to Maine’s landscape and labor that resonates deeply with both the artist and his audience.

Join our conversation with James Mattison today on Radio Maine, and be sure to subscribe to the channel.

Radio Maine is sponsored by the Portland Art Gallery

Julie Kingsley is an award-winning author, educator, and the co-founder of the Manuscript Academy and Manuscript Wishlist, joining Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to explore creativity, resilience, and the courage to put stories into the world. A Scarborough native with deep French Canadian roots, Julie reflects on how Maine’s mill towns, immigrant histories, and close-knit communities shaped her voice and her debut novel, “The Space Between You and Me”, winner of the IPPY Gold Medal and the 2025 Moonbeam YA Gold Medal. Drawing from decades of teaching—from middle school classrooms to community college—Julie shares how education, entrepreneurship, and storytelling intersect, and why young adult fiction is such fertile ground for exploring identity and possibility. She offers candid insights into the writing process, rejection, revision, and trusting the creative community around you, while championing Maine as a place where grit and imagination thrive.

Join our conversation with Julie Kingsley today on Radio Maine, and be sure to subscribe to the channel.

Radio Maine is sponsored by the Portland Art Gallery

Sean Thomas, manager of the Portland Art Gallery and a photographer with roots in documentary filmmaking, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to reflect on creativity, community, and the evolving role of artists in Maine’s cultural landscape. A Cape Elizabeth native and graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, Sean traces his path from photography and film to gallery leadership, where he now champions more than 60 artists with care, curiosity, and respect. He shares thoughtful insights on the importance of creative community, the vulnerability of making art public, and how constructive critique helps artists grow over time. Drawing on his experience traveling across Maine and beyond to meet artists in their studios, Sean emphasizes trust, storytelling, and accessibility as core values of the gallery. His perspective highlights a distinctly Maine sensibility—welcoming, relationship-driven, and grounded in place—while offering a broader reflection on how art connects people.

Join our conversation with Sean Thomas today on Radio Maine, and be sure to subscribe to the channel.

Radio Maine is sponsored by the Portland Art Gallery