What happens when the person, place, and life that once felt like home no longer exist?

Roger Vaughn, known as Lightning in the Burning Man world, found himself asking that question after losing Lydia, his wife and partner of 18 years.

Roger is a full-time digital nomad living in an RV and traveling with his motorcycle. He is the CEO of SwiftCloud.ai, the founder of Mycelia Monastery, a former professional animator, and a lifelong creative working across media, fine art, music, technology, and community.

Joining Aya from Montreal, Roger opens up about grief, presence, belonging, creative rebirth, and the journey of rebuilding a life after profound loss. Together, they explore how our environments shape us, why feeling safe allows us to play a bigger game, and whether home is a place, a person, a community, or something we learn to carry within ourselves.

Roger also shares how grief led him back to music, resulting in two albums created within 18 months. His song “Carry Me Home” captures the evolution at the heart of this conversation: longing for the home that was lost, then realizing we can build shelter, create warmth, and become home for the people we love.

This is an honest conversation about losing home, searching for belonging, and discovering that a new chapter can grow from the ashes of the life we once knew.

Follow Rise + Rebel and share this episode with someone navigating grief, reinvention, or the search for home.

Content note: This episode includes candid discussions of death, grief, suicidal thoughts, and mental health.

In this episode of Rise + Rebel Podcast, Aya Hojadova sits down with Doug Hamilton, founder of CharlestonHacks, for a conversation about AI, hackathons, creative experimentation, community-building, and the future of Charleston’s tech ecosystem.

Doug shares why CharlestonHacks exists, what makes hackathons such powerful spaces for learning and connection, and why Charleston has a unique opportunity to become a place where builders, creatives, entrepreneurs, developers, and curious people can come together to create.

Together, Aya and Doug explore the rise of AI, how it is changing what it means to build, why human fundamentals still matter, and how low-pressure spaces like show-and-tell events can help people externalize ideas, receive honest feedback, and take the first step.

This conversation is for anyone who has an idea, feels intimidated by technology, or wants to understand how community, creativity, and AI can work together to help people build what they are here to create.

Subscribe to Rise + Rebel Podcast for conversations on creativity, entrepreneurship, identity, technology, transformation, visibility, and becoming who you were always meant to be.

Join the Rise + Rebel world:
risewithaya.com/start-here

Learn more about CharlestonHacks:
www.CharlestonHacks.com

Connect with Doug Hamilton:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-hamilton-61517b2b/

In this solo episode of Rise + Rebel Podcast, Aya Hoja reflects on how AI has helped her organize her creativity, build faster, and turn scattered ideas into real execution across podcasting, newsletters, commercial real estate, Rise + Rebel Shop, brand strategy, content, and business planning.

This is not an episode about AI replacing the human voice. It is about using AI as a thinking partner while staying connected to your intuition, taste, lived experience, relationships, and creative source.

Because AI can help build the bridge, but the human still has to walk across it.

Subscribe to Rise + Rebel Podcast for conversations on creativity, entrepreneurship, identity, personal growth, visibility, intuition, and becoming who you were always meant to be.

Join the Rise + Rebel world:
risewithaya.com/start-here