Never Stop Creating: The Many Lives of Emily Holt — Ep. 14

What happens when you refuse to stop creating?

For Emily Holt, the answer is… a lot.

She's a teacher, theater artist, costumer, filmmaker, festival volunteer, performer, and author—and somehow manages to keep finding another creative challenge to say yes to.

In Episode 14 of The Neveready Podcast, Emily sits down with Christian to talk about a creative journey that stretches back decades, from her early days in Southern Utah theater and filmmaking to teaching, costuming at Tuacahn, working on film sets, volunteering with FMASU, writing her own stories, and continuing to challenge herself creatively.

Emily talks about moving to St. George as a child, finding her way into theater, and the teachers and mentors who helped light the fire that eventually became a lifelong creative career.

She also shares stories from her years in the film world, including early experiences on productions such as Virtual Obsession, Meet the Deedles, The Right Temptation, Johnny Tsunami, High School Musical 2, and Down and Derby.

But Emily isn't content simply to participate in other people's productions.

She has stepped behind the camera to write and direct, including her award-winning 2023 guerrilla short Yule Be Canceled, which took home both First Place and the Audience Choice award. She followed that with Dust and Determination, a western short that deliberately pushed her outside her comfort zone.

And that's one of the biggest themes of this conversation:

You can't grow if you're afraid to try something new.

We also get into Emily's love of costumes—including her work with Tuacahn, her vintage clothing collection, and the fact that she actually made her own wedding dress.

Emily discusses the Broadway Teacher Workshop, the friendships and professional connections she's made through it, seeing Broadway performances, and the unique experience of watching people she once taught go on to perform professionally.

And, because this is The Neveready Podcast, we couldn't let her off the hook without talking about some of the bigger names she's encountered through Southern Utah's film and theater community—including Doug Jones.

Emily's response?

She'd absolutely love to put him in one of her shorts.

And apparently… he makes amazing bread. 😂

But perhaps the most inspiring part of the conversation comes when Emily talks about recently putting herself out there in an entirely different way: entering a runway competition with the dream of walking at New York Fashion Week. She made it all the way to fourth place in the quarterfinals

.

Her attitude says everything:

“You're not dead yet. It's okay, you can still dream!”

From theater classrooms to movie sets, costume sheds to Broadway stages, Emily Holt is proof that creativity doesn't have an expiration date.

Never stop creating. Never stop learning. And never be afraid to try something you've never done before.

In This Episode:

-Emily's journey to Southern Utah

-Discovering theater and performing

-Becoming a teacher

-The influence of Russ Saxton

-More than 20 years of creative collaboration

-Southern Utah's guerrilla filmmaking community

-Working with Brandon Tippets and Lonie Black

-Costuming and her work with Tuacahn

-Making her own wedding dress

-Yule Be Canceled https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njjs2cgGWBo&t=19s

-Dust and Determination https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTbqQN2bv8s&t=12s

-Acting and directing

-Her experiences on major film productions

-FMASU and volunteering at local film festivals

-Meeting filmmakers and Hollywood talent

-Doug Jones and the mysterious bread

-Broadway Teacher Workshop

-Writing a book

-Creating a murder mystery musical for her students

-Her next filmmaking ambitions

-Trying to become the next runway star

-Why criticism and failure can make us better artists

-And why you're never too old to dream

🎙️ The Neveready Podcast

Real People. Real Work.

Nothing truly great is ever “ready.”

In this episode of The Neveready Podcast, we sit down with Zeraphina Angelus — known online as The Scottish Witch — for a deeply personal conversation about growing up in Edinburgh, discovering tarot as a child, and building a spiritual practice that blends traditions from around the world.

Topics covered include:

Her childhood fascination with the occult and an imaginary witch in her closet

Why she quit tarot at 15 and didn't return to serious practice until her 30s

Her family's fear and distance when she began exploring witchcraft

Chaos magic, jar spells, and protection magic as her core practices

How she interprets tarot through intuition rather than fixed meanings

Co-authoring Protection Magic and Goddesses of Necromancy

Her engagement to author EA Koetting and their shared work, including the upcoming Glamour Magic grimoire

Being introduced to The Satanic Bible and The Satanic Witch, and where she disagrees with them

Why she's stepped back from social media to protect her privacy

⚠️ This episode contains adult language.

🎙️ New episodes every Thursday. Subscribe for more conversations on spirituality, the occult, and the paths people take to find themselves.

#TheNeverendingPodcast #ZeraphinaAngelus #ScottishWitch #EAKoetting #Occult #Witchcraft #Tarot #ChaosMagic

Austin McDonald is an actor, improviser, magician, musician, yo-yo enthusiast, Navy veteran—and professional pirate.

In Episode 11, Austin talks about the unusual path that led him to creating his pirate persona, Eli McKraken.

After losing his job when his bank was bought out, Austin began thinking about what he was passionate about while reading Rain or Shine by Scott Alexander. He eventually told his wife that he wanted to explore becoming a pirate.

She told him he couldn't.

So he did.

We talk about the creation of Eli McKraken, Austin's love of Blackbeard, performing at Pirate Fest Las Vegas and Renaissance fairs, and how his Navy experience—including learning to yo-yo—eventually became part of his pirate performances.

Austin also shares stories about growing up with a mortician father, the Southern Utah Halloween Map, joining So U Comedy, performing with The Mermen, and his growing collection of film roles.

From Bloody Mary's and Miracle on Dixie Drive to Casa de Tita, Highway Strays: El Trabajo de la Mano, The Bill, and A Very Corporate Christmas, Austin has become a familiar face in the Southern Utah creative community.

It's a conversation about creativity, collaboration, finding your passions, and refusing to let someone else's “you can't” become the end of the story.

🎙️ The Neveready Podcast — Episode 11

Magic, Mayhem, and Eli McKraken with Austin McDonald

New episodes every Thursday.

#NevereadyPodcast #AustinMcDonald #EliMcKraken #SouthernUtah #PirateLife #Improv #Filmmaking

This week we sit down with Daniel McClenahan — actor, writer, master garage door technician, and former Blockbuster clerk turned filmmaker.

We get into:

📼 His days working at Blockbuster on Bluff St. (yes, he went by "Skip")

😅 The rocky first meeting with Adam Mast neither of them remembers the same way

🩸 Playing Maplethorpe, the villain in Highway Strays Saga — and why we want him back

✍️ Writing Friends Like These in just a few days and getting it filmed

🎭 Starring in Psycho Therapy, a horror-comedy short

🎥 His next project, Famous Last Words, with Christian Navarrete

💼 The real pitfalls of running a business — including how to process job applications without it costing you an arm and a leg

🚀 Hired Education, his new venture fixing that problem

🤝 His work with Mankind Project — creating spaces for men to talk mental health

🔧 Learning the trade in 2006 under Jeff Jones, now a master tech at All Star Garage Door

⚠️ Content Advisory:

This episode contains language and conversations that may not be suitable for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised. Not recommended for minors.

Vegas roots. St. George grind. Real stories. 🎧 Watch now!

This episode is personal — my guest Jared Gifford and I go way back, all the way to high school, though our paths didn't really cross until years later at a comic convention where I picked up a signed copy of Captain Darum. Fast forward to this year, we reconnected at Free Comic Book Day, and now here we are.

Jared is a writer, comic book creator, and self-proclaimed comic fanatic behind the Darum universe (inspired by Captain Harlock), Super Stoopid, and his current project Deathwatch — a hammer-horror/vampire-hunter comic co-created with artist Chad Hardin, with more issues on the way. We talk about his start writing Doctor Strange and Thor fan fiction on the "Marvel Redo" forum, his break into the industry with Crazy Monkey Inc, how the pandemic derailed and reshaped his plans, and what it really takes to build a career in indie comics. We also touch on why Superman is his favorite hero — and the personal story behind that connection.

🔗 Follow Jared: facebook.com/jaredgiffordpage | IG: @ironmaidenfanatic

🔗 Chad Hardin's work: hardincomics.com

Free Will & Finding Your Voice w/ Laura Schmitt — Episode 8

In this episode of The Neveready Podcast, I sit down with Laura Schmitt — an actress, filmmaker, improv comedian, and the owner of Free Will Transformation.

Laura's story spans continents: born in Midland, Texas to Argentinian parents, raised between Corpus Christi, Argentina (Comodoro Rivadavia and Mendoza), and eventually settling back in Texas before landing in St. George. We had a hard time NOT slipping into Spanglish and talking a mile a minute the whole time.

In this episode:

🎭 Laura’s work in improv with So U Comedy

🎬 Filmmaking with her husband Lance Murphy and daughter Emma

✨ Building Free Will Transformation and what "free will" really means

🧠 Letting go of old identities and stepping into your personal power

We also get into the electric creative partnership between Laura and Jessica Staples — their energy on stage, their chemistry, and what makes their collaboration so special.

This is a conversation about healing, creativity, and trusting your own voice.

⚠️ Content Advisory:

This episode contains language and conversations that may not be suitable for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised. Not recommended for minors.

I sat down with Michael Iorg: filmmaker, performer, musician, military reservist, and Associate Clinical Mental Health Counselor at Elevated Counseling and Wellness. These two go back to college — to Eric Young's film class, a shared love of storytelling, and a friendship built on the kind of creative chaos that sticks with you.

Michael has played Romeo and the Tin Man on stage, written and directed films like The Bill and Desert Duel, picked up a guitar and written his own songs, served in the military reserves, and is now building a platform to share real, practical mental health tools with anyone who needs them.

This is a conversation about all of it — the roles, the service, the healing, and what it looks like to keep reinventing yourself without ever losing the thread of who you are.

In this episode:

His time in the military and what it gave him that nothing else could

A stage career spanning Romeo, the Tin Man, and everything in between

Writing and directing original films — The Bill, Desert Duel, 'Twas, and more

The transition from performer to mental health counselor

Where creativity and healing overlap

His TikTok platform @dailymentalhealthskills — 60+ videos and growing

The mental health app he's currently building-- www.dailyreset-app.com (Still under construction)

Books he returns to: The Four Agreements and The Untethered Soul

🎧 Also available on Spotify, Amazon Music, and iHeartRadio

Find Michael:

TikTok: @dailymentalhealthskills

YouTube: @michaeliorg