Life Lessons Unscripted

Lainey Lipson on Sitting in the Casting Director's Chair

Former Actress and Casting Director Lainey Lipson speaks about life on both sides of the camera and casting roles in the entertainment industry. Lainey Lipson is a former actress-turned-casting director who started her vibrant career at a young age.  She initially trained in acting in Los Angeles, and went on to be cast in numerous TV shows, films, webseries, commercials, and animations. She appeared on notable TV shows like Nickelodeon’s Victorious, ABC’s The Rookie, and Comedy Central’s Review. She also played series regular roles on 25 episodes of AwesomenessTV, the Nickelodeon sketch comedy show, and in 58 episodes of MyMusic, the YouTube Premium sitcom that has accumulated around 100 million views and was nominated for multiple awards. Since stepping away from acting, Lainey has transitioned to a career in casting, and has worked with numerous casting directors on notable films and TV series. Her first encounter with casting was assisting on a few episodes of Disney and Nickelodeon shows, which sparked her interest to continue. She then began as full-time casting assistant, working on projects like Prime Video’s Them, Apple TV’s For All Mankind, Showtime’s Yellowjackets, Apple TV’s Invasion, and Fox’s The Cleaning Lady. From there, she became a casting associate on projects like Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan on Prime Video, The Nun II, and Hulu’s Black Cake. Most recently, she worked as the Associate Casting Director on feature films such as Sony’s 28 Years Later (2025) and the sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, which is set to release in 2026, The Bitter End, and 13 Days, 13 Nights. Lainey is currently based in England, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in Film Production with a specialization in Directing. I’m so thrilled to welcome Lainey to speak with us today on Life Lessons Unscripted! Ladies and gentlemen, here is Lainey Lipson!

Anika Locke on Pop-star Pursuits and Growing Confidence

Anika Locke, a young rising pop-star making her mark on the music industry, talks about her EP "cool or whatever" and releasing original music. Anika Locke is an 18-year-old pop singer-songwriter from California and an incoming freshman at Berklee College of Music as of Fall 2025. You may recognize much of Anika's content on TikTok and Instagram, where she frequently releases clips of her original songs, performances, song covers, and even outfit checks!  Although she started writing songs at an early age, she has recently begun to release her original music, which draws audiences in for wild drives down the coast and hooks them with relatable lyrics. In June, just two weeks ago, she released her debut song "cool or whatever" and it has been growing in momentum since then.  Listen to "cool or whatever" and Anika's future music on all streaming platforms and follow Anika on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube @anikalockemusic!

Jennifer Michele de Winter on Artistry and Being "Basically Barbie"

Award-winning actress, director, model, and artist Jennifer Michele de Winter speaks about her successful, multi-faceted career in entertainment and art. Jennifer Michele de Winter is an award-winning actress, director, musician, model, writer, sculptor, painter, philanthropist, and content-creator based in Los Angeles. She has starred in numerous films and TV shows, from starring as “Ella” in Lionsgate’s Joey and Ella (2021), “Brittney” in Just My Luck with Sophia and Maya (2019-2021), as “Natalie” and “Britney” in Love, XO (2024), and appearing alongside actress Angela Bassett on Fox’s 9-1-1 (2019) -- just to name a few. She is also an accomplished model, having multiple covers and editorials for magazines like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam, Harper’s Bazaar Canada, Moevir Magazine, and walking the runway for LA Fashion Week and the LuMen Collection. On both her TikTok and Instagram platforms, where she has accumulated around 781K followers, she posts videos and pictures of her sculptures, paintings, original songs and song covers. She has won numerous awards in multiple disciplines, such as “Best Young Actress” at the Best Actor and Director Awards for her role as “Riley” in her short film Riley (2021), “Best Actress” at the Los Angeles Cinematography Awards, “Outstanding Writer Award” at the Young Artist Awards, where she was also nominated for “Best Performance,” “Outstanding Director,” and “Outstanding Producer.” Outside of her expansive entertainment and art career, she is a dedicated philanthropist, making time within her busy schedule to serve food to homeless individuals at the LA Mission, among other charities. I am so pleased and delighted to be speaking with the one and only Jennifer Michele de Winter on the “Life Lessons Unscripted” podcast. Here is Jennifer Michele de Winter!

Sydney Scotia on Becoming and Being an Award-Winning Actress

Joey Award-winning actress, director, and entrepreneur Sydney Scotia speaks on growing up as a child actor, filming her debut Netflix sitcom, and her road to becoming the artist she is today. Sydney Scotia is an actress, director, producer, and entrepreneur who is well-known for her role as Geneva Hayes in the Netflix TV show Some Assembly Required. She received a boost to stardom from this role, for which she also won two Joey Awards and a Leo Award nomination for Best Actress, Young Ensemble, and Best Performance, respectively. Since playing Geneva, she has taken on a successful and diverse career. She has since played many notable roles, such as “Enigma” and “Tamra” in Reboot: The Guardian Code (2018), “Lydia” in Pillow Talk (2022-2023), “Kristen” in the TV-show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2018), “Coral” in Lionsgate’s A Mermaid’s Tale (2017), and more. Most recently, she starred as “Joanna” in Hallmark’s Our Holiday Story (2024), “Brittany” in Return to Sender (2024), and appeared as “Angie Hansley” in Trackers (2025). She won numerous awards and nominations for her acting, including Best Performance at the Canadian Screen Awards and Leo Awards for her role in Pillow Talk, Best Actress for her role in I Dare You (2016), and more. An accomplished filmmaker, Sydney directed This Hits Home (2024), a film that dives deep into the traumatic brain injuries of domestic abuse survivors. The film won the Audience Choice Award at the Boston Film Festival in 2020. In October 2024, she wrapped her thriller/horror film Sawtooth Mountain, for which she is making her directorial debut in the genre. It is set to come out in 2025, so if horror is your bread and butter, be sure to keep an eye out for that. Finally, Sydney is an entrepreneur who is releasing a nutraceutical brand with Life Extension in 2025 for migraine prevention and brain health. We are so lucky to be speaking with the one and only Sydney Scotia today on Life Lessons Unscripted. Here is Sydney Scotia!

Katherine Ho on "Crazy Rich Asians" and API Identity

Katherine Ho is a SAG-AFTRA actress and singer whose dreams of being a star came to fruition early on in her childhood. She voiced several characters on Special Agent Oso (2008), sang in the movie Valentine’s Day (2010), and as a high schooler, placed in the Top 32 in season 10 of The Voice on Adam Levine’s team.  And as a 19-year-old student at the University of Southern California and under the direction of Jon Chu, Katherine sang the Mandarin version of Coldplay’s “Yellow” from the blockbuster rom-com Crazy Rich Asians (2018); her song hit No.1 on the Spotify Viral 50 Global chart and has accumulated over 20 million streams. Since Crazy Rich Asians, she released her debut single “Bellyaches” and has since continued to release new music. She sang yet another song for the movie Wish Dragon (2021) called “Endless Love” and for the short Let’s Eat (2020) called “Come Back Home.” And she made a guest appearance on Netflix’s Reality TV show Bling Empire (2021-2022) to sing the Mandarin version of “Yellow” again. She also graduated from USC in 2021 with a degree in Human Biology and is now pursuing a career in healthcare product development and public health in addition to her entertainment career. Speaking with me today, here is Katherine Ho!