Drop Kicked Into the Deep End

Drop Kicked Into the Deep End

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2614809/fan_mail/new] Stephanie lands in China on a Tuesday. By Thursday she's standing in front of five classes at a public school, making it up as she goes, with no Chinese and a stack of Xerox copies. Friday she's at a completely different school with air conditioning and colored walls. Then 40 seven-year-olds say "hello, teacher" all at once - and something clicks. About teaching. About language. About how she'd been going about all of it wrong her whole life. * 00:00 Intro * 00:32 Drop Kicked * 01:10 The Taxi Cards * 01:48 Public School Thursday * 02:28 Experimental School Friday * 03:05 A, A, Apple, Apple * 04:02 Hello, Teacher * 05:18 You Make It Fun * 06:44 Where I'd Gone Wrong * 08:10 Until Next Time

Wait, I Can Divorce My Business?

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2614809/fan_mail/new] Stephanie started a housing arbitrage business to escape bartending and buy time for her acting career. It was supposed to be a side hustle. It was not a side hustle. A year and a half in, she's waking up stressed, anxious every time her phone buzzes, and heading toward a breakdown — while the business is, technically, succeeding. Then her coach asks one question: if you had to put a price on this business, what would it be? It had never occurred to her that she could sell it. That she didn't have to stay married to it. That she could get a divorce. * 00:00 Intro * 00:42 The Side Hustle That Wasn't * 01:24 Going All In * 01:58 Burnout on Paper Success * 05:03 The Question That Changed Everything * 07:05 Wait, I Can Divorce My Business? * 09:08 The Permission * 09:44 Until Next Time

Am I Feeling Things Wrong?

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2614809/fan_mail/new] Somewhere in China, sitting on her bed with the air conditioning running, Stephanie catches herself wondering if she's feeling things wrong. Not too much — just... not enough. She knows she feels deeply. But something isn't getting through. Years later, in London during her MFA, an improv exercise cracks everything open. She collapses. Her knees give out. She sobs for 15 minutes straight. Which, if you know her, is not a thing she does. This one's for anyone who's ever had to push it down to get it done. You know who you are. * 00:00 Intro * 00:54 Something's Wrong in China * 01:33 The Improv That Broke the Dam * 02:47 Too Good at Compartmentalizing * 03:07 Finding the Way Back * 04:11 Reintegrating Emotion * 06:03 I See You * 07:19 Until Next Time

Why Are You Kinking The Hose?

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2614809/fan_mail/new] Stephanie is in New Orleans with her mom and sister when her phone buzzes: her short film has just been accepted into the Berlin Sci-Fi Film Festival. She tells them immediately. They celebrate. It's a genuinely great moment. And then, 24 hours later, she's talking herself out of going. This is the story of what happens when you get exactly what you asked for — and immediately try to kink the hose. Featuring a very direct coach, a booked flight she had no idea how to afford, and the moment she remembered that saying yes is how things actually start. * 00:00 Intro * 00:40 New Orleans, Last Night * 01:01 The Notification * 01:32 24 Hours Later * 02:23 Why Are You Kinking the Hose? * 04:22 She Books the Flight * 04:47 What Happens When You Say Yes * 06:40 Berlin * 07:36 The Bigger Leaps * 08:06 Until Next Time

I Lucked Into This Concert

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2614809/fan_mail/new] Stephanie arrives in Paris at 6am after an overnight coach bus and ferry from London — no sleep, no plan, just a paper map and a Lonely Planet she's definitely not being paid to mention. She wanders along the Seine, naps in the Jardin de Tuileries with her backpack as a pillow, and somehow ends up at a free concert under the Eiffel Tower with two girls she just met, stolen hostel blankets, and a bottle of wine. The concert turns out to feature Andrea Bocelli. The finale is Handel's Messiah. The heavens open right on cue. Some days you plan. And then there's this day. 00:00 Intro 00:35 Arriving in Paris on No Sleep 01:18 Wandering the Seine 03:00 Nap in the Tuileries 03:45 Hostel Friends 04:21 Picnic Under the Eiffel Tower 04:59 Wait — That's Andrea Bocelli 05:40 Handel's Messiah and the Rain 06:27 Until Next Time