EP18: Ariella Morrow: From Addiction, Depression & Rock Bottom to Recovery, Healing & Hope

EP22: Sarah Stern: Reinvention, Resilience & Building Beauty Through Life’s Challenges

In this episode of The Drama Diet, Lisa Stuart sits down with makeup artist, skin specialist, and entrepreneur Sarah Stern for an inspiring conversation about resilience, reinvention, and finding purpose through life's unexpected challenges. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Sarah has spent more than 14 years helping people feel confident through beauty and skincare. After building her career in Los Angeles and New York, she spent eight years in Montreal before the pandemic brought her back to Southern California. Forced to rebuild her business and client base from scratch, Sarah faced one of the biggest professional challenges of her life. Rather than giving up, she leaned into growth, continuing her education, earning new certifications, and constantly refining her craft. Her determination and personal experiences with problem skin ultimately inspired the creation of Happy Hour Beauty, a skincare brand born from both professional expertise and lived experience. As a single mother of three, Sarah understands the balancing act of raising a family while pursuing ambitious dreams. Together, Lisa and Sarah discuss perseverance, motherhood, entrepreneurship, and the importance of embracing change instead of allowing setbacks to define the future. They also explore how personal struggles can become the foundation for meaningful businesses and why growth often happens when we choose to keep moving forward despite uncertainty. This episode is a reminder that reinvention isn't about starting over—it's about using every chapter of life to build something stronger and more authentic.

EP21: Simona Fusco: Love, Loss & Building Authentic Connections Beyond Perfection

In this episode of The Drama Diet, Lisa Stuart sits down with award-winning entrepreneur, philanthropist, and elite matchmaker Simona Fusco for an inspiring conversation about relationships, resilience, and the importance of authentic human connection. As the Founder and President of Perfect 12 Introductions, Simona has spent more than fifteen years helping CEOs, entrepreneurs, and high-profile individuals find meaningful relationships. Recognized by Forbes as "The Gold Standard for Elite Dating" and praised by Dr. Phil as one of the country's leading elite matchmakers, she has built a reputation for bringing depth, authenticity, and intention to the modern dating world. But behind her remarkable success lies a story shaped by profound personal loss and perseverance. Simona opens up about losing her mother to cancer and later losing the father of her daughter, experiences that taught her resilience, humility, and the importance of becoming grounded in the face of life's challenges. Together, Lisa and Simona explore the pressures of perfection, the qualities that create lasting relationships, and why true connection goes far beyond appearances. Simona shares the philosophy behind Perfect 12 and explains why confidence, authenticity, and emotional depth matter more than surface-level attraction. They also discuss entrepreneurship, overcoming adversity, and how life's most painful experiences can become the foundation for purpose, compassion, and meaningful impact. This episode is for anyone seeking healthier relationships, deeper connection, and a reminder that love and success are built on authenticity—not perfection.

EP20: Landon Popadic: Directing Your Life, Creative Leadership & Managing Drama With Purpose

In this thought-provoking episode of The Drama Diet, Lisa Stuart sits down with filmmaker, director, and producer Landon Popadic for a powerful conversation about personal agency, creative leadership, and how to navigate life’s challenges with intention and purpose. Drawing from his experience directing films and leading production teams, Landon shares how the principles of filmmaking can be applied to everyday life. He explores the idea that each person is the creative director of their own story — responsible for making decisions, embracing growth, and shaping the direction of their future. Landon discusses the realities of managing high-pressure environments on film sets and explains how maintaining positive energy, clear communication, and emotional stability can influence an entire team's success. As both a former actor and director, he offers unique insights into leadership, collaboration, and helping others perform at their best. The conversation also explores decision-making, overcoming fear, managing stress, and avoiding the trap of perfectionism. Landon shares practical strategies he uses to reduce decision fatigue, stay focused during demanding productions, and create space for recovery after intense creative work. He also discusses his work with Bridgewater Pictures, his passion for telling meaningful human stories, and his upcoming film A Woman in Beverly Hills, an innovative project created through improvisation and emotional authenticity. This episode explores creativity, leadership, resilience, personal growth, storytelling, and the importance of becoming the intentional author of your own life.

EP19: Kelsey Kernstine: Authenticity, Perfectionism & Staying Human in the Age of AI

In this insightful episode of The Drama Diet, Lisa Stuart sits down with journalist, former national news anchor, and media personality Kelsey Kernstine for an honest conversation about perfectionism, vulnerability, identity, and what it truly means to be seen in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and curated online personas. After spending more than a decade working in national and local news, Kelsey reflects on the realities of life in front of the camera and the pressure many people feel to appear polished, composed, and perfect at all times. She shares how journalism often teaches people to hide behind the stories they tell, making it difficult to fully show up authentically as themselves. Together, Lisa and Kelsey explore the deeper fear behind perfectionism — the fear of judgment, rejection, and vulnerability — and how many people use achievement and performance as protection from truly being seen. Kelsey also discusses why human connection, lived experience, and authenticity matter now more than ever in the age of AI. While technology may replicate information and polished presentation, she believes it can never replace genuine emotion, personal struggle, resilience, and the wisdom that comes from real-life experiences. In this conversation, Kelsey opens up about taking risks throughout her career, embracing uncomfortable growth, and how stepping into fear ultimately built her confidence and identity. She also shares insights from her current YouTube series, Dr. Dad, where she works alongside her father to combat misinformation and help audiences better navigate health and wellness conversations online. This episode explores authenticity, self-worth, fear of visibility, perfectionism, resilience, emotional growth, and the importance of staying deeply human in a rapidly changing world.

EP18: Ariella Morrow: From Addiction, Depression & Rock Bottom to Recovery, Healing & Hope

In this deeply moving episode of The Drama Diet, Lisa Stuart sits down with addiction medicine physician Dr. Ariella Morrow for a powerful conversation about depression, alcoholism, recovery, and transforming pain into purpose. From the outside, Ariella’s life appeared successful — she was a respected physician, wife, mother, and medical professional working at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with a thriving outpatient practice. But behind the scenes, she was silently battling severe depression, emotional isolation, and alcoholism that slowly consumed every area of her life. Ariella opens up about the darkest season of her journey, including the moment she realized alcohol had completely taken over, the isolation that kept her confined to her room for months, and the overwhelming hopelessness that made her feel as though she had lost everything. In this conversation, she shares how Alcoholics Anonymous became a turning point in her healing journey and how hearing another professional’s story of redemption gave her the hope to believe her life could be rebuilt too. Today, Ariella works in addiction medicine, helping individuals struggling with addiction find healing, recovery, and transformation. Drawing from both her medical expertise and personal experience, she approaches recovery through a holistic lens — treating the mind, body, and spirit together. She also discusses the Japanese concept of kintsugi, the art of repairing broken pottery with gold, as a metaphor for healing and how brokenness can become the very thing that makes a person stronger, wiser, and more beautiful. This episode explores addiction, recovery, mental health, resilience, healing, redemption, hope, and the powerful truth that transformation is possible even after life completely falls apart.