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

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.

EP17: Meg Tuohey: Healing Trauma, Self-Attunement & Rewiring Relationships From the Inside Out

In this episode of The Drama Diet, host Lisa Stuart sits down with psychologist, relationship expert, and trauma specialist Meg Tuohey for a powerful conversation about self-attunement, emotional regulation, and transforming relationships by transforming yourself. Meg brings a unique blend of psychology, leadership science, and psychoeducation, shaped by her background in corporate HR, talent development, and consulting before moving fully into trauma-informed relational work. She now helps women understand how their internal state directly shapes their external relationships and life experiences. At the core of her work is the idea that relationships act as mirrors—reflecting back the unresolved patterns, emotional dysregulation, and unmet needs within ourselves. Rather than focusing solely on fixing external dynamics, Meg teaches that real change begins with internal alignment, nervous system regulation, and deep self-awareness. She introduces her “Power of One” philosophy, which shows how one person’s shift in a relationship system can transform the entire dynamic. Through her evidence-based curriculum, she guides women through two foundational phases: self-attunement and physiological regulation, followed by relationship repair and structure. Meg also shares her concept of the “heartprint,” an inner compass that guides individuals toward authenticity, peace, and fulfillment when fully listened to and honored. She explains how disconnecting from this inner truth often leads to anxiety, conflict, and emotional disconnection in relationships. Throughout the conversation, Meg emphasizes practical tools for reconnecting with yourself, including silence, meditation, time in nature, somatic movement, creative expression, and emotional awareness practices. These tools help regulate the nervous system and create space for clarity and healing. This episode explores trauma healing, emotional intelligence, self-awareness, nervous system regulation, and the powerful truth that when you change your internal world, your external relationships begin to shift.

EP16: Gail Novack: Healing Generational Trauma, Mother Daughter Relationships & Choosing Joy

In this heartfelt episode of The Drama Diet, Lisa Stuart sits down with her mother, Gail Novack, for an emotional and deeply honest conversation about healing generational wounds, rebuilding relationships, and choosing peace through life’s challenges. Gail shares her remarkable journey as the daughter of German immigrant parents, growing up between Europe and the United States before eventually building a life and family in California. From attending boarding school in Switzerland and learning multiple languages to raising three children and navigating two marriages, Gail reflects on the experiences that shaped her perspective on family, resilience, and motherhood. Together, Lisa and Gail openly discuss a difficult season in their relationship when they stopped speaking for nearly a year due to disagreements and emotional pain. Through vulnerability, communication, and mutual understanding, they were able to rebuild their relationship and break unhealthy generational patterns that had been passed down for decades. The conversation also explores Gail’s life-changing spinal cord injury following a devastating car accident over two decades ago. Despite living with permanent physical limitations, Gail shares how gratitude, mindfulness, and a positive mindset became the foundation of her healing journey. Lisa and Gail reflect on the importance of staying present, releasing fear and resentment, and consciously creating healthier family dynamics for future generations. This episode is a powerful reminder that healing is possible when we choose compassion, self-awareness, and love over fear and control.