Catherine Auman

Anja Broenink

Fashion designer and artist Anja Broenink joins Hilary Sloane for an intimate conversation about creativity, reinvention, illness, aging, and the courage to keep evolving. Born and raised in the Netherlands, Anja began her career as a nurse, studied fashion design, and eventually built her clothing line, Anja SF, in San Francisco during the dot-com boom. Today she lives in Joshua Tree, where she balances painting, design, and a quieter, more intentional life. Together, they discuss fashion in the 1980s, Japanese design influences, cancer recovery, spirituality, creativity after COVID, and the emotional inspiration behind Anja’s colorful “Sadie” paintings. A thoughtful conversation about resilience, artistry, and learning to make each day meaningful.

Catherine Auman

In this episode of Driftwood Conversations, I speak with therapist, writer, and longtime spiritual explorer Catherine Auman about relationships, emotional growth, friendship, awakening, and the long arc of becoming ourselves. Catherine shares stories from her life, including her early feminist performance work in Los Angeles, her years of therapeutic practice, and the deeper understanding she gained through both struggle and love. What stayed with me most was her honesty about how growth continues throughout life and her belief that friendship, respect, and presence are at the center of meaningful connection. You can learn more about Catherine and her work at CatherineAuman.com, and her books are available through Amazon.

Sandra Mendelson

In this episode of Driftwood Conversations, I sit down with Sandra Mendelson—animal communicator, channel, and, as it turns out, my second cousin. Though we grew up aware of each other, life took us in different directions, and it wasn’t until recently that we reconnected and discovered a shared sensitivity to the unseen. Sandra came into her abilities later in life, learning to trust the messages she receives from animals and the energetic field around them. What unfolds in this conversation is not just a discussion about animal communication, but a deeper exploration of intuition, healing, and the ways we begin to listen differently—both to the world around us and to ourselves. We talk about awakening, about doubt and trust, and about the quiet intelligence animals may hold as mirrors for human experience. This is not a linear conversation. It moves in moments, in recognition, in openings that invite reflection rather than conclusions. It is also, for me, a meaningful reunion, one that reminds me how connection can reappear in unexpected ways, carrying something both familiar and entirely new. To learn more about Sandra, go to: SandraMendelson.com

Olga Naiman

n this episode of Driftwood Conversations, I speak with Olga Naiman, an interior designer, author, and teacher whose work moves far beyond aesthetics into what she calls spatial alchemy. Rather than focusing on decoration, Olga explores the emotional and psychological imprints we carry into our homes. She asks questions about safety, identity, memory, and what we are ready to release. As a refugee from the former Soviet Union, her relationship to home has been shaped by instability, loss, and the ongoing search for grounding. That lived experience informs a practice centered on creating spaces that support healing and transformation. This conversation moves through trauma, the body, color, and the quiet ways we begin to reshape our inner and outer worlds. At its core is a deeper inquiry: what does it mean to live in a space that truly reflects who we are becoming?

Wayne Kastning

In this episode of Driftwood Conversations, I sit down with Wayne Kastning, an artist, designer, and teacher whose life journey spans from a remote farm in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas to the creative worlds of New York and Los Angeles. Raised without electricity or running water until his teenage years, Wayne grew up surrounded by storytelling, craftsmanship, and a deep connection to making things by hand. Our conversation explores what it means to leave home, to trust your instincts, and to keep saying yes to the life that calls you forward. Wayne speaks candidly about identity, curiosity, and the courage it takes to become yourself. This is a story about transformation, resilience, and the quiet determination to follow a creative path, even when it feels uncertain.