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I had an incredible conversation with Elizabeth Falkner. She’s passionate—not just about cooking, but about writing. But really, she’s passionate about everything she does.

If you think you don’t have enough hours in a day, you’re wrong. You do. Elizabeth proves it. She’s a chef, author, entrepreneur, television personality, documentary producer, and she still finds time to work out. She's always looking for what's next, always looking for new things to create and explore. 

Elizabeth Falkner is an award-winning chef who worked her way up in fine dining and operated groundbreaking restaurants in San Francisco and New York. She continues to cook at private events, Food & Wine Festivals, culinary tours and events, and has cooked for countless celebrities.

She has appeared on television on multiple networks and in many of the cooking competition reality series over the last twenty years. She is a world-recognized pioneer and leader in culinary. Chef Falkner is a fitness advocate, loves playing sports and stays “Fit to Cook” and practices a work-life balance.

She’s an author of three cookbooks, she cooks, speaks and teaches allover the world. She was a James Beard Awards finalist in 2005 and she currently serves on the board of trustees of the James Beard Foundation and serves as the chair of the awards committee.

In 2020, she re-located to Los Angeles and produced and hosts a documentary called “Sorry We’re Closed”, which made festival circuits and won Best Documentary Feature at Pasadena Film Festival 2023, streaming on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.

Elizabeth also works as a recipe/formula developer/consultant and has worked on projects and brands such as Molino Bianco/Barilla, Starbucks, Hershey, Pepsi, Compass Group, Nestle, Cliff Bar, Mondalez, Wrigley’s, Quaker, General Mills, Emmi Cheeses from Switzerland, M&M/Mars, Behave Candy, and more.

On the beverage side, she and her partner, Heather Freyer founded T’MARO Brands Inc. launching three innovative natural spirits in 2024. T’MARO Amaro, T’MARO Eau de Vie and T’MARO Cacao Nib. All made with organic California dates.

For more, visit her website: https://www.elizabethfalkner.com/

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Whenever I talk with Deirdre, I find myself laughing and smiling. A lot. That’s what we did when we sat down to record this episode. But we still managed to talk about writing, discipline, inspiration and more.

I had such fun. I think you’ll enjoy this episode as much as I did.

Deirdre Sullivan is a New England–based writer and the author of three children’s books—Ming Goes to School, Ming and Her Poppy, and Gussie and Max—with additional work published in Method Writers Speak. She is currently working on a murder-mystery novel that explores friendship, secrets, and the quiet tensions within seemingly perfect lives. A longtime observer of people and places, she draws inspiration from community dynamics, family life, and the moments we often overlook. She lives in Boston with her husband, four daughters, and her black lab, Boo—often at her side as she follows the tension, silences, and secrets that linger just out of view.

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I so enjoyed my talk with Ron. We talked about music and what it's like to write a memoir, finding one's voice, and starting to write later in life. Ron is inspiring, fun, and just an all-around cool guy. 

I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed talking with Ron. 

Ronald Moss is a member of the Los Angeles Poets & Writers Collective and has been published in Method Writers Speak Volumes Three, Four & Seven. 

In 2011, Ronald Moss started Honua Music Publishing with partner Andreas Schuller. 

Honua writers were nominated for a Grammy for their work on the Justin Bieber album “Purpose” in 2017, and writer Alida Peck won multi-Platinum awards for co-writing and performing Robin Shultz's “In Your Eyes” in 2020.

Ronald Moss was directly responsible for signing artist/ songwriters Avril Lavigne and Mika to music publishing deals while at Rondor Music, winning the Ivor Novello Award for International Hit of the Year in 2002 for publishing the song “Complicated” and the “Songwriter of the Year Award for Mika in 2008.

Ron’s father, Jerry Moss, founded A&M Records along with his partner Herb Alpert in 1962. Ron started working for A&M Records at 15 in the shipping department and worked in the A&M studio, Promotion Department, and A&R department through college, graduating from Pepperdine University with a BSM in Business Management.

Ron lives in Haiku, Maui, with his wife, Rhonda, and their dog, Kiko.

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Jeff Joslin is driven to make a difference in his life and in others' lives. He does this by how he shows up in the world and through his words. 

Inspiration doesn’t just float into our lives on a breeze, at least not every day, but if you’re looking to start 2026 feeling inspired to create something, to write, and to follow your heart, then I think you’ll really enjoy this episode of Found Voices.

Let me know what you think! Reach out!

Jeff Joslin is a martial artist in the truest sense of the term. Born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, he grew up engulfed in the martial arts. His father, Rick, a three-time Canadian karate champion, opened up the family martial arts academy back in 1967.

Since age five, Jeff has dedicated his life to martial arts. A black belt in both Karate (6th Degree) and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (5th Degree), he’s competed at elite levels and has accomplished many things:

• Won over 200 first-place titles in striking, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and submission wrestling competitions spanning two decades
• Canadian Black Belt Hall of Fame Member (Inducted 2022)
• First Canadian in history to win a major international Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament (Pan/American BJJ Championship 2002)
• IBJJF Master’s World Championship - Black Belt Bronze Medalist (2016)
• Fought in the UFC, TKO, Hardcore Fighting Championships and many other shows

Outside of teaching and training in martial arts, he loves spending time with his wife and two children. New to writing, he studies the art with the same passion and student mindset he brings as a fighter, and he looks forward to sharing many stories with readers in the future. 

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I really enjoyed speaking with Frank Ishizaki. It’s not every day that you meet someone who casually refers to his life as source material. But when you’ve lived a life like Frank’s, one that reads like the most compelling script, you understand why. Two opposite worlds collide in his story: he was a gang member, and his father was an FBI agent.

But the thing about Frank is that he doesn’t define himself by that collision. He’s a phenomenal writer and a very cool human being.

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed talking with Frank.

Frank J. Ishizaki is a writer and director from Los Angeles, raised by cops, gangs, and punk rock. Born on the island of Guam of Chamorro and Japanese descent, he draws from a childhood torn between his FBI agent father's world and his hidden life in violent street gangs.

Frank directed The World Poker Tour for over a decade and continues to direct high-stakes live television broadcasts. His poetry, essays, and fiction explore identity, belonging, and moral complexity, writing from the trenches of crime, power, and survival with unflinching authenticity. He holds a B.A. in Film and Television from California State University, Northridge, and lives in Sherman Oaks with his wife and their young son.

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Cheryl Montelle and I talked about writing, dancing, acting, and life. Cheryl is a treasure. She operates from a place of open-heartedness and passion. We can all learn something from her brilliance! 

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it for you.

Cheryl Montelle is a Southern California–based writer whose work has appeared in DivineCaroline.com and numerous anthologies, including Travelers’ Tales: A Woman’s World Again, Deliver Me: True Confessions of Motherhood, Raging Gracefully, A Cup of Comfort for Mothers-to-Be, Fresh Yarn, Seven Seas, On The Bus, Rattle, Moth, Spillway, The Desert Writers 2024, Method Writers Speak, and Issued: Stories of Service.

She has performed her work in Los Angeles, Joshua Tree, and New York City. From 2007 to 2019, Cheryl produced, curated, and hosted Desert Stories, an annual spoken word fundraiser for the High Desert Playhouse in Joshua Tree. In 2010, she brought the event—titled Live From Joshua Tree—to boxOFFICE Gallery in New York City and, with artist Diane Best, created Desert Stories, a handmade, limited-edition art book featuring eleven writers and artists.

Since 2020, Cheryl has continued producing Live From Joshua Tree as a fundraiser for Mil-Tree, the veteran arts nonprofit she founded in 2013, dedicated to integrating veterans into the broader community through artistic expression, dialogue, and creative entrepreneurship. She has also collaborated with The Laboratory, an international, multifaceted arts magazine, and created Red Arrow Reads and Mil-Tree Reads. This series brings acclaimed writers to Joshua Tree.

Visit her non-profit at: www.mil-tree.org

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Carolyn Ziel talks with heart-centric writer Lois Chapin.

Lois Chapin doesn’t hold back in life or in writing. She is a prolific writer with so much to offer. I had such fun talking with her about creativity, marketing, paddling, life, and what it really means to be a writer in this world. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.

Lois Chapin has been writing poetry and short stories since early childhood. Her work has been published by Mulberry Literary, Secret Attic, National League of American Pen Women, On the Bus, Side-Eye on the Apocalypse, Method Writers Speak, FRE&D, among others. Her collection of poetry, Paddle to Paddle, is available on Amazon. Her new book of prose poems, Revisiting Authority, is due out spring of 2026.

She is a psychotherapist in Southern California and a member of the Los Angeles Poets and Writers Collective. She addresses the most challenging aspects of the human condition and writes about cult abuse and religious fanaticism. Between analyzing and commenting on the dark intangible emotions of life, she spends her downtime racing outrigger canoes on the Pacific Ocean. She is mom to two exceptional adult children, and during long hours of writing and editing, her chef sweetheart, Mike, plies her with nutritious creations to make sure she doesn’t starve.  

Her Instagram page is: @Chapin.Lois, her books can be found at: amazon.com/author/loischapin

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Welcome to Season Two of Found Voices™. 

This season, I talk with extraordinary writers. Writers who have done the hard, beautiful work of finding their voices. Together, we’ll discuss what it means to find your voice. Not just on the page but in life. Because when you discover your voice on the page, you can’t help but transform—as a writer and as a human being. Each writer will read something they’ve written, and we’ll discuss that as well.

Welcome aboard to Season Two of Found Voices. I hope you enjoy it as much as I’ll enjoy sharing it with you.

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Carolyn Ziel talks with Brilliant writer Egan Gauntt. 

I had such a fun time getting to know writer Egan Gauntt. We talked about writing, voice, and how scary it can be to read what you've written in front of other people. We talk about courage and what that means in regard to giving and writing. 

Show Note: I do ask Egan where she went to school, but I hadn't yet received her bio, which I'll share here. 

Egan Gauntt was born in Alabama and moved to Los Angeles to study Art History at USC and work in the film industry. After eight years in art and set decorating departments, she left the industry to have a family. She worked as an interior decorator on residential and commercial projects when she wasn't world-schooling her two kids. Now her children are in college, and she has started writing and finding her voice, thanks to her amazing teacher, Jack Grapes. She lives in Venice, California, where she continues to work in interior design and is currently writing a memoir.

Egan Gauntt's work has been published in the Method Writers Speak series available on Amazon. 

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There is no wasted writing. No matter if what you write winds up in your book or not, there is no wasted writing. Whether it's "good" or "bad" it doesn't matter, because there is no wasted writing—or men for that matter. 

I hope you enjoy this mini episode. 

Let me know if you have questions about writing you want me to answer or discuss in my next podcast. 

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