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This one felt like catching up with a best friend who also happens to have the most fascinating brain you've ever encountered. Nathalie Holmes is a creative-turned-mental-health-professional — actress, comedian, writer, former magician's assistant — who pivoted into crisis work during the pandemic after realizing her own experiences had given her something rare: the tools to hold space for others. She now trains teens to support their peers through a youth-led crisis hotline, brings expressive arts into therapy, and is in the final stretch of grad school pursuing her LMFT and LPCC.
We get into what it really means to break up with the creative career you always thought would define you, the grief of an identity shift, and how to let your dream evolve without losing yourself. We also talk about mask-making as therapy, what teens are actually carrying, the gap between being taught a craft and being taught a career, and why the most healing thing you can do might be a really long walk. Nathalie is warm, hilarious, and deeply wise — this one is a permission slip to honor every version of yourself.
In This Episode:
✨ Connect with Nathalie ✨
Instagram: @prettyfunnynat
✨Connect with Maddie✨
Explore Maddie's Website | @messywithmaddie
I need you to trust me for about 30 seconds — because I'm about to talk about golf.
I know, I know. Stay with me.
In this episode, I'm breaking down seven of the most powerful mindset lessons I pulled from the latest season of Netflix's Full Swing — and I promise, they have absolutely nothing to do with golf and everything to do with you, your creative career, and what might actually be keeping you stuck.
From Rory McIlroy's years of heartbreak at the Masters to Ben Griffin leaving the sport entirely — and somehow finding his way back — these stories cracked me open. I was aggressively taking notes. And I think you will be too.
TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] — Trust me for 30 seconds: we're talking about golf
[01:23] — Why sports documentaries are secret mindset courses in disguise
[01:53] — The latest season of Full Swing surprised the hell out of me
[01:54] — Welcome to Get Messy
[01:55] — Lesson 1: Be proud that you keep showing up
[02:03] — Rory McIlroy, the career Grand Slam, and the Masters that kept escaping him
[02:46] — "I'm just so proud that I keep coming back and putting myself in a position to win"
[03:31] — What does showing up to win actually look like for you right now?
[04:37] — Choosing to stay in the game is a choice that keeps you in it for the long run
[04:37] — (And yes — Rory did win the Masters. Twice.)
[04:37] — Lesson 2: Reconnect with your original why
[05:35] — Justin Rose, a terrible round, and the younger version of himself that shifted everything
[06:27] — Your why doesn't care if you're having a good day or a bad day
[06:37] — What would younger you say about where you are right now?
[06:56] — Lesson 3: Use the rain delay
[06:59] — J.J. Spaun, a string of mistakes, and what he did when the game stopped
[07:28] — Two ways to use a quiet moment — and which one creatives almost always choose
[08:27] — The pause isn't the universe punishing you. It's offering you a reset.
[08:47] — Slowing down is what allows you to speed back up
[09:21] — If you're in a rain delay right now — how can you use it differently this time?
[09:41] — Lesson 4: As long as you're in the game, you have a chance to win
[09:41] — Ben Griffin, leaving the sport in debt, and the sponsor who changed everything
[11:02] — The year I had my worst voiceover season — and what my agent and coach said that cracked me back open
[11:43] — Reopening yourself to the possibility that it could be you
[12:00] — One month later, I booked the biggest campaign of my career
[12:30] — The only way to guarantee you don't win is to leave
[12:43] — Lesson 5: Zoom out on your own journey
[13:24] — "If someone told me this was my result on Monday, I would've taken it"
[13:44] — Your current chapter might be someone else's dream — including your own past self's
[14:23] — Lesson 6: Psychologically prep for your big moments
[14:27] — J.J. Spaun made it to the big moments — and then got scared to be in them
[14:48] — What mindset coach Amy Austin says about the feeling you're craving
[15:10] — The big moment doesn't always arrive as a wave of sunshine
[15:47] — How to start psychologically prepping now — not just strategically, not just visualizing
[16:13] — Lesson 7: Leave each shot where it belongs
[16:16] — Tommy Fleetwood's mantra: "Whatever shot you just hit, there's no use in letting it make the next one worse"
[16:31] — That bad audition? You're probably the only one still thinking about it
[16:47] — You don't have to drag your last shot into your next one
[17:07] — If this resonated, share it with a creative friend who's in a hard season right now
[17:10] — Sometimes the best thing you can do is remind someone to stay in the game
RESOURCES
✨ Connect with Maddie ✨
Explore Maddie's Website | @messywithmaddie
This one is for every actor who's ever walked out of a class feeling smaller than when they walked in — and for anyone who's ever wondered if there's a better way.
Tamra Meskimen is an actress, teacher, and co-founder of The Acting Center in Los Angeles. She's worked across New York and LA on everything from American Crime Story: Impeachment and Physical to Bel-Air, 9-1-1, and General Hospital — plus a career in voiceover that spans TV and radio commercials. She's also trained Oscar nominees. And now, alongside her co-founders, she's channeling everything she's learned into reshaping the way acting is taught. Their philosophy — drama without trauma — is unlike most acting schools out there, and I think it might be exactly what actors everywhere have been waiting for.
We get into what drove Tamra to build something new, the problem with notes-based training and why it quietly kills originality, how self-confidence (not talent) is the real skill casting directors are looking for, and why "your job is auditioning" is the most freeing reframe in this industry. We also talk about surviving COVID and the strikes, what it means to let your dream evolve with you, and how Tamra recharges her creativity — spoiler: no screens involved. She is warm, wise, and so thoughtful — this one is a permission slip to trust yourself again.
In This Episode We Cover:
RESOURCES
✨ Connect with Tamra & The Acting Center ✨
✨Connect with Maddie✨
Explore Maddie's Website | @messywithmaddie
There's a version of yourself that keeps showing up — even when everything feels broken. This episode is about her.
In 2022, I almost quit my creative career. Not in a dramatic, "I'm out" kind of way — more like a slow, disorienting fog where nothing felt aligned, my voice felt restricted, my compass felt completely off, and I didn't trust a single thought I had. I was in the messiest of middles, and I want to tell you about it.
We go all the way back — from a painfully shy kid in Chicago, to grinding in LA from seventeen years old, to the season when voiceover, acting, and my sense of self all seemed to crumble at once. I talk about what burnout actually feels like from the inside, what a worthiness and identity crisis looks like when you've wrapped your entire self around a creative career, and the one phone call from my agent that cracked something open.
This episode is also a love letter to anyone currently in the messy middle — the place where you feel bold and completely directionless at the same time. (Spoiler: that's not a contradiction. It's what choosing yourself actually feels like.)
TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] — There was a time in 2022 I almost quit — and I want to tell you about it
[01:06] — Welcome to Get Messy
[01:48] — The origin story: a painfully shy kid who found acting at 10
[06:45] — Pounding the pavement in LA since 17 — what "all in" really looked like
[09:37] — Years of grinding, and things slowly starting to come together
[13:22] — Voiceover takes off — signing with my agency and booking my first job March 2016
[16:27] — The floodgates open: campaigns, momentum, and making real money for the first time
[16:27] — When unresolved stuff started bubbling up and restricting my voice
[17:47] — The slow creep of burnout I didn't have a name for yet
[20:06] — COVID as a permission slip to finally slow all the way down
[20:47] — Yoga With Adriene, meditating, and unearthing things I never wanted to unearth
[23:12] — Leaving LA — the decision I never thought I'd make
[25:44] — Moving to Virginia Beach, getting my coaching certification, and a fresh start
[26:55] — Moving to Miami: trying on a completely new identity in a very loud city
[26:55] — "What is your Mount Kilimanjaro?" — and not having an answer
[31:40] — The coaching sessions that felt amazing, then the crash back to just being with myself
[31:42] — Questioning everything: 2022, $15K in VO, scared shitless, and not trusting myself
[33:20] — I just questioned a lot what I was gonna do
[33:15] — My agent Vince calls — and a conversation that changed everything
[33:51] — "It's not about if it happens — it's how long you choose to stay down"
[35:05] — Booking a session with Carol Kimball and feeling the first spark in months
[37:01] — Booking the biggest campaign of my voiceover career a month later
[40:48] — A worthiness and identity crisis — naming what 2022 really was
[41:14] — Acting is a slice of the identity pie, not the whole thing
[42:29] — I was in the messiest of middles. None of it felt cute.
[42:29] — If you're in a messy middle right now, here's what I want you to remember
[42:31] — You are not behind. You're building something entirely yours.
[43:51] — Feeling bold and directionless at the same time is not a contradiction
[45:08] — Being in the game still counts — even when it looks nothing like before
[47:12] — You always got you. Not as a cute thing to say — as a commitment.
[48:38] — I'm rooting for you today and always
RESOURCES MENTIONED
✨ Connect with Maddie ✨
Explore Maddie's Website | @messywithmaddie
Key topics: creative burnout, how to get out of a career slump, building self-trust as a creative, mindset for actors and performers, creative career, overcoming fear of quitting, self-worth
This one hit me differently — because I got to witness so much of what Amy talks about in real time. Amy Austin (formerly Amy McNabb) is a voice actor, singer, and the founder of Actors Encouraged — a coaching community dedicated to supporting ambitious actors in building their happiest, most sustainable careers. She is also my mindset coach, and I can genuinely say this conversation is everything I've wanted to put into the world for a while now.
We get into her intentional, strategic approach to building her voiceover career — the classes, the community, the network — and what it actually looks like to “double-down” in your acting career. We also talk about the seismic mindset shift that happened in a Broadway theater in New York, the difference between "showboat" classes and classes where you actually get to fall apart, core desired feelings, and why we all tend to miss our own growth. Amy is warm, wildly wise, and so honest — this one is a love letter to every creative who's still figuring it out.
Timestamps
RESOURCES MENTIONED
✨ Connect with Amy ✨
✨Connect with Maddie✨
Explore Maddie's Website | @messywithmaddie
Someone has been narrating your life — and there's a real chance it isn't you.
In this episode, I'm sharing a conversation I had with a close friend that completely cracked me open. She's a painter trying to make the leap into paid creative work, and when a roadblock came up, what stopped her wasn't the obstacle itself — it was the story she'd built around it. A story that wasn't even hers.
We get into the comfort of denial (and why it costs you more than you think), how to tell the difference between something you genuinely want and something you're just speed skating in your head about, and why fear is, truly, the worst writer in the room. This episode is an invitation to pause, question the narrative, and ask yourself: who is actually holding the pen right now?
TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] — Someone is narrating your life right now — is it you?
[00:58] — The conversation that started it all: a friend who felt like absolute shit
[03:56] — A painter trying to go from free work to paid work — and the wall she kept hitting
[07:49] — "Everyone who does digital art started at 18 or 19" — and the story hiding inside that
[09:11] — The moment I stopped being shocked by the roadblock and started being shocked by the story
[01:18] — Welcome to Get Messy
[04:41] — Denial is comfortable — not in a luxurious way, more like a padded cocoon with a nail in it
[06:22] — Why complaining is more comfortable than change (and what it's actually costing you)
[06:17] — Have you ever handed someone else the pen to your life story?
[07:24] — The story my mom told me about the 2006 Olympics — and why she was right
[07:51] — "You're speed skating in your head" — and the difference between loving a dream vs. actually wanting it
[07:49] — Do you love it enough to sacrifice for it?
[09:31] — When the real answer underneath "I'm too old" is actually just fear of failing
[09:32] — By not trying, you are failing before you even give yourself the chance to fail
[10:01] — Failing your way into success — why failure is information, not a verdict
[10:01] — Do not let fear be your narrator. Fear is a terrible writer.
[10:58] — You are the lead of your own life story — everyone else is a side character
[11:12] — Whenever you hear an opinion about your life, pause before you absorb it as truth
[12:09] — How different would her story look if she picked up her own pen?
[13:04] — This is your story. Tell it like you mean it.
[13:14] — If this episode stirred something up — send me a DM, leave a review, share it
RESOURCES MENTIONED
✨ Connect with Maddie ✨
Explore Maddie's Website | @messywithmaddie
This one felt like a therapy session and a masterclass in joy — all in one conversation. I sat down with Stella Stephanopoulos, innovation consultant at Accenture, yoga instructor at Equinox, and the founder of Everyday Endorphins — a happiness podcast and wellness community she's been building since high school. Five-plus years, nearly 180 episodes, and a perspective on happiness that genuinely stopped me in my tracks.
We get into what it actually means to choose happiness (spoiler: it has nothing to do with forcing positivity), why we're living in a loneliness epidemic and what's really driving it, the difference between chasing labels vs. building an identity, and how to move from limiting beliefs to liberating ones. Stella is brilliant, warm, and so deeply thoughtful — I came out of this conversation feeling genuinely lighter.
In This Episode We Cover:
Timestamps
✨ Connect with Stella ✨
✨Connect with Maddie✨
Explore Maddie's Website | @messywithmaddie
There's a quote that hit me like a ton of bricks — and it might do the same to you: "What you're not changing, you're choosing."
In this episode, I get radically honest about the four areas of my own life where I'd been talking about change, researching change, making Pinterest boards about change — and still choosing to stay exactly where I was. We go deep on what analysis paralysis is actually costing you, how small intentional action is the only thing that ever creates real momentum, and why you are almost never as stuck as you think you are.
This is a personal one. And it might just be the permission slip you didn't know you were waiting for.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] — The quote that changed everything: "What you're not changing, you're choosing"
[01:23] — Welcome back to Get Messy — and why this episode is a personal one
[03:43] — The four areas of my life I'd been avoiding changing
[04:45] — Area 1: My body — working out consistently and still feeling completely disconnected
[04:52] — Area 2: Personal style — overwhelmed, spinning my wheels, and the Tan France spiral
[05:34] — Area 3: Creativity — quietly pushing aside the thing that makes me happiest
[06:20] — Area 4: Hiding — when "choosing not to share" became something else entirely
[07:29] — What does choosing differently actually look like? Getting specific
[07:57] — The body: strength training, Pilates, and signing up for my first half marathon
[10:47] — The style: why I finally hired a stylist (and why you might want to too)
[13:39] — The creativity: giving myself one sacred hour a day — before anything else
[15:51] — The hiding: starting small, sharing what felt safe, and hiding my like count
[18:07] — Real change doesn't arrive in one big sweeping moment
[18:46] — How knowing yourself is the secret to actually making change stick
[20:10] — What my therapist said that I keep coming back to
[22:21] — You are not stuck. You're choosing — and you can choose again.
✨Connect with Maddie✨
Explore Maddie's Website | @messywithmaddie
Today's guest is someone I actually worked with early in both of our careers, which makes this conversation extra special.
Taylor Misiak is known for FX's Dave and is currently starring on Fox's Going Dutch (plus filming Tires Season 3 and more). By every measure, she's someone who has "made it" — and she's here to tell you exactly why that phrase is a myth.
In this episode, we get into the real mindset shifts that actually sustain a career in this industry. We talk about her tradition of labeling champagne bottles to mark milestones as a mental health anchor, reframing auditions as the job (not just a means to a job), what it's really like to be married to a fellow creative, and why booking a hit show doesn't mean the hustle stops. She's charming, hilarious, and so authentically honest — this one is a warm, giant hug for every actor grinding it out.
In This Episode We Cover:
✨ Connect with Taylor ✨
✨Connect with Maddie✨
Explore Maddie's Website | @messywithmaddie
You've been told the market is too saturated. You've told yourself you should have started sooner. And somewhere in the back of your mind, that thing you want to build is still quietly begging for your attention.
In this episode, I'm calling out the excuses keeping you on the sidelines -the saturated market myth, the "I should have started earlier" spiral, and the waiting-for-permission trap that so many creatives fall into. We dig into what it really costs you when you don't take action, why your unique voice is the only differentiator that actually matters, and the one question that will either free you or haunt you: If not you, then who?
This one's for anyone sitting on the precipice of the thing they most want - and finding every reason not to take the leap.
TIMESTAMPS
[00:00] — The saturated market excuse (and why it's keeping you stuck)
[03:30] — Every market is missing your specific voice
[07:00] — The "I should have started sooner" spiral — and the grief inside it
[11:00] — The real cost of waiting: an unlived life swirling inside of you
[16:00] — You're not waiting for the right moment — you're waiting for permission
[19:30] — Why no one else's permission will ever feel valid enough
[22:00] — The identity shift required before results ever show up
[25:00] — If not you, then who?
✨Connect with Maddie✨
Explore Maddie’s Website | @messywithmaddie
From the publisher's feed