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Getting Under The Skin
Getting Under The Skin episodes
- Frequencies That Ripple Through the World | Thomas Droge
Thomas Droge is a physician of Classical Chinese Medicine, a Qigong master, an executive coach, Chief Mindfulness Officer at TIFIN and author of The Leader Within.
At 18, Thomas was hiding a kilo of coke under his parents' floorboards. At 12, he watched his father survive a near death experience, and he later saw 300 strangers fill a church to honor that same man's changed life. From there his path ran through martial arts, meditation, heartbreak, a breaking point in San Francisco and years of rebuilding. Today he's spent more than thirty years practicing Daoism, Tai Chi and Qigong, founded the Pathfinder Institute and coaches leaders through his practice, Pathfinding.Thomas and Topaz talk about somatic healing, trusting your intuition, finding your purpose, compassion in action, and where we find our value as AI changes the world.📖 The Leader Within: https://www.amazon.com.au/Leader-Within-foundational-practices-meaningful/dp/B0GV489M7D🔗 Follow Thomas: https://www.instagram.com/thomasdroge/Chapters0:00 Introduction to Thomas Droge1:23 Early Life and Father's Impact6:05 Changing How We Live16:47 A Wild Journey at Eighteen25:23 Near Death Experiences and Spirituality39:56 Martial Arts and Somatic Healing54:55 The Breaking Point and Reconstruction1:02:10 Cultivating the Gift of Healing1:06:37 Compassion in Action and Community1:17:38 Testing Beliefs and Perspectives#guts #podcast #qigong #mindfulness #leadershipLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 25 min - From Sweeping Floors to Building an Empire | Gabe Orta
Gabe Orta is an award winning hospitality visionary who co-founded Bar Lab Hospitality in 2009 and helped create the award winning Broken Shaker, along with venues like 27 Restaurant, Mesiba, LilliStar, and Jolene Sound Room. Born in Colombia and raised in Miami, he was ten years old when his grandmother, father, and uncles were all killed within two weeks.This episode covers growing up around that violence, an unlikely start sweeping floors at a nightclub, and how he's turned inward in recent years, merging hospitality with ancestral practice and somatic ritual, inherited fear that isn't his own, and grief he never had time to feel.
Chapters00:00 Intro2:02 Meet Gabe Orta2:18 Redefining what service means9:14 Losing his grandmother, father, and uncles within two weeks13:13 Finding refuge in a library15:14 Tasting cocaine at eight years old21:53 Fear that isn't even his own32:00 Sweeping floors at a nightclub, and the start of a career53:15 Grief he never had time to feel55:28 Ancestral wisdom without a medicine man in the house58:42 Feeling his father's presence1:14:51 The wounds we all carry, and pass down or heal1:17:50 Pure joy, and a physical form that's finiteListen & Follow GUTS:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1GSiahH3NYTiFKZ4mIGQnJ?si=fce013635cfa4947Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/getting-under-the-skin/id1821276933Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/guts.podcast/LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/topazadizes/Subscribe for updates: topazadizes.com#gutspodcast #topazadizes #gabeorta #generationaltrauma #immigrantstoryLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 21 min - The Soul of a Troublemaker | Mariquel Waingarten
Debriana Berlin is the founder and CEO of The Future Reference, a strategic communications firm for the environment, and was previously the first yoga instructor for the United States Senate and an EPA director under the Obama administration. Before any of that, she was a competitive figure skater who learned to fall, and get back up, roughly 18,000 times per jump.
This episode covers growing up in a chaotic home and finding safety in the ice rink, learning to charm and sell through watching her father, and how yoga slowly replaced transactional thinking with real presence. It also covers burning out at the EPA to the point of a thyroid diagnosis, the link between disconnection from the body and the climate crisis, and learning to live within the limits of an aging body.Chapters00:00 Intro1:52 Meet Debriana Berlin2:09 The tree question, and being born brave4:16 Watching her father charm, sell, and reinvent himself9:41 Finding yoga her first week of college19:14 Falling 18,000 times per jump22:20 Her superpower, teaching yoga inside the US Senate28:42 Embodiment, human exceptionalism, and climate change35:54 Burning out at the EPA37:30 The diagnosis that forced her to slow down41:59 Ice skating across the Swedish archipelago46:56 Dance as her first language53:49 What keeps her up at night56:40 What life has designed her for1:00:36 {THE AND} Self Edition question | Try the game: https://shop.theskindeep.com/products/the-and-self-deck?variant=43647547605170Listen & Follow GUTS:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1GSiahH3NYTiFKZ4mIGQnJ?si=fce013635cfa4947Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/getting-under-the-skin/id1821276933Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/guts.podcast/LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/topazadizes/Subscribe for updates: topazadizes.com#gutspodcast #topazadizes #debrianaberlin #womeninbusinessLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 4 min - Abundance in Love: Rebuilding a Life From Scratch | Mariquel Waingarten
Mariquel Waingarten co-founded Hickies, the no-tie shoelace brand now in over 50 countries, and built Argentina's first boutique hotel, Tailor Made Hotel, a four year TripAdvisor top performer. She's now the founder of Portal Bosque, a community built on a more conscious, human way of living. But it took losing both her parents before 25, and twenty years of running her life from fear, before she got there.
In this conversation, Mariquel and Topaz talk about the "samurai" she became to survive, what her father's last words to her actually meant, and the ayahuasca journey where she finally gave that survival mode back and started building from love instead.Chapters00:00 Intro1:52 Meet Mariquel Waingarten2:08 The samurai she became to survive16:25 Building from your wound versus your gift23:15 Hickies, the hotel, and how Portal Bosque began33:06 The ayahuasca journey and giving back the katana45:18 What her kids have taught her49:18 How fear shaped Portal Bosque53:47 Leaving the katana behind and becoming "the dancer"59:18 {THE AND} Self Edition question | Try the game: https://shop.theskindeep.com/products/the-and-self-deck?variant=43647547605170Listen & Follow GUTS:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1GSiahH3NYTiFKZ4mIGQnJ?si=fce013635cfa4947Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/getting-under-the-skin/id1821276933Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/guts.podcast/LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/topazadizes/Subscribe for updates: topazadizes.com#gutspodcast #topazadizes #mariquelwaingarten #womeninbusinessLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 3 min - Deepening Minds with Tegan Broadwater
What happens when you spend months building real friendships with people you're about to send to prison?
In this episode of GUTS, we sit down with Tegan Broadwater, decorated undercover operative, author of Life in the Fishbowl, and founder of a private security firm, who burned out as a jazz musician, cut his hair and became a cop, then spent nearly two years deep undercover infiltrating a Crips gang in his own city. The same city where his wife and son were waiting at home.In this episode:- Burning out as a jazz musician and becoming a cop overnight- Going deep undercover in a gang in his own city- Building real friendships with people he was about to arrest, and the emotional crash when it was all over- Why perspective is his greatest giftWelcome to Getting Under The Skin, where genuine curiosity guides honest, human to human exchanges about how we are shaped by the lives we've lived.Deepening Minds with Tegan Broadwater | Getting Under the Skin.Listen now:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1GSiahH3NYTiFKZ4mIGQnJ?si=fce013635cfa4947Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/getting-under-the-skin/id1821276933Follow GUTS:Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/guts.podcast/LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/topazadizes/Subscribe for updates: topazadizes.comLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 10 min - Saying Yes to It All with Santiago Cumplido
What happens when you say yes to everything life offers, even when it nearly destroys you?
In this episode of GUTS, we sit down with aSantiago Cumplido, multidisciplinary artist, composer and healer from Guadalajara, Mexico, who left home at 16 heartbroken, nearly deaf from an explosion he set off himself, and made a conscious decision to turn his heart to stone so he would never feel pain again. What followed was five degrees across four countries, singing for European royalty, and a slow, painful, beautiful unraveling of everything he built to protect himself.In this episode:- Growing up as a deeply sensitive kid in a family that loved music but had no words for what he felt- Leaving home at 16 with a broken heart, damaged ears and a decision to never cry again- How saying yes to everything took him from Mexico to London to Barcelona to Holland- The moment a therapist told him meditating his face off would change nothing- What happened when he finally stopped running from his shadow- Why being truly vulnerable is something this society will punish you forWelcome to Getting Under The Skin, where genuine curiosity guides honest, human to human exchanges about how we are shaped by the lives we've lived.Saying Yes to It All with Santiago Cumplido | Getting Under the Skin.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 9 min - Imbalances in Tech, Industry and AI with Lauren Celenza (Throwback)
What if the key to navigating technology, AI and modern life is just knowing where to look for the imbalance?
In this episode of GUTS, we sit down with Lauren Celenza, software designer and navigator of the relationship between humans and technology, who helped redesign Google Maps for communities across Indonesia, India, Nigeria and Brazil, and built the free tax filing tool that saved Americans over $90 million. But the conversation goes much deeper than tech.
In this episode:
- Growing up with a dad shaped by de-industrialization and what that taught her about work
- Why it's a radical act to love family members with different political views
- The biggest imbalances she sees in AI right now and who holds the power
- What it means to be part of the last generation that remembers life before the internet
- Independence vs interdependence and why that distinction matters more than ever
- What her dad told her about finding a career that won't consume you
Welcome to Getting Under The Skin, where genuine curiosity guides honest, human to human exchanges about how we are shaped by the lives we've lived.👉 Mentioned in this episode:• Monika Jiang’s “Sharing Our Loneliness” — https://www.monikajiang.org/sharing-our-loneliness• Inside the beloved IRS Direct File tool — and why it’s under threat — https://www.nextgov.com/digital-government/2025/06/direct-file-beloved-its-users-internal-irs-report-says/405883/?oref=ng-homepage-riverand• Why Direct File is now open-source (and what that means) — https://www.404media.co/directfile-open-source-irs-tax-filing-software-turbotax-is-trying-to-kil/• On deindustrialisation and its lasting impact on working-class communities — https://inthesetimes.com/article/deindustrialization-offshoring-manufacturing-factory-factories-unemployment-layoff-work-labor-workers-working-people-working-class-industry-ohio-michigan-south-carolina-pepsi-gmSubscribe for updates: topazadizes.comInstagram | https://www.instagram.com/guts.podcast/TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@guts.podcastLinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/topazadizes/Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 13 min - Turning Trauma Into Truth with Tracey Arcabasso Smith
What if your life’s purpose was to break the silence that held your family together?
In this episode of Getting Under the Skin, Topaz sits down with artist and filmmaker Tracey Arcabasso Smith (she/her), whose documentary Relative explores the generational trauma of sexual abuse in her family, and the healing that followed.Tracey shares:- The spiritual shifts that helped her redefine “mother”- Why the courage to speak out didn’t feel like a choice- How she balances her corporate leadership with a deep commitment to inner truth- The tension between healing, parenting, and staying clear in a world full of painFrom vulnerability to visionary leadership, Tracey invites us to look within and reflect on what we’re really here to do. What has life designed you for?Welcome to Getting Under The Skin, where genuine curiosity guides honest, human to human exchanges about how we are shaped by the lives we've lived.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 24 min - We Need Each Other to See Ourselves with Ashley Wick
What if the life you've been building has been quietly asking you to slow down and find out who you actually are?
In this episode of GUTS, we sit down with Ashley Wick, transformational coach and founder of Fertile Ground, who spent her childhood shapeshifting between groups she never quite belonged to, 15 years in PR and fashion helping brands find their essence while losing her own, and then at 30, made a phone call that changed everything.
In this episode:
- Growing up as a floater, never quite belonging to any one group
- Fifteen years in PR learning to shape narratives and what that cost her
- The phone call she made at 30 to the person who abused her in childhood
- Handing her three-day-old daughter over for open heart surgery and finding pure surrender
- How moving to Uruguay is teaching her to shed everything she leaned on
- Why the question is never "can I do it?" but "who am I becoming if I do?"
Welcome to Getting Under The Skin, where genuine curiosity guides honest, human to human exchanges about how we are shaped by the lives we've lived.
🎙️ Resist Much, Obey Little with Joseph Gerstandt, out now on GUTS: Getting Under the Skin.Listen now:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1GSiahH3NYTiFKZ4mIGQnJ?si=fce013635cfa4947Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/getting-under-the-skin/id1821276933Follow GUTS:Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/guts.podcast/LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/topazadizes/Subscribe for updates: topazadizes.comLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 15 min - Resist Much, Obey Little with Joseph Gerstandt
What does it cost to spend a lifetime doing what you believe in, while the world decides whether it agrees?
In this episode of GUTS, we sit down with Joseph Gerstandt, Desert Storm veteran, poet, and one of America's most trusted voices on diversity and inclusion, who grew up on a farm in Iowa convinced that emotions were a distraction. He spent years in corporate America lying awake at night dreading work, certain the problem was him. It wasn't.In this episode:- Growing up stoic on a farm and spending decades emotionally behind the curve- How working in HIV prevention cracked his world open and changed everything- What it's like being a white man doing DEI work for 18 years as the field gets politicized- Why he believes the world needs better questions more than better answers- The quiet admission that he still struggles to feel worthy of loveWelcome to Getting Under The Skin, where genuine curiosity guides honest, human to human exchanges about how we are shaped by the lives we've lived.🎙️ Resist Much, Obey Little with Joseph Gerstandt, out now on GUTS: Getting Under the Skin.Listen now:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1GSiahH3NYTiFKZ4mIGQnJ?si=fce013635cfa4947Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/getting-under-the-skin/id1821276933Follow GUTS:Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/guts.podcast/LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/topazadizes/Subscribe for updates: topazadizes.comLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
58 min
About Getting Under The Skin
From the publisher's feed
Welcome to Getting Under The Skin (GUTS)! Where the stories of our lives can be medicine for each other. Where reflection and curiosity opens up paths of conversation for us to explore together.
Join us for an exploration through conversation. This is an expedition, a journey in search of the stuff that makes us feel most human, the stuff that stirs your soul and reminds you of what really matters. These conversations are not performative interviews, book release tours or productivity hacks. They are an antidote to superficial small talk or marketing in disguise. We explore how people are formed by the lives they’ve lived, and celebrate the wisdom gained along the way.
Hosted by Topaz Adizes, Emmy Award-winning writer, director, and experience design architect exploring the transformative power of human connection. He is the founder and executive director of THE SKIN DEEP, creator of {THE AND} and author of 12QFL.
If you're ready to Get Under The Skin — we’ll meet you here.