Know What You See with Brian Lowery

Nikki Parkinson is a divorce doula or separation strategist with a long background in family law, as well as personal experience navigating her own painful divorce. She joins Brian to explore what happens to our sense of self when a marriage ends, and how separation changes our relationships with family, friends, and community. They also discuss why divorce is so often framed as failure, and whether telling a different story can help us move through it with more compassion and respect.
Visit Nikki at divorceandseparationhub.com to learn more about her work and listen to her podcast, and find out more about Brian Lowery at brianloweryphd.com.

What does it take to let go of who you’re supposed to be and embrace more of who you are? Kim Pham, co-founder of the Asian food brand Omsom, joins Brian Lowery to discuss how celebrating her cultural identity opened the door not only to starting a new business but also to exploring her sexuality. On this episode, they examine shame, self-discovery, and the risks and rewards of living openly on your own terms.

For more on Brian Lowery and Know What You See, visit brianloweryphd.com/podcast.

What happens when the thing that defines you begins to limit who you can be? Former professional volleyball player Benjamin Patch joins Brian to reflect on leaving the sport and entering the creative world, a change that helped him discover more about who he is beyond his achievements on the court.

For more on Brian Lowery and Know What You See, visit brianloweryphd.com/podcast.

This season on Know What You See, host Brian Lowery explores transformation as the human condition. Through conversations with people from all walks of life, we'll look at how we're changed by love and loss, or luck and choice, and the experiences that make us who we are.

Writer Brianne Cail expected GLP-1 medications to change her health and her body. But she was surprised at how they altered the way the world treated her. In this episode, she and Brian discuss how losing weight challenged her sense of identity and the pleasures of food that connect us to one another.

For more on Brian Lowery and Know What You See, visit brianloweryphd.com/podcast.

Sometimes healing doesn't mean trying to erase the past, but honoring it — cracks and all. In this episode, artist Naoko Fukumaru shares her deeply personal story of transformation through kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery or ceramics with lacquer and gold or silver powder to highlight the fractures and seams. She and host Brian Lowery explore what it means to mend — not just objects, but spirit — and why the most broken parts of us may be the most beautiful.

For more on Naoko Fukumaru visit naokofukumaru.com, and for more on Brian Lowery and the show, check out knowwhatyousee.com.

What do medieval troubadours and modern rappers have in common? More than you might think. In this episode, Stanford professor of French and Italian, Marisa Galvez joins Brian Lowery to explore how poetry—whether in 12th-century love songs or hip-hop lyrics—has long been a way to express love, power, or identity. Together they discuss how lyrical traditions from the past continue to shape music and culture today. 

For more on Brian and his guests, go to knowwhatyousee.com.

Host Brian Lowery talks with journalist Jennifer Sullivan about the parallels between beauty and birding. As someone who has spent years writing about appearance and self-perception, Jenn discovered that watching birds offered a different kind of reflection—one that quiets the mind and expands our sense of place in the world. She and Brian discuss how stepping into nature can shift the way we see ourselves, and what happens when we stop looking in the mirror and start looking up.
For more on the show, go to knowwhatyousee.com.

National Geographic photographer and conservationist Jaime Rojo has spent decades capturing the beauty and fragility of the monarch butterfly. Their epic migration is one of nature’s most breathtaking spectacles, but their survival is under threat. In this episode, Jaime shares how his passion for photography and conservation led him to document the monarchs’ journey. He and host Brian Lowery discuss the deeper story behind his award-winning images, one about resilience, connection, and the urgent need to protect our natural world.
See Jaime's story on the monarch butterflies at his website: rojovisuals.com, and follow Brian Lowery at knowwhatyousee.com.

In this episode, comedian and tea enthusiast Jesse Appell of Jesse's Teahouse takes us on a journey from studying Chinese comedy to building an online tea business. He shares how navigating different cultures shaped his perspective on laughter, authenticity, and community. From mastering traditional Chinese cross-talk comedy to reinventing himself after a life-changing move, Jesse and host Brian Lowery discuss adaptation and the unexpected paths that bring meaning to our lives.
For more on Jesse, visit jessesteahouse.com and for more on Brian and the podcast go to brianloweryphd.com.

In this episode of Know What You See, Brian Lowery talks with DJ Colleen "Cosmo" Murphy, an acclaimed broadcaster, DJ, and founder of Classic Album Sundays. Colleen shares her journey from a high school radio station to becoming a global curator of transformative musical experiences. Whether it's finding community through the airwaves, or the shared euphoria of the dance floor, or the relaxed vibe of group listening events, Brian and Colleen reflect on the healing and uniting power of music.
For more about DJ Cosmo visit colleencosmomurphy.com, and for more on Brian check out his website at brianloweryphd.com.