Life didn't hand me a calm month just because I needed one. In this raw catch-up episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on the wildest stretch of my year: a house fire while I was mid-recording, a scraped esophagus from choking on a vitamin, presenting the wrong slide deck to a packed room, and somehow still pulling off WIPACon's first-ever national conference from scratch in nine weeks. Between the chaos, I get into the real talk: industry friendships, the beauty I think we glaze over in our own work, and why I needed a beta blocker just to stay present through it all. Oh, and I caught COVID right after.

This is a Media Socialites Production.

*Trigger Warning* This episode contains sensitive content including suicide and domestic violence.

MaKela Allen is a light and I'm so honored to share her story with you. I sat down with my dear friend MaKela Allen - celebrity wedding planner, CEO of Andre Makena, mother of two, and host of the new podcast Not My Timeline. MaKela opens up about a story most people have never heard: a nine-year relationship marked by domestic violence, becoming a mother at 24, losing her own mother and her husband within eight months of each other, and rebuilding her life as a solo parent at 29.

We talk about hiding pain behind a smile for clients, the guilt and freedom that came after loss, why she started her own company named after her kids, and how she learned to protect her peace without losing her capacity for love. This is a raw, unfiltered conversation about grief, resilience, boundaries, and what it really means to show up for your kids, your clients, and yourself.

This is a Media Socialites Production

I'm finally telling a story I've been hinting at for almost two years how I ended up half a million dollars in debt.

In 2023 we had our biggest year ever, and I still couldn't figure out why things felt so tight. Turns out we were over-servicing nearly every client, carrying way too much payroll, and I'd signed off on loans without fully understanding what I was agreeing to. When it all caught up with us, I had to make some of the hardest calls of my life letting go of people who'd been with me since the beginning, freezing every personal expense, and sitting down line by line with my team to finally see the real numbers.

This is me sharing the whole messy, humbling process the denial, the shame, the friends who told me hard truths I didn't want to hear, and the slow climb back to profitability.

If you're a business owner, know your numbers. Surround yourself with people who'll tell you the truth. And trust that gut feeling when something's off it usually is.

This is a Media Socialites Production.

Shannon Leahy of Shannon Leahy Events built a bi-coastal empire on one belief: service is luxury. In this episode, we cover SO much ground on what it actually takes to build a team, a brand, and a business that doesn't crack under pressure. We cover:

- How Shannon and team SLE sees their clients as muses

- How she handles hard conversations

- Why clarity beats comfort every time

- Budget clarity and transparency

- How she handles vendor credits

And so much more.

This is a Media Socialites Production.

I just got back from two weeks in Mexico City with my family, and it was not the highlight reel you saw online. Here's what really happened:

- Three moves in 24 hours

- A Michelin dinner that turned into a stomach bug for the whole family

- A 3am spiral that cracked something open.

This episode is about what happens when things fall apart on vacation and how fast my mommy issues showed up in how I was parenting my own kids. We talk about control, presence, guilt, and a dinner table conversation with my husband Eddie and twins that hit harder than I expected. Deeply personal, a little messy, very honest.

This is a Media Socialites Production.

He's back! After a year and a half, my dear friend, most in-demand guest, and podcast partner-in-crime Julian Leaver returns to the mic — and this time, we're going deeper than ever. We cover:

- How we became friends

- How he launched LOO

- The JLE Parisian Expansion

- Sobriety + Friendship

And so much more. I know you will love this one and if you aren't already subscribed to his podcast Mind Over Matrimony go ahead and do that now.

This is a Media Socialites Production

Hiring out of desperation nearly burned me, so I rebuilt our entire process from the ground up. In this episode, I'm pulling back the curtain on exactly how we hire at the agency now: the non-negotiables I screen for, why wedding industry experience can matter more than marketing chops (and when it's the reverse), and the strategy prompt that instantly separates thoughtful applicants from the ChatGPT copy-pasters. I'm also sharing the personality test that's saved us from near-miss hires, why I finally started calling references (four years late), our 60-day onboarding process, and the new step I'm adding: getting my veteran team members' blessing before anyone gets an offer. Whether you're building a remote team or just tired of babysitting employees, this one's for you.

This is a Media Socialites Production.

When do you know you are really ready?

The day after my twins turned nine, I was woken at 4:30 AM by my son crying from a nightmare about growing up, having no idea how to run a business or do his taxes [so cute right?]

What followed was the most honest conversation about readiness and an admission of when are we ever ready to do the hard thing, right? This episode is about the truth every adult knows and no kid believes: nobody feels ready. Courage just accumulates — and then you jump.

This is a Media Socialites Production.

Pricing drama, shady contracts, AI-jacked photos — the wedding industry has gone wild and we have to turn it around. This episode is a brick-to-the-forehead breakdown of what clarity actually looks like in your business and how to combat the ghosting and issues in our industry.

This is a Media Socialites Production.

A Rebrand. A six-day shoot. A national conference I somehow agreed to run. A move I forgot happened. This week on Persephone Says, we do a little catch up on what it actually looks like to run on overdrive — the good, the unsustainable, and the "ask me again in a week" honesty in between.

Do you like these types of episodes? Let me know below in the comments.

This is a Media Socialites Production.