Rewired Sober: The Next Chapter

Who gets to tell a woman's story? Who gets believed? And who decided that men's experiences should be the standard by which we understand everyone else?

In this episode of Rewired Sober, Kate Vitela pulls on a thread that began when she left Alcoholics Anonymous and started questioning the institutions, traditions, and beliefs that had shaped her understanding of recovery, womanhood, and even God.

What begins with Mary Magdalene and the centuries-old distortion of her identity becomes a much bigger conversation about women's erasure from history, religion, art, music, medicine, and scientific research.

Drawing on Holly Whitaker's Quit Like a Woman, Meggan Watterson's Mary Magdalene Revealed, feminist art, punk rock, and her own experiences as a psychiatric nurse, Kate explores what happens when male experiences become the default and women's realities are treated as exceptions.

The conversation moves into medical misogyny, the history of women's exclusion from clinical trials, the controversy surrounding menopausal hormone therapy, and the emerging research on how estrogen and progesterone may influence alcohol cravings, stress, and recovery.

And yes, there's room for Riot Grrrl, the Menopunks movement, and a few choice words about why women in midlife are still trading information about hormone therapy like it's contraband.

This isn't an argument that every institution is wrong or that every man is the problem. It's an argument for something much more important: women deserve accurate information, meaningful choices, and the authority to interpret their own experiences.

Because being visible isn't the same as being heard. And being studied isn't the same as being understood.

In this episode:

• Why leaving AA raised bigger questions about autonomy and authority
• The connection between Mary Magdalene, feminist theology, and women's recovery
• Holly Whitaker's challenge to traditional recovery narratives
• Women's erasure from art, literature, music, and cultural history
• Riot Grrrl, Judy Chicago, and reclaiming women's creative authority
• Medical misogyny and the consequences of treating male biology as the default
• The Women's Health Initiative, menopause, and the hormone therapy controversy
• What researchers are learning about ovarian hormones, alcohol cravings, and addiction
• Why women need better research, better questions, and the freedom to tell their own stories

The takeaway: We don't need a prettier story about women. We need a more accurate one.

And if the official explanation doesn't account for half the population, maybe the problem isn't half the population.

Maybe it's the fucking explanation.

Rewired Sober explores the intersection of psychology, identity, sobriety, feminism, culture, and the complicated art of becoming yourself.

Resources Mentioned: Holly Whitaker — Recovering: Holly's Substack — Essays and audio conversations exploring sobriety, feminism, hormones, and recovery. Her recent two-part series examines menstrual cycles, menopause, and addiction.

MENOPUNKS: Official MENOPUNKS website — The feminist menopause movement, documentary project, and podcast created by filmmaker Alicia J. Rose.

MENOPUNKS Podcast: Listen on Apple Podcasts — Conversations with musicians, artists, and medical professionals about menopause, hormonal health, and women's autonomy.

Connect with Kate @katevitela or www.katevitela.com

This week on Rewired Sober, I'm joined by Mel, an artist, mother, and creator of the Whoever You Art podcast, for an honest, funny, and deeply human conversation about addiction, identity, shame, and the unexpected healing power of storytelling.

Originally from Brazil and now living in Portugal, Mel shares her journey through multiple attempts at sobriety, repeated stays in rehab, and the moment she finally decided she couldn't keep living the way she had been.

But this conversation isn't just about getting sober. It's about what happens afterward.

We explore how shame keeps women isolated, why traditional recovery labels don't work for everyone, and how telling our stories can help us make sense of our experiences and reclaim our identities.

Mel also shares how returning to art, starting a podcast, and connecting with people around the world helped her begin seeing herself as someone beyond her addiction.

We get into the complicated relationship between alcohol and culture, the pressure to define ourselves through labels, the limitations of social media's picture-perfect recovery narratives, and why finding joy in the process matters more than chasing the next accomplishment.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why getting sober sometimes takes multiple attempts—and why shame doesn't help.
• The complicated relationship between grief, mental health, and alcohol.
• Why the word alcoholic can be helpful for some people and limiting for others.
• Finding connection through storytelling, creativity, and podcasting.
• How sharing our experiences can change the way we see ourselves.
• Moving from "I can't drink" to "I choose not to drink."
• The difference between chasing happiness and finding everyday joy.
• Why your worth isn't determined by followers, downloads, or social media validation.

At the heart of this conversation is a reminder that recovery isn't simply about leaving something behind. It's also about discovering what becomes possible when we stop defining ourselves by our past.

Because sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is tell the truth about where we've been—and give ourselves permission to become someone new.

Connect with Mel:

Whoever You Art — Find her podcast on Spotify and YouTube, and connect with her on Instagram at @whoeveryouart.podcast.

Connect with Kate:

Website: www.katevitela.com

Instagram: @katevitela

*Rewired Sober explores the intersection of psychology, identity, mental health, creativity, feminism, and the art of evolving—with science, lived experience, and absolutely no pretense.

Sobriety got cool.

Mocktails got beautiful. Alcohol-free bottle shops opened. Sober influencers took over Instagram. Retreats, apps, coaches, supplements, memberships, courses and $17 zero-proof cocktails followed.

And honestly? Some of that was fucking fantastic.

The sober-curious movement helped dismantle the old binary that said you either drank “normally” or had to hit rock bottom before you were allowed to question alcohol. It made not drinking visible, interesting and — finally — socially acceptable.

I benefited from that movement. I built a coaching business in it. I started this podcast in it.

But somewhere along the way, sobriety got swept into the wellness industrial complex.

And wellness knows how to do one thing exceptionally well: turn human problems into things we can buy.

In this solo episode, I’m digging into the complicated intersection of sobriety, wellness culture, capitalism and influencer culture — including my own participation in it.

We talk about the rise of the “sobriety aesthetic,” the explosion of sober coaching, and what happens when lived experience starts getting confused with actual expertise. We also get into why recovery is uniquely vulnerable territory for influencer culture: the person on the other side of the screen may not simply need a better morning routine. She may need medical care, psychiatric treatment, therapy, medication, treatment for withdrawal or a higher level of support.

And then there’s the larger problem: we are fucking exhausted from optimizing ourselves.

Track your sleep. Fix your cortisol. Heal your gut. Regulate your nervous system. Lift weights. Eat your protein. Journal. Meditate. Cold plunge. Heal your attachment style. Become your highest-performing, best-sleeping, most emotionally regulated self before breakfast.

Can we have a regular fucking Tuesday?

Sobriety does not need to become another performance.

For some people, not drinking improves their sleep, skin, energy and productivity. Great. But for others — myself included — sobriety was never about a glow-up.

It was about stopping something that was destroying my life.

I didn't get sober to spend the rest of my life obsessively monitoring myself. I got sober because I wanted my life back — a beautiful, messy, creative, imperfect life.

And that's the distinction I don't want us to lose.

Wellness trends come and go. Algorithms move on. Cigarettes become cool again. Martinis become aspirational again. The zeitgeist changes.

But recovery existed before Instagram discovered it, and it will exist long after wellness culture finds its next obsession.

In this episode:

• How the sober-curious movement genuinely helped destigmatize not drinking
• When sobriety shifted from a recovery conversation into a consumer category
• The wellness industry's obsession with selling us solutions
• Mocktails, sober retreats, apps, memberships and the “sobriety aesthetic”
• The uncomfortable rise of influencer-to-sober-coach pipelines
• Why lived experience matters — but isn't automatically clinical expertise
• The ethical responsibility of working with vulnerable people
• Why women are especially targeted by the endless self-improvement machine
• The growing backlash against optimization culture
• Why your recovery doesn't need to become another fucking job
• What happens when sobriety stops being culturally cool
• Why freedom — not optimization — was the point all along

You don't need to become a perfectly optimized sober person.

You don't need perfect sleep, perfect nutrition, a regulated nervous system 24/7, a flawless morning routine or a shelf full of supplements.

You can decide alcohol doesn't belong in your life.

And then you can go live the fucking life you got sober to experience.

Sobriety was never a wellness trend.

www.katevitela.com

What happens when you quit drinking—and realize alcohol wasn't actually making you wild, confident, sexy, rebellious, or free?

Maybe it was just giving you permission to be the woman you already were.

In this episode, I'm joined by Sarah Anderson, aka The Booze Free Bitch—corporate attorney, creator, coach, and almost seven years sober—for a conversation about alcohol, feminism, midlife, and why sobriety can become one hell of an act of rebellion.

Sarah and I talk about our shared histories as card-carrying “good girls”: getting the grades, building the careers, following the rules, doing what was expected—and eventually using alcohol as a permission slip to loosen up, get loud, dance, wear the outfit, say the thing, and stop being so damn manageable.

But something interesting happens when you get sober.

You realize you never needed the permission slip.

We talk about Sarah's progression from a seemingly “normal” social drinker to becoming physically dependent on alcohol, and why the stereotype of what someone with an alcohol problem looks like kept her from asking for help sooner.

We also get into why Sarah believes alcohol is a feminist issue: the normalization and marketing of drinking to women, wine-mom culture, the similarities she sees between today's alcohol culture and the way cigarettes were once marketed, and what happens when women stop numbing themselves and start trusting their own voices.

And then we get into the good stuff: becoming sober women in our 40s who are somehow bigger, louder, wilder, bitchier, more confident, and more unapologetic than we ever were while drinking.

Because maybe sobriety isn't about spending the rest of your life thinking about how not to drink.

Maybe eventually it becomes an identity shift.

You don't want the booze anymore. You want the life.

In this episode, we talk about:

• The slow progression from social drinking to alcohol dependence
• Why successful, high-achieving women can struggle to recognize when alcohol has become a problem
• Shame and the myth of being “uniquely broken”
• Why connection with other women can be so powerful in recovery
• Alcohol as a feminist issue
• The “good girl” conditioning so many women grew up with
• Using alcohol as permission to be wild, sexy, loud, social, or rebellious
• Why sobriety can rebuild self-trust
• Wine-mom culture and the normalization of alcohol
• Sarah's belief that “drinking alcohol is not fucking normal”
• Why she compares today's alcohol culture to cigarette culture
• Midlife, sobriety, confidence, and running completely out of fucks
• Becoming the woman you thought you needed alcohol to become
• Why long-term sobriety doesn't have to mean thinking about alcohol all day
• Sarah's Redefined Normal sober clothing and her philosophy of “wear the identity”
• Making sobriety visible, rebellious, stylish—and anything but boring

Sarah's mission is bigger than simply helping women stop drinking. She wants to change the cultural story around alcohol and show women that life on the other side isn't smaller.

It's bigger.

You can still dance all night. Wear the stilettos. Get the tattoos. Say the inappropriate thing. Take up space. Be sexy. Be difficult. Be ambitious. Be a fucking bitch if that's what the occasion calls for.

You just get to remember all of it.

Connect with Sarah Anderson:

Instagram: @theboozefreebitch

Check out Sarah's coaching, sober community, and Redefined Normal merch through the links in her Instagram bio.

Connect with Kate:

Instagram: @katevitela

Rewired Sober is a podcast about reinvention, identity, psychology, style, fashion, midlife, feminism, body image, sobriety—and the art of evolving.

What if midlife isn’t about becoming someone new—but finally giving yourself permission to be more of who you’ve always been?

In this episode of Rewired Sober, I’m joined by Lisa Hart Anderson, certified women’s life coach, recovery coach, content creator, and the woman behind Hart2Hart Coach. With a combined audience of more than 92,000 across Instagram and TikTok, Lisa has built a community by doing something deceptively simple: showing up as herself.

Dancing. Swearing. Laughing. Talking about recovery. Talking about menopause. Talking about being a grandmother. Occasionally waking up in the middle of the night and deleting something because even women who look wildly confident can still wonder, Oh God, what are people thinking about me?

And that’s exactly where this conversation gets interesting.

Lisa and I talk about the strange experience of becoming more visible as women at an age when society often seems to suggest we should be doing the opposite.

We get into confidence versus insecurity, the fear of being misunderstood, body image and aging, menopause, creativity, social media, fashion and personal style—and why neither of us wants to spend the rest of our lives trapped inside a single identity called “the sober woman.”

Sobriety may have made our lives possible. But it doesn’t have to remain the most interesting thing about us.

We also talk about the pressure women feel not to look like we’re “seeking attention.” Because apparently wanting to be seen, heard, creative, expressive and visible still requires some sort of permission slip once you're a grown-ass woman.

No thanks.

Lisa shares how social media became part of her recovery, why dancing and creating can be healthy forms of escape, and what she’s learned from putting herself in front of tens of thousands of strangers—even while admitting that confidence is still very much a work in progress.

We talk about style as a form of identity and communication, Lisa’s evolution from bows and Christmas sweaters to dressing according to her mood, and why taking care of herself became meaningful again after getting sober.

And then we get to one of my favorite parts of the conversation: failure.

Lisa has started things that didn't work. So have I. We’ve spent money on ideas, changed directions, tried things, embarrassed ourselves and occasionally wondered what the hell we were doing.

And we’re still trying.

Because maybe failure isn’t evidence that you should stop.

Maybe it’s evidence that you had the nerve to participate in your own life.

In this episode, we talk about: midlife visibility and the fear of being “cringe”; why confidence and insecurity can exist at the same time; sobriety as the foundation rather than your entire identity; being misunderstood online; aging, body image and becoming more comfortable in your own skin; menopause, empty nesting and identity shifts; creativity as a healthy coping mechanism; fashion and style as self-expression; why women are taught to apologize for wanting attention; the addictive side of social media and content creation; refusing to shove an entire human being into a “niche”; and why failing at something might actually mean you’re doing life right.

One of my favorite ideas from this conversation?

Congratulations on your failures. Most people never try.

Lisa and I are both interested in what comes after recovery: the bigger life, the experiments, the creativity, the failures, the ridiculous ideas, the next chapters and the willingness to keep becoming.

We’re not done.

Not even fucking close.

Connect with Lisa:

Instagram & TikTok: @hart2heartcoach

Website: Hart2Hart Coach

Connect with Kate:

Instagram: @katevitela

I have always considered being a get-shit-done person one of my greatest strengths.

Have an idea? Start it.

Have a problem? Solve it.

Want to try something? Stop overthinking and fucking do it.

I've basically built part of my identity around Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic philosophy: done is better than good. And in a lot of ways, that mindset has served me incredibly well. It's helped me start businesses, write articles, walk runway stages, record nearly 100 podcast episodes, embarrass myself occasionally, and keep moving anyway.

But lately I've been asking a slightly uncomfortable question:

What if my ability to get shit done isn't always about courage or confidence? What if sometimes I'm just really fucking impatient?

In this solo episode, I'm looking at my relationship with productivity, patience, uncertainty—and why slowing down can feel surprisingly uncomfortable when you've spent years being proud of how much you can accomplish.

Because there's a difference between refusing to let perfectionism keep you stuck and being unable to tolerate the slow, messy process of actually getting good at something. Sewing and creative projects have been teaching me this lesson whether I like it or not: some things cannot be rushed.

We also get into my absolute loathing of indecision and a realization I didn't particularly enjoy having: sometimes what I've called decisiveness might actually be a low tolerance for uncertainty. Making the decision closes the loop. It gives me movement, resolution and relief. But sometimes life doesn't have an answer yet—and forcing one isn't the same thing as being confident.

And then we get to the bigger issue: productivity as self-worth.

What happens when I got a lot done today quietly becomes today mattered—and eventually, therefore, I matter?

That's where things get a little dark.

I talk about realizing how uncomfortable I became with three completely unscheduled days, and how easily rest turned into thoughts about what I should be creating, organizing, learning, earning or accomplishing.

We also look at the particularly sneaky version of hustle culture sold to women. Ours doesn't always look like an 80-hour workweek. Sometimes it comes beautifully packaged as optimization: the perfect morning routine, perfect skin, strength training, meditation, hydration, a profitable business and continually "becoming her." It's still hustle culture. It just has better lighting and a matcha.

And social media certainly doesn't help. Seeing other women reinvent themselves can give us permission to imagine something different for our own lives—but inspiration can quickly become urgency. Permission can turn into FOMO. Suddenly we're not enjoying our evolution; we're trying to catch up to somebody else's.

Maybe the next evolution isn't another reinvention.

Maybe it's patience.

Discernment. Attention. Learning to tolerate uncertainty. Allowing ourselves to rest without earning it. Letting something take as long as it takes.

I still believe in done is better than good. Sometimes you absolutely need to stop preparing and hit the damn button.

But two things can be true.

Sometimes slowing down is better than speed. Waiting is better than deciding. And urgency isn't the same thing as courage.

Because ultimately:

I don't want my ability to produce in life to become the measurement of whether I'm living a worthwhile life.

Maybe the next chapter isn't about getting more shit done.

Maybe it's about learning which things deserve our time, our attention—and our patience.

What if getting sober didn’t mean leaving the party—but finally becoming fully present for your own life?

In this episode of Rewired Sober, I’m joined by Claire Comai, founder and creative director of Rehab Studios and Vice President and Creative Director of Break Free NYFW’s Recovery on the Runway.

Claire and I talk about the intersection of fashion, recovery, identity, creativity, and reinvention—and why the old image of sobriety as staying home and playing it safe simply doesn’t fit everyone.

After getting sober at 24, Claire found herself trying to figure out who she was without alcohol. Instead of suppressing her love of excitement, fashion, travel, risk, and a little bit of chaos, she began finding healthier places to put that energy. That journey eventually led to Rehab Barbie, her own fashion collection, and now Rehab Studios—a creative studio and PR firm working with designers and producing Break Free’s growing New York Fashion Week showcase.

We talk about why fashion and alcohol have historically been so intertwined, the fear that sobriety will make life boring, and the reality that neither of us could live the lives we have now if we were still drinking.

We also get into Recovery on the Runway, how Break Free is changing the visual identity of recovery, why representation matters, the importance of supporting emerging designers, and Claire’s belief that relationships can become their own form of currency in an industry that can often feel incredibly pay-to-play.

And yes—we discuss the ongoing declaration that “New York Fashion Week is dead.” Claire and I have some thoughts.

This conversation is about refusing the idea that recovery requires becoming quieter, smaller, safer, or less yourself.

Sometimes recovery isn’t about subduing who you are.

Sometimes it’s about finally becoming capable of being more of who you are.

In this episode:

• Sobriety, identity, and rediscovering yourself
• Fashion as creativity, expression, and community
• Why sobriety doesn’t have to mean giving up nightlife or glamour
• Replacing destructive chaos with creative risk and adventure
• Claire’s evolution from Rehab Barbie to Rehab Studios
• The growth of Break Free NYFW and Recovery on the Runway
• Alcohol, drugs, eating disorders, and mental health within fashion culture
• Why sober representation matters
• The changing culture around non-alcoholic drinking
• Why New York Fashion Week still matters
• Supporting emerging designers in a pay-to-play industry
• Building a career through relationships, collaboration, and community
• What’s next for Rehab Studios and Break Free

Connect with Claire & Rehab Studios

Instagram: @clairecomai

Rehab Studios: @rehabstudiosny

TikTok: @rehabstudiosny

Website: rehabbarbie.com

Follow Break Free NYFW

Instagram: @breakfreenyfw

Designers, models, stylists, press, makeup artists, sponsors, and other creatives interested in participating in future Break Free NYFW events can connect with Claire and the Break Free team through their social channels.

Connect with Kate

Instagram: @katevitela

For speaking, workshops, collaborations, or podcast inquiries, connect with Kate through social media or katevitela.com.

What do we actually mean when we say we believe people can change?

The controversy surrounding the canceled John Galliano exhibition at the Met sent me down a rabbit hole—not because I think Galliano is owed a museum retrospective, and certainly not because addiction erases the harm someone causes.

It doesn’t.

But after years working in psychiatry and addiction—and after eight years of sobriety myself—I can't listen to this conversation without noticing what seems to be missing from it: addiction, impairment, recovery, accountability, rehabilitation, and the possibility of genuine human change.

Galliano's antisemitic and racist remarks were horrific. He faced enormous consequences for them. But his collapse also happened during a period of severe alcohol and polysubstance dependence, blackouts, grief, chronic sleep deprivation, extraordinary professional pressure, and profound deterioration.

Context is not acquittal.

Understanding why someone behaved terribly is not the same thing as saying the behavior was acceptable.

So in this episode, I'm asking the harder questions.

What actually happens to judgment, memory, inhibition, and executive functioning during severe addiction and blackouts? Is the old idea that "drunk words are sober thoughts" even neurologically accurate? How much should impairment matter when we're talking about responsibility?

And then there's Dior and LVMH.

Galliano was reportedly producing an extraordinary number of collections while his addiction and mental health deteriorated. So where does individual responsibility end and institutional responsibility begin? What happens when someone's pathology is incredibly profitable—right up until it becomes publicly unacceptable?

But the question I keep coming back to is even bigger:

If someone's deterioration counts as evidence that they changed for the worse, shouldn't years of sustained behavioral change at least count as evidence that they may have changed for the better?

Galliano has now spent years sober, acknowledged the harm he caused, educated himself, expressed remorse, and publicly accepted that atonement does not entitle him to institutional celebration.

That doesn't mean anyone owes him forgiveness. It doesn't mean the Met owed him an exhibition. And it doesn't erase what happened.

But if nothing a person does after their worst moment can ever meaningfully alter how we understand them, then what exactly do we mean when we tell people to get help, take responsibility, recover, make amends, and change?

Because recovery cannot simply be a lifetime probation sentence in which the sickest version of you remains the only version of you society considers real.

This episode gets into John Galliano, the Met controversy, addiction and the brain, blackouts, Dior and LVMH, institutional responsibility, accountability without absolution, forgiveness, rehabilitation, and what redemption might actually look like.

And ultimately, this isn't really an episode about whether John Galliano is a good person or a bad person.

It's about something much more uncomfortable:

Do we actually believe human beings are capable of change?

Because if we believe people can deteriorate, intellectual consistency requires us to leave room for the possibility that they can recover, too.

What happens when life strips away the things you thought made you valuable?

In this episode, I sit down with model, author, breast cancer survivor, and executive producer Christine Handy, whose bestselling novel Walk Beside Me was inspired by her own experience with breast cancer and has now been adapted into the feature film Hello Beautiful.

Starring Tricia Helfer, Hello Beautiful follows Willow, a successful model whose breast cancer diagnosis disrupts not only her body and health, but her sense of identity, beauty, relationships, and self-worth. The film is officially headed to theaters nationwide on September 25, 2026.

But this conversation isn't simply about surviving cancer.

Christine began modeling at just 11 years old, entering an industry where appearance wasn't only noticed—it had value. We talk about what happens when a woman learns to see herself through other people's eyes, and what it takes to rebuild an identity when the external validation you've relied upon no longer feels solid.

Christine shares a phrase I absolutely love: “I don't want to be a victim. I want to be a vine.”

We explore what that actually means—not pretending that terrible things don't happen, but learning how to grow around the things we cannot change.

We also talk about beauty after illness, aging and visibility, the complicated relationship women have with our bodies, and whether it's possible to enjoy fashion and beauty without asking our appearance to prove our worth.

And we get into something I think deserves a much bigger conversation: Have we turned resilience into yet another expectation for women?

Sometimes life is devastating. Sometimes we're angry. Sometimes we don't need to immediately turn pain into gratitude, purpose, personal growth, or an inspirational fucking Instagram post.

Christine and I talk about making room for that reality while still choosing hope.

We also discuss the surreal experience of seeing your own life transformed first into a book and then into a film—and how Christine keeps breast cancer from becoming another identity she has to live inside.

Because ultimately this episode is about something much bigger than illness.

It's about identity after disruption.

Who are we when the roles, bodies, careers, relationships, or identities we've depended upon change?

And instead of desperately trying to become who we were before, what if we allow ourselves to become someone new?

In this episode we discuss:

• Christine's journey from modeling at age 11 to redefining beauty and self-worth
• Her breast cancer experience and the identity shift that followed
• “Be a vine, not a victim”
• Beauty as pleasure versus beauty as proof of worth
• Women's bodies, femininity, aging, and visibility
• Returning to modeling with a changed body
• Why resilience shouldn't require pretending everything is okay
• The pressure on women to turn adversity into inspiration
• The difference between allowing an experience to shape you and allowing it to define you
• Turning Walk Beside Me into Hello Beautiful
• Who Christine is beyond the labels of model, patient, survivor, author, and advocate

Inspired by Christine Handy's novel Walk Beside Me, Hello Beautiful stars Tricia Helfer and is written and directed by Ziad H. Hamzeh. Christine serves as an executive producer.

After screenings and recognition on the film-festival circuit, Hello Beautiful has been acquired by Freestyle Releasing and will open in theaters nationwide September 25, 2026.

This isn't a story about cancer being the end of someone's life.

It's about what comes next.

Learn more about Christine and Hello Beautiful:

Christine Handy: www.christinehandy.com

Instagram: @christinehandy1

Hello Beautiful: In theaters September 25, 2026

Trailer: https://youtu.be/fVw3xG426-c?si=PhLyEAYtxzsiwfEn

What if beauty wasn't about fixing what's wrong with us?

What if it was about celebration, creativity, confidence, and feeling more like ourselves?

In this episode, I'm joined by Sarah Siegel-Kolodziejski, founder of Pure Clarity, for a conversation about the fascinating intersection of beauty, wellness, alcohol-free living, mindset, and reinvention.

Sarah and I both love beauty. We're not here to tell women to throw away the mascara, cancel the Botox appointment, and retreat into the woods. But we are interested in asking better questions about why we do what we do.

When does beauty feel like self-expression—and when does it become another way we're taught that we need correcting?

We talk about Chella, the clean, vegan beauty brand focused on brows and eyes, and the idea that beauty can enhance who you already are rather than create some supposedly "better" version of you.

But this conversation goes much deeper than makeup.

Sarah and I also talk about how dramatically we've both changed our lives by changing our thinking. We discuss rewiring old patterns, neuroplasticity, and studying the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza as part of understanding that we aren't sentenced to think, behave, or live the way we always have.

Our brains change.

Our beliefs can change.

And when we repeatedly practice new ways of thinking and behaving, our lives can change with them.

We also get into a contradiction Sarah has noticed within the wellness world: an industry obsessed with clean ingredients, longevity, mindfulness, nervous-system regulation, sleep and optimal health still routinely pushes alcohol.

We're scrutinizing what's in our moisturizer while somebody is pouring the third glass of rosé at the wellness retreat.

Maybe wellness deserves a bigger conversation.

This episode is about beauty without punishment, wellness without perfection, questioning the cultural scripts we've inherited, and giving ourselves permission to evolve.

Because maybe beauty isn't another project.

Maybe beauty gets to be a celebration.

Pure Clarity — Mindful Drinking, Mindful Living

Sarah's alcohol-free lifestyle, coaching and wellness community:

https://www.pureclaritynow.com/

Chella Beauty

Clean, vegan brow and eye beauty:

https://chella.com/