Sparkle On With Devi Jags

Kim Krizan, the Academy Award–nominated writer behind the Before trilogy, joins Sparkle On to unpack limerence, dopamine, and the creative power of writing from the subconscious. Kim reveals how she and her co-writer, Richard Linklater, built Before Sunrise around chemistry, the rare animal instinct that connects two people before words ever do.

She unpacks the neuroscience behind limerence, the involuntary obsession fueled by dopamine that can feel as powerful as a drug, and why creative people have the bandwidth to channel that intensity into art instead of destruction. We dive into Kim's writing process and her journey studying Anaïs Nin's buried letters and original manuscripts, which led to her book, The Spy in the House of Anaïs Nin.

Kim proves that your Sparkle isn't about staying stuck in the pain. It's about reaching for the sun until every petal unfolds.

Read The Spy in the House of Anaïs Nin: https://a.co/d/089aEPq7

Watch Before Sunrise: https://tubitv.com/movies/100055410/before-sunrise?utm_source=web_share&utm_medium=Share&utm_campaign=copy_link&utm_content=title_detail_page

Follow Kim Krizan: https://www.instagram.com/kimkrizan/?hl=en

• 00:00:00 Introduction and Welcome
• 00:02:32 Writing Before Sunrise
• 00:07:59 Method Acting on the Page: Channeling Characters
• 00:13:34 The Animal Story: Intuition and the Creative Process
• 00:19:06 The Captain and the Child: Balancing Structure and Creativity
• 00:21:07 The Paris Writing Workshop: Dancing and Discipline
• 00:29:45 Before Sunrise: Love or Limerence?
• 00:33:17 The Dopamine Roller Coaster: Understanding Limerence
• 00:38:26 The Primal Wound: Finding the Origin of Your Story
• 00:48:04 Anaïs Nin and the Spy in the House of Nin: Reclaiming Female Sexuality
• 00:52:55 The Cafe in Space: Diaries, Journals, and Leaving Records
• 00:57:52 The Rose Unfolds: Growth, Reaching, and Never Stopping

Devi sits down with the talented Casey Hodge—actor, model, content creator, and now a self-published author under the pseudonym Cynthia Scarlett. Casey discusses her journey, from committing to her childhood dream of acting and modeling to moving to LA and diversifying her career during the shutdown. She shares how she handles rejection and how creating content, often with her husband, Riley, on TikTok, has helped her professionally.

Casey reveals the fun, collaborative process of writing the fantasy-smut novel Shadow of Mortalis with friends, a method more common in TV or podcasting than book writing. They explore why fantasy and smut are so popular, offering a crucial escape for many women.
Casey also emphasizes that, thanks to the power of social media and platforms like Amazon, independent authors in this genre have successfully bypassed traditional publishing. Finally, Casey shares her personal practices for finding her Sparkle through hobbies and self-care.

This episode is a rerun from Season 2.

Actress, musician, and writer Mina Tobias grew up in her dad’s recording studio and on her mom’s film sets — but it took leaving athletics, starting therapy, and a pandemic full of insomnia before she found a creative voice that was her own.

This conversation explores how screenwriting, picked up purely for fun with no intention of anyone ever reading it, became the thing that unlocked everything else — and why Mina believes a song and a scene are the same craft in different structures. She unpacks what the athlete’s mindset gave her, and what she had to unlearn from it, starting with the belief that discipline means sacrifice.

Mina also takes us inside the rock EP she wrote in the bath, leading the indie horror film The Vanishing Tour on a set that caught fire on day two, and co-founding Don’t Mind Me, the mental health organization she built with her family.

Mina proves that your Sparkle isn’t one craft. It’s the curiosity running underneath it all.

Listen to Mina’s new song! https://open.spotify.com/album/7GPbsKlxO81uQPgQBquEZw?si=m8340plJSx6qV9lBG6MPFw

Follow Mina Tobias: https://www.instagram.com/minatobias_/?hl=en

Learn more about Don't Mind Me: https://www.dontmindme.org/

• 00:00:00 Introduction and Welcome
• 00:02:17 Growing Up in the Studio: The Creative Foundation
• 00:02:45 The Athletic Mindset: From Competition to Creativity
• 00:03:49 Therapy as the Turning Point: Finding Your Voice
• 00:05:30 Pandemic Screenwriting: When Insomnia Becomes Inspiration
• 00:06:49 Screenwriting and Songwriting: Two Sides of the Same Scene
• 00:13:15 Discipline vs. Sacrifice: Redefining What It Means to Show Up
• 00:18:09 The Divorce Dad Rock Playlist: Finding Your Sound
• 00:20:28 The Rocky EP: Writing in the Bath and Letting Flow Happen
• 00:26:24 The Vanishing Tour: Fire, Screaming, and Finding Your Edge
• 00:34:43 Horror as Metaphor: When Genre Becomes the Vehicle
• 00:38:55 Mental Health on Set: Routines, Fuel, and Preparation
• 00:40:21 Don't Mind Me: Born from Anger and a Brother's Crisis
• 00:43:18 Direct Impact: Scholarships and Building a Treatment Center
• 00:44:23 Artists and Mental Health: The Network That Saves Lives
• 00:44:43 The Language of Crisis: Learning to Navigate the System
• 00:47:48 Creating from Anger to Joy: Transmuting Pain into Purpose
• 00:51:13 Community Over Isolation: The Artist's Greatest Tool
• 00:54:42 Letting Go of Gatekeepers: Learning the Business to Throw It Away
• 00:57:41 Building the Catalog: The New Artist's Blueprint

Singer-songwriter Eva Rose joins Sparkle On to unpack her debut album The Last Laugh, a project born from a three-month limerence crash-out that turned into 11 tracks of raw, guitar-driven storytelling.

This conversation explores the psychology of limerence, the mental state of involuntary obsession that inspired one of her lead singles, If You Want to Be Adored. We dive into her muses, how she approaches her breakup anthems, and how the complexities of relationships find their light through her music. Eva proves that your Sparkle isn't just surviving the crash out; it's turning it into something you're proud of.

Listen to The Last Laugh: Available September 25th on all streaming platforms

Follow Eva Rose: https://www.instagram.com/evahrose/?hl=en

https://www.tiktok.com/@evarosemusic

https://open.spotify.com/artist/22cqM1VQJSdXQ04OYTAQ5z

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-uXz3xB3NSQ_4EOqxXLKQQ/featured

• 00:00:00 Introduction and Welcome
• 00:01:47 The Seed of The Last Laugh: From Breakup to Album
• 00:08:47 The Writing Process: Sessions, Spontaneity, and Voice Memos
• 00:15:57 Getting Over a Two-Year Relationship in Two Weeks
• 00:20:06 Give Me a Good Reason: The Song That Predicted Her Future
• 00:22:38 Writing Without Intention: The Best Way to Be Honest
• 00:24:01 Career vs. Creativity: Writing for Yourself First
• 00:27:18 The Three-Month Limerence Crash Out: When Ghosting Becomes Obsession
• 00:33:03 If You Want to Be Adored: The Psychology of Ignoring Someone
• 00:37:55 What Is Limerence? The Involuntary Obsession No One Talks About
• 00:38:34 Breaking the Limerence Curse: Getting Busy and Shadow Work Journals
• 00:41:48 The Muse vs. Limerence: Distance, Projection, and Fictional Characters
• 00:43:14 Digesting the Deeds: The Author-Narrator-Character Split
• 00:46:13 Musical Influences: From Avril Lavigne to Alex G
• 00:49:01 Nashville Sessions and the Art of Storytelling
• 00:51:43 Finding Your Voice: When a Song Is Distinctly Yours
• 00:56:09 Favorite Songs on The Last Laugh: If You Want to Be Adored and Look Back and Laugh
• 00:58:45 What 2016 Eva Would Think: From Shy Songwriter to Confident Artist

I cannot talk about spreading light, love, and creativity with the darkness that led me and the Sparkle On mission here. In this week’s news, student journalists from The Cornell Daily Sun exposed the heinous gang rape of a 20-year-old woman by seven fraternity members of Chi Pi. Over 50 men did nothing to report the Snapchat evidence. Cornell University expelled two of the seven men. The DA closed the criminal case because of insufficient evidence. Now, two years later, a public outcry prompted them to reopen the case.

The fabric of Sparkle On is ingrained with my experience of campus sexual violence, and the hundreds of my peers harmed during my time at school. In the wake of my violence, I became a writer. I wrote for healing; I wrote for survival; I wrote to make a change. I don’t have the answers. I don’t even have the solution. What I do know is that silence about the crimes that are actively silencing students, women, and artists is unacceptable.

This episode is dedicated to fearless student journalists, survivors, and, more importantly, Jane Doe. We see you, we believe you, and I hope you know that nothing can ever take away your Sparkle💖✨

Suuvi is a Cuban-Chinese multidisciplinary artist who was accepted into Juilliard at 10 years old, launching a 15+ year career performing on world-renowned stages. But by her early twenties, she was miserable. Despite achieving every milestone she was supposed to want, Suuvi realized she had spent her entire life playing other people's music, driven by the need to please her parents and meet elite classical institutions' expectations. She shares how she reclaimed her relationship with the cello by writing her own music, how she learned to give herself permission to sing, and why her album Dark Therapy guides listeners through shadow work without keeping them stuck in the past. Suuvi proves your darkness doesn't have to define your future.

Follow Suuvi: https://www.instagram.com/callmesuuvi/?hl=en

This episode is a rerun from Season 2, July 2025.

• 00:00:00 Introduction and Welcome
• 00:01:22 The Artist's Way and Morning Pages: Finding Creative Clarity
• 00:07:28 The Multidisciplinary Artist: Breaking Free from Labels
• 00:09:37 Sneaking Out of Juilliard: The Rebellious Artist at 15
• 00:11:04 The Pandemic Pivot: From Stage to Screen
• 00:12:09 I'm Not a Classical Musician Anymore: Redefining Identity
• 00:14:21 The Timeline: Graduating High School at 15 and Racing Through Paris
• 00:22:12 Reclaiming the Cello: Writing Your Own Music After Playing Everyone Else's
• 00:26:47 Permission and Mental Blocks: When You Don't Allow Yourself to Create
• 00:27:47 The Compounding Effects of Suppressed Creativity
• 00:32:48 The Breaking Point
• 00:38:22 Three Years of Numbness: The Stranger Who Changed Everything
• 00:39:54 The Transformation: Sobriety, Meditation, and Choosing Happiness
• 00:56:03 The Only Way Out Is In: Finding Light After Darkness
• 00:56:32 Dark Therapy: The Album About Shadow Work and Facing Your Past

Devi and Tom talk about burnout, creative depression, and what it means to be a partner when someone wants to quit the thing they love most. Fresh off a transformative trip to Paris, Devi found herself in a depressive spiral so deep she was ready to shut down the podcast entirely. Together, Devi and Tom explore the myth that artists need to suffer to create great work, pulling from Tom's background in mental health and rehabilitation to ask: do creatives inherently struggle with mental health, or is it something we can actively work on?

This episode is for anyone who's ever wanted to quit something they care about, who's felt too depressed to create, or who's wondered if their partner truly understands what it means to hold space without fixing.

• 00:00:00 Introduction and Welcome
• 00:00:14 The Breaking Point: When Burnout Hits the Creative
• 00:00:46 Mental Health Toolkits Change Over Time
• 00:01:45 When You Can't Pull Yourself Out: The Role of Partnership
• 00:02:11 Tom's Perspective: Recognizing Depression vs. Quitting
• 00:05:30 The Big Question: Do Artists Need Mental Illness to Create?
• 00:07:45 The Road Less Traveled: Mental Health as a Practice
• 00:22:30 Missing the Forest for the Trees: The Practice Over the Product
• 00:23:03 Dreams, Connection, and Lucid Dreaming
• 00:33:30 When Your Partner Says the Right Thing: Holding Space
• 00:37:44 The Function vs. The Outcome: Why We Create
• 00:40:08 Straddling Both Sides: Creating for Fun and for Money
• 00:46:05 Relinquishing Control: When Projects Take Their Own Shape
• 00:48:18 The Podcast as Filter: Repetition and Accountability
• 00:49:16 The Real Takeaway: Was This Episode Useful?

Tanya Myers Shah is the visionary behind the South Asian jewelry brand MAABAE. MAABAE celebrates dual heritage, where Indian and Western wardrobes coexist. That’s where Tanya’s mission lives: bridging two cultures through jewelry intentionally crafted in the heart of Rajasthan. Doechii, SZA, and Lilly Singh have worn MaaBae at the Met Gala, red carpets, & more, proving that your roots aren't something to hide but something to wear proudly. This is another story about how heritage and place can help our creativity flourish when artists like Tanya find that spark again.

Shop MAABAE: Available at https://www.maabae.com

Follow Tanya Myers Shah: https://www.instagram.com/tanyamyersshah/?hl=en

• 00:00:00 Introduction and Welcome
• 00:01:37 The Origin Story: From Mom's Fashion Workshops to MAABAE
• 00:03:55 The Two Wardrobes Meeting: When East Meets West
• 00:05:29 The Pivot: Leaving Skincare to Follow the Signs
• 00:11:06 The Difference Between Fighting and Flow
• 00:15:46 Going to the Source: The Jaipur Jewelry Journey
• 00:18:48 Becoming a Designer: Just Draw It
• 00:23:46 Oxidized Silver and Archival Inspiration
• 00:30:14 The Met Gala Moment: Doechii Wears MAABAE
• 00:36:32 Culture Club: Designing Jewelry That Transcends Cultures
• 00:38:04 The Korean Customer and the Chai Cup
• 00:40:07 The Haitian Tiffin Box and the Samosa Challenge
• 00:43:35 You Don't Have to Choose: Blending All Your Cultures
• 00:51:35 Curiosity, Problem Solving, and Living a Colorful Life
• 00:54:52 The Red Era: Signals, Chakras, and Shopping Addiction

Poet and novelist Olivia Gatwood joins Sparkle On to trace her journey from writing spy stories as a kid to becoming an internationally recognized voice on girlhood, queerness, and the complexities of women friendships. Olivia reveals how she transformed rage into advocacy, and eventually into stories that center joy, vulnerability, and the messy humanity of women's relationships with each other. She unpacks the creation of her debut novel, Whoever You Are, Honey, a fembot story set in Santa Cruz that interrogates internalized misogyny, the fear of intimacy between women, and what it means to be created from the male gaze. Olivia walks us through her writing process, the danger of trauma bonding, and why she believes resilience isn't about staying in pain but about returning to difficult subjects from a place of strength.

Stay on the lookout for the upcoming film adaptation of Olivia’s novel with Margot Robbie's Lucky Chap, and be sure to order a copy of her book!

Read Whoever You Are, Honey: Available now wherever books are sold

Follow Olivia Gatwood: https://www.instagram.com/oliviagatwood

• 00:00:00 Introduction and Welcome
• 00:01:30 The Writer Origin Story: From Journals to Performance Poetry
• 00:05:42 Speak Like a Girl: The Performance That Changed Everything
• 00:08:41 From Athlete to Advocate: Choosing Poetry Over Soccer
• 00:11:31 The First Poem: Catcalling, Rage, and Riling Up the Boys
• 00:14:23 Navigating Perception: Self-Care as a Young Woman on Stage
• 00:17:00 The Doxxing Incident: When Rage Shifted to Love
• 00:18:28 Life of the Party and New American Best Friend: Poetry Collections on Girlhood
• 00:19:46 Writing as Processing: You Don't Need Pain to Create
• 00:21:45 Prompts for Processing: Letters, Odes, and Writing to Shame
• 00:23:52 Breaking Out of the Box: Exploring Different Writing Mediums
• 00:27:52 The Birth of Whoever You Are, Honey: Fembots and Female Friendships
• 00:29:41 Santa Cruz as Character: Tech, Gentrification, and Playing God
• 00:32:42 The Pick Me Girl: Understanding Fear and Intimacy Between Women
• 00:36:17 Developing Complex Characters: The Lifeguard Analogy
• 00:38:08 Writing Into Fear and Obsession: What Are You Not Saying?
• 00:44:40 Title IX Education: Trauma Bonding and Campus Culture
• 00:46:09 Creative Education Under Restriction: Teaching Consent Without Talking About Sex
• 00:48:32 The Army Base Workshop: Teaching Empathy to Those Trained to Kill
• 00:50:28 Writing From Joy: Celebrating Survival and Self-Compassion
• 00:52:26 Reading From the Novel: Lena and Sebastian's First Meeting
• 00:57:41 The Movie Adaptation: Working With Lucky Chap and Margot Robbie
• 00:58:56 Small Wins: Making Friends in Adulthood

From winning Super Bowl 46 with the New York Giants to co-producing the CW's hit series All American, Spencer Paysinger shares how community, identity, and storytelling became the foundation of everything he's built. This conversation explores how Spencer discovered screenwriting as therapy during his NFL career, spending every Tuesday off-day in movie theaters studying story structure before he even knew what it was called. He unpacks the creation of All American, and how he's had to reconcile watching a fictionalized version of his own life rewrite his personal history. Spencer reveals the universal truth that sold the show: the importance of teaching the next generation that ownership, creativity, and self-definition are acts of power. Spencer proves that your Sparkle isn't just one thing; it's everything you choose to pour yourself into.

Watch All American on Netflix and the CW

Watch BS High on HBO Max

• 00:00:00 Introduction and Welcome
• 00:00:55 The 2011 NFL Draft: Overcoming Rejection and Making the Giants Roster
• 00:05:16 The Transition Period: Depression, Uncertainty, and Finding Community
• 00:06:52 Discovering Screenwriting: Movies as Therapy During NFL Career
• 00:11:57 The Artist Identity: Football Was Never Everything
• 00:18:29 The Power of Pitching Yourself: From Special Teams to Hollywood
• 00:23:24 The Birth of All-American: Pitching the Universal Truth of Being an Outsider
• 00:30:35 When Fiction Rewrites Your History: Spencer James vs Spencer Paysinger
• 00:33:25 Finding Joy in the Global Impact: All-American's Reach and Legacy
• 00:35:45 BS High Documentary: Exposing the Youth Sports Coaching Crisis
• 00:39:57 Raising Black Kids in America: Community, Identity, and Education
• 00:44:50 Hilltop Coffee and Kitchen: Creating Ownership in the Neighborhood
• 00:48:26 What's Next: Writing, Directing, and Redefining Systems at 36
• 00:50:25 Parenting with Presence: Real Conversations and Breaking Generational Cycles