Mikel McGee did not set out to become a florist.

Before 414loral became a beloved Milwaukee flower shop, before the bouquet bar, weddings, workshops, farmers markets, and the bigger space on Historic King Drive, Mikel was working in nonprofits with survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking. She had a master’s degree in criminal justice. She had student loans. She had a full-time job with healthcare, PTO, and a path that made sense on paper.

Flowers were the thing she did for fun.

She would buy bunches from Trader Joe’s or Pick ’n Save, arrange them at her kitchen counter, and give them to friends. It was creative, low stakes, and joyful. Then that joy slowly became pop-ups, deliveries, subscriptions, weddings, and eventually a brick-and-mortar shop.

In this episode, Emily sits down with Mikel, founder and owner of 414loral in Milwaukee, to talk about the path from criminal justice to flowers, the early delusion of entrepreneurship, what it means to price your work properly, and how success can become something much more meaningful than money.

In this episode:

• What 414loral Is Today
• Building a Flower Shop That Feels Like Community
• The Early Days of Hustling and Figuring It Out
• Learning to Price Her Work Properly
• From Speech Pathology to Criminal Justice to Flowers
• Flowers as a Creative Outlet After Heavy Nonprofit Work
• Choosing a Life Centered Around Joy and Creativity
• Redefining Success Beyond Money
• Staying Present in a Growing Business
• Bringing Her Identity Into the Business
• Honoring King Drive and Bronzeville
• The Support System Behind 414loral
• How Her Husband Ray Supports the Business
• The Valentine’s Day Flower Disaster
• What Comes Next for 414loral
• Using Social Media to Stay Human and Connected

New episodes of Success, Rewritten every Tuesday. Check out the show website for previous episode articles and more about our guests. And check out the show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SuccessRewrittenShow

To connect with Emily, email [email protected] or follow her on social:

Emily's Instagram, Mental Health Advocacy profile Bipolar Brought Balance, and the show's Instagram: Success, Rewritten

What do the founder of JetBlue, the co-founder of Kayak, the founder of Bonobos, and Olympic gymnast Simone Biles have in common?

They have each spoken publicly about living with ADHD or bipolar disorder while achieving extraordinary success.

In this solo episode of Success Rewritten, Emily explores what their experiences reveal about mental health, entrepreneurship, achievement, and the assumptions we make about successful people.

These stories are not meant to frame ADHD or bipolar disorder as automatic superpowers. Both diagnoses can bring serious challenges. Instead, the episode looks at how people can better understand how their brains work, create systems that support them, and find success without hiding or feeling ashamed of their diagnoses.

In this episode:

• Billion-Dollar Founders with ADHD and Bipolar Disorder
• Emily’s Diagnosis and Return to Work
• What We Assume About Successful People
• Andy Dunn and His Hidden Bipolar Diagnosis
• Burn Rate and Building Bonobos
• How Hiding a Diagnosis Can Affect Healing
• Paul English, Bipolar Disorder, and Kayak
• The Benefits and Risks of Intensity
• David Neeleman, ADHD, and JetBlue
• When ADHD Challenges Became Visible at Work
• Building a Company Around How Your Brain Works
• Why a Diagnosis Is Not Always a Superpower
• Simone Biles, ADHD, and Mental Health
• Success Without Romanticizing a Diagnosis
• When Mania Resembles Startup Culture
• Disclosure, Support, and Finding Balance
• Resources and Closing Thoughts

Find me:

Success, Rewritten | Website | Instagram

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | LinkedIn | Instagram

Bipolar Brought Balance | Instagram

To go deeper on my experience with bipolar disorder, visit bipolarbroughtbalance.com

J Johnson Jr borrowed $100 from his mom at 14 to put his first app on the App Store. It hit #7 on paid entertainment apps. That instinct to spot the trend early and just build the thing has followed him ever since.

In this episode, Emily talks with J Johnson Jr, founder of High Frequency Highway, about a journey that runs from #1 in the nation for track at age 17, to walking away from D1 athletics for Silicon Valley, to building a frequency wearable company now shipping over 1,000 units a month. It started with an ADHD diagnosis and a medication that helped his focus but wrecked his appetite as a sprinter, which pushed him to look for another way and led him to the power of sound.

J gets into the skeptical experiment that made him a believer, the declassified CIA document behind his obsession with frequency, and how he went from prototype to shipping in seven months through a run of rooms most founders never get into. He also shares how he protects his energy, why he refuses to "go below neutral," and how his definition of success moved from "normal jock trying to make a lot of money" to peace on Earth and raising the frequency of the planet. As J puts it, "You live life differently when you're at a high frequency."

High Frequency Highway (get the headphones!)

Follow High Frequency Highway on Instagram and TikTok

And Follow J for more of his personal journey on Instagram and TikTok

New episodes of Success, Rewritten every Tuesday. Check out the show website for previous episode articles and more about our guests. And check out the show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SuccessRewrittenShow

To connect with Emily, email [email protected] or follow her on social:

Emily's Instagram, Mental Health Advocacy profile Bipolar Brought Balance, and the show's Instagram: Success, Rewritten

Content note: this episode is an honest conversation about suicide loss. If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, free and available 24/7.

Jay Laughrey and Charlotte Maya met at a yoga studio. He complimented her ring, she told him the story behind it, and within minutes they had found the one thing nobody wants to have in common: they had each lost someone to suicide. Charlotte lost her husband Sam. Jay lost his brother Jeff. This week, Emily brings them together for a group conversation about the loss that so many people carry and so few people talk about.

It is an imperfect conversation on purpose. Charlotte, a former attorney and the author of Sushi Tuesdays, and Jay, a business owner who became an advocate after his brother's death, talk through the language that heals and the language that hurts, why "died by suicide" matters, and why 988 belongs in everyone's phone. They get into what actually helps a grieving family, from the lasagna on the porch to the idea that everybody has a light and the job is to bring it, and the things people say with good intentions that land all wrong.

They also sit with the harder stuff: comforting everyone else while you are the one who lost the most, the questions you will never get answered, and how you learn to hold grief and joy at the same time. As Charlotte puts it, suicide is a disease that takes our loved ones, it just looks uglier from the outside. And as both of them keep proving, the way you honor the people you lost is by living, out loud, with their names still in the room.

For their individual stories, listen to Charlotte's and Jay's one-on-one episodes.

Charlotte's solo episode

Jay's solo episode

IN THIS EPISODE

• How Jay and Charlotte met, and why that connection was instant
• Why the words we use around suicide matter
• What actually supports a grieving family, and what to stop saying
• Suicide literacy: how to ask someone directly, and why it does not plant the idea
• Why 988 belongs in your phone right now
• Honoring the people we lost by living with joy

RESOURCES

• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988
• Sushi Tuesdays: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Resilience by Charlotte Maya

New episodes of Success, Rewritten every Tuesday. Subscribe, rate, and follow wherever you listen.

Most of us have been touched by suicide in some way, either directly or through someone we know. But when someone we love is struggling, most of us don’t actually know what to do.

Not because we don’t care.

Because nobody taught us.

That gap has a name: suicide literacy.

Emily talks about what suicide literacy means, why it matters, and how having the right language can help us respond with more care, clarity, and confidence when someone may be in crisis.

This episode follows Emily’s conversations with Jay Laughrey and Charlotte Maya, both of whom lost someone they love to suicide. Those interviews made Emily aware of the gaps in her own understanding, and this solo episode is her way of helping listeners prepare before they ever find themselves in that moment.

Suicide literacy is not clinical training. It is not about having all the answers. It is about knowing enough to recognize warning signs, ask direct questions, use careful language, and know where to turn for support.

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

In this episode:

• Suicide Literacy and Why It Matters
• Why Language Is the First Step
• Why “Died by Suicide” Matters
• Suicide Is Not a Lack of Love
• Warning Signs Can Look Different for Everyone
• The Guilt Trap Around Warning Signs
• The Direct Question That Can Save a Life
• Self-Harm and Suicide Are Not the Same Question
• What to Ask Next If Someone Says Yes
• Know 988 Before You Need It
• For Survivors, There May Never Be a Clear Answer
• Grief as a Heavy Sandbag
• Jay and Charlotte’s Upcoming Conversation
• Keep Talking, Even When It’s Hard

Find me:

Success, Rewritten | Website | Instagram

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | LinkedIn | Instagram

Bipolar Brought Balance | Instagram

To go deeper on my experience with bipolar disorder, visit bipolarbroughtbalance.com

Charlotte Maya was terrified she'd be ostracized by her community after her husband Sam died by suicide in 2007. Instead, being open about it drew people closer.

In this conversation, Charlotte talks about writing her memoir, Sushi Tuesdays, raising two young sons through grief, and the messy, nonlinear reality of loss. She shares why asking someone directly if they're struggling can open a door instead of planting an idea that wasn't already there, and how she eventually found love again with her husband, Tim, building a blended family out of two families shaped by loss.

Charlotte Maya is an author, attorney, and suicide loss survivor. Learn more about her and her book, Sushi Tuesdays, at charlotte-maya.com.

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Jay Laughrey has built Proteus Pools into a thriving pool business, but the road there was rocky and started with losing his brother and mentor, Jeff, to suicide in 2009.

In this episode, Jay shares what it was like to watch Jeff's rapid decline into depression at a time when almost nobody talked about mental health, the day he got the call that changed everything, and the words from a police officer that he credits with saving his own life. He talks about rebuilding his brother's business, learning to reframe grief instead of anger, and why sharing his story, including with total strangers, has become part of his own healing.

This is a conversation about loss, men's mental health, and what it really takes to rebuild.

If you're struggling, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.



New episodes of Success, Rewritten every Tuesday.

The mental health advice entrepreneurs don't want to hear is that working less can actually make you more effective in your life and business. I can prove it, because it happened to me.

In 2018, I had a manic episode that turned into psychosis. I was hospitalized, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and spent three months on medical leave from a full-time job I loved. When I came back, I rebuilt my work life around three things: sleep, structure, and workload limits. I thought it would break my career. It made me sharper.

Then in fall 2025, I got laid off and became an entrepreneur. Every habit I'd fought to protect came under pressure again. This episode is about what those habits actually look like, why they work, and what it costs when life breaks the routine.

If you've ever worn "busy" as a badge of honor, this one is going to challenge that directly.

In this episode:

• Why sleeping more and working less made me better at my job
• My eight-hour sleep minimum and the rules that protect it
• How a weekly to-do list beats a daily one for sustainable output
• What it cost me when I stopped saying yes to everything
• The mindset shift my therapist forced me into around work hours
• Why habits never stay linear, and how I do a hard reset back to zero

Find me:

Success, Rewritten | Website | Instagram

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | LinkedIn | Instagram

Bipolar Brought Balance | Instagram

To go deeper on my experience with bipolar disorder, visit bipolarbroughtbalance.com

Subscribe to the newsletter at Success, Rewritten for more conversations like this one.

The language around mental illness is completely wrong.

Gabe Howard, a sought-after mental health speaker, author of Mental Illness is an Asshole and Other Observations, and host of the Inside Bipolar podcast, joined me to crack that wide open. We both live with bipolar disorder, but our experiences land in very different places. That contrast is what made this conversation feel refreshingly candid.

Gabe walks through what suicidal thoughts sound like day-to-day, including the "good days" where the thought is still present. He explains why asking someone directly about suicide does not plant the idea, and why softening the language often fails the person you're trying to help.

We also get into the parts of mental health advocacy I rarely hear questioned: the person-first language debate, who actually carries the blame when the system breaks, and what daily management of a serious mental illness really looks like.

If you love someone living with mental illness, or you're living with one yourself, this conversation will give you something to hold onto.

You’ll Learn:



[00:00] Introduction

[2:19] Gabe thought constant suicidal ideation was just part of being human

[5:56] What suicidality actually feels like on good days, not just bad ones

[10:11] Asking "are you thinking about hurting yourself" and "are you thinking about killing yourself" are not the same question

[14:31] The importance of taking any suicide threat seriously, even if it’s a frustrated teenager

[19:32] Mania, garbage, hypersexuality, psychosis, and the full spectrum most people never talk about

[23:56] Why "walking through sludge" is an incomplete description of depression

[29:35] The person-first language debate and why telling sick people how to speak backfires

[40:42] The mental health system isn't broken, it's working exactly as designed

[44:25] Bipolar disorder as a reluctant roommate you negotiate with, not a battle you win

[48:21] Why "are you okay" needs to be replaced with words that actually mean something

Resources Mentioned:

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) | Website

NAMI Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Programs | Website

Tune in to Gabe’s shows, Inside Bipolar Podcast and Inside Mental Health Podcast, here.

Find more from Gabe:

Gabe Howard | Website | LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram

Mental Illness is an Asshole and Other Observations by Gabe Howard | Book

Find more from Emily:

Success, Rewritten | Website | Instagram

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | LinkedIn | Instagram

Bipolar Brought Balance | Website | Instagram

Can you turn $5 into $10 million?

Mignon bet the last $5 she had for dinner to build a bakery business that has sold over five million cupcakes and crossed $10 million in revenue.

She didn't know how to bake initially. She had six kids, a stack of bills, and a customer who promised to pay her the next day. She gambled the $5 on cupcakes instead of groceries, turned it into $60 by morning, and $600 by the end of the week.

What followed was two years of baking out of her house in Historic Germantown before there was ever a storefront. The Cupcake Collection now ships nationwide and operates across two states, but Mignon still runs it with the same principle she started with: all you have is all you need.

I sat down with Mignon to walk through the early years as a young mother trying to make ends meet, the spiritual practice that shaped how she built the company, the moments she had to fire good employees so they'd stop playing it safe, and what she tells entrepreneurs who think they need money, credentials, or permission before they begin.

She also shared with me why she's started bringing her four-month-old grandson into work meetings, and what she wants other mothers to take from that.

You’ll Learn:

[00:00] Introduction

[01:10] The $5 gamble that started Mignon’s multi-million dollar bakery

[05:53] What being a teenage mom taught her kids, and what her kids taught her

[10:16] The moment she realized favor had been sitting in her house the whole time

[19:34] Why Mignon fires people who play it safe

[23:28] Why her children's boldness is the real proof the cycle broke

[29:04] Mignon’s philosophy: All you have is all you need 

[38:44] Speaking what you seek until you see what you said

[40:07] How small businesses win by collaborating with bigger ones

Resources Mentioned:

Made From Scratch by Mignon François | Book or Audiobook

Start speaking life with intention, get your copy of Mignon’s new book: Speak Like Every Word Counts.

Find more from Mignon:

Mignon François | Instagram | LinkedIn

The Cupcake Collection | Website | Instagram

Find more from Emily:

Success, Rewritten | Website | Instagram

Emily LoMenzo Washcovick | LinkedIn | Instagram

Bipolar Brought Balance | Website | Instagram