The Sober New Yorker

Andy Ramage is a leading voice in the alcohol-free movement, entrepreneur, and co-founder of OneYearNoBeer, a global platform helping people take a break from alcohol and transform their lives. After leaving a high-pressure career in finance, Andy has dedicated his work to helping others unlock more energy, clarity, and purpose without alcohol.

He is the bestselling author of Let’s Do This! and the creator of Going Dry, an upcoming documentary exploring our relationship with alcohol and what’s possible when we step away from it.

Andy’s work is especially meaningful to me—OneYearNoBeer was the program that kick-started my own sobriety journey back in 2019, making this conversation a true full-circle moment.

Follow Andy:

https://www.instagram.com/andyramageofficial/

https://www.instagram.com/goingdrymovie/

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In this episode, I’m joined by Nikki Brown—a young mum from Sydney, writer, and social media pro—who’s breaking the mold of “wine mom” culture.

After years of early exposure to drinking, solo nights at home, and the cycle of stopping and starting, Nikki made the decision to quit for good. Now 4.5 years alcohol-free, she’s showing young moms they don’t have to drink to cope, connect, or belong.

Follow Nikki:

https://www.instagram.com/vanillathickshakee/

https://www.instagram.com/sobermumclub/

Meg Geisewite is a mom, speaker, and award-winning bestselling author who is redefining the narrative around mommy wine culture and our pro-drinking society. After beginning her sober curious journey in 2019, her passion for science led her to uncover the truth about alcohol and break free from grey area drinking. In her debut book, Intoxicating Lies, Meg challenges the beliefs that keep women stuck and disconnected from their worth. She is the founder of The Healing Hive, an emotional sobriety community, and is deeply committed to helping women reclaim their lives beyond alcohol.

Follow Meg on social and subscribe to her community!

https://www.instagram.com/intoxicatingliesbook/

https://www.intoxicatinglies.com/thehealinghive

What if you quit drinking to prove to yourself that you didn’t actually have a drinking problem?

That’s where Sarah Kaufman’s alcohol-free journey began. She and her husband had been drinking together for years, and as their drinking escalated, Sarah found herself repeatedly trying to take breaks. She would aim for 30 days, make it to around day 20, and eventually convince herself she’d gone long enough.

Then in 2019, her husband told her he was ready to quit. Sarah started listening to This Naked Mind and heard something she desperately needed at the time: she could stop drinking without first having to accept a label she wasn’t ready for.

She committed to 30 days, but reaching that milestone gave her enough distance to recognize something she couldn’t see while she was drinking. She did have a problem with alcohol.

More than six years later, Sarah is still alcohol-free and now helps others explore sobriety through No More Wasted Days.

In this conversation, Sarah and Melissa talk about quitting drinking alongside a spouse, the fear of telling people you’re sober, parenting without alcohol, why Sarah once believed drinking made her a more fun mom, and what becomes possible when alcohol stops taking up so much mental space.

For anyone who is sober curious, questioning their drinking, struggling to make an alcohol-free break stick, or wondering whether their relationship with alcohol needs to change, Sarah’s story is a reminder that you don’t need to have everything figured out before you start.

Follow Sara on Socials:

https://www.instagram.com/no_more_wasted_days/

What's it like to be sober behind the bar? After Chris Tompkins quit drinking, he kept working at a West Hollywood gay bar for seven more years. Customers told him a sober guy at a gay bar was like finding a unicorn.

Chris grew up in the closet in Tucson and learned early that alcohol made "confident Chris" possible. College drinking turned into gay bar drinking. His old boss even told him, "Bar is for gays what church is for straight people." Then came the Monday hangovers, hiding alone in a back booth with soup and salad.

If you're LGBTQ+ and sober curious, or you've ever told friends you're "just taking a break" when you knew it was forever, this one's for you. Chris and Melissa get honest about shame, why so many gay men drink to cope with it, and how sobriety changes who sticks around.

Chris' Socials:

https://www.instagram.com/aroadtriptolove/

https://www.facebook.com/aroadtriptolove

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christompkinslife/

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Toni Will once believed that going 15 months without alcohol proved she could safely drink again.

So she did.

After an arrest in 2016, Toni stopped drinking and immersed herself in recovery. She attended AA, read the Big Book, chaired meetings, worked with a sponsor and eventually sponsored others. But after 15 months sober, a thought began creeping in: if she could go this long without drinking, maybe she didn’t actually have a problem.

Toni returned to alcohol for another three years.

By 2020, there wasn’t another dramatic rock bottom. Her career was successful, her family was intact, and she was working as a professional hockey executive. But internally, something felt completely out of alignment.

After a girls’ weekend spent drinking around a bonfire, Toni woke up and decided she was sick of the version of herself alcohol was creating. She committed to a 30-day break with every intention of eventually returning to moderation.

More than five years later, she’s still alcohol-free.

In this conversation, Toni and Melissa talk about returning to drinking after sobriety, questioning whether you really have a drinking problem, the exhausting mental gymnastics around alcohol, and why starting with 30 days felt more manageable than committing to forever.

Toni also shares what it was like becoming alcohol-free while working in men’s professional hockey, including the moment she worried her colleagues wouldn’t respect her if she didn’t drink. Her husband’s response changed everything: What if they respect you more for not drinking?

Today, Toni is a hockey executive, speaker, coach, podcast host and author who openly talks about choosing an alcohol-free life.

If you’ve ever taken a break from alcohol, tried moderation, wondered whether your drinking is “bad enough” to stop, or questioned who you would be without it, Toni’s story offers a powerful perspective on what can happen when you listen to that quiet voice telling you something needs to change.

Toni's Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/imtoniwill/

Toni's Website:

https://www.toniwill.com/

Marci Hopkins spent years believing alcohol was part of who she was. It gave her confidence, helped her escape painful emotions, and eventually became something she relied on every day.

Growing up surrounded by addiction, instability and trauma, Marci learned early to use alcohol as a way to cope. As an adult, she built a successful career in television, became a wife and mother, and eventually pursued her dream of getting in front of the camera. From the outside, she was accomplishing incredible things. Behind the scenes, her drinking was escalating.

Wine became her “liquid courage.” Drinking at night turned into drinking during the day. And even as the consequences grew, Marci continued believing she could get control of it.

Everything changed after a DUI in 2015. The next morning, Marci sat down with her husband and finally said the words she had spent years avoiding: “I’m an alcoholic and I need help.”

Now 10 years sober, Marci joins Melissa to talk about the connection between trauma and alcohol, asking for help, rebuilding your identity without drinking, and why getting sober required much more than simply putting down the drink.

They also discuss Marci’s upcoming book, Wake Up, You’re Not Broken: What to Expect the First 30 Days of Sobriety, and the tools she wishes she’d had when she was first getting sober.

This is a conversation about what can happen when you stop running from your past, ask for help, and give yourself the chance to discover who you are without alcohol.

Marci's Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/wake_up_with_marci/

My Happier Hour Group:

https://thesobernewyorker.com/

I met Chris on a hike in Hollywood and within minutes we discovered we were both sober. Chris is retired, leads hikes in LA, has two grown sons, and has been in AA for 35 years.

In this episode, I ask him all the AA questions I’ve always wanted to ask — about meetings, sponsorship, long-term sobriety, and what actually keeps someone alcohol-free for decades. Chris shares openly, with wisdom, humility, and plenty of laughs.

If you’ve ever been curious about AA or what 35 years sober really looks like, this conversation is for you.

Sober Dave couldn’t imagine going three days without alcohol. Today, he’s approaching seven years sober.

Dave’s relationship with alcohol started at 14 and followed him for decades. What began with heavy drinking eventually became weekends lost to alcohol, hidden bottles, a liter of vodka, passing out, and a life that was becoming increasingly difficult to control.

By his 50s, Dave’s health, relationships and happiness were suffering. Then a friend asked him a surprisingly simple question: would he stop drinking for three months with him?

Dave laughed. Three months sounded impossible when he wasn’t sure he could make it three days.

But something about that invitation changed the way he looked at quitting. Instead of thinking about forever, he made not drinking a daily non-negotiable. Six weeks later, he realized he didn’t want to go back.

In this conversation, Dave and Melissa talk about what finally helped him stop drinking, why changing your mindset around alcohol can be so powerful, and what happens when sobriety doesn’t magically make the difficult parts of life disappear.

Dave also opens up about divorce, heartbreak and learning to sit with painful emotions without escaping through alcohol. Now, nearly seven years into sobriety, he shares why he no longer thinks, “I can’t drink.” He simply doesn’t want to.

For anyone struggling to imagine life without alcohol, Dave’s story is a reminder that you don’t have to figure out forever today. Sometimes you just have to start.

Follow Sober Dave on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/?hl=en

Want more support?

Join my Happier Hour community for just $29/month inside the Heartbeat app—a supportive space for women choosing an alcohol-free life with connection, coaching, and real talk.

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Bri Marshall wasn’t drinking every day. Her career was going well, she had a husband and two young sons, and from the outside, there wasn’t an obvious reason to think alcohol had become a serious problem.

But inside, Bri knew something wasn’t right.

She tried moderation. She tried saving alcohol for weekends, date nights and special occasions. She tried moving her drinking to days when it wouldn’t interfere with work. But no matter how many rules she created, she kept finding herself back in the same place.

Some Sunday nights ended with Bri crying in the shower, regretting that she’d drank again and writing notes to her future sober self. Monday mornings brought hangovers, shame and promises that she needed to stop.

Eventually, she came out of the shower crying, looked at her husband and said, “I cannot drink anymore.”

That moment became a turning point.

In this conversation, Bri and Melissa talk about the exhausting cycle of moderation, being a mom while questioning your drinking, why a life doesn’t have to be falling apart for alcohol to be taking something from you, and what finally changed when Bri stopped negotiating with herself and committed to sobriety.

Bri also shares how openly talking about her sobriety has become part of keeping it, and how helping other women who are quietly questioning their own drinking has given her an even bigger reason to keep going.

If you’ve ever promised yourself you’d only drink on certain days, tried to moderate, woken up regretting it, or wondered whether your drinking is “bad enough” to stop, Bri’s story will feel very familiar.

Follow Bri's badass adventures!

https://www.instagram.com/brimarshallll/

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