Greatness Adjacent

I love the Capano sisters big time. Christy was on before, and now I got this real-life hero. If you were writing her as a character, her accomplishments wouldn’t be believed. The idea of a Nurse Practitioner getting her doctorate (with degrees from Georgetown and Johns Hopkins no less), Licensed, Certified Midwife, Longtime Acro Yoga practitioner/teacher/teacher trainer, former Doctor Without Borders participant, bi-lingual travel...

From a baby violinist to a tiny dancer falling in love with ballet at 6 years old, to becoming a world-renowned painter, Lydia has never not lived an artistic life. She’s a tremendous, unstoppable creative force. Nothing has derailed her being able to express herself with her particular genius-not injury, not initially having very little money, not a pandemic, nothin...

Kim sculpts bodies, minds, and spirits. She's a master Pilates instructor, founder of Physical Perfection Pilates. Check out her IG (@physicalperfectionpilates) and you'll see why this is the perfect name for her studio. She's a life and wellness coach as well. Her beauty, joy, and power make her a personal icon to me. Her private client list is filled with celebrities and athletes. She has a l...

Deva Dalporto is one of the nicest human beings I’ve ever met. This beautiful, smart woman is an actress, a writer, a painter, a mom, and an accidental influencer. She does them all so damn well too. She created a parody video in 2013 that went viral and continues to create hilarious, relevant content that resonates with parents across the globe. Check her out everywhere: @mylifesuc...

Suze is a brilliant entrepreneur who was the pioneer in making meditation accessible to everyone. A former fashion editor, Suze is the founder and creative genius behind Unplug Meditation. There are 2 gorgeous studio locations in Santa Monica and West Hollywood, and she developed an app from scratch. Her teachers are the best in the field and she has a Teacher Training program with graduates who have opened their own meditation stu...

Dave Stine can build one-of-kind, custom pieces for your home. He builds them out of lumber from his family farm that rests on 1,000 acres. But he can also sew. And, his college job was as a diesel mechanic because he speaks cars too. Oh, and he’s an attorney, NBD. Essentially, he’s a unicorn. Dave is an absolute gem of a guy. His work is beautiful, hand-crafted, slow-made and sustainable. He runs his very successful fu...

Megan Ferguson is everything I imagined her to be and more – hilarious, smart, talented, beautiful, honest, and all about action over apathy. From her upbringing in the South to ballerina to actor to becoming a mom and a good human, she’s real, down to earth, and has the most winning way about her. We talk about her career, how she deals with anxiety, how she gives herself and anyone else who may be interested “good human hom...

Christy Capano is a fantastic interior designer currently working on a dream project in Italy. Her family is Italian and she felt Italy calling her. She up and moved to Florence nearly 2 years ago to work with a couple who purchased a working farm and then painstakingly renovated the foundations of it. Christy gets to transform the inside, drawing inspiration from every part of the land there – from the moss to the sunsets. C...

Big Deal alert for me. Alison Van Pelt is a contemporary artist of exceptional everything. Her skill, her eye, her signature magic blur, her paintings feel 3-dimensional and alive. She’s a treasured American painter who was always drawing as a child but never thought it could be a profession. Her story is such a good one. She shares how, first, Francis Bacon’s works then a quote by him, led her to her lightbulb moment. The moment w...

This gorgeous woman can transform anything you wear into clothing gold. With a long roster of top stylists, mega A-list performers and the best couture fashion houses coming to her for help, she’s built her business, Studio Unbiased (@studiounbiased), into the go-to atelier for adaptations, collaborations and custom designs. She’s self-taught, there was nothing traditional in her training. She learned to knit in one day...

Whitney Leigh Morris (@whitneyleighmorris) lives tiny but mighty. Her home is a rental cottage called The Tiny Canal Cottage, on the Venice Canals, that she shares with her husband, her son and their 2 dogs. Their home is less than 400 sq feet with a shared outdoor area of about the same size. Whitney and her husband have poured their heart and soul into the cottage and it’s stunning. Every inch of space sings with form, func...

This woman is grace personified. She had a master plan for her life. Everything went according to her plan until she had her daughter, Arizona, thirteen years ago. Arizona is on the Autism spectrum. At first, the diagnosis felt dark and hopeless. She was lost, her husband wanted a divorce. For the past eleven years, Susanna has devoted herself to helping Arizona. In the process, she learned basically everything there is to know abo...

Katie McGuinness is an actor who has been steadily working for over a decade. She never stopped or got sidetracked, no matter what. She is dedicated to the craft of performing, but she’s also dedicated to living in a world of real ensemble playing. She creates her life as a troupe member with her friends and longtime actor boyfriend, forever being creative together, bouncing ideas off each other and helping one another venture into...

Leona West Fox is an exceptional nutritionist, herbalist, and functional medicine practitioner. She walks the talk and it shines through in her glowy skin, zest for life, and long list of clients who trust her. She found her calling at age 16 when she got very sick. She was way ahead of her time making kombucha in her kitchen, learning about meditation and realizing how food can be the best medicine…as a teenager! She sees cl...

Seth Santoro is a psychic, medium, intuitive and coach. After 20 years as an HR executive, he realized he had energetic gifts. In the past 6 years, he’s honed his gifts, studied, gotten certified as a coach, built a business and wrote a book (How I Learned to Smile from The Inside). He does everything from bereavement sessions to prenatal readings, to animal readings to mediumship readings to intuitive business coaching. His ...

Leah and I share over 30 years of friendship. I love her and our long history makes her one of those friends that fortune gifts you with as a forever person. She’s a seeker and creative visionary. She’s been a writer, a stylist, an RIE enthusiast/educator, a blogger, a regular on a reality TV show (There Goes the Motherhood), a music student… but that doesn’t even really scratch the surface. She’s...

Jessie Collins is an actor whose been on Broadway with a few of the biggest talents out there, starred on many TV shows, and been in some great films. Juilliard trained and rural Texas raised, she grew up in a cattle ranching family with a young single mom and three sisters. Acting wasn’t something she even knew was a career possibility until luck, fate, or divine intervention showed up in the form of a high school acting teacher. ...

She has a YouTube channel with tutorials called Francesca Make Me Pretty… and she will. Francesca has a degree in art from LMU and has been doing makeup since she was a teenager. Her mother is a hairstylist and her father was an art director. Making things pretty is in her genes. She’s been in the business for over twenty years. She went from working at makeup counters to freelancing to being the ...

Franki Floro is transforming the dance/fitness world. She teaches Hip Hop, Broadway, Bumpin’ Burlesque, and Flashback Groove. Her classes are packed because they’re so much fun. She welcomes all ages and all abilities. She comes with the hardest of choreography and the most encouraging of spirits. She’s knocked down the notion that great dance classes are only for professionals. She brings all the skill...