A Joyful Rebellion

When a study showed that only 3.4% of children’s books feature a disabled protagonist, psychiatric nurse and educator T.L. McCoy realized the story her granddaughter needed didn’t exist—and decided to write it. Her middle-grade fantasy, Delilah vs. the Ghastly Grim, follows a 12-year-old with a life-threatening seizure disorder who’s pulled through an “indigo door” into a parallel world mid-seizure—then trapped ther...

At 17, Susan Snow’s father—a Los Angeles robbery–homicide detective—was assassinated while picking up her younger brother from school. Overnight, her life became sirens, cameras, and a brave face that hid years of panic and hyper-vigilance. The first therapist told her she was “fine.” She wasn’t. A decade later, the Columbine shooting triggered flashbacks and a spiral that finally led to a trauma-informed clinician ...

What if the voice that saves your life is your own? In this deeply human conversation, writer and coach David Alan Brown traces the slow erosion of self that came from always being “the good one”—the supportive partner, the present dad, the dependable friend—until one pandemic night he drove in circles, ideating, and realized he needed help. Therapy, awareness, and a surprising validation—“anger is the appropriate r...

In middle school, Laura Bratton looked up at the blackboard and the words had disappeared. A rare retinal disease began taking her sight piece by piece—with no timeline, no roadmap, and no way to “prepare.” What followed was denial, panic attacks, and a daily apprenticeship in grit. With parents who refused to lower the bar (see the now-famous dishwasher story), Laura learned to take life inch by inch: get up, get d...

What if the feeling you can’t explain is actually the clearest voice you have? In this episode of A Joyful Rebellion, intuition coach and speaker Anna Quigley breaks down how to recognize, trust, and train your inner guidance—especially in midlife. Anna shares the surprising “shopping test” that convinced her intuition was real (complete with a last-minute nudge to “just ask”), the freeway vs. back-road detour that ...

What happens when the identity you built your life around falls apart overnight? In this raw interview, Dean Patrick—Stanford dropout, former crypto fund manager, and now author of God Money: Lost and Found in the Crypto Wilderness—traces the arc from early “prodigy” ambition to addiction, collapse, and a near-suicide on a 30th-floor balcony in Manhattan. Family pulled him into recovery in 2018. The years that follo...

Former Marine officer and bestselling author David Richards shares how a life built on momentum—and other people’s expectations—finally hit a wall. From a childhood head injury and constant relocation to 15 years in the Marines, two divorces, and a pandemic-era low point, David explains how he began taking radical accountability and rebuilt his life from the inside out. The shift started with a simple but potent ref...

What if talk therapy isn’t enough—because your trauma lives in your body? In this episode of A Joyful Rebellion, world-record tap dancer turned trauma recovery coach Heather-Ann Ferri shares the raw story behind her work: childhood abuse, brain-level injury, and the long road from “performer with a mask” to a woman who uses her voice without apology. Heather-Ann explains why many survivors don’t remember early traum...

What happens when the secret holding you back is one you’ve been keeping from yourself? In this raw, unguarded conversation, writer–producer Alan Katz (HBO’s Tales from the Crypt) traces the arc from early Hollywood wins to a two-decade spiral—then the moment truth became non-negotiable. We dig into the creative birth of the Crypt Keeper, how Tales helped change HBO’s culture, and the studio politics that turned a t...

Jack Kammer has spent over four decades asking the uncomfortable questions about gender, power, and fairness—and he’s not done yet. In this episode, the former social worker, parole officer, and longtime advocate for men’s issues joins A Joyful Rebellion to unpack what he calls a “Vitamin M deficiency” in modern life.

From stories of fatherlessness and male dropout to the overlooked emotional needs of boys, Kammer ...

Sometimes the most unexpected stories aren’t about what happens—but how someone chooses to live through it.

In this powerful episode of A Joyful Rebellion, disability advocate and author Jennifer Gasner shares what it’s like to receive a life-altering diagnosis at 17—and then keep going. Diagnosed with Friedreich’s ataxia, a rare degenerative disorder, Jennifer was told she’d be in a wheelchair by 20 and gone by 25...

What if the hard season you’re in isn’t a detour—but the actual path?

Steven Zeller is a serial entrepreneur, technologist, and futurist who’s built and lost businesses, found clarity in discomfort, and never stopped chasing what’s next. In this episode of A Joyful Rebellion, Steven shares how being broke, unsupported, and underestimated became the foundation for his most innovative work.

We talk about building your...

What if the thing holding you back isn’t laziness, procrastination, or perfectionism—but fear wearing a clever disguise?

In this unforgettable episode of A Joyful Rebellion, Emmy Award-winner and Fearless Living founder Rhonda Britten shares the unthinkable story of what happened to her at age 14—and the decades-long journey that followed. After witnessing the murder-suicide of her parents, Rhonda spiraled into guil...

How do you build a family when the system is designed to tear it apart?

In this powerful episode of A Joyful Rebellion, writer, professor, and father Lane Igoudin shares the deeply human story behind his memoir A Family, Maybe: Two Dads, Two Babies, and the Court Cases That Brought Us Together. Lane and his husband Jonathan were among the first openly gay couples to adopt through the foster system in Los Angeles Cou...

What do you do when life hands you a story you never asked for?

Ray Hartjen is a writer, musician, father, and cancer patient who didn’t just survive a diagnosis—he rewrote the narrative. After learning he had multiple myeloma, an incurable blood cancer, Ray chose to reframe instead of retreat. In this episode of A Joyful Rebellion, we explore how a routine blood test cracked his world open—and how he rebuilt it wit...

You’ve taken the tests—Myers-Briggs, Enneagram, DISC—but what if they’re missing the real point? In this episode of A Joyful Rebellion, personality expert and educator Eric Gee breaks down why most models get it wrong—and how his Project Utopia framework gets it right.

Instead of focusing on traits or labels, Eric’s system centers on values, using animal archetypes grouped into four core packs: Gatherers, Hunters, S...

What if the key to happiness wasn’t in getting what you want—but in choosing how you respond when you don’t? In this episode of A Joyful Rebellion, international bestselling author and cartoonist Andrew Matthews joins us from Australia to unpack what it really means to bounce back. With over 8 million books sold in 49 languages, Andrew’s simple, illustrated messages about happiness have helped millions reframe thei...

What if your favorite suspense novel could help you rebalance your entire life?

In this episode of A Joyful Rebellion, host James Walters talks with bestselling author, business strategist, and resilience coach Rhonda Parker Taylor. Her debut novel Crossroads is more than a legal thriller—it’s a mirror for self-reflection. Rhonda shares how each of her flawed-yet-relatable characters embodies a different dimension o...

Sometimes your life doesn’t change with a big decision—it changes because of a single step. In this powerful episode, James talks with Austin Page, mindset-driven coach and former patient who went from self-destruction to self-mastery after a near-fatal car crash left him hospitalized and immobile.

What started as physical rehab soon turned into an identity shift. Austin shares how daily, uncomfortable action rebu...