Hot Mess Espresso

Joe Buck is back! And apparently staying busy was not enough, so he decided to casually add creating a whole comedy festivalto the list.

We catch up on the last year of Joe’s life, from leaving a stable career and diving deeper into nonprofit work to comedy, fitness, rejection, relationships, grief, and what it actually means to keep choosing growth when growth is wildly uncomfortable. We also get into using comedy to process ...

Jake didn’t realize just how heavy “Reasons to Stay” was when he wrote it, until his own mom told him the song helped her through a dark moment. That realization changed the way he looked at the music subtitles. was making: it wasn’t just music anymore.

Fresh off their tour with Free the Witness and the release of their debut album, "subtitles On.": we get into how a vocalist in the U.S. and a drummer in Fran...

Buckle up, because this one went a little left in the most HME way possible. This week, I was able to dive in with Jana Stern, host of The Just Jana Show. What starts with her incredible mental health journey somehow takes us through BPD, astrology, spirituality, crystals, Gemini men, and a few much needed detours along the way.

Jana opens up about growing up with a father with schizophrenia, developing a severe eating disorder, sur...

This week, I was able to sit down with Dr. Erin Ventoso, a RocDoc provider and host of the Hardcore Healing Pod. We just DOVE into a conversation about mental health, music, and what taking care of yourself actually looks like... especially when your job happens to involve living on the road.

Erin opens up about navigating OCD, anxiety, and a later ADHD diagnosis, how music became a lifeline for her, and the not-so-glamorous reality...

After having the pleasure of meeting up with the guys from Lives Lost when their tour came through, this week I’m joined by Tanis, Shawn, and Dan to talk about the reality of building a band, surviving tour, and making music out of some of the hardest parts of life. We get into how the band has evolved with a new lineup, writing through grief and trauma, and what it’s like putting deeply personal songs into the world kn...

This episode hits a little differently for me. JT isn’t just a guest: he’s my friend, and I still remember getting the text after he got out of the hospital telling me how close he had come to ending his life. I’d talked to him just days before and had absolutely no idea what he was carrying.

One year and one day after his attempt, JT joined me to talk openly about what led him there, his experience in the mental h...

This week, I’m joined by marriage and family therapist Candice Coughenour for a very real conversation about relationships, communication, and all the complicated stuff that happens when two people bring their own histories, triggers, and nervous systems into the mix. We talk about why premarital counseling deserves way more attention, how neurodivergence can impact communication between partners, and what it actually means t...

Nervous system resets, cortisol, supplements, hormones… the internet has approximately 47 solutions for everything wrong with us. So I sat down with integrative health practitioner Ashley Cruz Arata to cut through some of the noise.

Ashley shares her own journey from being repeatedly told she was “fine” to discovering a precancerous thyroid tumor, and how that experience completely changed the direction of her lif...

We've all been told our best years are supposed to be in our 20s, but what if they're later in life? This week, I sit down with Andy Bigelow to talk about rebuilding after life completely flips you upside down. From divorce and losing his career to moving back in with his parents and starting over, Andy shares how he found his footing again one small step at a time. We also get into creativity, podcasting, dark humor, and why somet...

Dr. Shannon Sauer-Zavala returns to the podcast to share the results of her groundbreaking clinical trial and officially introduce BPD Compass, her new workbook designed to make effective Borderline Personality Disorder treatment more accessible. We talked about what the research revealed, why BPD is often misunderstood, how personalized treatment can create meaningful change in just 18 sessions, and what the future of BPD care loo...

This week, I'm sitting down with author Corwin Michaels for one of the most powerful conversations I've had on the podcast. Corwin shares his experience growing up in foster care, navigating adoption, surviving unimaginable abuse, and how those experiences shaped both his mental health and the fantasy worlds he creates as an author. We also dove into religious trauma, ADHD, bipolar disorder, therapy, resilience, and why telling you...

This week, I sit down with fellow podcaster Matt Homes for a real conversation about creative burnout, knowing when to walk away, and finding your way back to something you love. We also get into parenting, breaking generational cycles, accountability, and trying to do things differently than the way we were raised. It's honest, a little messy, and a reminder that sometimes the hardest person to hold accountable is yourself.

The Hom...

Society as a whole "thinks" they understand disability, until Tye’s story smacks them right in the face. From childhood milestones to a brutal healthcare system, Tye lays out the raw, unfiltered truth of living with muscular dystrophy and navigating a world that often seems designed to dismiss or ignore him. We break down the myths around disability, why society still sees us as "less than," and how that impacts everything fr...

“You cannot wait to be motivated to create.”

Most couples kill their creative momentum by trying to do everything alone, and then there's Taylor Joy Stevens and Cobain Rivers. These founders, parents, and creative souls reveal the secret sauce behind blending business, family, mental health, and a whole lotta love without losing your mind or your flow. From turning coffee into a creative catalyst to navigating neurodiver...

Olga Lastovetska defied the odds, beating stage 3 ovarian cancer at 27 with unconventional treatments and sheer determination. Her main drive? Wanting to preserve her fertility & become a mother one day. The journey she carved for herself challenges misconceptions about cancer, highlighting the power of personalized medicine, mental resilience, and nutrition. Listen in to dive into how she took the scariest point of her life an...

Most people would throw in the towel when diagnosed with terminal cancer, but Mellissa? She fights like a pro, breaking every rule and redefining what it means to truly live. Faced with a stage four diagnosis, she turned her fears into furious action, spending her savings, challenging the system, and leaning on her fierce support squad to keep pushing forward. In this unapologetically real conversation, Mellissa spills her journey ...

Juju Green (aka Straw Hat Goofy) sat down with me this week and we dove right into it: how he took the scenic route and ended up rubbing elbows with Tom Cruise, Ryan Coogler, and movie legends while casually dropping Netflix-worthy stories. In this episode of wild tales, Juju shares how he went from growing up in Compton to becoming the go-to guy for Hollywood premieres, exclusive interviews, and viral TikTok breakdowns. Juju's jou...

So many of us want to break the silence around mental health and trauma, but few dare to share the raw, unfiltered truth. Carolyn Dreyer did, and her story is a rollercoaster of pain, resilience, and breakthrough that made me speechless for the first time in 128 episodes. From unprocessed grief and survival shame to harrowing assaults and the fight to regain safety, her journey is a masterclass in facing the darkest moments and cho...