Vulnerable is beautiful. In this conversation about mental health, depression, and healing, Cesar shares his life-long struggle with clinical depression. He describes how it manifested in childhood, relationships, substance use, and moments of crisis. Together on Beauty in the Break, Foster and Cesar break down what depression actually feels like inside the mind and body, why so many people don’t recognize their symptoms, and how tools like SSRIs, meditation, and Buddhist philosophy helped hi...
What does your relationship with money say about you? In this Beauty in the Break conversation, Foster and Cesar open up about ancestral scarcity, financial anxiety, overspending, and avoidance, revealing how their opposite money styles both clash and connect as they build a life together. We’re not giving our financial advice here, but instead having an honest exploration of healing your relationship with money and learning to see money as energy, emotion, and connection. Together they explo...
Self-care has become a buzzword, but what does it really mean? In this conversation, Foster and Cesar dismantle the myth that self-care is something you buy, and reveal how it’s something you build from within. From exercise and rest to asking for help and receiving compliments, they explore the small, daily acts that nurture your mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Whether you’re a recovering perfectionist, a new parent, or someone trying to slow down in a productivity-obsessed world...
In part two of this powerful conversation, licensed therapist JJ Brake sits down with Foster and Cesar for a live couples session, revealing how her Internal Family Systems and Intimacy from the Inside Out work helps partners connect beneath conflict. You will hear Foster and Cesar unpack a real moment of tension, guided by JJ’s compassionate framework for understanding triggers, defensiveness, and emotional parts within relationships. JJ also shares her own breaking moment: losing her family...
In Part 1 of this moving conversation, Cesar and Foster sit down with Foster’s longtime therapist, JJ Brake, to explore what truly makes relationships thrive. JJ is an expert in couples therapy, parent education, and Internal Family Systems (IFS), and shares the three keys to lasting connection. She breaks down how to navigate conflict, communicate courageously, and offers tangible tools for more mindful relationships. In this episode they explore: The 3 relationship skills that every c...
In this laid-back bonus episode of Beauty in the Break, Foster and Cesar explore the sacred feminine and sacred masculine energies, going beyond gender to uncover how these forces live within all of us. Drawing inspiration from Rise, Sister, Rise by Rebecca Campbell, they unpack balanced vs. unbalanced expressions of feminine and masculine energy, touching on sexuality, support, protection, and partnership. You will come away from this conversation with a deeper understanding of how to recogn...
In this episode of Beauty in the Break, Foster and Cesar unpack the complexity of gender roles, invisible labor, and how cultural expectations affect everything from parenting and relationships to careers and self-expression. They share deeply personal stories: crying in secret as a boy, being the first girl on a football team, navigating motherhood and invisible labor, and redefining what masculinity and femininity actually mean. They offer insights into why gender roles persist, how the men...
In this bonus meditation episode of Beauty in the Break, Cesar guides you through a Growth Mindfulness meditation to quiet your inner critic and reconnect with the present moment. You’ll learn how to release tension, calm the noise in your mind, and cultivate mindful awareness. Whether you’re seeking stress relief, emotional healing, or a simple practice to ground yourself, be sure to save this guided mindfulness meditation so you can return to it anytime. To work with Cesar on Growth Mindful...
What if your loudest inner critic could become your greatest teacher? In this conversation, Foster and Cesar explore Growth Mindfulness, a practice that helps us separate from negative self-talk and uncover the calm, clarity, and confidence already living inside us. From childhood wounds to social fears, they reveal how our thoughts can hold us back—and how meditation, awareness, and simple mantras can free us to live with authenticity and courage. You will hear Cesar guide Foster through a l...
Sexuality isn’t always so simple. And in this intimate, unfiltered conversation, Foster and Cesar share how their identities, attractions, and labels have shifted over time. From growing up in environments that suppressed queerness to exploring pansexuality, demisexuality, and life beyond the binary, they reflect on love, desire, and self-acceptance. And for the first time on the show, Cesar opens up about a part of his sexuality he’s never shared publicly before, offering an honest and deepl...
Foster and Cesar dive deep into our screen habits, asking the vital question: what does a healthy relationship with your phone actually look like? They share their evolving perspectives on smartphones, screen time, and social media, especially as parents who are navigating the decision of when (and how) to introduce tech to their children. They examine not just the mental health data around screen use, but also the emotional undercurrents: dopamine addiction, numbing, comparison culture, and ...
In this episode of Beauty in the Break, Foster and Cesar bring you 12 unforgettable therapy lessons that reshaped their lives. Drawing from years of individual therapy, couples therapy, Jungian analysis, and parts work, they share tangible wisdom that listeners can apply to their own healing and communication journeys. Whether you’re navigating family dynamics, learning to self-regulate, or trying to let go of old stories, this episode is full of relatable and transformative moments. They als...
Award-winning jazz vocalist Mel Collins joins Beauty in the Break for a powerful conversation about healing through music, reclaiming identity, and finding joy in your authentic voice. Mel opens up about her journey from musical theater to jazz after years of vocal nodules, depression, and identity loss. When the discovery of one Ella Fitzgerald CD changed everything, Mel rediscovered her joy—and her calling. Mel talks about navigating two vocal surgeries, aging in entertainment, her identity...
What if your deepest fears about aging weren’t about wrinkles or retirement—but about forgetting your own name, or being forgotten by the people you love? In this soul-stirring episode of Beauty in the Break, Foster and Cesar return with their listener-favorite “Say More” series for a deeply personal, unscripted conversation on spiritual connection, parenting through imperfection, aging, grief, family patterns, and what might live on after death. Through surprise prompts, they explore the ach...
This bonus episode of Beauty in the Break is an extended compilation of wisdom from Foster & Cesar’s joyfully sober friends—real people sharing powerful, funny, and vulnerable reflections on sobriety, addiction, and healing. You’ll hear from Chan Kinchla, Kate Anthony, Megan Stewart, Glenn Milley, Eve Sturges, Johanna Brown, and others. Whether you’re sober curious, reevaluating your relationship with alcohol, or already on the path, this episode offers candid truths and heartfelt encoura...
Are you sober curious? What if sobriety wasn’t a loss—but a doorway to something richer, deeper, and more vibrant? In this episode of Beauty in the Break, Foster and Cesar explore the concept of joyful sobriety—a term that flips the narrative from shame and scarcity to celebration and self-connection. Whether you're newly sober or just beginning to explore what it means to be sober curious, they share how choosing to stop drinking (for vastly different reasons) opened up clarity, creativity, ...
In this episode of Beauty in the Break, Cesar and Foster dive into the vulnerable, often uncomfortable act of admitting when we’re wrong—and how that simple phrase can shift everything. They reflect on how our ego, upbringing, and societal norms all shape our relationship to being right, and how choosing honesty over defensiveness can lead to unexpected moments of intimacy, relief, and growth. Through heartfelt personal stories, they offer the idea that saying “I was wrong” can build deeper c...
After losing her father suddenly, actress, producer, and stand-up comic Jennica Schwartzman turned to comedy, storytelling, and creative community as a way to navigate grief and reclaim her identity. She joins Beauty in the Break for a powerful conversation about healing after loss, diving into stand-up comedy, and the ways her ministry upbringing shaped her voice as a storyteller. Jennica also shares how she continues to build inclusive creative spaces while parenting and producing meaningfu...
Welcome to the most playful episode yet! In Say More! Vol. 2, Foster and Cesar return with their recurring series where they pull unexpected questions from a deck and go wherever the stories lead. What follows is a ride through ice cream scooping traumas, pit bull heroism, skydiving metaphors, teenage gang life, and what happens when you're faced with a really, really bad boss. Amidst the play, they touch on fear, self-expression, and the transformation that comes from choosing a partne...
Foster and Cesar bravely share their radically different relationships with disordered eating, trauma, and healing. Foster opens up about living with an undiagnosed eating disorder for 22 years—marked by constant food obsession and internalized body shame—before receiving a diagnosis that finally brought relief and a path forward. Cesar shares his story of childhood hunger and neglect, and how that scarcity shaped his adult relationship with food. Together, they explore how trauma lives in th...