Honing In

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Melissa Kaitlyn Carter.Today's episode features brand new theme music, created by Melissa herself!!!Melissa Kaitlyn Carter is a Brooklyn-based musician, performer, and creative facilitator. She is the frontwoman of the indie-folk project Hattie, described as “achingly honest and full of heart.” As a performer, Melissa has worked across the United States with artists including Mary Zimmerman and The Bengsons, and in theaters such as Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Z Space, Joe Goode Studio, and The Huntington Theater. She has been an artist-in-residence at The Sable Project and Paul Dresher Ensemble Artist Residency. She has received funding from The Awesome Foundation and Musicians Foundation, and was a Music/Sound Artist Fellow for the New York Foundation for the Arts.She is the owner and operator of Making Audio Magic, where she teaches songwriting, music production, and DIY-At-Home Recording. When she's OOO, she aims to spend her time practicing yoga, learning about herbs, reading tarot, and bathing in nature. Learn more about Melissa’s musical projects: Hattie & Rosalind.Here are some of the things Melissa and I discuss:How our early creative training influenced our artistic journeysMelissa teaches Kate different audio components in her favorite songs (this was so fun!)Learning new things about yourself through making artMelissa’s act of generational healing through her musical project, HattieThe magic that happens when we trust our relationship to creativityResources & Links:Melissa's websiteMelissa's newsletterMelissa’s bands: Hattie and RosalindThe North NodeElizabeth Gilbert’s talk about “having a genius”Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way“Nobody” by HattieSUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Dr. Kate's free newsletter📚 Download Dr. Kate's free Sustainable Productivity PlannerPodcast editing and support by Softer Sounds Studio. Theme song by Melissa Kaitlyn Carter.

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Gabrielle Felder.Gabrielle Felder (she/they) is a writer, data analyst, and aborisa born and raised in Orange County, California and is currently based in Los Angeles, California. She explores the history of the African diaspora, drawing from her interdisciplinary background in ecology, anthropology, and data analytics. Passionate about community work, she has trained as a postpartum doula, worked in community gardens, and led Afro-Indigenous ceremonies. She’s shared her work through speaking engagements with UC Davis Women’s Resources and Research Center and the Feminist Center for Creative Work.Here are some of the things Gabrielle and I discuss:Gabrielle’s journey from digital essayist to published authorSacred poetry and nature-based traditions behind The Five Blessings of IfáUnderstanding Ifá through herbalism, family, queer parties, and witchcraftHow coding and anthropology feed Gabrielle’s writing processGaining freedom through self-trust and the permission to failResources & Links:Gabrielle’s Instagram and websiteGabrielle’s book, The Five Blessings of Ifá: Reclaiming Black Futures Through Afro-Indigenous SpiritualityBraiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall KimmererSUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Kate's free newsletter📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity PlannerBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support. 

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Catherine LaSota.Catherine LaSota is a badass creativity facilitator, and she is here to help you build and sustain a creative practice that works for you, taking into account your resources, capacity, deep desires, and unique vision. She parents two young children in Queens, NYC, and in addition to her MFAs in Sculpture and Creative Nonfiction, she is trained as a coach and has a variety of music education and performance experiences. Catherine is a certified advanced SCUBA diver, former bartender and retail manager, and the founder of the LIC Reading Series and Resort writing community. She also brings a couple decades of experience working in higher education into her practice and currently serves as Associate Director of Social Practice CUNY. Catherine offers 1-on-1 coaching for writers and anyone building a creative practice; online workshops; in-person writing parties; and occasional retreats. She likes being in conversation and listening deeply, and you can hear more from her on Feed the Art, her podcast about nourishing your creative practice.Here are some of the things we discuss:Projects and assignments as scaffolding to support your creative practiceWhy your creativity should be treated as a fluid, long-term relationshipOn being your own daddy and following your own visionMoving beyond scarcity to understanding there is always space for youAn invitation to try bizarre techniques to spark creative inspirationResources & Links:Catherine’s website and weekly(ish) newsletterFeed the Art podcastPart of the Practice podcastLIC Reading SeriesDorothea Lasky’s chapbook Poetry is Not a ProjectSUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Kate's free newsletter📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity PlannerBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support. 

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Jen Carrington.Jen Carrington is a gentle business coach and specializes in supporting small business owners to build and run simple and spacious businesses where they can honor their humanness whilst also making a steady and thriving income.Jen has spent the past decade working with hundreds of clients as they bridge the gap towards their version of more flexibility, ease, and intentional growth in their business and has designed her business to only ask very part time hours from her each week whilst also being the breadwinner for her family so that she can prioritize the needs of her health as a human who lives in a chronically ill body.Jen lives in Manchester, UK with her husband, son, two cats and their dog and is always happiest when curled up with a good book.Here are some of the things we discuss:How Jen created a business that centers her humannessAccepting the season of life that our bodies, minds, and capacity ask of usEthical approaches to marketing rooted in long-term relationshipsDecentering work in favor of healing, rest, and romantasy booksResources & Links:Jen’s website, Substack podcast, and InstagramJen’s framework, The Eight Seasons of BusinessJen’s free mini-toolkit, 100 Hell Yes PeopleQuicksilver and Brimstone by Callie HartThe Empyrean book series by Rebecca YarrosSUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Kate's free newsletter📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity PlannerBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support. 

Welcome back to Honing In and a solo episode all about intentional time management. Today I’m discussing routine, rhythms, and rituals and sharing ways we can create more structure and freedom in our schedules. Some of the topics I cover:Conscious and unconscious approaches to time managementMy own opening and closing routines for my daysHow to reverse engineer a solution when you have an obstacle with your routinesTaking a rhythm approach based on your personal resourcesHow to use time blocking and timeboxingPrompts to help you develop your own routines, rhythms, and ritualsRESOURCES AND LINKSOpening and closing routinesGamificationPomodoro timerNewsletter on the Planning Fallacy, Parkinson’s Law, Time Blocking, and TimeboxingBullet Journal post on time managementBatchingGolidlocks Approach to Productivity“Let it Be” episode about RitualsSUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity PlannerBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Welcome back to Honing In and my interview with Stephanie Graham.Stephanie Graham is a Chicago-based lens-based artist and podcast host whose work explores social class, subcultures, race, and gender—often blurring the lines between truth and fiction to spark conversation. She's fascinated by how we connect and how our shared experiences shape who we are. Stephanie hosts noseyAF: conversations about art, activism, and social change, a podcast featuring candid conversations with artists, activists, neighborhood visionaries, and everyday people creatively shaping a better world. When she's not behind the lens or mic, you'll find her curating film screenings, collaborating with artists to expand access to the arts, or catching up on The Real Housewives—a favorite source of inspiration and cultural analysis. Stephanie and I talk about...How research factors into story telling in artEnriching ideas and developing connection and visibility through collaborationStephanie’s journey making her podcast, noseyAF: conversations about art, activism, and social changeA behind-the-scenes look at Stephanie’s art making processThe importance of creating online and in person community spaces RESOURCES AND LINKSStephanie’s WebsiteStephanie's InstagramStephanie's LinkedInGolden KidsLove You BronoseyAF podcastArtist Admin HourAvalon Park Film House SUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity PlannerBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Bee Scolnick.Rebecca "Bee" Scolnick (she/her) is a writer, witch, and weirdo, who wants to help make meaning out of mess. Her books The Witch’s Book of Numbers: Enhance Your Magic With Numerology and Marriage by the Numbers: Planning Your Wedding Using Numerology are out now, and she pens swimming in the soup on Substack. She is also one-third of Call Your Coven: Practical Advice for Nonsensical Times, a new podcast that blends numerology, astrology and the tarot into one monthly forecast. Bee lives in Los Angeles with the loves of her life: her wife and their pup. Follow her @beescolnick on Instagram and Bluesky.Here are some of the things Bee and I discuss:Navigating a career shift from production to self-employmentBee's lifelong journey and study of numerologyApproaching writing as "idea first" or "container first"How to find your yearly cycle using numerologyGrounding yourself in a weekly practiceBee reads the numerology for my wedding!Resources & Links:Bee's websiteBee's Substack, swimming in the soupBee's books, The Witch’s Book of Numbers: Enhance Your Magic With Numerology & Marriage by the Numbers: Planning Your Wedding Using NumerologyBee's podcast, Call Your Coven: Practical Advice for Nonsensical TimesBook a tarot reading with Bee on MoonlightContact Bee directly for a numerology readingBee's Numerology for Witches lectureThe Rebis, Devil EditionThe Secret Language of Birthdays by Gary Goldschneider and Joost ElffersChristine DeLoreySUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS💻 Please join me and Dr. Katy Peplin for AcWriMo in November! Sign up here for a month of free resources to support for your writing practice.⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter🎃 Download the free 100 Pomodoros in October workbookBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Dr. Eric Darnell Pritchard.Dr. Eric Darnell Pritchard (they/them) is an award-winning writer, cultural critic, and Brown Chair in English Literacy and Associate Professor of English at the University of Arkansas. They are also on the faculty of the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College. They earned their BA in English-Liberal Arts (magna cum laude) from Lincoln University, the nation’s oldest historically Black college and university (HBCU). They also earned an MA in Afro-American Studies and a PhD in English (with distinction) from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.Dr. Pritchard’s research and teaching focuses on the intersections of race, queerness, sexuality, gender and class with historical and contemporary literacy, literary, and rhetorical practices, as well as fashion, beauty, and popular culture. Originally from Queens, NY, they are an award-winning writer, teacher, cultural critic, and self-described Black queer feminist alchemist. Their newest book, Clothes to Make You Smile: Patrick Kelly Designs His Dreams, will be published on January 13, 2026.Here are some of the things Eric and I discuss:Eric’s journey of studying Patrick Kelly and relaying his life with honesty and compassionHow studying an artist can help us re-see ourselves as artistsBiography as an intensive labor of love, an ancestral relationship, and an act of necromancyThe collaborative artistic partnership for Eric’s forthcoming picture book, Clothes to Make You SmileThe classroom as place to create the world we want to live inResources & Links:Eric’s websiteEric’s first book, Fashioning Lives: Black Queers and the Politics of LiteracyPre-order Eric’s forthcoming picture book in collaboration with illustrator Shannon Wright, Clothes to Make You Smile: Patrick Kelly Designs His DreamsEric’s chapter in The Oxford Handbook of African American Women’s WritingEric will be speaking on October 9th for the School Library Journal Day of DialogEric will be signing copies of their book at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Conference in Denver this NovemberThe Community Literacies Collaboratory and their magazine, The SandboxThe Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism by Audre LordeBig Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth GilbertHow to Not Always Be Working: A Toolkit for Creativity and Radical Self-Care by Cody Cook-ParrottElla Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision by Barbara RansbySUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS💻 Please join me and Dr. Katy Peplin for AcWriMo in November! Sign up here for a month of free resources to support for your writing practice.⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter🎃 Download the free 100 Pomodoros in October workbookBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Let’s talk about the power of theme words!It’s my 39th birthday! This solo episode is about the reflection and intention-setting practices I engage with every September. I explore theme words that have guided me, the interplay of my yearly tarot card, and the practices I want to focus on during Quarter 4. Curious about choosing your own theme word for the next year, month, project, week, or day? I close out today’s episode with tangible tools for finding and committing to your own.Here are some of the things I cover:How theme words and metaphors can simplify decision makingMy journey to selecting a theme word for 39, “Again”Tarot as a tool for reflection and choosing guiding themesFour practices I want to focus on this yearPractical steps for finding your own theme wordResources & Links:My The Tending Year blogBrooke McAlary’s 1% ExperimentThe Devil Tarot CardLearn more about reflection and selecting a theme word in my free New Year Reflection and Planning WorkbookSUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity PlannerBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Michelle Pellizzon.Michelle Pellizzon is a writer, researcher, and intuitive business advisor. Her work spans mediums — podcasting, publishing, teaching — and often explores the liminal space between mysticism and pragmatism. A former professional modern dancer and Feldenkrais practitioner with a background in tech, she blends somatic expertise with creative entrepreneurship.Here are some of the things Michelle and I discuss:Seasons of learning and metabolizing ideasHow Michelle built and curates an intentional online community for creativesPracticing new skills and finding the fun in being bad at somethingMoving with self-awareness through the Feldenkrais MethodHoning in on what it means to have ruthless clarity and agencyResources & Links:Michelle’s Holisticism website and InstagramThe North Node community membership and waitlist applicationThe Twelfth House Substack and podcastCosmic Valley Girl with Michelle and Emmalea Russo returns this monthBunny by Mona AwadNotion for organizing projects into boardsIra Glass on the gap between taste and skill“Use it or lose it!” Dementia research article from Swiss Med WeeklySeven of Cups tarot cardThe Feldenkrais Project and their “pelvic clock primer”Alexander Technique for mindful movementSUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity PlannerBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Today's episode with Emilia Richeson-Valiente, Creator and Director of Pony Sweat Aerobics, is such a blast. You can tell from our giggles how much we enjoyed our conversation, and as a long time fan of Pony Sweat, I was thrilled to learn more from Emilia.Emilia Richeson-Valiente (she/her) is a performer, writer, teacher, business-owner, and the creator of punk-feminist aerobics practice, Pony Sweat. She has cultivated a loyal following through her “fiercely noncompetitive” dance aerobics format, which celebrates anti-perfectionism, self-expression, and the liberation of all bodies. Alongside her Pony Sweat work, Emilia writes about music and somatic practices and is published in Dopamine Press's 2025 WITCH Anthology, and she currently performs with her dance troupé Haaagz. From 2017-2021 Emilia performed with the band Object As Subject. She has choreographed music videos for Alice Bag, Hayley Williams, Wallows, and Scrunchies, and has performed her work at Weirdo Night(s), SORORITY, and many many punk shows. She holds a BFA from Emerson College in Boston, and is an AFAA certified aerobics instructor. Originally from WI and VT, she moved to LA in 2006 to pursue her dream of becoming Weetzie Bat. She lives in the San Gabriel Valley with her wife and pup.Tune in to learn more about:Pony Sweat’s origins, evolution, and amazing core valuesEmilia's creative practice of making mixed tapes and dance movesHow building one project can beget other projectsHonoring our past selves through musicThe important of creating and protecting a queer-centered spaceHoning in on loosening your gripRESOURCES & LINKSWITCH AnthologyObject as SubjectPony Sweat’s core valuesPony Sweat’s newsletterAcross Time + Space online video subscription (Includes Exercising and Listening to Records)Pony Sweat’s InstagramPony Sweat’s YouTube ChannelSUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity PlannerBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

I’m excited to introduce you to Gabrielle Ione Hickmon and invite you into our conversation about art, research, home, history, and how Gabrielle blends them in her creative practices. Gabrielle Ione Hickmon is a Black woman from a middle place—Ypsilanti, MI. A visual artist and History PhD student at the University of Michigan, Gabrielle's practice is concerned with African American and Indigenous histories, presents, and futures in the Great Lakes Region. As a breast cancer survivor, Gabrielle’s practice also engages illness, disability, and health toward an attempt at clarifying her experience to herself and exploring cancer's intersections with history and culture. She is concerned with breast cancer, its aftermaths, and its impacts—especially on Black women. Her writing has appeared in Vox, Condé Nast Traveler, The Baffler, The Pudding, and Literary Hub. She has exhibited ceramic work domestically and internationally. Her ceramics are in the private collection of the North Carolina Historic Sites Division and the Modern Ancient Brown Foundation. Gabrielle has been an artist-in-residence at Pocoapoco, Mas Palou, Mudhouse, John Bauer Ceramics, the Visual Art Center of Richmond, and the Modern Ancient Brown Foundation. She lives, works, and studies in her hometown, Ypsilanti, MI.Tune in to learn more about:Differentiating projects, practices, and offeringsIntegrating place and family history into an art practice and scholarshipCalling attention to young Black women’s experiences with breast cancerWorking with different materials and techniques as a visual artistGabrielle’s rituals and routines in her ceramics studio (this was such a delight to hear!)RESOURCES & LINKSGabrielle’s website and newsletterGabrielle’s offerings, including Applications for ArtistsWORKING PROCESS podcastThe Cancer Journals by Audre LordeThe Cancer QuiltsImerman’s AngelsWorthwhile Paper Inquire Within deckNala Sinephro (Gabrielle’s reading music)Sisters of the Yam by bell hooksWhen Things Fall Apart by Pema ChödrönSUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity PlannerBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

*Note: I republished this episode on July 24 to correct an error where I accidentally re-published a solo episode twice. Whoops! All should be good now. Enjoy this convo with Sadie!* Today's episode is a fun exploration of creative processes with Sadie Dupuis, the guitarist, songwriter & singer of rock band Speedy Ortiz, as well as the producer & multi-instrumentalist behind pop project Sad13. Sadie also heads the record label and journal Wax Nine, and is a founding organizer of United Musicians & Allied Workers and its local UMAW Philly.Tune in to learn more about: How a personal process can fuel collaboration with other artistsSadie's process for building collections of poetry and albumsThe importance of harm reduction in nightlifeHow to best support musicians as a consumerRESOURCES & LINKSSadie's websiteSadie's writingPoetry is Not a Project by Dorothea LaskeySixteenth Minute (of Fame) PodcastMy Year in Mensa PodcastCouplets by Maggie Millner“How the Music Community is Fighting the Drug Overdose Epidemic” (Pitchfork article)Be The PlaceUnited Musicians and Allied WorkersLiving Wage for Musicians ActRun the Song by Ben RatliffCalling All CrowsSUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity PlannerBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

This episode is all about self-efficacy, or our belief that we’re capable of completing our tasks and achieving our goals. ✅ ✅ ✅ I dive deep into four key psychological concepts of self-efficacy and talk through how each of them has shown up (or not!) in my past and current projects. Tune in to learn more about: Navigating cognitive biases that skew our self-efficacyManaging the emotional ups and downs of a projectThe ways self-efficacy affected my creative, academic, an personal projectsHow accountability helps me to keep up with my projectsRESOURCES & LINKSKate's newsletter, Believing You Can Do It: self efficacy and thought patternsThe Tending Year blogAmelia HrubyLandscapes co-writing group with Cody Cook-ParrottSUPPORT FOR CREATIVE THINKERS⭐ Productivity Coaching with Dr. Kate Henry 💌 Sign up for Kate's twice-a-month newsletter📚 Download Kate's free Sustainable Productivity PlannerBig thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Today's episode is an exploration of research, art, and the ways they come together to engage and educate audiences. It was my pleasure to chat with Camila Galaz, a multimedia artist, editor, and creative consultant. Here are some of the things we get into:How to do studio-based research (this was new to Kate!)The layering work that goes into multidisciplinary projectsThe intersection of artistic practice, research, and public scholarshipPrioritizing an audience’s access point to your creative projectCamila’s exciting new consulting and advising venture, Structured KnowledgeResources & Links:Structured KnowledgeCamila's website (check out her art and writing)Our Friend the Computer podcastIf you’d like to learn more about my work, check out my website and download my free Sustainable Productivity Planner.Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

If you struggle with building new habits or find it challenging to complete your personal goals, today’s episode is going to be a breath of fresh air! I’m thrilled to chat with neuroscientist and entrepreneur Anne-Laure Le Cunff about her new book Tiny Experiments.I love how Le Cunff makes scientific frameworks accessible for non-neuroscientists like me, and I found her book to be inspiring and refreshing in a sea of books that ask readers to hyper-optimize ourselves. Le Cunff's approach to experiments rooted in curiosity, discovery, and self-compassion—which we need more of when it comes to productivity!  Here are some of the things we get into:When to choose an experimental mindset over traditional goal settingThe difference between projects and experimentsViewing “failure” as helpful data (instead of judging ourselves)How curiosity is necessary for experimentingLearning in public (one of my favorite chapters in the book!)Resources & Links:Ness Labs newsletterOrder Tiny Experiments hereIf you’d like to learn more about my work, check out my website and download my free Sustainable Productivity Planner.Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Rebecca Maillet.Rebecca Maillet (she/they) is a queer, working class, first generation farmer / floral designer / and a seeker of Poetry in its myriad forms. She is the Founder & Creative Director at Many Graces Farm & Design based in Hadley, MA, and a co-owner of Sub Rosa, a Botanical Lounge & Flower Shop located in Northampton, MA. Rebecca lives in Western MA on the unceded land of the Nipmuc & Pocumtuc people with her beloved partner & their dog, Goose. You can learn more about Rebecca's work at Many Graces here and about Sub Rosa here.This episode covers many things, including:Poetry as a lived experienceLeaving academia to pursue self-employmentWorking with the land and the seasonsThe joy of creating beautiful spacesAligning our purpose for our work with our valuesResources MentionedJohn O'Donahue's Discussion on BeautyMany Graces Flower SubscriptionIf you’d like to learn more about my work, check out my website and download my free Sustainable Productivity Planner.Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Kalin Morrow.Kalin Morrow is an American actress and dancer based in Europe. She earned her BFA in Performing Arts from the University of Oklahoma before futher studying acting at the Mulholland Academy in Amsterdam. In 2023, she was honored by her alma mater with the Arts Luminary Award in recognition of her contributions to the arts. Recently, she garnered critical acclaim for her role as The Hooded Woman in NEON’s film CUCKOO, directed by Tilman Singer, and now works internationally in film, tv and commercials. Beyond acting, Kalin is a professional dancer with over 20 years of experience. She continues to perform while also teaching workshops and repertoire internationally for companies and schools. In 2024, she was awarded the prestigious Swan Prize for "Most Impressive Performance" at the Dutch Days for her role in The Previous Owner by Dunja Jocić. You can learn more about Kalin here.This episode covers many things, including:Kalin’s journey as a dancer, teacher, and actorMaking art as a collaborator and contributing to other creators’ projectsThe mental, emotional, and physical preparation for a performanceEnergy exchange when performing for live audiencesFinding inspiration and support in communityResources MentionedKalin's Dance ReelKalin's Acting ReelCUCKOOThe Previous OwnerIf you’d like to learn more about my work, check out my website and download my free Sustainable Productivity Planner.Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

Welcome back to Honing In and to my interview with Dr. Briana Barner. Dr. Barner is an interdisciplinary critical and cultural communications scholar, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Maryland, and the developer of the Black Pod Class.You can learn more about Dr. Briana Barner here.  This episode covers many things, including:The history of the Black Pod ClassWorking with ADHD instead of working against itDeveloping a compassionate approach to academic projectsExploring hobbies and letting go of perfectionismNavigating academia as a parent, scholar, and creative thinkerResources MentionedJenn McClearen Black Pod Class Scrivener Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs Succulents LEGO setIf you’d like to learn more about my work, check out my website and download my free Sustainable Productivity Planner.Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support.

I’m thrilled to welcome Cody Cook-Parrott as my first guest on Honing In.Cody is a writer, artist, teacher, dancer, quilter, and scholar currently pursuing an MFA at Naropa University. They’re the author of many books (including The Practice of Attention, forthcoming January 2026 via Sounds True), the host of the podcast Common Shapes, and they run a weekly online writing group called Landscapes.You can learn more about Cody here.In today’s episode, Cody and I chat about many things, including:* Self-publishing and publishing with traditional presses* Cody’s experience with projects, containers, experiments, and practices* Boundaries around technology and social media* Shifting between platforms when you run an online business* The joys of archival research and Cody’s upcoming class on Joanne KygerResources Mentioned* Brick* Wisephone* Heather AndersonIf you’d like to learn more about my work, check out my website and download my free Sustainable Productivity Planner.I’ll be opening my books soon to take on a few new Success & Accountability Coaching Clients to begin coaching packages in March 2025.Big thanks to Softer Sounds Studio for podcast editing and support