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"Even though we're so diverse, we're all the same. We're all longing for the same thing — to belong, have a purpose in life, to understand why we are here on this planet." — Sonia Daccarett
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Sonia Daccarett is a writer and communications professional born in Colombia to a Christian Palestinian father and a Jewish mother. She holds an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a master's in international and public affairs from Columbia University. For more than two decades she worked on strategic communications for corporate and nonprofit clients. Her debut memoir, The Roots of the Guava Tree: Growing Up Jewish and Arab in Colombia, explores identity, belonging, and coming of age against the backdrop of 1980s Colombia. Mike and Sonia discuss how a casual memoir-writing class turned into a book, the challenge of writing childhood scenes in the voice of a child, navigating a multicultural identity in a homogenous society, and why she wanted to offer a first-person account of what ordinary Colombians endured during the country's violent 1980s.
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KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. A book that wasn't meant to be a book. Sonia enrolled in a memoir-writing class during a quieter chapter of her life, fell in love with the genre, and accumulated pages before realizing the recurring themes — identity, diaspora, family — could form a cohesive narrative.
2. Retraining the writing brain. After two decades of press releases and corporate communications, Sonia had to relearn scene, dialogue, and narrative writing — breaking free of the "five W's, tell it all on one page" mindset.
3. Writing in the child's voice was the breakthrough. The manuscript initially felt flat when told entirely from her mid-50s perspective. Switching to first person as a four-, six-, or fifteen-year-old brought the memories alive — though it meant extensive rewriting.
4. Rediscovering parents as complex people. One of the book's biggest gifts was moving beyond the unidimensional way children see adults and understanding her parents and grandparents as people navigating their own immigrant struggles.
5. A utopian experiment in identity. Her parents deliberately raised their children without religious labels or ethnic identifiers — a noble dream that left Sonia feeling identity-less in a society that expected you to know who you were.
6. A hidden diaspora. Most people don't know that a large Christian Arab population emigrated from the Ottoman Empire to Colombia in the 1910s, or that Jewish communities thrived in Latin America. Sonia wanted to broaden mainstream narratives about where Jews and Arabs live.
7. Colombia's 1980s through ordinary eyes. Beyond the Netflix portrayals of Pablo Escobar, the book offers a first-person account of what civil war between government, guerrillas, and cartels felt like for everyday families — the kidnappings, the fear, the impossible choices.
GET THE BOOK
The Roots of the Guava Tree: Growing Up Jewish and Arab in Colombia by Sonia Daccarett
Buy on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4aYCCx1
Buy on Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/54587/9781647429409
CONNECT WITH SONIA
Website: soniadaccarett.com
Instagram: @soniadaccarettauthor
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST
Mike Carlon | Uncorking a Story
Website: uncorkingastory.com
YouTube: @uncorkingastory
Instagram: @uncorkingastory
Facebook: Uncorking a Story
TikTok: @uncorkingastory
Twitter/X: @uncorkingastory
LinkedIn: Uncorking a Story
Subscribe & Leave a Review — It helps more readers and writers find the show!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/uncorking-a-story/id563636205
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RSS Feed: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/uncorkingastory
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Uncorking a Story is produced by Mike Carlon. New episodes drop every Tuesday.
#SoniaDaccarett #RootsOfTheGuavaTree #Colombia #Memoir #JewishIdentity #Palestinian #MulticulturalIdentity #Diaspora #LatinAmerica #Colombia1980s #ImmigrantStory #MemoirWriting #AuthorInterview #BookPodcast #UncorkingAStory #WritingCommunity #Nonfiction #CulturalIdentity #JewishAndArab #BookRecommendations
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"I'm convinced that these experiences that we have, where we feel so alone, that there's a huge portion of the rest of the world who's feeling the exact same way at any given time. And it's so important to see those things reflected so that we just don't feel like there's something wrong with us." — Anne H. Putnam
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Anne H. Putnam is a writer, editor, and teacher with an unending interest in the stories that shape our humanity. Her first memoir, Navel Gazing: One Woman's Quest for a Size Normal, was published in the UK and Commonwealth after she wrote it as part of a master's degree in creative nonfiction — never imagining it would actually be published. Her latest, Make Do and Mend: A Breakup Memoir, explores love, loss, and self-discovery with raw honesty and humor. It's the story of the end of her seven-year relationship and first engagement — a breakup that propelled her into therapy, across an ocean, and through a decade of emotional excavation before the book finally found its shape. After years of agents who loved it but couldn't figure out how to sell it, Anne chose to self-publish — and put serious investment into making the book indistinguishable from a traditionally published title. Mike and Anne talk about backing into a publishing deal at 28, writing 200,000 words before finding the right 80,000, the courage (or compulsion) behind vulnerability on the page, pushing back on editorial feedback, the stigma of self-publishing, and why the compost pile is a writer's best friend.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. Nothing is wasted — it all goes on the compost pile. Every word you write that doesn't make it into the final book becomes fertile ground for what comes next. Anne wrote 200,000 words before landing on the 80,000 that became Make Do and Mend.
2. Vulnerability isn't courage — it's compulsion. Anne doesn't experience sharing her story as brave. She has an unquenchable thirst for being understood, and memoir is the form that lets her explain herself fully. The vulnerability is the point, not the obstacle.
3. Structure helps, but free-falling teaches you something too. Her first book was written in a master's program with deadlines, workshops, and authority figures. The second was just her, alone, for a decade. Both approaches produced books — but the unstructured path required far more trust in the process.
4. You can push back on your editor. Anne's editor wanted her to be meaner about her ex. She resisted, choosing instead to present situations and let readers draw their own conclusions. Your name is on the cover — make choices you can stand by.
5. Traditional publishing is driven by capitalism, not quality. Agents and editors loved Anne's work but didn't know how to package or market it. Once your writing clears the "good enough" bar, the rest is about what publishers feel is safe to sell — something outside your control.
6. Self-publishing is a legitimate path. Anne invested in professional editing, a book coach, and a quality cover to ensure no reader would know the difference. The goal isn't sales volume — it's connection with readers who need the book.
7. It counts. Borrowing from her swimming routine: if you got in the swimsuit, it counts. If you got to the parking lot, it counts. Building the routine — showing up — matters more than any single session's output, especially for writers with ADHD.
GET THE BOOK
Make Do and Mend: A Breakup Memoir by Anne H. Putnam
Buy on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0i6jjwZu
Buy on Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/make-do-and-mend-a-breakup-memoir-anne-h-putnam/357d18d27975bf58
CONNECT WITH ANNE
Website: https://www.annehputnam.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ahputnam/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annehputnam
Substack: https://annehputnam.substack.com/
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST
Mike Carlon | Uncorking a Story
Website: https://uncorkingastory.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@uncorkingastory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncorkingastory/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uncorkingastory
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@uncorkingastory
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/uncorkingastory
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uncorking-a-story/
SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A REVIEW — It helps more readers and writers find the show!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/uncorking-a-story/id563636205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HZiAEtFlhAzk60Z4eAkhY
RSS Feed: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/uncorkingastory
Uncorking a Story is produced by Mike Carlon. New episodes drop every Tuesday.
YOUTUBE HASHTAGS
#MakeDoAndMend #AnneHPutnam #BreakupMemoir #SelfPublishing #MemoirWriting #WritingProcess #Vulnerability #CreativeNonfiction #NavelGazing #BodyImage #IndieAuthor #WritingCommunity #AuthorInterview #BookPodcast #UncorkingAStory #WriterLife #SelfPublishedAuthor #Heartbreak #Healing #NonfictionBooks #BookRecommendations #WritingAdvice #IndiePublishing #WomenWriters
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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"Any pain that you have — when people meet those pains and collect them back into themselves, they experience incredible power and wisdom and compassion and capacity. For that reason, I consider trauma to be a treasure." — Lillian Eve Moore
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Lillian Eve Moore is an author, executive coach, and self-described "psychonaut" whose new book draws on over 20 years of trauma-informed work. Her mother's schizophrenia ignited a lifelong quest for mental health solutions that actually work — a search that led her far beyond traditional psychiatry into ancient spiritual practices, somatic work, and eventually to founding Mindlight, a personal development company she's led since 2018. Her book, Treasure Hunting in the Underworld: A Guide for Healing and Claiming What's Yours, was born from the death of her stepmother and lays out a practical framework for navigating the hidden domain of the psyche — what she calls "the underworld" — where our traumas, patterns, and repressed memories live. Mike and Lillian talk about the gap between what people need and what mental health can provide, the role of love as the one element that truly heals, psychedelics versus traditional medication, and why your deepest fear and your biggest dream are almost always connected.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. Your tiger and your dream are connected. Lillian's lifelong fear of mental illness — her "tiger" — drove her toward her dream of self-realization and an incredible career helping others heal. The thing you fear most often points directly toward your purpose.
2. The underworld isn't the enemy. The "underworld" is Lillian's term for the psyche — the subconscious, the unconscious, the hidden parts of ourselves. It's not something to run from. It's a reservoir of creativity, power, and authenticity waiting to be reclaimed.
3. Trauma is treasure. When people meet their pain and integrate it back into themselves — rather than hiding it behind a wall — they unlock energy, wisdom, compassion, and the capacity to live bigger, more rewarding lives.
4. Love is the healing element. Regardless of the modality, the thing that heals is loving attention. Everyone has access to it — even if the access point is as small as a favorite tree, an auntie who was kind, or the feel of your sheets.
5. Healing is a proportions game. Can you conjure enough well-being, love, and happiness to hold space for a dose of pain? If yes, you can heal yourself. A practitioner helps manage the dosage.
6. Old practices deserve more respect than new ones. Spiritual traditions — the Vedas, qigong, breathwork, scriptural wisdom — are far older and better studied than 100-year-old psychiatry. Lillian built her framework by pulling together the best of what she found.
7. Amp up your dreams. When you feed your dreams and make them vivid, you gain the fortitude and courage to face your demons. Don't dumb them down to avoid what scares you.
GET THE BOOK
Treasure Hunting in the Underworld: A Guide for Healing and Claiming What's Yours by Lillian Eve Moore
Buy on Amazon: https://a.co/d/5jrcJ5Y
CONNECT WITH LILLIAN
Website: https://hello.lillianevemoore.com/podcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asklillianevemoore/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lillianevemoore
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lillianevemoore/
Podcast: The Deep Shift (Apple Podcasts, Spotify)
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST
Mike Carlon | Uncorking a Story
Website: https://uncorkingastory.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@uncorkingastory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncorkingastory/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uncorkingastory
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@uncorkingastory
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/uncorkingastory
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uncorking-a-story/
SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A REVIEW — It helps more readers and writers find the show!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/uncorking-a-story/id563636205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HZiAEtFlhAzk60Z4eAkhY
RSS Feed: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/uncorkingastory
Uncorking a Story is produced by Mike Carlon. New episodes drop every Tuesday.
YOUTUBE HASHTAGS
#TreasureHunting #Underworld #LillianEveMoore #Mindlight #TraumaHealing #MentalHealth #SelfHealing #InnerWork #Psychonaut #EmotionalMastery #ShadowWork #SelfAcceptance #TraumaRecovery #Psychedelics #Spirituality #PersonalDevelopment #ExecutiveCoach #AuthorInterview #BookPodcast #UncorkingAStory #WritingCommunity #SelfHelp #Nonfiction #BookRecommendations
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"This is a cautionary tale about how extremism and fascism can creep up on us. It always begins with hate speech and dehumanization... from verbal violence, it's a very short leap to physical violence." — Dr. Georgette Bennett
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Dr. Georgette Bennett is an award-winning sociologist, widely published author, former NBC News correspondent, and founder of both the Tanenbaum Center for Inter-Religious Understanding and the Multifaith Alliance for Syrian Refugees — which has mobilized more than $660 million in humanitarian aid. Her latest book, Half Jew, Full Life, tells the extraordinary story of Holocaust survivor Gary "Pips" Phillips, a distant relative who became a surrogate father to Georgette after her own father's death. Pips was classified by the Nazis as a Mischling — half-Jewish — yet voluntarily embraced his Jewish identity at the very moment it could be fatal. Mike and Georgette discuss Pips's four arrests and three escapes, the Nazis who unexpectedly saved his life, the challenge of writing a third-person memoir from psychiatric recordings, and why this story carries urgent lessons about identity, denial, and the creep of extremism.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. A Holocaust story unlike any other. Pips was a Mischling first degree — an Aryan mother, a Jewish father — who voluntarily chose to be Jewish by becoming a bar mitzvah the very week the Nuremberg Laws were enacted. Almost nothing has been written about people in this category.
2. Nazis both persecuted and saved him. Pips was arrested four times and escaped three times. In key moments, individual Nazis — motivated by love, lust, or personal connection — intervened to save his life, complicating the black-and-white narrative of the Holocaust.
3. Survival was his career. Living underground in Berlin among 6,500 Jews who went into hiding, Pips navigated a world where you couldn't buy food or rent a room without papers stamped with a "J." Every day was a question of where to eat and where to sleep.
4. Psychiatric tapes became the primary source. Pips recorded his life story across dozens of sessions with his psychiatrist. Georgette had them transcribed while he was still alive, giving the book an authentic first-person voice despite being written in third person.
5. Trauma never fully heals. Pips's wife Olga, an Auschwitz survivor, processed her experience through silence and ultimately took her own life in 2005. Pips's own trauma surfaced decades later as severe palpitations with no physical cause.
6. Identity is a lifelong negotiation. Pips spent his entire life seeking acceptance as a Jew despite never formally converting. The title Half Jew, Full Life comes from his own declaration: "I don't want to be a half Jew. I want to be a full Jew."
7. A cautionary tale for today. The book traces how extremism begins with hate speech and dehumanization, and how denial during that phase allows violence to escalate — a pattern Georgette sees playing out in the present day.
8. The American Dream, chapter two. After the war, Pips arrived in America as a waiter and bicycle messenger and ended up co-owning the largest photo agency in the world, hobnobbing with celebrities like Natalie Wood and Raquel Welch — never having owned a camera.
GET THE BOOK
Half Jew, Full Life by Dr. Georgette Bennett
Buy on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4v8qrFD
Buy on Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/54587/9781949846744
CONNECT WITH GEORGETTE
Website: https://www.bennettny.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgette-bennett-764786184/
CONNECT WITH YOUR HOST
Mike Carlon | Uncorking a Story
Website: https://uncorkingastory.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@uncorkingastory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncorkingastory/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uncorkingastory
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@uncorkingastory
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/uncorkingastory
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uncorking-a-story/
SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A REVIEW — It helps more readers and writers find the show!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/uncorking-a-story/id563636205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HZiAEtFlhAzk60Z4eAkhY
RSS Feed: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/uncorkingastory
Uncorking a Story is produced by Mike Carlon. New episodes drop every Tuesday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
"Just because the path of motherhood might not happen for me, it doesn't mean the nurturing goes away. I still want a seat at the table for how kids are raised." — Danielle Frank
About This Episode
Danielle Frank traded Hollywood red carpets for red wine — and now she's poured both passions into her debut book. After launching her career in entertainment publicity at Miramax International, where she worked on global film campaigns and rubbed elbows with A-listers at Cannes, Venice, and Berlin, Danielle pivoted into the luxury wine and spirits industry, spending 22+ years at Bacardi and Moët Hennessy. Her book, A Wine Lover's Guide to Parenting: The Fine Art of Wine & Whine Management, is a satirical, adults-only survival guide written in rhyme that blends wine terminology with parenting wisdom. Despite not being a parent herself, Danielle — a self-described "auntie extraordinaire" — brings a sharp, loving outsider's perspective to the comedy of raising kids. Mike and Danielle talk career pivots, the storytelling parallels between film and wine, game show obsessions, Billy Joel, and why you should never let your kid ferment.
Key Takeaways
1. It's all storytelling. Whether selling a film at Cannes or a bottle of wine at dinner, Danielle sees the through-line: you're creating a narrative that evokes feeling. That insight carried her from Miramax to Moët Hennessy.
2. You don't have to be a parent to care about parenting. Danielle wrote the book as a proud aunt and keen observer. Her "outsider with a front-row seat" perspective gives the humor its edge — she witnesses the triumphs and tantrums, glass in hand, no carpool duty required.
3. The book sat in a drawer for 14 years. Danielle wrote it over a decade ago but only published it last year. Her motivation: "If I go on my deathbed and I've done nothing with it, it's going to plague me."
4. Wine doesn't have to be intimidating. Every chapter uses real wine terminology — fermentation, varietal, mulled wine — and gives the definition in a fun, accessible way. It's wine education wrapped in comedy.
5. Don't let your kid ferment. Fermentation turns sugar into alcohol — something sweet into something harsh. The parallel to raising kids with manners writes itself, and Danielle's rhyming chapter on the topic is a showstopper.
6. Don't leave anything on the table. Danielle's life advice: you have one life to live, so go after things. She quit a toxic PR job without a backup plan, pivoted industries, and finally published the book she'd been sitting on — all by trusting the leap.
Get the Book
A Wine Lover's Guide to Parenting: The Fine Art of Wine & Whine Management by Danielle Frank
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wine-Lovers-Guide-Parenting/dp/1967598061
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-wine-lovers-guide-to-parenting-danielle-frank/1148414693
Connect with Danielle
Website: daniellefrankauthor.com
Instagram: @createagreatstory
Facebook: Danielle Frank
Connect with Your Host
Mike Carlon | Uncorking a Story
Website: uncorkingastory.com
YouTube: @uncorkingastory
Instagram: @uncorkingastory
Facebook: Uncorking a Story
TikTok: @uncorkingastory
Twitter/X: @uncorkingastory
LinkedIn: Uncorking a Story
Subscribe & Leave a Review — It helps more readers and writers find the show!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/uncorking-a-story/id563636205
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RSS Feed: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/uncorkingastory
Uncorking a Story is produced by Mike Carlon. New episodes drop every Tuesday.
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"It's about family, it's about traditions, it's about a sense of place. Italy is more than just food and wine. It's a feeling, it's an experience."
— J.A. Marz
About This Episode
J.A. Marz is a healthcare marketing strategist turned novelist whose Tuscany-set fiction has struck a chord with readers who love Italy as much as he does. His debut novella, Ciao, Amore Mio — The Tale of Gabby and Gio, follows a restless travel writer who arrives in Italy chasing stories and finds something far more personal at a family-owned agriturismo called La Terre Felice. The sequel, It's Sauce, Not Gravy!, debuted as a #1 Amazon Hot New Release in Tuscany Travel and digs deeper into memory, mystery, and what it means to fight for a place that feels like home. Mike, co-host Laura Nozicka, and John talk about the pull of Italy, career pivots from boardrooms to bookshops, the great sauce-vs-gravy debate, and why the best stories are rooted in a sense of place.
Key Takeaways
1. Write what you know — and what you love. John combined his three passions — Italy, golf, and writing — into a single story. He had the first and last chapters in his head for 10 years before the middle finally came together.
2. Italy is a feeling, not just a destination. The slower pace, fresh food, family-first culture, and sense of La Dolce Vita offer something Americans rarely experience at home. John tried to put readers in that feeling, not just describe the scenery.
3. Childhood memories are creative gold. John wove real family moments — his grandfather calling him "Prince of Wales," Sunday dinners, his grandmother's cooking — into the fabric of both novellas, giving the fiction an authentic emotional core.
4. The marketing of books is harder than writing them. Coming from healthcare marketing, John expected the promotional side to be familiar territory. Instead, he found that getting traction for a creative work is "10 times harder than marketing healthcare."
5. The sauce-vs-gravy debate is real — and it makes a great title. John chose It's Sauce, Not Gravy! knowing it would spark conversation in Italian-American circles. For his family, it was always sauce, meat or no meat.
6. The sequel deepens the story's themes. While the first book centers on love, loss, and family, It's Sauce, Not Gravy! explores legacy, connectivity, and the tension between wandering and finding home.
7. Book three is on the way. Set more heavily in Rome, it will lean into the city's art history — Michelangelo, Bernini, Caravaggio — and a more mature version of Gio. Expected in 2027.
Get the Books
Ciao, Amore Mio…The Tale of Gabby and Gio by J.A. Marz
Buy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/J-A-Marz/author/B0DRLGWSJW?tag=rettocasgra-20
It's Sauce, Not Gravy! by J.A. Marz
Buy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Its-Sauce-Not-Gravy-Ingredient/dp/B0GHGSZCJZ?tag=rettocasgra-20
Connect with John
Website: https://jam3strategicmarketingandpr.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jmarzano3/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.marzano.14
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmarzano1/
Connect with Your Host
Mike Carlon | Uncorking a Story
Website: https://uncorkingastory.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@uncorkingastory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncorkingastory/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uncorkingastory
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@uncorkingastory
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/uncorkingastory
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uncorking-a-story/
Subscribe & Leave a Review — It helps more readers and writers find the show!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/uncorking-a-story/id563636205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HZiAEtFlhAzk60Z4eAkhY
RSS Feed: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/uncorkingastory
Uncorking a Story is produced by Mike Carlon. New episodes drop every Tuesday.
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"Memory without responsibility is just nostalgia. We have to really be responsible — responsible adults — and make sure that the world doesn't forget what happened."
— Doron Keren
About This Episode
Dr. Doron Keren joins Mike to talk about his grandfather Ignacy Chiger's Holocaust memoir, Beneath the Lightless Sky, newly translated into English and published by Amsterdam Publishers. The book is a firsthand account of survival under two totalitarian regimes — first the Soviets, then the Nazis — in Lvov, Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine). At its center is an extraordinary escape: Ignacy led his family and a small group of Jews into the city's sewer system, where they survived 14 months in total darkness. It's a story of impossible choices, a father's determination to save his family, and the unlikely redemption of Leopold Socha — a Polish Catholic sewer worker and former thief who risked everything to keep them alive.
Key Takeaways
1. A memoir born from memory alone. In 1975, Ignacy Chiger typed his entire Holocaust memoir on a Polish typewriter during a visit to New York — from memory, with no notes — and passed away six months later.
2. Two books, two perspectives. Doron's mother, Krystyna Chiger, told her story in The Girl in the Green Sweater (2008) — a child's-eye view. His grandfather's memoir offers the perspective of a 33-year-old father making life-or-death decisions.
3. Survival required becoming a chameleon. Ignacy made himself indispensable to both Soviet NKVD officers and Nazi SS commanders by reading people, procuring goods, and navigating impossible situations.
4. The escape was an engineering feat. Ignacy remembered watching Italian POWs build the sewer encasement as a boy, then calculated the exact angle to dig a 20-foot tunnel through three feet of concrete — with no room for error.
5. Redemption came from an unlikely source. Leopold Socha, a common thief turned sewer worker, struck a deal to help the group — then continued without pay when the money ran out, seeing their survival as his path to forgiveness.
6. Humanity persists in the darkest places. In the sewer, Ignacy wrote plays for the group to perform — a way to pass time and feel human in conditions no human should endure.
7. Never Again is Always. Doron's message is that the capacity for atrocity lives within civilization itself, and vigilance must be constant — not a one-time declaration.
Get the Book
Beneath the Lightless Sky by Ignacy Chiger (edited by Doron Keren)
Published by Amsterdam Publishers — Holocaust Survivor Memoirs Series
Buy on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4cLd6f8
Buy on Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/54587/9789493418578
Related
The Girl in the Green Sweater by Krystyna Chiger with Daniel Paisner
In Darkness (2011) — directed by Agnieszka Holland, nominated for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Connect with Doron
Website: https://www.yellowdarkness.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beneaththelightlesssky/
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/beneaththelightlesssky
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beneaththelightlesssky
Connect with Your Host
Mike Carlon | Uncorking a Story
Website: https://mikecarlon.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@uncorkingastory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncorkingastory/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uncorkingastory
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@uncorkingastory
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/uncorkingastory
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uncorking-a-story/
Subscribe & Leave a Review — It helps more readers and writers find the show!
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/uncorking-a-story/id563636205
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5HZiAEtFlhAzk60Z4eAkhY
RSS Feed: https://feeds.megaphone.fm/uncorkingastory
Uncorking a Story is produced by Mike Carlon. New episodes drop every Tuesday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
"I really wanted to know about the numinous. I went to Burma to sit with a master. I got my master's degree. I did all kinds of things looking to find out what happened. And then I came back to realize that yes, in fact, I knew — I touched death. I saw death." — Sally Dukes
About This Episode
Sally Dukes joins Mike to talk about her memoir, drummer girl: A Story of Life After Death. At age three, Sally underwent open-heart surgery to treat a congenital heart disorder — and during the procedure, she had a near-death experience that would shape the rest of her life. The nickname "drummer girl" came from the way her heart beat so loudly before the surgery. What follows is a lifelong pilgrimage — from New York to India to a forest monastery in Burma to a Greek island — all in search of understanding what happened in that operating room. It's a conversation about near-death experiences, the healing power of writing, resilience in the face of trauma, and the courage it takes to finally tell your own story.
Key Takeaways
1. Writing has always been her voice. Sally describes herself as "not very verbal" — writing was always a better form of expression, from high school journals to the memoir itself.
2. A near-death experience at age three shaped her entire life. During open-heart surgery, Sally experienced a dark tunnel, a brilliant light, and an overwhelming feeling of love — an experience she spent decades trying to understand.
3. The surgeon's elephant became a powerful symbol. When young Sally's nightmares wouldn't stop, her surgeon drew an elephant on a yellow notepad and told her to hang it over her bed. The elephant — keeper of memories, remover of obstacles — became a recurring motif in her life and her book.
4. The memoir was built from a lifetime of journal entries. Sally's younger self gave her older self a gift — decades of writing that, when collated, all pointed to the same search for truth.
5. Resilience matters more than the trauma. Sally hopes readers focus not on the trauma in her story, but on the resilience — and on the message that death is nothing to fear.
6. You don't need to look outside yourself for answers. After traveling the world seeking confirmation of her experience, Sally ultimately realized she already knew her truth.
7. Writing the book was cathartic — and freeing. Sally describes the process as "coming clean" — finally sharing a story she'd never told anyone, and feeling liberated by it.
Get the Book
Drummer girl: A Story of Life After Death by Sally Dukes
Published by Koehler Books, March 17, 2026
Buy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G693CTC5/
Buy on Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/54587/9798897470525
Buy on Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/drummer-girl-sally-dukes/1148920173
Connect with Sally
Website: https://www.sallydukes.com/
Connect with Mike
Mike Carlon | Uncorking a Story
Website: https://mikecarlon.com/
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Subscribe & Leave a Review — It helps more readers and writers find the show!
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Uncorking a Story is produced by Mike Carlon. New episodes drop every Tuesday.
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"On the outside, I too looked like a pretty picture. Inside, I was dying. I had so much pain and shame and suffering. Pretending isn't enough to make it go away." — Andrea Leeb
About This Episode
Andrea Leeb spent decades building a life that looked perfect from the outside — nurse, attorney, MFA graduate, happily married. But behind that picture was a secret she carried since she was four years old. In this deeply honest conversation, Andrea tells Mike about her debut memoir Such a Pretty Picture, which chronicles her survival of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of her father, her complicated relationship with the mother who looked away, and the long road to finding her voice. She also talks about surviving the 2004 tsunami in Thailand, how the Me Too movement gave her the courage to finally write the story she'd sworn she'd never tell, and why healing is never a straight line. Andrea is donating all of her book royalties to the UCLA Rape Treatment Center and RAINN.
Key Takeaways
1. She survived a tsunami — and it changed everything. In 2004, Andrea and her husband survived the Christmas Day tsunami in Thailand. That brush with death made her realize she needed to stop treating writing as a hobby and start treating it as a calling.
2. She swore she'd never write this story. For years, Andrea outlined the book and then told herself no. She wrote fiction, essays, anything else. It wasn't until her father passed away in 2017 — the same year the Me Too movement began — that she finally felt free to tell the truth.
3. Her mother caught the abuse and went blind. When Andrea was four and a half, her mother walked in on the abuse, screamed, passed out, and developed hysterical blindness for a month. Andrea blamed herself. Her mother never left her father.
4. Forgiveness and letting go aren't the same thing. Andrea never forgave her father, but she did let go of the anger — a distinction she says was essential to writing the book without creating monsters. She ultimately forgave her mother.
5. The title came from her editor, not from her. Andrea struggled with the title through every draft. Her publisher found a line in the book where Andrea's mother looks at a childhood photo and says, "Such a pretty picture" — a perfect encapsulation of the beautiful surface hiding the chaos underneath.
6. Pretending works until it doesn't. Andrea kept her secret for decades and appeared fine — until a stranger touched her on the subway and she unraveled. Her message to survivors: you can heal, but you have to get help. Pretending won't make it go away.
7. She's giving away every dollar. All royalties from Such a Pretty Picture go to the UCLA Rape Treatment Center and RAINN. What started as a mission to help one person has grown into full-time advocacy, including board work and policy efforts.
Get the Book
Such a Pretty Picture: A Memoir by Andrea Leeb
Amazon: https://amzn.to/47NPt3M
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/a/54587/9781647429942
Connect with Andrea
Website: https://www.andrealeebauthor.com/
Instagram: @andrealisaleeb
Threads: @andrealisaleeb
Connect with Mike
Website: https://uncorkingastory.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@uncorkingastory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncorkingastory/
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Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/uncorkingastory
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uncorking-a-story/
Subscribe and Leave a Review — It helps more readers and writers find the show!
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Uncorking a Story is produced by Mike Carlon. New episodes drop every Tuesday.
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"I think there was some empathy for my younger self that I probably didn't have before... I think writing the book, I could look at myself as a seven-year-old girl or a thirteen-year-old with a lot of anger and a lot of reasonable reason to feel abandoned, rather than, wow, I was just really a problem child." — Jacque Gorelick
Jacque Gorelick joins Mike to talk about her memoir, Map of a Heart: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Finding the Way Home. The book follows a seemingly ordinary family outing that turns into a medical crisis when Jacque's husband collapses from cardiac arrest on a trail — with their nine-week-old son in the stroller beside her. Woven through that harrowing day is the story of Jacque's rootless childhood, the loss of her mother at age eight, and years of family estrangement. It's a conversation about grief, resilience, the power of writing to heal, and the family we build for ourselves when the one we were born into falls apart.
Key Takeaways:
Words have power from an early age. Jacque's love of writing started as a child — from clubhouse rules to thank-you notes — and eventually led her to memoir.
Distance helps when writing about trauma. Having ten years between the medical crisis and putting pen to paper gave Jacque the perspective to write about it without being consumed by it.
Writing memoir can build empathy for your younger self. Revisiting painful childhood memories allowed Jacque to see herself with compassion rather than shame.
A cardiac arrest is not the same as a heart attack. Jacque learned firsthand that cardiac arrest is an electrical event that can strike even a healthy, active person.
Caring for a newborn can be grounding in a crisis. The routine demands of nursing and caring for her son kept Jacque anchored during the most terrifying hours of her life.
Found family matters. Despite estrangement from her biological family, Jacque discovered that the people who show up unconditionally become the family that counts.
Reconnection is possible, even after decades. After more than 30 years of silence, Jacque reconnected with her brother — a reminder that it's never too late, even when it's complicated.
Buy Map of a Heart:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/3988322261?linkCode=ll2&tag=rettocasgra-20&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/54587/9783988322265
Connect with Jacque:
Website: https://www.jacquegorelick.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacgorelick/
Connect with Mike:
Website: https://mikecarlon.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@uncorkingastory
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“You don’t need to find your ikigai—you already have it. You just need to notice it.” — Nick Kemp
What if purpose isn’t something you chase—but something you already have? In this episode, Mike sits down with Nick Kemp, founder of Ikigai Tribe and author of A Year of Ikigai, to explore a more grounded, human take on purpose. Nick shares how a guy who once hated writing ended up publishing books, building a global community, and helping others reconnect with meaning—through small, everyday moments. This conversation challenges the Western obsession with “big purpose” and offers a simpler, more sustainable way to live a meaningful life.
Key Takeaways:
You already have purpose. Ikigai isn’t a destination—it’s found in everyday experiences, relationships, and roles.
Western culture overcomplicates purpose. We chase the “perfect job” or passion, while overlooking meaning in ordinary moments.
Curiosity can change your life. Nick’s journey—from podcast to books—started with simply asking better questions.
Small moments are the big moments. A cup of coffee, a conversation, or a quiet walk can carry more meaning than major achievements.
Writing doesn’t require perfection—just honesty. Nick went from struggling with English to writing from lived experience and the heart.
Technology is pulling us away from meaning. The more distracted we become, the harder it is to notice what actually matters.
Be present, not perfect. Life satisfaction comes from awareness and gratitude—not chasing an ideal version of success.
Buy A Year of Ikigai: Finding Everyday Purpose Through Japanese Wisdom
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4uP5m3O
Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/54587/9781577155485
Connect with Nick
Website: https://ikigaitribe.com/
Podcast: https://ikigaitribe.com/podcasts/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-kemp-author/
Connect with Mike
Website: https://uncorkingastory.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@uncorkingastory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncorkingastory/
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uncorking-a-story/
If you like this episode, please share it with a friend. If you have not done so already, please rate and review Uncorking a Story on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
#Ikigai #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #AuthorLife #WritingCommunity #PurposeDrivenLife #MindfulLiving #PodcastLife #UncorkingAStory #CreativeJourney
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“We suffer as humans—and writing gives us a place to put that pain, to understand it, and maybe even transform it.”— Priya Hutner
What happens when the life you’ve built—your beliefs, your community, your identity—suddenly falls apart? In this episode of Uncorking a Story, Priya Hutner shares her extraordinary journey from growing up and leading within a spiritual ashram to rebuilding her life in Lake Tahoe. Her memoir, Chasing Nirvana, is part spiritual adventure, part cautionary tale, and deeply human at its core. We explore identity, reinvention, the healing power of writing, and what it really means to come back to yourself after everything you thought you knew no longer fits.
Key Takeaways:
When belief systems break: Priya opens up about leaving a decades-long life inside a spiritual community and the emotional fallout that followed.
Rebuilding identity from scratch: After leaving the ashram, she spent years rediscovering who she was outside of that structure.
Memoir as catharsis: Writing Chasing Nirvana became both a healing process and a way to make sense of her past.
The power of storytelling: Priya discusses how writing helps us process pain, reframe our experiences, and find resilience.
Spirituality vs. self-discovery: The conversation explores the fine line between seeking enlightenment and losing oneself in the process.
Alternative paths to healing: From therapy to plant medicine, Priya shares the unconventional tools that helped her reconnect with herself.
Creativity as a way forward: Whether through writing, cooking, or teaching, Priya continues to channel her experiences into meaningful work and community.
Buy Chasing Nirvana
Amazon: https://amzn.to/40D4P7e
Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/54587/9798896360889
Connect with Priya
Website: https://www.priyahutner.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/priya.hutner
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/priyahutner/
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@priyahutner?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D
Connect with Mike
Website: https://uncorkingastory.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@uncorkingastory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncorkingastory/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uncorkingastory
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@uncorkingastory
Twitter: https://twitter.com/uncorkingastory
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uncorking-a-story/
#UncorkingAStory #MemoirWriting #WritingCommunity #AuthorInterview #CreativeJourney #HealingThroughWriting #SpiritualJourney #SelfDiscovery #AmWriting #WritersLife
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“If you want to be a writer for money, you’re in the wrong place. The authors who last are the ones who truly love the craft.” — Christian Toms-Arbel
Christian Toms-Arbel has been telling stories since childhood. Born with a disability that required multiple surgeries, he spent long stretches in hospital wards immersed in books—and eventually began writing his own stories. Years later, after earning a degree and master’s in creative writing, he published his debut psychological thriller The Mannequins.
In this episode of Uncorking a Story, Christian shares the personal experiences that shaped his writing, how trauma can fuel storytelling, and the unconventional path that led him to publish his first novel.
Key Takeaways:
Early hardship sparked a love of storytelling. Spending time in hospitals as a child introduced Christian to books and ultimately inspired him to begin writing horror stories at just eight years old.
A teacher’s encouragement can change everything. One supportive teacher’s feedback convinced him he had real potential as a writer—helping set him on the path to studying creative writing.
Trauma can become creative fuel. Christian believes writing dark fiction is partly a way of processing personal trauma and exploring difficult emotions in a safe creative space.
The Mannequins takes a different approach to crime fiction. Rather than focusing only on the investigation, the novel explores how a killer is made, weaving the murderer’s upbringing into the narrative.
Indie publishing requires entrepreneurial thinking. Christian built an ARC reader team, generated early reviews, and treated publishing like running a small business.
Writing outside your identity can build empathy. His novel features a mixed-heritage female detective—a perspective he carefully developed with help from his wife as editor and advisor.
Persistence matters more than perfection. Even after being caught in a publishing scam, Christian continued forward and successfully launched his book independently.
Buy The Mannequins
Amazon: https://amzn.to/46QmsE4
Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/54587/9781919216201
Connect with Christian
Website: https://www.ctomsarbel.co.uk/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/c.tomsarbel/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@c.tomsarbel
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61580209287042
Connect with Mike
Website: https://uncorkingastory.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@uncorkingastory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncorkingastory/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uncorkingastory
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#WritingCommunity #IndieAuthor #CrimeThriller #PsychologicalThriller #AmWriting #AuthorInterview #UncorkingAStory
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“The story came out of me when it was supposed to come out of me—after living a whole life.” – Leigh Shalloway
In this episode of Uncorking a Story, Mike Carlon sits down with novelist and holistic care practitioner Leigh Shalloway to explore the long, winding journey behind her debut novel, Journey Back to You. From a third‑grade writing setback to decades of professional work in psychology, hospice care, and healing touch, Leigh shares how lived experience, perseverance, and compassion shaped both her voice as a writer and the emotional depth of her story. Together, they discuss class divides, family systems, grief, love, and what it truly means to come home to yourself.
Key Takeaways:
Stories sometimes wait for us to be ready. Leigh’s novel emerged decades after its first seed was planted—only after life experience gave her the depth it required.
Resilience is one of a writer’s greatest characteristics. From harsh editorial feedback to vision loss and countless rewrites, perseverance made publication possible.
Fiction and psychology are deeply intertwined. Leigh’s background in counseling and school psychology informs her nuanced portrayal of family systems, trauma, and growth.
Class divides still shape American communities. Journey Back to You uses a Pennsylvania steel town to explore “haves” and “have-nots” with empathy and realism.
Hospice work teaches us how to live. Bearing witness at the end of life deepened Leigh’s understanding of humanity, grief, and connection.
Publishing doesn’t have one right path. Leigh chose a hybrid publishing model to get her story into the world—and keep writing the next ones.
Healing is both personal and communal. The novel’s central journey mirrors Leigh’s belief that growth happens through relationships, not in isolation.
Buy Journey Back to You
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4rJ6sMr
Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/54587/9798897470181
Connect with Leigh
Website: https://www.hilltownseries.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leighshalloway/
Connect with Mike
Website: https://uncorkingastory.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@uncorkingastory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncorkingastory/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uncorkingastory
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uncorking-a-story/
If you like this episode, please share it with a friend. If you have not done so already, please rate and review Uncorking a Story on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
#JourneyBackToYou #AuthorInterview #WomenWriters #HealingThroughStory #RomancePlus #WritingLife #DebutNovel #ClassAndCommunity
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“Maybe what Jesus really wanted was to show us what we’re all capable of—and that we’ve simply forgotten our own power.” — Kris Land
In this mind‑expanding conversation, Mike sits down with author, spiritual thinker, and serial entrepreneur Kris Land to explore the provocative ideas behind his book The Infinity Within. Kris shares his extraordinary lifelong experiences—from childhood out‑of‑body moments to a near‑death incident that shattered his assumptions about reality. Along the way, he offers a bold framework for understanding the soul, reincarnation, emotion as the driver of existence, and life as a multidimensional game designed for growth. Whether you're spiritually curious or simply love a conversation that stretches the imagination, this one is a ride.
Key Takeaways:
A lifetime of unusual experiences shaped Kris’s worldview—including early out‑of‑body events and a near‑death experience that provided “physical proof” something deeper was happening.
Kris sees life as a game that souls choose to play—complete with rules, turns, and the challenge of experiencing emotion within time.
Forgetfulness is part of the design: In Kris’s model, souls agree to “forget” their abilities so they can meaningfully experience joy, loss, fear, and growth.
Synchronicities aren’t coincidences—he believes we orchestrate encounters for mutual learning, often without conscious awareness.
Writing The Infinity Within shifted his entire understanding of spirituality, especially the possibility that Jesus acted more as teacher than pedestal.
The book blends fiction and memoir through the character Gabe and mentor Elias, inviting readers to question their beliefs rather than adopt his.
The audiobook narrator story is wild—a renowned voice actor paused all other projects to record Kris’s book after reading just 15 minutes.
Buy The Infinity Within
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4tO4fRj
Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/54587/9798765262016
Connect with Kris
Website: https://krisland.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheInfinityWithin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theinfinitywithin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_infinity_within_me/
Connect with Mike
Website: https://uncorkingastory.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@uncorkingastory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncorkingastory/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uncorkingastory
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@uncorkingastory
Twitter: https://twitter.com/uncorkingastory
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uncorking-a-story/
If you like this episode, please share it with a friend. If you have not done so already, please rate and review Uncorking a Story on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
#TheInfinityWithin #KrisLand #SpiritualAwakening #AuthorInterview #UncorkingAStory #Consciousness #SoulJourney #PersonalTransformation #worldreligions
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"Writing made me feel like I mattered — like I was taking up space in the universe that could be shared..”
In this episode, Mike uncorks the story of historical fiction author Jane Loeb Rubin, whose career as a writer began with an unexpected catalyst: an ovarian cancer diagnosis. What started as a therapeutic memoir evolved into a multi‑book, award‑winning series exploring immigrant life, women’s rights, early medical practices, and the tumultuous decades that shaped modern America. Jane shares how uncovering her great‑grandmother Tilly’s forgotten story led her deep into history — from 19th‑century New York tenements to the battlefields and hospitals of World War I, and forward into Prohibition‑era Catskills and the cultural revolution of the 1960s. This episode is perfect for fans of historical fiction, family‑rooted storytelling, and the intersection of medicine, resilience, and creativity.
Key Takeaways:
How a cancer diagnosis launched Jane’s writing journey, beginning with a memoir that helped her process trauma and preserve her legacy for future generations.
The rediscovery of her great‑grandmother Tilly, whose lost history inspired a trilogy exploring immigrant life, women’s health, and societal constraints in the late 1800s.
An inside look at Jane’s meticulous world‑building, from New York’s tenements to WWI medical units, blending her healthcare background with her passion for history.
The surprising role of WWI in America’s “melting pot,” including Jane’s research into immigrant soldiers and real letters that shaped her storytelling.
A preview of Mayhem in the Mountains, a Prohibition‑era story featuring runaway children, Catskills farmland, gangsters, and local clashes with the KKK.
Why writing remains therapeutic for Jane, keeping her grounded, purposeful, and creatively energized as she continues work on book five.
The cultural and personal forces driving her next novel, which journeys into the 1960s–70s to explore women’s changing roles amid seismic social shifts.
Explore Jane’s Books
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4stLy4b
Connect with Jane
Website: https://www.janeloebrubin.com/
X: twitter.com/LoebRubin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janeloebrubinauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janeloebrubin/
Connect with Mike
Website: https://uncorkingastory.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@uncorkingastory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncorkingastory/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uncorkingastory
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@uncorkingastory
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uncorking-a-story/
If you like this episode, please share it with a friend. If you have not done so already, please rate and review Uncorking a Story on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
#HistoricalFiction #AuthorInterview #WomensHistory #OvarianCancerAwareness #ImmigrantStories #WWIHistory #ProhibitionEra #BookPodcast #WritingJourney #CreativeHealing
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“The more you unpack something—or uncork it—the less power it holds over you.”
In this powerful episode of Uncorking a Story, host Mike Carlon sits down with cultural and medical anthropologist Mimi Nichter, whose new memoir Hostage revisits the harrowing 1970 hijacking that changed her life forever. Now a professor emerita and award‑winning anthropologist, Mimi opens up about the 21 days she spent as a hostage in Jordan, how decades of silence shaped her identity, and why she finally chose to share her story more than 50 years later.
This conversation dives deep into trauma, resilience, memory, and the healing power of storytelling—making it a must‑listen for memoir lovers, history buffs, and anyone fascinated by the inner mechanics of survival.
Key Takeaways:
How a 1970 hijacking led to the first use of airport metal detectors and reshaped air travel safety worldwide.
Why Mimi kept the trauma silent for decades—and how cultural expectations around women’s stories contributed to that silence.
What it means to remember: Mimi’s process of uncovering a long‑hidden box of artifacts and confronting the depth of her own memories.
The surprising role of children in her survival during the hostage crisis, and how caring for them helped her manage fear.
Trauma, resilience, and healing: why writing Hostage became an emotional but liberating journey.
How reconnecting with fellow hostages 50 years later reopened conversations and fostered communal healing.
Why her memoir matters now, in a world where hostage‑taking remains tragically relevant.
Buy HOSTAGE: A Memoir of Terrorism, Trauma, and Resilience
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3NT2P7Q
Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/54587/9781640126848
Connect with Mimi
Website: https://www.miminichter.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miminichter/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mimi-nichter-30673313/
X (Twitter): https://x.com/MimiNichter
Connect with Mike
Website: https://uncorkingastory.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@uncorkingastory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncorkingastory/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uncorkingastory
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@uncorkingastory
Twitter: https://twitter.com/uncorkingastory
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uncorking-a-story/
If you like this episode, please share it with a friend. If you have not done so already, please rate and review Uncorking a Story on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
#MimiNichter #HostageMemoir #UncorkingAStory #Hijacking1970 #TraumaHealing #MemoirWriting #AuthorInterview #ResilienceStories #Anthropology #SurvivingTrauma #TrueStoryBooks
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Let help uncork your memoir through a 12 week memoir mentorship program: https://mikecarlon.com/memoir-cohorts/
"Medicine knows a patient’s disease, but it does not know the patient — and that is where the real crisis lies." — Dr. Robert Smith
In this powerful episode of Uncorking a Story, Mike sits down with Dr. Robert Smith, a nationally recognized pioneer in evidence‑based mental health care and physician‑patient communication. Drawing from his new book Has Medicine Lost Its Mind?, Dr. Smith reveals how our current medical system inadequately prepares doctors for the most common health issues in America — mental health conditions — and why this failure is costing lives, families, and entire communities.
From formative early-career mistakes to the creation of the first patient‑centered interviewing method, Dr. Smith shares a compelling journey of awakening, reform, and hope. If you've ever wondered why navigating mental health care feels so broken — or what it would take to fix it — this conversation is essential listening.
Key Takeaways:
The mental health crisis is rooted in medical education. Doctors receive only 2% of training in mental health, despite mental illness being the most common health condition in the U.S.
A powerful personal failure reshaped Dr. Smith’s career. A patient's diary — detailing how unheard she felt — sparked his lifelong mission to reform how physicians communicate and treat mental health.
Primary care doctors handle most mental health cases — untrained. Psychiatrists see only about 12% of mental health patients; primary care sees the rest, often without adequate preparation.
The mind–body split dates back to the 1500s. Deep historical roots shape modern medicine’s exclusion of psychological and social factors, to the detriment of today’s patients.
Untreated mental illness drives society-wide consequences. Divorce, addictions, homelessness, incarceration, and even suicide can often be traced back to missed diagnoses in primary care.
Dr. Smith proposes a Second Flexner Report. A federally led investigation could expose systemic failures and force medical education to modernize.
Listeners can take action today. Dr. Smith provides tools on his website — robertcsmithmd.com — for contacting political leaders and advocating reform.
Buy Has Medicine Lost Its Mind
Amazon: https://amzn.to/46Iaw7a
Bookshop:https://bookshop.org/a/54587/9781493087655
Connect with Dr. Smith
Website https://www.robertcsmithmd.com/
X: https://x.com/RobertCSmithMD
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RobertCSmithMD
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertcsmithmd/
Connect with Mike
Website: https://uncorkingastory.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@uncorkingastory
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uncorkingastory
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@uncorkingastory
Twitter: https://twitter.com/uncorkingastory
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uncorking-a-story/
If you like this episode, please share it with a friend. If you have not done so already, please rate and review Uncorking a Story on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
#MentalHealthCrisis #HealthcareReform #PatientCenteredCare #MedicalEducation #UncorkingAStory #DrRobertSmith #HasMedicineLostItsMind #PrimaryCareMentalHealth
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“It’s never too late — never too late to heal, to learn, to evolve, or to create a relationship built on something truer than what you grew up with.” — Joelle Lydon
In this powerful and deeply human conversation, author and relationship coach Joëlle Lydon uncorks the journey that led to her book Unbreakable Us. Raised in a chaotic family system and identifying as a highly sensitive person, Joëlle spent years navigating old patterns, heartbreak, and healing. Through expressive arts, coaching, and a radical year‑long experiment to change her beliefs about love, she rebuilt her relational “operating system” — and now helps others do the same.
Joëlle shares her path from a 32‑year teaching career to becoming a relationship facilitator, how she met the partner who transformed her understanding of love, and why she believes relationships aren’t just between two people — but with a living, sacred third. Whether you’re single, partnered, or somewhere in between, this episode offers wisdom, humor, and a hopeful reminder that love is infinite — and it’s never too late to begin again.
Key Themes:
We teach what we most need to learn. Joëlle realized her challenges with relating were her greatest calling as a coach and writer.
Highly sensitive people often develop deep empathy — and coping strategies. Her sensitivity was both innate and amplified by a chaotic home environment.
Old family dynamics shape adult relationships — until we examine them. Joëlle’s upbringing taught her to see love as transactional, a pattern she had to unlearn.
A rock‑bottom moment became her turning point. A painful breakup led her into deep self‑work and a year‑long project intentionally reframing her beliefs about men.
Love is not a commodity — it’s a living system. Joëlle describes intimacy as an ever‑present field we must stay aware of, not something given in “crumbs.”
Relationships include a “sacred third.” She teaches that a partnership is not just two people, but a third entity — the relationship itself — that must be tended.
It’s never too late to begin again. Whether healing childhood wounds or reigniting long‑term partnerships, growth is always possible.
Buy Unbreakable Us: Removing the Barriers to Love
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4tEoIIq
Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/54587/9781956442625
Connect with Joelle
Website: https://joellelydon.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joellelydon/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YourLovebyDesign
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joellelydon/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@joellelydon
Connect with Mike
Website: https://uncorkingastory.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@uncorkingastory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncorkingastory/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uncorkingastory
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@uncorkingastory
Twitter: https://twitter.com/uncorkingastory
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uncorking-a-story/
If you like this episode, please share it with a friend. If you have not done so already, please rate and review Uncorking a Story on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
#UncorkingAStory #JoelleLydon #UnbreakableUs #RelationshipHealing #ExpressiveArts #TraumaHealing #LoveAndGrowth #HighlySensitivePerson #PersonalTransformation #PodcastInterview
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“There’s always another way of looking at things. Collaborators win bigger—in business, families, communities, everywhere.”
In this episode of Uncorking a Story, Mike sits down with Priscilla McKinney—CEO and “Mama Bird” of Little Bird Marketing, author of Collaboration Is the New Competition, keynote speaker, podcaster, and lifelong creative. From growing up as part of a traveling Christian family band to building a thriving B2B marketing agency, Priscilla shares her remarkable journey of resilience, reinvention, and redefining what leadership looks like. She opens up about the tornado that destroyed her studio, the anthropology roots that shaped her worldview, the collaborative mindset behind her book, and the power of creating something from nothing.
Whether you’re a marketer, creative, entrepreneur, or leader, this conversation will inspire you to think differently about how work gets done—and why collaboration beats competition every time.
Key Themes:
Creative roots matter. Priscilla’s childhood—writing skits, spoofing commercials, performing with her family—instilled a lifelong belief that ideas can come from anywhere.
Anthropology shaped her business philosophy. Her cultural anthropology background trained her to see multiple perspectives and understand human behavior—an essential lens for modern marketing and collaboration.
Resilience can redefine your path. After a tornado destroyed 35% of her town and her studio burned down weeks later, Priscilla rebuilt with clarity and purpose, eventually creating Little Bird Marketing.
Collaboration outperforms competition. Her book breaks down the mindset shift required to work collaboratively and the “anchors” needed to make collaboration sustainable long‑term.
Writing is never a solitary act. From scribes to editors to industry peers, Priscilla highlights how creating a book is inherently collaborative—even when the ideas are your own.
Self‑publishing can be a strategic business choice. With an existing platform, team, and marketing machine, Priscilla turned her book into a powerful calling card for speaking, podcasting, and client growth.
Little Bird Marketing thrives in B2B. Her team blends creativity with serious revenue discipline, helping high‑ticket B2B brands stand out, differentiate, and grow.
Buy Collaboration Is the New Competition: Why the Future of Work Rewards a Cross-Pollinating Hive Mind & How Not to Get Left Behind
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4tluPRR
Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/54587/9781544535418
Connect with Priscilla
Website: https://littlebirdmarketing.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/priscillamckinney/
Podcast: https://podcast.littlebirdmarketing.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littlebirdmktg/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/littlebirdmarketing
Connect with Mike
Website: https://uncorkingastory.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@uncorkingastory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncorkingastory/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uncorkingastory
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@uncorkingastory
Twitter: https://twitter.com/uncorkingastory
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uncorking-a-story/
If you like this episode, please share it with a friend. If you have not done so already, please rate and review Uncorking a Story on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
#UncorkingAStory #PriscillaMcKinney #LittleBirdMarketing #CollaborationIsTheNewCompetition #B2BMarketing #CreativeLeadership #PodcastInterview #WomenInBusiness #MarketingStrategy #AuthorInterview
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