Behind the Book Cover

Arlina Allen is many things. A Silicon Valley executive, she is also a writer, the host of The ODAAT Chat podcast and the founder of Sober Life School. Sober since 1994, she's been married for 21 years and is the mother of two teenage boys.   In her own words...   "When I was 25 I hit rock bottom.   I had managed to alienate my family and all my friends. Although I was ambitious, my drinking and using was getting the way of my sales career. My heart was broken after ending a relationship and I had no evidence that I would ever feel different.   I stood at the abyss and I had to make a decision.   Through a series of fortunate events, I managed to find a community of people who had overcome their addictions and were willing to help me do the same.   These people changed the entire trajectory of my life.   I started out feeling lost, full of self loathing, demoralized and hopeless. But after a short time, my life began to transform. I felt a new zest for life. I began to see life beyond addiction. It was as if the veil in front of my eyes had lifted and I could see a path to the life I had always dreamed of.   All I ever needed was the right information, the right support and the willingness to do the necessary work. For that, I will be forever grateful.   After this type of “near death” experience, it is human nature to want to shout the message of recovery to the entire world."   In this episode, we talk about long-term sobriety, dating cops and why it's so important to share your story with the world.

Anna David is a NY Times bestselling author, journalist, occasional TV talking head, coach, creator of this podcast, CEO of Light Hustle Publishing and the person typing these words.   This story involves the time she opted to respond to a missive from a stranger that read "I'm hot and you're hot; plus, I'm sober and you're sober."   But was he sober? Well, that's something she found out more about when he moved from LA to New York to be with her. Just how did this love story end? You're going to have to listen to find out.

Bucky Sinister s a stand-up comedian and author of nine books, including Black Hole: A Novel and Get Up: A 12-Step Guide to Recovery for Misfits, Freaks and Weirdos.   He's told many stories at numerous shows—including one where he brought a now-deceased friend (in an urn) up on stage with him—but it's safe to say this is the most graphic tale he's told at a Light Hustler show.   Just how does a story about dating a mysterious woman with a mohawk get graphic? Let's just say it has to do with a tattoo of hers he discovered in an intimate moment.   Want to know what in God's name that means? You're going to have to listen.

Lauren Wallet is an award-nominated actress and director who starred on the South African reality show My Top Billing Dream, has been interviewed on national television since she was nine years old, and ran Star Quality Performing Art School and Fame Academy in South Africa.   The story she told starts off innocently enough—a nice night out in South Africa with a few new friends but quickly devolved into flying across the world for a romantic adventure with a guy she met in a blackout.

Matt Lieb is a comedian, writer, and actor from Los Angeles. As a stand up comedian in San Francisco, he was named one of the “2016 Best Comedians in the Bay Area” by SFist and has performed at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival 2017, SF Skecthfest 2013-2017, and the 10,000 Laughs Festival in Minneapolis.   Matt’s comedy has been featured on the VICELAND, Hulu, SeeSo, and Gabriel Iglesias’ “Stand Up Revolution Radio” on SiriusXM. Currently, Matt is a correspondent on Emmy Nominated short form series The Star Wars Show, a writer/performer on Newsbroke on AJ+, and staff writer for Audible’s original series Bedtime Stories for Cynics with Nick Offerman, where he has written for David Spade, Tommy Chong, Nick Thune, and more.   In this story, he talked about an attempt to get clean from heroin which ended with a realization that he could get high one last time, in his childhood bedroom, if he was willing to use a turkey baster to inject drugs into a place that sun doesn't shine.   Yep, that place.

Matt Gallagher is an actor and comedian who has performed all around New York and Los Angeles. His work can also be seen on CBS, ESPN, The History Channel, and MTV. He created and starred in the popular live storytelling series THE STORY CELLAR with Jessica Wood, and you can see his first one hour special, A Stumble in the Woods, on Amazon now.   In this story, Matt delves into a night he decided to try acid. And then decided to do more acid. And then decided to get into a cage with a bull. Yep. It's all true. Listen and you'll find out.   If you want to find out what happened, you have to listen.   SHOULD YOU BE SHARING YOUR STORY? CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT!

Anna David isn't just the person writing these words. She's also the NY Times bestselling author of seven books, TV talking head, journalist and blah blah.   In this episode (taken from the Light Hustler live storytelling show), she/I tells/tell a story about an early sobriety "date" with a movie star, who taught her/me that the glamorous life may not be all it's cracked up to be.

Kane Holloway is a Seattle native who resides in sunny L.A. Kane is a nationally touring comedian, podcast host and he has performed on "Laughs on Fox." He has appeared on VH1's "Walk of Shame Shuttle," "FNX Comedy Experience" and started the Podaholics comedy network. You can hear his comedy album "See What I Did There?" On iTunes.   In this episode, he talks about a night he and his friend stole his dad's car but also delves into a potential answer to the age-old question: what happened when you see your friend wearing his pants as a shirt?

A native of West Texas, Debi Hall has appeared on film and performed in Dallas as well as in Story Salon, BackStory, I Love A Good Story in Los Angeles. She’s written story collections for performance, a collection of screenplays and several novels.   In this episode, she tells a story about the surprising way she found to handle a low point in her sobriety.

Eddie Pepitone has appeared on numerous hit TV shows, including It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Sarah Silverman, Jimmy Kimmel, Last Comic Standing, Chappelle’s Show and Law and Order. He’s performed at some of the biggest venues in the comedy scene including The Improv, Caroline’s on Broadway, Largo at the Coronet, and both the LA and NY Upright Citizens Brigade Theaters. He hosts the popular comedy podcast Pep Talks and is the subject of The Bitter Buddha. In this episode, he touches on adult coloring books and a number of other non-sequiturs but ultimately zeroes in on his favorite topic: the fact that we're living in the end of times. If you want to hear him speculating on the sort of shares people might have in meetings when they've had to fight for their lives to arrive there (and you do), you have to hear this one.