Behind the Book Cover

Tawny Lara is an entrepreneur, writer and public speaker. She’s the founder of SobrieTea Party™ and Readings on Recovery™ and an award-winning filmmaker of her recovery documentary, Fixed Up. She's also the co-host (along with previous podcast guest and all-around bad ass Lisa Smith) of the hot new podcast Recovery Rocks podcast. But she's also someone who started documenting her sobriety journey from the beginning. With so many people out there wanting to tell their story but scared to jump into the fray, Tawny serves as the perfect example of someone just getting out there, making her mark and, well...rocking it. In this episode, we talked about growing up as a rocker, what to tell people who are thinking of sharing their stories and our random meeting at a Macklemore concert, among many other topics.

Murphy Jensen is an entrepreneur, former professional tennis player and French Open Champion. He’s also the Founder & EVP of Business Development for WEconnect Recovery, an addiction relapse prevention and real-time outcomes data platform that just raised 6 million (yep). He was ALSO one of my first friends in early recovery, back when we would hang out at our friend Allison’s place and really just wander around trying to make sense of our new lives. In this episode (which was taken from this Facebook Live interview), Murphy and I talk about what it was like to go to meetings in pajamas, realizing you were meant to do more than teach rich people how to play tennis and whether or not those psychic readings we got in 2000 turned out to be true, among many other topics.

As one of the world’s leading recovery advocates, Tim Ryan tirelessly tours the country speaking to addicts and their families. The star of A&E’s Dope Man and bestselling author of From Dope to Hope: A Man in Recovery, Ryan found recovery in prison and is committed to sharing a message of hope after losing his son to an overdose soon after finding sobriety himself. The creator of the 501c3 A Man in Recovery, Tim is a regular subject on national media, a Global Goodwill Ambassador and was an invited guest to the State of the Union address. He has been a featured thought leader on numerous television shows and publications, including Fox & Friends, Varney & Company, Martha MacCallum, USA Today, Newsweek, The Chicago Tribune, The Doctorsand The Steve Harvey Show, among many others. A regular on WGN radio, Tim has also appeared repeatedly on CNN and HLN, spoken on TEDx stages and was named one of the top 100 visionary leaders in the world by Real Leaders magazine in January, 2018. But in this episode, we didn’t talk about his resume. We talked about turning from the Dope Man into the Hope Man and the importance of sharing your story, among many other topics.

Anna David is, well, the person writing this. In addition to writing in the third person, she's the New York Times bestselling author of six books, a contributor to The New York Times, Time, Playboy and more, a writing coach and the creator of this site/podcast/storytelling show. In this episode, she/I tell a story about living in West Hollywood in the 90s, giving your front door key to every coke addict in the vicinity and calling the cops on yourself when you become convinced that your neighbor is trying to kill you. To find out if you should be sharing your story, go to www.lighthustler.com/quiz.

Darren Prince is a sports and celebrity agent who has represented Muhammad Ali, Magic Johnson, Pele, Joe Montana, Smokin’ Joe Frazier, Dennis Rodman and Hulk Hogan, among many others. He's also sober for a decade after a brutal struggle with opiate addiction. Finally (and most importantly—to me), he's a friend. We've spent the past year working on his memoir, Aiming High: How a Prominent Sports and Celebrity Agent Hit Bottom at the Top, and I'm thrilled to say that it's the first release from the Light Hustler Publishing imprint. Already an international bestseller in four countries, the book has been making waves all over. In this episode, we discuss what role trauma plays in addiction, why to wait until you have some sobriety under your belt before going public and how Magic Johnson saved Darren's life, among many other things.

Bucky Sinister is 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. In this episode (which is from the Light Hustler live storytelling show in LA), he veers from his planned story to regale the audience about what it was like to go to poetry readings completely wasted. To find out if you should be sharing your story, go to www.lighthustler.com/quiz.

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 (from the Light Hustler monthly live storytelling show), he talks about how funny it was when he drunkenly slapped someone he didn't know (spoiler alert: it wasn't funny at all). To find out if you should be sharing your story, go to www.lighthustler.com/quiz.

Eddie Pepitone is the subject of The Bitter Buddha, the critically acclaimed documentary about his life, and is also occasionally a part of his stand-up act. As a comedian and actor, he’s been on WTF and Conan repeatedly, as well as on The Last Comic Standing, The Sarah Silverman Program, Happy Endings, Flight of the Concords, 2 Broke Girls, It’s Always Sunny and so many more. In this episode—which is from the Light Hustler live storytelling show in Los Angeles—he (hilariously) talks about why having commitments in AA is silly, how love went out a long time ago and so much more. To find out if you should be sharing your story, go to www.lighthustler.com/quiz.

Amy Dresner is a former professional stand-up comic, having appeared at The Comedy Store, The Laugh Factory, and The Improv. Since 2012, she has been a contributing editor of the online addiction and recovery magazine TheFix.com. She’s also written for the Good Men Project, The Frisky, Refinery 29, and has been a regular contributor to Addiction.com and PsychologyToday.com, where she has her own addiction blog entitled “Coming Clean.” Her first book, My Fair Junkie, was released in 2017 and is now available in paperback. In this episode (from the Light Hustler live storytelling show in LA), Amy talks about one of her visits to the psych ward—explaining what group therapy was like, what other residents had as goals for the day and the fellow patient who was smarter than the doctors, among other things. To find out if you should be sharing your story, go to www.lighthustler.com/quiz.

Kristi Coulter holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan. She is a former Ragdale Foundation resident and the recipient of a grant from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Her work has appeared in The Paris Review, The Awl, Glamour, Vox, The Mississippi Review, Longreads, and elsewhere. Her debut essay collection, Nothing Good Can Come from This, was published by MCD Books/FSG Originals in August 2018. She lives in Seattle, where she is working on her next book.  We talked about Nothing Good Can Come From This, being a high-functioning alcoholic and what happens when a story you write goes viral, among many other things. To find out if you should be sharing your story, go to www.lighthustler.com/quiz.