Advertise on podcast: The Lisa Congdon Sessions

Episode finale! Yep, I'm quitting podcasting after two truly wonderful years. I’ve been on a systematic mission to examine and quit everything in my life/work that feels finished or too time consuming or draining or one-sided or obligatory or without purpose or joy. I have not felt as happy, “balanced” (if such a thing exists) and such a sense of spaciousness in nearly 20 years. I’ve begun to think of this as “loud quitting” — intentional, communicated, assertive (as opposed to passive), and unapologetic. So, to be clear, this not necessarily the opposite of “quiet quitting,” which is about not going above and beyond in the workplace (which I also support) — just simply my way of overtly claiming and taking control over my time in a way I haven’t in my entire life. In this episode I talk about all of this and more. If you are someone who feels overwhelmed, I hope you find it helpful. And thank you to everyone who has listened to my podcast over the past two years! I appreciate you! -Lisa

Timothy Goodman is a designer, illustrator, muralist and author. His art and words have covered walls, buildings, packaging, shoes, clothing, books, magazine covers and galleries all over the world. Tim’s most recent book, a graphic memoir titled I Always Think It’s Forever, is a love story in two parts, and really, in the end, is more about learning to love yourself and your own journey of healing than it is a love story for another person. His memoir reflects all the things he is known for – humor, humility, and, ultimately, real vulnerability. This episode is a conversation about vulnerability, and what Tim’s own journey into the vulnerability vortex has looked like – not only as a cis gender man raised on toxic masuculinity, but also as someone who has a large following and is an artist in the public eye.

In this episode friendship teacher and thought leader, Kat Vellos, and I talk the side of friendship that we don’t talk about enough: setting and maintaining boundaries, having hard conversations and even ending friendships. Kat Vellos is the author of The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships and leads conversations about friendship for businesses and organizations.

This week’s conversation is with pro bike racer and graphic designer, Sarah Sturm. Sarah is one of my favorite people and this is her second appearance on The Lisa Congdon Sessions. Sarah has forged her own way in her profession as a bike racer by making her own rules and allowing her creativity and divergent brain to lead the way over a strict training regimen or constantly looking at data. We talk about doing hard things and staying connected to fun – what that looks like, why it’s important for Sarah, and how that has changed her relationship to sport.

Ruth Chan is an acclaimed children’s book illustrator and author and, more recently, she has become known for her comics for adults which she shares regularly on her Instagram feed. Ruth’s first graphic memoir will be released next year – and her personal work (which takes shape mostly in her comics and upcoming graphic memoir) perfectly mix deep vulnerability and humor. Our conversation revolves around our mutual love for story telling – and how story telling can heal, educate and connect us to others.

I am so thrilled today to share with you a conversation with my friend Diane Sanfilippo, best selling author, business coach, entrepreneur, podcast host, social justice activist, and anti-diet advocate. For the past decade, Diane has been known as a multiple New York Times bestselling *diet* book author and former co-host of an 8-year, top 20 health podcast,, but after a career focused on diets and diet culture, Diane experienced a profound change of heart and intellectual shift. In this episode, Diane and I talk about all of that – and specifically, the impact of changing your mind – especially when changing your mind is in conflict with the way you make or have made money or what you have publicly advocated for most of your career.

Charlotte Burgess-Auburn. Charlotte, artist, design-thinker and director at the d.school at Stanford, has just published a book called You Need a Manifesto. The guiding principles in the book are a powerful revelation in a society that does not generally teach us to use things like convictions, values or principles to guide our life choices. Charlotte tells us how to craft a personal manifesto that will help us face daily decisions, and create more purpose in our lives and work.

Join Lisa for a look back at 2022 and what she learned this past year experimenting with living at the intersection of self-discipline, being with discomfort and trusting her intuition.

This episode features professional cyclist, Serena Bishop Gordon. Serena didn’t get on a bike till she was 30 years old, and, now at nearly 44 years old, she is an elite cyclist at an age when most women have long been retired. She’s is one of the wisest people I know. We talk about managing the ego – not comparing ourselves to others, keeping our eyes focused on our own journey, and connecting to the “why” inside our motivations for everything we do in life. Athlete or not, I hope you enjoy this episode!

In this conversation, I sit down with writer Marcie Alvis Walker. Marcie writes about race, about unraveling and dismantling Christianity’s legacy on human rights and mental illness, and about inclusion and intersectionality in our spiritual lives. Her upcoming book, Everybody Come Alive: a Memoir in Essays will be released this spring. We dive into this notion of “embodiment” – both what we embody and what we destroy in order to survive.

I am so thrilled to share with you my conversation with Bridget Watson Payne. Bridget is Executive Editor for Art Books at Chronicle Books, and is herself also a writer and artist. Bridget is also my longtime editor at Chronicle. Bridget and I start our conversation by talking about her role as an editor – how she got there, what her job looks like and how she finds new talent. But we center our conversation on the topic of passion – she posits that passion is at the heart of most long term creative endeavors. Writing books requires it, having a creative career requires it, and engaging in months or years long creative projects requires it. We talk about what passion is, the benefits and pitfalls of passion, and what to do when your passion wanes.

I am thrilled to bring you my conversation with Morgan Harper Nichols. Morgan is an artist and poet whose work is inspired by real-life stories – and most of you know Morgan from Instagram the wonderful, heartfelt, art, poetry and writing she posts there to her two million Instagram followers. As you will learn, Morgan spent the first couple of years of her professional life as a college admission counselor, and then, as a full-time touring singer-songwriter and musician. It was on the road that she cultivated her curiosity and passion for writing, art, and design and slowly began to share her work online. I am lucky to know Morgan in real life, and am so excited to share the magic of her mind and spirit with you in this episode. Morgan and I focus our conversation on the notion of wholeness – what it means to be whole, how to cultivate a feeling of wholeness, and how to show up as a whole person in your life and work.