Episodes

  • We Need Each Other to See Ourselves with Ashley Wick

    We Need Each Other to See Ourselves with Ashley Wick
    Jun 29 2026
    What if the life you've been building has been quietly asking you to slow down and find out who you actually are? In this episode of GUTS, we sit down with Ashley Wick, transformational coach and founder of Fertile Ground, who spent her childhood shapeshifting between groups she never quite belonged to, 15 years in PR and fashion helping brands find their essence while losing her own, and then at 30, made a phone call that changed everything. In this episode: Growing up as a floater, never quite belonging to any one group Fifteen years in PR learning to shape narratives and what that cost her The phone call she made at 30 to the person who abused her in childhood Handing her three-day-old daughter over for open heart surgery and finding pure surrender How moving to Uruguay is teaching her to shed everything she leaned on Why the question is never "can I do it?" but "who am I becoming if I do?" Welcome to Getting Under The Skin, where genuine curiosity guides honest, human to human exchanges about how we are shaped by the lives we've lived. 🎙️ Resist Much, Obey Little with Joseph Gerstandt, out now on GUTS: Getting Under the Skin. Listen now: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1GSiahH3NYTiFKZ4mIGQnJ?si=fce013635cfa4947 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/getting-under-the-skin/id1821276933 Follow GUTS: Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/guts.podcast/ LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/topazadizes/ Subscribe for updates: topazadizes.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • Resist Much, Obey Little with Joseph Gerstandt

    Resist Much, Obey Little with Joseph Gerstandt
    Jun 22 2026
    What does it cost to spend a lifetime doing what you believe in, while the world decides whether it agrees? In this episode of GUTS, we sit down with Joseph Gerstandt, Desert Storm veteran, poet, and one of America's most trusted voices on diversity and inclusion, who grew up on a farm in Iowa convinced that emotions were a distraction. He spent years in corporate America lying awake at night dreading work, certain the problem was him. It wasn't. In this episode: - Growing up stoic on a farm and spending decades emotionally behind the curve - How working in HIV prevention cracked his world open and changed everything - What it's like being a white man doing DEI work for 18 years as the field gets politicized - Why he believes the world needs better questions more than better answers - The quiet admission that he still struggles to feel worthy of love Welcome to Getting Under The Skin, where genuine curiosity guides honest, human to human exchanges about how we are shaped by the lives we've lived. 🎙️ Resist Much, Obey Little with Joseph Gerstandt, out now on GUTS: Getting Under the Skin. Listen now: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1GSiahH3NYTiFKZ4mIGQnJ?si=fce013635cfa4947 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/getting-under-the-skin/id1821276933 Follow GUTS: Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/guts.podcast/ LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/topazadizes/ Subscribe for updates: topazadizes.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    59 mins
  • Show Up and Show Out with Jess Russ

    Show Up and Show Out with Jess Russ
    Jun 15 2026
    What happens when you win the thing you've been working toward your whole life and it terrifies you? In this episode of GUTS, we sit down with Jess Russ, Grammy award-winning songwriter, creative, and athlete, who grew up in Alabama with Goodwill clothes and $5 to everyone else's hundred. She learned early how to show up and show out. But at 27, she's asking a harder question: what happens when showing up starts to cost you everything?In this episode: - Growing up Black in the South, showing up in rooms she was never handed access to - How winning a Grammy at 27 became a double-edged sword - Why her biggest failures have been relational, not professional - The fear of being considered but never chosen - What it really means to give yourself permission before anyone else does Listen to GUTS: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1GSiahH3NYTiFKZ4mIGQnJ?si=fce013635cfa4947 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/getting-under-the-skin/id1821276933 Follow GUTS: Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/guts.podcast/ LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/topazadizes/ Subscribe for updates: topazadizes.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Uncovering the Truth Behind a Legendary Life with Dr. Ichak Adizes

    Uncovering the Truth Behind a Legendary Life with Dr. Ichak Adizes
    Jun 8 2026
    What if your greatest strength came from your deepest wound?In this unscripted and deeply human conversation, Dr. Ichak Adizes, one of the world's most influential business thinkers, opens up to his son, filmmaker and host Topaz Adizes, in a raw dialogue about love, aging, grief, legacy, and healing. In this conversation, we explore: - What he regrets passing down to his children and what he's proud to have given - How a childhood without love became the fuel for global impact - Why success was never about achievement, but about being loved - What aging feels like when time no longer feels endless - The paradox of gaining wisdom while losing memory 🔗 Learn more about Dr. Adizes and his work https://www.adizes.com/ 📖 Read his autobiography, The Accordion Player https://publications.adizes.com/products/the-accordion-player-english __________________________________________________________________________ 👉 Follow us on social media: Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/guts.podcast/ TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@guts.podcast LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/topazadizes/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    43 mins
  • Descaling the Dragon with Daryn Reicherter ​

    Descaling the Dragon with Daryn Reicherter ​
    Jun 1 2026
    What if the worst thing that could happen to you isn't death, but stopping your growth? What if the worst thing that could happen to you isn't death, but stopping your growth? In this episode of GUTS, host Topaz Adizes sits down with Daryn Reicherter, Stanford professor of psychiatry and the man courts call when they need to put a dollar value on human suffering. From his grandfather escaping a Nazi work camp in Holland to briefing the UN Security Council on trauma and ISIS, Daryn has spent decades translating the language of human suffering into something courts and governments can actually act on. In this episode: - The grandfather who survived a Nazi work camp and never spoke about it - Why trauma psychology was invisible in courts until 2011 - The moment all ego disappeared saving his best friend from drowning - The camel, the lion, and the dragon you have to slay to become yourself - What happens when you take Stanford freshmen to Leland Stanford's grave - Why the worst thing that could happen isn't death Follow GUTS: Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/guts.podcast/ LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/topazadizes/ Subscribe for updates: topazadizes.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    57 mins
  • Joy On Ten with Kristen V. Carter

    Joy On Ten with Kristen V. Carter
    May 25 2026
    What happens when you've spent 20 years fighting for what's yours, and then realize that was never even the game? In this episode of GUTS, host Topaz Adizes sits down with Kristen V. Carter, fifth-generation creative, executive producer, TV show runner turned educator, who hit a moment of total honesty at 38 and said something she had never said before: I am not happy. What followed was a complete reorientation, guided by one rule: if the joy isn't on 10, it's out. In this episode, we explore: - Fifth generation roots and the ancestors she carried with her - A boarding school year that nearly broke her - Fighting for your seat vs. living from joy - The joy-on-10 litmus test - Generational healing before you pass anything down Since recording, Kristen has tripled enrollment at the Hofstra LA Semester Program, now bringing 35 students to Hollywood in 2027, and is launching The Activation Collective, her 8-week professional accelerator for creatives ready to level up. Follow Kristen: https://www.instagram.com/kristenvcarter/reels/ Follow her podcast 'Trust Your Magic': https://www.instagram.com/trustyourmagic/ www.kristenvcarter.com _____________________________________________________________________ Follow GUTS: Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/guts.podcast/ LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/topazadizes/ Subscribe for updates: topazadizes.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Unlocking the Healing of ALS: Facing Fear & Finding Joy with Aaron Lazar

    Unlocking the Healing of ALS: Facing Fear & Finding Joy with Aaron Lazar
    May 18 2026
    What happens when the body breaks down but the spirit refuses to follow? In this episode of GUTS, host Topaz Adizes sits down with Aaron Lazar, Broadway star, actor, and division one athlete, who was diagnosed with ALS and chose to face it not with force or fear, but with radical joy and presence. Through stories from his career, his recovery, and his daily 20 foot walks between a wheelchair and a chair, Aaron reveals what it really means to show up for yourself from a place of love instead of will. In this episode, we explore: - Growing up with a Jewish mother who taught him the power of a handwritten note - Navigating hundreds of rejections in Hollywood while losing his heart for the craft - What ALS forced him to confront about patterns, energy and self-abandonment - The difference between hammering through life and moving from joy - How shifting your inner state changes your physical reality - What it means to find magic in washing your own hands Listen to GUTS: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1GSiahH3NYTiFKZ4mIGQnJ?si=fce013635cfa4947 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/getting-under-the-skin/id1821276933 Follow GUTS: Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/guts.podcast/ LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/topazadizes/ Subscribe for updates: topazadizes.com #gutspodcast #aaronlazar #topazadizes #ALSawareness #healingjourney #mindsetshift #radicalacceptance #purposedriven #deepconversationpodcast #joyandfear #selfhealing #presenceoverperformance #Broadway #neuraldisease #unlockinghealing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • To Feel Seen: Building Community & Finding Purpose with Sugary

    To Feel Seen: Building Community & Finding Purpose with Sugary
    May 12 2026
    What happens when the person who makes everyone feel seen has never felt it himself? In this episode of GUTS, host Topaz Adizes sits down with Gary Su, known as Sugary, a cultural curator who built a community of 30,000 people in New York City and nearly lost his life doing it. After a health crisis landed him in the ICU last August, Sugary had to confront the one person he had never really shown up for: himself. In this episode, we explore: - Growing up as the only child of Taiwanese immigrants - How bullying became the birthplace of a superpower - Building a city's community while practicing self-abandonment - The ICU moment that forced a hard reset - What it means to finally feel seen from the inside out - Connection, healing, and learning to receive what you give Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 12 mins