What if the most painful year of your life was actually preparing you for the family you were meant to have?

In this episode of GUTS, host Topaz Adizes sits down with Andrew Kimler, Sundance fellow and award-winning creative producer, for a deeply personal conversation about adoption, fatherhood, creativity, and purpose.

After enduring three failed adoptions in a single year, alongside profound personal loss, Andrew reflects on grief, resilience, and what it takes to stay open after repeated heartbreak.

Together, they explore:

- The emotional reality of failed adoptions and how to mourn what almost was

- Why you “can’t get matched with the wrong kid” in the adoption journey

- What patience really means and how to use the waiting season well

- The difference between what a story is about and what it’s really about

- How creativity, writing, and fatherhood reveal your deeper purpose

_____________________________________________________________________

Follow GUTS:

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/guts.podcast/

LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/topazadizes/

Subscribe for updates: topazadizes.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when the questions that once got you arrested become the foundation of your life's work?

In this episode of GUTS, host Topaz Adizes sits down with Bryce Hoffman, bestselling author and the only civilian ever to complete the U.S. Army's Red Team Leader Program. As founder of Red Team Thinking, he helps organizations like Google, Salesforce, and the U.S. Marine Corps challenge assumptions and make sharper decisions.

Together, they explore:

- How radical idealism evolves into disciplined critical thinking

- Why ego is the enemy of great leadership

- Failure as a feature, not a flaw

- What it really means to stop pushing the river

This conversation is about learning to ask the tough questions, and having the courage to listen to the answers.

_____________________________________________________________________

Listen GUTS:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeUPrK1EksczxTm35F_GeUA

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

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when the parts of you that were silenced begin to speak again?

In this episode of GUTS, host Topaz Adizes sits down with award-winning podcaster, empowerment coach, and author Michelle Lamoureux, creator of The Good Life podcast and author of Design a Life You Love.

Michelle reflects on the formative experiences that shaped her: being “othered” as a child, surviving a near abduction, and wearing a scoliosis brace for six years — and how those moments cultivated empathy, resilience, and a drive to create safe spaces for women to reclaim their voice.

Together, they explore:

• Reclaiming your voice after silence

• How early experiences shape identity and empathy

• Success as the courage to try

• Motherhood, safety, and raising a daughter with agency

• Designing a life with intention

This conversation examines what it means to design a life with intention, expand beyond inherited limitations, and stay human in an increasingly AI-driven world.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Listen 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

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does leadership look like when certainty falls away?

In this episode of GUTS, host Topaz Adizes sits down with Yoseph Ayele, Ethiopian-born entrepreneur and founder of LAVA, for a wide-ranging conversation about talent, ego, purpose, and the courage to not know. From growing up in Ethiopia to building across borders, Yoseph reflects on what happens when control loosens and attention shifts toward listening, humility, and service.

Moving between leadership, inequality, and self-awareness, this conversation explores talent as energy, not status, contradiction as a source of truth, and why learning to let go may be one of the most important leadership practices of our time.

In this episode, we explore:

• What talent really is and how it develops

• Ego, humility, and self-awareness in leadership

• Inequality, access, and reframing prosperity

• Letting go of control and certainty

• Purpose as service rather than achievement

• Parenting, legacy, and what we pass forward

_____________________________________________________________________

Listen 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

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What matters when fear enters your life through the people you love most?

In this episode of GUTS, host Topaz Adizes sits down with Airrion Copeland, a filmmaker, writer, and nonprofit leader, for a raw conversation about fatherhood, fear, and the moments that change how you see everything. After a near-death experience involving his young son, Airrion reflects on what breaks open when control disappears and what’s revealed in its place.

From early trauma and storytelling to compassion, uncertainty, and raising children in an unpredictable world, this conversation explores suffering as a teacher, purpose as service, and why letting go of certainty may be the only honest way forward.

In this episode, we explore:

• Fatherhood and fear

• Near-death experiences and wake-up calls

• Suffering as a teacher

• Letting go of certainty and control

• Purpose as service

• Raising children in an uncertain future

_____________________________________________________________________

Listen 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

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if progress isn't about moving faster, but about remembering what's sacred in what we build?

In this episode of GUTS, host Topaz Adizes sits down with Andy Tudhope, a technologist, writer, and builder, for a wide ranging conversation about code, consciousness, and community.

Andy reflects on formative experiences with violence, near death, and ego dissolution, and how those moments shaped his relationship with love, presence, and meaning. From Zen and Sufism to poetry, programming, and rethinking money as a communal habit rather than a fixed truth, this conversation explores sincerity, humility, and what it means to live inside the question rather than rush toward answers.

In this episode, we explore:

• Progress beyond speed and scale

• Death, presence, and love as practice

• Language, silence, and meaning

• Code, money, and trust

• Why better questions matter more than certainty

_____________________________________________________________________

Listen 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 #ConsciousTechnology #Philosophy #MeaningAndPurpose #RethinkingProgress

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Belief is easy when you’re understood. Conviction is what remains when you’re not.

In this episode of GUTS, host Topaz Adizes sits down with Charlie Goldsmith, Healer and Explorer, for an honest conversation about healing, belief, and what it means to follow a calling that challenges how people understand reality.

Charlie shares the moment at eighteen when he first realized he could heal someone and the fear, disbelief, and isolation that followed. From family disapproval and years of having to prove himself, to being studied by major institutions and working to create pathways for others like him, this conversation explores resilience, empathy, and the cost of trusting your inner knowing.

In this episode, we explore:

• Discovering a gift no one believes in

• Healing, chronic pain, and the placebo question

• Family disapproval and self trust

• Trauma, empathy, and purpose

• Why not everything real needs explanation

______________________________________________________________________________

🌐 Subscribe for updates

https://topazadizes.com

👉 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/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Accepting yourself isn’t a quote. It’s a practice.

In this episode of GUTS, host Topaz Adizes, sits down with Kyrus Keenan Westcott, also known as KY, creator of The Vibe With Ky, to talk about mental health, ADHD, depression, and what it really means to stop pretending you’re fine.

Ky shares the roller coaster moment that shaped how he understands fear, acceptance, and growth. From losing his friend Ashton, to a ruptured Achilles and a painful breakup, to being late diagnosed with ADHD, depression, anxiety, and OCD, this conversation explores humor as a coping mechanism, neurodivergence, mental health stigma, and why honesty can be strength, connection, and survival.

In this episode, we explore:

• ADHD, late diagnosis, and neurodivergence

• Depression, anxiety, OCD, and mental health awareness

• Fear, acceptance, and the roller coaster metaphor for life

• Humor as survival and emotional regulation

• Boundaries, vulnerability, and avoiding toxic positivity

• What it means to stop pretending and start healing

______________________________________________________________________________

🌐 Subscribe for updates

https://topazadizes.com

👉 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/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.