Hello H.tties! Our pod-a-versery is coming up next week. We’re finishing our second full year of podcasting!

In recognition of that achievement AND all the support you gorgeous h.tties have given us, we’re re-releasing this early (kind of major) episode with Claire Louge, that we recorded back in February 2020 before the world changed.

This episode is our most downloaded ever… and for good reason. Claire is brilliant, inspiring, and tells important stories about her personal growth and what drives her to be such an advocate for youth and community.

Like the other special re-releases we’ve done recently … this interview with Claire is another part of the meta story of how the HERE.together podcast came to be what it is today.

You see, at the time of this original interview, Claire had just been promoted to Executive Director of a state-wide non-profit and I thought we’d be talking about kinda standard podcast interview fare about how she’d been so successful at such a young age. She’d pitch her programs, encourage people to get involved and we’d have a decent episode.

Instead, the conversation veered quickly into much more important, more fraught territory that included stories about self-image, eating disorders, fear, courage, and choosing to live large. Yes, we also talked about preventing child abuse and live action role-playing.

This kind of radical honesty, fierce connection, and general badassery became the touchstone for us in producing this podcast. We knew we couldn’t make a regular, rah-rah business or thin-veneered community podcast… we knew we were in this for the vulnerability, the deep humanity, the learning, and, frankly, the big love that we’ve experienced over and over with the parade of incredible guests we’ve been so fortunate to share conversations with.

And that’s the knowing we’ve followed ever since. Thank you for following along.

For more about Claire and a curated list of books and resources mentioned in the episode, see the show notes at: https://www.here-together.us/pod/how-to-live-an-epic-life