Learn how to set yourself apart from the crowd in this “whatever” world! Later, have you ever felt isolated or alone? It’s a much more common social anxiety than you think. Dr. Jeff Brantley’s body of work can help you discover new possibilites and escape the perception that you are alone.

No one is born, fabulous. But every person has it within themselves to acheive that exclusive membership into the domain of the fabulous! In her new book The Essentials of Fabulous, Ellen Lubin-Sherman show how passion, enthusiasm, attitude, manners, and your own personal style can catapult you into the realms of the admired! In addition to executive coaching and running her own consulting company, LAUNCH, Lubin-Sherman is a highly sought after speaker for many companies and groups!

Even with technology producing things like cell phones and social networking, providing instant contact with anyone worldwide, there is substantial evidence that people feel more isolated and alone than ever before. Research has shown that people who overcome the painful vulnerabilities associated with loneliness live healthier, happier, and longer lives. In True Belonging, Dr. Jeff Brantley offers a resource for liberation from being disconnected, and ways to discover new joys to bring you back into the fold. Dr. Brantley is a bestselling author of Calming Your Anxious Mind and the Five Good Minutes series. He is a consulting associate in the Duke Department of Psychiatry and founder and director of the stress reduction program emanating from Duke University’s Center for Integrative Medicine.

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Put an end to Sunday night anxiety and start your work week off right with the advice of Ford R. Myers. Later, Dr. Debra Mandel returns to help us continue our month-long 4th anniversary celebration!

If you have ever spent a Sunday night thinking about the dreaded return to work the next morning, Ford R. Myers can help. He has developed a six step guide to help overcome the Sunday night anxiety that many of us experience and have a fresh approach to each Monday morning! Ford R. Myers is the president of Career Potential LLC, helping people take charge of their careers. In his work as a career coach and consultant, he has done presentations at numerous universities, and has appeared on many radio and tv programs. He is the author of Get the Job You Want Even When No One’s Hiring.

Are you chronically unhappy at work? Do you ever experience trouble with co-workers, or find your boss impossible to deal with? Your not alone, and returning guest Dr. Debra Mandel can help! In her book Your Boss is Not Your Mother, Dr. Debra helps you analyze exactly what makes your workplace experiences so miserable, and how you can transcend the drama and develop a sense of humor about workplace stress! Dr. Debra is a reknowned psychologist and relationship expert who has appeared on many tv shows, and hosted her own popular weekly radio program in Los Angeles.

Today Vicki also welcomes technology expert Michael Surkan. Michael will talk about how he used podcasting and social media on his path to re-invention after being let go from Microsoft in 2009.

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Tosca Reno returns to Conversations Live this week to share the secrets that allow her, at age 52, to compete against 20 years olds in body competitions! Hear about her new TV show on Oprah’s network! And Alexandra Paul of Baywatch fame speaks out on population control, environmental issues, and child-free living!

Alexandra Paul is the star of over 75 films and TV shows including sun drenched mega-hit Baywatch. She has put her fame to use supporting environmental and social causes with enough impact to receive commendations from the United Nations; as well as being arrested for protesting at a Nuclear site in Nevada and trying to save the electric car! One of her biggest causes is population control, and she made the difficult personal decision to remain child-free to help ease pressure on our over-burdened planet. Paul co-wrote and produced the award winning educational film on overpopulation Jam Packed.

As middle age crept up on her, Tosca Reno found herself in the same boat as millions of Americans… overweight and unhappy about it. Deciding to do something about, she developed the Eat Clean Diet, and the results inspired her to help change millions of lives around the world! In her 12th book, The Eat Clean Diet Stripped, Peel Off Those Last 10 Pounds, Reno reveals a 28 day “Strip” that will trick your body and show you how to use the same secrets as top fitness models. She debunks myths, helps you conquer cravings, and shares tricks of the trade to help you look lighter right away! She also shares over 50 brand new Eat Clean recipes. In addition to being a NYT bestseller, Reno is also a motivational speaker, wellness consultant, and media personality with a new TV show on Oprah’s network.

Dr. Marilyn Howell has written a heart-wrenching account of losing her 32-year-old daughter to colon cancer. Unlike other medical dramas, however, Honor Thy Daughter has a highly controversial element: Dr. Howell turned to psychedelic therapy to ease her daughter’s final days. Boston-based Howell was trained as a biologist and earned a doctorate in education from Harvard University. She taught high school for three decades, during which time she created and developed the first Mind/Body course in public education.

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Gripping, no-holds barred thrillers are the specialty of Vicki’s first guest today as she welcomes New York Times bestseller list mainstay Steve Berry! Vicki also welcomes back noted speaker and author Daphne Rose Kingma. Join us as we celebrate the 4th anniversary of Conversations Live!

Go on a slalom course of thrills piloted by genre master Steve Berry in his latest book, The Jefferson Key. Berry is a proven master of combining suspense with solid historical fact. Returning hero Cotton Malone is back in the United States for his first domestic adventure and his most daunting challenge yet, as he tries to unravel a mystery dating back to the days of the Founding Fathers, and finds a shocking clause in the Constitution that makes a notorious group of modern day pirates known as the Commonwealth unstoppable! Berry is a fixture on the NYT bestseller list and has over 12 million books printed in 40 languages and spanning 51 countries. He has a writer’s workshop coming to Seattle at MOHAI on August 6th.

Also joining Vicki today is returning guest Daphne Rose Kingma, to discuss her new book, The Ten Things to Do When Your Life Falls Apart. Kingma is an undisputed expert on matters of the heart, having authored over a dozen books on love and relationships. She is a repeat guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show, and brings her healing across the United States and Europe as a highly regarded keynote speaker and conductor of workshops.

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“She was called ‘that awful woman’ by her neighbors” and slandered in the national press as “an atheist mother”. Emmy winning producer/filmmaker Jay Rosenstein brings us the story of Vashti McCollum as she stood strong against society for what she believed in. Later, McKay Jenkins shares his story to help create awareness of potential chemical exposure in surprising places.

In 1945, a young mother of three from a small central Illinois town filed a lawsuit that would forever change the relationship between public education and religion in America. Vashti McCollum received up to 200 letters a day, many of which were death threats not only against her but her husband and children as well. She and her husband were nearly outlawed by the State of Illinois from working at the state university again. She was branded a communist and many of her friends turned their backs on her. In the face of such overwhelming adversity, McCollum stood by her convictions and her lawsuit led to a decision that still resonates over 60 years later. Jay Rosenstein brings her story to the small screen in The Lord is Not on Trial Here Today, airing on PBS throughout the summer. The film has won two Emmy awards, a Peabody award, and recently won a Silver Gavel award from the American Bar Association. The film recounts McCollum’s “three years of headlines, headaches, and hatred,” and shows the extraordinary courage an otherwise ordinary woman in altering our country’s history.

“Jenkins has written a ‘Silent Spring‘ for the human body” according to New York Times bestselling author Richard Preston. With the revealing What’s Gotten Into Us: Staying Healthy in a Toxic World, McKay Jenkins shares a frightening story that could happen to anyone at any time. After discovering an orange sized tumor in his abdomen, he was startled by some of the examples of ways he could have been exposed to dangerous chemicals that may have caused it. Just a few of these were weed killers, glue, detergent, and plastic meat wrap. His new book examines some of these everyday items that can make you sick, and shows how to make wiser, healthier choices. Jenkins has been penning books for over 25 years, and is currently a professor of English and Director of Journalism at the University of Delaware.

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Enjoy an encore broadcast of Conversations Live, and have a great Independence Day!!

How do you define adventure? Today’s guest says: “…it’s pushed me to pedal into the homelands of South Africa when everyone around me told me I’d lose my life …” It pushed his cultural limits in small Indian villages. Challenged him to visit Bosnia while troops and tanks were the norm. And prodded him to spend three months in Cuba when his government said he couldn’t.

Writer, photographer, and speaker Willie Weir is a columnist for Adventure Cyclist magazine and a traveling commentator for KUOW public radio. His articles on adventure travel earned him gold and bronze Lowell Thomas Awards from the American Society of Travel Writers. Weir speaks at schools, universities and events around the country, advocating the bicycle as the world’s best travel vehicle–as well as a vehicle for social and environmental change. He’s the author of Spokesongs and his latest book, Travels with Willie: Adventure Cyclist. More about Willie Weir.

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Toxic threats may be lurking in your home where you least expect it! Walter Bader’s research sheds light on this alarming issue. Neuroscience researcher Mark Underwood shares the biggest breakthrough in 17 years on preventing Alzheimer’s Disease. And J.A. Jance is on book tour in the Northwest.

Walter Bader’s mission is to share his research with the world. He was among the first to discover that chemical exposure can occur during sleep due to the ingredients used in bedding manufacturing. He outlines these and other toxic dangers in his new book Sleep Safe in a Toxic World: Your Guide to Identifying and Removing Hidden Toxins from Your Bedroom.

Mark Underwood is the president and co-founder of Quincy Bioscience, a biotech company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of medicines to treat the neurological effects of aging. Today he discloses new findings released by America’s leading researchers on prevention.

Novelist J.A. Jance’s highly acclaimed “JP Beaumont” series has reached a landmark! Betrayal of Trust marks the twentieth mystery novel featuring the much loved Seattle private investigator. In this latest thriller, Beaumont investigates a dark and deadly mystery that starts with a shocking teenage snuff film, and escalates until it reaches deep into the halls of state government.

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Setting high standards for yourself is good, according to returning guest Dr. Pavel Somov, but at what point does perfectionism get in the way of success? Vicki also talks with uber-successful businesswoman Susan T. Spencer.

Dr. Pavel Somov has over 15 years of clinical experience in counseling and psychology. He has written several books on various psychological topics, the latest being Present Perfect: A Mindfulness Approach to Letting Go of Perfectionism and the Need for Control. In it, he demonstrates how perfectionism can not only get in the way of success, but oftentimes sabotage it! He examines what perfectionism says about us, and gives advice on how to let it go.

Susan T. Spencer is a lawyer, entreprenuer, award winning author of Briefcase Essentials, and former General Manager and minority owner of the Philadelphia Eagles.

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Re-ignite your flagging relationship by injecting a healthy dose of the fiery passion that brought you together in the first place using the 30-Day Sex Solution. Also today, Peter Baksa breaks down the Law of Attraction!

Dr. Victoria Zdrok Wilson knows about sex and relationships… she has a doctorate in clinical psychology with post-graduate training in sex therapy. She co-authored The 30-Day Sex Solution: How to Build Intimacy, Enhance Your Sex Life, and Strengthen Your Relationship in One Month’s Time with her husband, who is also a doctor. The book was born not only out of their clinical experience, but also from the bumps, detours, and derailments they experienced in their quest to keep their own passion alive!

Intend-Declare-Attach. Those are the three principles of the Law of Attraction, and Peter Baksa’s new book The Point of Power illustrates them and demonstrates how you can use them to help operate the Law. He also explains how Quantum Mechanics are integral to understanding.

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Mystical fantasy and contemporary science mesh seamlessly in The Language of the Sea by James MacManus. Later, Vicki discusses award winning author Jennifer Haigh’s latest work.

What happens when an ordinary man slips out of his life and into legend? That is the crux of The Language of the Sea, the debut novel of James MacManus. He challenges us to expand our understanding of nature, where the lead character’s obsession leads him into a life of danger, and finally redemption. MacManus is the managing director of the Times Literary Supplement and executive director of News International.

Jennifer Haigh is a New York Times bestselling author and short story writer. Her new book, Faith, demonstrates how a revealed truth can at once shatter our deepest beliefs, then in turn restore them. She explores the deepest caverns of emotion and how a family seemingly destryoyed by a shocking turn of events can be drawn back together with loyalty and resilience.

Also joining Vicki today is Seattle based filmmaker Tess Martin, who creates stop-frame animated films using painted plastic cut-outs and a lightbox. Martin is a member of SEAT (Seattle Experimental Animation Team), a loose coalition of filmmakers whose mission is to be a nurturing force for experimental animation. Her latest film is Plain Face.

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