Real stories. Remarkable Voices.
From Law to Literature: Melanie Anagnos on Finding Her Voice
“Don’t look around—just run your own race. That’s what I’d tell my younger self about writing.”-Melanie Anagnos Melanie Anagnos has worn many hats—waitress, attorney, stay-at-home mom—but her true calling emerged when she pursued her MFA at Sarah Lawrence College....
From Commune to Courage: Deborah Rudell on Memoir, Healing, and Sailing Across the Pacific
From Commune to Courage: Deborah Rudell on Memoir, Healing, and Sailing Across the Pacific “Being disillusioned is a very hard place to be in… but I realized my master’s job was to set me free. In the end, that heartbreak gave me the freedom to discover my own truth.”...
On Craft and Character, with Jackie Thomas-Kennedy
On Craft and Character, with Jackie Thomas-Kennedy “When it goes well, writing feels the way it did when I was eight years old—immersed in the story, not thinking about outcome, just the pure joy of language.” – Jackie Thomas Kennedy Jackie Thomas-Kennedy, author of...
Sci-Fi, Superheroes, and the Unknown, with Caitlyn Grabenstein
“I wanted to write a character who was a relatable superhero—someone a woman today might connect with, not a god or an alien, but a real person with real struggles.” — Caitlyn Grabenstein In this episode of Uncorking a Story, I sit down with author and artist Caitlin...
Vanishing Act: Jerry Jamison on True Crime, Fake Deaths, and the Art of Reinvention
“From the very outset, people thought, ‘This can’t possibly be true.’ But it was—and the deeper we dug, the stranger it became.” — Jerry Jamison In this episode of Uncorking a Story, I sit down with award-winning advertising copywriter turned novelist Jerry Jamison,...
The Gift of Goodbye: Edward Di Gangi on Love, Loss, and Adoption’s Untold Stories
“This is not about rejection—it’s about sacrifice.” – Edward Di Gangi Adopted at birth and raised as an only child, Edward Di Gangi never sought the details of his adoption—until a quiet moment in a New Jersey cemetery at age 69 set him on a journey of discovery. That...
The Mother of All Decisions: Betsy Armstrong on Grief, Growth, and Midlife Motherhood
“It took me 12 years to write it and get it to a publisher… writing a book was a lot harder than an Ironman.” In this heartfelt episode of Uncorking a Story, I sit down with Betsy Armstrong—writer, mom, athlete, and philanthropist—to explore the winding path that led...
The Wake-Up Call: How a Near-Death Experience Repurposed Lisa Labozzo’s Life
“I flipped twice…my seatbelt wrapped around my neck, so my airway was cut off and I was blue… Doctors called my family in for my last rites that evening.” — Lisa Labozzo In this moving episode of Uncorking a Story, Reiki Master, intuitive healer Lisa Labozzo shares...
From Real Estate to Real Suspense: How Kaira Rouda Found Her Voice
“I realized I couldn’t write sex scenes, so I went darker. Turns out, murder is more my thing.” — Kaira Rouda Bestselling author Kaira Rouda returns to Uncorking a Story to talk about her latest psychological thriller Jill Is Not Happy—a twisted, funny, and disturbing...
Behind the Music: A Survivor’s Story of Healing and Hope, with Rob Tonkin
“The pain of carrying the weight of this secret for so long was more damaging than the reveal.” – Rob Tonkin At age 14, Rob Tonkin entered the world of radio and climbed his way to the top of the entertainment marketing industry, producing iconic events like the Honda...