Food writer Melissa Clark on managing the commercial realities of writing and marketing recipes (“I feel like I am constantly walking on that line”), making friends with ingredients (“the anchovy is my bad boyfriend”), dealing with anxiety (“my way of coping with it is to be very very busy”), falling in love with your teachers, what makes food a way that we can change the social structure of the world, why deadlines are lifelines, how much of her personal experiences to reveal in her writing, and when to walk away from the cookie dough.

Singer-songwriter /  web series superstar Anya Marina how her Russian mother never taught her how to say the word “water” correctly, why she’s committed to “experiencing something together with my audience,”  what makes her a good storyteller, and that “when a thought becomes an obsession, that’s when you know you’ll make a change”.

Singer, songwriter and actress Sophie Auster on was like to grow up in a literary household, starting her career at a young age, confronting and overcoming insecurity, holding herself to a high standard, and what it means to be a “jewegian”.

Kassa Overall on the intersection of jazz and hip-hop, the importance of getting “comfortable with being bored so you can get better at your instrument”, the relationship between great drumming and the sounds of nature, how growing up far away from the “scene” gave him a strong sense of personal identity, and what it takes to be a “cat who is going for it”.