So, Elise, why don't you start us off telling us, you know, how you started the Sober Curator and why you're passionate about it?

Well, thank you, Megan.

My name is Elise Bryson, and I founded The Sober Curator during the pandemic.

As a person in long-term recovery, who also has an extensive media background around lifestyle content, For about 25 years, I had been looking for a website or a magazine that spoke to me as a person in long-term recovery that would let me know about all the content that has now come online in the last five to eight years.

in the recovery community.

Back in 2006, when I first got sober, there was no sober Instagram, sober Facebook, sober Twitter, sober Pinterest, Clubhouse, podcasts, and the self-help section at Barnes & Noble was quite small.

And so I have had a front row seat over the last 17 plus years to see all these people start to recover out loud and all these brands and different pathways to recovery really come online.

um amazing so tell us I love how you both pulled on the thread that it was you know clarity during this forced slowing down um have you always had sort of fun at the forefront of your sober journey or is that a relatively newer passion

So, Elise, why don't you start us off telling us, you know, how you started The Sober Curator and why you're passionate about it?

Well, thank you, Megan.

My name is Elise Bryson, and I founded The Sober Curator during the pandemic.

As a person in long-term recovery, who also has an extensive media background around lifestyle content, For about 25 years, I had been looking for a website or a magazine that spoke to me as a person in long-term recovery that would let me know about all the content that has now come online in the last five to eight years.

in the recovery community.

Back in 2006, when I first got sober, there was no sober Instagram, sober Facebook, sober Twitter, sober Pinterest, Clubhouse, podcasts, and the self-help section at Barnes & Noble was quite small.

And so I have had a front row seat over the last 17 plus years to see all these people start to recover out loud and all these brands and different pathways to recovery really come online.

Have you always had sort of fun at the forefront of your sober journey? Or is that a relatively newer passion?

So Your platform, Sober Curator, let's talk about kind of when you decided to go that direction as opposed to just being your own gal in recovery and kind of, you know, what inspired that?

Sure.

Well, I'm pleased to report that just a couple days ago, the Sober Curator turned six years old.

So we are officially out of the toddler years.

I'm thinking we're in kindergarten now because they have good arts and crafts and snacks.

But I launched the Sober Curator in this first summer of the pandemic.

At the time I was I had just turned 15 years sober and I had not recovered out loud on the Internet.

How can my listeners find out more about Sober Curator?

Oh, wow.

So at the age of 40.

Yeah, at the age of 40.

Um, and that is, that, that i- that was a direct result of the alcohol and drugs I had put in my body for 16 years, and then the stressful life I was living for the next 10 years, right? And so I am definitely one big walking cautionary tale.

Um, and I will say what happened then, even though I had worked the steps at that point a couple of times and I'd been sponsoring lots of people, and I will say for me, helping other people through their step work was more beneficial than me going through it myself.

Um, and I stand, I stand by that to this day, and that's why I will still help people to this day because I get so much out of it, and at the end of the day, I'm still super selfish.

Um, but almost dying at the age of 40, being wheeled into emergency heart surgeries, you know, saying goodbye to my son, saying goodbye to my parents, not knowing if I was coming back out, that'll change your perspective on how you do a lot of things.

And that's the part, that's, I think, the, some of the important story to tell, is how do you get through that, and how do you lean on your friends but also confront some of your own issues? And, I don't know, I thought it was a really good movie.