Low to Grow

Writer, podcaster and comedian Courtney Kocak joins Annie Wenmiao Yu to unpack her memoir Girl Gone Wild, from her small-town Minnesota roots to reinventing herself as a writer at 27 after leaving acting. She opens up about shedding shame around sexual assault, an abortion at 23, and selling t-shirts on the Girls Gone Wild tour, plus the long road to publishing with a small press. Courtney also shares her flow-state productivity approach, the power of journaling, and why it's never too late to chase a creative dream.

Psychological researcher Alice Sibelli, PhD joins Annie Wenmiao Yu to share how her own long medical journey with digestive symptoms reshaped her work in digital health. She unpacks the biopsychosocial model and brain-gut connection, how disorders of the gut-brain interaction are diagnosed, and how evidence-based digital therapies like gut-directed CBT and hypnotherapy can speed access to care. Alice also reflects on helping bring the first FDA-cleared digital therapeutic for IBS to market at Mahana, moving from academia to startups, and launching her own consultancy.

Eva Kerschbaumer arrived in New York from Hungary on a one-way ticket in 1996 with just $50, no English, and no family. In this candid Low to Grow episode, she shares how she learned English from reruns of Gilligan's Island, opened her first day spa in a renovated walk-in cooler, and built ES Spa into a 7,000 square foot Pittsburgh sanctuary serving celebrities and executives. Eva talks immigrant resilience, people-pleasing, building a brand from nothing, and why mental health belongs in every conversation about beautiful skin.

Barrister Creanna Dodson joins Annie Wenmiao Yu to trace her extraordinary journey from being homeless at 22 with a newborn to becoming a probation officer, qualified social worker, founder of Soaring Heights Care, and a practicing barrister in criminal and family law. She shares hard-won lessons on resilience, deferred gratification, building a support system, and protecting mental health while raising four children and running a business. The conversation covers career reinvention, poverty and inequality, and adapting to AI in the legal sector.

In this episode of Low to Grow, I sit down with Kushal M. Choksi, a survivor of the 9/11 attacks whose life has spanned Wall Street, entrepreneurship, and a deeply influential spiritual path. Once a quantitative analyst at Goldman Sachs who later led portfolios at Ethelium and BlackRock, Kushal shares how that single, devastating morning in Manhattan shattered his sense of control and completely reframed his understanding of success, purpose, and what it means to truly live. Today, Kushal co-runs Elements Truffles with his wife, blending creativity, patience, and purpose into a business rooted in wellness and ethical practice. He also works as an intuitive life scanner and sits on the U.S. board of the International Association for Human Values. We explore the Institute of Absolute Intelligence, a new initiative inviting scientific inquiry into consciousness, and dig into intuition, scanning, and the fascinating idea that time isn't linear at all. This episode is an invitation to anyone who feels curious about the unseen, anyone who suspects life is more than a straight line, anyone yearning to reconnect with the quiet place inside themselves. What you’ll walk away with: A grounded look at how a life-altering event can reshape ambition and identity Practical, compassionate advice for young professionals feeling out of alignment Insight into meditation, breath work, and tuning into your inner voice A thoughtful exploration of intuition, consciousness, and the science behind it An inside look at the joy and patience of entrepreneurship beyond hustle culture Follow Low to Grow ⁠⁠Instagram: @lowtogrowpodcast⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠YouTube: @lowtogrow⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Substack LIFT with Low to Grow⁠ ⁠Newsletter⁠⁠ Connect with our podcast guests via their profile page on ⁠⁠www.lowtogrow.com⁠⁠! Please Note: Low to Grow is for educational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional advice. For free mental health resources, visit ⁠⁠https://www.mind.org.uk⁠⁠.