Let’s (Not) Talk About It

“Dressing as a woman for the first drag for the first time certainly had an enormous impact on my life.”

An award-winning author, artist and journalist with Ivy League degrees, Meredith Talusan’s stor…

“There's a tremendous amount of stigma about coming forward, especially for men.” 

It wasn’t until Phil Goldstein was 30 years old he began unpacking a childhood trauma subconsciously affecting his ad…

“Every single day was just complete hell.”

Ashley Brumbaugh’s father was her hero without a cape. So, when he was diagnosed with cancer, Ashley fell apart. Internalized stress led to chronic pain, whi…

"It’s so surreal to lose two people at the same time, especially in this sort of really dramatic, violent, unthinkable sort of way. "

Sara Cobb is, unfortunately, no stranger to death and grief. Her o…

"I deceived myself to believe that I was being empowered."

Aaron Crowley was attending college in LA when a talent scout for a gay porn studio reached out to him with a proposition. Being short on cas…

“Starting your own business is this perfect incubator for a mental health crisis.”

On paper, Jessica Manuszak totally has her life together. She owns a marketing agency and has written copy for compa…

“Near the end of the worst part of my schizophrenia break, I really wasn't living in reality; I was living in hell.”

Apollo Ellis’ resume reads like a who’s who of the tech world: Sony, Intel, Apple, …

“My opportunity to be a kid got taken from me very early in my life.” 

Brenda Myers-Powell was just a child when she turned to prositution to support herself and her two young daughters. Over the next…

“The very first thing I thought when I heard the first shot wasn't why, but it was, "I can't believe the Columbine is happening here.”

In the blink of an eye, an ordinary day can turn into horror. On …

“If I'm good at being tiny, I'm going to be the best tiniest person I can be.”

Growing up in a picture-perfect family, Amber Hart always felt just mediocre. She wasn’t the smartest student, she wasn’…

“Even opening my eyes was just a miserable experience and I just didn't understand it.” 

Two years after her sister’s death and in the grips of anguish and despair, Andrea Wilson Woods sat on the edge…

David Crow grew up poor on the Navajo Indian reservation with a dad who loved telling stories of his Cherokee ancestry and his bravery …

Chantel Soumis was 25 when an ordinary trip to the mall ended in a doctor's office -- and a life-changing diagnosis. While t…

“I remember always asking my mother, can I please see a doctor? Can I please see a shrink? This is not normal.”

Sulome Anderson wasn’t even born when her father, Terry Anderson, a journalist covering …

After a childhood filled with violence and abuse, Rob Scheer ended up in foster care. He moved through the system…

“Your love is not going to change that person.”

From childhood, Nupur Srivastava had everything going for her: She was beautiful and intelligent, destined for great things. Despite that, she had low …

“As soon as I began to talk about it, it wasn’t so scary anymore.”

Sims Tillirson was just a child when he had a traumatic experience at the hands of a relative. To deal with the pain, he turned to dr…

"If somebody like him can be brought to justice, then anybody can be." 

Jessica Barth was best known as a Hollywood actor until a scandal involving a famous movie mogul spurred her activism. In the mi…

“Yes, I am free. But am I really free, though?”

Slavery was abolished in 1865 in America, but as Evelyn Chumbow knows too well, it still happens to this day. As a child, she was trafficked from West A…