In this powerful first interview, Melanie Vargas sits down with Alysse Bryson, Founder and CEO of The Sober Curator for a candid and deeply human conversation about recovery, reinvention, and the courage to live unapologetically.

Alysse shares her journey through long term sobriety, workaholism, and the moments that forced her to confront the life she had built to survive. From hitting rock bottom to facing emergency heart surgery, she reflects on the experiences that reshaped her identity and challenged everything she thought she knew about success, control, and worth.

With honesty, humor, and hard earned wisdom, Alysse opens up about the masks she had to shed and what it really means to come home to yourself. At the center of her story is a powerful reframe. Not to fit in or perform, but to “be the street art” and live visibly, creatively, and truthfully.

This conversation is raw, insightful, and at times unexpectedly funny. It is for anyone navigating change, healing from the past, or stepping into a more authentic version of themselves.

Because sometimes the most courageous thing we can do is stop performing and start living.

Find out more about the Alysse and the Sober Curator:

Sober Curator Website

Sober Curator YouTube Channel 

Sober Curator Podcast on Apple

If this conversation resonated, follow the podcast and share it with someone who is doing their own inner work.

What’s In Your Neighborhood™ is a nonprofit focused on building community dedicated to normalizing healing, reducing stigma, and expanding how we think about strength, leadership, and what it means to come home to ourselves.

To learn more, get involved, or support the mission, visit www.whatsinyourneighborhood.org.

Until next time, keep tending to your own neighborhood. It matters more than you know.

In this deeply personal opening episode, Melanie Vargas goes first.

Before inviting others to share their inner worlds, Melanie steps into both host and guest, offering an unfiltered look at the landscape within her own “neighborhood.” Through storytelling, reflection, and a reading from her memoir, she explores the hidden streets shaped by trauma, addiction, shame, and resilience.

From childhood experiences with mental health struggles in her family to navigating her own long term recovery, burnout, and the unraveling moment of her child’s mental health crisis, Melanie shares the truth behind the masks she carried for decades. This episode is not about having it all figured out. It is about the courage to stop hiding.

At the heart of this conversation is a pivotal realization. The exhaustion of performing. The weight of shame. The decision to come home to oneself.

This episode invites you to begin exploring your own inner neighborhood with compassion, curiosity, and honesty. Because our inner work is not separate from our leadership. It is the foundation of it.

If this resonates, follow the podcast and join us as we continue walking these streets together.

If this conversation resonated, follow the podcast and share it with someone who is doing their own inner work.

What’s In Your Neighborhood™ is a nonprofit focused on building community dedicated to normalizing healing, reducing stigma, and expanding how we think about strength, leadership, and what it means to come home to ourselves.

To learn more, get involved, or support the mission, visit www.whatsinyourneighborhood.org.

Until next time, keep tending to your own neighborhood. It matters more than you know.

Welcome to What's in YOUR Neighborhood — conversations for the shame shifter in all of us.

In this teaser episode, host Melanie Vargas shares why this podcast was born: a deep belief that the most transformative leadership starts not on the stage or spreadsheet, but in the quiet corners of our inner landscapes. Melanie invites you into raw, human stories of identity, shame, failure, resilience, and healing.

This is a space for achievers and perfectionists, for those who have succeeded while hiding parts of themselves. It’s for the ones who've worn masks to survive and are now ready to come home to who they really are.

You'll hear from rebels, truth-tellers, and leaders willing to sit in discomfort, challenge the status quo, and rise after the fall. Whether you’re leading teams, creating change, or simply craving more authenticity and courage, you’ve found your people.

Let’s walk these streets. What’s in YOUR neighborhood?

If this conversation resonated, follow the podcast and share it with someone who is doing their own inner work.

What’s In Your Neighborhood™ is a nonprofit focused on building community dedicated to normalizing healing, reducing stigma, and expanding how we think about strength, leadership, and what it means to come home to ourselves.

To learn more, get involved, or support the mission, visit www.whatsinyourneighborhood.org.

Until next time, keep tending to your own neighborhood. It matters more than you know.