Lit Up! with Nina Alvarez Lit Up with Nina Alvarez

This week Nina speaks about opening The Aurora Center for Creative and Spiritual Arts and her up and down journey making the decision. And how: "Ever since I signed that lease, I've shifted."

Nina talks about learning to hold creative endeavors gently, being patient, listening for guidance. What wants to happen? What wants to come through you?

After a 2-month summer break, I sat down one September Saturday morning and talked with Dan about what I wanted Lit Up to be. Trying to get to something richer and more personal, more artful and fun. Not that I don't love the 14 interviews I've done, but that I knew it was time for Lit Up to take the next step in its evolution. This week's episode of Lit Up is the documentation of that conversation.

Rochester theater up-and-comers Alec Michael Powell and Kate Royal talk about collaborating on their first musical "The Weekends," a show about the disillusionment the current crop of 20-somethings feel transitioning from college to "the real world." They discuss allowing character personalities to inform music style, and how their goal is to portray Millennials honestly and unashamedly.

Meet singer-songwriter Susanna Rose: lovely, humble, and the real deal. She's heard songs playing in her head since she was a child, but it wasn't until she learned guitar at 21 that she found a way to get them out. In this episode, Susanna Rose gives us a live performance of "Song to Myself," as well as recorded versions of the first song she ever wrote: "Christmas Eve," and one of her most recent: "Separate Ways." In between, we'll learn about her unpretentious approach to songwriting and that vulnerable feeling she gets whenever she puts her music "out there."

Have you ever dreamed of quitting your job and becoming a professional blogger? Travel and food blogger Jessica DeJesus is making the plunge this summer. She talks to us about her #litup moment, how she got started, the ups and downs of building her visibility and audience, how Wayne Dyer's The Power of Intention inspires her to stay positive, and she even gives some practical advice to new bloggers. She is also writing a new book: The Dining Traveler's Guide to Puerto Rico.

Meet Tate DeCaro, a newly minted yoga instructor. In 2013, while asking the question "What do I want to do with my life," an unexpected illness struck. This started a chain of events in which she changed her diet and her relationship with exercise and yoga. In 2014 she decided to take a trip to Kalani, Hawaii to practice yoga. That trip would turn out to be life-changing, turning 2014 into a year that answered the question posed in 2013. Tate's story is particularly inspiring if you're searching for your path, dealing with body issues, or struggling with unhappiness.