In September, our cousin Vivian was visiting NYC from Los Angeles, and we had a girls’ dinner at one of our favorite spots: Houseman (shoutout to Vivian’s brother, Dillon, who recommended this gem a year ago—it has since become a regular on my restaurant rotation). We talked about everything manifesting, music, health, careers, relationship, but my favorite part of the night was realizing that family can feel like hanging out with your best girlfriends. At the end of dinner, Vivian promised she’d check in with us on our progress with Food for Thought, our careers, and our personal lives. And true to form, she did. A natural-born creative, Vivian is a songwriter, artist, dancer-turned-musician, and one of those people who makes you leave a conversation wanting to romanticize your life a little more. This episode started as a long-overdue catch-up and turned into a conversation about creativity, fear, fashion, reinvention, and the strange (and beautiful) process of becoming more yourself. We talked about Vivian’s journey from growing up as “the dancer” in the family to eventually finding her way back to the mic. As a kid, she loved singing (cue the Britney Spears performances in the living room), but fear and shyness slowly pushed her away from using her voice. Instead, she poured that energy into dance—hip hop, ballet, jazz, contemporary—until a college musical theater class forced her to sing in front of a room full of strangers and changed everything. One of our biggest takeaways? Sometimes the thing you’re most scared of is pointing directly toward the thing you’re meant to do. We also dove into The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, a book Vivian credits with completely changing her relationship to creativity. Through morning pages, artist dates, and exercises that challenge you to reconnect with who you are underneath fear and expectation, the book asks a simple but powerful question: what parts of yourself have you stopped giving permission to exist? Vivian shared how revisiting The Artist’s Way unexpectedly snowballed into building a creative community online, connecting hundreds of people around the world through shared curiosity and accountability. Naturally, Lex and I left the episode saying… okay, maybe we really need to commit to doing it too. A major theme of this episode was identity: allowing yourself to evolve into the person you secretly already know you are. Toward the end of our conversation, we asked Vivian what success in music looks like to her right now, and her answer honestly felt like the thesis of the episode: create consistently, put yourself out there, and “climb the cringe mountain.” Whether it’s starting a podcast, releasing music, posting your writing, or simply trying something new, putting yourself out there will always feel vulnerable. But maybe the cringe mountain is exactly where the good stuff lives. Vivian’s magnetic energy shines through in everything she creates, so consider this your official reminder to stream her first EP when it drops this summer. We’ll absolutely be listening, and we hope you are too! You can find VIVIAN and her music on Apple Music, Spotify, TikTok, Instagram, and wherever you stream your favorite artists. Get full access to Food For Thought at foodforthoughtpodcast.substack.com/subscribe
