Host Liz Sweigart and Ema Bryant first connected through Liz’s writing on mental health—a message from Ema’s father turned into a friendship that has spanned continents, countless conversations, and a shared commitment to honesty about the hard parts of healing.

In this deeply personal episode of Past the Profile, Ema—radiographer, healthcare professional, and self-described “work in progress”—opens up about her journey with depression and anxiety, the lessons learned in therapy, and how compassion and faith ground her work in patient care. She and Liz talk about the weight of invisible struggles, the courage it takes to keep showing up, and what it means to measure success by persistence, not perfection.

Highlights

• How it began: the blog post that connected two people on opposite sides of the world through words that made them both feel less alone.
• Healing in healthcare: how Ema found purpose and empathy in radiography—and what her patients teach her daily.
• The “jerk brain” paradox: learning that mental health challenges don’t cancel gratitude or privilege.
• Self-care, real talk: ADHD, imposter syndrome, and redefining “the bare minimum” as a form of rest.
• Future self: the wisdom in taking life a week at a time—and remembering that just being here is a victory.

Host Liz Sweigart first met Maya Zuckerman through the Holochain / Holo project before teaming up again on Visvere. In this episode of Past the Profile, Maya traces her journey from product and operations manager to ecosystem architect. She and Liz explore why culture hacking beats disruption, how regenerative principles can be embedded into technology from the start, and what it means to move from extraction to reciprocity in both business and community.

Highlights

• From film to futures → how early work in digital media opened a path to regenerative tech and organizational design.
• Collective storytelling → why the stories we share become the scaffolding for movements and markets.
• Regenerative lens → embedding reciprocity, diversity, and resilience into systems instead of treating them as afterthoughts.
• Scaling trust → tools and governance that let communities grow without losing cohesion.
• Bridging disciplines → what Maya has learned moving between entertainment, tech, and grassroots movements.

A three-chapter history connects host Liz Sweigart and Hilary Turner: dorm-mates at Rice University’s Wiess College, a wedding cameo years later, and—most meaningfully—a 2016 Facebook message that turned into miles and miles around the Rice loop. One Saturday run became a standing ritual, international half-marathons, and a friendship built on mutual encouragement and just the right amount of stubbornness.

In this Past the Profile episode, Hilary—editor-turned-MBA-turned-librarian-in-training—traces her path from New York publishing (Wiley, Penguin) to UT Austin student services to tech marketing… and finally into the library and information world she now calls home (MSLS program, practicum with Georgetown’s business library, and a joyful plunge into the American Library Association community). She and Liz talk about making friends as adults, introvert–extrovert dynamics, the upside of social media serendipity, and why it’s okay to arrive by the scenic route.

Highlights

• The running years: frozen water fountains, international races (Edinburgh, Dublin), and how “enforced bonding” turns miles into trust.
• Career throughlines: editing, research, and helping people—threads that made librarianship click in midlife.
• Finding your people: discovering community among librarians and information pros (and showing up as your full self).
• Making friends as adults: why it’s hard, why it’s worth it, and how a small “yes” can change everything.
• Joy cameos: Murder, She Wrote, The Golden Girls, and Orson the rescue “chi-poodle” who brings effervescence to every room.