Too Much with Denise Love Hewett

The Power of Reparative Investing with Jessica Norwood

In this episode, Denise sits down with Jessica Norwood, founder of Runway and one of the most visionary financial activists working today, to explore what it really means to move money in "right relationship" — and why reparative capital may be the blueprint for the economy we actually want to live in.
Jessica unpacks why the traditional venture capital model was never built for Black entrepreneurs, women founders, or community-rooted businesses...and what she did about it. From pioneering the "believe-in-you money" framework (the pre-seed capital that friends-and-family wealth was always supposed to represent) to sending $1,000/month to 80 portfolio companies with no payback required at the height of COVID-19, Jessica and Runway are proving that a different system is not only possible, it's already working. In this conversation, you'll hear:
 Why the only real indicator of wealth is already having it — and what that means for who gets to build generational wealth in America
What reparative capital actually looks like in practice: patient debt, community-led loan committees, and a Funders Manifesto that flips the power dynamic 
How Runway kept 100% of its portfolio companies open during the pandemic with a radical UBI experiment 
Why most businesses should never have pursued venture capital in the first place 
The advice every founder needs before they walk into a capital conversation
Jessica Norwood is a Center for Economic Democracy Fellow, a Harvard Hip Hop Archive Political Power Fellow, and has been profiled in Fast Company, the New York Times, and Essence Magazine. Her work has been called "medicine for modern philanthropy and investment."
If you've ever felt like the system wasn't built for you — this episode is proof that someone is already building a better one.
You can find Jessica Norwood and Runway at runway.family, @jessicanorwood, and @runway.family
You can follow this podcast @toomuchwithdlh and Denise @deniselovehewett
 

Exploring the Universe Within with Jon Bates (Big Black Delta)

What if you are not just a person moving through the universe — but a universe moving through itself? This week, Denise sits down with musician and artist Jon Bates, known as Big Black Delta, for one of the most expansive conversations the podcast has ever had. From sacred geometry and Jungian archetypes to ego, alchemy, and the nature of consciousness — this episode will make you see yourself, and your creative life, completely differently.
Jon's journey from a self-taught Miami kid who couldn't play sports, to a critically acclaimed experimental artist who channels music from "higher beings," is a masterclass in following your own signal. His latest album is his most precise work yet — and this conversation is just as layered. In this episode, you'll explore:
How to quiet the ego long enough to create something real — and why it's less about silencing it and more about giving it a seat on the couch
Sacred geometry, Jungian archetypes, and why astrology might be more profound than your meme feed suggests
Why earth is a "soul training school" — and what that means for how we treat each other (and ourselves)
The alchemy of sitting with hard emotions: naming jealousy, bitterness, and resentment so they lose their power
Phone addiction, stillness, and why 5 minutes without your screen in the morning might be the most radical thing you do today
Why being "too many things" isn't a flaw — it's the universe experiencing itself through you
This is a conversation for the seekers, the creatives, the spiritually curious, and anyone who's ever felt pressured to be just one thing. Jon doesn't preach — he just reminds you that nobody agreed to the rules, and nobody has to follow them.
You can find him on Spotify and Instagram @big_black_delta 
You can follow this podcast @toomuchwithdlh and Denise @deniselovehewett
Loved this episode? Leave a review and share it with a friend who's been questioning everything lately — this one is for them.
Photo credit: @sterlingptaylor
 

The Too Much Workbook: Tools to Build a Life You Love

What would your life look like if you stopped following someone else's blueprint and started living your own? In this solo episode, Denise announces the launch of the Too Much Workbook: Tools to Build a Life You Love — a 40-page, self-guided workbook designed to help you break free from societal timelines, discover your core values, and design a life that actually feels like yours.
Born out of Denise's own journey after a startup failure in her early thirties, this workbook captures the exact questions she asked and steps she took to rebuild her life from the inside out. The result? A life she genuinely loves — and a practical, accessible toolkit to help you do the same. In this episode, you'll learn:
Why reflection and journaling alone aren't enough — and what "practical integration" actually looks like
How to track your energy across a week to identify what truly lights you up vs. what drains you
The joyful framework for building a life in alignment
A powerful manifestation exercise: how to feel your dream into reality before it happens
Why getting clear on your "why" is the single most important first step
The workbook is available on April 20th for just $20. Whether you're feeling stuck, burned out, or like something in your life is quietly off — this is your permission slip to begin again.
Get the Too Much Workbook: Available April 20th at the link in bio on Instagram and YouTube, or at Denise's website. It's never too late to start living a life that's fully yours.
#lifealignment #self-discovery #workbook #findyourpurpose #personaldevelopment #podcast #corevalues #exercise #manifestation #practice #burnout #recovery #buildalifeyoulove #zoneofgenius #neuroplasticity #mindset #TooMuch #TooMuchWorkbook 

Ancient Wisdom in Modern Skincare: Uncovering the Original Face Theory With Sandra Lanshin Chiu

What if the secret to glowing, youthful skin had nothing to do with fillers, Botox, or the latest serums — and everything to do with your inner health, energy, and essence? In this episode, Denise sits down with Sandra Lanshin Chiu, licensed acupuncturist, TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) practitioner, and founder of Treatment by Lanshin, to explore a transformative concept that's redefining beauty from the inside out: the Original Face Theory.
Sandra shares how nearly two decades of treating patients with Chinese herbal medicine and facial acupuncture led her to a profound realization — that true skin rejuvenation begins at the level of the body's health, not at the surface. Together, Denise and Sandra unpack the ancient Taoist and Buddhist roots of the Original Face philosophy, what it means to return to the face nature gave you, and why the modern beauty industry may be leading us in exactly the wrong direction. In this episode, you'll learn:
What the Original Face Theory is and where it comes from in Taoist and TCM tradition
How acupuncture and Chinese medicine can visibly transform skin health and facial appearance — without invasive procedures
The connection between gut health, emotional wellbeing, and the way your face looks and ages
How TCM approaches chronic skin conditions like acne, rosacea, eczema, and psoriasis differently than Western medicine
The three "treasures" — essence, qi, and spirit — and how they shape your face at every stage of life
Why Sandra's mentor and master face reader Lillian Bridges believed your true face doesn't emerge until after 25
How living in alignment with your purpose can literally change how you look
This conversation is for anyone curious about holistic skincare, TCM beauty, facial rejuvenation without surgery, or simply searching for a deeper, more meaningful relationship with aging, identity, and self-expression.
You can find her instagram: @treatmentbylanshin,  TikTok: @lasnhinskin, YouTube: @Lanshin  and website, lanshin.com
You can follow this podcast @toomuchwithdlh and Denise @deniselovehewett

Unleashing Personal Power: Bridging Mediumship and Coaching with Bonnie Wirth

What if the key to unlocking your fullest potential lies at the intersection of spiritual intelligence and trauma-informed coaching? In this episode, Denise sits down with Bonnie Wirth — transformative coach, medium, and spiritual mentor — to explore what it truly means to step into your personal power and close the gap between who you are and who you were meant to be.
Bonnie shares her lifelong journey as a medium, from suppressing her gifts in childhood to building a practice that weaves together mediumship, spiritual psychology, trauma recovery, astrology, and energetic intelligence into a uniquely powerful coaching approach. Together, Denise and Bonnie unpack why so many women remain stuck in cycles of self-abandonment, people-pleasing, and not-enoughness — and what it takes to finally break free. In this episode, you'll discover:
How Bonnie discovered and ultimately embraced her gifts as a medium after years of hiding them
What "energetic intelligence" is and how every person can access it
Why rewiring your internal operating system — not fixing your external circumstances — is the real path to lasting change
How past-life karmic patterns, inherited conditioning, and nervous system dysregulation keep us trapped in suffering
The powerful connection between self-love, self-responsibility, and the relationships we attract
Simple, accessible practices to regulate your nervous system and begin coming home to yourself
Whether you're spiritually curious, deeply on your path, or simply searching for more meaning and agency in your life, this episode offers a stunning roadmap for what conscious evolution can look like when spirit, mind, and body work together.
You can follow her @wirthbonnie
You can follow this podcast @toomuchwithdlh and Denise @deniselovehewett
Bonnie Wirth is a transformative coach, medium, and spiritual mentor who guides conscious women to close the gap between who they are and who they are meant to be. Rooted in the belief that true expansion requires a regulated and safe foundation, Bonnie specializes in helping others shift from survival into mastery. Her work focuses on the integration of Spirit-Mind-Body; higher identity into the physical experience. An expert in spiritual communication and trauma recovery through energetic intelligence, she is dedicated to empowering her clients to master their internal world and step into a life aligned with their true capacity—to elevate their life and serve with purpose.

Are You Chasing or Living? Breaking Free from the Ambition Trap with Amina AlTai

What if your ambition is actually working against you?
In this episode, host Denise sits down with executive coach and bestselling author Amina AlTai (The Ambition Trap: How to Stop Chasing and Start Living) to unpack one of the most misunderstood forces driving high achievers — ambition itself.
Amina breaks down the difference between painful ambition (driven by unhealed core wounds) and purposeful ambition (rooted in your truth and zone of genius) — and why so many of us are unknowingly stuck in the former. After working herself to the brink of illness, Amina radically rethought her relationship to success, achievement, and what it really means to thrive. In this episode, we cover:
The five core wounds (rejection, abandonment, humiliation, betrayal, injustice) and the masks we wear to hide them
The key traits of painful ambition — self-imposed urgency, scarcity mindset, instrumentalizing yourself, and toxic positivity
What high-functioning codependency actually looks like (hint: you might not recognize yourself in the traditional definition)
The myth of the passion principle — and why purpose is more stable than passion to build a life on
How to take aligned action without micromanaging outcomes or falling into spiritual bypassing
Whether you're a high achiever burning out in a corporate system that wasn't built for you, an entrepreneur questioning your path, or someone who has never felt like enough — this conversation will give you a new framework and a new vocabulary for your ambition.
You can follow Amina AlTai at aminaaltai.com
The Ambition Trap — available wherever books are sold 
Instagram: @aminaaltai
You can follow this podcast @toomuchwithdlh and Denise @deniselovehewett
Amina AITai is an executive coach and leadership trainer, proud immigrant and chronic illness advocate.  A leading coach to notable leaders, executives, and founders—Amina's mastery is in connecting us to our brilliance and teaching us to live and lead from it each day. She is the bestselling author of The Ambition Trap: How to Stop Chasing and Start Living, with Penguin/The Open Field.
Amina has partnered with progressive companies such as Google, Meta, Roku, Snap, Outdoor Voices, NYU and HUGE. She's an Entrepreneur Magazine expert-in-residence, a Forbes contributor and was named one of Success Magazine’s Women of Influence. Additionally, she's been featured in goop, Well+Good, The New York Times, Yahoo, NBC, Adam Grant’s Next Big Idea Club and more.
 
 

Confronting Power: Understanding the Systemic Issues of the Epstein Files With Dr. Nicole Haggard

Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussion of sexual abuse, child exploitation, and systemic misogyny.
What do the Epstein files reveal about the world we actually live in and how do we rebuild something better? In this deeply honest and wide-ranging conversation, host Denise sits down with professor and PhD Dr. Nicole Haggard to unpack the systemic forces behind one of the most disturbing cultural reckoning moments of our time.
Dr. Nicole brings her expertise in critical race theory, gender studies, and media representation to help us understand why the Epstein files feel so destabilizing and what they expose about the structures of power, patriarchy, and complicity that have long defined Hollywood, politics, healthcare, and everyday life. In this episode, we cover:
Why the Epstein files represent "peak patriarchy" and what that means for our culture
How Hollywood's history of sexual abuse shapes the stories we see on screen — and how we've been trained to consume them
The male gaze, grooming, and media's role in normalizing the sexualization of young girls
How pedophilic beauty standards have shaped what women are told to look like  and how to reclaim your own body autonomy
The connection between inner work and outer systemic change
Dr. Nicole's "See It, Speak It, Change It" framework for cultural transformation
Imagination as a radical act: dreaming beyond a flawed system into a world where women are truly free
Resources mentioned: Salma Hayek's essay "Harvey Weinstein Is My Monster Too," Jameela Jamil's Substack, Laura Mulvey's Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, Women Connect for Good's Connect for Impact program.
You can follow Dr. Nicole at @HeyDrNicole 
You can follow this podcast @toomuchwithdlh and Denise @deniselovehewett
Too Much with Denise is a podcast about building a new world in the wreckage of the old one — through honest conversation, radical imagination, and the courage to say what needs to be said.
Dr. Nicole Haggard is an award-winning cultural strategist, professor, and published researcher. For more than twenty years, her scholarship has examined the intersection of race, gender, and media in American culture, equipping institutions with research-driven frameworks to recognize harmful narrative patterns and reimagine representation in ways that foster the advancement of women and girls.
She is the co-founder of the Center for Intersectional Media and Entertainment (CIME), an organization dedicated to unpacking why entertainment media matters and advancing representation across industries. Through CIME, Dr. Nicole has served as a cultural strategist for organizations including the Geena Davis Institute, Lyda Hill Philanthropies’ IF/THEN Initiative, the National Women’s History Museum, the Representation Project, and Color of Change—supporting their efforts to advance women in underrepresented fields and promote gender equity at scale.
As a public academic, Dr. Nicole most recently served as Director of the Center for the Advancement of Women, and her consulting career has been devoted to promoting gender parity and structural change. She has contributed to more than a dozen edited collections and white papers, including the Report on the Status of Women and Girls in California. Her expertise has been featured by NPR, Spectrum, TheWrap, Variety, Glamour, and NBC. In 2024, she was named one of MSN’s 15 Visionary Educators Inspiring Knowledge and Growth.
Dr. Nicole holds a PhD in American Studies from Saint Louis University and a BA from the University of Southern California. She resides in Ojai, California.

Navigating Hollywood and the Writer's Path with Cynthia Adarkwa

What does it actually take to break into a Hollywood writer's room — and how do you build a career when there's no clear roadmap? In this episode, host Denise sits down with Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Cynthia Adarkwa (HBO Max's The Pit, Legacies, Saint X, Emperor of Ocean Park) to pull back the curtain on one of entertainment's most opaque career paths: screenwriting.
Cynthia shares the real story behind her journey — from a first-generation Ghanaian-American kid in the DMV suburbs who "ferociously" devoured books, to a BFA in Dramatic Writing from SCAD, to transferring her Trader Joe's job to LA and cold-emailing a TV writer she found through a Twitter trivia contest. That bold move got her into her first writer's room — and started a career that would eventually lead to an Emmy.
This conversation is a must-listen for aspiring writers, creatives navigating uncertain industries, and anyone building a fulfilling life on their own terms. In this episode, we cover:
How Cynthia discovered screenwriting (and why "it sounded fun" was reason enough)
The real timeline to breaking in:  why 3–5 years is the norm, not the exception
How she went from PA on American Idol to writer's assistant to Emmy winner
The unspoken rules of writer's rooms: spec scripts, finding a showrunner's voice, and getting rewritten gracefully
What it's like to work on The Pitt : and how the writers' room researches healthcare stories with medical experts
Writing as a discipline, not just inspiration: and why you must keep creating even when nothing is happening
Being a Black woman writer in Hollywood, writing stories that center representation, and finding resistance in rest and joy
You can follow her @cynteeeahh 
You can follow this podcast @toomuchwithdlh and Denise @deniselovehewett
Cynthia Adarkwa is an Emmy Award-winning writer and producer of HBOMax’s The Pitt. She was a writer for Legacies (CW), Saint X (Hulu) and the Forrest Whitaker starring Emperor of Ocean Park (MGM+.)
A first generation Ghanaian American writer from the suburbs of the DMV, Cynthia went on to obtain her BFA in Dramatic Writing from the Savannah College of Art & Design. Cynthia’s work centers on Black women finding their place in the world — telling stories rooted in humor, truth, and purpose.
Keywords: screenwriting career, how to become a TV writer, Hollywood writer's room, breaking into entertainment, Emmy Award winning writer, The Pit HBO Max, WGA writers strike, Black women in Hollywood, TV writing tips, Cynthia Adarkwa, creative career podcast, film and TV writing, spec scripts, showrunner, SCAD dramatic writing, peak TV, writer's assistant, navigating Hollywood
If you're building a creative life and trying to figure out your blueprint, this episode is for you.
 
 

Immersive Work and the Benefits of Tactile Experience with Vance Garrett

What does it mean to truly be present? In your body, in a space, in a story?
In this episode of Too Much, Denise sits down with Vance Garrett, award-winning creative director, immersive experience pioneer, and founding team member behind Sleep No More, Museum of Ice Cream, and 29 Rooms — to explore how immersive storytelling, tactile design, and embodied experience are reshaping the way we connect, create, and live.
Vance breaks down the evolution of immersive entertainment from its nightlife roots to its next frontier, and why the most powerful experiences are the ones that pull you out of your head and into your body. This conversation goes far beyond the world of experiential design, it's a masterclass in presence, intuition, collective joy, and why your imagination might be the most radical tool you have right now. In this episode, we cover:
What actually makes an experience "immersive" — and why the definition matters
The evolution from immersive theater (V1) to Instagram-driven experiences (V2) — and what comes next
How phones changed our relationship to live experiences and presence
The power of pre-verbal, sensory-first storytelling 
Why tactile, multi-sensory design creates deeper awe than visual spectacle alone
The role of ritual in rebuilding collective identity and community
How immersive principles apply to everyday life, creativity, and even the political landscape
What "being in your body" actually means — and why it matters more than ever
Vance Garrett is a cultural architect and immersive experience creator whose work has reached over 3 million guests. He is the former Chief Creative Officer of Constellation Immersive (a CAA-affiliated studio), former VP of Experiential at Westfield, and a founding team member of Sleep No More, Museum of Ice Cream, and Refinery29's 29 Rooms. His awards include Cleo Awards, Biz Bash honors, and the Tribeca Film Festival Storyscapes Award.
You can follow him @vancegarrett and his Substack newsletter Advanced Experiences 
You can follow this podcast @toomuchwithdlh and Denise @deniselovehewett
Email hello@deniselovehewett.com for any suggestions or advice.
Keywords: immersive experience design, tactile storytelling, experiential entertainment, embodied presence, collective joy, immersive theater, sensory design, creative direction, Vance Garrett, Sleep No More, Museum of Ice Cream, Disco Oasis, ritual and identity, flow state, somatic experience, multi-sensory storytelling, location-based entertainment

The Myth of Work-Life Balance in a Work Focused World

 What if chasing work-life balance is actually setting you up to fail? In this solo episode, Denise breaks down why the traditional 50/50 framework is outdated — and introduces a more sustainable alternative: seasonal thinking. Drawing on the concepts of the harvest season (when opportunity is abundant and you go all in) and the fallow season (when rest and reinvention fuel your next big leap), Denise shares how to recognize which season you're in, how to stop glorifying hustle culture, and why slowing down is often the most productive thing you can do for your career. Whether you're in the middle of a strategic sprint or recovering from burnout, this episode will change the way you think about ambition, rest, and long-term success.
Keywords: work-life balance, burnout recovery, hustle culture, career strategy, seasonal thinking, career growth, productivity, fallow season, sustainable work
You can follow this podcast @toomuchwithdlh and Denise @deniselovehewett
Email hello@deniselovehewett.com for any suggestions or advice.