On this week's episode of Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity, host & producer George Sirois sits down with fellow author Andrew Serra. While the two share a passion for storytelling, Andrew's journey to get into writing is a far different, much more eventful path. Andrew has been a lover of storytelling for most of his life, but he has also…

This week on Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity, host & producer George Sirois sits down with author & interior designer Amy Barrickman. Ever since she started her design business in 2010, Amy has been working nonstop with her clients and with her social media channel where she shares different designing tips on a regular basis. It didn't t…

This week on Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity, host and producer George Sirois sits down for a very open and deep conversation with filmmaker, publisher, and professor Autumn Karen. Having dedicated so much of her life to storytelling, Autumn has opened the doors to both authors and potential filmmakers with both Woven Lines Publishing an…

PRODUCER'S NOTE: APOLOGIES FOR THE AUDIO GLITCHES YOU'LL BE HEARING IN THIS EPISODE, MOSTLY WHENEVER YOU HEAR ME TALKING FOR LONGER STRETCHES. THANKFULLY, ANNIE'S RECORDING SOUNDS GREAT. ENJOY! This week on Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity, host & producer George Sirois sits down with author, speaker, film & television actress, and social…

NOTE: THE CONVERSATIONS IN THIS EPISODE ARE OF AN EXPLICIT NATURE. PLEASE REFRAIN FROM PLAYING THIS EPISODE AROUND ANYONE 17 YEARS OF AGE OR YOUNGER. THANK YOU. On this week's episode of Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity, host & producer George Sirois sits down with director Vic Lagina. After answering an ad to take part in the production …

This week on Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity, host & producer George Sirois sits down with author Steph Katzovi. While in the third grade, Steph declared in an essay that when she grew up, she would become a writer. That drive to write for a living never fully went away, even when she went through law school and worked as a strategic com…

On this very special episode of Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity, host & producer George Sirois sets up a live conversation at the 2025 Austin Revolution Film Festival. On the night of the awards gala where George's "Minus One Plus" was nominated for Best US Short Script - SciFi, George opened the floor to any filmmakers who wanted to sha…

On this week's episode of Excelsior Journeys, host & producer George Sirois sits down with Katie Hallahan, a writer & marketer who has spent years in the publishing industry in many different roles before becoming the COO of Phoenix Online Studios, an independent video game production company. Katie & George discuss how Katie's love of storytelling…

On this week's episode of Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity, host & producer George Sirois sits down with writer / producer / director / film consultant Summer Shelton. A true asset to the independent film community, Summer has been involved in cinema for decades. She is well experienced in lecturing about beginning, intermediate, and adva…

On this week's episode of Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity, host & producer George Sirois sits down with actor, writer, and stand-up comic Anand Mahalingam. A college dropout who spent his first years in Los Angeles sleeping on friends' couches, Anand pushed himself to get on the stand-up comic stage and not only made a name for himself o…

Thank you for your patience last week while some technical issues were taken care of. I expect all future episodes to be released each Tuesday. It is also with sadness that I must announce the closing of the Once Upon a Podcast Network. It was a really fun run, but there is currently no momentum to carry the network as a whole properly into 2025, s…

This week on Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity, producer & host George Sirois sits down with Daisy Eagan, the host of the hit podcast Strange and Unexplained and the youngest female to win a Tony Award. The two discuss Daisy's journey in creativity from performing to writing to getting behind the microphone, and both get to share their own…

This week on Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity, host & producer George Sirois sits down with a fellow podcast host, Janet McMordie. After spending years in sports medicine, Janet decided to pursue her passion, acting, and has kept herself busy in film & television, on the stage honing her craft in improvisation, and even as a stunt perform…

This week on Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity, host & producer George Sirois sits down with his friend, fellow author / speaker / writing coach Cherie Postill. As a constant presence with the St. Louis Writers Guild, Cherie has worked with young authors, with experienced authors, with aspiring authors, so many different people who have a …

Welcome to Season 10 of Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity. It's a new year and a new release day for new episodes, so please note they will now be uploaded every Wednesday instead of Tuesday. This week, host & producer George Sirois sits down with Deborah Heiser, PhD. As the founder & CEO of The Mentor Project, she and her team have helped…

Happy New Year and welcome to the Season 09 Finale of Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity. For this brief episode, host & producer George Sirois looks back with fondness on several creative breakthroughs in 2024 that inspired his resolution in 2025: to stop getting in his own way and to remember what it feels like when he does that. For thos…

Merry Christmas! This week on Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity, host & producer George Sirois welcomes fellow podcaster Dan Delgado (host of The Jockey Club Podcast) to celebrate 35 years of the 1989 Richard Dreyfuss / Teri Garr comedy Let It Ride. To listen to more of Dan's podcasts, click HERE. For those who would like to get involved w…

This week on Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity, host & producer George Sirois welcomes John David Graham, the Executive Director of Good Samaritan Home, a housing & mentoring program for men and women returning to everyday life after time in prison. John has been involved in this organization since he founded it in 2001, and at the age of …

This week on Excelsior Journeys: The Road to Creativity, host & producer George Sirois sits down with voice artist Liana Badawi. The two discuss the various twists and turns in Liana's career as a performer, including performing on stage - even as a Golden Girls puppeteer - and moving into the wonderful world of commercials and animation, all the w…

As the holiday season begins, it's very common for people to start feeling down, depressed, or worse. Excelsior Journeys host & producer George Sirois is very familiar with all of this, and so he felt this was the ideal time to have fellow author and fellow podcaster Thomas Brown as his guest. Thomas has two different mental health-based podcasts a…

On this week's episode of Excelsior Journeys, host & producer George Sirois celebrates 300 episodes of this podcast by presenting the complete 2-hour production of "Excelsior: The Audio Journey." Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to listen to at least one episode of this show over the previous six years. For those who would like to get i…

On this week's episode of Excelsior Journeys, host & producer George Sirois sits down with author & editor Lindsay Flanagan. The two discuss Lindsay's history in writing, leading to her not only releasing her latest novel Little Red Wraith, but also joining the staff of Roan & Weatherford Publishing Associates, just as George did earlier this year.…

This week on Excelsior Journeys, host & producer George Sirois sits down with actor & voice artist Chris Dattoli. Experienced in commercials, elearning videos, video games, radio spots, and more, Chris has built an incredibly impressive portfolio over the years and an even more impressive list of happy clients, including Microsoft, Lowe's, Samsung,…

This week on Excelsior Journeys, host & producer George Sirois sits down with acclaimed book coach and novelist Josee Smith. For years, Josee had been considering the possibilities of what could happen if she decided to pursue her passion of writing and creating characters that represented her and her loved ones. And then, in 2021, she started her …

This week on Excelsior Journeys, host & producer George Sirois sits down with physician & researcher Dr. Laura Gabayan. While breaking down the elements that make up Common Wisdom, as described in Dr. Gabayan's book, the two have a fascinating discussion about how this project came to be, the different people who were tracked down to participate in…