It's the new year! What better time to drink champagne and start talking about The Big Picture in this week's episode with performer Brandon Markell Holmes. What is the bigger picture? How do we fit into it and how do we find our own? Brandon discusses exploring his bigger picture, his career and what motivates him to create.

Samantha Bailey is the Chicago-based filmmaker behind the popular You're So Talented and the hugely buzzed about upcoming web series, Brown Girls. On this week's episode of Champagne & Snark, we talk about Sam's relationship to religion and how it has evolved throughout her life.

Have you ever thought about somebody only to have them call you minutes later? If you think about your pet, do they come wondering over to you? Have you had a dream about somebody in your life and woken up to really feel like it happened? These are the types of psychic phenomeon that Ricardo Gamboa and I discuss in this week's episode of Champagne & Snark. 

Ricardo Gamboa is an academic, artist and activist. His most recent project Brujos is a web series following four gay Latino grad students as they try to survive the semester and a witch-hunt. Brujos needs funding to be as amazing as the vision and Ricardo is hosting an Indiegogo to achieve that. Your donations can get you music from former Champagne & Snark guest Sadie Rocks, personal horoscopes and other exclusive experiences. Get involved here.

Health is more than just eating an apple every day. Health is a careful alchemy of your mind, body and spirit. In this week's episode, host Ana Fernatt talks with artist Julia Haw about how to maintain a healthy body and a healthy mindset. They also dive a little more deeply into experiences with sobriety and creativity.

A teacher and a rapper, Lamon Manuel spends his life reaching minds. In this week's episode, Ana Fernatt drinks champagne with the Chicago native and talks about his passion for teaching and arts education. 

What is happiness and how do we find it? Sadie Woods, aka Sadie Rock, drinks champagne with host Ana Fernatt and talks about what it means to be happy and what she does to both find and maintain it.

Dating, love and relationships can be hard. In this week's episode, Ja'bowen Dixon drinks champagne with host Ana Fernatt and talks about relationships, romantic and otherwise, and how to find, identify and grow the right ones. Ja'bowen is a professional entertainer and tap dancer who, in 2010, was on Ana Fernatt's well-published list of top 10 Chicago Guys I'd Totally Make Out With. Pop the champagne, skip the Netflix and let's cheers to coupling up....eventually...or never...or whatever.

How do you view obstacles? What do you do to overcome them? Answer: Get present and find success. Edo is a Chicago artist and Champagne & Snark's first repeat guest. This episode reminded me why I do Champagne & Snark and acted almost like prayer and therapy when I needed it most.

Architecture plays a necessary role in our lives, both as an essential need in the form of shelter and a pleasing aesthetic. In this episode, photographer Karl Rothenberger drinks champagne with Ana Fernatt and discusses the role architecture has in his creative process behind the camera.

Carlos Rangel is a Chicago-based ad man with a love for streetwear fashion. In this episode of Champagne & Snark, Carlos and I talk about finding both his identity and community through what he wears. As we'll hear, Carlos wasn't always living his truest fashion self. In a different career, in a different life, he found himself wearing clothes that never felt exactly "him." Carlos talks about that transformation and the way we can curate our outside appearance to be a reflection of who we truly believe we are inside. 

Onye is the brains behind jewelry brand, King Onye, my personal favorite local jewelry brand. The pieces combine elements like rocks, crystals and wood with somewhat surprising elements like bullet casings, faux pearls and religious iconography. Plus, they're all handmade! 

In this episode, we talk to the designer about her relationship with luxury. It's not quite as simple as you might think as we touch on topics of housing insecurity, the feminine experience and how luxury is not simply a consumer product. 

Jas Petersen, also known as Jas of Chicago, is a visual artist and painter. Her current works are called My Fast Girls and feature a series of women who live in the fictional land of Milk & Money. The works highlight a type of female empowerment and ownership of experience. In this episode, Jas talks about the power and importance of art collectives in her career, the city of Chicago and how collaboration will inevitably save us.

Edo is a Chicago-based artist whose first showcase, Infinite Inception, both completely sold out and blew up my Instagram feed. In this episode, Edo drinks champagne with Ana Fernatt and talks about his love of collecting, what it means to be a collector and how he curates his collections.  It is a fascinating view into the mind of an artist.