With Each Episode We'll Collectively Hold Up The Mirror To Our Past, Present And Future Selves, And Take Time To Reflect On What's Possible When We Step Into Becoming The Expert Of Our Own Experience.
Ep. 69 - Reclaiming Your Power: Purity Culture, Guru Dynamics & Learning to Trust Yourself with Katie Stone
What happens when the place that helps you find your power also becomes a place where you give it away? Hollywood screenwriter Katie Stone joins Alexis Artin for a deeply personal conversation about purity culture, religious trauma, body autonomy, guru dynamics and their shared experiences inside S Factor. Katie opens up about growing up in evangelical Christianity in the South, how obedience shaped her relationship with her body and sexuality, and why a women's pole dancing practice initially felt like coming home. Together, they explore the freedom and belonging they found, the dependence on teacher approval they later recognized, and why genuine transformation can make harmful dynamics harder to see. Alexis reflects on her experience as a creative director and master teacher trainer, the postpartum mental health crisis that exposed cracks in her support system, and the difficulty of leaving a community tied to her income, friendships and purpose.
"If you're an adult woman moving in the world, you have to make your own choices because if you don't someone else will do it for you." — Katie Stone
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00:00 — Welcome to Look At Me Now
01:03 — Meet Katie Stone
03:09 — Religious Trauma & Growing Up in Purity Culture
06:08 — Questioning Virginity, Purity & Control
09:30 — When a Childhood Crush Becomes a Message From God
11:34 — Finding Pole Dancing After College
13:12 — Reclaiming Her Body, Intuition & Sexuality
15:24 — Why We Outsource Our Power
16:42 — Overachievement, Obedience & People-Pleasing
18:10 — Naming S Factor & Its Origin Story
22:19 — Alexis's First Class & Permission to Feel Good
24:12 — Finding a Place Where Your Body Belongs
25:10 — The Dance That Changed Alexis's Perspective
27:37 — Katie's First Experience Inside the Studio
29:51 — Guru Mythology & Writing About the Retreats
32:20 — Why a Higher Mission Makes Leaving Complicated
34:44 — Erotic Archetypes & Permission to Feel Anger
36:34 — The Physical & Emotional Journey Through the Practice
39:29 — Teacher Worship & Dependence on Feedback
41:01 — Performance, Vulnerability & the External Gaze
44:00 — Katie Steps Away & Begins Therapy
45:16 — Leadership, Identity & Teacher Burnout
49:37 — Alexis Reflects on The Hollywood Reporter Article
50:35 — Postpartum Struggles & a Breaking Point
55:16 — Resigning & Losing Community
59:29 — Race, Dissent & the Organization's Reckoning
1:03:31 — Why Leaving Meant Rebuilding a Whole Life
1:06:25 — Making Sense of the Experience After Leaving
1:08:35 — Therapy, Grief & Reclaiming Your Choices
1:10:35 — Boundaries, Consent & Choosing to Walk Away
1:14:53 — The Retreat Experience That Changed Alexis's Mind
1:17:55 — You Can Say I'm Done
1:19:01 — Trusting Yourself & Reclaiming Your Inner Compass
1:20:07 — Speaking Publicly, Turning 40 & Helping Other Women
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Follow Katie Stone @katiejstone91
Follow Alexis @alexis_artin
Learn more at AlexisArtin.com
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This is an Operation Podcast production
20 Oct 2026
Ep. 68 - The Cornell Case, Consent & the Cost of Staying Silent
Freezing isn't consent. Saying yes to one person isn't saying yes to everyone. And "be more careful" cannot keep being the answer. In this solo episode of Look AT Me Now, Alexis examines the allegations in a Cornell fraternity sexual assault case and the larger questions they raise about consent, bystander responsibility, and how women are taught to navigate a world that often feels unsafe. Through her own experience of laughing along during a humiliating encounter with powerful television executives, Alexis explores how freezing, appeasing, and going along can become ways of getting through a threatening moment—and why those responses should never be mistaken for agreement. She also reflects on The Accused, the everyday precautions women build into their lives, and what it means to speak up when you're in the room, at the party, or in the group chat. This conversation is about the case—and the culture surrounding it. Content note: This episode discusses sexual assault, rape, harassment, and trauma responses. Please take care while watching or listening. The case discussion addresses allegations and reporting available at the time of recording. Allegations are not findings of guilt.
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00:00 Content warning
00:12 The alleged fraternity group chat
00:37 The Cornell case and why language matters
01:36 The allegations and responses
03:26 The Accused and bystander responsibility
05:03 Consent, intoxication, and legal gaps
05:36 Alexis's personal story
06:36 Freezing, fawning, and survival responses
07:02 Why not fighting back doesn't mean yes
07:50 Public outrage and the justice system
08:38 The culture beneath the headlines
09:18 Violence against women beyond one campus
10:12 The everyday burden of staying safe
11:11 The person who broke ranks
11:37 How to interrupt, intervene, and help
12:22 What we teach our sons and daughters
12:43 Releasing the vigilance
13:08 Closing reflection and support resources
SUPPORT RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline: 800-656-HOPE (4673)
Online support: https://hotline.rainn.org/
20 Oct 2026
Ep. 67 - The Lindsay Clancy Case: DID SHE DO IT?! What Every Mother Needs to Know About Postpartum Psychosis
The Lindsay Clancy case has become one of the most divisive conversations surrounding postpartum psychosis, postpartum depression, maternal mental health, and the way our healthcare system responds to mothers in crisis. In this special solo episode, Alexis examines the Lindsay Clancy trial and the devastating deaths of her three children while asking a larger question: what are we still missing when it comes to recognizing serious postpartum mental health conditions?
Alexis breaks down the important differences between the baby blues, postpartum depression, and postpartum psychosis, including the symptoms and warning signs of postpartum psychosis and why this rare but serious condition is considered a medical emergency. She also shares her own deeply personal experience with postpartum psychosis and what it was like to struggle while the professionals responsible for recognizing the signs failed to understand what was happening.
Rather than asking listeners to choose between compassion and accountability, Alexis explores how two difficult truths can coexist: a mother can be desperately mentally ill while her children still deserve justice. Ultimately, this conversation moves beyond the Lindsay Clancy case to examine the larger maternal mental health crisis, shortcomings in postpartum screening, intrusive thoughts after childbirth, the pressure mothers feel to appear "fine," and what partners, friends, families, and healthcare providers can do to recognize postpartum psychosis warning signs sooner, ask better questions, and help mothers get the mental health support they need before a crisis escalates.
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00:00 The Lindsay Clancy case and the unanswered question
00:49 A warning before we begin 01:18 What happened in Duxbury, Massachusetts
02:07 The question at the center of the trial
02:51 Postpartum psychosis or severe depression?
03:48 11 jurors agreed. One didn't
04:14 Why this case captured America's attention
05:01 The fear many mothers won't say out loud
05:22 Her husband's extraordinary response
05:34 When the public became the jury
05:56 Holding two unbearable truths at once
06:02 Baby blues vs. postpartum depression vs. psychosis
06:51 What postpartum psychosis actually feels like
08:05 Why postpartum psychosis can happen
08:57 What we still don't know about Lindsay Clancy
09:15 Alexis reveals her own postpartum psychosis
10:10 Why maternal mental-health screening can fail
10:46 When asking for help still isn't enough
11:15 The dangerous pressure to be the "perfect" mom
12:04 What about justice for the children?
12:58 Two opposing truths can coexist
13:18 What can we actually do?
13:28 Warning signs you should never ignore
13:48 Ask mothers better questions
14:13 Show up for the mom—not just the baby
14:27 What are YOU saying "fine" about?
14:56 Where to get help
Inside a recent episode
Ep. 50 - Stop Abandoning Yourself: Self-Worth, Motherhood & Reclaiming Your Identity with Erin Gallagher
Published 18 Mar 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] That's it. What are my highest values? What are your highest values? And how are you helping me achieve my highest values? And how am I helping you achieve your highest values? As long as we can align and sync our priorities in that way, we can have a thriving relationship. But if we're not doing that and we're not looking at it, let alone renegotiating it, if that's what's needed, the relationship isn't going to be fulfilling, right? Maybe it'll last, but it won't be fulfilling. Sure. You can stay in a lot of places with a lot of people and survive. It's not always a life or death choice, but it will require that you have abandoned a different version that would have been freer, larger, more joy-filled. […]
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