QUESTION EVERYTHING

What does it mean to practice love when fear is loud and life feels out of control? In this special Valentine’s Day episode of Question Everything, we’re talking about love (just not in the way you might expect). Danielle sits down with bestselling author and spiritual teacher Marianne Williamson for a conversation about miracles, fear, forgiveness, and what it really means to return to love in our everyday life. Marianne’s 1992 book A Return to Love, famously championed by Oprah Winfrey, has changed the way millions of people think about relationships, spirituality, and personal growth. In this episode, Marianne explains how the idea of “miracles” is far more practical than mystical, and why our shared purpose is more simple than any of us could have ever imagined. Together, Danielle and Marianne explore how to take ownership of your inner world even when the outer world feels out of control.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
How to choose love over fear in difficult moments
Finding clarity and peace during uncertain times
Simple daily habits that help you reconnect with love
How to lift your vibrational energy, even when the world feels overwhelming and scary
The difference between understanding spiritual ideas and putting them into practice in our everyday life
The difference between manifestation and magic
How to live with more intention and less fear
Understanding the root cause of feeling stuck
Why personal growth begins with changing how you see yourself and your place in the world
How to make a big spiritual shift that will have an impact on your life

Follow Marianne Williamson on Instagram @mariannewilliamson

Check out Marianne’s book A Return to Love

Book Recommendation: Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
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What is etiquette in the modern age? In this episode of Question Everything, Danielle speaks with with two modern etiquette authorities: Elaine Swann, the expert the New York Times calls “The Emily Post of the Digital Age,” and Sarah Jane Ho, Netflix host and host of the Mind Your Manners podcast, as well as an Eastern wellness expert. Together, they unpack how we have lost decorum, what’s actually going on with our social skills, and why “just be yourself” might be the worst advice we’ve ever normalized. From dating, weddings, and group chats to social media, power, and belonging, this conversation is a sharp, funny, and deeply human look at how to move through the world with more confidence, clarity, and grace. In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why etiquette isn’t dead—but why it feels more confusing than ever
Have we lost decorum?! And why?
Why “just be yourself” became bad advice in a socially complex world
Solution to our social skills feel rusty after the pandemic and life online
How social media and digital life changed the rules of behavior
The hidden rules of modern dating
What’s actually considered rude now
The wedding etiquette arms race and what couples really owe their guests
Who pays the biggest social price for bad manners (and why)
The difference between being polite and being a pushover
How to set boundaries, tell the truth, and still be gracious
The small habits that make people feel respected, comfortable, and at ease
Book Links (via Bookshop.org — always support independent bookstores):
Mind Your Manners by Sara Jane Ho
Elaine Swann’s Book of Modern Etiquette by Elaine Swann

Follow the Guests:
Sara Jane Ho — Instagram, TikTok
Elaine Swann — Instagram, TikTok

Learn More:
Elaine Swann’s Etiquette School: The Swann School of Protocol
Sara Jane Ho’s Personal Care Brand: Antevorta

Book Recommendations
Book recommendation from Sara Jane Ho: Manifest Now By IDIL Ahmed
Book recommendation from Elaine Swann: Safe People by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend
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Jeannie Mai, host, style icon, mother, and one of the most recognizable voices in daytime television, opens up about her early Bay Area life that shaped her long before the spotlight. From leaving home at 14 and surviving sexual abuse, to learning how to reinvent, and soften without losing her edge, Jeannie reflects on the cost of becoming who the world sees + the courage it took to become who she actually is. Now in a new chapter she calls 'becoming', Jeannie talks honestly about divorce from her former husband Jeezy, motherhood, co-parenting, faith, healing, and what it really means to rise from the ashes. In this episode, Jeannie shares:
What she learned from navigating instability at a young age, and how it influenced her approach to love and healing
The community of women that rallied around her during her toughest moment.
How survival skills can quietly become limitations in adulthood
The difference between intensity vs. intimacy (and how chaos can masquerade as love)
How to recognize when you’re performing love instead of living it
Why being single can be “the most prized piece of land you’ll ever inherit”
Why divorce feels like “experiencing death alive”
Why the end of love often marks the beginning of real self-work
What “doing the work” actually looks like after divorce
Why healing requires time alone, but not isolation
The role of movement, strength, and progress in healing
Why not taking things personally is an emotional superpower
Jeannie opens up about the labels people love to slap on women (“divorced,” “single,” “46,” “mom”) + why they’ll never tell the full story
Why children don’t exist to heal us, but often reflect us
The tearful moment her daughter mirrored back words Jeannie had only ever prayed silently
How she loves to show up + surprise her friends
How to redefine healthy love without closing yourself off
How faith evolves when you stop asking and start listening
Follow Jeannie on Instagram @thejeanniemai and on her YouTube.
Book recommendation: The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.
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Writer and cultural critic Christiana Mbakwe Medina joins Question Everything to dissect the strange, shifting logic of our current moment, from the collapse of celebrity mystique to our obsession with wealth, power, and proximity to influence. Christiana and Danielle, explore why “cancel culture” doesn’t really cancel anyone, how pop culture functions as soft power, and why so many modern myths, from the tradwife fantasy to the American Dream, are starting to crack. They also look ahead to what 2026 might bring: a more irreverent cultural mood shaped by fear fatigue, AI, and a hunger for something that feels human. In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why pop culture is a mirror of society, not a distraction from it
How celebrity lost its mystique in the age of access and social media
Why cancel culture rarely has lasting consequences
Why Lauren Sánchez Bezos may be one of the most important power brokers in culture right now
What the Diddy verdict reveals about power, fame, and forgiveness
How and why powerful men are so often culturally forgiven
What “soft power” really means—and how culture shapes politics more than we think
Why we confuse wealth with moral worth
How the American Dream functions more like a myth than a reality
What the tradwife / “soft life” fantasy is really selling to burned-out women
Why staying home is far harder and riskier than TikTok makes it look
How AI is quietly reshaping creativity and culture already
Why culture may be entering a more irreverent, punk era after years of fear and caution
What’s actually changing about fame, influence, and the influencer economy
Why celebrity apologies rarely work (and never really have)
How we should think about aging, relevance, and cultural exits (including Beyoncé)
What we’re misreading about power, gender, and modern ambition
Follow Christiana on Instagram @christianaama, and don’t miss her Substack and podcast, Pop Syllabus.
Book recommendation: The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Substack: https://popsyllabus.substack.com/
Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pop-syllabus/id1866754314
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On her 35th birthday, Danielle sits down with content creator Alexandra Hayes for an intimate conversation about milestones, identity, ambition, friendship, and what it really means to become yourself. Together, they unpack the emotional baggage and pressure we carry around birthdays, and the quiet ways our priorities shift as we grow. In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why birthdays bring up both celebration and pressure
Alexandra’s complicated relationship with birthdays and her mantra: “A day is just a day”
How family dynamics and early disappointments shape how we experience milestones
Danielle’s childhood birthdays, family traditions, and when birthdays started getting harder
The pattern of unmet expectations ruining birthdays
How the “one word” birthday planning framework could change your celebration
Learning to be a better friend by becoming the kind of friend you want to have
The idea that your gift and your curse are usually the same thing
The athlete metaphor for life: prepare, perform, recover—and realizing recovery was missing
How to be more protective of time, energy, and who gets access to your life
Letting go of forcing things and trusting that what’s meant for you won’t miss you
The power of other people’s belief in you
Looking ahead: sovereignty, self-trust, alignment, ambition without self-abandonment, and what Danielle & Alexandra are stepping into next
Keep up with Alexandra here, listen to her podcast Hello Hayes, and read her Substack here.
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