Above Average

por Lorissa Violet

Temporada 2

Botox, Fillers, Facelifts & Mommy Makeovers: Separating Fact from Fear with Dr. Juan Rendon

Description Plastic surgery is one of those topics everyone has an opinion about—but very few people are having honest conversations about it. In this episode of Above Average, I sit down with Dr. Juan Rendon, an Ivy League-trained, board-certified plastic surgeon and one of the few surgeons in the country to hold both an MD and PhD. Together, we dive into Botox, fillers, facelifts, mommy makeovers, scars, recovery, and how to make informed decisions without fear or pressure. Whether you're considering a procedure or simply curious, this conversation is packed with practical advice, expert insight, and an honest perspective on aging naturally and confidently.

27 jul 2026

1:06:33

Temporada 1

Managing the Mental Load with Madison Fisher | 5 Kids & Multiple Businesses

If you've ever called yourself the unorganized one, the scattered one, the Type B one.. you're going to relate to this episode! Madison Fisher came on the pod calling herself Type B. By the rapid-fire at the end, we've learned she's a closet Type A trying to hit a bar she has no systems to reach. What We Cover → Why "Type B" is often the label a Type A woman puts on when she doesn't have systems → The Zeigarnik Effect, explained with the waitress-and-the-check story → Why the planning session you did on paper ended up in the trash the next day → The 1 to 4am nocturnal planning hour almost every overwhelmed woman knows → Open loops, why they drain you, what actually closes them → The two biggest causes of procrastination (perfectionism + overwhelm = freeze) → The "I feel bossy" block that keeps women from setting clear delegation expectations → Why your husband will never see the tabs you have in your brain → The one thing Madison is doing tonight, and the one thing you should try too Heard Yourself In This Episode? If you're ready to close the 89,544 tabs open in your head, CEO Mode walks you through building ONE home for every task in your life (work and home included), in one afternoon. Build it here → go.alexpayetta.com/ceomode Want somewhere free to start? This free guide shows you exactly where your hours go, and how to get 10+ of them back every week. Grab the PDF here → go.alexpayetta.com/timeback Lorissa's List Lorissa's curated list of the products, services, and providers actually worth your time, all vetted to a higher standard so you can skip the search. → lorissaviolet.com Connect With Us Lorissa Violet lorissaviolet.com | @lorissaviolet Alex Payetta alexpayetta.com | @alexpayetta Madison Fisher linktr.ee/madisonbontempo | @madisonbontempo Timestamps 0:00 Meet Madison Fisher 3:00 Five kids, cheer, dance, brand deals, Wittles 8:00 Why Madison cleans before the cleaning lady shows up 14:00 The Type B reveal and what it actually is 18:00 Open loops, working memory, and why Madison can't sleep 25:00 The planning session Madison and Kyler did once and never looked at again 30:00 The Four Tendencies rabbit hole 34:00 Lorissa's screenshot-to-sister calendar hack 40:00 The review routine that matters more than the system itself 46:00 House manager versus more childcare 54:00 Why Madison feels "bossy" setting expectations 1:02:00 The roles and responsibilities conversation with Kyler 1:10:00 Zoloft and where the anxiety actually lives 1:15:00 Rapid fire and the closet Type A confession

T1 · E11

20 jul 2026

1:20:10

A Brain Injury Erased Her Fear, So She Started a Business | Nicole Smith on Building HēBē, Delegating & the Beauty Trends Worth It

You've spent years building something people trust with their face. Then somewhere in the middle of running the business, the brand, and the household, the version of you that started it all can get buried under everything you're holding. Nicole Smith is the injector behind @lipsandlattes and the founder of HēBē Skin Health in Claremont and Laguna Beach, and a mom of three. A routine antibiotic once swelled her brain and took her ability to drive, to read, even to find her own car in a parking lot, and it also took her fear, which is exactly what pushed her to open her own practice. She came on for her first-ever podcast to talk about what it takes to run a luxury, public-facing business as a mom, and which viral beauty trends are actually worth it. What You'll Learn → The insane antibiotic scare that ultimately drove Nicole to start HēBē → Why she didn't name the clinic after her viral handle, and what that decision was really protecting → The part of the business she finally handed off after years of doing it all herself → Where her burnout actually comes from and the small reset she swears by → The beauty treatments she says are a waste of money, and the two things every woman should start in her mid-30s → What she prioritizes when she hires so her office is a place you actually want to be Everything you're holding at once Running a business, a brand, and a household means a hundred things live in your head at any moment, and the ones that matter keep losing to the ones that feel urgent. The fix is getting it out of your head and into one system you actually use, so nothing falls through the cracks. I made a free 15-minute training that walks you through how to build it. Watch here → go.alexpayetta.com/training Lorissa's List Lorissa's curated list of the products, services, and providers actually worth your time, all vetted to a higher standard so you can skip the search. 👉 lorissaviolet.com Connect With Us Lorissa Violet lorissaviolet.com | @lorissaviolet Alex Payetta alexpayetta.com | @alexpayetta Nicole Smith hebeskinhealth.com | @lipsandlattes Timestamps 0:00 Meet Nicole Smith, the injector behind Lips & Lattes 3:16 Why the brand and the business have different names 7:38 The health crisis that pushed her out on her own 12:59 Losing her fear, and deciding to open a business 13:29 Building HēBē with three little kids and a leap of faith 19:11 Juggling the clinic, the social, the injecting, and three kids 23:08 Handing off the social, and a saturated market 30:24 Her hard line on lip filler and teens 40:10 Burnout, and where it actually comes from 44:41 How she and her husband split the business and the home 58:09 Where to find Nicole

T1 · E10

6 jul 2026

58:54

50+ Flights Before Age 4 | Travel After Kids, the Packing Systems, and the Trip You Keep Putting Off, with Amanda Kellner Klein

You used to be the person who would book the flight without thinking twice. Then you had kids, and the part of you that loved to go somewhere got packed away with everything else, and you started to wonder if it was gone for good. Amanda Kellner Klein decided it wasn't. She's a brand partnerships exec, she writes about traveling after kids on her Substack, and her almost-four-year-old already has more than 50 flights to her name. She came on to talk about how you hold onto the parts of yourself that matter once the kids arrive, with all the real logistics, the trade-offs, and one airplane story you have to hear to believe. What You'll Learn → The travel muscle that makes a trip with a four-year-old feel easy, and why the only way to build it is to go when it's still hard → The comeback to "they won't even remember it" that ends the argument for good → The filter Amanda uses to decide whether a trip is worth it, and the step most people skip so "someday" never comes → The packing system that means nobody ever asks "who has the diapers" mid-flight → Why lowering your expectations is the real secret to a good trip with kids, not a consolation prize → The night-flight advice everyone repeats that Amanda says is mostly wrong → The airplane bathroom story that made everyone in this episode swear off something for life Heard Yourself In This Episode? The things that matter most are almost never the urgent ones, so they're the ones that keep getting pushed for years. Alex's free guide walks you through the filter that decides what you own, what you delegate, what you delete, and what you PROTECT, because the trip only happens once it lands in that last column. Grab the PDF here → go.alexpayetta.com/timeback Lorissa's List Lorissa's curated list of the products, services, and providers actually worth your time, all vetted to a higher standard so you can skip the search. → lorissaviolet.com Connect With Us Lorissa Violet lorissaviolet.com | @lorissaviolet Alex Payetta alexpayetta.com | @alexpayetta Amanda Kellner Klein carryon.substack.com | @amandakellnerklein

T1 · E9

22 jun 2026

1:19:26

She Opened a Med Spa With a 1 & 3 Year Old | Letting Go, Hard Hires & the Botox Truth with Allison Brewer

Allison Brewer opened her med spa with a one and three year old at home, no door on her treatment room, and no front desk because she wasn't sure anyone would show up. Two weeks in, so many patients were walking through the door that she had to hire a front desk. She's the founder of Masters MedSpa in Irvine and a second generation injector who travels the world to stay at the top of her field. She came on to talk about what it actually takes to grow a business while you're raising little kids, and somewhere in there she also explains why everyone's face looked overfilled for a decade. What You'll Learn → The part of the business Allison handed to her husband that she swears she'd never have grown without → Why she hired too fast, kept the wrong person nine months too long, and what finally made the hard conversation doable → The "homework" her husband kept pushing that ended up running the whole company → Why Lorissa thinks burnout is a choice, and the red flags Allison catches before it lands → What most overwhelmed moms are missing (and why Lorissa says staying home is harder than running her business) → The decade-long mistake Allison says injectors are finally walking back → How to know within the first sixty seconds whether your injector is good or about to wreck your face Heard Yourself In This Episode? Systems are the backbone of a successful business AND a successful life. Alex's free 15-minute training breaks down the system she uses to manage the mental load so her brain doesn't have to. Watch it here → go.alexpayetta.com/training If you already know you want help clearing the 3,430 open tabs in your mind, Alex will walk you through building CEO Mode step by step. Build it here → go.alexpayetta.com/ceomode Lorissa's List Lorissa's curated list of the products, services, and providers actually worth your time, all vetted to a higher standard so you can skip the search. → lorissaviolet.com Specifically looking for the Epicutis skincare mentioned on the show? shopmy.us/collections/3876535 Connect With Us Lorissa Violet lorissaviolet.com | @lorissaviolet Alex Payetta alexpayetta.com | @alexpayetta Allison Brewer masters-medspa.com | @masters.medspa

T1 · E8

8 jun 2026

1:24:18

Why Desire Disappears After Kids | Cindy Scharkey, RN on Energy, Intimacy & the Conditions for Desire

By the time you fall into bed at the end of the day, your body has nothing left. Not for affection, not for intimacy, not for the part of your relationship that used to be effortless. Nobody told you this was the trade. Cindy Scharkey has been an OB/GYN nurse for almost 40 years, and what she kept hearing from women is that nobody is having this conversation. So she started having it. What You'll Learn → The "one tank of energy" reality and why your sex life is the first thing it drains → Why scheduling sex doesn't work the way most couples do it (and what does) → What "responsive desire" is, and why most women have been measuring against the wrong thing their whole lives Heard Yourself In This Episode? Cindy points out there's only ONE tank of energy, and your marriage is pulling from the same one as your job and your kids. The Stress Loop quiz helps you figure out which of the four loops is draining it, and what to do differently starting tomorrow morning. Take the quiz here → go.alexpayetta.com/quiz Lorissa's List Lorissa's curated list of the products, services, and providers actually worth your time, all vetted to a higher standard so you can skip the search. → lorissaviolet.com Connect With Us Lorissa Violet lorissaviolet.com | @lorissaviolet Alex Payetta alexpayetta.com | @alexpayetta Cindy Scharkey, RN cindyscharkey.com | @cindyscharkey Mentioned in This Episode → Permission for Pleasure: Tending Your Sexual Garden cindyscharkey.com/permission-for-pleasure-book → Permission for Pleasure podcast cindyscharkey.com/podcast — short topical episodes good for couples to listen to together → Uberlube uberlube.com — Cindy's recommended lube. Code CINDY for 15% off Timestamps 0:00 Why this conversation, why now 1:30 Cindy's background and why she started talking about this publicly 6:00 The "one tank of energy" — sex pulls from the same well as everything else 10:00 Responsive vs spontaneous desire (and why the movies lied) 15:00 Scheduling intimacy without it feeling like a chore 20:00 The 4% change that brings desire back 25:00 The fear-of-pregnancy "hand brake" nobody talks about 30:00 Decentering intercourse — what "sex" can actually mean 35:00 Where to start when you don't know where to start 40:00 Why painful sex isn't normal, and the lube conversation

T1 · E7

11 may 2026

59:03

It All Comes Back To Blood Sugar | Dr. Sam Riley on Energy Crashes, Cravings & Hormones

You keep trying new supplements, new workouts, new morning routines, and something still feels off. The thing nobody is checking is usually the thing running underneath all of it. Dr. Sam Riley is back for round two. This time we go deep on blood sugar.. why it sits at the root of hair loss, insomnia, weight that won't budge, hormone issues, fertility struggles, and the anxiety that seems to come out of nowhere. What You'll Learn → The everyday symptom most women write off as "just hangry" that's actually a red flag for something much bigger → Why intermittent fasting is making a huge group of women feel worse, and how to know if you're in that group → The four foods Dr. Sam pulls first when someone says "I've tried everything and nothing is working" → What a continuous glucose monitor actually shows you in two weeks (and why the first week you shouldn't change a thing) → The protein number that makes women's jaws hit the floor, and the math that makes it doable → How food order at a single meal can completely change the way your body responds Heard Yourself In This Episode? Dr. Sam kept coming back to the same thing.. consistency with the basics. Wake Up Different is the 10-minute morning and evening routine that turns the basics from a daily fight into your DEFAULT. Get started here → go.alexpayetta.com/wud Lorissa's List Lorissa's curated list of the products, services, and providers actually worth your time, all vetted to a higher standard so you can skip the search. → lorissaviolet.com Connect With Us Lorissa Violet lorissaviolet.com | @lorissaviolet Alex Payetta alexpayetta.com | @alexpayetta Dr. Sam Riley rileychiro.com | @dr.samriley Mentioned in This Episode → Ashley Barrett Wellness barrettwellnesscenter.com — Virtual Nutritional Therapy Practitioner → Diabetes with Dani @diabeteswithdani — Creator of Conquer Your Diabetes, a Type 1 program for kids and women → Levels levelshealth.com — continuous glucose monitor → Cyrex Labs cyrexlabs.com — food sensitivity and autoimmune testing

T1 · E6

27 abr 2026

1:04:33

When Charts, Timers, and Consequences Stop Working | Peaceful Parenting with Randy Free

You've tried the charts, the timers, the consequences, the gentle approach, and your kid is still melting down every morning before anyone's out the door. What Randy Free teaches is the middle ground many parents are actually looking for, somewhere between gentle parenting and old-school discipline, and it works for all kids (even neurodivergent ones). Randy Free is a family counselor and retired international tax partner who spent 30 years in high-pressure corporate environments before building the PEACE-ful Parenting Process for neurodivergent kids and the high-achieving parents trying to figure out what actually works. What You'll Learn → A simple framework for deciding which battles to fight and which ones to let go, so you stop trying to correct everything at once → What's actually happening in your child's brain during a meltdown, and why your calm matters more than your consequence → The story Randy tells about kicking his own son's door down in anger, and what his son remembered years later (it's not the lesson) Take the Stress Loop Quiz This episode all comes back to the mom's nervous system setting the tone for the entire house. If you've been moving at a pace that leaves no room for patience, that shows up in every interaction with your kids. The Stress Loop quiz helps you figure out where your capacity is actually breaking down so you can start building it back. Take the quiz here → go.alexpayetta.com/quiz Lorissa's List Lorissa's curated list of the products, services, and providers actually worth your time, all vetted to a higher standard so you can skip the search. → lorissaviolet.com Connect With Us Lorissa Violet lorissaviolet.com | @lorissaviolet Alex Payetta alexpayetta.com | @alexpayetta Randy Free coachtoresilience.com Take Randy's free PEACE-ful Parenting Self Assessment to see where your parenting lands → drive.google.com/file/d/1t5k06pPR-OeTqDBiMIJh_bE4j9phnhra/view Timestamps 0:00 Meet Randy Free and his path from tax partner to parenting counselor 2:45 The PEACE acronym and how peaceful parenting differs from gentle parenting 6:30 The parenting quadrant, choosing your battles with red, blue, green, and yellow 12:15 Alex and Lorissa on the consistency struggle between partners 18:00 Nature vs. nurture and how neurodivergent brains process emotions differently 23:30 Mirror neurons and why your kids absorb your stress 29:00 The volcano exercise for teaching kids their own warning signs 35:00 Repairing after you lose your temper 40:45 When kids question authority and where to draw the line 48:00 Over-scheduling and what transitions do to a child's nervous system 55:00 Structure vs. flexibility for neurodivergent kids 1:00:00 Parenting a highly intelligent child who is emotionally behind 1:05:00 How to work with Randy and where to find him

T1 · E5

13 abr 2026

1:18:53

How We Actually Run Our Households | Meal Prep, Cleaning, Outsourcing & Daily Systems

Two moms break down every system they use to run their households, businesses, and families without losing their minds. If you've ever felt like you're doing a million things and none of it is running smoothly, this one's for you. What You'll Learn → The weekly rhythm that replaced seven nightly "what's for dinner" spirals with one 30-minute decision → How a $75/week hire fits into a system that runs your entire household without you holding every piece → The thing Alex does every single day that most people don't even know exists, and it's saving her hours House Rules If you know you're ready for more systems in your house, House Rules is every single system Alex runs at her home to keep everything running smoothly... the meals, the laundry, the mail, the mess, all of it running without you holding every piece. Get started here → go.alexpayetta.com/houserules Lorissa's List Lorissa's curated list of the products, services, and providers actually worth your time, all vetted to a higher standard so you can skip the search. → lorissaviolet.com Connect With Us Lorissa Violet lorissaviolet.com | @lorissaviolet Alex Payetta alexpayetta.com | @alexpayetta Mentioned in This Episode → Butcher Box butcherbox.com → Thrive Market thrivemarket.com/lorissa → Mixbook mixbook.com → Wispr Flow ref.wisprflow.ai/alex-payetta → Resonant resonant.app → The Short Years theshortyears.com Timestamps 0:00 Life updates (Japan, South by Southwest, sleep struggles) 12:00 Meal systems and why we eat the same thing every day 19:24 Why Lorissa picks sleep over the 5:30 AM workout 23:31 Buying back your time before anything else 26:45 Revenge bedtime procrastination 37:03 What happened when a client got a task management system 44:00 The $75/week part-time assistant breakdown 57:00 Car bins, mudroom staging, diaper bag systems 1:02:00 Kids artwork system that keeps memories without clutter 1:08:42 Why Lorissa starts every day praying for discernment 1:16:36 How AI is changing the way Alex runs her business

T1 · E4

27 mar 2026

1:25:15

Nervous System, Stress, and Fixing the Root Cause with Dr. Sam Riley

We have our first guest ever on the pod, Dr. Sam Riley. He's a chiropractor who practices frequency medicine, which means he looks at the whole person.. structural, emotional, and biochemical. We get into why "fixing your nervous system" might be missing the point, what's actually behind high cortisol and that tired-but-wired feeling, and why emotions show up in the body more than most people realize. What We Cover → Dr. Sam's origin story (and the moment he walked out of his allergist's office at 14) → What frequency medicine actually is and how it differs from Western medicine → Why your nervous system might be doing exactly what it's supposed to do → The connection between emotions and physical symptoms → Alex's fertility journey and what shifted when she addressed a subconscious block → High cortisol, fight or flight, and the tired-but-wired cycle → Blood sugar, hydration, and minerals.. the foundations most people skip → Why the emotional work matters just as much as the physical adjustment → Practical takeaways for high-achieving women who can't overhaul their lives overnight Wake Up Different Dr. Sam reinforces the importance of handling the BASICS. Wake Up Different walks you through the 10-minute morning and evening routine that gets you rebuilding your foundation, without a crazy influencer routine you'll never stick to. Get started here → go.alexpayetta.com/wud Lorissa's List Lorissa's curated list of the products, services, and providers actually worth your time, all vetted to a higher standard so you can skip the search. → lorissaviolet.com Connect With Us Lorissa Violet lorissaviolet.com | @lorissaviolet Alex Payetta alexpayetta.com | @alexpayetta Dr. Sam Riley rileychiro.com | @dr.samriley

T1 · E3

14 mar 2026

57:57

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