Episodes

Debut novelist, Yangsze Choo turns her pen to the rare yet fascinating custom among Malaysian Chinese of spirit marriages, where the living are married to the dead to placate a restless ghost. We travel to the late nineteenth-¬century Malaya through the eyes of the highly relatable Li Lan, a poor but spunky young woman, who is approached by the wealthy family of a dead man to become his bride. Is coffee necessary to keep us healthy? New research indicates that a cup of java may relieve dry eyes,...

What’s keeping you up at night? Are you worried about finances, health, job issues, or your love life? Lack of rest contributes to serious health problems. In Health Matters, Heather Brittany and Cynthia Brian give you simple tips to end the sleepless nights. Want vertical interest in your garden? It’s time to grow up! Goddess Gardener Cynthia Brian shares a short list of plants that shimmy up poles, curlicue around strings, twist, turn, and go wild. When it comes to parenting we need to give ou...

Rebecca Donovan is the USA Today Bestselling Author of the highly-acclaimed New Adult trilogy, The Breathing Series. Her novels include: Reason to Breathe, Barely Breathing, and the Out of Breath. Rebecca talks to Cynthia Brian about her first book, Reason to Breath, one girl’s story of life-changing love, unspeakable cruelty, and her precarious grasp of hope. What are the two beverages that boost our brain power? A clue, one wakes you up and the other relaxes you. In Health Matters, Heather Bri...

Tattooing has been practiced by centuries in numerous cultures around the world serving as rites of passage, status, bravery, and symbols of slaves, outcasts, and criminals. Heather Brittany discusses tattoos in America and how they have become a sign of artistic self-expression. Hot, dry, and tired, fire crews across California have been working for weeks on end with little sleep to battle some of the biggest blazes in history. Cynthia Brian looks at the dedication of these men and women who fi...

From the bestselling author of Witches of East End—soon to be a Lifetime television series this fall starring Julia Ormond and Jenna Dewan-Tatum—and the Blue Bloods YA series comes the WINDS OF SALEM, the spellbinding conclusion to the Witches of East End trilogy featuring the beguiling Beauchamp family of witches. Cynthia Brian welcomes New York Times and USA Today best selling author, Melissa de la Cruz, back to Starstyle®-Be the Star You Are!® to talk about her latest novels. It’s T42, a Moth...

Only 33 people in the world have been classified as having Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory from the University of California. Meet author, licensed Professional Counselor, and Certified Life Coach, Frank Healy. His new book, Heal Your Memories, Change Your Life, takes you on an adventurous journey through your own memories, and gives you the tools to heal from past hurts with exercises that help you remember more of your good times and heal the pain form the past. Where were you on Septe...

Our skin is the largest organ of the human body. How can we have more vibrant, younger looking skin? Health starts on the inside. In Health Matters, Heather Brittany and Cynthia Brian give tips on having clear, beautiful skin no matter what your age. The kids are back in school, we are packing lunches, and our vegetable gardens are overflowing with nutrient rich edibles. It’s fall harvest and a great time to get the entire family involved in picking and planting fresh fruits and vegetables for m...

Within a month of getting an agent, ten-year old Elsie Fisher landed a lead role as Agnes in Despicable Me. This year she returns in Despicable Me 2 in the lead role as the precocious unicorn-obsessed Agnes. Elsie chats with Cynthia Brian about what it is like to be a child actor with so many fun opportunities to explore. Cynthia Brian talks about her 14th edition of her best selling book, The Business of Show Business, now available as an enhanced audio ebook complete with updated information o...

From the widow and collaborator of Alex Haley, award-winning author of Roots, comes a new American epic from the Civil War. The Treason of Mary Louvestre is based on the true story of a seamstress slave who risked her life to steal plans of a Southern battleship and got them to the North in one of the worst winters in Virginia history. First there was Roots, now there is The Treason of Mary Louvestre. Almost 20% of adult Americans have high blood pressure, also known as hypertension. What you do...

In Melodie Johnson Howe’s City of Mirrors , she returns to her roots in Hollywood to create a gripping tale of fame, corruption, greed, dysfunctional relationships, and good old fashioned revenge. In her years as an actress, Howe appeared alongside such leading men as Clint Eastwood, Alan Alda, and James Caan. “Hollywood is filled with wonderful ghosts for me,” says Howe. City of Mirrors is the novel that brings my writing life and my acting life together.” Ladies, have you ever wanted to skip y...

Year by year author Richard N. Bolles continues to build on the tradition he started in 1970, of providing new help, with new ideas, and new guidance, each year, based on his continuous interviews with, and reports from, people in the field—job-hunters, human resource managers, and career-counselors alike—as to what is working this year, and what is not. The latest edition, What Color Is Your Parachute 2014, is filled with the latest strategies, new and enduring advice, poignant examples, and mo...

Shot All to Hell by Mark Lee Gardner tells the story of the west’s most infamous bank robbery, with an hour-by-hour account of the James-Younger gang’s holdup of the First National Bank of Northfield, Minnesota, and the two-week chase that followed— the near misses, the fateful mistakes, and the bloody conclusion on the Watonwan River. But these outlaw robbers are not the only main characters: there are heroic townspeople and citizen pursuers who dramatically defeat the undefeated. How can you k...

Summer is fun in the sun, but not with a sunburn. In addition to the discomfort, overexposure to the sun can lead to premature aging of the skin and skin cancer, including melanoma. In Health Matters, our health professional, Heather Brittany offers suggestions to protect your skin from getting burned. After the teen years, not many people look forward to adding another year to their birthday. However, planning for retirement is critical no matter what your age. It’s never to early or too late t...

Everyone wants to save money! Some people clip coupons, others watch for sales, and still more troll the internet looking for the best deals. But you don’t have to be obsessed to save big time. Slash your bills with a little bit of savvy shopping and you’ll hang onto to cash this month. If you own a business, do you know how to make it better? Learn strategies the increase your customer service while making employees happy. Scams are on the rise, especially those that target seniors. Internet sc...

Have you heard of Agenda 21? Most people haven’t and it’s important to get informed. Agenda 21 is a product of the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992 to create sustainable development. But what is it really? Are America freedoms at risk? Are American farmers going to lose their property to imminent domain? Summer is in full swing in the garden. This is the season of plenty. For a gardener, the shed becomes a playhouse, and shears the tool...

Welcome to Starstyle®-Be the Star You Are!® with your hosts Cynthia Brian and Heather Brittany on the Voice America Empowerment Channel. Our goal is to seed, stimulate, and support space for positive, meaningful conversations that will get you talking around the dinner table. To launch our program on our new network, we are excited to showcase multi-award winning author and peace advocate Nola Hennessy. This Peace Angel is coming to America as she prepares to publish her autobiography with Brown...

Alison's Adventures, is a documentary film series created by Alison Teal, that shares the wisdom of exotic cultures and authentic people Follow Alison as she travels the world looking into the secrets to survival, sustainability, and happiness. Watch her Discovery Channel series Naked & Afraid. Essayist and entertainment industry veteran, Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel, Forever Interrupted was inspired by a personal experience eloping with a man she had only recently met. It’s a heartrending story ...

From James Beard and IACP award–winning chef and cooking instructor Peter Berley: mouthwatering seasonal vegetarian menus that can be created in under an hour in the new book, Fresh Food Fast. A Food & Wine Best of the Best Cookbook, Berley provides 48 sophisticated home-cooked vegetarian meals—twelve for each season. June is the most popular month of the year for weddings. Blessed with pleasant weather and an abundance of flowers, summer weddings are always in style. Bride-to-be, Heather Britta...

Want to lose weight easily and maintain a healthy lifestyle? Heather Brittany will show you how five subtle tweaks to your daily diet will pay off big in our Health Matters segment. What makes people happy? Is it where you live, how much money you make, children or lack of them, a great job, busy social life, volunteering, nature? Empowerment expert Cynthia Brian provides 10 ways to make better choices to feel happier. Do you know how to keep your pet safe in an emergency? There is no doubt that...

Picnics, barbecues, and poolside parties are part of summer fun, While warm weather is great for outdoor gatherings, it also can be the perfect storm for breeding bacteria in food. Reduce your risk of food poisoning and have fun in the sun with tips from Health Matters specialist, Heather Brittany. How can we raise healthy, happy teens? Cynthia Brian, author of Be the Star You are!® for Teens, has been a specialist in coaching young people for over two decades and also produces the teen radio pr...

Do you understand the purpose of your medical tests? Are they screening or diagnostic? Learn to decode the results in Health Matters with Health professional, Heather Brittany. When spring has sprung and the gardening bug has bitten you, it’s essential to follow a few tried and true rules of gardening to grow the best specimens with ease. Goddess Gardener Cynthia Brian digs in with simple steps to improve your yard. Writers are mysterious and the general public has the impression that once you’v...

Bestselling author Alexandra Stoddard’s latest release, The Shared Wisdom of Mothers and Daughters, is a lovely little tome, full of the pearls of wisdom which Stoddard has become known for. In it, Stoddard reflects not solely on what she’s taught her daughters (and other women), but muses on the valuable life lessons her 30-and 40-something daughters have brought home to her. Prescription drug abuse is skyrocketing among teens, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. It’s an ep...

An immigrant tale that combines elements of Jewish and Arab folk mythology, The Golem and the Jinni tells the story of two supernatural creatures who arrive separately in New York in 1899. Imaginative and meticulously researched, this enchanting debut novel from Helene Wecker is historical fiction. Set primarily in turn-of-the-century Manhattan, it deliberately details the immigrant experience while bringing the city itself to life with such passion that New York of yore seems like a magical lan...

With SEDUCTION, international bestseller M.J. Rose returns with a haunting historical suspense novel about Jac L’Etoile, a present day mythologist, who discovers Victor Hugo’s lost journal chronicling those séances and awakens a mystery that spans centuries. The result is an intricately plotted, historically evocative, atmospheric tale with a spellbinding ghost story at its heart. Mother’s Day is Sunday. How will you show the mom in your life how much you appreciate her?; Mother/Daughter dynamic...