Radio Maine with Dr. Lisa Belisle

Shaping Words with Writer/Editor Julie Kingsley

Julie Kingsley is an award-winning author, educator, and the co-founder of the Manuscript Academy and Manuscript Wishlist, joining Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to explore creativity, resilience, and the courage to put stories into the world. A Scarborough native with deep French Canadian roots, Julie reflects on how Maine’s mill towns, immigrant histories, and close-knit communities shaped her voice and her debut novel, “The Space Between You and Me”, winner of the IPPY Gold Medal and the 2025 Moonbeam YA Gold Medal. Drawing from decades of teaching—from middle school classrooms to community college—Julie shares how education, entrepreneurship, and storytelling intersect, and why young adult fiction is such fertile ground for exploring identity and possibility. She offers candid insights into the writing process, rejection, revision, and trusting the creative community around you, while championing Maine as a place where grit and imagination thrive.

Join our conversation with Julie Kingsley today on Radio Maine, and be sure to subscribe to the channel.

Radio Maine is sponsored by the Portland Art Gallery

Sean Thomas on Art, Belonging, and the Maine Creative Community

Sean Thomas, manager of the Portland Art Gallery and a photographer with roots in documentary filmmaking, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to reflect on creativity, community, and the evolving role of artists in Maine’s cultural landscape. A Cape Elizabeth native and graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, Sean traces his path from photography and film to gallery leadership, where he now champions more than 60 artists with care, curiosity, and respect. He shares thoughtful insights on the importance of creative community, the vulnerability of making art public, and how constructive critique helps artists grow over time. Drawing on his experience traveling across Maine and beyond to meet artists in their studios, Sean emphasizes trust, storytelling, and accessibility as core values of the gallery. His perspective highlights a distinctly Maine sensibility—welcoming, relationship-driven, and grounded in place—while offering a broader reflection on how art connects people.

Join our conversation with Sean Thomas today on Radio Maine, and be sure to subscribe to the channel.

Radio Maine is sponsored by the Portland Art Gallery

Inside a Multidisciplinary Mind: Grant Auber on Art, Music & Creativity

Grant Auber, a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans painting, music, design, and film, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to discuss the creative forces that shape his wide-ranging practice. Raised in Rhode Island and deeply influenced by sneaker culture, hip-hop, and early design obsessions, Grant developed a visual language rooted in rhythm, instinct, and flow. His artistic evolution—from drawing sneakers in school to producing music, directing videos, and creating large-scale abstract paintings—reveals a mind finely tuned to cross-disciplinary inspiration.

Grant speaks candidly about the powerful role creativity played during a significant health challenge between 2020 and 2023, and how art became both expression and anchor during a time of intense introspection. With connections to both Maine and Charleston, he continues to explore how environment, music, and emotion intersect in his work.

Join our conversation with Grant Auber today on Radio Maine. Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel.

Radio Maine is sponsored by the Portland Art Gallery

Healing Through Breath and Seasons: Ayurveda with Brett Aldrich

Brett Aldrich, an Ayurvedic counselor, breathwork practitioner, and founder of Seed the Spirit, joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to explore how ancient healing practices can help us navigate modern life. A Maine native with a richly layered background—from competitive athletics to trauma-support advocacy—Brett’s path shifted in 2020, a pivotal year that opened the door to studying Ayurveda, yoga, and Spiraldance breathwork more deeply.

Drawing from over a decade of yoga training, advanced breathwork certification, and personal experiences supporting her own family’s health, she now guides clients through seasonal living, somatic awareness, and gentle, sustainable change. Brett shares how breath, food, and rhythm connect us to the natural world, especially in Maine, where shifting seasons shape both our inner and outer lives.

With warmth and clarity, she offers tools for grounding, healing, and reconnecting with oneself—no matter where one is on the journey. 

Join our conversation with Brett Aldrich today on Radio Maine. Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel.

Raising Thinkers: Dr. Jana Mohr Lone on Helping Children Explore Life’s Big Questions

Dr. Jana Mohr Lone, executive director of the Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization (PLATO), joins Dr. Lisa Belisle on Radio Maine to share her lifelong mission of helping children explore life’s biggest questions through philosophy. Trained as both an attorney and a philosopher, Jana discovered early on—as a graduate student and mother—that children naturally ask profound questions about bravery, friendship, death, and purpose. Her work now empowers young people to reason thoughtfully, listen deeply, and engage in meaningful dialogue, whether in classrooms, ethics bowls, or community programs across the country. Based in Camden, she collaborates with Maine schools and the University of Maine, as well as schools and educators across the country and internationally, to bring philosophy and ethics to students of all ages. With a passion for nurturing curiosity and honoring children’s voices, Jana offers a compelling vision for how philosophical inquiry can strengthen communities and inspire lifelong reflection.

Join our conversation with Dr. Jana Mohr Lone today on Radio Maine. Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel.

Radio Maine is sponsored by the Portland Art Gallery

Megan Rosenberg: Competing with Heart—A Special Olympics Story from Maine

Megan Rosenberg, a dedicated Special Olympics Maine athlete and health messenger, brings remarkable heart, resilience, and advocacy to her work both on and off the field. From early beginnings in California to representing Maine at multiple national competitions, Megan has built a life shaped by athletic discipline, community connection, and a deep commitment to helping others pursue healthy, active lives. Now preparing to compete in unified golf alongside her mom, she continues to model grit and positivity—whether running beside teammates who need support, encouraging healthier choices, or speaking openly about personal challenges with honesty and strength. Megan’s strong ties to Maine’s Special Olympics community, the Law Enforcement Torch Run, and even the Portland Art Gallery through her aunt, artist Ann Trainor Domingue, add warmth and depth to her story.

Join our conversation with Megan Rosenberg today on Radio Maine. And don’t forget to subscribe to the channel.

Radio Maine is sponsored by the Portland Art Gallery

Maine Artist Emily Blaschke on Creative Reinvention

Emily Blaschke is a Portland Art Gallery artist whose mixed-media assemblages transform found objects into vibrant, layered stories. In this conversation with Dr. Lisa Belisle, Emily shares how her art evolved from figurative work at UC Berkeley to the richly textural collages she now creates in Maine. Her inspiration often begins at antique shops or even the local dump, where she collects discarded materials—Barbie dolls, jewelry, paint, and nail polish—and gives them new life. With roots that stretch back to Down East Magazine, founded by her grandfather, Emily has deep ties to Maine’s creative community and now helps foster it through her work with Yarmouth Arts and the Portland Museum of Art. Her pieces invite discovery, joy, and connection, reminding us that beauty can be found in what others leave behind.

Join our conversation with Emily Blaschke today on Radio Maine.

From Pharmacy to Fine Art: The Creative World of Mike LaRosa

Mike LaRosa, founder of LaRosa Studios and represented by the Portland Art Gallery, brings an uncommon duality to his life’s work—he’s both a practicing pharmacist and a professional artist. Raised in Syracuse, New York, with a background in engineering and pharmacy, Mike ultimately found fulfillment through painting—proof that science and creativity can coexist in harmony. His vivid, hard-edged abstractions and Maine-inspired landscapes reflect a disciplined precision balanced by emotional spontaneity. From family hikes near Deer Isle to his fascination with cinematic color and rhythm, Mike’s art reveals how structure and imagination can share the same canvas. Now living in Norway, Maine, with his physician wife and young son, he continues to explore how love—for color, composition, and connection—drives both his professions.

Join our conversation with Mike LaRosa today on Radio Maine.

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From Corporate Life to Creative Freedom: Artist Emily Sabino’s Bold Leap

Emily Sabino is a Maine-based painter whose vibrant abstract works explore nature’s cycles, human resilience, and the quiet renewal that comes with listening to one’s own creative voice. After more than a decade as a director of pricing and project management at a major international law firm, Emily found herself managing constant crises—until she realized the real emergency was her own unfulfilled artistic life. In 2025, she made the courageous decision to leave corporate stability behind and commit to painting full time.

Her art—rooted in themes of plants, seeds, and transformation—reflects her fascination with the natural world’s capacity for rebirth. Works like Path Forward and Once an Ocean meditate on growth, healing, and the balance between yin and yang energies. Emily’s paintings invite viewers to see beyond beginnings and endings—to the continuous motion of life and the possibility of regeneration.

In this deeply personal conversation with Dr. Lisa Belisle, Emily shares how her years in the high-pressure legal world unexpectedly strengthened her confidence and focus as an artist. She discusses how caring for her father through Alzheimer’s and learning to trust her intuition reshaped her sense of purpose. Drawing inspiration from her mother, artist Jane Dahmen, Emily embraces a daily practice that blends discipline with spiritual openness—showing how creativity can thrive even after long periods of constraint.

Today, Emily’s work can be seen on her website, EmilySabinoArt.com. Her story is one of rediscovery and courage—a reminder that it’s never too late to return to what makes us feel alive.

Creativity, Hard Work, and Family: The Maine Story Behind Agren’s Success

In this episode of Radio Maine, Dr. Lisa Belisle sits down with Jason Agren, President and Owner of Agren, Maine’s largest independent appliance and mattress retailer. Together they explore the creative side of business—how curiosity, adaptability, and a willingness to take risks can drive long-term success.

Jason shares the remarkable story of his family company, from his father’s humble beginnings repairing appliances out of a van in 1969 to Agren’s expansion into eight showrooms and more than 160 employees statewide. He reflects on lessons learned from working alongside his father, balancing tradition with innovation, and how technology and AI are reshaping customer service and logistics.

The conversation also delves into creativity as leadership—hiring the right people, building strong relationships, and reimagining how a local company can compete with giants like Amazon while staying true to Maine values. Jason and Lisa discuss how creative thinking extends beyond the arts into everyday problem-solving, community engagement, and business growth.

This conversation, proudly sponsored by the Portland Art Gallery, celebrates Maine’s entrepreneurial creativity and the blend of hard work, innovation, and human connection that defines success in both business and art.