Alysse Bryson on Building a Sober Pop Culture Empire
Alysse Bryson on Building a Sober Pop Culture Empire

Recovery Rocks

Co-hosts Lisa and Anna chat with Elyse Bryson about how she built The Sober Curator into a pop culture hub for people in long-term recovery. The conversation covers sober media representation, book and event coverage, and her plans for a new membership community, Backstage with The Sober Curator.

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37:44•15 May 2026

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Building a Sober Pop Culture Empire with The Sober Curator

Episode Overview

The Sober Curator was created as a lifestyle hub aimed primarily at people in long-term recovery who still want to feel motivated, entertained and inspired.
Elyse focuses on documenting how recovery, addiction, mental health and sobriety appear in media, arguing that on-screen characters should reflect how common recovery really is.
The platform offers thousands of articles, including over 150 reviewed books across quit lit, addiction fiction, self-help and mocktail titles, all scored by an internal team.
A new paid community, Backstage with The Sober Curator, will provide monthly live media nights, hands-on creative sessions and practical skills classes in sober-only spaces.
Elyse is shifting from a passion project supported by an investor to a self-sustaining business, carefully choosing ethical monetisation instead of treatment centre advertising.

“If 1 in 10 people are in recovery, then 1 in 10 people in the movies should be in recovery.”

What makes a recovery story truly inspiring? For fans of sober culture, this chat with Elyse Bryson, founder of The Sober Curator, offers a fresh spin on life after the pink cloud.

Co-hosts Lisa and Anna sit down with Elyse, who describes her platform as “a lifestyle hub for people in long-term recovery that want to stay motivated, entertained, and inspired – heavy emphasis on the entertainment.” Elyse shares how two decades of sobriety and a career in newspapers, magazines and TV pushed her to create something she couldn’t find: pop culture coverage about recovery, addiction and mental health, actually written by people in recovery.

She talks about archiving how these themes show up in media headlines, and why “if 1 in 10 people are in recovery, then 1 in 10 people in the movies should be in recovery.” You’ll hear plenty of laughs as they reminisce about Gen X chaos, cigarettes “being back”, and the joys of being “smober”.

But the conversation keeps circling back to a serious need: content for people with 10, 15, 20 years sober who still have “lifey” lives and need ongoing connection and entertainment. Elyse walks through The Sober Curator’s huge library of over 150 recovery books, addiction fiction and mocktail titles, complete with internal “Sobe scores”. She also talks about their global volunteer contributor team, sober events calendar, poetry section and a growing sober business directory.

A big chunk of the chat centres on her next step: launching “Backstage with The Sober Curator”, a paid membership club offering three live sessions a month – media night, hands-on “studio night” crafts, and practical “edutainment” skills classes – all in rooms where everyone happens to be sober.

If you’re craving recovery content that’s equal parts serious and silly, and you like your sobriety served with TV talk, book chat and craft glue, this one might be your next queue-up. Where could a bit more fun fit into your sober life?

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