Send a text

In this powerful episode of the Sober Butterfly Podcast, host Nadine Mulvina sits down with Kristen, creator of The Alcohol Free Alchemist and founder of Queen City Sober, to share her deeply relatable sobriety journey.

Kristen opens up about how her drinking evolved from social partying to daily coping — influenced by anxiety, grief, motherhood, and the normalization of “mommy wine culture.” After experiencing profound life stressors, including the sudden loss of her grandmother and her husband’s lymphoma diagnosis, alcohol became her way to numb and manage overwhelm.

But her sobriety didn’t begin with a dramatic rock bottom. It started with an awakening — a Father’s Day morning realization that changed everything.

Now nearly 600 days alcohol-free, Kristen shares how sobriety transformed her relationship with herself, her marriage, her children, and her identity. She also discusses navigating social situations without alcohol, sober intimacy, non-alcoholic alternatives, and building real-life sober community through Queen City Sober in Buffalo, New York.

If you’re sober curious, questioning your relationship with alcohol, navigating motherhood, or looking for inspiration to start again, this conversation will resonate deeply.

You don’t need to hit rock bottom to choose something better.

🎧 In This Episode We Discuss

• Mommy wine culture and the normalization of daily drinking
• Using alcohol to cope with anxiety, grief, and stress
• The “awakening” moment that led to sobriety
• Early sobriety exhaustion and emotional healing
• Marriage and intimacy without alcohol
• Socializing sober and building confidence
• Non-alcoholic drinks and alternatives
• Sober parenting and being more present with kids
• Creating sober community through Queen City Sober
• Kristen’s platform: The Alcohol Free Alchemist

Sponsors

📚 Audible – Get lost in a new book (or re-listen to your fave self-improvement reads). Try Audible FREE for 30 days and get a free audiobook with your trial.

https://www.audibletrial.com/tsb26

🌟 ClassPass – Try ClassPass for FREE & get 20 bonus credits! Sign up here https://classpass.com/refer/KU6D7B8B28

👩‍🔬 Connect with Kristen

Follow Kristen and her work:

The Alcohol Free Alchemist (Instagram) https://www.instagram.com/thealcoholfreealchemist/
Queen City Sober Community — Buffalo & Niagara Falls, NY (Instagram) https://www.instagram.com/queencitysober/

🦋 Connect with The Sober Butterfly

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/the.soberbutterfly/?hl=en

Follow Nadine for sober lifestyle, travel, and wellness inspiration:

Podcast Instagram: @soberbutterflypodcast

💬 If This Episode Helped You

Please share it with a friend — especially another mom or woman who might need to hear this message.

Sobriety doesn’t start with perfection.
It starts with awareness.

Support the show

Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services refereed to in this episode.

Send a text

What if you don’t actually need a drink to feel confident, sexy, or safe in love?

With Valentine’s Day approaching, this episode of The Sober Butterfly Podcast dives deep into the connection between alcohol, attachment styles, intimacy, and subconscious emotional patterns.

Host Nadine welcomes back world-renowned hypnotherapist Georgia Foster for a powerful Part 2 conversation about how drinking habits are often rooted in anxiety, the inner critic, and nervous system dysregulation — especially in dating and relationships.

If you’ve ever wondered:

• Why do I drink more when I’m dating?
• Why do I feel anxious without alcohol on a first date?
• Why do I attract the same type of partner?
• Can I drink less without quitting entirely?
• How do I build confidence without liquid courage?

This episode is for you.

Georgia shares how hypnotherapy works to reprogram the subconscious mind, calm anxiety triggers, and shift emotional habits around alcohol. Together, Nadine and Georgia explore:

• The psychology of drinking in relationships
• Anxious attachment and alcohol use
• The role of the inner critic in dating
• Sober intimacy and overcoming performance anxiety
• How to feel confident without alcohol
• Rewiring subconscious drinking patterns
• Choosing partners based on intuition instead of familiarity
• Nervous system regulation and manifestation
• Healing shame around past drinking behaviors

Georgia also leads listeners through a powerful guided visualization designed to calm the nervous system, strengthen intuition, and help you attract relationships that are aligned with your self-worth.

Whether you’re sober, sober-curious, moderating, dating, partnered, or opting out of Valentine’s Day entirely — this episode will help you examine your relationship with alcohol and how it impacts your romantic life.

About Georgia Foster

Georgia Foster is a clinical hypnotherapist with over 30 years of experience helping high-functioning adults transform their relationship with alcohol. She specializes in moderation, subconscious behavior change, and emotional habit rewiring. Her programs focus on reducing shame, quieting the inner critic, and creating intelligent, balanced change.

Learn more at:
https://georgiafoster.com

Connect with Nadine on Instagram @the.soberbutterfly https://www.instagram.com/the.soberbutterfly/?hl=en

Support the show

Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services refereed to in this episode.

Send us a text

In this powerful Black History Month episode of The Sober Butterfly Podcast, Nadine explores a truth that isn’t talked about enough in recovery spaces:

Nadine weaves together moving throwback clips from past guests of the show to highlight what Black sobriety actually looks like in real life: community, identity, trauma healing, motherhood, grief, faith, entrepreneurship, and generational change.

You’ll hear voices from:

• Ashley Johnson — founder of Wine Not, on navigating social spaces and professional settings sober as a Black woman
• Yasmin — on nervous system healing, therapy, and boundaries
• Symone French— on identity, shame, and unmasking without alcohol
• Jasmine (Soulfully Sober) — on motherhood and stopping before rock bottom
• Jasmine Flowers — on trauma, abuse recovery, and rebuilding life through sobriety
• Faith Hill — on grief, honesty, and self-trust
• Tiana Heath — on refusing to numb grief with alcohol
• Tommie Runz — on purpose and generational healing

Together, these stories show that sobriety is not one narrative. It is many. And when Black people get sober, it doesn’t just change one life — it can change entire family trajectories.

This episode addresses:

• Cultural silence around addiction in Black families
• The connection between trauma, the nervous system, and alcohol use
• Why boundaries and therapy are often discovered after sobriety
• The lack of representation of Black women in the sober-curious and non-alcoholic space
• Why sobriety can be an act of resistance, awareness, and liberation

If you’ve ever felt alone in your alcohol-free journey, this episode is an invitation to see yourself in sobriety.

🎧 Full episodes from every guest featured are linked in the show notes.

Key Takeaway

Find someone who looks like you in sobriety. It changes everything.

Closing viral reflection from actor and podcaster Horace Gold, this episode examines why choosing sobriety as a Black person in America can feel not only personal — but revolutionary.

Support the show

Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services refereed to in this episode.