✍️ Eliza signed a book deal with Penguin Random House's Catholic imprint — and it started with a Lilly Pulitzer blog about Demi Lovato in eighth grade. In this episode of The LIVing Room, Liv Harrison sits down with Catholic writer and content creator Eliza to trace the unlikely path from middle school recess "therapy sessions" to one of the most honest Catholic voices on the internet.
They get into just war theory and the Iran conflict, the dignity of people sleeping on the streets of downtown Charleston, Blessed Franz Jägerstätter and what it means to "stand up and be counted" when no one is with you, and how Eliza handles it when she posts too fast and gets it wrong. This one's for the woman who knows she has something to say but keeps waiting for permission.

Guest Bio:
Eliza is a Catholic writer and content creator based in Charleston, South Carolina, known for her Instagram platform Eliza Writes Things, where she covers faith, human dignity, and Catholic social teaching with a distinctly unfiltered voice. She built her audience from scratch beginning in 2020 while studying English and creative writing, later serving a year on mission in the Diocese of Charleston, and currently works in marketing. She has recently signed a book contract with Penguin Random House's Catholic imprint. Eliza also leads small group ministry for middle and high school girls at her parish.

In This Episode:
00:00 The Charm Necklace That Preaches a Homily
01:45 Hart Hagerty, Charleston, and Walmart Knockoffs
02:45 Eliza's 8th-Grade Lilly Pulitzer Blog (It's Still Live)
04:00 How Eliza Writes Things Actually Started in 2020
05:30 The Holy Spirit, a Resume Line, and Her First Marketing Job
07:20 "Your Dreams Are Gonna Come True" — The Penguin Book Deal
08:45 The Non-People Pleaser Who Built a Following for It
09:50 Her Mom, Her Grandmother, and the League of Women Voters
10:40 Fourth-Grade Recess Therapy and the Tree Sign
12:00 Human Dignity as Her North Star — JP II, Sacred Heart, and Both/Ands
15:00 What Issues Keep Her Up at Night in 2026
16:30 Just War Theory and Why Iran Doesn't Clear the Bar
17:45 The Poor Aren't an Abstraction — Life on the Streets of Downtown Charleston
20:45 Mary Magdalene and Why She's the Saint for Suffering
23:00 Two White Women in Charleston — Addressing the Elephant in the Room
24:30 Blessed Franz Jägerstätter: The One Man Who Voted No
32:00 "It's Enough Just to Stand Up and Be Counted"
33:30 When You Post Too Fast and Have to Take It Down
39:30 What Accountability Actually Looks Like for Catholic Influencers
41:00 Why She's Excited About Gen Z Catholic Creators
44:30 How to Raise Kids Who Stand Up for Something
47:30 Book Jail, Book Mansion, and How to Pray for Eliza Right Now

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🤍 She was a federal law clerk in Vegas, a managing editor of Law Review, and a prosecutor — and she drove home one morning drenched in spit-up thinking, who am I? Nell O'Leary spent decades performing her way through life until a daughter's mysterious illness, the collapse of a ministry, and a silent retreat stripped everything away and left her with one answer: beloved.

In this episode of The LIVing Room, Liv Harrison and Nell cover the identity crisis hiding inside early motherhood, what it actually feels like to enter silence when you have the gift of gab, how Nell's marriage deepened when she finally understood her husband's prayer life — and the Catholic mommy wars nobody wants to admit are real. If you've ever felt like you are what you accomplish, this one is for you.

Guest Bio:

Nell O'Leary is a Catholic writer, speaker, and ministry consultant based in St. Paul, Minnesota. A former federal law clerk and prosecutor, she went on to spend nearly a decade in women's ministry before transitioning to freelance consulting, writing, and speaking for Catholic organizations. She contributed to or edited over 50 books, wrote the prayers for Ascension's 2026 planner, and is currently finishing her first solo book with a mainstream publisher. Nell and her husband Anthony have five children.

In This Episode

00:00 Welcome — Nell and Liv in the Living Room

01:30 What Nell's life looks like online (and why it works)

02:15 18-year-old Nell: poetry, horses, and zero plan

03:45 How a love of show jumping led to law school

04:30 Ave Maria Law School and meeting her husband

05:45 The Vegas clerk era — dry cleaning and federal judges

06:30 Liv's origin story: kindergarten teacher to podcaster

07:45 The identity crash of early motherhood

09:30 Dropping her husband at a big law firm, covered in spit-up

11:00 "You are not what you do" — the Nazareth years

12:15 The thread connecting law, ministry, and storytelling

13:30 Nell's Substack and a first book she can almost announce

14:30 Learning when things are for the internet — and when they're not

15:15 "Who are you at 43?" — the identity question

16:00 What "I'm his beloved" actually cost her to believe

17:30 When her daughter got sick and she stepped away from everything

18:30 The 30-week Ignatian retreat — what it is and how it works

20:30 The first third: accepting that she was worth God's time

21:30 The middle third: imaginative prayer she didn't expect

22:15 The last third: real silence, and finding God in it

23:30 "Just turn your face" — what silence looks like now

25:30 Turning toward God all day long, not just in a prayer room

27:00 Nell's love story: two attorneys, law school, Nebraska

28:30 Her husband — ex-seminarian, former hermit, most patient man

30:00 How the retreat finally helped her understand her husband's prayer life

32:00 The strongest years of their marriage — and the hardest

33:30 Sending your spouse on silent retreat (even with five kids)

35:30 The evolution of arguments across 17 years of marriage

37:00 Choosing your family's life over your individual preferences

39:00 Female friendship: the good, the painful, the evaporated besties

41:30 Realistic expectations as a love language

43:00 Catholic mommy wars: beeswax candles, home births, and judgment

45:30 "Is your baby alive? Great." — on not policing other women

47:15 How can we pray for Nell?

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🎨 She quit a stable youth ministry job to become a full-time Catholic artist — then, after her biggest vendor event ever, realized she never wanted to do it again. Valerie Delgado (known online as Pax Valerie) spent three years running her own Catholic shop, illustrating books, and traveling to conferences. Then she closed it all down. Not because she failed, but because she finally figured out who she actually wanted to be.
In this episode of The LIVing Room, Liv Harrison and Valerie also dig into the pressure Catholic singles face about vocation, a doctor's wake-up call about food and heart health a month before her 30th birthday, and how Bad Bunny's Super Bowl set made her cry thinking about Hurricane Maria. This one's for you if you've ever built something good — and then had to let it go anyway.
Guest Bio:

Valerie Delgado is a Catholic artist, illustrator, and parish communications professional based in Houston, Texas, known online as Pax Valerie. She spent three years running her own Catholic art shop — selling prints, traveling to conferences, and building a following on social media — before closing the shop to focus on illustration and parish work. She has illustrated nearly 10 books, primarily reflective journal-style titles, working with multiple publishers. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Texas, her identity as a Puerto Rican Catholic deeply shapes both her art and her faith.

In This Episode
00:00 Welcome to The LIVing Room — Liv & Val's Houston Reunion
01:00 "Are You Pax?" — The Origin of the Name Pax Valerie
02:00 Wait, Val Does Art? How a Non-Artist Discovered She Was One
03:30 A Random Summer Day, Hobby Lobby, and a Sunflower on YouTube
05:00 Painting Bible Covers, Grace Painted, and Praying Through Art
06:30 COVID, Youth Ministry Falling Apart, and a Shop Being Born
07:30 Quitting the Stable Job to Sell Art Full-Time (With No Idea What She Was Doing) 09:00 The FOCUS Conference, the Big Booth, and "I Never Want to Do This Again" 10:30 Giving Up Social Media for Lent — and Finding the Most Peace She'd Ever Felt 11:30 "I Don't Want to Be a Businesswoman. I Just Want to Doodle for God."
13:00 What She Does with Her Art Now — Etsy, Digital Downloads & Illustrating Books 15:00 The Scariest Part of Listening to God (and Trusting Him Through Anxiety)
16:30 Ministry Is Not Always Rainbows — The Church as a Hospital Full of Broken People 20:30 Being Catholic and Single: The Pressure to Have a "Capital V Vocation" 24:00 Growing Up, Not Going to College, and Feeling Like She Missed the Bus
27:30 A Doctor Said She Could Have a Heart Attack at 30. One Month Before Her Birthday.
29:00 What She Actually Did — Discipline, Blood Work, and Leaving Food at the Foot of the Cross
31:00 Spiritual Directors, Therapists, and Why Finding One Feels Like Dating
33:00 Life in Her 30s — Dog, House, Church Job, and a Dream Trip to Puerto Rico 36:00 Born in Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny, and the Super Bowl Halftime Nobody Was Ready For
38:30 Hurricane Maria, Her Grandma Walking to Church Every Day, and Crying at the Power Lines
42:30 What Does Being Catholic Mean in Puerto Rico? Culture vs. Intimate Faith
44:00 How Can We Pray for You? Val's Ask + Liv's Therapist Referral

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