Encouraged eavesdropping!
Make a (free, virtual) reservation at Table for Two’ish, where you are the ‘ish and two is Mac & Cheese Productions’℠ Saya Hillman and Guest.
Where Guest is a Life of Yes℠ poster child, someone inspiring in how they’re living life, unapologetically* designing life to best fit themselves, even if that means straying from the path and being uncertain-fearful-selfish-what am I doing’y?! *Sometimes, apologetically. Cause it’s work in progress to confidently live out loud.
30 minutes of Saya + Guest—you listen.
30 minutes of ‘ish—your questions, stories, recommendations, discussion, me too’s…
A cozy, easy way to hear how everyday people are living their ideal life—their Life of Yes℠. Their journeys and their transparency, vulnerability, and ups and downs will impact you to dream, do, and be bigger. A seat in a repeated room of positive stranger-friends will provide you quality community.
Camera on, camera off. Talk, don’t talk. Chat, don’t chat. How you show up and participate is up to you.
These are purposefully in and out conversations: easy to attend, easy to digest, easy to love. High-class problem (HCP)—you’ll have “It’s over already?! I want more!” thoughts.
You’ll want the space though… cause you have a life to live and post-table, with a to-go box of inspiration!
What Others Are Saying
- “This was so good. I still can’t wrap my arms around all that Emily has experienced.”
- “Loved every second of this! From “blind garlic farmer” to “podcasting in the Amazon” to “talking to cacti” I was riveted.”
- “WOW That was quite possibly the absolute best LinkedIn profile journey I’ve ever heard! Talk about the most amazing productive use of transferable skills!”
- “Thank you so much, this was so fun!”
- “I’m about to cry”
- “This is all so relatable”
- “😭😭 I relate to everything you said so much”
- “What a great group of folks! I’m so glad I could join.”
- “I love the story of how you found love so much. Gives me hope!”
- “I love that idea/activity of thinking what success looks like to us (as individuals) not what we think society dictates”
- “Thank you all so very much! Really did my heart so great to be here today.”
Check out other Mac & Cheese offerings (virtual and in person)
Make a Reservation
Each Table has a different guest; see who’s scheduled when below. Register for any Table you’d like to attend.
Tables aren’t recorded. Adulting Tip: put all the Tables in your calendar now. You’ll want to prioritize and make time for this. For more gathering detail, see FAQs below.
To buy tickets for multiple Mac & Cheese offerings / dates —
- Click the date you’d like
- Adjust ticket quantity
- Click ADD TO CART
- Click CONTINUE SHOPPING
- Click the offering you’d like to add
- Choose the date
- Return to top of this list and keep cycling through until you’re done shopping
- Click CHECKOUT
Additional dates to be added; to ensure you hear about them, choose how you’d like to stay Mac & Cheese updated
Table for Two’ish Guests
January 29th | 12pm-1pm EST
Hillary Stifler, Garden Grove Inn B&B || Instagram
After 17 years working in market research in Chicago, Hillary quit her job, sold her home and bought a 7-room B&B in Union Pier, Michigan. She is still working too hard, but it’s a lot more fun! Living where people vacation is super underrated, and she enjoys being an advocate for all the amazing things her new hometown offers. She even has her own “What’s Happening Hillary” events column in the local paper!
February 10th | 12pm-1pm EST
L’Oreal Thompson Payton || Instagram | LinkedIn
L’Oreal is an award-winning journalist, author, speaker, and founder of Zora’s Place, a Black feminist bookstore and community hub in Evanston, Illinois. She is the author of Stop Waiting for Perfect and Amanda Gorman: Poet and Activist, as well as the forthcoming children’s book Violet Goes Voting (September 2026) and the highly-anticipated memoir Infertile Black Girl (Spring 2027). Her byline has appeared in outlets such as Essence, Fortune, New York magazine and SELF, and her work centers Black women and girls, mental health, and the power of storytelling. She lives in Evanston with her husband and daughter.
February 26th | 12pm-1pm EST
Meg McKeen, Adjunct Advisors || Instagram | LinkedIn
A believer that there is a story within every story, Meg’s career journey took a sharp left turn in 2017 when she exchanged her corporate j-o-b for a year of self-discovery. The following year, she launched Adjunct Advisors LLC with the simple belief that the people that have made a career in insurance deserve a better experience. With roots in both underwriting and sales, Meg holds space, at the crossroads of personal and professional development, for insurance professionals as they grow their confidence – and careers – through private coaching, consulting engagements, and the podcast she hosts, Bound & Determined℠ and leverages more than 25 years of industry experience and studies in the social sciences to support our changing relationship with work, with each other, and with ourselves.
A graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University, Meg is currently a digital nomad in the midst of a thoughtful travel adventure. When she’s not supporting insurance professionals, you can find Meg putting the “practice” into yoga practice, searching for the best vegan bakery, or cheering on her favorite independent musicians. Her path has not been traditional – but her ability to make heavy topics approachable and relatable, with humility, humor, and heart, is her gift.
March 26th | 12pm-1pm EST
Jessica L. Williams, Tech Biz Gurl || Instagram | LinkedIn
Jessica (aka Tech Biz Gurl) is a side hustler, caregiver, and the creator of #jesspicks, a weekly newsletter full of helpful links and encouragement for folks balancing work, life, and business. She believes in building with what you have, where you are, and taking tiny steps that add up over time. When she’s not curating or cheering people on, she’s probably dancing, reading, or wandering around Chicago.
April 14th | 12pm-1pm EST
Emily Davis || Instagram
Emily is a farmer–florist, plant medicine practitioner, producer, comedian, and community-based ecotourism guide working at the intersection of Indigenous sovereignty, environmental stewardship, and multimedia storytelling. She collaborates closely with the Achuar people of the Ecuadorian Amazon through Maketai, Inc., and is a producer of iiTantari, the first Achuar-language podcast documenting ancestral creation myths and cosmology. Her work emphasizes reciprocal engagement with the natural world and centers Indigenous knowledge as essential to sustaining life, culture, and the planet amid accelerating cultural loss and climate collapse.
April 30th | 12pm-1pm EST
Susan B. Clark || Instagram | LinkedIn
Susan is a visual storyteller with a nomadic heart, firmly rooted in her love for her hometown Chicago. The gift of a 110 film camera at age 8 was the spark that ignited her joy of seeing the world through its lens and capturing the stories around her. Building off the legacies of a long lineage of educators, creatives, and communicators, Susan has used these gifts to grow her own passion and skills through her multiple decades of data and communication roles in the nonprofit sector. Combining that experience with her personal values of creativity, joy, and adventure, she provides an array of creative and business services for both individuals and organizations.
One of her greatest joys is introducing (or reintroducing!) the beauty and wonders of Chicago and sharing her gift of seeing the world through photography. You can attend one of her phone photography art & architecture walking tours in downtown Chicago, join her online Phone Photos in Focus course, request a custom Chicago tour built just for you, a group of friends, coworkers, or family, or purchase photo art from her online store. Organizations can sign up for a phone photography workshop to help staff and volunteers improve visual documentation for reports, newsletters, and social media. She also offers nonprofit communication management services, so groups can focus on their mission rather than content creation. Susan’s favorite ways to explore are by getting on the water, preferably in a kayak, and eating all the food.
June 9th | 12pm-1pm EST
Matthew Hoffman || Instagram
Matthew is a public artist and designer best known as the custodian of You Are Beautiful, a global movement that began in 2002 and has since grown to over 10 million stickers and more than 100 permanent installations worldwide. His approachable, text-based works transform public spaces into places of positivity and connection, blending playful accessibility with refined craftsmanship.
Beyond You Are Beautiful, Hoffman creates text-based sculptures, murals, and installations that are as inviting as they are iconic. His large-scale works are fabricated in durable, sustainable materials such as recycled plastics and metal, designed to withstand the outdoors while encouraging interaction. Each piece transforms everyday environments into places of reflection and joy, often developed in collaboration with members of the community.
Based in Chicago, he runs a small but mighty studio that fabricates many works in-house while also coordinating with third-party fabricators and installers for larger commissions. His approachable, collaborative style has made him a trusted partner for cities, schools, corporations, and neighborhood groups alike. His projects span public spaces inside and out, extending the same spirit of connection into cultural institutions, corporate settings, and private homes.
Through his work, Hoffman aims to create moments of kindness and connection in the public realm, whether that is a climbable sculpture in a park, a sticker passed between friends, or a phrase that stops someone in their tracks.
Full bio on Wikipedia.
June 25th | 12pm-1pm EST
Chloe Daniels || Instagram LinkedIn TikTok
Chloé Daniels, CFEI®, CFLP℠, also known as Clo Bare Money Coach, has built a community of over 500k on Tik Tok and Instagram by educating people on how to invest and build wealth– the lazy way.
Her work has been featured on CNBC, Entrepreneur, Bloomberg, Business Insider, and she’s even been a recent participant at White House influencer briefings under the Biden administration for new policies on student debt, and other issues her audience is facing. She was also awarded 2025 Best Overall Personal Finance Influencer by Bankrate. Her ultimate goal is to provide education in a fun, easy to understand and accessible way– without the overwhelm, shame, and confusion often associated with finances.
Chloé has worked with thousands of individuals to improve their finances. She’s also worked with several women’s groups, nonprofits, and several companies such as Snapchat, Nationwide, Mint Mobile, Betterment, Cleo, Capitalize, and more.
July 14th | 12pm-1pm EST
Bela Gandhi, Smart Dating Academy || Instagram | LinkedIn
Bela is a dating/relationship expert, TEDx speaker, founder of Smart Dating Academy and has been featured on most national/local media outlets including Good Morning America, Steve Harvey, the Today Show, Kelly Clarkson, Access, ABC, NBC, Fox, and more. Bela realized her gift for love when she was in college and started matchmaking and coaching her friends – watching them sail on to relationship bliss and marriage. Using her own system, Bela found her own amazing husband of over 20 years, and in 2009, founded Smart Dating Academy. Smart Dating Academy teaches singles all over the globe the Smart Dating four phase system – 1) Preparing to Date, 2) Dating, 3) Exclusivity and 4) Happily Ever After. They specialize in VIP 1:1 coaching, and with clients that have followed their system, they’ve had ‘zero divorces.’ They help singles to ‘fix their pickers’ because their coaches are deep in the weeds with clients, helping read profiles, message, and rate each date after it happens – she makes dating fun, easy and successful!
Before starting Smart Dating Academy, Bela earned dual degrees in Finance and German from the University of Illinois in Urbana/Champaign. Bela worked in mergers and acquisitions for Arthur Andersen in Chicago for a year before joining her family’s chemicals manufacturing company (called CCC), where she divided her time between Chicago and Europe helping to expand the business. When they sold the business to Fortune 500 company Akzo Nobel, she was asked to remain its leader and became Akzo Nobel Non-Stick Coating’s Global Vice President of Housewares. While climbing the corporate ladder, she realized it was time to unveil her system to the world, and it was her best decision ever.
Bela lives in Lincoln Park with her husband Andy and 2 children, Jaden and Max, and is going to be
an empty nester next year!
July 30th | 12pm-1pm EST
Maria Kim, Redefine Alliance || Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn (personal) LinkedIn
Maria is a self-proclaimed green belt (proficient enough to spar with controlled contact) whose career spans three sectors – private, public, and purpose, and whose ethos through it all has been to help people unlock their genius within. She serves as the President and CEO of REDF – a venture philanthropy and impact investing fund backing social enterprises around the country that create jobs and economic power for folks overcoming tough barriers to employment. Prior to REDF, Maria served as CEO of Cara Collective – a nationally recognized leader helping people experiencing homelessness and poverty get back to work.
Maria serves on the board of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the advisory boards of CASE Center of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, Procure Impact, First Women’s Bank, and the Leadership Society Initiative. Her previous service includes the US Small Business Association’s Investment Capital Advisory Committee and the California Office of the Small Business Advocate Entrepreneurship and Economic Mobility Task Force. She is a 2008 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow, a 2012 American Marshall Memorial Fellow, a 2018 Vital Voices Global Ambassador, a 2020 Presidential Leadership Scholar, and a 2022 Distinguished Alumni in Public Service from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, from which she received her MBA.
Danielle is the founder and principal consultant of Liberated Development, a leadership development firm that partners with mission-driven organizations to help leaders lead with clarity, confidence, and alignment.
After years of succeeding by following traditional leadership models that required her to shrink parts of herself, Danielle made a shift toward leading in ways that were more honest, sustainable, and human. That shift changed not only how she worked, but how she lived.
Today, Danielle coaches and works with leaders across the country who are navigating growth, identity, ambition, and rest, helping them move away from performing leadership and toward living it. She believes leadership isn’t about having it all figured out, but about having the courage to be seen while you figure it out in real time.
September 8th | 12pm-1pm EST
Caro Griffin, Between Drinks || Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok
Caro is a mezcal sommelier and bartender who hosts tastings and pop-ups in Mexico City. She also runs Between Drinks, a podcast and travel company that helps you discover off-the-beaten-path places in bucket list destinations like Mexico, Japan, and Scotland. You can follow along by subscribing at Between Drinks.
September 24th | 12pm-1pm EST
David Kadavy, Finish What Matters: Make Your Creativity Count || Instagram
David writes books that help the hopelessly curious get their ideas into the world, including The Heart to Start; Mind Management, Not Time Management; and his latest, Finish What Matters: Make Your Creativity Count. He’s also known for his entertaining and informative reels on TikTok and Instagram. He lives his Life of Yes℠ in a cabin in the mountains outside Medellín, Colombia.
December 10th | 12pm-1pm EST
Sonali Deepika, I Am Sacred Ground || Instagram
Dr. Sonali Deepika is a holistic, sensual alchemist for BIPOC. She is a first generation immigrant to the U.S., born in London with roots in Sri Lanka. She has “burned boxes” by shedding constraints of family, culture, profession, and conditioning, empowering herself by following her inner guidance. Her heart-centered calling is to guide others on this transformative path – to connect to the sacred ground within and around them while remembering their natural state of liberation.
FAQs
What will I need to do outside of a reservation?
Nothing!*
This is meant to be as little external lifting as possible, for everyone. No homework! No adding to To Do Lists!
*On Mac & Cheese brand, though, an asterisk… well, three asterisks.
One: Conversation will be more fruitful and beneficial if you do a wee bit of guest-musing before each gathering. E.g. jotting down a few questions, suggestions, recommendations, musings to share…
Two: The hope is that you’ll take what you learn and apply it to life. But how, when, what is up to you.
Three: There’ll be deeper goodness if you participate in chatter between meals in the (optional) online community. There won’t be any formal discussion, just encouragement to share thoughts, questions, support with one another. The online community is a paid membership space.
Why do you encourage joining via computer over a tablet or phone?
It’s easier to see everything and everyone as well as participate via Chat on the computer. That said, your presence over no presence is what’s important, so join how you need to join.
What happens if I miss a reservation?
Besides everyone being incredibly sad and you missing out on goodness, nothing. The beauty of the structure is that reservations are not tied to one another so you won’t be in the dark or struggle if you have to miss. Saya hates a no-show but also gets that life happens.
Why aren’t there recordings?
To allow Saya, guests, and you to speak uber-freely. What’s said will be unfiltered, raw, transparent, and honest. “This is being recorded” can dampen conversation.
To encourage you to show up. For yourself and for others.
Because we all know what often happens with “I’ll get to this later…” items. You never get to them. They hang over your head. They remind you of your failure. You refuse to delete them. They’re forever on your To Do List.
Cause Saya doesn’t want to spend her time sending links, dealing with tech issues, storing video.
Do I have to participate?
Nope. You don’t have to talk, verbally or in the Chat, if you’d rather just listen. Of course discussion is better with multiple voices and viewpoints, so you’re encouraged to chime in.
Do I have to be on camera?
If you have your video on, it’s a more pleasant, quality experience for Saya + Guest and a more community-building experience for everyone. So highly encouraged to be Video On. That said, if you’d rather Video Off, you do you, boo. Life of Yes℠.
Can I make multiple reservations?
Yep! You’re encouraged to!
Can I come for part of a reservation?
If you gotta join late or leave early, sadface but a-ok. No need to let Saya know.
Can I invite others?
Yes! They’ll have to register themselves but absolutely, new faces welcome.
Who are the Guests?
Random delights Saya’s met over her 20+ years of Mac & Cheese, with a focus on spotlighting those whose voices could use amplification.
Can I be a Guest?
If Saya reaches out and invites ya. This is an invitation-only scenario. Be in her world; help her be in your world; showcase the bad mama jamma you are, an invite is more likely to appear in your inbox.
What is this online community you mention that’s optional to join?
The Life of Yes℠ Community. Head here and go to “Join the best community on (and sometimes off) the internet” to learn more.
Can I eat and/or drink?
Yes! Extra credit if you’re on camera chowing down on buffalo wings or sipping a marg!
Can I show up with hot mess hair and in jammies, from my couch?
Extra credit if you show up with hot mess hair and in jammies, from your couch!