Trigger warning: This episode includes discussion of suicidal ideation and may be difficult for some listeners.

Today, I crack open a box of handwritten memories — little notebooks I used to pass around, filled with secrets, affirmations, confessions, and anonymous truths. What started as a quirky project with skeleton keys and handmade envelopes turns into a raw reflection on my past, my strength, and a moment that nearly changed everything. This one is about survival, connection, and remembering that even the most fragile-seeming words can hold power.

🗝️ Have a story, memory, or quote that changed you? DM me or drop a comment. You’re never as alone as you think.

🎙️ Subscribe to Little Book of Confessions with Melissa May
📺 YouTube: @melissamay.me-podcast
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📧 Let’s connect: mel@hustlebydesign.io

👉🏼👉🏼Help keep the confessions coming! If you love Little Book of Confessions, you can support the show here: https://buymeacoffee.com/melissamay

Every coffee fuels more raw, unfiltered stories.

⚠️ Trigger Warning: This episode discusses eating disorders.
If this topic feels too heavy right now, please take care of yourself and skip as needed.

In this episode of Little Book of Confessions, I open up about my own struggles with disordered eating and the girl I met at 17 who changed me forever. She was 19, beautiful, brilliant — and in pain. Her letters, quotes, and poems still live in my journal, and I read them here today because her voice — and the voices of so many — deserve to be remembered.

This one’s for anyone who has struggled with food, control, or feeling like they were too much or not enough.
And for anyone who still believes hope is possible — even in the darkest seasons.

🎙️ Subscribe to Little Book of Confessions with Melissa May
📺 YouTube: @melissamay.me-podcast
📲 TikTok: @melissamay.me

📧 Let’s connect: mel@hustlebydesign.io

👉🏼👉🏼Help keep the confessions coming! If you love Little Book of Confessions, you can support the show here: https://buymeacoffee.com/melissamay

Every coffee fuels more raw, unfiltered stories.

K-dramas always hit me right in the heart — not just for the drama, but for the way they stir something in my memory. In this episode of Little Book of Confessions, I share stories about my Korean grandmother, Marie — how she escaped North Korea as a child, built a life in the U.S., and shaped who I am in ways I’m still discovering.

This is a story about food, culture, memory, grief, and a goodbye I never got to say. It’s for anyone who's straddled multiple cultures, felt the weight of family secrets, or longed for a deeper connection to their heritage.

🎙️ Subscribe to Little Book of Confessions with Melissa May
📺 YouTube: @melissamay.me-podcast
📲 TikTok: @melissamay.me

📧 Let’s connect: mel@hustlebydesign.io

👉🏼👉🏼Help keep the confessions coming! If you love Little Book of Confessions, you can support the show here: https://buymeacoffee.com/melissamay

Every coffee fuels more raw, unfiltered stories.

In this episode of Little Book of Confessions with Melissa May, I open up about something that used to make me feel ashamed: not having a college degree. From working three jobs and enrolling in community college at 17, to becoming a successful professional and starting multiple businesses — this is my story of grit, survival, and redefining success on my own terms.

This episode is for anyone who's ever felt behind, out of place, or like the odds were stacked against them. You are not your resume. You are your story — and it’s worth being proud of.

🎙️ Subscribe to Little Book of Confessions with Melissa May
📺 YouTube: @melissamay.me-podcast
📲 TikTok: @melissamay.me

📧 Let’s connect: mel@hustlebydesign.io

👉🏼👉🏼Help keep the confessions coming! If you love Little Book of Confessions, you can support the show here: https://buymeacoffee.com/melissamay

Every coffee fuels more raw, unfiltered stories.

A simple quote, scribbled in one of my little bar journals, stayed with me:
“There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.” — J.R.R. Tolkien

In this episode of Little Book of Confessions, I reflect on what that quote means today — in a world that often feels heavy, dark, and divided. From the fear of eroding rights to the weight of invisible identities, I talk about the tension between anxiety and hope, despair and resilience. This is an episode about survival, belief, and planting seeds of empathy in a world that needs them.

🎙️ Subscribe to Little Book of Confessions with Melissa May
📺 YouTube: @melissamay.me-podcast
📲 TikTok: @melissamay.me

📧 Let’s connect: mel@hustlebydesign.io

👉🏼👉🏼Help keep the confessions coming! If you love Little Book of Confessions, you can support the show here: https://buymeacoffee.com/melissamay

Every coffee fuels more raw, unfiltered stories.

⚠️ Trigger Warning: Sexual assault
Please listen with care — or feel free to skip this episode if it’s not the right time for you.

In this vulnerable episode of Little Book of Confessions with Melissa May, I share a story I’ve carried since I was 17. At the time, I couldn’t say the word “rape.” I couldn’t write it, either. So I told myself another story to survive — one I reread years later and barely recognized as my own.

This is the journal entry. The memory. The truth.
And it’s for anyone who has ever rewritten pain into something more bearable — until they could finally face it.

💬 If you or someone you love is struggling, you're not alone.

🎙️ Subscribe to Little Book of Confessions with Melissa May
📺 YouTube: @melissamay.me-podcast
📲 TikTok: @melissamay.me

📧 Let’s connect: mel@hustlebydesign.io

👉🏼👉🏼Help keep the confessions coming! If you love Little Book of Confessions, you can support the show here: https://buymeacoffee.com/melissamay

Every coffee fuels more raw, unfiltered stories.

In this deeply personal episode of Little Book of Confessions with Melissa May, I share the moment that cracked my world open — the day I found my father after more than a decade apart. What followed was a handwritten confession, a decades-old court battle, and the unraveling of a story I thought I understood.

This episode is for anyone carrying family secrets, seeking truth, or healing from the stories we were told — and the ones we were never told.

🎙️ Subscribe to Little Book of Confessions with Melissa May
📺 YouTube: @melissamay.me-podcast
📲 TikTok: @melissamay.me

📧 Let’s connect: mel@hustlebydesign.io

👉🏼👉🏼Help keep the confessions coming! If you love Little Book of Confessions, you can support the show here: https://buymeacoffee.com/melissamay

Every coffee fuels more raw, unfiltered stories.

Welcome to Little Book of Confessions with Melissa May — a space for secrets, stories, and survival. In this debut episode, Melissa shares the origin story behind the journals, bar notebooks, and quiet reflections that shaped her voice as a writer and storyteller. She opens up about moving 40 times before age 14, growing up queer and part Korean, navigating trauma, and learning how to love herself outloud. This isn’t just a podcast — it’s a legacy in the making.

🎙️ Subscribe to Little Book of Confessions with Melissa May
📺 YouTube: @melissamay.me-podcast
📲 TikTok: @melissamay.me

📧 Let’s connect: mel@hustlebydesign.io

👉🏼👉🏼Help keep the confessions coming! If you love Little Book of Confessions, you can support the show here: https://buymeacoffee.com/melissamay

Every coffee fuels more raw, unfiltered stories.