Thank you Rusty Austin for joining me on my Born To Talk Radio Show Podcast.

Meet Rusty Austin.

Rusty Austin graduated from UCLA Film School with a degree in film and television.  He was a reality television show producer for over three decades and now is the author of six published books, including an illustrated children’s book series.

His books include: Baseball’s Unlikely: A Constant; Dave and Me (a memoir); and four children’s books: The Carrot Is Orange, The Unicorn Has One Horn, Beware The Grizzly Bear, and An Awesome Bird: The Pelican.

Rusty broke into Hollywood as a freelance electrician on dozens of movies, including Terminator 2. After a few years, he decided to give up movies because everything in the lighting and grip department weighs no less than 50 pounds. He then spent 35 years as a freelance reality television producer until he retired in 2018. He worked on Hell’s Kitchen for 16 seasons, his final show. His first show was Real Stories of the Highway Patrol. Along the way, he worked on Big Brother, Survivor, Nanny 911, COPS, and others.

Rusty’s Takeaways.

In this episode, you will discover how Rusty Austin’s unconventional journey- from Hollywood producer to children’s book author- sparked a deeper purpose rooted in creativity and connection. Rusty shares what inspired his shift toward heart-centered storytelling. He talks about the vision behind An Awesome Bird: The Pelican, and why inviting middle school students to illustrate the book was such a powerful choice.

Rusty also shares many of his poems.  It’s obvious he loves to write!

In Closing.

This is an inspiring reminder of the impact of nurturing young voices, embracing reinvention at any stage of life, and using creativity to bring generations together.

Thank you Rusty for sharing your story with us!

Conversations + Connections = Community

Making the world a better place.  One Story at a time.

 What’s Your Story? I want to share it!