Georgia Hardstark

Famous for her interests in everything from specialty cocktails to true crime, television and podcast personality Georgia Hardstark was born in Irvine, California in 1980. A sensitive and boisterous child, Harstark was hit hard by her parents' divorce when she was six. She would conquer an addiction to meth in her early teens, and later spoke openly about her battles with anorexia, anxiety, and depression-struggles that helped inform her creative voice. Happy to have developed a far healthier relationship with food in her adulthood, Hardstark often blogged about her delicious or, just as often, humorous culinary adventures. This lead to her and friend comedian Alie Ward crafting a video in 2009 in which they explained, with tongue-in-cheek humor, how to craft a signature cocktail called a "McNuggetini." The comedy video went viral, and soon Hardstark and Ward were offered their own show, "Drinks with Alie and Georgia" (Cooking Chanel, 2009-2015). The pair went on to join the hosts of "Unique Sweets" (Cooking Channel, 2011-17), and even hosted their own interview podcast, "Slumber Party with Alie and Georgia," from 2012 to 2017. Then, as Hardstark and Ward's creative partnership was winding down, another of Hardstark's longtime interests opened a new door. She had often found comfort coping with her anxiety disorder through learning about true crime, as the stories, though frightening, helped her fears feel justified. This had often set her apart from those who found such stories too disturbing, but in 2015, Hardstark met a kindred spirit in the form of comedian Karen Kilgariff, who was at a Halloween party recounting a grisly car crash she had recently witnessed when Hardstark eventually became the only attendee who could stomach the story. The pair became close friends and in 2016, they launched their own true crime comedy podcast, "My Favorite Murder," in which they incorporated fascinating crime stories into a humorous format that dealt openly with the mental health issues that drove their mutual interest in the subject. This notion hit a major chord with listeners and the podcast became a massive hit. Within six months, the pair were recording live tapings of their show in front of sold-out crowds around the country soon they were touring internationally. The pair launched their own podcast network, Exactly Right Media in November of 2018, and the following year they published a combination memoir and self-help book with a true crime theme titled Stay Sexy and Don't Get Murdered.