Author Available: NOTHING WAS BROKEN: You Don’t Have to Crash to Change
Guided by the principles of clarity, discipline, personal responsibility, and continuous growth, Modern Sober is helping redefine what modern sobriety looks like for a new generation...
NOTHING WAS BROKEN: You Don’t Have to Crash to Change
By
Brandon Smith
PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Brandon Smith is author of the book, NOTHING WAS BROKEN: You Don’t Have to Crash to Change. He the founder and CEO of Modern Sober, a modern lifestyle movement centered around clarity, presence, and intentional living.
TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com, aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com
Brandon Smith built the kind of life most people aspire to — seven-figure income, career success, family, status, and access. He was the guy who could handle pressure, read the room, close the deal, and keep everything moving.
From the outside, nothing looked broken.
In Nothing Was Broken, Smith shares the story of a high-performing man who never hit rock bottom, never lost everything, and never fit the traditional narrative of addiction or recovery. Instead, he began questioning the quiet patterns hidden beneath success — the pressure, emotional disconnection, and constant need to escape while still appearing completely in control.
The memoir follows a life shaped by ambition, reinvention, and identity, including the extraordinary discovery and eventual relationship with his biological father, teen idol and Broadway star Rex Smith. Through stories of corporate success, fatherhood, marriage, grief, and personal evolution, Smith explores the culture so many high achievers normalize: stress, performance, alcohol, image, and the endless cycle of pushing forward without ever slowing down enough to ask why.
This is not a story about collapse.
It is a story about awareness. About realizing that functioning is not the same as fulfillment. About choosing presence over numbness, clarity over escape, and truth over performance.
Raw, honest, and deeply modern, Nothing Was Broken speaks directly to anyone who has ever looked successful on the outside while quietly wondering if there might be a better way to live.
Because you don’t have to crash to change.
PLUG: Modern Sober
PLUG BOOK: NOTHING WAS BROKEN: You Don’t Have to Crash to Change
BIO: Brandon Smith is author of the book, NOTHING WAS BROKEN: You Don’t Have to Crash to Change. He the founder and CEO of Modern Sober, a modern lifestyle movement centered around clarity, presence, and intentional living.
A top-performing New York sales executive, husband, and father, Brandon built a high-performance life from the outside—career success, financial achievement, nightlife, travel, and access—while quietly realizing that alcohol was not destroying his life but slowly dulling it.
Rather than waiting for a crash, Brandon chose to change proactively. His journey led to the creation of Modern Sober, a brand and philosophy challenging the traditional narrative around sobriety by reframing it through aspiration instead of rock bottom. Through storytelling, apparel, community, and conversation, Modern Sober encourages people to rethink their relationship with alcohol and rediscover clarity as a modern form of luxury.
Born in Canada and now based in the New York City area, Brandon’s story spans entrepreneurship, luxury retail, corporate sales, fatherhood, reinvention, and personal growth. His memoir, “Nothing Was Broken,” explores identity, success, family, masculinity, and the hidden cost of living numb in a world that celebrates excess.
He lives with his wife and children near New York City.
ABOUT ORGANIZATION: Modern Sober is a lifestyle movement and community built around the belief that clarity is a luxury and that transformation does not require hitting rock bottom. Founded by Brandon Smith, Modern Sober challenges traditional perceptions of sobriety by reframing alcohol-free living as a path to greater focus, discipline, performance, and intentional living rather than deprivation or recovery.
At its core, Modern Sober exists for people who are choosing better not because their lives are broken, but because they want more from them. The organization promotes a modern approach to personal growth centered on clarity over chaos, discipline over excess, and conscious living over numbness. Through storytelling, community engagement, apparel, media, and Brandon Smith’s forthcoming memoir, Nothing Was Broken, Modern Sober inspires individuals to reevaluate their relationship with alcohol and embrace a lifestyle built on presence, purpose, and self-mastery.
The movement has grown into a thriving community of people committed to elevating every area of their lives from health and relationships to career performance and personal fulfillment. Through its online platforms, private community groups, and content initiatives, Modern Sober provides a judgment-free environment where members can share experiences, support one another, and pursue a higher standard of living together.
Guided by the principles of clarity, discipline, personal responsibility, and continuous growth, Modern Sober is helping redefine what modern sobriety looks like for a new generation. As the organization says: “You don’t have to crash to change. You just have to choose better.”
TO BOOK INTERVIEWS EMAIL: kimberlyt.publius@gmail.com, aj.publius@gmail.com, sarah.publius@gmail.com