Dr. Darian Parker, the IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year 2023 recipient, is a multihyphenate entrepreneur, athlete, and a man of faith. And he is breaking open myths. On what it takes to be a Division-1 Student Athlete competing at elite levels. On the interior work he has to do to be a good father. On the reality that life is lived at its best and realest without guarantees or known outcomes but is founded on authentic love for our fellow humans. And so many more. All we can rely on is our ability to build true relationships with one another and to make a commitment to show up every day even when the outcomes are unknown or don’t go our way. Darian believes that one’s life doesn’t bloom under the bright lights of fame, accolades, or ego. Instead, it is a relentless dance performed in the powerful spaces of the phrase “I don’t know.” For Dr. Parker, the real champions show up daily and do the monotonous grunt work that is a major and essential part of what we call living.

In season two of At the Podium, the power of speaking and owning your truth came up in all the interviews of the show. As I asked each remarkable guest about their journeys to finding their own voices and what they wanted to say with the immense platforms they had, they all expressed the need to use their voices to help others, but also to speak truth over their own lives and lived experiences. Perhaps because we live in a time when the truth, when facts, even basic humanity are under threat, the ability to speak and own your truth becomes the ultimate commodity. It is a gift more precious than gold, because for so many of my guests, speaking the truth was the light that led the way to healing the broken places of their lives. What a privilege it was for me to sit in fellowship with the incredible people who honored me with their time, their hearts, and their wisdom. For that, I am eternally grateful.

Nina Curtis is a world-renowned Vegan Chef. Her dishes have been savored on the palates of presidents and prime ministers, foreign dignitaries and political powerbrokers, and first grade students. Most recently she made history by becoming the first chef to prepare and serve an all plant-based meal at the White House’s State Dinner for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. When we talk about what led her to a life and a career built on veganism, her somewhat improbable journeys merged on the Venice Beach bodybuilding scene. Where eating a plant-based diet helped her performance and recovery in competitions. But the seeds for her love of food, ingredients and the process of curating and preparing a meal were planted within her by her parents. Her father is a technically trained French Chef, and her mom (whom Nina describes as the best cook she knows), is a formidable cook in her own right. Chef Curtis’ ethos today in the kitchen isn’t ego-driven or based upon her celebrity chef status. Instead, her guiding forces are the examples of her father and her mother. And her ancestors. It’s the ever-present voices of her parents and the legacies of her ancestors of whom she says, “I’m always working to be quiet enough to hear their whispers and their guidance.” And their whispers tell her to humbly do your work, keep your head down and use food to build ally-hood among people, among governments, among nations. And to remember that the seeds she plants today, will have reverberations for centuries to come.

The New York Times called George M. Johnson’s memoir and manifesto All Boys Aren’t Blue “An exuberant, unapologetic memoir infused with a deep but clear-eyed love for its subjects. Johnson lays bare the darkest moments of his life with wit and unflinching vulnerability.” Despite the praise, it’s also a book that has been banned in 8 states and 29 school districts for being what its vocal critics call sexually explicit, pornographic, and inappropriate for kids. It is a shocking story in many ways. George details being molested by a family member at 12 years old and how that colored their views of trust and intimacy throughout their life. What it was like to have their first consensual sexual encounters without the knowledge or preparation for what that meant physically and emotionally. The book is uncomfortable and unexpected for the reader at times. Does it cross over into pornography and inappropriateness? Definitely not. In the book and in our conversation, George paints different, nuanced possibilities for black boys, pulling us from the obscurity of self-erasure into a declarative existence. What does it look like if you get to define for yourself who you are? What if you find love and brotherhood and companionship with other black men, as opposed to just fearing one another? What if you get to paint with all the colors of the rainbow, not just blue?

Author Nora Zelevansky and I have a nuanced conversation about Roll Red Roll: Rape, Power, and Football in the American Heartland. A book that she and Nancy Schwartzman wrote based on Schwartzman’s documentary film about a tragic rape that happened in 2012 in Steubenville, OH. The crime gained national attention because it was the first assault broadcast on social media and changed our understanding of what going viral meant in the age of the internet 2.0.It blew the lid off what has been the country’s inability to grapple with our own complicity in creating a culture where young men casually assume the role of predator, and many young women are left to fend for themselves in harms’ way as friends, institutions and supposed trusted systems fail them. Nora and I delve into the intricate circumstances of the case: the concept of the perfect victim not being the perfect victim, how rigid gender roles contributed to the crime, and the phenomenon of slut-shaming. We ask the question is there a role for restorative justice in these cases and determined that if anyone’s child is to be safe, all children must be safe. And lastly, how do we break open the destructive “boys will be boys” mentality in our society that oftentimes rewards or excuses the idea that real manhood is rooted in dominating other people. It wasn’t an easy conversation, but a necessary one where we sought answers and understanding, not blame.

Zak Sandler and I have a deeply personal and contemplative conversation about the struggles he has faced with his mental health and how he has managed to organize his life with a brain that functions in a different way. From his original diagnosis as bipolar while an undergraduate student at Yale University, to becoming a highly creative Broadway pianist for such shows as Wicked and The Color Purple, Zak has traveled the road from despair to acceptance and now to allowing his creativity to guide his response to his diagnosis. Zak will tell you that he does not have a mental illness or a disorder. For him that language implies there’s something about him that needs to be fixed. He chooses the phrase mental condition, because it indicates that his bipolar diagnosis is simply part of who he is. At core he is not broken. This distinction is how we move from shame to understanding and hopefully acceptance. That our differences, no matter how acute, are simply that - differences not deficiencies.

“Should we attempt to foster meaningful, human connections and engagement in the workplace?” This is the core question of my conversation with author, keynote speaker and workplace belonging expert Smiley Poswolsky. But our conversation in many ways isn’t about work, or the devastating financial implications of the epidemic disengagement of the workforce today. At core, our conversation is about what type of world do we want to live in; do we want a world of connection and engagement, or do we not? Your perspective and views on this question impact everything in our society, from work to play, from church to school, from whom we choose to value to whom we choose to forget. It is THE animating question of our time and our ongoing question about what is good citizenship. What is good humanity? The answers will either bring us closer together or further stoke the flames of division and misunderstanding. On a basic, fundamental level it comes back to the "house divided" principle: we stand together, or we fall together.

Carl Sferrazza Anthony has done the impossible. In his new book Camera Girl, The Coming of Age of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy, he has told the often forgotten and sometimes misunderstood origin story of a woman, who accurately described herself as the art director of the 20th Century. In his latest book, Sferrazza Anthony dramatically captures her subversiveness, her incisive and self-deprecating wit, and her passion for the power of language and words that was sparked by her time studying at the Sorbonne in Paris and traveling throughout Europe. As we dive deep into his work I learn that more than being John Kennedy’s widow or becoming Jackie O., Sferrazza Anthony paints a portrait of woman who, like we the reader are today, was a multidimensional chameleon, and an ever-evolving human being.

Jimmy T. Martin lost his first wife, Linmarie to cancer. She was only 29 when she died, leaving him heartbroken and lost, but with the dream of a business called Brrrn. She said it was the proudest thing that he created that she wouldn’t live to see. With the help of his family, his friends, therapy and his wry sense of humor, Jimmy was slowly able to rebuild a life for himself, and with his business partner Johnny Adammic find a way to bring Brrrn to life, not once, but twice. This story does have a happy ending. He finds new love with Rachel who eventually becomes his wife, he builds a transforming business, and there is even a son. But there is also the wisdom of experience and loss that filters through his life that you cannot help but see, hear, and feel. More than giving up and feeling sorry for himself, Jimmy leaves us with compelling questions in our conversation. Questions that he had to answer for himself when he had to choose to live or to give up. He asks: What are the prompts in your life that are calling you to take action. To do something different? To make a different choice? To choose life? What actions are the prompts in your life calling you to take?

Hugh Huffaker is serial entrepreneur who follows the passions within him to guide his choices in business, and as you will hear, in his life. He is the Founder of Cause+Medic a consciously crafted CBD luxury wellness product line that he created to help relieve his mother’s legs spasms that she was experiencing from Multiple Sclerosis. And he co-founded Clean Republic, an EPA certified disinfectant that harnesses the power of nature and technology into cleaning products. That’s in addition to owning his own spa in Bueno Vista, CO, his pursuits as a jazz guitarist, and at one point – working as an accountant. His life and career journey have been a series of taking risks, listening to his unique internal voice as an entrepreneur, and not being afraid to fail. His success, according to Hugh, is based upon his ability to keep an open heart and say yes to the unplanned and unexpected events that always appear in our lives. As for that failure, Hugh believes we shouldn’t fear it because it is inevitable in business (and in life). And more than a source of embarrassment or regret, he views failure as a tool for learning. He says, “Everybody questions everything when you start a business. You’re going to get questioned and you’re going to fail. But the failure’s good because you’re going to keep learning.”

Shaunda McDill is the Managing Director of the Pittsburgh Public Theater. She is a rare type of new leader coming of age in the modern American Theater – black women who are ascending to top roles in major theatrical institutions across the country. She has achieved her success by living life on her own terms and giving herself permission to tell her own story (a story founded in her strong, unshakeable faith and the lessons from the mentors who have shaped her life). She has carved nontraditional paths in her approach to marrying her husband, in her approach to motherhood, and in her approach to living her life as an artist. As Shaunda says, “I chose to struggle to produce the work in the way that I saw it. Instead of struggling to convince others of my humanity.”

Connor Schoen is the Co-Founder & Executive Director of Breaktime. When you speak with him about the epidemic of young adult homelessness, you see he has had a passion for this work most of his life. And his coming out experience as pansexual while he was a student at Harvard University working at a shelter where he serviced homeless youth (most of whom were thrown out of their homes because they were LGBTQ+) only increased that passion. There he saw the irony of his own situation, that there but for the grace of having a family that supported his process of embracing who he is, that homeless youth could have been him. It was a turning point that brought into focus for Connor what he should be doing with his life. And he boldly walked in the direction of that mission, by co-founding Breaktime to specifically address the causes of young adult homelessness and how to help move young adults from homelessness to job and financial security. It isn't easy work. It requires persistence and commitment. But for Connor and his team, it comes back to his life's central motto, "every single young person deserves the opportunities and support they need to reach their full potential. And we need to do everything possible to make that happen.”

Nigel Franklyn is one of the founders of Moss Wellness Consulting. He is the self-described Spa Whisperer who was recently featured on "The Tamron Hall Show," but more accurately, he is a person who lives a life of artistry and takes leaps of faith into the unknown. As he says, “I jump off cliffs now and I don’t worry because I really believe fully from my direct experiences that either I will find something soft to land on, or someone will teach me how to fly.” His global career as a spa and wellness aficionado began when his life was changed by a spa therapist in Atlanta who in one service gave him such an overwhelming feeling of nurture, it changed the trajectory of his career and life. He knew from that moment, his life would be devoted to bringing that sense of nurture and wellbeing to people all over the world. His paintings too, like his work in the spa and wellness worlds, are bold and brash, yet they tell a very personal story. A story of a man who lost his parents as a teenager. A man who stepped into the essence of his identity at six years old when he declared he wanted to marry Superman. A man who believes that in order to receive the benefits from something or learn something, you have to learn to surrender to the process. You can’t fight it or be overcome by fear of it. Because in the spaces of surrender we find faith and belief.

Ask Chris Hetherington what learned from his 11 years in the NFL playing fullback for teams like the Cincinnati Bengals, the Indianapolis Colts and the San Francisco 49ers and he will tell you he learned to be a pro, be accountable, to keep his word, and the importance of getting a good education. After smashing wedges on the gridiron, he took those lessons learned and then went on to have a career as a CEO in financial services and now today he is the Founder & CEO of Peels CBD, which is on the road to becoming a disruptive force in the CBD product market. The line is formulated from orange peels and has no traces of hemp, cannabis, or THC and can attract consumers who may have negative associations with traditional CBD products and marijuana. (How it all works he will explain in our conversation.) Along his unpredictable path, he discovered the Stoics, yoga and meditation. And now this elite athlete who once crushed it on the football field is now meditating twice a day and learning to breathe through life as opposed to making things happen through brute force. The through line in Chris’ remarkable life is his devotion to family - he calls his mom his hero, he loves his two sons unabashedly, and looks up to his big brother. He also lives life with physical and mental discipline, a commitment to team, and being a man of his word. If you say you’re going to do, then do it. That is what makes you a good person.

Travis Suit did the impossible. He swam from Bimini to South Florida. He crossed a Blue Desert to raise money for his daughter. As he says with tears lovingly filling his eyes, “I can’t help but see how beautiful adversity can be for transforming the perception of life into just a moment-by-moment miracle. I never knew the greatest gift in my life was going to be my daughter and this disease.” His daughter’s name is Piper. Her disease is Cystic Fibrosis. Which has transformed her life and his. Travis started a nonprofit called Pipers Angel’s Foundation that is helping Piper and the thousands of other people like her, fight this disease that leaves those who suffer with it, fighting to simply breathe. How does he view this adversity that walked unwanted into his family’s life? Travis says,

“Adversity is the starting line for courage.”

“Courage becomes the fuel for inspiration in our life.”

“And from there, Inspiration can really open the door to devotion.” Devotion to Piper. The reason he swam across the Blue Desert.

Susan Chapman-Hughes is a powerhouse of a woman, mother, and businessperson. She has sat in the top executive level of companies like American Express and Citigroup and on major corporate boards across the country. Her tenacity and belief in herself and her abilities come from the love and support of her two parents who were always staunchly in Susan’s corner. Her mother in particular taught her life lessons as a child that have become foundational to her world view today. Her mother gave her unconditional love and permission to try things even if she failed. She instilled in Susan a sense of self-confidence and the belief that she always belonged. That who she was, was good enough, and that she had a right to inhabit any space that she chose to occupy in her life. Lessons she instills in her daughter and the many young people, women, and people of color Susan mentors today. Her approach to life and business is straightforward and hopefully replicable. Your difference is your power, and you have a lot more power than you know. To meet big moments in life, you must do so with empathy. And people are always going to judge you, so navigate life in a way that works best for you.

Yissel Guerrero describes her life as existing in excellence. Excellence and resistance. Guided by a profound faith, this first generation American embodies the American dream. She achieved academically and studied at Emory University, and abroad in Geneva, Switzerland to earn a degree in political science. She worked in the field for Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Campaign in 2016 and then served in Boston’s Mayor Marty Walsh’s Administration during Covid. She was the State Government Liaison for the administration and was at the table of government for its response to the all-consuming pandemic and the social unrest stoked by George Floyd and Breonna Taylor’s murders. When you ask her how and why her life has unfolded and is unfolding in this epic way, she says that she was born for such a time as this. When you ask her what is next in a life already filled with history, she says “For the first time, my ‘next’ is living in the new place called ‘now.’”

Noel Asmar is the founder of Noel Asmar Group of Companies. An unconventional fashion house that designs uniforms and clothing for the worlds of spa and hospitality, the medical field, and the equestrian world – including the Canadian Olympic Equestrian Team in 2016. For Noel, her work goes beyond the latest color blocking trends or what’s showing on the runways in the myriad of fashion weeks around the globe. She views her work in fashion and design as a tool of empowerment, dignity and self-expression for the people who wear her creations. Her views of the world have been shaped by her life – roots in Canada and Beirut, an escape from the war-torn country of Lebanon on a Huber craft that took her to Cypress and running a business that has taken her around globe and brought her in contact with the high and the humble. How she lives her life? Noel says, “Eyes wide opened. Nothing lasts forever. Know that when you go into things. You can change your mind. Who’s judging?”

Joe Hudson has lived the life of a rebel. He lived in 26 places in 28 years, lived in van for a year, spent 7 years of his life meditating, and then went on to be a Hollywood director, venture capitalist and a philanthropist. Today, he is the highly sought-after executive coach and founder of The Art of Accomplishment, a platform for learning and personal development, that is focused on making overwhelmingly positive transformations in the lives and businesses he works with. And while his work is widely praised and received in the C-Suites of Silicon Valley, the real lesson of his message is not about spreadsheets and stock options. He focuses on great leadership and transformational living as being an act of getting in touch with your authentic self by embracing and understanding the emotions that animate you. Joe advocates for expressing love through setting clear boundaries, and believes that establishing an authentic connection with yourself, and others is the real superpower. As Joe says, “I am constantly looking at what allows me to be in deeper connection with myself and others.”