Episode 85: Kate Miller
Kate Miller has had a prolific career as an actress – from starring on Broadway with Carol Burnett in “Moon Over Buffalo,” to working opposite Tom Selleck in CBS’s “Blue Bloods,” to her latest role as Amanda Shaw in “Hightown,” Kate has done it all. In an industry that is known for discarding women after a certain age, Kate did the impossible and reinvented herself and her career in her 40s – in Los Angeles! Despite the doors being closed to her. But beyond the successes Kate has experienced in her acting career, she’s used the hard times and the down times that she’s faced both professionally and in her real life, as a catalyst for huge growth and personal changes that she says were necessary. Her take on her life is astonishingly clear. It’s time to put down your pain and focus on what is good in your life. And she says, “Just because you don’t get something you want, desire, are seeking for, it has nothing to do with your merit.”
Episode 84: Robyn Vie-Carpenter-Brisco
Robyn Vie-Carpenter-Brisco has a big name and has built a big life of many different existences. Author. Crystals and semi-precious stones expert. President of the Board of the History Museum in Baton Rouge. Self-proclaimed Goddess of Joy. Today, she is the founder of The Confidence Conference. A nonprofit organization that she is building to face head on the decline in young girls' confidence and belief in themselves. She says that this advocacy and passion is the one that she will be with for the rest of her life. More poetically she states that in her work today she is “making space for women and girls to understand that they are magnificent.” Robyn has lived an expansive and unexpected life on her terms. One of love, gratitude and joy. She reminds us that if you are getting the gift of another day, you have the opportunity to create something new. You have the opportunity to live the life you want and be the person that you want to be. You can decide to love yourself in a way that is meaningful.
Episode 83: Luuk Melisse
With the founding of Sanctum, Luuk Melisse has started a sound, dance and movement phenomenon that is being called a Nomadic Movement. At the core of the Sanctum experience is Luuk’s mission to help his followers (and himself) face head on those things that hinder our fullest expression of who we are: limiting self-doubt, the need for perfectionism, always having to look cool and be in control, and not wanting to face the parts of ourselves that may be unpretty. As Luuk says with potentially some controversy “the future of wellness is ugly.” It’s messy. It isn’t about getting it “right.”
In the Sanctum experience which Luuk conceived because of the profound loneliness that people were experiencing during the pandemic, there are tears, there is laughter, there are people maybe even looking silly. People are coming together. There is freedom! What isn’t there is competition. There is no electronic board posting how many calories you are burning or how you are performing against the other people in the class with you. Luuk creates a safe and nurturing atmosphere for people to break free by pushing their bodies to almost physical exhaustion through what Luuk describes as a “holistic movement sequence rooted in kundalini yoga, martial arts, animalistic flow, breath work and primal fitness.” They can no longer resist but give in to the letting go.
Enriching this journey for Luuk, is the fact that he is building this global movement alongside Gabriel, the man he calls his partner in life, crime, and business. With a dark, candlit space and a pair of noise-cancelling headphones, Luuk, Gabriel and their vibing followers are bouncing to a beat underpinned by music from the electronic music scene in Amsterdam to give themselves the space to move through the physical discomfort of intense physical movement into what Luuk describes as more peace and more headspace.
Episode 82: Delia McLinden
Delia McLinden (founder of the lifesaving Archangel Animal Network and Vice President of the global skincare and body care brand Farmhouse Fresh) poses a profound question for us – “When you take away your coping mechanisms. What then?” Her answer – “You realize there are a whole lot of other things [you have] to address.”
For Delia it was consciously changing her relationship to alcohol. As she describes it, drinking had become a thought consuming and physically impacting crutch for her. Though she seemed to have it all together from outward appearances (she has not one, but two thriving careers, has a husband whom she works with, and is parenting a teenage son who just started driving!), inside, she wasn’t well. Something had to change. That something was her drinking. We talk about her process of how she broke the cycle of drinking, her perspective on AA and the labels she chooses to apply to herself. We also tackle the big idea that if there is something in your life, in your world, in your neighborhood that you think needs to be fixed or changed or done over, then get off your duff and take action! No matter how small, you must do something, because engagement is the price of admission to this thing called life.
Episode 81: John Adams
John Adams was at the top of the modeling world when he was diagnosed with cancer. In an instant, his life changed from fashion shoots and working directly with designers like Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani to survival. The world he knew (beautiful clothes, nice apartments, travel, even his looks) quickly evaporated and left him with a new focus - living. He wanted to live to experience the gift of life with someone that he genuinely loved. With his wife Toby and their two daughters, he did find that love and that new meaning that would take him again on incredible journeys around the world with their family-owned production company called Wonder Wheel Productions. As a family they have produced award winning horror films like Hellbender and the Deeper You Dig. But all this good in his life has come through overcoming a serious drug addiction that almost cost him everything he dreamed of.
Episode 80: Belgin Aksoy
Belgin Aksoy has started a global movement for the health and wellness of the world. As a way to show gratitude for her own health and recovery journey, she founded Global Wellness Day in 2012 after her diagnosis and treatment for thyroid cancer. Since that time of her healing and the launch of Global Wellness Day, over one billion people in 170 countries have participated in Global Wellness Day activities. Her premise is quite simple: wellness is a human right - no matter your financial status or where you live. And it is also a responsibility - you have to do the things that allow yourself to be well. Among them are drink more water, take time to eat a meal with your family (whoever that may be), get exercise and perform acts of service for other people, and get rest. Very few things in this world can bring one billion people together, but from her cancer diagnosis to her expression of gratitude for her healing, Belgin is living proof that you can change your life by searching for spiritual , mental and emotional balance, finding and owning your voice, and finding and owning your joy.
Episode 79: LeRoy McClain Part II
In this two-part episode of “At the Podium,” I sit down with LeRoy McClain. An award-winning actor who has distinguished himself On and Off Broadway, and in television shows such as And Just Like That (in the role of Andre Rashad Wallace) and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (in the role of Shy Baldwin) and the feature film Respect (in the role of Cecil Franklin).
In Part II Grappling with My Biracial Identity we examine LeRoy’s origin story and the man beneath the success. LeRoy and I look back at his time at our shared alma mater Yale Drama School which he refers to as one of the roughest, yet most important times of his life. We learn how he had to navigate the complexities of growing up a biracial child in England and Hawaii. And how the murder of George Floyd brought into LeRoy’s family life the contentious dialogue about race, responsibility and representation that was being fought for out on the streets of America in 2020. These questions of race and racial identity were inevitable, because, As LeRoy says, growing up he didn’t get to choose despite having a white, English mother because “As society views me… I am a black man.”
Episode 78 Part I: LeRoy McClain
In this two-part episode of “At the Podium,” I sit down with LeRoy McClain. An award-winning actor who has distinguished himself On and Off Broadway, and in television shows such as And Just Like That and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and the feature film Respect.
In Part I The Career that Almost Wasn’t we delve into the journey of his career and how he transitioned from his love of a life in the theater to his burgeoning career in front of the camera. LeRoy also gives us a personal and touching view of his relationships with three major leading ladies in his career: Jennifer Hudson (Respect), Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and Karen Pittman (And Just Like That) – and what he learned from working with these three powerhouse artists. We also explore how the untimely death of his father made him consider giving up acting but was also the inciting event in his life that freed him to experience some of the biggest successes in his career to date in television and film. And how one flippant comment impacted his view of himself and the trajectory of his career.
Episode 77: Charles Chen
Charles Chen is a man on mission to bring wellness, healing, and clarity to the world. His prayer is simple: “Use me.” His life of service and transformation began with what he calls his surrender moment. He was 15 years old when he began to free himself from the mental and emotional prison of his childhood growing up as an immigrant in America. To face the shame of his emerging sexuality, and the unacknowledged pain of the sexual trauma he experienced as a young boy, that lead him to becoming mute. To stop consuming mounds of junk food and French fries that led him to suffer from obesity. The surrender moment. The moment he hit rock bottom and the catalyst for change began within him. When he moved from a life of numbness and standing stuck at closed doors, unaware of the opportunities to live that he simply could not see. To his life today where he can say, “Don’t be scared. Live fully and be in the present.” Where he can boldly claim that we are all divine vessels, here to be used in service to other people by showing up as the highest versions of ourselves. He does not regret his journey, because he says that for the divine to come through us and to use us, we must first be broken. Broken to be transformed.
Episode 76: Marsha-Ann Donaldson
Marsha-Ann Donaldson is an advocate and mentor helping women find the courage to take up space in their lives and live with purpose and unspeakable joy. Her perspective, however, is not one shaped by a need for perfection. She says that we are all beautifully chipped and broken mosaic tiles, and those fractures are a part of life to be expected and indeed cherished. Through the fractures and brokenness, the muscles of our souls are strengthened and refined. It’s that brokenness and those fractures that spark the need for radical transformation in our lives. Not next week, not next month, not next year, but now! Today. Yet how do we take that leap of faith to begin the process of change? A lot of prayer and mindfulness. She says, “You have to reclaim your soul. You have to reclaim your life. It’s time to look internally and clean up the messes of our minds and our hearts.” And Marsha-Ann gives us resoundingly clear steps to start this spring cleaning of our beings. We have to take back the power of our voices that we have given away to other people and speak truth over our lives. We have to look at our lives through the lens of lessons learned and not regrets to be mourned over, because even the missteps are a part of the DNA of our lived experiences. And most importantly, if there are people, situations, behaviors in our lives that no longer serve us, we must let them go!
Episode 75: Kristy Whitford
Kristy Whitford has worked in spa and wellness for two decades, running some of the top spas in the world, including the Beverly Hills Hotel & Bungalows. Not bad for a woman who has faced homelessness, the lack of guidance from her parents in her life and had to fight for all she has achieved. In our conversation, Kristy (now the founder of the thriving hospitality and lifestyle brand The Hotel Club) and I pull back the curtain to give you a peak into the financial complexities, the social power, and the reach of the modern spa industry. A multibillion-dollar industry that is driven by strong personal relationships, and the desire of those who work in this space to give each person coming through our doors a safe place to land. Along the way, Kristy reveals why she took a 1200-mile journey to Coeur d’Alene, ID, and how that car ride and the encounter she had there changed her life… forever.
Episode 74: Jakub Jozef Orlinski
“You cannot please everyone. So you just have to be your own self and believe in your journey and learn about yourself the most," says internationally acclaimed operatic countertenor Jakub Jozef Orlinski. His singing career is ascendant. His performances have been heralded at the great opera houses of the world – including The Metropolitan Opera in New York, The Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London, and The Theatre Des Champs-Elysees in Paris. His recitals from Chile to Poland, Germany to the United States are sold out. And his lyrical and emotionally impactful alto voice has earned Jakub the praise of the public AND the critics who have called him “angelic,” and a singer who is making the opera relatable and sexy. Behind the applause, he is a committed artist who recounts initially being rejected by top music programs globally, rejected for summer internships, and losing first round in competitive vocal competitions. He recalls of his beginnings, “There was constantly a fight for a place. Constantly.” What got him through those rough times and sustains him today in the unrelenting scrutiny of fame and success is focusing on the quality of the art he is making, believing in his journey, and owning and knowing his voice.
Episode 73: Regina Bain
As we launch this third season of At the Podium, I am humbled and excited to share with you our new theme: Legacy. Thank you for joining me as we explore the tangible and intangible impacts we make in the spaces we occupy - our lives, our careers, our relationships, our loves, and our dreams. Today, we launch this new season with Regina Bain. Regina once again brings the fullness of herself and her experiences to the ATP microphone. She does not disappoint! Since we last met with Regina, her work as the Executive Director of the Louis Armstrong House Museum and its support of the U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies Program have taken her to Bahrain and Germany. Globally, she is spreading the legacy of Armstrong and his music as a function of his genius artistry and activism, but also as a function of diplomacy and statecraft. Regina Bain comes to us today with contemplative wisdom derived from intentional living and soul exploration. And she comes with provocative questions that she is asking us and herself. Is your life worthy of being remembered? Is your story worth being told? Are you ready to feel the bumps of life, press up against them and learn from them? Are you ready to search, to ask the questions, to find the answers?
Episode 72: Kristen McGuiness
Kristen McGuiness is a successful author of books such as her memoir 51/50: The Magical Adventures of the Single Life and her debut novel, Live Through This. She has also founded her own publishing company called Rise Books where her mission is to publish what she describes as “radical works of inspiration.” Kristen is also the daughter of Dan McGuiness – one of the largest and most consequential marijuana smugglers of the 1970s and 1980s. She describes him as “one of the architects of the modern drug trade,” in Rolling Stone article Learjet’s Mistresses and Bales of Weed: My Dad’s Life as a Drug Kingpin. There exists a hard truth that comes through in our conversation and in her writings of what it was like to love her dad so much, even as he loved equally, if not more, the rush he got from being addicted to crime - "the juice" as she describe it. Her views of her life and who Dan McGuniess was are both heartbreaking and provocative; there is not the neat and easy good guy/bad guy trope that we usually expect from this type of story. Mostly, we find ourselves at the tip of the needle, dancing on a point that pricks our feet while we stay as upright as we can, clinging to dear life.
Episode 71: Dr. Darian Parker
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.
Episode 70: Patrick Huey
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.
Episode 69: Nina Curtis
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.
Episode 68: George M. Johnson
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?
Episode 67: Nora Zelevansky
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.
Episode 66: Zak Sandler
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.