In Her Words

She was 10. Her classmates turned their backs. When reunited with her father briefly in jail, he told her she’d never see her a free woman again.

Now a young mother of two boys, she credits her survival to strong relationships with her grandmother, her grandfather, a foster mother and a key advocate.

This is the story you rarely hear - of overcoming.

Trigger Warning: Cheyenne's story contains a discussion of attempted suicide.

Marina Zenovich interviewed ME for her acclaimed HBOMAX Documentary THE WAY DOWN about a Church inspired weight loss program and the tragedies that followed.

So I turned the tables and interviewed her to learn a little about how she learned to tell fact based stories on film!

This was originally recorded four years ago in Santa Monica.

For our (TA-DAAAAA) 250th continuous weekly episode, an intimate and illuminating conversation with my cousin from Atlanta.

She wrestles with how to honor her late husband’s legacy in choosing the right place for his remains.

Maybe you can relate…

When is it safe and fun and even healthy to straight up flirt?

How do age and gender and culture change the “rules”?

Stuart talks to his friend and colleague Amy about their time together at WRAL-TV in Raleigh, NC and was Stuart decent to this 20-something intern?

Emma Claire Cantrell is a superb rugby player who played in college in Wales.

We talk about how girls and women listen and play a rough and tumble game differently than their male counterparts.

A tutorial in coaching and leadership. Just listen!

Rev. Lori Raible is a great wife and mom and the first woman ever to be named Senior Minister at Selwyn Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, NC.

In a wildly freewheeling conversation we steer clear of theology and just talk about modeling kindness in a popular culture that rewards cruelty.

Lori makes me feel HOPE in this age of despair. Take THAT, haters. Thank you Lori!!!

Ramona Holloway and I try to process grief and trauma as the men who openly despise Black women gloat.

Jan had an abortion.
Then she gave up a child for adoption.
Then she got clean and sober and had a baby.

Then the adopted child returned to her life.

An amazing woman speaks from first hand experience about the choices no man can make.

(TRIGGER WARNING: I’m adopted and parts of this story trigger ME! So take care of yourself.)

As I research my own personal experience as a White child in the Deep South raised in part by Black women, I walk through the storytelling process with my friend Ramona Holloway with an eye on sensitivity and respect, knowing the whole area is a kind of minefield.

Maeya Carr grew up in a time when family would bring the recently deceased body of a loved one into the home and people would basically have the wake around the body.

So she’s comfortable around death as a part of life. I ask her how I can get more comfortable and spiritual sparks fly.

You’ll get a lot out of this!

Can families torn apart by extreme, cult-like politics turned bitterly personal find a way to make peace?

How can we protect ourselves from hateful abuse and give grace to people we love?

What do you when you feel totally alone?

Roxanne and Stuart speak from tough personal experiences on the front lines on when and how to intervene in a loved one’s drinking and drugging.

Robyn studies the skies for answers. She has travelled the world and spent years taking courses and doing in-depth reading in the world of astrology. We sit down in Tongva Park in Santa Monica for a discussion of the history and teachings of ancient scientists. Together we marvel at what kind of fate brings us together and how unlikely life is. Lots of twists and turns. Awe inspiring.

Kim Matone first opened up publicly about her own mental health struggles on this very podcast.

Her personal story helped her and many others as she becomes an ambassador for Mental Health America and sound practices in mental wellbeing.

Roshanda Pratt believes VISIBILITY doesn’t just happen - but it can be taught. And she’s just the one to teach it! 
Since our conversation (masked, during COVID) she’s taken off like a big ole ROCKET, teaching courses on LINKEDIN and online helping all kinds of women step into their power and use their real voices to change our world for the better. 
I worked with Roshanda back in the day at WCNC-TV and I’m proud to call her a friend. Coincidentally she helped me to develop and launch this very podcast as a consulting producer. THANK YOU RO! 

LeAnne Feliciano has taken women on shamanic journeys to discover their sacred connections to spirit guides.

It’s every bit as wild and mystical as you might expect.

When a podcast starts with a prayer to the Universe, we’re in for a wild ride!

I’m tremendously grateful to have worked with Allison Andrews on national award winning investigative reporting in my career in TV news. Then she was my go-to developmental producer who strongly encouraged (bitch slapped) me into starting this podcast almost five YEARS ago! 
Now she’s encouraging me to strategize and REBOOT this whole “man listening” thing - especially when I get down and just want to either mail it in or quit. She won’t have it. THANK YOU ALLISON!!! 
This is a repeat episode TBH but it’s worth repeating! 

I admire Susan Andersen so much for creating ANSWER Scholarships to send dozens and dozens of young Moms back to college to graduate into higher paying vocations where they can make better use of their talents and earn significantly higher incomes over the course of a career. 
Often Susan finds a “Halo Effect” in the lives of the next generation of school kids who witness first hand what is possible through hard work and focus on a goal. 
I have personally donated to this cause and strongly endorse Susan’s work. 

My long time friend and colleague Nancy Amons is being inducted into the Silver Circle by the Nashville (Mid-Atlantic) Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), the folks who bring you the EMMYS! 
Nancy is one of the greatest investigative reporters in the U.S. - not just the South, not just on TV, but in any medium. I admire her and I respect her and I congratulate her on a stellar career serving the people of Tennessee and our nation. Richly deserved! CONGRATS NANCY! 

More than five years ago Nayla came to my 60th birthday party, an intimate dinner prepared by my favorite chef, my lovely wife.

I didn’t know her story. But no sooner than I pulled up a chair and began listening, I was inspired by the grit and work ethic of this lovely woman.

Not to mention her HUGE heart !

Nayla and her husband Dr. Carlos Rish own and operate Centro Medico Latino here in Charlotte, NC and along with their staff serve well over 50,000 patients, most of them immigrants.

That’s why her own story of becoming an American citizen and entrepreneur is so compelling.

Kathleen Johnston is a world class investigative journalist who has worked for CNN and CBS. In this season of her life she acts as teacher, mentor, coach and example of what is right and noble about the calling of journalism at Indiana University. I’m proud to call her not just a colleague but a friend. 
Note this episode was recorded some five years ago in 2019 in Houston TX so before COVID and before the 2020 election and the subsequent attacks undermining democratic values in the US and around the free world. So while some of this will be dated, her commitment to democracy stands. 

Lauren Strassner Russell is my FRICKIN HERO. She ain’t no “girl boss.” She is a BOSS WOMAN. The woman launched a US MADE Furniture company that did not just survive The Great Recession AND Covid and the ensuing economic woes. She. Has. THRIVED. Want to know her secrets? Mystical Manifesting, Synchronicity (Timing) plus a grinding work ethic that starts at 4AM and rarely takes a day off. Thank God she took time to talk to me. You will be the beneficiary. 

As Fate (God? The Universe? Blind Luck?) would have it, I was destined to meet Lynn Murray Chavarria who just happened to hitch a ride with her old friend Mike Waterman when he picked me up at the Sanford/Orlando Airport on Saturday. 
Turns out she has quite the stories of her dad Bill Murray and how he developed an entire Christmas Tree Industry in the Deep South. 
So I hit the red RECORD button on my iPhone and YOU dear listener are the beneficiary of all the generations of lore from this amazing person!