Interesting Humans

April Sawicki is a 19 year old woman from New York who lived during high school in a broken down motor home in a vacant lot at the edge of town her father won in a poker game. Her mother left her father when she was young, then her father left April at 16 to fend for herself when he went to live with his girlfriend and the woman's son. April, a budding singer-songwriter, ran away by stealing a neighbor's car, and went on adventures up and down the east coast playing in bars and coffee shops and gradually and serendipitously finds connections and forms deep relationships she lacked growing up. April's story is the invention of talented writer, novelist and essayist Allie Larkin. Larkin's book, The People We Keep, tells the story of April's growth from a lonely, confused teen to a young evolving woman who learns to trust once again in deep relationships.Not just another conversation with a writer. Larkins book is also a tale of perseverance and heart. The backstory of The People We Keep is also about a writer who refused to simplify her work to make it more formulaic and commercially mass-market palatable. In essence, Allie Larkin stood by her own sense of her work and her protagonist.Her other novels include Stay, Why Can't I Be You, and Swimming for Sunlight. Her fifth novel, Home of the American Circus, is expected to be published this year. She lives with her husband Jeremy, and dog Roxy in San Francisco. In our conversation not only does Allie talk about holding fast to her belief in her story and her characters, but she unveils her writing process, how much she loves dogs and how important they are to her writing, and how she has developed awareness and workarounds for her Attention Deficit Disorder. Like her main character, Allie also is a musician and there are several places where art and reality overlap. Besides being a talented writer Allie is a wonderful human. She has just started the Truehearts Collective, an online community of writers, musicians and artists to talk about their daily struggles living the creative life. Links:Instgram: https://www.instagram.com/allielarkinwrites/Web: https://allielarkinwrites.com/Books: https://allielarkinwrites.com/allie-larkin/Musician Peter Mulvey: https://www.petermulvey.com/Musician Chris Pureka: https://www.chrispureka.com/Website: https://christianrward.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christianrward/

I met singer-songwriter Reese Mayfield here in Raleigh last fall. Friends had invited me to what has become known as the Five Points Music Festival. It's a gathering of local musicians performing on an impromptu stage set up in the driveway of someone's garage. it's a fundraiser for a local school.Reese was one of the musicians performing that day. As the various musicians worked through their sets of covers and original music, I became intrigued by Reese, the youngest of the musicians.She's an 18-year-old high school senior with a pedigree in music; her father played in various bands growing up and still plays today. Reese's parents have supported her and encouraged the Raleigh native each step of the way in exploring her creative talents.In our conversation, Reese reveals how she got started in music with a drum kit at age 2 and took off from there. She plays piano, violin and is self-taught on guitar. While she loves learning chords on those instruments her real love is singing. She explains how she uses poetry to bring words from her heart that sometimes become songs.She talks about how the experiences of her young life feed her creativity in music, painting, and poetry. She also talks about performing locally and her plans to pursue music in college and possibly beyond.We talk about the significance of social media for musicians today in promoting their work.Reese is a bubbly, vibrant, and sweet young woman who is making the most of her passions. She even sings a couple of her original songs. Links: Reese's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reese._.mayfield/Reese's website: https://www.reesemayfield.com/Reese's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@reese._.mayfield/featuredWebsite: https://christianrward.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christianrward/

What I know about trauma is that nearly all of us carry something in our psyches. Almost everyone you know has some part of their past that overwhelmed their emotional capacity to understand and process it and became trauma. Not all trauma is the horrific kind of rape or shooting or a tragic accident. These are the kinds of events plastered across the news that garner the most public attention.  Sometimes the experiences are more subtle but no less hurtful. I've known today's guest, Gordon Darr, for three decades. But what I didn't know about my friend is astounding. For most of Gordon's adult life, from age 19 to only a few years ago, Gordon kept quiet about an experience so horrific but which he buried so deep inside him,  that, as he says, "changed the trajectory of my life." As Gordon shares in this episode of Interesting Humans, a visit to a highly respected physician at the University of Michigan, turned into a traumatic nightmare that impacted all aspects of his life for the next forty-plus years.  As a 19-year-old UM student,  he visited a doctor who was then head of the University of Michigan's University Health Services, Dr. Robert Anderson, for what he was told was gonorrhea. He didn't see Anderson in a patient room, but in his office, where the doctor allegedly sexually molested him, not once but three times before Gordon canceled further visits. He confided in a UM nurse practitioner, who dismissed his concerns.  When Gordon brought it up with a few other students whom he thought might also have had similar experiences with Anderson, they refused to talk about it. Anderson, who died in 2008, was the subject of a probe by the University of Michigan police, who turned their investigation over to the Washtenaw County prosecutor. Anderson was accused of sexually assaulting hundreds of Michigan students, mostly men and many of whom were UM scholarship athletes, during his time as head of health services from 1968 until he retired in 2003. Anderson was never prosecuted despite the statements from hundreds of former UM Students because, according to the County Prosecutor, the statute of limitations on the alleged offenses expired. The University has proposed a $490 million settlement to Anderson's alleged victims. The case bears an uncanny resemblance to similar cases at Michigan State, Ohio State, and the University of Southern California where innocent and sometimes naive students and student-athletes were sexually assaulted by medical authorities under the guise of appropriate medical examinations. He reflects on how the experience impacted his interpersonal relationships in his career, his marriage and divorce, and even to how he raised his two daughters. I hope you connect with this kind, humble man who shares for the first time on a large scale publicly the details of this one terrible event and its impact across the decades of his life.  Gordon's is a tale of deep hurt and of redemption through hard work done in counseling and with the help of close friends, and eventually through the blending of his passion for music and teaching in the founding of his successful non-profit music education organization, The Hudson Education Center. 

Trailer for Gordon Darr, a victim of Dr. Robert Anderson, the doctor at the University of Michigan who allegedly sexually molested hundreds of students and student-athletes as head of the UM's University Health Services. Anderson was never prosecuted but the University has proposed a $490 million settlement to more than 1,000 alleged victims of Anderson, who died in 2008. Gordon tells his complete story and weaves the thread of how his experience of being sexually molested affected his entire life. Coming soon to the podcast. 

Andrew Lafferty is a 20-year-old stand-up comedian learning the craft. He wants to become a comedy writer. After graduating from high school during the pandemic, he now the University of Pittsburgh, where he studies political science. Now three years into his journey as a comedian, Andrew has made people laugh everywhere from basements in the dorms at Pitt to tents, to clubs from Ann Arbor to Maine to LA. He has appeared at the Gotham Comedy Club in Manhattan and at improvs and Jazz clubs in LA. He opened for a rock band and even appeared on Wheel of Fortune this past spring. In this episode, Andrew talks about the genesis of his desire to become a comedian, growing up with a funny dad, and how leaving home opened his eyes and helps fill the pages on which he writes his comedy. He explores the craft of becoming a comedian and about how being dumped by a girlfriend gave him usable material for his routines. Every new experience is fodder for his punchlines. He is thoughtful, self-deprecating, and, as you will see, very funny. You can find Andrew:website: https://andrew-lafferty.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrew.lafferty.9406Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrewlaffertyy/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4Qi6h1WjeqZ_Igq9l0kVwA/featured

When Kassondra and Will Lambert's son Ethan was about two he was diagnosed with an extremely rare genetic disorder referred to as KAND. The couple had noticed early in their son's life that he wasn't progressing physically as expected. Ethan was unable to hold a bottle himself and wasn't starting to verbalize took them more than two years to finally get a diagnosis of this disease so rare only about 300 people worldwide are affected. Uncovering Ethan's condition set the couple on a nearly impossible journey through the maze of hospitals and labs and testing and health insurance reimbursement that often bankrupts well-meaning families, not to mention the emotional roller coaster of trying to raise a toddler with multiple physical challenges. Kassondra's story is one of frustration and compassion that includes a $6000 wheelchair and jumping through the same hoops time and time again with big insurance companies and caregivers. This was true, she says, even though she had navigated social services in her job as a foster care advocate.In our conversation, Kassondra talks about how difficult it was to get Ethan diagnosed and why the diagnosis is such an important piece of information in the world of health insurance reimbursement. Kassondra also talks about how she turned to social media to find emotional support and community as a parent of a child with such a rare and often fatal progressive neurodegenerative disorder. She found others on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, and connecting with other parents helped her and Will find the emotional ground to keep going. LINKS: KASSONDRA on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kassondra.lambertInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/kassondra_lambert/What is KAND: https://www.kif1a.org/blog/what-is-kand/Ethan's campaign on Help Hope Live: https://helphopelive.org/campaign/19147/

When I was a kid I would often accompany my parents on Saturdays to a store that was both a grocery and department store, a bit like Costco is today. Sometimes my father would give me some cash and I would hotfoot it to the toy section to grab one of the latest models of these miniature cars called Hot Wheels. I was obsessed with building my collection. I would make my purchase and then was faced with the immediate question that I realize now was a precursor to similar questions I would ask as an adult.What do I do with what's left? Most often I would go straight to the jewelry counter and purchase with what change I had some cheap piece of costume jewelry for my Mom. I don't know why this was my pattern and perhaps there are deeper aspects and another set of questions. The point is that I had choices each time:Give what was left back to my father;Make this purchase for my Mom,Save it for another day. Which do you think would have been the smartest?  How you answer that question has a lot to do with your philosophy about this thing we call Money. The Saturday trips to the store with my parents helped form my lifelong relationship with money, along with observing how they spent and spoke about money in our household. And, like a lot of people, my relationship with money is strained at best. Today's guest, Mark Willis, takes a stand against the many commonly held myths about money. In fact, Mark, a certified financial planner and the founder and principal in his own firm Lake Growth Financial, is a paradigm breaker. He is the host of the popular financial podcast, Not Your Average Financial Podcast, in which explores and challenges widely held as fact ideas about finances. In today's conversation, Mark offers a counterintuitive approach to our relationship with money. He challenges whether a house is an asset or a liability, whether it's smarter to defer taxes to retirement, and even the sacred cow of 401(k) as the best place to park our money for retirement. He questions the worship of "financial gurus and money personalities" on network television and social media who prescribe mainstream money views without question. But Mark is no heartless bean-counter. He starts each relationship with prospective clients with a deep examination of that client's fears, concerns, and history with money. He even tells us that financial conversations, if done right, "should feel like those best late-night conversations about life." Today's conversation is a wide-ranging and enlightening look into the work of a heart-based financial planner whose central tenet is a Bank On Yourself philosophy that puts the most value into our own deeply held desires about money in our lives rather than following the herd. So hold on. You're probably going to get uncomfortable because this conversation strikes at the heart of how our core beliefs about money are really core beliefs about our lives. Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Mark Willis.Mark Willis website  l Facebook l online community l podcastBank on Yourself principles and founder Pamela Yellen

Pablo Picasso said, “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” I was thinking about Picasso's words during my conversation with today's guest, Haven Tunin, a young potter I met at a show in Ann Arbor last fall. Haven comes to pottery by way of discovering a gift for art, specifically painting and drawing, during high school. In college, she fell in love with pottery. She recently decided that her passion for pottery is so great she intends it to be the way she makes a living. Since she started throwing, Haven has become fascinated by the way pottery feeds her creative drive. She can come to the potter's wheel, she says, and even if she's not in an especially great mood, working the clay begins to lighten her. She loves listening to rap music as she works creating unique mugs, bowls, vases, and lately, sculptures, which she talks about. She also talks about the business of art which is something a lot of creatives who want to make a living off their craft discover is not easy. Haven learned through trial how to account for her supplies and price her work. Though young, Haven has the presence of an older soul too. She has a perspective that seems to be borne out of maturity. For example, Haven takes each piece to its maximum form but also says, “Not every piece is destined for this world” meaning, she knows the pieces can also fail their promise and that's okay. You can always start over. Haven is as engaging and funny and humble as any artist I've met. I am encouraged by her perspective on art, creativity, and the world. I hope you are as well. Links: Haven on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haven.tunin/On Shopify: https://haven-tunin-studios.myshopify.com/Intro & Outro Music by Wildes: https://www.wildesmusic.com/

What, really, are the qualities of a good man today?  Toughness? Grit? Courage? The reliability of the one who comes home after a long day at the office, even if that office down the hall or in the basement, and earns the money that pays bills then expects dinner to be on the table? Is it simply the man who takes out the trash? What sorts of exchanges are men and women making in the day to day bargaining of marriages and partnerships and how are they changing? What models do we have of good men in today's Instagram-worthy world? I started this podcast as a way to capture pieces of extraordinary conversations with ordinary people. I don't travel in the same circles as Joe Rogan so the discussions I have are with friends and colleagues who lead “ordinary” lives. Yet they often yield extraordinary wisdom. These people share insights that seem to carry Universal weight. A couple weeks ago I had just such a conversation. Clint Roe, a colleague, who appears in today's episode, shared some things going on in his life and I shared some things about my life. During the conversation Clint revealed that he grew up one of three kids in a single-parent household led by his mom. In today's episode, Clint wonders about the impact of growing up without a dad, nor close male role models, on him, his 26-year marriage and on his kids. As a single dad Clint has been reflecting on how to convey what he believes are the true core qualities of good men and how to be that to his two sons and daughter and in today's meme-driven society.Clint isn't holding himself up as a  paradigm of a great man; In fact you might think he has  antiquated ideas about men.  In our conversation, Clint reflects on his experiences in the military, the failure and triumphs in his marriage and his parenting and come up with a story about what he thinks being a good man is about. In 1990 the poet Robert Bly wrote a NYTimes bestselling book about men called Iron John. It was an immensely popular book about the fable of Iron John.  I'll read the first paragraph of the original preface. He says:“We are living at an important and fruitful moment now, for it is clear to men that the images of adult manhood given by the popular culture are worn out; a man can no longer depend on them. By the time a man is thirty0five he know that the images of the right man, the tough man, the true man which he received in high school do not work in life. Such a man is open to new visions of what a man is or could be."What Bly wrote more than 30 years ago is again appropriate. I believe that aside from a few numbskulls who think a man is being a tough guy and treating women as objects instead of equals, a lot of men are confused about how to be. The images I grew up with — the Marlboro Man, the Archie Bunkers, Hulk Hogans, the James Bonds — don't work anymore. Nor do the men expressing their feminine sides. This confusion coincides with a cultural shift that impacts both men and women. Men are confused about their roles in families, in romantic relationships, as parents and in the workplace. Today is the first of what I hope will be more conversations about men and women and their interdependence in this changing world.  Clint is open and even gets a bit choked up. He reveals mistakes, how numb he was to the news of his absent father's death when he was just eight and how a mix between old fashioned values with a nod toward modernization has helped him find his place as a man. Links in Green above. Intro and Outro Music provided by Wildes

We've all heard about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, often referred to — and even minimized in today's lexicon  -- as PTSD. It is a psychiatric disorder that sometimes occurs in people who have experienced or witnessed a horrific event, such as a natural disaster, a serious accident, a terrorist act (think 9/11) war or combat or rape, or who have been threatened with sexual violence or serious harm. Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers may have come across PTSD in the form of combat fatigue or shell shock. But trauma doesn't just befall combat veterans. In today's podcast episode, Dr. Tanner Wallace, in her most transparent and beautiful self, explores how trauma experienced as a child from abuse or neglect impacts our lives as adults in our relationships with our spouses and lovers, our children, our friends, and colleagues. Unrealized trauma experienced as children wreaks havoc on our adult lives, often toxifying the very relationships we hold the most dear. “Trauma is always context-bound,”  she says. Tanner spent 20 years studying human development before she pivoted to work exploring the nature of childhood trauma. The pivot came about as a result of big problems in her second marriage and her parenting in which Tanner's own trauma resurfaced from sexual assaults as an adolescent and teenager and some abuse at the hands of a parent. The realization sent Tanner off on a completely new path, utilizing what she learned about human development. She created a platform called the Relational Healing Lab. She uses her podcast and Instagram to talk the language of childhood trauma. Tanner has unlocked the voices for thousands of childhood trauma survivors. Ultimately, Tanner says, you can heal from childhood trauma through the right kind of work. I'll let Tanner explain. In our conversation, Tanner is brutally honest about her own struggle to heal and what she learned about the immense difficulties of healing. This conversation is very personal and that is probably why it is among the most transformative conversations I've ever had on Interesting Humans. For the past six months, I've been in therapy to address some difficult challenges in my personal life.  I've uncovered my own unrealized childhood trauma caused by neglect from my parents, including anger and violence from my father, who is now deceased.  I'm so grateful the universe sent Tanner across my radar. She offers insight, hope, and love on the way to finding peace for childhood trauma survivors. I hope you enjoy meeting Dr. Tanner Wallace. Links:Dr. Tanner Wallace's podcast: Relational Healing PodcastDr. Tanner Wallance on Instagram: @drtannerwallaceGabor Mate film: The Wisdom of Trauma (to be released December 2021)Richard C. Schwartz, founder of Internal Family Systems approach to trauma therapyPete Walker, From Surviving to Thriving, a book on addressing childhood traumaJustin Martin, IFS therapistIntro and outro music provided by WILDES

I've known Lisa Hesse for decades. When you live in a community like Ann Arbor for as long as I have and also are part of a smaller, tighter community--the running community--one is bound to bump into the same people from time to time.I knew Lisa coached runners, particularly women. And I knew she was a Girls on the Run coach as well. What I didn't know is the depth to this person and the many challenges she's faced.Lisa is a 59-year-old runner who expresses with absolute certainty that running has been her North Star. Running has been the activity that has helped her through any number of "lifequakes", those messy, twisty challenges of life. It has been, she says, both her superpower and kryptonite. She is a Nationally Board-certified Health and Wellness Coach, an ICF Professional Coach,  a "neuroscience nerd," and "a big believer in the idea that it's never too late to change our narrative while honoring what we bring with us from the past." She also is the founder of the Southeaster Michigan Chapter of Girls on the Run in 2001. Lisa started running at age 13. She has 19 marathons, including four Boston Marathon finishes, to her credit. Lisa now is a Life and Mindset coach focused on helping women, particularly former women athletes, rediscover the athlete inside each of them. Her approach is one of self-discovery. I believe that people who have been through life challenges with understanding, compassion, and empathy make better coaches.  But one of the things I admire about her approach to coaching is that she does not apply her own life experience as the template for what she advises her clients to do. Rather, as she says, it allows the space for her to help her clients change their narratives. Just after this podcast was recorded Lisa let me know she has been diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder known as Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy or CIDP. It is a disorder of the peripheral nerves characterized by gradually increasing sensory loss and weakness associated with loss of reflexes. CIDP is caused by damage to the covering or sheath of the nerves (myelin). "I know, without a doubt, that because I see my world through the lens of my body, I caught this early," she wrote to me. Now in another of her own "lifequakes" Lisa is facing a potentially existential threat to part of her identity: Athlete.  "It's yet another threat to my sense of Who am I? "I hope you enjoy my conversation with Lisa. Where to find Lisa: https://lisahesse.com/LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-hesse-6b606a7/What is CIDP?: https://www.cedars-sinai.org/health-library/diseases-and-conditions/c/chronic-inflammatory-demyelinating-polyradiculoneuropathy.htmlBook and website, The Body is Not an Apology with Sonya Renee TaylorIntro and Outro Music by https://www.wildesmusic.com/Thank you for listening. 

Abby Rosenbaum is as passionate as any artist about her craft. What I noticed Abby possesses better than some artists is a sense of the practical side of her photography. The opposite of the image of a fantastically talented and engaged artist who is dead broke and starving might emerge for some. Abby  had a successful photography practice focused on weddings for more than 15 years. Successful in the sense of being in demand and earning the living that supported her family. It didn't start this way: Abby graduated from the University of Michigan and planned to be an intrepid photojournalist, traveling the world shooting the kinds of dramatic pictures we see on the front pages of newspapers and magazines. Along the way she was introduced to a very successful wedding photographer and Abby took a role running the back-end of the business. It was there that she learned more about what it takes to create a sustainable practice with mundane things like paying estimated taxes, scheduling and marketing to clients, all the stuff that takes place outside of looking through a viewfinder and clicking the shutter. Fast forward to pre-pandemic COVID. After years of working up to 45 weeks a year--aka every damn weekend shooting weddings -- Abby realized she was losing her edge, becoming ever so slightly less interested in the stories she was helping to capture. Something was missing. She did some digging and outreach and learned about a trend nationwide for creatives. Many photographers in places like San Francisco, LA, and New York were creating brick and mortar spaces--studios-- in which to work. But that's not all. They were collaborating with other creatives to use these spaces as much as possible. Enter Studio Studio, a former drycleaners that has been transformed to Abby's own studio and a space for other photographers, painters and sculptors to showcase and talk about their work. It's also doubled as a place for companies to do photo shoots of their products (there's a kitchen!) and for yoga and community talks. In addition she's cut back on the number of weddings she does so she can be with her family and attain more creative balance. Abby sees it as a win-win. Our conversation is broad and deep and Abby is filled with tips creatives can follow if they are curious about managing the back-end of their business. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Abby Rosenbaum.Webiste: https://abbyrosephoto.com/Instagram: @abbyrosephotoStudioStudio: https://www.studiostudioa2.com/StudioStudio on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studiostudioa2/Intro and Outro music provided by WILDES (@wildesofficial) Theme song is "Illuminate" You can watch a video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIhvOOT2zbQEmma's website:https://www.wildesmusic.com/Official youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWG0ltc6P5HolDUOFe3N47w

We are currently in the throes of August here in North America. The days are lazy, hot and long. Light is plentiful. In fact we still bask in more than 14 hours of daylight. And for some that still is not enough.  Today's guest, JANE SLADE,  isn't saying we need sunlight less. She says we need to appreciate darkness more. The constant barrage of man made light form our devices to how we light our homes, businesses, streets and highways is not only harming man and animal. It's changing the way we think and approach our problems. Jane is a  DARK SKIES  advocate, one of a handful of people who range from professional and amateur astronomers to health experts to poets who fear not the dark but the light. The overlighting of the planet is causing foundational changes in the behavior of animals from bats and butterflies and birds to invertebrates like zooplankton on which our lives depend. In fact, according Jane, light pollution is the biggest climate change danger we are not talking about.  In today's episode, we discuss the origins of the Dark Sky movement, the detrimental effects of too much man-made light on our biology and on wildlife, as well as ways cities and lighting designers are starting to mitigate overlighting's effects. We also discuss how too much dependence on light--the kind on our screens, TVs and in our homes--actually limits the possibilities in our thinking and our ability to come up with solutions to our problems. Jane talks about a number of things we as individuals can to to reduce the effects of too much light and how we can begin to introduce the benefits of natural darkness into our lives. For example, Jane talks about a ritual she has incorporated into her life she calls a "Dusk Reverie" where she formally acknowledges the fading light of the day and the passage into evening and eventually night. JANE is also a writer and is working on a book about the benefits of returning darkness to our lives. She expects to release the book, entitled Starving for Darkness, sometime next year. She is a yoga instructor, writes and sings music and loves Instagram. In fact she talks about how her Instagram feed is one of her most prized and authentic creative outlets. I challenged Jane on this and she swears by it. I hope you find this walk into darkness enlightening and enriching. Here, now, is my conversation with Jane Slade. Enjoy.  Links:Light pollution map: https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=3.08&lat=41.7586&lon=-81.8424&layers=B0FFFFFFTFFFFFFFFFFJane Slade's podcast, Starving for DarknessJane on Instagram: Anatomy of NightOthers:SkyglowThe International Dark Sky AssociationEffects on wildlife: https://myfwc.com/conservation/you-conserve/lighting/pollution/

ALETHA VANDERMAAS is friendly, approachable and funny. She laughs easily. but don't let that easygoing style fool you. Aletha is a significant player in the trend in midcentury interior design, both in her home state of Michigan and in  social media.  I first met Aletha through my wife Elin Walters, curator of Exactly Designs. Aletha and Elin are "design soul sisters" who both have created successful separate interior design businesses in the midcentury design, Like Elin (I/H Episode 12) , Aletha through her business True Home Restorations is especially passionate about midcentury modern style. Aletha describes herself as a preservationist. She works with clients to maintain as much of the authentic aspects of midcentury homes, including materials, spaces and textures, while also updating them for modern times. We talk about the distinctive qualities that are hallmarks of Midcentury Design, from the rooflines, materials, and architecture.  In our conversation we talk about her approach to midcentury interior design and creating a business as a solopreneur. Aletha started in publishing and then was a wedding planner for 10 years before she found her way to interior design because, she says, she "loved houses." It started with a blog in the early 2000's and has since grown to thousands of followers in social media as well as choice midcentury home projects throughout the state of Michigan. Aletha is humble, kind, and a lively conversationalist in addition to being steeped in the specifics of midcentury modern and midcentury modest design. Our conversation is a class in this trend. Links: Aletha on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aletha_/?hl=enAletha/MidModMich: http://www.midmodmich.com/p/about.htmlAtomic Ranch article on Aletha and Greg's Home: https://www.atomic-ranch.com/architecture-design/curb-appeal/renovation-guide-midcentury-weekend-warrior/Aletha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alethavandermaas/Aletha on Twitter: https://twitter.com/aletha?lang=enEmily Henderson/designer: https://stylebyemilyhenderson.com/Mandy Moore: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/mandy-moore-takes-ad-inside-her-dreamy-1950s-homeKaren Nepacena of Destination Eichler: https://www.destinationeichler.com/

I first met today’s guest, Helen Newman, about 10 years ago. I was traveling to Chicago with my wife Elin who was the buyer for a local fitness studio and she was meeting Helen for the to see the fitness lines she represented. Her showroom was in a warehouse in Chicago’s garment district that had been converted to sales offices. I knew the first time meeting her she was special and a class act. Years later as I was putting together Interesting Humans I knew I wanted Helen to be a guest on the podcast. After connecting with her on Instagram and following her for a while, I was thinking that we would discuss her foray into fitness apparel and the challenges of being a sales rep during the coronavirus. Boy was I surprised when I found out her history. Not only was she an accomplished pianist as a child, she is the daughter to parents who survived the Holocaust. She recounts in our conversation how her parents were subjected to unreal hardship in one of the most notorious of death camps, Auschwitz, and both survived. She remembers the day at about five years old when she first learned about the Holocaust and how as time went on her parents and relatives opened up about the terrible suffering during that time and the losses of loved ones in the death camps. I see our conversation as a real life history lesson in the insights into her upbringing in the very close community in Chicago as well as some of the characters who played big roles in her life. And l loved listening to her talk about how the be-dazzled young woman she was started in sales with no order forms no idea of how to do sales to how she has weathered the ups and downs as a successful self-employed sales person for 35 years, much of the last half in the fickle fitness industry. LINKS:Helen on Facbook: https://www.facebook.com/helen.newman.908Some of her top fitness lines:Alo: https://www.aloyoga.com/Wolven: https://wolventhreads.com/Bella + Canvas: https://www.bellacanvas.com/Thrive Société: https://thrivesociete.com/Beach Riot: https://beachriot.com/

As New Year’s Eve turned to 2021, for the first time in a while I felt a real energy and excitement for a big period of growth. How about you? Are there things you are looking forward to? And speaking of, how are you doing on those New Year’s resolutions?Been working out at the gym to lose that extra 20 you’re carrying? Started that side hustle? Mended those fraught relationships with the Uncle who sits on the other side of the political fence. Mastered your finances and gotten out of debt? Yep, I thought so. Today’s guest, Krisstina Wise is a self-made multi-millionaire who has made it her life’s work to master money. After nearly losing her life in 2013 to catastrophic illness and spending almost half a million dollars to recover, Krisstina got out of her bed and made it her mission to inspire others to build extraordinary wealth and optimal health. Rising from a challenging childhood where she and her brother were essentially abandoned by her parents when she was 10, Krisstina rose to become one of the 100 Most influential Real Estate leaders in the country and has been recognized by Apple and Evernote for her creative leadership with emerging technologies. She is a go-to financial coach, author of Falling For Money, a top rated best selling “romance novel for your bank account", host of the Wealthy Wellthy podcast, and leader of Sovereignty Academy, an online money school that helps people get their arms around all things money for your household and your business. In our conversation, Krisstina opens the veil into her life from her childhood living with two alcoholic parents in a mobile home, going to school and being bullied for her life circumstances to the woman who grew into an overachieving Realtor with the material trappings of success: multiple cars with prestige nameplates, fancy homes and an extravagant lifestyle. It all came crashing down in 2013 when she was diagnosed with metal poisoning and a hormonal system that was shutting down. Her efforts to recover took her far and wide inside and outside of traditional and alternative medicine and half a million dollars to get well again. She emerged, like a phoenix, with a completely different perspective on what’s truly important in life. “I was in a very dark place,” she says.We cover how challenge builds character, how learning to love money is not idolizing currency itself but loving in the universal sense, how our spiritual lives connect our finances and our health, and how we can make deliberate choices to transform our lives around money and in every other aspect as well. Krisstina imparts wisdom for the soul, This is an important episode if you have mastering your life and your finances on your 2021 radar. Besides being a PhD in managing money, creating a business and teaching others, Krisstina is warm and open . Links: Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman in the WorldJoseph Campbell, The Hero's JourneyTwitter: @krisstinawiseInstagram: @krisstinawiseLinkedIn: @krisstinawise

"I love relationships. I like observing them. I like thinking about them. I like back in the olden days going to the coffee shop and sitting there with my coffee and my laptop pretending to write and watching people around me," today's guest, Liz Crowe, tells me. Liz Crowe is a novelist who has published more than 25 books with two more coming soon. Her focus is romance but before you put her in a box of stereotypical romance authors, you'll have to wait. Liz is a serious writer whose books push the parameters of conventional romance novels. As Liz says her characters get into "messy situations" and she's not into HEA, short for "Happily Ever After," which is most often a requirement of romance publishers. At the core of every novel she pens is this fascination with relationships and how the evolve--or don't--and how they affect people.For her writing process, Liz admits to being "a 100% died-in-the-wool 'pantser'."What is a 'pantser'? (You'll have to listen).Liz decided she wanted to write romance because she fell in love with the work of Charlaine Harris, who is especially known for Sookie Stackhouse series picked up for the HBO True Blood series. Liz’s characters are both snarky and humorous—much like she is--as well as authentic and, she admits, troublesome. In our conversation we discuss her craft, how she approaches creating the characters who populate her books, her writing process, some of her roadblocks and she offers advice for others who might want to start writing their own fiction. We also discuss how Liz got into writing and how her stints traveling from the States to Istanbul to Japan to London, helps inform her writing. We also discuss her love/hate relationship with horror giant Stephen King, who, while she hasn't loved everything he has written, is a "master of internal dialogue" of his characters and obviously well-loved the world over. Much like Stephen King and other authors in the horror genre, Liz says there are accomplished authors in romance who don't get credit for their mastery of storytelling and writing craft. Our conversation is a deeper dive into the process, the challenges, and the mindset of an authentic, original character who happens to be a published novelist on an upward trajectory. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Liz.Links:FirebrewOther writers Liz loves:Marian Keyes Olivia DadeTalia HibbertNeil GaimanOther mentions:Fermenta, Fermenta is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit trade group initiated by women, committed to education, networking, diversity, and empowerment within the fermented beverage and food industries.Annette May, CiceroneLiz on InstagramLiz on FacebookIntro/Outro Illuminate graciously provided by Wildes

Hey everybody. How‘s it going out there? I truly mean that. It’s not just a rhetorical question. How is your health, particularly your mental health? Let’s be honest. These have been times for which there is no context. To date, there are more than 61 million coronavirus cases and more than 1.4 million deaths. In the US alone we’ve seen more than 13 million cases and just under 270,000 deaths. We are still in the Thanksgiving weekend and more than 3 million people travelled. Scientists are expecting a flurry of new coronavirus cases and deaths in the next three weeks due to people being exposed to the virus over this very weekend. Couple this with the political upheaval the past six months, particularly since the US election, and it’s no wonder people are feeling, well, mentally taxed. I don’t know about you guys, the collective weight of the coronavirus, the lockdowns and the political upheaval the past several months has taken its toll on my mental health. I articulated this impact on my mental health in an essay I wrote for my blog recently at christianrward.com. I thought I was well prepared from an emotional standpoint to weather all of this stuff, you know, maintain a healthy distance from all the shenanigans going on in Washington and be disciplined enough to reap benefits of a more deliberate and slower life due to the lockdowns. But I was wrong. I see it all around me. Family, friends and colleagues are much more affected by everything going on than many of us anticipated. In fact, I suspect there will be deep and far-reaching impacts beyond the current president leaving office and the eventual demise of this virus. I’ve wanted to have someone on Interesting Humans who could intelligently talk to this specific thing—the potential long term mental health ramifications of political upheaval and the pandemic on all of us.With today’s guest, I got this and so much more. Diann Wingert is a mindset and productivity coach for female entrepreneurs who identify with the traits of ADHD, officially diagnosed or not. During her 20-year career as a licensed psychotherapist, Diann saw many brilliant and ambitious women struggle with unidentified ADHD, including Diann herself. Since her own mid-life diagnosis, she now mentors women who are “driven but distracted” to overcome procrastination, perfectionism, and people-pleasing so they can craft a life they love. We talk about how she helps women of significant talent and drive achieve their desired outcomes, and about how her podcast gives her a platform to talk about challenges that have come up both during her therapy past and her coaching present. In between Diann offers some nuggets that I hope might help you navigate your life, whatever challenges.Website:https://www.diannwingertcoaching.com/Podcast:https://www.diannwingertcoaching.com/podcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/diannwingertcoaching/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachdiannwingert/Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diannwingertcoaching/Freebies: 6 Steps to ADHD Mastery: https://www.diannwingertcoaching.com/6-steps Driven Woman Roadmap: https://www.diannwingertcoaching.com/the-driven-womanIntro and Outro music--WILDES: https://www.wildesmusic.com/

So we had a pretty big event called over this past weekend. The US Presidential election was called on Saturday in favor of former Vice President Joe Biden. I don't know about you but the sense of relief and joy in our home was palpable. It's as if a dark cloud had been lifted on our spirits. Not it's time for the transition to a new administration. With all the weight of politics in the US the past six or seven months, I thought it would be pleasant to take a break. I don't know about you but this year has taken a toll on me psychologically. Today's guest is Artist Mia Risberg. Born in Sweden, Mia came to the US as a young adult. She attended Hunter College (NY) where she received a BA in Fine Arts.My conversation with Mia is a deeper dive in to the creativity of a painter. Mia likes to experiment with different formats, styles and mediums as a painter. She says it helps her keep a fresh perspective with when she translates works on a larger canvas to something smaller, like 6x6. Mia is a painter who also likes to investigate the nuances of a vision. She doesn't just do one painting and call it good. Mia says she likes to explore moments--Glimpses she calls them--in series of paintings. She currently is exploring a cache of photographs from her past and starting to paint from these. While she started out as an abstract painter, she says her work turned figurative as she mines emotions from scenes and memories. Mia and I talk not only about creativity in painting but also practical matters, like what the hell do you do with works in process and when finished--framing canvases, wiring, packing and storing. When you work for yourself as a creative you find out you need left brain and right brain skills. And she reveals she has a music playlist she likes to have on while she paints. We also discuss how the coronavirus has impacted working as a solo artist--she has some ideas about how the pandemic has affected the art world, including galleries--and what the future might hold..Our conversation is a window into the world of a working creative: her focus, her challenges, her loves and her concerns. I hope you enjoy meeting Mia Risberg. Painting of George Floyd for Hatch Art (online exhibit): http://www.hatchart.org/say-their-namesThe Mandali Exhibit at the Ann Arbor District Library (curated by Mia Risberg): https://aadl.org/mandaliCall and Response, A Collaboration with photographer Jessica Chappe: https://shoeboxpr.com/2020/11/07/call-and-response-collaboration-at-a-distance-round-8/Working with Artist Jennifer PochinskiAdmiration for Artist Yakoi KusamaOn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miarisbergart/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mia.risberg

On the surface, today’s guest, blogger Sandy Riguzzi, seems like a perfectly ordinary mom and grand mother from suburban New York. Yet the depth of her experience, which she mines as the source of her writing on Sunday Morning with Sandy, is anything but ordinary.Sandy is deeply reflective of the challenges she has faced growing up and raising five children. And from what I’ve seen she has faced plenty—abuse, disease, divorce, alcoholism and parenting a child with Down Syndrome. On her blog, she elevates the real day-to-day heartbreak and fears and the small victories of life to heart-felt, honest prose that feels like graceful literary commentary. In some ways, Sandy is the perfect model for my efforts in this podcast to get us all to notice, to raise our awareness of the extraordinary presence of ordinary people all around us. As I look back, Sandy is the most extraordinary of the extraordinary Interesting Humans who’ve been guests on this podcast. Our conversation is a lot like the transparency of her blog and I found it deeply refreshing and instructive and we talk about the ways one’s life experiences can feed our writing. With a matter-of-factness that you will realize is very authentic, Sandy discusses her unique writing process that sometimes has her staying up all night on Saturday just to hit publish on Sunday morning. She reveals how she approaches blogging about her own very personal struggles with abuse as a young girl and again at the hand of her second husband and how those struggles have deeply affected her relationships with men. And we cross over discussing blending experiences like her daughter’s COVID diagnosis, her eldest son’s substance abuse issues, embracing her ex-husband’s wife and daughter as her own family, and her joy in what she calls “the glue that holds this family together,” her son, Joe, who has Down Syndrome into blog posts.Her blog is her life. Though not much is out of bounds for her writing, Sandy says there are still some things she has chosen not to write about “until my kids are older, those will be in the book.” Frank, warm and engaging, Sandy is a thoughtful and wise conversationalist. I came away from our conversation with a respect for how she walks that tightrope of respecting the family she writes about and writing authentically. So grab a cup of coffee and go sit on your favorite chair and listen to my conversation with Sandy Riguzzi. Hope you enjoy today’s episode of Interesting Humans.Where to find Sandy:Web: Sunday Morning with SandyInstagram: Sunday Morning With SandyFacebook: Sunday Morning with SandyPinterest: Sunday Morning with SandyOne of my favorite posts from her blog: https://sundaymorningwithsandy.com/2020/08/18/a-few-thoughts-and-having-faith/

Autumn has come alive here in the midwest. It's my favorite time of the year. For most of three months -- from about September 1 to December 1 -- I feel productive and energized by the cooler temps and the color. I've appreciated the color of fall all my life. I love bringing out the sweatshirts and the coats to accommodate the early morning and evening chill. How about you? Do you love fall too?Sitting recently with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law (whom you'll meet in this episode) at their Northern Indiana home out on the deck enjoying good, hot coffee and the warmth of their fire and conversation, I was reminded why I love this time of year. With the coronavirus, we are severely limiting our circle: a few very close friends and a few family members. That's it. I crave real, honest connection and conversation and the mental health impact of the coronavirus has made these connections timely and important. Speaking of connection, a book is a kind of conversation too, isn't it? Between the author and the reader? Through their characters, the author invites you into their world. The best writers can make you feel as if you are right there at the table, on the bus or sitting close by. It is a special feeling when you connect with a book, the author and their characters. It is connection that led today's guests, MAIJA WALTERS STUTSMAN and ALEAH DECHANT , to create SHELFRIGHTEOUS, a subscription book box built around a novel and the idea of supporting women businesses. Starting this December, Maija and Aleah will start sending their very first subscription boxes. The concept started more than a year ago. Aleah and Maija, friends for nearly a decade and colleagues at Maija's Fitness Studio "The Bubble", began discussing a different business. Maija's body was a bit beat up after 10 years of teaching classes in Zumba, Barre, Rowing, Boxing and doing massage and Aleah also was anxious to move to something new.The name they chose for the business, SHELFRIGHTEOUS, is a play on words. In one sense they want to share their love of incredible literature, as Maija says, "make your bookshelf the best" in the neighborhood. In another sense, they want to especially support women. That's where the righteous part comes in. Each quarter, a new box will ship out with a novel written by a woman, several items consistent with the novel's theme, a themed playlist and a recipe Aleah and Maija think fits with the book. The boxes are environmentally friendly and the contents are sourced from women-owned businesses wherever possible. Maija and Aleah want to build a community of subscribers and encourage conversation, both through a virtual book club included in the subscription and through others who form their own book clubs with their subscriptions. In these turbulent times--politically and medically--these two strong and thoughtful women want to bring people together around a common love of books and create a sustainable business that eventually will support their families. We talk about how they came up with the name, SHELFRIGHTEOUS, how their separate paths led them to come together to create a business, the challenges of starting a small business and what they've learned and can teach others, and their hopes for how SHELFRIGHTEOUS might allow them to connect with and support women. On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shelfrighteousbookboxOn Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shelfrighteous.box/

Today’s guest, Chris Sadlier, has worked in advertising for 25 years. He’s currently  Creative Director for a Detroit-based advertising firm, GTB, an affiliate of WPP, one of he largest advertising agencies in the world. He’s worked throughout the country and the world on ad agencies large and small creating collaborating on print, tv and now digital advertising. My instagram feed is exactly like my brain—scattered and broad. It runs from images and reels of idyllic travel destinations with waterfalls and mountains, runners on trails, depictions of van life, to accounts of my friends’ kids being cute between zoom school classes or their pets stealing the show, to artist friends displaying their latest work, to tons of architecture and design articles. In between are advertisements. I have to admit some have hooked me too. I’ve bought healthy snacks from the tropical rain forest, smoothie powders from a nutrition company, workout shorts and sneakers, cleaning products, even these nifty tablets that dissolve into toothpaste. And it’s not just Instagram. My Facebook page has ads too; when I look up certain products I’ve been curious about, the companies follow me onto both my Facebook page and the online pages when I’m reading the New York Times or local news too. It's election season and I’ve been thinking about ads quite a bit lately. I grew up in the 1970’s in a different era of advertising. Advertising was carefully regulated and a place with incredible creativity. Today we are barraged with an unending array of commercials before, during and following programs so that in 30 minutes you get 15 minutes of ads. Social media is so packed with ads that every other post is a an ad for something.That’s the thing about online advertising. It’s less generic and much more tailored, which to me is a bit scary. Especially after the release of two documentaries on Netflix, 2019’s “The Great Hack”  and more recently, “The Social Dilemma.” The Great Hack, explains the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal and how millions of data points were collected and specific information was filtered to people’s Facebook feeds to influence both the 2016 US elections and the  Brexit in the UK. Even scarier is The Social Dilemma, which details the specific use of advertising and content on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other platforms to keep us hooked and to boldly affect our opinions and our behaviors and to generate millions of ad revenue dollars for the platforms. If you haven’t seen the film I recommend you watch it and watch it with your kids if they are into social media. This discussion is far ranging and I warn you, it gets political at times. While Chris' focus is his main client, Ford, he is an astute observer of trends, both in advertising and culture and he brings it all here.  Hope you enjoy today's conversation. LINKS:Chris, Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/csadlier212/The Great Hack, Netflix: https://youtu.be/iX8GxLP1FHoThe Social Dilemma, Netflix: https://youtu.be/uaaC57tcci0Jude Law for Johnny Walker Blue ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWEv2Z2e9NEAlexander Skarsgård for Calvin Klein: https://youtu.be/Udk6uinLkIkFunny Jeep commercial: https://youtu.be/p_CvNP64g4g

I have to admit to being a bit bouncy right now. It happens every year around this time. It’s as if I emerge from the doldrums of late summer with a renewed sense of purpose and, yes, even optimism. The change of the calendar from August to September is exciting for me. I always anticipate good things for September and October. E and I were married in September—and yes, I haven’t forgotten our anniversary. There is a change in the quality of the light, weather is a bit crisper and that optimism for a better future always seems to move in. Now I know this might sound ludicrous in the face of everything going on. I know if you are a parent of school age or college age children or a student yourself you might feel very little reason for excitement as most of you are starting school virtually and not getting to do the normal things of school. I’m sorry about this as the start of school is always a benchmark in our lives. but if you can just fuel even a tiny spark of positivity it might help you feel at least a little better. Speaking of optimism, today’s guest, Veronica Aimee Centeno-Cruz, is a study in optimism. Veronica was in the 2018 documentary film Me, the Other, which centers around the marginalization of people because of their backgrounds, heritage, or lifestyle. The film, which was produced and shown extensively locally, displays the challenges of 12 people who don’t feel to be a part of “normal” life. Veronica, for example, who is Puerto Rican, grew up with her single mom in Ypsilanti, Michigan because her biological father decided when Veronica was little not to participate in the household. As she talks about in our conversation, Veronica became a de facto a parent in her home. Her mom, Aimee, was in and out of hospitals throughout Veronica’s childhood. In fact by the time she appeared in Me the Other, Veronica’s mom had had three liver transplants. So even at the tender ages of 5, 6, 7 Veronica was looking after her mom, ensuring her medications were lined up, her mom was comfortable and even helped to prepare meals when her mom was too sick or tired to cook. This forced Veronica to grow up quickly.When Veronica’s mom met a man and remarried, things weren’t perfect. Sham, her mom’s husband, took to Veronica right away and became her dad. You can hear Veronica’s pride and joy talking about Sham and belting out songs while he jammed on the drums. But that turned dark for Veronica as Sham was in and out of prison and was killed just as she started filming the documentary. Inspired by her mom's health issues, Veronica is now a student in Occupational Therapy at Eastern Michigan University. She carries a kind of grace, a humility, a gratitude and yes, even a sense of optimism for life despite her challenges. To hear Veronica talk about this gratitude in our conversation is inspiring and I hope you feel it too. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Veronica Aimee Centeno-Cruz. Links:Veronica on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hairwithvero/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/veronica.centenocruz.5Me, the Other on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/metheotherfilm/Me, the Other film website: https://metheotherfilm.com/

One of the great gifts of curiosity is that it takes you places you can’t foresee. That was the case for Elin and me July 4th when we slid over to downtown Ypsilanti to see the 2nd Annual Black Empowerment Awards. We were not feeling the patriotism associated with the national holiday with the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by police and Ahmaud Arbery by white men who chased him down in their truck, and then the protests and rioting all over the country and the teargassing of peaceful protestors in Washington D.C. so that President Trump could hold a bible in front of a church for a photo op. When it was his turn, Hakim Crampton wove a tapestry of poverty, violence and a community forced into a corner by racism. His mom had pimped for his dad in Detroit and he became involved in drug culture in the sixth grade as a way to earn money and respect and this led to a life on the streets, hustling to earn money and sell drugs and deal with an awful lot of violence.Hakim freely admits he was no angel. In and out of juvenile detention and jail growing up, he carried weapons, stole, slept in crackhouses, shot people and was shot, and got in fights—all in the pretext of surviving. in 1992, at age 18, he and his best friend were convicted of a murder the previous year by all accounts he had nothing to do with. The confession a step brother gave to police after four days of relentless questioning implicating Hakim—a confession he later recanted—that led to Hakim’s conviction and time in prison in Wisconsin. This part of Hakim’s story is very similar to the murder convictions of five young black men in New York city in 1989, known as the Central Park jogger case, who were all totally exonerated after spending years in prison. Hakim spent 14 1/2 years in prison before being paroled. But his story doesn’t end there. Our conversation moves to his life where he understood he was on the wrong trajectory, to his rediscovery of poetry to his work advocating for and guiding young black men as a part of Just Leadership USA. This might be uncomfortable for some. I have to admit this conversation made me question my own ideas of racism and a naive sense I’ve carried that not being racist is enough. This is a little longer interview and I didn’t get to all my questions for Hakim so I don’t know if I’ve done he and his story justice. I hope you find something valuable in this conversation with Hakim Nathaniel Crampton.Innocence Project/Canada: https://innocencecanada.com/Rubin Hurricane Carter's story: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/sports/rubin-hurricane-carter-fearsome-boxer-dies-at-76.htmlClean Slate Program:https://detroitmi.gov/departments/law-department/project-clean-slate

“I was born with a big engine, a big heart and a really bad chassis," Keith Kelly, today's guest tells me in his familiar Irish. Keith was the NCAA National Cross Country Champion for Providence College in 2000. He has won dozens of races at the national and international level as he was the Irish National Cross Country Champion in 2009, which would have been a comeback year for Keith after years of battling injury and even depression. That championship could have led to competing for a spot on the Irish Olympic Team at the London Olympics but Keith's 14th or 15th stress fracture derailed his world class running career. Keith Kelly is one of my dearest and oldest friends. Regardless of his standing as an ALMOST World Class Runner and Olympian, I see him as a WORLD CLASS PERSON. In today's episode, we talk about his work with New Balance Running Shoe Company, his upbringing in a small town in Ireland with deaf parents and his discovery and love for running, along with some of the successes he had as a runner. When his running career ended, still needing something to do with his big aerobic engine, Keith turned to cycling and was soon competing--and beating--pro-level cyclists. Imagine being an experienced pro cyclist and this gangly, skinny, six-foot-three dude with toothpick legs sprints past. Of course, nothing is easy for Keith and he experienced setbacks cycling too. In fact, in one of his first races, he got caught in a crash and broke a collar bone and some ribs. But that didn't deter him. Keith is a study in adaptability and humility. He loves and appreciates his parents who provided he and his brother with opportunities to pursue their passions even though, as he says, "we didn't have a pot to piss in." Along with his love for training harder than anyone else and racing, the other enduring passion for Keith is music. We talk about his experience growing up with deaf parents and how he thought he was going to be a DJ spinning music at on BBC Radio 1. I met Keith 12 years ago while at Reebok and knew he was a unique and good person. This conversation dives into the intricacies of training at a high level, challenges and even depression, and redemption in the hands of new found love. I hope you enjoy meeting my friend Keith Kelly. Links:Keith Kelly on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelrock/On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keith.kelly.33On Blogspot: http://kelrock.blogspot.com/On Radiohead, his favorite band: http://kelrock.blogspot.com/2012/04/radiohead-dreams.htmlRadiohead documentary: Meeting People Is EasyReebok's Run Easy Campaign, 2007

Flow. Details. Impact. These are the hallmark words in Elin Walters' world. She is the owner and curator at Exactly Designs, an interior design firm she founded a little more than four years ago. As Elin says on her website, "I was once asked, “how do you feel when you walk into a room? What do you notice?”I replied, “I just know visually and emotionally if it is exactly right, if the room has realized its full potential. I’m always finding ways in my mind to make a room better.”The lane Elin has chosen is the midcentury modern and modern aesthetic. She loves to incorporate color and whimsy in spaces as well as move walls. When she approaches a design project she's looking for that hinge, a particular element on which to build a space her clients will love. As she explains in our conversation that one piece--a piece of furniture, a paint color on a wall, a section of flooring, a window that offers a certain light--can be the determining factor for everything that is built around it. And, despite what you might think you might know about what it is that interior designers do, Elin points out several instances where her work involves way more than picking out nice pillows or dropping a $20,000 rug on a floor and calling it good. "Design is design, not decorating, she says. The projects she gets the most excited about are the ones where spaces are completely reimagined. She often works hand in hand with her clients' contractors to ensure design is incorporated into the renovation process. If it's not, well, I'll let Elin explain that part. We dive into her approach as well as how her upbringing with artistic parents in Williamsburg, VA and Goshen, IN subconsciously influenced her eventual path to doing design for a living. Elin reveals some challenges that have impacted her business and her personal life as well in this far ranging conversation that I hope if you are a solo entrepreneur might help you. I applaud Elin for being willing to be my guest as she is also my wife. It took me a couple months to convince her to come onto the Interesting Humans podcast and she agreed if I promised to ask more about interior design and her work than about our lives together. And, truth be told, she and I have very similar conversations almost every day about both professional and personal topics so what you're going to hear is a lot like the two of us sitting down over coffee. I hope that warm vibe comes through. I'm lucky to be married to such an articulate and engaging person as Elin. I hope you enjoy our conversation. Links:Exactly Designs website: https://www.exactlydesigns.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exactlydesigns/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/exactlydesigns/Atomic Ranch feature, May 2020: https://exactlydesigns.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AR-Argyle-Exterior-3.pdfSeen Magazine, Interior Design accounts to follow on Instagram: https://seenthemagazine.com/instagram-accounts-for-home-design-and-decor-inspo/Midcenturyhome.com: https://www.midcenturyhome.com/interior-designer-elin-walters-midcentury-home-renovation/Elin's parents and their work in Goshen, Indiana: https://goodofgoshen.com/project/inside-downtown-goshens-emerging-renaissance/

I call Emily McGuire a Relational Marketer. Not only is she a guru of email marketing but she also is growing her one-person business to include copy writing and even business coaching. Emily and her company, Flourish and Grit, is the perfect person to talk about the coronavirus havoc on business, particularly small businesses. It takes grit to be a solopreneur as Emily and so many people are finding, people who have pivoted their careers away from corporate jobs to working for themselves. Even amidst the pandemic, with layoffs across industries and companies, scores of people are looking to hang a shingle and rely upon their own abilities and passions to earn a living. But wait, how do you do that?Emily started Flourish and Grit just under three years ago primarily focused on helping clients take advantage of their databases through reaching out with email marketing. Emily takes the pulse of her clients current database and marketing efforts and helps refine based on the client’s goals. Yet Emily is much more than that. She has become wise as a business person in understanding the nuances of creating long term clients through careful vetting, establishing boundaries and being authentic. She is who she is and she advocates for her clients to do the same.So who is she? I met Emily in January at a gathering of business people and solopreneurs who were looking to find their marketing voices through understanding who they are. The event was co-hosted by Janelle Reichman, who was my guest on Interesting Humans Episode Two, whom you’ll recall owns her own website design firm. Emily learned through constant observation and practice what to do and what not to do as a solopreneur. In the process of building her business she experienced the reverb of some personal trauma from her younger years. We touch on it some in our conversation and Emily is pretty transparent about being excommunicated and shunned by her family and how the experience has served her as a solopreneur and a person today. Our conversation is both deep into the trials and tribulations of owning your own business and broad about the person behind it. I hope you will enjoy meeting Emily McGuire. LinkedIn: ​https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcguireemily/ Instagram: ​https://www.instagram.com/flourishandgrit/ Facebook: ​https://www.facebook.com/flourishandgrit/ Twitter: ​https://twitter.com/flourishandgri​t Website: https://www.flourishgrit.com/ Freebie: Action Guide: Boost Your Email Open Rates ASAP flourishgrit.com/open

If you saw Kendra Stanley Mills’ photographs you’d be impressed but you would have no idea of the story of how this incredible artist found her place behind a camera lens.Kendra is a combination of extreme humility and equally big artistic talent. It might have something to with the way she was raised, having spent some time in rural Kentucky as a kid with her “hippie, Mother Earth News” parents living in a one room house with no running water and no toilet, that instilled in Kendra an ingenuity and a stubborn persistence to stay with things and make due with what’s there. As Kendra says, “I’m certain that the way I grew up has a direct correlation to why I became a photographer. My childhood was part “Little House on the Prairie” and part Woodstock. I had an outhouse, no running water, a milk cow, a wood cook stove and no television until middle school...We told stories, listened to old vinyl records, had chores (a lot of chores!) and more adventures than I can count.”She has such fondness for those times that she and her husband Jon Mills moved the log cabin she lived in in Kentucky as a little girl to the property they live on in Montague, MI. From these humble beginnings Kendra eventually became a photojournalist for the Muskegon (Michigan) Chronicle and today is a portrait photographer of unique talent. Kendra’s photographs are infused with artistic elements, lines, geometry while still putting her subjects in the spotlight. The geometric elements are done so well and so deliberately yet so subtly they become elegant backdrops that enhance images rather than overpower. Our interview was conducted last February pre-coronavirus at her studio office in North Muskegon, the same town where she go her start as an intern for the Muskegon Chronicle. You might hear some hissing—that’s the steam running through the pipes that heated the building. Kendra won the internship just out of college even though as she recounts, “the editors thought others had more talent” but loved that she had a kind of courage. Over the course of her 13 years as a photojournalist Kendra refined a personal style as a newspaper photographer. Sometimes it was uncomfortable documenting the tragedies and hardships of her subject about which the reporters were writing. Kendra recounts the irony of her current business as a portrait photographer because when she started her editor told her her portraits were the weakest work she turned in. “So he made me go out and do every portrait photo assignment I could get so I could get better,” she says.In addition portrait photography where she shoots weddings, families and individual portraits, Kendra works as a full-time photographer for Grand Valley State University in Allendale, MI. Kendra also explores some aspects of the business of being a photographer and shares a couple important tips for anyone looking to create a business out of their creative endeavors. Hope you enjoy today's conversation with Kendra. Links:Kendra Stanley Mills Photography: http://www.kendrastanleymills.com/about/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kendra.stanleymillsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/kendrastanleymills/Pinterest: https://www.instagram.com/kendrastanleymills/Metcalf County, Kentucky: https://metcalfecounty.ky.gov/Pages/default.aspxGrand Valley State university: https://www.gvsu.edu/

interesting humans episode nineI had the chance recently to sit in a Zoom meeting with one of my two high school senior daughters. It was a zoom call in place of the end of the year banquet for her high school news magazine where seniors are recognized. During normal times it’s filled with awards and speeches from the sponsor teacher (Tracy Anderson, I/H episode six) and sometimes emotional and awkward speeches from the graduating seniors about their experiences. This Zoom meeting didn’t have the usual potluck food and the speeches were shorter. There were fewer tears this year too and maybe that was because the medium precludes the same kind of proximity, the human context of togetherness that the coronavirus lockdown makes impossible. What amazes me every year I attend this banquet is how engaged, how adaptable and how intelligent these young people are. Their vision of the infinite possibilities for their lives and their appreciation for the things that got them this far is awe inspiring. What occurred to me the other night is how they show we adults how to be in this world. They take what happens and bend it to make sense for their lives rather than wallowing in a sea of depression or self-pity. No prom? No problem. No graduation ceremony. That’s okay. We’ll have a drive by. No end of the year gatherings at all? We’ll Zoom and take what we can get. Many people have been deeply affected by the coronavirus and the lockdown. Mental and physical health. Bank accounts and mortgages and jobs. Marriages and family relationships. There’s no doubt these past few months have drastically changed the paradigm of how most of us view what is a normal life. We adults have the benefit of many birthdays and life experience to contextualize these times. What about these young peopleToday’s guests are four high school seniors. I’ve asked them to talk about what their daily lives are like and how their perspectives on their futures has been affected by the pandemic and the lockdown. In their own, eloquent and honest words they share the simple pleasures of family gatherings at dinner time. workouts with siblings, baking, and social distancing walks and auto corrals with friends. These kids are not binge-watching Netflix or sleeping all dayThe conversations reveal how they are thinking, exploring, engaging and trying to make sense of a world seemingly run amok. And in an amazing twist, they are adapting and remain optimistic and excited for their futures. They are ready to do what needs to be done to live full lives no matter what comes. This episode, which I’m calling Pandemic Seniors, runs a bit longer than previous interviews and I hope you can stay until the end because each one of these young people offers something unique. Here, in order, are Loey Jones-Perpich, Yakirah Mitchel, Andrew Lafferty and Ebba Gurney, crossing into adulthood in the time the coronavirus.Loey Jones-Perpich https://www.emerson.edu/Yakirah Mitchel https://umich.edu/Andrew Lafferty https://www.pitt.edu/Ebba Gurney https://www.scad.edu/Ella Walker aka WILDES https://www.wildesmusic.com/?fbclid=IwAR13UpycADu7YeCpRb2Gfkw62AUDfijSHQ-uZlDr8mndfTwLIAyIC_XvLR

When I played tennis in high school, my coach was a guy named Ed Deitch. Ed was a new teacher and had never coached any sport before. And he didn't play tennis. What I loved about Ed was that he didn't have an ego. He spent as much time off the court learning not only tennis but also how to coach as he did on the court leading his players. In the summer between my junior and senior years, Ed introduced me to another coach who successfully helped a number of USTA regional and national players. Ed drove an hour from Virginia to pick me up in Maryland and take me to my lesson. Then we would grab a bite to eat and debrief. He'd drop me off at home before driving an hour back home to Virginia. Ed was committed to whatever success he could create for each of his players first, rather than for himself. That, I think is what made him a great coach. Years later I was introduced to today's guest NICK HANSEN. Nick coaches real estate agents all over the country to higher levels of professional and personal success. But he started his career coaching swimmers and was a hair from becoming the U.S. Olympic Swim coach. To hear Nick talk about it, there is great art to coaching. Whether it's swimmers, baseball players or real estate agents, the ability to see each individual's strengths an weaknesses and meet them where they are rather than adhering to some coaching dogma is what contributed to the success, however defined, of the coaching client.It's also the coach's job, Nick says, to hold his mentee accountable and this is something he is very good at. To know when they are not "on board" with the program, not giving their best efforts.  While every person is different, there are fundamental things every athlete -- or Realtor®--needs to put them into position for success. Nick calls it winning the day. The harder you focus on those fundamentals, the more time you spend in the pool, and the more intensely you are committed to doing what he calls the boring work, the more likely you'll be to touch the wall first. We explore Nick's experience as a national class swimmer at Iowa state and then later coaching stints at the University of Arizona and then at Wisconsin. His success placing several swimmers on the U.S. National team led to him coaching the U.S. team at the world championships in Spain and to being that close to becoming the U.S. Olympic swim coach.Nick is a friend and in full disclosure has been my coach in real estate. He approaches his clients like he coached swimmers: By understanding what each person's interests, commitments and abilities might be. For Nick the focus isn't touching the wall first. It's mastery of the craft that garners success. Links: Real estate: https://www.hansenteamrealestate.com/agent/nick-hansen/https://www.hansenteamrealestate.com/about/https://www.hansenteamrealestate.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/RE-Coaching-Book-Hansen.pdfLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-hansen-002201117/As a high school swimmer: https://siouxcityjournal.com/sports/swimming-and-diving/college/hansen-inducted-into-swimming-hall-of-fame/article_46809a87-1adb-5d23-a446-605f950cceab.htmlFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/nick.hansen.54922

Maybe a couple times in one's life are you lucky enough to come across truly unique characters. I'm talking about original, authentic and truly unique individuals who enlighten and inform your world view. I'm thinking about just such a character right now. The guy I have in mind is kind of short and truth be told, though he might get a lot of attention, he is not someone who would be surrounded by women at a bar. It might be because he's green. Or the fact that his eyes happen to sit atop stalks on his head. I know it sounds weird but if you have spent any time in Ann Arbor, you probably have seen this guy around town. He hangs out mostly on the sidewalks or alongside buildings downtown. He is almost always with a friend, someone as unique as he. He goes by the name of Sluggo. Maybe you know him. Sluggo is the creation of today's guest, David Zinn, and, like Sluggo, David is just as unique, though he isn't green nor does he have eyes at the end of stalks. He looks like, well, like you and me. David is world-renowned local artist who has created hundreds of characters in his favorite medium--chalk. He has had a substantial career as a commercial artist but a creative tangent took over his artistic mien and established Zinn as a premier chalk artist worldwide. His commercial work is seen all over the world. Sluggo's likeness is found on t-shirts as far away as China, though not authorized. We talk about the illegal use of his art during our conversation. Kids and adults alike are enchanted with this artist's work. Ann Arbor's sidewalks and buildings are rich with his characters, not only Sluggo, but Phil, the winged pig, and dragons and other stylized characters from deep in the artist's imagination. Though we might have to be quick to see his work before mother nature -- or man -- washes it away. Zinn admits that he is deliberate about, even loves, that his art is temporary. The temporary nature of Zinn's art is something we discuss. It's the process of creating, then walking away, allowing whatever will be, that is his focus. David owns the process, not the outcome. He admits difficulty seeing himself as a legitimate artist in the same vein as Jackson Pollock, Rodan or Annie Liebovitz. "I've spent most of my life, including up until now, not really thinking of myself as an artist because the word is so heavy," he tells me. His sincerity and mindfulness are authentic and while you might suspect his humility is not genuine, I can assure you it is. Our conversation is a far-ranging discussion of how an artist survives the coronavirus shelter-in-place age as well as a portrait of a creative who is intimately aware of his mission. I hope you enjoy my conversation with David Zinn. Links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidzinn/Tublr: https://sluggoonthestreet.tumblr.com/Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/davidzinn_artWhere to buy David's art: https://www.zazzle.com/store/david_zinnhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L95cNBEfi5I&feature=youtu.beTedX talk at UM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSVXYrJs4S8https://www.businessinsider.com/david-zinn-ann-arbor-street-artist-2014-10

What makes a good teacher? More important, what makes a teacher good? Just as with any professional endeavor there are character habits that lead to mastery. Teaching is no exception. And while there are fantastic teachers everywhere, some rise a bit higher. The role of teachers today has never been more important yet also has not been as under assault as it is today. Tax cuts riddle school budgets, technology drives adults and kids to distraction, and expectations for how kids achieve has seemingly never been higher. Not to mention the more prevalent occurrence of shootings in schools. So is it a wonder that teachers feel hamstrung to teach with so much going on outside the classroom? Today's guest, Tracy Anderson, is a teacher I would have loved. Tracy's students thrive in today's educational landscape and she possesses a unique blend of individual talent and commitment that makes her exceptional.Her career spans 23 years, the past 20 at Ann Arbor's Community High School. Tracy has taught literature, creative writing and journalism for two decades to students who've gone on to excel as adults in life and any number of careers. She is highly regarded by her students, their parents and by the administration. In addition, she is the director of The Communicator, the award-winning, glossy 80-100 page magazine entirely produced by students five times a year. Last year the Communicator won a Pacemaker award for excellence from the National Scholastic Press Association and was up for another award this year. Tracy is exceptional for two important reasons. First, she is clear on her teaching philosophy. Her clarity of purpose is obvious as we discuss different experiences from her classroom. She is inspired by the premise fundamental to Montessori education that respects the individuality of each student and their learning style and that students' needs change as they grow. Second, that respect for every student who comes to her classroom has led Tracy to commit to her career as a student of teaching, always challenging herself to understand the educational process more fully and whatever subject matter through which she is guiding her students. One of the parts of the conversation I love the most is when she mentions that whatever exercise she has her students do she also does. Moreover, there is an absence of ego in Tracy's classroom. She talks about several instances where she admits to her students mistakes she made in approach or a question she asks of students. This humility serves as a great example for her students and inspires them. "I treat them like individuals and like adults. I trust them," Tracy says,Armed with a clear sense of fundamentals--she possesses bachelor and masters degrees in teaching as well as a substantial amount of education credits toward her Phd--and with a joie de vivre for young minds, Tracy is a fascinating conversation as well as a lovely person. Links:You can find Tracy Anderson here: https://tracyanderson.org/Detroit Poet Jamaal May's poem There Are Birds HereJulia Cameron's The Artist's WayVOICE, Community High School's Literary MagazineI hope you enjoy today's conversation with Tracy on Interesting Humans.

Let's be honest. Few people get really excited about minute details of home building projects and how to make them more energy efficient. It can get pretty esoteric. Today's guest, Scott Hedges, can dive into the details as well as any builder. But what makes Scott unique is his ability to see things from a larger perspective as well.Scott is the co-founder of a company called WarmForm, which is using a particular building technique borrowed from energy-conscious Sweden to build homes here. Why? Scott started his working life as an ecologist, guarding the habitats of birds and other animals in parks in Florida. Yet he became frustrated trying to preserve habitats when what he saw as the bigger issue was the further deterioration of the bigger environmental equation--massively inefficient building practices that lead to further incursions into the natural environment. The dots connected during a stint in Sweden where he took a job building homes with a builder that was a game-changer for him. Scott realized the Swedes were doing things way different—and in his view more efficiently—than typical construction in the U.S. He began investigating further and discovered a treasure trove of information about an approach to building homes in the 1950s and 1960s the way cars are built. Yes, homes could be built on an assembly line and in fact were. Scott says, "I have a modest proposal: skip the conferences and go spend time with people who actually are quietly doing what others are loudly proclaiming you should do. Said simply: Go to Sweden, spend time learning from a real Swedish builder."My conversation with Scott is a both a history lesson in companies like Lustron and others that went against the conventional building industry and failed and a hopeful plea to change the paradigm in how we build homes to help save the planet. Scott is erudite and eloquent in expressing his knowledge of and his passion for the kinds of energy efficient building practices commonly used in Sweden. Scott believes the building industry in the US is fundamentally flawed and sees a disruption of commonly accepted building practices as a potential solution to making all homes significantly more energy stingy and in the long run reducing the impact on climate. You can recognize his passion in how deep Scott can go on the details. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Scott Hedges. Links: LUSTRON HOMES: https://www.curbed.com/2016/10/10/13227810/prefab-lustron-house-prefabricated-home-building Warmform: https://warmform.com/Elementhus article: https://medium.com/@scotthedges/elementhus-swedens-ultra-modern-totally-forgotten-awesome-factory-built-house-899d0c96687dBygghouse: https://bygghouse.com/Film of Construction of a house in Sweden: https://youtu.be/W-5vn9gx1QAConstruction of Swedish houses by Scott Hedges: https://bygghouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Summary-of-Swedish-Wall-Element-Construction.pdfFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/scott.hedges.754Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scotthedges2/Twitter: https://twitter.com/bygghouse

Michelle Plucinsky is the epitome of a human passionate about evolving. Together with her husband Chris Nordin, Michelle runs Furnace Design Studio, a place where glassblowers create their incredible art and where individuals learn the art of glassblowing. Michelle became fascinated with art early on, stemming road trips as a kid when her mom dropped craft kits into hers and her siblings' laps to keep them busy. Her love of manipulating these little craft projects turned into a fascination with glass. One of Michelle's first jobs was at the Henry Ford Museum in the glass shop that turned into a role demonstrating glass blowing for tourists at age 20. There Michelle combined both her burgeoning love of art and history. She attended a seminar at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and studied under Italian master artist Lino Tagliapietra who, along with other teacher artists, opened Michelle up to a new world of techniques and where she discovered the "art" in glassblowing. Then she followed one of the teachers from Haystack to Alfred University where she found her advanced abilities helped her push her art even further. Our conversation traces the lines in her evolution as both an artist and as a business person bent on ensuring she and her husband were able to sustain their art and raise their family. Some misfortune in the economy created a need for the couple to understand the business they were in and make some smart decisions. Michelle developed into a marketer, an accountant and a salesperson seemingly all at once in order to help the Studio grow. Today, both the Glass Academy and Chris Nordin Studios are on solid ground. And Michelle is discovering some other parts of herself that had been hidden. The conversation with Michelle is a testament to how a person can pivot in their career but not lose their essence along the way. You can find Michelle at MichellePlucinsky.com and on social media @michelleplucinsky. Hope you enjoy my conversation with Michelle.

Occasionally you get to meet someone who is both a master of their craft and admirably humble at the same time. Janelle Reichman, a world-class jazz musician, is such a person. Not only is Janelle an accomplished musician, she also runs a successful, growing business as a website designer, for among others, musicians. Janelle gives an education in Jazz and the life of a professional musician. She talks about her approach to jazz, her music training and the life of a professional jazz clarinetist and saxophonist. Janelle comes across as a keen practitioner, having performed at venues as famous at The Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall, as well as countless jazz clubs and honky tonks throughout the country, including Ann Arbor's own Blue Llama Jazz Club. Janelle has played with the likes of Wynton Marsalis and other accomplished and famous clarinetists and jazz musicians but seems to enjoy the most the regular groups she plays with. Janelle's regular groups include The Diva Jazz Orchestra, The Klezmephonic Trio and her own band, Janelle Reichman +4, the now defunct Red Hook Ramblers and Gotham Easy, the rebirth of the defunct Red Hook Ramblers. Her background includes some darker times for her when she was at graduate school at the Manhattan Conservatory of Music, where depression set in. She was saved by a couple fellow musicians and found they grounded her and provided a path through the rest of her time in school. She discusses the early days of her career living in a tiny studio apartment in Brooklyn where violent crime was rampant and how she balanced gigs at clubs with weddings and other appearances and writing music and figuring what was next. In fact, Janelle seems to thrive with several close connections with the musicians in the groups in which she plays. Janelle makes a point to compliment her fellow group members including Henrik Karapetyan whom she calls the "most virtuosic violinist I've ever played with" who "should be world famous." I have to say the way Janelle looks up to the musicians around her is a good measure of her character. She confesses to often being amazed at their abilities and it makes her work harder. We also talk about her improvisational skills and the dexterity and clarity it takes to be an improvisationalist. Not only is Janelle an accomplished musician, she also is building a successful web design endeavor she calls Ellanyze, which was an outgrowth of a yearning for greater fulfillment with her place in the world. Her business has grown to a full-time gig which she balances with her career in music. It turns out that this very talented woman is able to feed multiple creative funnels--one through making music and another through the visual of building websites. We wrap up with a funny analogy about how Janelle solves challenges talking about kitchen cabinets and her kitchen renovation. Hope you enjoy! Here's my conversation with Janelle.

Jeffrey Post has a little swagger. He a mix of Johnny Depp's Capt. Jack Black and the debonnaire Carry Grant. I suspect it comes from the natural actor in him. Though he's not boastful, Jeffrey has some reason for confidence. During the course of our conversation we trace Jeffrey's careers in real estate, acting and in the auto industry. Through all of his professional life, Jeffrey has maintained a kind of presence you might expect from someone familiar with the stage. I call it "theatricality." He has an awareness of his audience. Jeffrey's love of the stage began early: As a youngster, he and his siblings were regulars at performances at historic Detroit landmarks like the Fisher Theatre and to the Stratford Festival to see famous actors Angela Lansbury, Jessica Tandy, Chita Rivera, and Carol Channing. Jeffrey majored in theatre and communications in college, where he did an internship for a local television news station. It was there that he discovered that he loved being in front of the camera AND knowing what goes on behind the scenes. After college, he signed with a talent agency in Los Angeles and pursued acting work in television and film. Highlights include feature films, including a role with Dennis Quaid and Christopher Plummer, where is played Quaid's stunt double in Dreamscape. Check out the movie at the 48:31 mark for the scene. He did whatever he could to be a working actor; plays, daytime television series, and even music video work with Weird Al Yankovic. Remember "Eat it"?After LA, Jeffrey decided he needed more formal training. He got into training at both the prestigious London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. After London he wound up in Chicago where he acted in local theatre and found commercial work. Jeffrey moved into real estate when his father became ill and in addition to caring for his ailing father, he learned real estate to help keep the family's real estate business afloat. It was a good move because during his more than 20-year real estate career, Jeffrey has consistently ranked among the top producing agents nationwide. He has experience at all levels but if you meet him, you'd swear he could be the guy showing luxury properties to Kim Kardashian-types on the TV series Million Dollar Listing. Through all, Jeffrey has developed a very clear sense of the role our core values play in our lives. These values were reinforced by a significant health episode Jeffrey faced (it could have been curtains for him). Now more than a year out, he is celebrating great health. Today Jeffrey enjoys a busy life as a successful Realtor® as part of a unique consortium known as StudioFour8, with colleagues Sara Maddock and Todd Waller. And, if you happen to be in Ann Arbor in February, Jeffrey is playing Robertson, the Banks' family's butler in the Burns Park Players' upcoming production of Mary Poppins. His daughter, Olivia, is also an actor and has a role in the musical.Also mentioned: Chase Jarvis and his book, Creative Calling.Actor, Realtor® and consummate gentleman, Jeffrey Post is a great conversation. I hope you enjoy!

If there is one thing I know about Lori Brauer, it's her enormous heart. You can feel it the moment you meet. For the past 15 years Lori has been engaged in work with non-profits, raising funds and attention for less than fortunate people and worthy causes. The other thing about Lori is that she is self-effacing. Her sense of humility comes out during our conversation as you'll hear, always giving credit to others and drawing it away from her. We also talk about Lori's entrepreneurial ethic of figuring things out even when she doesn't know a thing and is not afraid to dive in to make things happen for others. One of the tools in her quiver is story-telling, and we talk about how this essential entrepreneurial skill comes to play. Currently committed to a non-profit startup, the OMPT Foundation, whose goal is to provide the basis for even the most disadvantaged kids "to have a success story." OMPT Foundation is currently working with schools in the Ferndale, MI school system with basics: food, hats, gloves, socks, underwear. Lori's bent as an entrepreneur has helped the Foundation grow from just one to four schools in less than a year. We spend the beginning of the episode talking about this current work helping these kids and her history in non-profits, which include stints with the Michigan Council of Women in Technology and The Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan. Lori expresses her passion that even the smallest contribution helps. Lori's entre into the non-profit world was a natural extension of her running. A tragic family event while training for the Detroit Free Press Marathon  led her to raising money for Multiple Sclerosis Society and running the marathon with the name of her sister-in-law written on the insoles of her shoes while calling on her spirit to help Lori through the long 26.2 miles. Ten years later, in prepping for a celebration for her 50th birthday, Lori decided she wanted to skydive. There was another family loss, this time her Dad was stricken with cancer. In true fashion, Lori decided again that "it can't just be without me." While mourning the loss of "my biggest fan", Lori raised money for both the American Cancer Society and the MS Foundation. And she did the jump: https://youtu.be/wxxwyJWaOkc. if you watch the video, you might even see Lori's husband Rick, whom I'm told wasn't as excited as Lori about jumping out of an airplane. Lori's passion for running comes back around when we turn to her work designing and making jewelry. As far as artists go, Lori is  very kinesthetic. That's why, she says she was attracted to designing and making jewelry. I met Lori on the marathon expo circuit when she was selling running and other sport-themed jewelry she made at her workshop at home. We then turn to her sense of what motivates creatives and how to overcome blocks and her sense of what creatives do. Running comes up as a theme again when she met her husband Rick through a local running store and their mutual passion for running. In fact, Rick and Lori started the US arm of Parkrun, which started in the UK as a free, weekly timed 5k run. Since the very first Parkrun in Livonia's Bicentennial Park in 2012, it has grown to 41 different Parkruns in the US.