Podcasts about miami dade

The undefeated Miami native shares his journey from high school wrestling to law enforcement, balancing life as a Miami-Dade deputy with the demands of professional MMA, and the work ethic that helped him turn a longtime dream into reality.Luis also talks about representing the 305 on the biggest stage in combat sports, training with Jorge Masvidal, the growth of MMA in South Florida, and his ultimate goal: fighting — and eventually headlining — a UFC card right here in Miami.We also get into his Cuban roots, his 100% finish mentality, the support of his wife and family, and the affirmations he wrote years ago saying one day he would make it to the UFC.Subscribe for more conversations with athletes, entrepreneurs, creators and personalities putting on for South Florida.0:00 The Dream of a Miami Main Event1:04 A Chance Encounter at 30,000 Feet2:52 The Reality of a Whirlwind Week5:24 Representing the Badge in the Cage9:08 From High School Wrestling to the Pro Ranks22:04 Looking Ahead to the Next Fight#StayTranquilo #LuisHernandez #UFC #DanaWhiteContenderSeries #Miami #MMA #305 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Host Johnny Mac shares five good news stories: a Hollywood, Florida steakhouse called Class Soiree Steakhouse will host a nude dining experience the first Monday of every month, with clothed staff, rules including no touching, robes and seat covers provided, and pricing of $250 for men, $150 for women, and $300 for couples for adults 18+. An engineering prodigy in Florida, Nathan Thomas, became the youngest college professor at 18 years and 346 days at Miami Dade after earning a master's in electrical engineering, and he now teaches online while pursuing a University of Miami law degree with a 2028 graduation target. A British man set a Guinness record by eating 15 fish fingers in one minute. Train services were briefly stopped to rescue a tortoise from tracks and reunite it with its owner. An Australian beagle ate 2.4 pounds of gummy worms, prompting a vet visit and induced vomiting. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/5-good-news-stories-happiness-and-fun--5747537/support.5 Good News Stories is a daily podcast with five positive, uplifting news stories to brighten your day. New episodes every day. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media networkJohn also hosts Daily Comedy NewsUnlock an ad-free podcast experience with Caloroga Shark Media!  For Apple users, hit the banner which says Uninterrupted Listening on your Apple podcasts app. Subscribe now for exclusive shows like 'Palace Intrigue,' and get bonus content from Deep Crown (our exclusive Palace Insider!) Or get 'Daily Comedy News,' and '5 Good News Stories' with no commercials! Plans start at $4.99 per month, or save 20% with a yearly plan at $49.99. Join today and help support the show!Get more info from Caloroga Shark Media and if you have any comments, suggestions, or just want to get in touch our email is info@caloroga.com

Ryan, Dana, and Karen Curtis discuss the Miami-Dade sheriff's comments that public safety fears should not scare voters off Amendment 3.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A former Miami-Dade elementary school teacher faces multiple felony charges after allegedly exposing himself and showing explicit videos to several young female students. In Washington, police search for missing mother Antoinette Forbes after her ex-boyfriend is arrested in Pennsylvania on an outstanding warrant. A new coroner's report reveals the alarming handwritten note left behind by a Utah mother in a fatal Las Vegas hotel room murder-suicide. Sydney Silvagni reports. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tobin and Leroy evaluate the polarizing media coverage of Cam Ward and the Tennessee Titans' recent performance. They sit down with Miami-Dade officer and UFC newcomer Luis 'The Stache' Hernandez to discuss his transition to the octagon and his viral knockouts. The conversation also covers the high-scoring trend in the NFL, Dolphins roster concerns, and the latest injury news for the Florida Panthers.(00:03:07) NFL Scoring Explosion(00:06:01) Bills Beat Lions(00:11:41) Hurricanes vs. Wake Forest(00:31:28) Dolphins vs. 49ers Preview(00:38:26) Chop Robinson Update(00:48:49) Malachi Toney Potential(00:53:21) Marlins Playoff Hopes(00:56:13) Panthers Injury News(00:58:25) Mike Tyson Netflix Documentary(01:05:12) Cam Ward Media Debate(01:23:23) Dolphins Betting Odds(01:30:15) Devon Achane Usage(01:48:00) Luis Hernandez Interview(02:01:03) NFL Week 2 Predictions(02:14:46) Heisman Trade Market(02:18:50) Jimbo Fisher Rumors(02:24:18) Weather Report(02:30:34) You're Dead To Me

Tobin and Leroy interview Miami-Dade officer and new UFC signee Luis Hernandez about his viral knockout and MMA journey. They also evaluate the Dolphins' offensive strategy regarding De'Von Achane and preview a difficult upcoming matchup against the San Francisco 49ers.(00:02:25) Dolphins Offensive Strategy(00:06:36) Hurricanes and Marlins Update(00:12:16) Personal Stories and News(00:19:48) Luis Hernandez Joins Show(00:33:05) Week 2 NFL Picks(00:43:21) Dolphins vs 49ers Preview

Saying yes to everyone sounds generous right up until you notice who is actually paying for it. Lesley Logan and Brad Crowell recap their favorite takeaways from the conversation with transformational coach, speaker, and author Peter Kolat, also known as Polish Peter, who landed in Detroit at fourteen with no English and rebuilt his life after a recession and a divorce. Brad gets honest about the job he stayed in way too long and what finally made it unbearable.If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:What the three letters in DEI actually mean without the politics.The costs of saying yes to everyone and everything in your life.The difference between a business plan and a personal life vision.How to spot the signal that you are on the wrong path.Peter's daily practice for hearing yourself think again.Episode References/Links:upLift Teacher Training - https://xxll.co/uwseLevate Mentorship Program - https://lesleylogan.co/elevateOPC Flashcards - https://opc.me/flashcardsNevada SPCA - https://nevadaspca.org/OPC Posters - https://opc.me/postersCambodia October Waitlist (2027) - https://crowsnestretreats.comPilates on Tour Goa India (December) - https://xxll.co/potOPC Winter Tour - https://opc.me/eventsAmericans for Immigrant Justice - http://aijustice.orgThe Authentic Self Rebirth by Peter Kolat - https://myauthenticrebirth.com/free-bookv2Submit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsGuest Bio:Peter Kolat is a transformational coach, speaker, and author who helps people uncover the quiet beliefs holding them back and rebuild on more honest ground. Known as "Polish Peter," he arrived in the U.S. from Poland at 14 with no English, trained as an architect, and later moved into coaching after a personal and financial turning point reshaped his path. Today he's recognized for a direct, no-nonsense style and a talent for naming the limiting beliefs people can't see in themselves. A Robbins-Madanes certified coach, Peter has spoken at more than 100 live events and authored The Authentic Self Rebirth. He co-hosts The Lifeonaire Show and leads a national coaching company. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Brad Crowell 0:00  You'll know when you're true to yourself if it feels like nothing is missing, right? If something is missing, if something feels like it's missing, then you're probably not being true to yourself, right? You're not being your authentic self.Lesley Logan 0:12  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Brad Crowell 0:53  Take it away.Lesley Logan 0:56  Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap for my co-host in life, Brad, and I are going to dig into the authentic convo I had with Peter Kolat, also known as Polish Peter, in our last episode. If you haven't yet listened to that interview, feel free to pause us now. Go back and listen to Polish Peter, and then come back and join us.Brad Crowell 1:15  Yeah, Polish Peter, I love it.Lesley Logan 1:15  I know. It's on his Zoom call. It says Polish Peter.Brad Crowell 1:18  That's what he calls himself. Yeah, he explained it in the episode. I kind of had a good chuckle, but yeah, a lot of fun.Lesley Logan 1:24  I mean, he's Polish.Brad Crowell 1:25  Well, there's that. I mean, I hope I would hope he's Polish. He better fucking be Polish if he's calling himself Polish. Lesley Logan 1:32  And he's not just Polish. He's from Poland. So there's that. All right. So today is September 17th. Here's the deal, guys. We're gonna get down and dirty because you know what? The day before recording this, I'm a little, I'm a little annoyed. So we're in on this stuff. It is whether or not people wanted to celebrate this day. There, we are celebrating it. It is National DEI Day.Brad Crowell 1:53  It's September 17th.Lesley Logan 1:54  That's right. It's September 17th. It is National DEI Day. National DEI Day champions our nation's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion every September 17th, sharing its date with Constitution and Citizenship. Wow, with Constitution and Citizenship Days. I wonder if the people who aren't into DEI have ever read the Constitution or taken a citizenship test. Anyways, it reinforces values of democracy and belonging. I am zesty today, and belonging. Communities nationwide are encouraged to wear blue and unite to celebrate equity in action. Discover resources, participate in discussions, and support initiatives that foster a truly inclusive society. So, Brad put some stuff together.Brad Crowell 2:36  Yeah, DEI. Here's what each word actually means, but completely stripped of political charge that's been layered with all of the craziness that's been happening.Lesley Logan 2:47  Okay, by the way, if anyone's triggered by the fact that we're talking about DEI, they're already gone. Brad Crowell 2:51  So yeah, this is probably already gone. Lesley Logan 2:53  Yeah, but this is for our people who needed to explain it to their family members. Brad Crowell 2:57  Well, yeah, I think it's really important. DEI is just this supercharged acronym. We told my dad that our government is going after people about. They've shut down grants to universities because the university has a DEI class. But what is DEI? What does that actually mean? Right. The D stands for Diversity. The E is Equity. The I is Inclusion. But D includes the presence of people with different backgrounds, identities, and experiences in a group or organization. So that's all different backgrounds, identities, and experiences. This includes, but is not limited to, race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic background. Right?Lesley Logan 3:42  Yeah. If you're poor.Brad Crowell 3:43  You're DEI, right? National origin, so that could certainly be people from another country. It could also mean religion, and also side note, every fucking person who's ever been in the military.Lesley Logan 3:56  Yeah, you're DEI. When we told my family member, we're like, you're DEI. I'm like, you are over 65, so that's an age thing. You are a veteran.Brad Crowell 4:07  Yep.Lesley Logan 4:08  DEI.Brad Crowell 4:09  Yeah.Lesley Logan 4:09  There it is. You are. I have a sweatshirt that says you're probably DEI too.Brad Crowell 4:14  Yeah. So that's the D. So E is designing systems so that outcomes aren't predetermined by someone's starting point, so it's not the same as equality, giving everyone the same thing, right? This is equity. Equity means adjusting for the fact that different people face different barriers.Lesley Logan 4:35  Yeah, I mean, if you grow up in a poor area of town in the U.S., that likely means that your school has less funding, which means if you're able to be a straight-A student in your school with less funding, equity means that they see you similarly to someone who went to a very high-end school versus like, "Oh well, you got a 3.8 at this school, but these people have 4.2's." No, they're like, "Oh hi, that's insane, that's amazing, whoa, we should look at that."Brad Crowell 5:08  Well, it's adjusting. Yeah, exactly. It's adjusting for the fact that there are different barriers of entry. Right? So that's what equity is.Lesley Logan 5:15  There's also a really interesting thing. You can see it on YouTube. It was going around during 2020 and 2021, where they just put people on a starting line and they ask them questions, right? Did you have this? Did you have that growing up? Did you have this growing up? And you have to take certain steps forward or backward, and then you look and you see people of different socioeconomic backgrounds and races often are behind other places, and it doesn't mean that we take these other people down. It's that we actually go, "Oh, we should actually account for that and give these people an opportunity to even the drawing, give them a better opportunity at life."Brad Crowell 5:52  I stands for Inclusion. Whether people who are present actually feel welcome, they feel heard, and they're able to participate fully, or whether they're just technically in the room, right? Making sure that everyone has a voice.Lesley Logan 6:06  It's like in the '80s, or I don't remember when they, for, "Oh well, that board has a woman on the board, but she doesn't ever get to talk, and her points are never listened to." Then it's not actually included.Brad Crowell 6:18  She's the talking woman on the board.Lesley Logan 6:19  Yeah.Brad Crowell 6:20  Right. Yeah. So who is included in DEI? This is where it often gets—I'm just going to sum it all up. This is often where it gets misunderstood. DEI frameworks were born out of civil rights and anti-discrimination work. So, in practice, the groups most often centered are Black, Latino, Hispanic, Indigenous, Asian, women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, and veterans. However, the framework itself is not exclusive to those groups. A white man from rural Appalachia with no college degree is considered diverse in a room full of Ivy League professionals, and equity would ask whether he has had the same shot at advancement. Right? So.Lesley Logan 7:02  But they would never tell that guy that.Brad Crowell 7:06  Okay, well, the political fight isn't really just about the definition; it's about whether these frameworks produce fair outcomes or create preferential treatment, right? That's the—that is where the argument is: Is it right for us to give a voice to the guy from Appalachia? Are we giving preferential treatment to him, or is it producing a fair outcome? And that's where, you know, that's now where opinion comes into play, right? It's about that and whether institutional programs built around DEI actually deliver on the premise or become performative checkbox exercises, right? So it's definitely easy to just turn into a checkbox exercise. This is where reasonable people land on different places.Lesley Logan 7:45  Yeah, I mean, look, I don't know that DEI mandates, the wrong word, but values in a company are always going to be perfect. I think everything is going to have flaws, and there's always going to be blind spots to different things just based on experiences, no matter where you land on the board, but I do think that punishing people because they have DEI as a value system or something that's important to them is wrong, and also just assuming that somebody who is of any of the things we said got there because they were just gifted a thing is just ignorant. Brad Crowell 8:22  It would also be wrong.Lesley Logan 8:24  It's wrong to assume. "Oh, there's a person of color, or a poor person, or a woman, or a queer person in a job. It's because DEI." No, every person who interviews for a job still has to get past the interview. They still have to get there. You know what I mean? It's so interesting to me how people think that something is happening at them. We all benefit when there's different people at.Brad Crowell 8:51  Oh the stats are in. I mean, the, the if you go look at any corporation that focuses on diversity in their company, they perform better as a company. There's not even any question.Lesley Logan 9:02  100% So I don't know. We obviously, I want to say about Polish Peter, but I just think it's really important. If you're listening, there's a good chance you're probably DEI too in some way, and if you have family members who are really like, they roll their eyes at those letters, I strongly encourage you to look up and see if they fall in under DEI and explain it to them because what sounds like is that they've been brainwashed that people are having a leg up on them, which is not true. And if they just recognized that they also fall under these things, there are systems for them. Like, this is the thing that frustrates me the most. There are systems for people,Brad Crowell 9:38  Yeah.Lesley Logan 9:39  Who think that the world is against them. There are these things. You have to look them up. It's really frustrating, but there are these things. I hear about different things that Vegas offers people in different socioeconomic backgrounds and homes. I didn't even know existed. I'm like, how are people hearing about this? But we do have. Brad Crowell 9:55  I mean, we're watching The Pit right now. Again, literally. Lesley's on the third time through. I'm on the second time through, and there's in season two. There is a unhoused guy who he needs a bath really bad, right? And he gets in to they they they clean him up and they start talking to him and everything. And the charge nurse, the head charge nurse, says, you know, you need to work the system. The system is there to support you. You have to learn how to work the system. Right? And and so it's shoot that wrong. Lesley Logan 10:25  We have some incredible people on our teaching team and and our team who've had things that are outside of their control, just terrible things that just have sidelined their dreams. And not only did they work the system, and yes, it requires you being on long phone call holds and doing the paperwork and and keeping the receipts, but their kids are benefiting from it and Brad Crowell 10:48  Yeah, big time. Lesley Logan 10:48  So do it. Brad Crowell 10:49  In a good way.Lesley Logan 10:50  Do it.Brad Crowell 10:51  Yeah.Lesley Logan 10:51  And also we are voting in the next less than 60 days. Please consider how you are voting and who supports people. Brad Crowell 10:59  Well, first off, make sure you vote.Lesley Logan 11:01  Make sure you vote.Brad Crowell 11:02  Yeah.Lesley Logan 11:02  You can vote for whoever you want, but also think about how that person feels about other people.Brad Crowell 11:08  Yeah.Lesley Logan 11:09  You know. Anyways, we got to get into it. Brad Crowell 11:11  We're going to talk about what's coming up here and what our travel is.Lesley Logan 11:14  The upLifter, upLift Teacher Training Program. We're actually onboarding our instructors this fall, so. Brad Crowell 11:20  Our educators. Lesley Logan 11:21  Our educators, for that this fall and upLift is for people who want to become a pilates instructor or people who have had partial trainings who would like to make it a comprehensive training so they can have a career and longevity in this career. So if you are interested in my upLift teacher training program and being able to do that in person with one of our educators, xxll.co/uws. No, we still don't have a link for all these things, but we'll get there probably next year. It's a 2027 goal. All right. eLevate. That is my mentorship program. So that's for those of you who are—if you're like, "Oh, I would love to learn from you, but I'm already trained teacher." That's eLevate. We have a few spots left, and you can actually watch. Brad Crowell 11:57  Well, we might be sold out by the time you hear this in September, but yeah, we'll see. At the very least, get on the wait list for future.Lesley Logan 12:03  Just go and check, and you never know. And we'll figure out a better way to announce this stuff. lesleylogan.co/elevate. But you should go learn about it and see if it's the right thing for you. Brad Crowell 12:12  I mean, honestly, the the the reality is this: that 2027 is already sold out. 2028 is almost sold out, right? So if this is something that you're considering, it's getting further out in the future. So now is the time to start thinking about it because, you know, we might already be talking about 2029. Lesley Logan 12:29  And I won't even let them pick dates, so we're not even talking. But anyways, I want you in if you want in. I want you in. It's not some elitist thing, by the way. It's just people always, "Oh, I can't believe I got accepted." It's, yeah, you meet the requirements and why you want to join is why I do the program, and so it's a kind of a first-come, first-serve. I'm not one of those hierarchical. Is that the right word?Brad Crowell 12:49  Yeah, you nailed it.Lesley Logan 12:49  Yeah, educators where you must have been teaching 30 years, and you must bow down to me and be in my cult. No, I, I really, if you want to learn from me and you meet the why we do what we do and what you need to have done, then it's a first-come, first-serve. So there is no someone had this training and that's why they're in over someone else. Nope, nope. Also, our flashcards. Did you know that if you want to support this podcast and you're not ready to be an OPC member, there's a way to support this podcast by buying our flashcards. And when you buy our flashcards, you don't just support us. You actually support the Nevada SPCA.Brad Crowell 13:21  Hey, love that.Lesley Logan 13:22  And they do fucking great work.Brad Crowell 13:24  Yes.Lesley Logan 13:24  Yeah. opc.me/flashcards.Brad Crowell 13:26  We were able to buy all of the dogs in the. Lesley Logan 13:30  Not just the dogs, Brad. We were able to pay for 114 shelter animals' food for one week.Brad Crowell 13:35  That's amazing.Lesley Logan 13:36  And at the time, they only had 61 shelter animals, so we probably paid for two weeks of. Brad Crowell 13:40  That's what I thought. It was two weeks. The way that it worked out was it's two weeks worth of meals for the the animals that they had, the future pets that they had, and we're really proud of that, y'all. Like this is not just Lesley and I saying this. This is your participation with Online Pilates Classes. We are so excited to be able to write that check, and we write it every quarter, and it's because of you.Lesley Logan 14:03  And also, we should be updating you on Q3 soon. So stay tuned. We'll see how many more animals we we fed, or how many we paid for the adoption fees for. Anyways, posters.Brad Crowell 14:14  Yeah, people have asked us where the posters are found. The OPC posters. Just go to opc.me/posters, and then real quick, we're gonna rip through this. Yeah, we'll be in Sacramento in October for Pilates On Tour. Lesley Logan 14:26  It's sold out.Brad Crowell 14:27  It is sold out, but we'll be there, and we'll be bringing the flashcards, by the way. And then Lesley and I literally leave our van, and we take the BART into San Francisco, and we are going to hop on a plane to go to Cambodia to host our annual retreat there, which is also.Lesley Logan 14:44  Well. It's been sold out for a long time, but you can get on. You're making it sound like no one can hang out with us.Brad Crowell 14:48  No.Lesley Logan 14:48  You can get on the wailist because we will not sell tickets to 2027 until January. There is space in 2027 hangouts. But you got to be on the waitlist for that.Brad Crowell 14:58  In November, Lesley is going to be at a Pilates summit in China.Lesley Logan 15:02  Yes. Brad Crowell 15:03  Just outside of Shanghai.Lesley Logan 15:04  Still have no link for you, but I heard that they're promoting it on the Chinese socials. Brad Crowell 15:09  Yes, it is up and out. We're we're working on that.Lesley Logan 15:11  Tell your friends in China. Yeah, hopefully I can come a lot.Brad Crowell 15:15  That'd be awesome.Lesley Logan 15:16  Yeah.Brad Crowell 15:16  In December, Lesley's going to India. She's going to be in Goa.Lesley Logan 15:19  There are spaces.Brad Crowell 15:20  And there are spaces at the Pilates On Tour there, the POT there. So go to xxll.co/pot Lesley Logan 15:27  And Goa, you guys, I said yes because when you look at Goa, you too will say yes. And the way they do Goa is so different. They treat it almost like you're going on a retreat. So your ticket covers the resort, the food, the whole thing.Brad Crowell 15:39  Oh, nice.Lesley Logan 15:40  Yeah.Brad Crowell 15:41  You have food there too. That's great.Lesley Logan 15:42  Well, of course they're gonna feed me. They always do, but everyone you fed.Brad Crowell 15:45  Not you, I meant the ticket attendees. Lesley Logan 15:46  Yeah, they get everything, and then it covers their their end of resort. We're all at a resort together.Brad Crowell 15:51  Very cool.Lesley Logan 15:52  It's gonna be like the White Lotus, but not no murders, no affairs.Brad Crowell 15:58  Awesome, and then Lesley literally flies from India straight to Denver, which you know that we're in Vegas. But I'm driving the van to Denver. She's gonna fly from India to Denver, and I'll pick her up, and we're gonna hit the road for our winter tour for OPC. Lesley Logan 16:14  Weird, wild, and crazy, and people think I'm 30 years old.Brad Crowell 16:16  Yeah, so come join us. Go to opc.me/events opc.me/events. Lesley Logan 16:21  And if you're like, oh, I'm gonna do next year's, just so you know, I've accepted nothing for 2027.Brad Crowell 16:28  For the winter tour?Lesley Logan 16:29  No, I mean for any of these POTs orBrad Crowell 16:32  Any of the events, yes. Lesley Logan 16:33  Or whatever. We haven't at this moment that we're recording. We have, I've accepted. Oh, I've accepted one thing, but I haven't had the contract on it yet, so. Brad Crowell 16:41  That's true. That's true. Oh, actually, before we leave, hold on, stick around, stick around. We are very excited to talk about the charity of the week. So this week's charity is we're going to be highlighting the Americans for Immigrant Justice. It's a Miami-based nonprofit law firm fighting for immigrant basic human rights for nearly 30 years. Since 1996, they provided free legal representation because, unlike criminal court, there's no guaranteed right to an attorney in immigration proceedings. I just want to say that again. We all know that the court provides us an attorney if we need one, right? We do, we do, we get that, yes. But if you are an immigrant, if you're going through immigration proceedings, that is not a guaranteed right, right? So what do you? First off, you might not even know anything about our legal system, and then what? You're supposed to represent yourself? That's crazy.Lesley Logan 17:34  Well, we have friends who, because of all this ICE shit, are being thrown into representing people because it's hitting the federal courts now, which is not normally how it goes, and they are having to learn immigration shit.Brad Crowell 17:44  Yeah, and so, yeah, so this organization offers literally free legal counsel. It's all in the Miami-Dade area, so South Florida, but it's—it's—it's amazing. They've provided attorneys to more than 175,000 people from over 160 countries. That's amazing. They're the only provider offering on-site legal help at Miami-Dade's domestic violence shelter. They do not just immigration, but they also do violence, like domestic violence. They've exposed abusive conditions inside detention centers in Florida and on the Texas border. And in 2025, they won a federal injunction blocking a Florida law that would have made it a felony for certain undocumented people to simply be in the state. Lesley Logan 18:23  Wow, this is really cool. And also, I'm sure if you don't live in Florida, I bet you they have friends and colleagues in different states.Brad Crowell 18:30  Yeah, they're four-star rated by Charity Navigator. Your donation actually goes to real on-the-ground work for people who have nowhere else to turn. And you can find out more at aijustice.org. AIjustice.org.Lesley Logan 18:43  I love that. It's really important. You know, there's a lot of ish happening right now, and it's, it's very scary, and it's all meant to just scare. It's all scare tactics, but also these are real people who are being locked up in places that it's not how it's normally done. They're actually, when people say, "Do it the right way," a lot of these people are. They actually went to their immigration appointment and they got picked up. It takes a long time. So, anyways, please take a look at how you can support people who have immigrated here in your areas. If this organization doesn't work, there's probably a lot of different ways you can support those in your community. Do that.Brad Crowell 19:17  Yeah, and if you have a recommendation for a charity that we should investigate and check out, send us a text 310-905-5534, or you can submit that to beitpod.com/questions. You can also leave us a win for the Friday episodes, and if you know, you know. Stick around. We'll be right back. All right, let's talk about Peter, known as Polish Peter and sometimes Polish Tony, for his Tony Robbins-esque style. He's a transformational coach, speaker, and author. Born in communist Poland, Peter landed in Detroit in 1991 at the age of 14 with no English and Big Dreams of the USA, shaped by Hollywood movies. He trained as an architect, but after the 2008 recession and a divorce, he found his way into coaching. Today, he helps people like—all the stories holding them back, and asks the tough, sobering questions that people need to hear, rather than what they want to hear. He does have a book. It's called The Authentic Self Rebirth, and we'll put the link in the show notes, so check it out below. Lesley Logan 20:13  But he's got such great energy. Brad Crowell 20:16  Yeah, my Authentic Birth. You can find it, and he has a book there. It's free right now, apparently, actually.Lesley Logan 20:21  No, you just pay for shipping handling.Brad Crowell 20:22  Yeah, awesome. So yeah, yeah, it was a great convo.Lesley Logan 20:25  I agree. I don't. I think I don't even remember. Remember when the 747s were falling out of the sky, like they were having issues.Brad Crowell 20:34  Yeah, sure. Like two years ago.Lesley Logan 20:35  No, more like before COVID. But there was that. Was it really? Yeah, maybe they weren't 747s. Maybe they were—remember the Boeing? There were Boeings, and there was two that the pilots were trying to do something, and the computer was doing the opposite thing. Yeah, and then you were on a plane to New Orleans, and I had to get on a plane to Poland, and it was one of these Boeing numbers, and I started having a panic attack, and you weren't answering your phone because you were on a plane,Brad Crowell 21:00  I think it was 2023, babe.Lesley Logan 21:02  No, definitely not. It was before COVID. We lived in LA, and so I'm texting you, "I think I'm gonna die now. I'm going." Brad Crowell 21:10  Oh yes, I do remember this.Lesley Logan 21:11  And I love you so much. Here's where I come down. Brad Crowell 21:15  This was your first trip to Poland.Lesley Logan 21:17  My first trip to Poland, and they made me check my bag, which you know how much I hate because I said it was too heavy, and so of course I found some tequila and some kombucha, and I made myself a margarita at the airport. And I'm walking around drinking my margarita that I made, and I get myself on this plane. I was like, okay, if the plane takes off and nothing happens in 20 minutes, I think we're okay. So I set a timer, and I'm just sitting there with my timer. What? Nothing happened.Brad Crowell 21:43  What? No idea what you said.Lesley Logan 21:44  Well, I was just like watching my timer. I was just watching the timer. I was watching 20 minutes tick down, right? Because I was like, "This is—this is when it's going to happen. It's going to happen the next 20 minutes." And this woman next to me, when there was no one in the middle seat, she was, "I'm scared to fly too," and I was like, "Oh yeah, normally no, but this is one of those planes that goes down, so I'm just scared to be on this one." And she started talking about being living in communist Poland.Brad Crowell 22:06  She did?Lesley Logan 22:07  Yeah. And she told me it was so wonderful because she talked nonstop. Even my timer went off. She just kept talking, and she told me her whole life trying to escape communist Poland and how her family got to the U.S. and because in communist Poland you couldn't have access to your passport, so you had to have different reasons to get access to it. And then they watched you heavily when you had access to your passport. And she and her family were able to escape Poland and come to the United States.Brad Crowell 22:37  That's amazing.Lesley Logan 22:37  Yes, and it was a beautiful story. It was, and then she's like, "And I'm going back to see family." I'm like, so. Brad Crowell 22:43  Why would you do that? Okay. Lesley Logan 22:44  But it's not communist. Anyways. But it was. I just, anyways, I thought of her when I thought of that story and thought of her when with Peter because how difficult for his family to come here and then to be a child. Now he's in Detroit. How many Polish people are in Detroit. He's in Detroit. He doesn't know English, and English is. You think Polish is hard? English is hard. So, anyways, he operates, and this is probably why, is because he operates under the belief that life happens for me, not to me. And I know we've all heard that before, but you really do have to think about that in a way that's, that helps you because shit happens, and if you really can think about it, he, you know, in 2008 he lost all the things and his partner and all this stuff, and if he can think about this is happening for me and see the opportunities that are there to grow and to become a different person and to have a different life, so he definitely had some really good explanations. He said, imagine banging your head against the drywall, like something's going to give.Brad Crowell 23:42  Something will give.Lesley Logan 23:43  It will, and if you live at a flipped house, it will definitely give. But it's not good. You don't want to do that. He does—he said you should figure out what the root cause of the issue was going on. Like, really going back in time, and I think a lot of us stick to the surface level. This happened, so this is the thing. But there's often a first domino that starts the effect. So he also, I really like when he talked about the different patterns that signal a wrong direction, and we have to pivot. And my God, I know we all hate that word. It's still like a trigger word for us. But there's nothing wrong with a good pivot. I don't know. I'm a pivot queen.Brad Crowell 24:19  I think it's a great skill to have. I mean, it's also an important time to step back and reevaluate.Lesley Logan 24:27  Well, I was just talking with some eLevate people this week about how sometimes they get so super focused on this one thing in a person doing an exercise, and I love how you are a dog with a bone on that. But you got to zoom out because if you don't zoom out, you're actually missing that these three things are happening, which is probably why the thing you're zoomed in is happening there. And if you don't zoom out, then you're actually going to be going in the wrong direction. Where if you zoomed out and made a pivot, it doesn't mean you're a bad teacher. It actually means you're, you're going, "Whoa, hold on! I have more information, and now I can take us in the right direction." No, that's what.Brad Crowell 25:06  Well, I really loved what he was talking about. How do we know that we're being authentic? Because that's just be yourself. Just be authentic.Lesley Logan 25:13  I love this because everyone talks about being authentic. It's so annoying, but I love the word. Yeah, how do you know if you are?Brad Crowell 25:18  He said when you are true to yourself, he said, "You'll know when you're true to yourself if it feels like nothing is missing," right? If something is missing, if something feels like it's missing, then you're probably not being true to yourself, right? You're not being your authentic self. He also said that if you're living from stories of what the world told you to be, not how you need to be, right? So it's, this goes back to all the, you know, parallel here is like magazines or society telling you what this is how you should do it, and it's not necessarily the right path for you, right? For me, yeah, I agree. Yeah, you know, so I think it's amazing when you are pressured by something outside of you. That could be your parents. That could be your school. That could be your church. That could be whatever it might be. Your job. There's tension. There's obviously tension there. Sometimes the pressure is good. They're helping you with your path, but you know if the pressure is not good, right? It makes me think of my job that I had before I finally quit. Yeah, I mean, look, my parents pushed me to be a better student. You know, that's a good thing. My job pushed me to do things that could I do those things? Yes. Should I do those things? Probably shouldn't have done those things. You know, there was so much turmoil and tension in doing those things, but I was, I felt stuck. Felt super, super stuck. I need to get paid. I need to, you know, that's what's keeping me here. Is the only thing that's keeping me here is the paycheck, right? And I, it became very clear over time. I can't keep operating this way. I cannot keep doing the things I'm doing, you know, because I am not being authentic to myself. I don't believe in the things that I'm doing. I don't, I don't want to be doing the things that I'm doing, but I'm still doing them for some reason, right? And so, you know, I think that there's that internal frustration that you have, and that is a huge indicator that you're not being your authentic self.Lesley Logan 27:21  Yeah, I think I look back at my job I had in retail, which I do love and I'm really grateful for. But I kept taking promotions, expecting like the next thing to be better, the next thing to be better, and then I'm like, I gotta move cities, and that's gonna make it better. And then it's—you keep saying, "And then once this happens, then it'll be better." And it's actually no, if that keeps happening, there's something missing, and so you're not fully being authentic. And you got to take some time to think about that means and go get to know yourself. You know, go watch Runaway Bride and see how long it took her to figure out what she liked. You know, it takes time.Brad Crowell 27:52  Yeah, I mean, you know, I think the idea of getting to know yourself will help you create clarity when you have that tension. It's really hard, you know, to step aside and reevaluate things. It often comes with major life change, you know. For him, he was talking about how getting divorced was a reality check, and it made him do a lot of self-inflection.Lesley Logan 28:20  Self-inflection, reflection?Brad Crowell 28:22  Inflection.Lesley Logan 28:24  Self-inflection.Brad Crowell 28:25  Yeah, right? Lesley Logan 28:26  I don't think that's right. I don't want to correct you, but I don't think that's right. Self-inflection?Brad Crowell 28:32  Maybe it's self-reflection.Lesley Logan 28:33  It's reflection. Brad Crowell 28:34  What is inflection? What does that even mean?Lesley Logan 28:36  Well, this is when I'm in—I'm inflecting my voice. Like, I'm doing inflection. I'm inflecting this way. I am doing it like this. Like, inflection is like what you do with sounds.Brad Crowell 28:47  Well, we're gonna inflect in just a minute. So stick around. We'll be right back when we we inflect on those Be It Action Items.Lesley Logan 28:53  Oh my god, you guys! It's a Friday night.Brad Crowell 28:55  It's definitely Thursday.Lesley Logan 29:00  Leave it in. Just leave it in. Brad Crowell 29:03  We'll be right back. Brad Crowell 29:07  All right, welcome back. Let's talk about those be it action items. What bold, executable, intrinsic, or targeted action items can we take away from your convo with Polish Peter? He identifies as a recovering people pleaser. He said that if you say yes to everything and everyone except the things that are most important to you, what ends up happening most of the time is the people who are closest to you get hurt the most. I'm going to say that again. If you say yes to everyone else, everyone except for the things that are important to you, the people that are closest to you get hurt the most. That was really interesting to think about. He also pointed out the people who are always told to write business plans, but nobody ever tells you to write a vision for your own personal life. I thought that was also really intriguing. So, but the thing, but let me get back to the thing about the people get hurt the most are the people closest to you. Think about this. This is—this is actually one of the things we talk about with OPC. You gotta put yourself first so that you can be the better you for your family, friends, coworkers, job, whatever it might be. For yourself, you have to put yourself first.Lesley Logan 30:20  I agree. Also, I was just watching a shitty reality TV show, and these people were with terrible people, and they're, you can watch the people-pleasers trying to make it work, and some of it was manipulation and coercion, but they're trying to people-please their way out of the situation, andBrad Crowell 30:35  It was some inflection.Lesley Logan 30:36  Yeah. And other person feel really good, but guess who got hurt? Their friends, their family, the people they cared about, because those people could see this partner is not good for them, and they could see what this person was doing, jumping through hoops to make this partner good for them. And it's, they ended up losing friends and losing connection with family members. And so you ought to be mindful. Yeah, I agree. Your OPC example was perfect. Brad Crowell 31:00  Yeah. Moving on to the business plan for your life, like writing a vision for your life. He said to stop being a people pleaser. He wrote out his own vision for his own life, and he blocked out personal priorities in his calendar to ensure those spots were not taken up by others or other commitments when he was usually saying yes. And he said the payoff was when people would ask for his time. He would say, "Hey, let me get back to you on that," and then he would go sit down and he would think, "Does this align with my vision? Is this going to help me with my vision, or is it going to take me further away from my vision?" Right?Lesley Logan 31:36  I have a filter.Brad Crowell 31:37  But also that sounds super selfish. Does this align with my vision? Is it going to help me with my vision, or is it going to take me further away?Lesley Logan 31:45  I think this selfish needs a rebrand.Brad Crowell 31:48  Right. So self-care isn't selfish. We talked about that a whole lot back in the day, but the idea here is, yeah, it might sound selfish, but because he had not put himself first in the past, his entire life fell apart. So on round two, he was major change needs to happen. I'm going to run all of these things through this filter of how aligned is this thing with what I need for me. In addition to, I'm sure there's ways in there he can do both, but there are certainly things in there that will not serve him at all. And he's, "Hold on a minute. I don't know if I can do this anymore." So good for him. That's a really powerful thing to learn. And now he's helping people with it.Lesley Logan 32:33  Yeah. I also definitely understand feeling bad when I say no to things that don't align with what I want to do. It's not about—I don't feel bad, right? While this is going on, we were asked to be somewhere for an event, and we're available, but it's the only month to be fucking home, the rest of the year, it's it, and so I said we can't make it because it's the only month not on plane, and I'm really excited for you, and so of course I feel some FOMO. I feel, "Oh my God, are we letting people down?" And also, I can't do it. I will not be present enough for October events, November events, December events. I can't do it. So it's actually not selfish because going back to the people pleasing thing, if I had said yes, then the people coming to our events the rest of the year are going to get an exhausted version of me, so I had to say no, and it's not selfish; it's self-preservation.Brad Crowell 33:29  Right.Lesley Logan 33:30  Yeah. Anyways, I like that he said literally every day be with yourself. I do this all the time, so I couldn't agree more. I actually get really annoyed when I can't be with myself for four plus hours. I think it's really important. Find ways to be with yourself. Some people want to be with themselves in movement. Some people want to be themselves meditation, whatever. But you got to be with yourself without the podcast in the ear. I know this podcast, but so as much as I want you to keep listening, find 15 other minutes to be with yourself. But be with yourself. He suggested being in front of a camera or a mirror and just be with yourself and just be quiet. I think that's cool, especially if you don't do things with the camera. I'm in front of a camera all fucking day. I don't want to see my face anymore, so most of my time with myself is not seeing my face. I really appreciate that, but then it's really hilarious because I'll be with myself for four hours, and I'll put a camera. I'm like, "Wow, I walk the dogs like this." But anyways, I couldn't agree more because I think it's really important that you you just take time to be with you without any extra input. So I love that. I'm Lesley LoganBrad Crowell 34:35  And I'm Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 34:36  We're so happy you're here. Thanks for being here. This is episode 734. That's insane! Insane! Insane to me. But thanks for listening, and thanks for sharing this with friends. It's so fun to hear new listeners who are downloading the podcast and their takeaways, and share Polish Peter's episode with a friend who needs to hear it. Join OPC or get our flashcards if you want to support this podcast in other ways. And until next time, Be It Till You See It.Brad Crowell 34:58  Bye for now.Lesley Logan 34:59  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod. Brad Crowell 35:41  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 35:46  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 35:51  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 35:58  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 36:01  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

After last week's devastating loss, WE ARE BACK! We've got the EMMYS! XBOX is saving Kojima and Asha is being that CEO! Blizzcon dropped the heat by announcing a new StarCraft after 15 years and Diablo V! Plus, some recaps from last week's lost news!

Miami-Dade revocó permiso comercial a compañía por negocios con empresa cubana sancionada por Estados Unidos

A disagreement over who should speak first has sparked a very public clash between two of Miami-Dade County's most powerful elected officials.Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz found themselves at odds following an emergency response, raising a bigger question: When a crisis happens, who should take the lead—the mayor or the sheriff?Tonight on The Arrington Gavin Show, we break down the dispute and discuss whether this was simply a disagreement over protocol—or whether it reveals a deeper power struggle between two elected leaders.

Book your next in-network doctor's appointment in as little as 24–72 hours for free at https://zocdoc.com/itc. Use the code "true crime" for 10% off or more⁣ ⁣ Get 10% sitewide for a limited time. Just visit https://GhostBed.com/cox and use code COX at checkout. ⁣ ⁣ Brian McCarthy shares how his life as an international smuggler and dealer eventually led to jail before he turned his experiences into a career in writing, comedy, and media.⁣ ⁣ Brian's links - ⁣ https://www.instagram.com/brianmshow/?hl=en⁣ https://www.youtube.com/@brianmshow⁣ ⁣ Do you want to be a guest? Fill out the form https://www.insidetruecrimepodcast.com/apply-to-be-a-guest⁣ ⁣ Shop my merch: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MatthewCoxCollection⁣ ⁣ Send me an email here: insidetruecrime@gmail.com⁣ ⁣ Do you extra clips and behind the scenes content?⁣ Subscribe to my Patreon: https://patreon.com/InsideTrueCrime ⁣ ⁣ Check out my Dark Docs YouTube channel here -⁣ https://www.youtube.com/@DarkDocsMatthewCox⁣ ⁣ Follow me on all socials!⁣ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidetruecrime/⁣ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@matthewcoxtruecrime⁣ ⁣ ⁣ Do you want a custom painting done by me? Check out my Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/coxpopart⁣ ⁣ Listen to my True Crime Podcasts anywhere: https://anchor.fm/mattcox ⁣ ⁣ Check out my true crime books! ⁣ Shark in the Housing Pool: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0851KBYCF⁣ Bent: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BV4GC7TM⁣ It's Insanity: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFYXKK8⁣ Devil Exposed: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TH1WT5G⁣ Devil Exposed (The Abridgment): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1070682438⁣ The Program: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0858W4G3K⁣ Bailout: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bailout-matthew-cox/1142275402⁣ Dude, Where's My Hand-Grenade?: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXNFHBDF/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1678623676&sr=1-1⁣ ⁣ Checkout my disturbingly twisted satiric novel!⁣ Stranger Danger: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSWQP3WX⁣ ⁣ If you would like to support me directly, I accept donations here:⁣ Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/MattCox69⁣ Cashapp: $coxcon69⁣ ⁣ Chapters: ⁣ 00:00 - Childhood & School Years⁣ 06:54 - Dropping Out & College⁣ 11:16 - Auditioning for Tisch⁣ 15:13 - Moving to NYC⁣ 24:00 - Early Hustles⁣ 31:42 - Street Sales & Pagers⁣ 45:16 - Jamaica Trip Plan⁣ 49:02 - Arriving in Montego Bay⁣ 53:16 - Life in the Blue Mountains⁣ 1:01:10 - Preparing for the Trip Home⁣ 1:08:55 - Customs & Getting Caught⁣ 1:22:47 - Miami-Dade & Court⁣ 1:30:26 - Bond & Next Steps⁣ 1:37:49 - Release & Starting Over⁣ 1:45:30 - Early Entertainment Projects⁣ 1:46:30 - Writing an Iconic Ad Campaign⁣ 1:51:22 - Shane Gillis Story⁣ 2:03:39 - Writing & Publishing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ryan, Dana, and Nathalie Rodriguez discuss the Miami-Dade sheriff identifying five people killed in the Amazon cargo plane crash near MIA amid the investigation, along with four people found dead after a Miami family's small plane went missing off the Bahamas.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Read, Dana, Nathalie Rodriguez, and Chris Trenkmann discuss the Pinellas sheriff pushing back against Flock camera removals, Miami-Dade mayors challenging Florida's Flock camera ban, and listener feedback on the controversial surveillance technology.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Read, Dana, and Nathalie Rodriguez, with Fox News Radio Reporter Eben Brown, discuss Miami-Dade beginning to take license plate reader cameras offline and Gov. Ron DeSantis pulling Flock cameras from Florida roads, raising questions about whether other states could follow Florida's lead.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ryan, Dana, and Nathalie Rodriguez discuss Miami-Dade County's crackdown on aggressive and distracted driving, which resulted in more than 2,500 tickets and nine arrests over six months.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode we're joined by Monique Madan. Monique is an award-winning investigative journalist, advisor, educator, and a mother of two. She's also the founder of a newsletter Two Can Be True.Monique has been a reporter in many prominent newsrooms, 13 years at The Miami Herald, as well as at USA Today, The Boston Herald, The Markup, and short stints at The New York Times and The Boston Globe.She's a graduate of Miami Dade and Emerson College, and has a masters from Harvard.We talked to Monique about the challenges of being an independent investigative journalist, the stories she's written, the traits that make her a good journalist, and balancing her job with being a mom.Monique's salute: Project C – The Home of Creator JournalismStory about the Grim Reaper patchhttps://moniqueomadan.substack.com/p/the-grim-reaper-patch-circulatingCoverage of Aligator Alcatrazhttps://moniqueomadan.substack.com/p/fl-said-alligator-alcatraz-was-shuttingStory about her grandfather cooking for President Kennedyhttps://moniqueomadan.substack.com/p/my-abuelo-cooked-for-jfk-i-retracedStory about being called scrappyhttps://moniqueomadan.substack.com/p/they-called-me-scrappy-heres-whyStory about Monique in Project C Newsletterhttps://newsletter.projectc.biz/p/what-it-costs-to-leaveSubscribe to our newsletter hereYou can find all our episode guides for teachers and professors here,Please support your local public radio station: adoptastation.orgVisit our website: thejournalismsalute.org Mark Simon's website MarkSimonmedia.comMark Simon's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-simon-92355124/

What happens when the career you built changes, disappears, or no longer feels right? I talk with content marketing leader Nicole Pytel about career change, burnout prevention, imposter syndrome, entrepreneurship, professional identity, and the growing role of AI in content marketing. Nicole shares how she moved from sports journalism into business, built her own agency, learned to shut work off, and later chose employment over entrepreneurship without seeing it as a step backward. We also explore what layoffs can teach us about identity, why confidence can exist beside fear, and how AI can support human skill instead of replacing it. Her story is a strong reminder to trust what you know, keep learning, and ask yourself one powerful question: Why not you? Highlights: 21:44 - The turning point that pushed Nicole to leave television. 28:50 - Why never shutting off from work led to burnout. 39:34 - How confidence can exist alongside fear and imposter syndrome. 45:35 - What a layoff can reveal about professional identity and self-worth. 50:24 - Why AI still needs human judgment, strategy, and creativity. 1:00:24 - Why trusting your gut can make career change worth the risk. About the Guest: Nicole Pytel is a content marketing leader who's spent her career translating complicated things into stories people actually want to hear — first from a newsroom, now from the executive table. Her career started in TV news as a sports reporter, where she covered the legendary Friday night lights of high school football and spent her Saturdays on the sidelines of Texas A&M's Kyle Field. She was eventually promoted to news anchor, and those days of turning complex topics into compelling stories still shape how she approaches content strategy today. Nicole then spent nearly a decade as the founder of Premier Content Source, a content marketing agency she grew to serve over 1,000 clients across multiple industries. She later worked as an embedded content marketing expert inside teams at Google Cloud, Chrome Enterprise, and YouTube. Most recently, Nicole served as Vice President of Content Marketing at Firebrand Communications, where she built the agency's content marketing line of business from zero and held a seat on the executive leadership team. Today, Nicole is focused on how AI is changing content marketing, building a four-chapter framework for how content teams should operate now that AI has fundamentally changed how buyers search, discover, and evaluate the companies they work with. Whether it's a thirty-second news segment or a company's entire content strategy, Nicole's guiding belief hasn't changed: if you can't make the audience care, you're just making noise. Ways to connect with Nicole**:** LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolepytelmarketing/ About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:04 What if the biggest thing holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe? Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingston, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head-on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together, we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Well, hi again, everyone, and once again, it is time for another episode of Unstoppable Mindset. We are having a lot of fun doing these podcast recordings, and I really appreciate all of you being out there. Love to hear from you if any of you have any comments on any of the things that we talk about, or even if you don't comment anyway. We'd love to hear from you, but I really appreciate you all being here and and and interacting with us today. We get to chat with Nicole Pytel. My screen reader pronounces it Pytel, but you know we were just besmirching technology, and it deserves it because it should pronounce it right. But anyway, that's okay. But no help. Nicole has been very much involved in a lot of content marketing and in a variety of things. I think we're going to have a lot of fun chatting and talking about different business things, and who knows what else will come up in the course of the conversation. That's what makes it fun because it is truly and always is intended to be a conversation. And who the heck knows where things may go as we follow along? But we'll make it work. So Nicole, welcome to Unstoppable Mindset. We're glad you're here. Nicole Pytel  02:08 Thank you for having me. I'm thrilled to be here. I'm so excited, and yeah, I can't wait to see where the conversation goes. Michael Hingson  02:14 I can't either. It'll we'll have a lot of fun with it. Well, I love to start this way. Tell us about the early Nicole, growing up and and all that. Let's get people to have a chance to get to know you a little bit. Nicole Pytel  02:28 Yeah, well, the the early Nicole is a a Florida native. I know people are always a little baffled by that. Not everybody in this state is from a transplant from New York or Philly or Boston or any of those places. Some of us are born here. And have you made Michael Hingson  02:43 and have you made friends with all the gators? Nicole Pytel  02:46 Ah, no, no. I stay away from the gators. Antisocial, Michael Hingson  02:50 aren't Nicole Pytel  02:51 they? They're yeah, they're they're a bit unfriendly. Yeah, I've I've never seen one in the wild, and I I'd like to keep it that way. Yeah, I hear you for sure. Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, born in Miami, grew up in Fort Lauderdale. the The only daughter of two former Miami Dade police officers. So, yes, yes. My mom was actually an undercover narc in the days of the cocaine cowboys. So, she is incapable of being intimidated. And personally, I think she's amazing and also a little crazy for doing that. But yeah, grew up as an only child, had you know four-legged brothers. You know, just had a great childhood. You know, just really like as great as it could be. You know, dad worked from home, had his own business. Mom worked with dad a lot of the time and was in the PTA and running the Girl Scouts and the young astronauts and all all the things. So, you know, really great childhood and a lot of lessons that really kind of you know still stick with me today and kind of gave me that foundation to go and do all the really cool things I've done as a grown-up. A lot of lessons learned. So you know, it was a good childhood. Michael Hingson  04:06 What did your dad do, and what does he do? Nicole Pytel  04:09 He well, he was after he left the police force. He started his own business. He reconstructed traffic accidents. So he was an expert witness. His clients were personal injury attorneys in South Florida, which is probably the worst client you could have on the planet. Those are some demanding folks. He handled it really, really well. He had his own business for gosh, 30 years. So yeah, he was he was amazing. Michael Hingson  04:38 Did he ever consult for CSI Miami. Nicole Pytel  04:43 No, he did not. Just checking. Did not. The one that was the one cool thing he didn't do. No. Michael Hingson  04:48 Yeah. Well, talk about the potential for pressure, but that's okay. Sounded like he had a a good time and enjoyed what he did, and and it does sound very fascinating. It is. It is Nicole Pytel  05:02 indeed. Although you know, when you're learning to drive as a teenager and your father does that for a living, you know, you've you've seen all the terrifying accident photos and heard all the stories, and so it's a it's a little stressful learning to drive from somebody who sees the worst of the worst every single day, but you know, we made it. Michael Hingson  05:23 And did Dad work as a backseat driver for you every so often? Nicole Pytel  05:27 Oh, 100% 100% literally. I mean, till the day he died, he was the world's worst backseat driver. I, you know, I'm in my 30s, and he's like, "What are you doing? You know, so yeah, absolutely, 100% Michael Hingson  05:42 How about mom? Nicole Pytel  05:44 Oh, mom, mom is amazing, and yes, she's a backseat driver as well. Okay, I am as well. So, but you know, mom, mom is tough and and also amazing, and you know, such a a great mom to her fur kids and a good grandma to my fur kids, and you know, just just amazing the life that she's had. You know, just grew up as a State Department brat, lived all over the world, was cop, like just wild, just wild. So I I have I have some very cool parents. Michael Hingson  06:15 Do you have any kids of the two legged variety? Nicole Pytel  06:18 Not the two legged variety. I've got two of the four-legged kind. Yeah, Michael Hingson  06:22 that works. Yeah, they're they're demanding enough. Nicole Pytel  06:26 Oh, mine are little little tiny divas. Absolutely, and I'm proud of it. They were raised to be little spoiled divas. Michael Hingson  06:33 Well, I have my guide dog Alamo, and we have a cat who's now 16 and a half years old, named Stitch. She's the real demanding one, she she likes to be petted while she eats, and the only way to keep her from disturbing a podcast to get fed is to keep the door closed, which I do. But the the thing is that if if the door opened, she'd probably be in here, and she would be insisting pretty loudly if I didn't respond, that she needs me to go pet her while she eats. She loves it, and it's fine. There are just a few times that she doesn't get to do it, and mostly she's pretty quiet about it since the door's closed. But when we're done, I'll open the door, and I will hear from her pretty quickly that time for more food. Nicole Pytel  07:21 She's got you well trained. Very good. Have you well Michael Hingson  07:24 trained? Yeah. Now Alamo, Alamo, my guide dog, is a clock watcher, so he's going to get his his afternoon treat a half hour late, and and he's pretty quiet about that sort of stuff. He's pretty pretty nonplussed about it. He won't come over and bug me, even though he's here in the room during the podcast because he knows what's going on, but by the same token, as soon as we're done, he's going to be out there going, "It's after 130, Buster. Nicole Pytel  07:51 I hear you. Minnie, Minnie and Megs will be the same way. Don't you worry; it'll be time for their dinner when we're done here. So, yeah, they'll they'll be ready. Michael Hingson  08:00 Yeah, well, and Stitch also gets some treats in the evening. She gets them around 630 at night, but at five she starts demanding them, and she doesn't want to eat anything that's left over in her food bowl. She wants her treats, and she knows she's not going to get them until after 630, but she pushes anyway. Ah, it's fun. I wouldn't have it any other way, though. Nicole Pytel  08:23 No, absolutely not. They are just little rays of sunshine. Michael Hingson  08:27 They are. So you went to college, I gather. Nicole Pytel  08:30 I did. I went to the University of Miami. Both my parents did as well. Dad actually played football there back in the day. Yeah, actually, I mean, honestly, growing up, I pretty much lived at the Orange Bowl on Saturdays. We had season tickets to the Hurricanes, and you know, learned about football very, very early on. I was actually, I think I was like five, and I was sitting there on a Saturday playing with my Barbies, and Dad came in and was like, "All right, come on, put the Barbie dolls down. We're gonna go watch football. You're gonna learn about football, and I was I was hooked ever ever since. So you know, who needs copies? Michael Hingson  09:10 I got hooked more on on baseball. Of course, I still am of the opinion that for the longest time, we had the best announcers in baseball here in California. We had Vince Scully, we had Dick Enberg, and so many people. And I learned baseball from Vin Scully. I learned all about the rules and so on, because he could announce the game, and he could include stories, but never missed announcing what was going on on the field. So you you got both, and I don't think there are many announcers today who can do that. And they've got buddies, and they they kind of talk together, but they're yammering a lot and not announcing the game, which is all the more no fun. So yeah, what do you do? Nicole Pytel  09:54 Yeah, there's something special about those guys that can just do it solo for nine innings, especially with all the break. In between pitches and things like that, I mean that's it's a lot of air to fill. So yeah, I mean Vince Gully. There's there's nobody better to learn from. Michael Hingson  10:09 No, nobody better than Vinny ever ever in baseball. And and as I said, Dick Enberg was out here, and and then in basketball we had Chick Hearn who could talk faster than anybody in the world, which was pretty cool, and there were some other announcers. They weren't necessarily just announcers like Vinny. I mean, Harry Carey, who did the Cubs, and but he was well loved and had a great personality, and it was a lot of fun. But Vinny was definitely the best, and then Dick Enberg, who also did football, and I learned a lot about football from from him, which was kind of fun. But I've always been a baseball fan. Nicole Pytel  10:46 Same, I love baseball as well. There's just something so quintessentially like wholesome and American about baseball. It's just like the hot dog, and you know, there's just something about baseball where you just feel like just a pure good old fashioned American kind of thing, you know. It's just got this feeling Michael Hingson  11:08 to it. Yeah. Well, so you went and got. Did you do advanced degrees or just a bachelor's? Nicole Pytel  11:14 I did my bachelor's. Yeah. I I went into broadcasting. Actually, majored in in broadcast journalism and psychology. Ah, wow, that's a Michael Hingson  11:23 combination. Nicole Pytel  11:24 It is, you know, I the psychology part. You know, I've always been fascinated of like why people do what they do, and I wanted to be a sports journalist. You know, ever since I can remember, and I was like, well, what a great way to really understand people if you're going to interview them and talk to them all the time, and and tell them stories, you know, through the TV. Like, what a great way to understand them. Take take psychology, learn all about that. And and now that I'm in marketing, it's it's the same thing. Trying to figure out, you know, why'd they click on that ad and not this one? Why'd they open this email and not that one? Why'd they, you know, read this case study and not that one. So it's it that that major was kind of the gift that keeps on giving. Michael Hingson  12:07 Now you, so you got your bachelor's and then you went into broadcast journalism. Nicole Pytel  12:13 I did. I did. I I took off to College Station, Texas, to be a great reporter. Yeah, really no better place. I mean, you know, you start in broadcasting, and you're going to start in a small market. And there's all kinds of cities in in the country that I'm sure are lovely, but you've never heard of them before. Your God only knows what you're going to cover. But I was very, very blessed. I got to go to College Station, Texas, so that is the home of Texas A and M, and of course Friday Night Football, the local high schools. You know that the that was my job to cover that stuff. So you can't really ask for anything better than that for a first job out of school. Michael Hingson  12:55 So did you did you announce the games or what did you do? Nicole Pytel  12:58 I didn't. I was a I was a sports reporter for one of the local affiliates in town. So, and I was a one-man band. So I shot everything, edited everything, reported everything. I did, I did all the things, all the things. No photog following me around. No, no, nothing. It was all me. So I was the one, you know, on the sidelines shooting the games or standing behind home plate, and you know it was it was fun. It was it was definitely an adventure. We could probably do an entire podcast just on crazy stories about that. Well, Michael Hingson  13:29 how long ago was that? Nicole Pytel  13:30 Oh gosh, more years ago than I I'd like to think. My goodness, I went out there in 2006. So Michael Hingson  13:39 digital cameras had started to come into play. Nicole Pytel  13:44 Yeah, sort of. Although when you're working in a small market, they don't have the newest equipment, so the cameras were still big and heavy. You had this big bag of stuff to lug around. You had the big heavy tripod. You know, you're kind of going like carrying your weight in stuff. Yeah, you know, and and I'm doing it, you know, depending on where I'm going, you know, in in like dress clothes and and heels and and trying not to fall over, you know. So, but um, yeah, no, it's that was still the big and bulky stuff back then. Michael Hingson  14:14 Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm not surprised, and at the same time, you did it. What's what's the most memorable, if you have one, memorable event or thing that you can think of that you did while you were out there in Texas doing football and baseball and all that? Nicole Pytel  14:30 Oh man, there's there's so many, there's so many. But I think one of the coolest things I got to do was, you know, Kyle Field, which is Texas A&M's home stadium. It is it is enormous. It seats you know 100,000 plus people, and you know being there on a Saturday is is unreal. It's loud. Those are probably some of the most devoted fans on the planet. They never sit down. They they. Practice all their cheers the night before. I mean, it's just wild. But you know, I used to do obviously during the season. I'd go to the weekly press conferences during the week, and I'd I'd do stories. And you know, I never. I don't know if I ever told anybody this publicly, but they used to leave a chain link gate open at Kyle Field on Tuesday afternoons. It was just unlocked, and so I would I would go in there, and the stadium would be totally empty except for me, not a soul. And I'd go in there, and I was you know shooting my own stuff. So I had it all figured out where exactly where I had to put the camera and exactly how I had the angle of the tripod and exactly where I had to stand, so that I could get there. Home of the 12th man sign like right over my shoulder, the perfect shot for you know my stand up and my story. And so every every Tuesday I'd go in there. I'd kind of sneak in. I don't know to this day if they ever knew I was in there, but but being in there, you know, on the 50-yard line of this enormous stadium, all by yourself-it's totally silent. You know what it's like at at peak velocity volume, and being in there all by yourself, you're just like, this is the coolest thing I know ever. Like this is amazing. It's wild. It's just wild. Michael Hingson  16:19 Well, I won't tell anyone. I mean, it's sort of like Vin Scully, who always said, "This is between me and you, nobody else. Nicole Pytel  16:24 Exactly, exactly. Michael Hingson  16:26 Nobody will hear it. It's okay. That's that's cool. The only thing I would say about that is, and I experience this. If you talk about crazy fans, Kentucky and football is just as challenging, I went to do a speech somewhere, and the speech was on Monday night. It was the NCAA championship in football, and the and the Kentucky Wildcats were one of the teams. And I was told that my speech had to end at 630. It could not go any later because if it went later, I'd be speaking to an empty gym. Nicole Pytel  17:04 Yes, you would absolutely no pressure, no pressure. No, no Michael Hingson  17:07 pressure at all. Well, I kept an eye on the time and and ended it right at 630, and by 631, the place was empty. It was crazy. Nicole Pytel  17:14 Cleared out, cleared out. Well, hey, that speaks well for you that they were all there before the game. They weren't tailgating or anything, you you were bigger than the tailgate. Michael Hingson  17:22 I guess so, but it was it was fun, and and then you've got North Carolina for basketball, so oh yeah, it's again it's it's pretty amazing. Well, how long did you do your your stint dealing with sports and and being in the news media? Nicole Pytel  17:41 Yeah, so I was a sports reporter for two years, and then my contract was up in the summer of 2008 when the the economy was not so great. Yeah, and I I didn't want to stay in my job not because I didn't love it. I just wasn't really making any money. You don't make any money in TV. That's the big secret. It looks so glamorous, and and you're broke. But it was so it was basically impossible to get another sports job at at that time, you know. And I got a really good opportunity at the station I was at. They were like, you know what? Like everybody in town knows you. They see you on the sidelines. They see you behind home plate. Like they see you at all the things. And so why don't you be the main news anchor? Because they were rebranding the station, and I said, you know what? Okay, cool. I'll do that. You know that that'll be something new and different. And you know it kind of hurt to leave sports, but it was a challenge. You know to be the main anchor and the producer. So it was it was my show to run. So I did that for two years as well. No pressure, no pressure at all. No, it's fine. Michael Hingson  18:51 Yeah, Nicole Pytel  18:51 pressure. Michael Hingson  18:53 So you did that for two years, and then, Nicole Pytel  18:56 and then I left, and I totally did something different. I left TV and I started my own content marketing agency. Just me, myself, and I, and my little my little built-in desk in my kitchen in my apartment. So couldn't be more different. Michael Hingson  19:12 Did you do now? Was that in Texas? It Nicole Pytel  19:15 was in Texas. It was you know it was it was you know time to leave TV, and it was just like, okay, well, what am I good at? Like, what can I do? And I said, well, shoot, I can write anything, you know. So I'll do content marketing, and and there's so many journalists that go into PR. That's kind of like the the thing they all do. And I was like, I don't want to do that. Like, I don't know. It's just like being on the journalism side, you know, all the PR people. It's like, oh, come on, guys, stop! So I went into content marketing, started my own agency, just just me, myself, and I. And you know, was it was scary, but it was fun. It was you know throwing yourself into the deep end of the pool and and seeing if you could swim. If Speaker 1  20:02 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset Community. Michael Hingson  20:35 So now, tell me something about what content marketing Nicole Pytel  20:40 is. Yeah, so you know content marketing, and and I I've always been on on the B 2b side, the business to business. So and usually, and most of my career has been in in tech. So you know, selling very expensive things to people who are very skeptical of whether or not it works and don't want to make the wrong decision on you know a six figure platform or something like that, and it's really the content marketer's job to really kind of give them almost like a buffet of things that that they need to really figure out. Okay, what problem do I have? What solutions are there for this problem? Like, who are the different vendors? What what are the different ways to solve this problem? What makes all these vendors different? How do I know which vendor you know will actually give me ROI? Like, do they understand my business? Do they understand people like me, and then you know, getting them all the way through until they're ready for a sales conversation. And as you might imagine, people don't like to talk to salespeople. They're you know at this point probably probably 80% of the way through. You know they they probably are pretty set on on which vendor they're going to go with before they talk to sales, but you know there's all kinds of different marketing. But content's the one that really runs the whole gamut of everything. You know, you everything ties back to content because you've got to bring them to something. Like you know, ads have got to drive to something. The website's got to say something. You know, like PR has got to plug something. So, you know, content's kind of that that through line for the entire process of them making these, you know, huge expensive decisions. Michael Hingson  22:33 Well, still going into content marketing, since you were in TV, is a pretty major, pretty major switch all the way around. And what makes me curious is how did you discover you really knew and understood content marketing? And more important, even than I guess, would be since you loved TV so much, when did you decide that it was worth staying in TV than it was to switch careers? That had to be a pretty scary thing, or maybe it wasn't. You may be just used to doing that sort of thing. Nicole Pytel  23:05 Yeah, no. Leaving TV, there was a there was a day, you know, when I knew I was done with TV, and and I was kind of frustrated with it. You know, you're not making much money, and and at that time it was so tough. The economy was was still tough, even even a couple years after that, and and it was just was tough. And news is a totally different kettle of fish than sports. Sports is is fun, and the fun stories and the feature stories and news is just it can be depressing. It can you know, it like you know. If it bleeds, it leads. That's you know where we're at, and that just started to get to me. And there, there was one day where things were just really, really slow, and and I was just like, oh my god, we don't have a lead story, and time is a ticking, and 10 o'clock is coming, whether I'm ready or not, and it's not like you can get on TV and go. Well, hey, good evening. Nothing happened today. Shut off your TV and go to sleep. And that's a story. That's a story in and of itself. Nothing happened, and I was really struggling. Like, oh my God, what's the lead story? What's the lead story? Am I going to have to take something and just kind of you know make make chicken salad out of chicken you know what and try to pass this off as important, and then we heard over the scanner there had been this this fatal car accident and this teenage girl had died in a car accident you know and for a split second I thought, "Oh, thank God, I have a lead story. And then, in the next second, I went, "Oh my God! Like, how is that your reaction to this story? Like, this girl is gone; her family is destroyed forever. Like, how did your brain even get to oh my god?" Thank God, I have a lead story, and and it was then that I was like, I don't want to do this anymore. You know, I was one foot out the door, and then I was like, uh, I don't like this. And to this day, I don't remember the girl's name. I don't remember any of the details, but I still think about it because it was really this turning point of like, I just don't want to do this anymore. Like I want to go do something else. That you know, maybe if I had stayed in sports, it would have been totally different. But the news side is just-it's tough. It's tough to see all that bad stuff day after day after day and kind of capitalize on it. Yeah, Michael Hingson  25:34 I-I'm amazed at some of the reporters that that I watch and and just listen to how they report the news, and now there's always it seems in our country a lead story of some sort. But how they do it and how they're able to do it day after day without registering too much emotion is pretty amazing. And I and I hope that their characters just don't become so hardened that they don't feel sympathy, and I and I think they don't. The reporters that I tend to watch, I think, are very human oriented, but and and they they behave appropriately, but at the same time, I'm amazed that they're able to do what they do, and it's got to be so tough. Nicole Pytel  26:24 It is tough. It is tough because sadly, you're kind of seeing the worst of the worst. I mean, you know, that's that's the stuff that that makes the news. And and today, you know, I don't watch local news really at all anymore. But it seems like now it's just kind of the police blotter, and it's like when I hear about all these bad things, you know. It's just, you know, the the storytelling has has kind of fallen out of it quite a bit. Michael Hingson  26:49 I collect old radio shows as a hobby, and I'm very fascinated to listen to the all the old news broadcasts from the 20s, well, the 30s, 40s, and into the 50s mainly. And I've heard some interviews with people who did news back in those days, and and who are somewhat still well, they're still alive or they used to be, and they talk about how news broadcasting has changed over the years, and they don't they don't do the same kind of news that they they used to do where they would report on things. Now they've got different people sort of chattering back and forth, and and they're they sometimes make light of stories and they just do a lot of different things, but they're not reporting the news the way the old reporters used to do. Nicole Pytel  27:36 Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, back in the day, you had you know Walter Cronkite kind of ripping the paper off, you know, or you know they're sitting there smoking a cigarette, giving the news. I mean, you know, stuff like that, and you know, yeah, it's just it's totally different. I think it's become so sensationalized, and everybody's obsessed with being first. I think, I mean, you always want to be first, but I I think people are obsessed with being first, even if they don't always get it right. Yeah, and that's Michael Hingson  28:08 happened a lot. It Nicole Pytel  28:09 happens a lot, and and also it's like who can be the most sensational, who can make the biggest splash, and you know it just I don't know. It's it has it's changed so much. Yeah. Michael Hingson  28:25 Well, so now, but but again, well, not now. But then you went into contact mark content marketing. Do you feel that you knew that business as you were going into it, or or did you have a lot to learn? And how did you do it? Because for a while, it was just you doing everything? Nicole Pytel  28:41 Yeah, it was it was me doing literally everything. And did I know about content marketing? No, I didn't. I knew how to write, so I knew I could do copywriting. And I said, okay, well, I'll I'll figure out the marketing part. And it took a lot of courses. I learned about SEO. I learned about email marketing. I learned about inbound marketing. You know, I just took every course that I could and kind of just built the plane as I flew it. And you know, because yeah, when you start your own business and you're all by yourself, there's no there's no senior person to go ask. You're the person, and you've got to figure it out, and you know, I like to say the money train doesn't doesn't just magically show up every two weeks. You know, you've got to you've got to work and you've got to earn it. And so, when you've got your own business, you know, that's just it's a lot of pressure. And so, yeah, I just I just went and and learned as I went and learned a lot quickly. And you know, would would I tell everybody to go do that? No, but for me it was like, well, if I can do that, I can I can probably do anything. I mean, shoot, I kept a a roof over my head and food food on the table for for eight years with my. Business, so that's that's something that a lot of people can't say. Michael Hingson  30:03 Did you make any kind of mistake at the beginning, or as you were starting and running this business, that you're very grateful today that you made? Nicole Pytel  30:11 Oh, I I made plenty of mistakes. Oh my goodness! And of course, you're going to make mistakes. You're you're just learning. You're just drinking from the fire hose and just hanging onto the bowl, you know, and I think there was a there was a couple of mistakes I made. I think probably the biggest was not shutting off, you know. And I had come from news where at 10 o'clock the news started, at 1030 the show was over. You were done for the day. Nothing carried over to the next day. You came into work the next day. You started over, and it was really hard to have work that dragged on for days or weeks at a time. And you know, it was hard to shut off, especially when it's your own business. It's like, oh, let me just reply to this one email, or let me check this one thing, or let me go do this one thing over here. And and when I started my own business, you know, I was working, I was working out of the kitchen. So you know, you go to sit down and relax on the couch at night, and and your computer's you know four feet away in the kitchen. So oh, I'll I'll just go check this one thing, and I never was shutting off, and you burn out that way. You really, you really do. And I'm glad I learned that lesson. And I'm not saying I've never repeated that lesson because I've definitely, you know, it's it's a very acquired skill to be able to just turn your brain off and and go focus on something else. But I'm glad I made that mistake because it really showed me, like, you don't have to be on 24/7 even to run your own business, you know, like, and you have to stop. And so, what I've done ever since then, ever since I was able to afford, you know, a two-bedroom apartment or whatever, even my house now. I've always had an office so that you know I go, I do my work, and then at the end of the day, I shut off the computer and I leave that room, and I don't come back until the next day. Where it's like you know, like if you go to a traditional office, you get up at 5o'clock, you walk out, you're back at 9o'clock the next morning, like I've worked really hard to do that at home to really avoid that whole always on kind of mentality because you've just got to kind of stop, you know. Michael Hingson  32:34 Yeah, I my wife passed away in November of 2022, and she was more of a late riser, and I was more of a morning person, but we compromise pretty well. But since she has passed, I tend to get up pretty early because I can eat breakfast and then come in and spend time before anything else happens, going through emails and doing some things. But I don't have to rush doing it, and that helps. But then, then then the the other things happen in the course of the day. But I I know what you're saying, and I work pretty hard at shutting things down by around 5o'clock. Of course, I also have to do that because I have two creatures who say it's five here, not somewhere else, and we better get our food. Yeah. Yep. So they help, but I hear what you're saying, and it and it is a it is a discipline. Working at home and working for yourself is a is a discipline that a lot of people Nicole Pytel  33:33 oh yeah Michael Hingson  33:34 could learn and don't or just don't have the skills to do. But it is, I think, a very doable thing, and I enjoy it. And I usually have I usually have television as well. I have television or something on in the background, although I don't listen to much of it. It's just background noise, but it's there and it helps. Nicole Pytel  33:53 Yeah, yeah. There's something about silence. I've always got to have you know some music on or something. It's like the silence gets a little deafening when you're at home working, it's it's it's funny that way. Michael Hingson  34:03 I do some stuff on the weekends, and when I when I do catching up on letters and things like that on the weekends, I typically don't turn anything on. I just focus and get it done, and then I go off and read and do other things. So it works out. But I but I hear what you're saying, and I think it's an important lesson to learn that you've got to learn. You've got to find a way to recognize that that it is important to turn off. And if you don't, you're going to drive yourself crazy. Nicole Pytel  34:30 You will. And and you know now that we've got you know email on our phones and Slack on our phones and LinkedIn on our phones, it's really easy to sit on the couch at night after dinner and just let me check my email this one more time, or or let me reply to this Slack message, and you just gotta stop because you will burn out, and and then you know you're you're of no use to anybody, most of all yourself, you know. And I think that Michael Hingson  34:57 oh, go ahead. Nicole Pytel  34:58 I was just gonna say I think it. I think it's a lesson that a lot of people struggle with, you know, because everything is just this on-demand one tap of your phone. You can just be back at work 24 hours a day, and I think you have to learn that I don't have to be on 24-seven to be successful. Think that's the thing you've got to learn. Michael Hingson  35:20 Do you think you've experienced burnout along the way? Nicole Pytel  35:23 Oh yeah, absolutely, absolutely. You know, I, I, you know, one of my bad habits is, you know, I'll kind of like put myself last, and I've learned that, you know, oh, it's really easy to, you know, oh, I won't go for a run this morning because I've got you know this work thing that I've got to do, and you know you've got to kind of treat yourself as a non-negotiable as well. You know, not that you get to do the run every morning. There's some mornings when you really can't, but if you look at the run as you know something of that's you taking care of yourself, and something that that is pretty non-negotiable, and it needs to be part of the schedule. You're you're more likely to to stick with it and not push it off to the side. Because yeah, I'm guilty of that. You know, you you push things off to the side. You're eating at your desk. You're passing up on this, or oh, I'm not going to go out to dinner tonight because I'm going to sit here and catch up on stuff, and and you burn out, you know, and it's exhausting. Michael Hingson  36:28 Yeah, yeah, you gotta gotta learn to keep things in perspective, and you're right. Yeah, yourself is is an important part of of what you do, and you have to be able to take care of yourself along the way as well, Speaker 1  36:42 yeah. Michael Hingson  36:42 Well, you had your own company for almost 10 years, and then you decided to go back to work for someone else. What what caused that to happen? Nicole Pytel  36:50 Yeah, so it was a couple of things. You know, one was you know when you own your own business, and and Michael, you understand this. You're you're the everything. You're you're the you're the president. You're the head of marketing. You're the head of sales. You're the head of operations. You're doing the taxes. You're you're doing all the things, and you're not necessarily good at all the things, and you don't necessarily enjoy all the things. You know, and so there was kind of two reasons. So I wanted to really focus on what I was good at, which was the content marketing part. You know, I didn't want to have to fill out quarterly reports for the state or you know things like that. All the admin work that goes in into running your own business, and so I said, okay, I want to be able to do what I do best, and I want to be able to work with clients that are bigger than I can get myself. And so I was really, really lucky to land at an agency. I worked remotely, but the agency was was based in Silicon Valley, and you know our our biggest client was Google, and you know for clients it doesn't get any bigger than that so you know I got to just focus on the content marketing part and work with with companies and and people that I never would have been exposed to if I had stuck with my own business you know no matter what I was never going to break into Silicon Valley from from my apartment in Florida, so you know it was the right decision. It really was, and and in job interviews, people asked me, "Well, you're giving up being your own boss? And it's like I've got very specific reasons for doing that. It was just time, you know. Michael Hingson  38:35 Do you feel like in any way it was a step backwards going to work for somebody rather than being the boss? Nicole Pytel  38:42 No, I don't think so. You know, because I've that eight years that I had in my own business, I got I I've got that under my belt, and you know, no one can take that experience away. You know, it is it is what it is. I learned a lot of lessons. I learned a lot of lessons the hard way too, and it was a great springboard. But I like being able to focus on what I'm best at, and you know the stuff that I've been able to do since then. I wouldn't have had those opportunities if I had just kind of kept with my own business. So I didn't see it as a step back at all because I had very specific reasons for making the move. Michael Hingson  39:20 Yeah, and you know I respect that, and and went through the same sort of thing. I owned my own company for four years back in the mid 1980s because I wasn't able to find a job at the time. People just wouldn't hire blind people, so I started my own company, and then eventually decided to go back into the workforce. And my wife and I worked out a a plan for that, and I created a cover letter that actually impressed some people, and I got a job out of it. But by the same token, I wasn't at all regretful about having to stop doing what I was doing and go back to work for someone else, partly because some of those very pressures that. We're talking about went away, and partly because, as you said, it was time, and I knew it, so we did. Nicole Pytel  40:07 Yeah, yeah. You've got to you've got to go with your gut and stuff like that. You know, like if if your gut is telling you something, or if you're like, I think I'd be a little bit happier doing something else, or if I didn't have to do this part of it, you know, go for Michael Hingson  40:24 it. Well, so there were times that, as you describe it, you would go into a role with no map. You were the only and the first content marketing hire, and you did a lot of stuff with Google Cloud marketing and and so on. What's the difference? I guess the best way to put it. What's the difference between, well, yeah, what's the difference between confidence and just hiding fear? That's probably the good basic question. Nicole Pytel  40:51 Yeah, yeah, they're probably kind of on the same plane, but they project Michael Hingson  41:00 differently. Nicole Pytel  41:01 They project very differently. They they project very differently. So so yes, you know, I created my own business, and then two of the agencies I've worked at, I was the first you know full time content hire. Built the content marketing practice. It was like building a business within a business, and and all the things that go along with that, I just didn't have to do the taxes, and which is a good thing. Yeah, it's a great thing. And then at the same time, yeah, I was I was embedded with with Google Cloud's marketing organization, and and so I think confidence is you know you can do it. Like deep down, you're like I know my stuff, I can do the work, I can do this, and then of course there's the fear of, oh my god! Like Google, like I'm gonna have a Google email address. I'm gonna have you know a title at Google and a supervisor at Google. Like, oh my god! Like, and then of course you know the the fear comes in. The imposter syndrome kind of comes in. Like me, me, really? And I think it's kind of like jumping into a really cold pool. You're scared, but you just gotta do it and kind of not fake it till you make it, but just dive in and trust in the confidence side. You know, there's like it's like the devil and the angel on your shoulder. One is your confidence. That's the angel, and the devil is the fear. And just listen to that confident part, and eventually, I feel like the fear gets drowned out. Now, does the imposter system ever imposter syndrome ever totally go away? Of course not. Of course not. We all have days where you're like, why am I here? Why is anybody listening to me? Why does anybody think I'm smart? We all have those days, but you know, eventually, you know, if you've got that confidence in yourself, it will win out. Michael Hingson  42:52 Yeah, and and it is something that we all have to deal with. But I think we can. I think if we truly understand ourselves and we listen to our inner voice. We'll get the guidance and the confidence that we need. I think so many people tend not to be introspective and tend not to go back and listen to the lessons that they could learn from their own inner subconscious, their own inner voice. And the result of that is that they they end up being very clueless, but the fact of the matter is, there's a part of you that monitors every single solitary thing that you do, and it's ready to give you the information that you need if you'll but take the time to learn to listen to it. And most people just don't do that. But the fact is, we should take that time because we'll get better results than we would ever get any other way. Nicole Pytel  43:45 It's funny because we'll say things to ourselves that we would never say to somebody else. Like you'd never say it to a friend, but you say it to yourself. It's like, why do we do that? And you know, sometimes I think one of the most important questions I've ever asked myself is why not you? You know, you want to go be a sports journalist in Texas? Why not you? Why can't you do that? You want to own your own business? Why not you? People do that all the time. Why? Why can't you do it? And I think if you if you're really honest with yourself, and you say, "Well, why not you? And you force yourself to kind of have this conversation with yourself and give an answer. A lot of times, you can't think of Michael Hingson  44:33 one, and you create excuses. Nicole Pytel  44:37 You do, which Michael Hingson  44:38 really are are not helping, and they're not healthy, but you do it anyway. And I understand the concept of imposter syndrome, but you ultimately have control over that. Nicole Pytel  44:50 You do, and I think that's the thing. It's you know I think anxiety gets the best of us a lot of the time, and and you've got to be like, okay, well, what can I control? What is totally out of my control? I actually heard somebody say today, you know, when anxiety creeps in and you have a thought, "Oh my God, what if X Y Z happens? You say to yourself, "So what if it does? Like, so what? Like, can you control it? Can you fix it? And if not, then then you shouldn't just give it airtime in your brain, you know. We Michael Hingson  45:23 spend so much time worrying about everything over which we don't have control, and we don't really learn the about the things over which we truly have control and should focus our time on, which is which is such an issue because the reality is over 95% of the things that we worry about and what if about all the time are things over which we have no control. I hear a lot of people say I don't watch the news because I just get angry at all that. Well, I like to watch the news because I love information, but I can do that generally without getting angry. Now, sometimes I will, I will yell at somebody on the the TV because they say dumb things. There are people who have learned how to do that, but I also don't spend a lot of time at it, and I also know that I'm not going to hurt them, even if they hear me. So the Michael Hingson  46:16 the bottom line is that I I work at not doing that, but I still want to get the information as to what's going on, so I do. Nicole Pytel  46:24 Yeah, and that's you. I want to know, and what can I control my reaction to it? I'm not going to get angry unless somebody says something really, really stupid, and and then you know it comes out. But yeah, it's it. That's a great example. I want to know what's happening, and I'm going to control my reaction to it, and a lot of times that's all we can control is our reaction to things. Michael Hingson  46:45 But we don't, which is really and we don't. We don't, and we should. Nicole Pytel  46:49 Yep. Michael Hingson  46:50 Well, speaking of reactions, earlier this year you got laid off from your VP role. I'm I'm curious, what did that do to how you see your own professional identity and and and so on, or did you know it was coming, or anything like that? Nicole Pytel  47:05 There, there were some rumblings right before it happened that it was coming, and you know I'm one of sadly very very many people, you know, 1000s, 10s of 1000s, maybe even hundreds of 1000s of people in this position, and and it's it's tough because you're not your job, but when you do something 40 hours a week and and you get up every day and that's what you do, it becomes part of who you are. It's like that's what I do, and then when that's gone, it's just like, well, now like am I still am I still useful? Like, am I still smart? You know, and and all these things go go through your mind, and you learn a lot about yourself when that happens. You know, talking about hey, all I can control is how I react to it. You know, Lord knows. You know, when you get laid off, like there's a a million what ifs running through your brain, and and all you can do is just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and and controlling how you react to it. But it absolutely, you know, it definitely shakes your confidence, and you know, it's it's it's a very weird feeling, you know that first Monday when you don't go to work. It's like, oh my God, the rest of the world went back to work, and and I didn't, and it's very jarring. You know, especially when you're when you're as old a fossil as me and you've been working for so long, it's like now you're not. You know, I've been I've been very very lucky to take on you know some freelance work and stuff like that, and and you know it's given me an opportunity to really catch up on a lot of the things that I wanted to learn and try and do when I was working full time and didn't really have the time. So from that perspective, it's been really good. But it it it'll knock you down for a minute, and it's up to you to kind of pick yourself back up, and that's where you kind of learn a lot about yourself as to how how you react to that. Michael Hingson  49:08 Yeah, and you have to again. It's a matter of choice, and you have to decide what what you want to do. Well, so you got laid off. Did you sleep late that first Monday? Nicole Pytel  49:19 I didn't. You know what I did. You know what I did. I I knew I had to give myself something to do, so I got up early on that first Monday and I went and got the oil changed in my car. I was like, I'm gonna go out and be productive. You know, could I have laid in bed all day and just kind of wallowed in self. Yeah, that doesn't help. Yeah, but that's not helpful. So I was like, "I'm going to go get that oil change I've been putting off for like two months. And you got to go Michael Hingson  49:49 in earlier than you otherwise would have, and probably got it done sooner. Nicole Pytel  49:53 There you go. There you go. Sometimes it just works out. Michael Hingson  49:57 And you probably had two little fur creatures who. We're very glad to see you continuing to support their habits. Nicole Pytel  50:04 Yes, yes, they my little fur divas. Yes, they're kind of like you know now you know Minnie Minnie's worked with me her whole life. She just turned 14. I've had her since she was 11 months old, and and I've I've worked at home her whole life, and so she she comes to the office with me every single day with her little memory foam, and and and and she gets her decompression time too. You know, she knows at 5o'clock when I take her memory foam bed back into the bedroom. Like, all right, I'm done working for the day. I'm good. But you know, at first she was like, "Why aren't we working, mom? And then you know, we got some freelance work and got back in the office, and I could tell she was like, "Okay, we're getting back to normal. Because at first they were both like, "What are we doing? Aren't you supposed to be working? Like, what's happening? But as long as they've got all their treats and all their toys and and and you know all their things, they're good. Michael Hingson  50:58 Didn't you tell them that was time for them to go get a job? Nicole Pytel  51:01 Oh yeah, absolutely. Michael Hingson  51:03 And how'd that work for you? Absolutely. Nicole Pytel  51:04 No, it didn't work out. They were like, "We don't do that. Like, I don't think you understand, Mom. Yeah, this is not how this works. Yeah, Michael Hingson  51:11 yeah. Well, so one of the things I think that's interesting, we're and we're all facing it to one degree or another, is the whole concept of of AI, a lot of people are afraid that AI is coming for their jobs, and I can make some comments, and I will about that. But you've chosen to face that fear and confront it. So I guess the real question is, why do you think that was the right call, and what do you think about this whole business of AI? Nicole Pytel  51:39 AI is really something, and so so I I've seen both sides of it. As a content marketer, you know we were supposed to become extinct because AI could just write everything. And my point is, is like, can AI create content? Sure, but it doesn't know what to create, and that's where the human comes in. It like the human has to come up with the strategy, and you know I remember the first time trying out ChatGPT and having it write stuff, and it wasn't very good, and and you know obviously things have gotten much much better in in the past 334 years, but you know it just became obvious that that this is a thing, and I guess you know, as a benefit, so many of of my clients were AI companies in some way, shape, or form, and it's like this is happening, and you have got to learn how to deal with it. And at least in my job, it can it can make me better at my job because it can speed things up. It can kind of eliminate some redundancies, you know. And is it ever going to replace me? No, because I'm the human with the judgment, and I understand, you know, the business goals of of what we're trying to do and how we hit the revenue goals and who the audience is and what they care about and all of those things, but I think one of the the silver linings of of getting laid off was you know I've I've had a you know a chunk of time to really dive in and get my hands dirty with AI like the things that I was like, oh, if I could have it do this, this, and this, that'd be really cool. And then go in and build it and see, hey, can I actually build this and go into Claude Code and see if if I really can do that, you know? And and it's given me a chance to really do that and go, okay, well, when I when I get another job, this is how I'm going to use AI on day one. I'm going to create, you know, this list of things, and here's why. Here's the order I'm going to do them in, and here's where I'm going to use AI to make it better. But more importantly, here's kind of the framework for how humans and AI should work together in content marketing, because there's so many people out there that are like, "Hey, ChatGPT, go write my website for me, and then they wonder why it's not very good or or why it sounds the same as as their competitors. You know, there's studies out there that say you know buyers think that these companies all sound the same, and you know AI is a big reason for that. So if you can really figure out how humans and AI work together, I think that's that's the piece, you know. And and there at the beginning there were a lot of content marketing kind of purists out there that were like, I will never use this. I'm gonna write everything myself. I'm gonna do everything from scratch, and I was just like, "That's like saying, you know, when cars came out, like I'm not, I'm not riding a horse. I'm not getting a car. I'm taking my horse and buggy to work. You know, I mean, it's the same thing. Like things evolve, and and you know, take advantage of it. Michael Hingson  54:56 Well, the reality is that AI is here. And I think you're right. What we need to do is to learn how to use it. I heard a friend comment a couple months ago that was talking to his boss about AI, and his boss said, "I will never fire you and replace you with AI. I won't do that, he said. "I might fire you if you don't learn how to use AI. Nicole Pytel  55:26 Yes, and Michael Hingson  55:26 I think that's absolutely true. I I use AI when I write because it gives me ideas, but ultimately I have to still be the one to create them, and I am not convinced that we're going to see AI in anywhere in the near future, develop the true human spirit and learn how to do the things that we do, Nicole Pytel  55:48 right? Michael Hingson  55:50 And so I think it's important that we learn how to use AI, and we I get a lot of great ideas from it, and so I go into what I write, and that's great because it's got a lot more information and experience than I do. So I don't mind doing that, and I'll be glad to take the ideas. The first time I heard anybody talking about AI was in a Christmas party with relatives, and somebody was complaining because teachers were grousing about the fact that kids were just letting AI write their papers, Nicole Pytel  56:22 yeah. Michael Hingson  56:22 And I said, why not let AI write the papers? You're missing a golden opportunity, and the golden opportunity. And I've said this before on Unstoppable Mindset, but the golden opportunity is the teacher should let students, if they want to use AI to write their papers, let them use AI to write their papers. But then, after you collect the papers, take a period, call each student to the front of the class, and say, "Now defend your position. You're going to find out who really knows what they're talking about and who doesn't. Nicole Pytel  56:50 Yep. Michael Hingson  56:51 What a great opportunity! Nicole Pytel  56:53 That's one way to do it for sure. And my guess is most of them would have no idea. Yeah. Michael Hingson  57:00 How was your view of a special of a professional career change since you started years ago, or has it? Nicole Pytel  57:08 Yeah, many, many, many moons ago. Many Michael Hingson  57:11 moons. Nicole Pytel  57:12 You know, I think when when you first start out in your career, and tell me, Michael, if you agree with this, you know, you just want to get going. It's like I'm a grown up now. I get to do all these grown up things and all the things that I learned about in school. I'm gonna run off and do them, and I want to do as much as I can, as fast as I can, and and climb the ladder and do all the things. And then, you know, that's still important, obviously. But I think it's more about, you know, am I doing something that I take? I truly, truly take pride in something that I believe in. You know, like you know, I could never go work for a company and and do marketing if if I thought the product was boring. You know, I just couldn't. I I don't really care what title you give me, or you know how much money you want to pay me. It's like if it's going to be boring, I don't, I don't want to do it. So I think part of it is, you know, are are you getting satisfaction out of what you're doing? Michael Hingson  58:13 Also, we need to recognize and understand that sometimes life gets in the way, and you start out with a great plan. This is what I'm going to do, and something happens to change it. And the reality is, again, it's of course how you approach that change. But that change might very well be for the best. I know that's happened to me several times, and I have learned that life may happen, things may happen, but I'm gonna not. I don't. I didn't have control over the change necessarily happening. So it's a question more about how I decide to deal with it and what I'm going to do. And I think that's what's really so important to be able to do. And so I find that it's so important to let life do what life is going to do, and you evaluate which way you want to go, but truly evaluate it. Don't don't just react. Sit back and think. You may decide to keep on doing what you're doing, and you're given another opportunity. And of course, for me, the most dramatic example of that is after September 11th, people started calling and saying, "Gee, would you come and talk to us and tell us what we ought to know about September 11th and talk to us about leadership and so on. We saw your name in the media and we want to hear from you and we'll pay you. And of course, you'll pay me. That was a great start. But but what happened was that so many of those happened that my wife and I at the by the beginning of 2002 realized that this was an incredible opportunity. It would take work, but it was an incredible opportunity, and that in reality, as I tell people, selling life and philosophy is a whole lot more rewarding than being a computer hardware sales manager and selling computer hardware. And so I've been doing it ever since, and I've had so many wonderful advances. And I've I've met so many people, learned so many things, and I spend the time working on learning wherever I go and wherever I speak, and so I can't complain at all about what what caused my life to change. Nicole Pytel  1:00:15 Yeah, I mean everything happens for a reason. I really do believe that, and and you may not know what that reason is right away, but yeah, I mean, look at you. I I I can't even imagine having been there on September 11th. It was it was jaw dropping enough to to watch it on TV, and and I'm sure there was a lot that went through your mind and and went through your mind during and right after. And but now look at I mean all the people that that you've gotten to inspire and and educate and motivate and and people who have really learned something and you never would have had that platform. It's it's it's really something. Michael Hingson  1:00:56 Yeah, and and it's and and if you're given a choice between two things that both really sound great, you make a choice, and then you live with the choice you made. Again, don't don't what if the things over which you don't have control, Nicole Pytel  1:01:13 right? Exactly. Michael Hingson  1:01:15 Well, if someone is in a position today where they're listening and they're standing kind of in the same place you were when you decided to go leave television, so on, and they're certain that they should be going off and doing something different, but they're terrified to admit it. What would you say is the one thing that you should tell them? Nicole Pytel  1:01:36 I would say if your gut is telling you to do something, you need to listen to it, and I would say, ask yourself why not me? Why can't I go do this now? If you want to run off and be an

The Justice Department is sending federal election monitors to polling sites in Miami-Dade County for Florida's primary, citing transparency, ballot security and compliance with federal law. The move comes as thousands of Haitians in South Florida have lost temporary protected status and face increased fear of detention and deportation. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed with the latest news from a leading Black-owned & controlled media company: https://aurn.com/newsletter Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Richard Lamondin and his brother started their company 13 years ago after reading that a fifth of all toilets leak, learning to replace them from YouTube videos, and going door to door at apartment communities. That business became ecofi, a national firm that cuts energy and water use in buildings. On this episode of Climate Change Environment Science & the Law, he tells host Gregg Goldfarb why that work led him to run for the Florida Senate in District 38. The through line is affordability. Richard lays out what he sees as the squeeze on Miami families, from preschool costs to rents to a property insurance market he says has become unaffordable, and argues that Florida's problem is one of priorities rather than funding. He also explains what a legislative supermajority is, why he says most of the decisions that touch daily life come from Tallahassee rather than Washington, and what breaking that math would change at the committee level. Gregg, an environmental lawyer, brings his own history to the table, including an early case in the Keys built on the argument that in South Florida the environment is the economy. From there the two get into coastal resilience: storm surge, living sea walls, mangroves, fish stocks, fertilizer runoff and algae blooms, and saltwater intrusion into the aquifer. Richard's case is that decades of inaction on coastal risk are a direct upstream cause of today's insurance bills. They also cover why South Florida has so little rooftop solar despite the climate, the Everglades restoration work Richard says has stalled, and what his first 100 days and first three bills would look like.   Join Gregg and Richard Lamondin on Climate Change Environment Science & the Law as they explore: TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 – "Can people actually make it here?" The real Florida crisis 0:40 – Meet the guy trying to flip Florida's most winnable Senate seat 1:33 – From fixing toilets to running for Senate (the EcoFi origin story) 2:43 – $2,000/month for preschool. Florida's affordability breaking point 3:59 – Alligator Alcatraz and the $10 land deal for Trump's private library 6:05 – "Silence is complicity." Calling out his opponent 8:58 – Did she back Alligator Alcatraz? His answer will surprise you 10:43 – The one seat that breaks Florida's Republican supermajority 13:44 – Is protecting the environment going to cost you money? His answer 16:55 – Florida is the Sunshine State, so why is solar this hard? 19:23 – Alligator Alcatraz's hidden victim: Florida's darkest skies 21:31 – His first 100 days in office, mapped out 23:46 – How to help flip the seat   Richard Lamondin is a born and raised Miamian and the co-founder and CEO of ecofi, a sustainability firm that works with real estate owners nationwide to reduce energy use, water use, and utility costs through renewables, LED lighting, water efficiency, and EV charging infrastructure. He and his brother started the company 13 years ago after learning to replace leaking toilets from YouTube videos and going door to door at apartment communities. He is a first-time candidate for the Florida Senate in District 38, which covers coastal Miami-Dade from Brickell and Key Biscayne to Homestead, where he is challenging the district's incumbent.   Contact/Follow Richard Lamondin: Website: https://richard.vote/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/richard-lamondin-jr-7a1b221a   Contact/Follow his company: Website: https://goecofi.com/ Email: hello@goecofi.com   Want more conversations that cut through the noise on science, climate, and the issues shaping our future? Subscribe to Climate Change Environment Science & the Law with Gregg Goldfarb for new episodes every week.

Millions of taxpayer dollars are sitting idle as electric buses in Miami-Dade and Broward fall into disrepair. See why these vehicles are failing. Local 10 investigations expose a costly reality for public transportation. While electric buses were meant to modernize the fleet, many units are now parked and unusable. This report breaks down the financial impact, revealing how each bus cost $900,000 only to become a burden rather than a solution. Operating costs for these units have proven significantly higher than traditional diesel buses. Taxpayers are left footing the bill for a project that has stalled, leaving transit authorities with expensive equipment that cannot run. This investigation highlights the specific procurement choices that led to this situation. Subscribe for weekly investigative breakdowns on local government spending, and comment below on how you think transit agencies should handle future fleet purchases.Affiliate Link: vidiq.com/PartsManProGrab a copy of my book:https://partsmanagerpro.gumroad.com/l/qtqaxBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-motor-files-podcast--4960744/support.

Ryan, Dana, Chris Trenkmann, and Nathalie Rodriguez discuss Miami-Dade and Pasco County students returning to school and Pasco Schools launching a new all-in-one mobile app for families.

Ryan, Dana, Chris Trenkmann, and Nathalie Rodriguez discuss Miami-Dade and Pasco County students returning to school and Pasco Schools launching a new all-in-one mobile app for families.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A man was arrested Monday after deputies said they caught him stealing more than 140 avocados from a southwest Miami-Dade grove over the weekend.Harry Potter fans have forced a new multimillion- dollar power cable between the UK and Ireland to be relocated after complaining it would desecrate the “grave” of Dobby, a fictional elf.US hired over 2,000 video gamers as air traffic controllers.UK has a new king of dildo buyers - Harrogate.Police believe a "body" found in an abandoned suitcase by a dirt road in southern NSW (Australia) was actually a sex doll.Mark Zuckerberg is facing criticism after the Coast Guard asked that his $300 million dollar yacht help a stranded small skiff that ran out of gas off the coast of Alaska & they were close to, but they never responded.Shake Shack is caught forcing people to pay more if they don't tip.A man in Columbus, Ohio was running from the police when he tried to jump a fence - then he lost his pants.MERCHSITE IS HERE!!

In the next hour we will get you ready for the new school year that begins next week, starting with a conversation with Miami-Dade County's incoming school superintendent Rafael Villalobos who's got declining enrollment in his backpack (01:03). We'll also talk with a nutrition advocate about what looks like the end of universal free lunch for many schools and with a pediatrician about student vaccinations (19:03). And a Broward teacher shares what it's like to teach in Florida — on Florida pay (34:35).

Ryan and Dana discuss an update from Perez Hilton's family, who say he is able to communicate after being hospitalized following a self-harming livestream at his Miami-Dade home.

Ryan and Dana discuss an update from Perez Hilton's family, who say he is able to communicate after being hospitalized following a self-harming livestream at his Miami-Dade home.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Man accused of recklessly driving unregistered school bus in Miami-Dade county, Headline of the Week contender #4: Man driven insane by pond noise admits killing neighbors fish, Florida steakhouse has launched a 'nude dining night'

Man accused of recklessly driving unregistered school bus in Miami-Dade county, Headline of the Week contender #4: Man driven insane by pond noise admits killing neighbors fish, Florida steakhouse has launched a 'nude dining night'See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of The Roundtable, we're examining what happens when the internet's attention economy becomes incapable of looking away from human suffering.We begin with the shocking livestream involving Perez Hilton, separating verified facts from online speculation before exploring TikTok's moderation systems and asking why a platform sophisticated enough to detect copyrighted music in seconds struggled to intervene during a real-time mental health crisis. From there, we examine Miami-Dade's crisis response, discussing how de-escalation, mental health professionals, and tactical policing intersect when thousands of viewers are watching events unfold in real time.We also explore the lasting psychological impact of Perez Hilton's recent medical battles—including sepsis, deep vein thrombosis, and prolonged recovery—and consider how the relentless demands of the creator economy leave little room for genuine healing. Finally, we unpack the rapid deployment of crisis public relations, Perez Hilton's complicated legacy as one of the architects of early internet gossip culture, and the uncomfortable reality of becoming a victim of the very digital ecosystem you helped create.Throughout the episode, one question connects every story: Have we built a digital world that rewards attention so relentlessly that it can no longer recognize the difference between content and a human life in crisis?Pull up a chair... the conversation starts now.The Roundtable is a Georgio Says Podcast Series, where the headlines start the conversation—but the bigger story is always waiting beneath the surface. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ryan and Nathalie Rodriguez discuss the newly released school meal menus for Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties, including the breakfast and lunch options students can expect this school year, and how they differ from what schools offered years ago. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ryan and Nathalie Rodriguez discuss the newly released school meal menus for Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties, including the breakfast and lunch options students can expect this school year, and how they differ from what schools offered years ago.

Ryan talks with Southeast Politics Publisher Janelle Irwin-Taylor and Nathalie Rodriguez about the start of early voting in Florida, how turnout could be impacted by less competitive races, and voting details across Miami-Dade and Tampa Bay.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ryan talks with Southeast Politics Publisher Janelle Irwin-Taylor and Nathalie Rodriguez about the start of early voting in Florida, how turnout could be impacted by less competitive races, and voting details across Miami-Dade and Tampa Bay.

Two fronts opened against Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown over her Epstein reporting and book. First, multiple defamation suits were filed by people portrayed in her work: Epstein survivors Courtney Wild and Haley Robson alleged Brown misrepresented their experiences and, in Robson's case, cast her as a collaborator rather than a victim; and Ghislaine Maxwell's former assistant Emmy Tayler filed her own defamation action over claims that she “organized” Epstein's massages. The Tayler matter proved especially damaging to Brown's publisher: HarperCollins issued a formal apology in 2024 acknowledging Tayler was defamed in the UK edition and wrongly inserted into the narrative—an extraordinary concession that undercut the book's editorial due diligence and handed ammunition to critics who said Brown's project sometimes sacrificed precision for impact.Second, Brown became embroiled in a contractual fight with private investigator Michael (Mike) Fisten, who said he'd been cut out of a promised collaboration and sued for compensation tied to the book deal. That dispute showcased the commercial tug-of-war behind high-profile “accountability” bestsellers: Fisten's early winless turn in arbitration (rejecting his $350k claim) didn't end the saga, which spilled into Miami-Dade court and later reached Florida's Third District Court of Appeal. The upshot is a messy, credibility-draining litigation trail: while Brown's reporting helped reignite scrutiny of Epstein, the courtroom aftermath—defamation claims from survivors, a publisher's apology to Tayler, and a protracted fight with a key investigator—has raised uncomfortable questions about methods, attribution, and whether the rush to own the narrative came at the expense of accuracy and fair dealing.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-moscow-murders-and-more--5852883/support.

The primaries are upon us in South Florida. Rest easy, your mail-in ballots look secure — but Democratic races in those new gerrymandered districts? They're lookin' messy.Early voting starts on Monday, so we devoted the hour to the Aug. 18 Florida primary elections. The League of Women Voters walked us through what you need to know about the contests and controversies before you head to the ballot box (01:03). We also looked at the hot local races and referendums from Palm Beach to Key West (19:03). And we discussed the primary chaos playing out in so many South Florida congressional districts thanks to that new map (34:35).

Miami's rise is often measured by the development transforming its skyline, but the city's long-term success will also depend on the people, talent and culture growing within its communities. In this episode of the Miami Real Estate Podcast, Omar De Windt speaks with Sammy Gonzalez Zeira, founder and CEO of Young Musicians Unite, about how access to music education can influence the trajectory of a student, and ultimately, the future of a city. Sammy shares how the organization grew from one local program into a collaborative network serving schools across Miami-Dade, using strategic partnerships and measurable results to expand access where it is needed most. For developers, business leaders and investors committed to Miami's continued growth, the conversation presents a broader view of investment. Supporting education, creativity and opportunity helps cultivate the future workforce, strengthen local communities and preserve the cultural identity that makes Miami an attractive place to live, work and invest. From developing students' confidence and professional skills to building a model that other major cities are beginning to study, this episode explores what becomes possible when Miami invests not only in where the city is going, but in the people who will take it there. Guest: Sammy Gonzalez Zeira Host: Omar De Windt Producers: Veronica Paris, Jean Avendano   This episode is brought to you by Cervera Real Estate, one of Miami's largest independently owned brokerages. With 10 offices across South Florida and more than 50 years of experience, Cervera continues to redefine Miami real estate.   If you're ready to be recognized for your talent and want the full backing of the Cervera platform to fuel your growth, email careers@cervera.com today for a one-on-one consultation.   To get in touch with our team, call 305.374.3434 or visit www.Cervera.com.

There were an estimated 50,000 Haitians granted TPS in Miami Dade with the highest concentration obviously being in the Little Haiti neighborhood at the time of the Supreme Court ruling. There were approximately 45,000 in Broward with an estimated 18,000 Haitians under TPS in Palm Beach County. These are obviously massive numbers, and it may well be the case that ICE/DHS are hoping that the onset of enforcement action locally will lead to most Haitians now living here illegally to leave willfully.

On the South Florida Roundup, we talked with Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava about the daunting budget dilemmas ahead – especially if Florida voters approve a sharp property-tax cut measure in November (01:19). We also discussed the imminent expiration of Temporary Protected Status for some 350,000 Haitians here – who will now face deportation. (21:20) And we chatted with the director of Havana Coyotes – the first U.S. film shot entirely in communist Cuba with a Cuban cast. (36:23).

Jose Gonzalez was supposed to be a lawyer. Then Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida in 1992, and the entry-level job he'd taken at Miami-Dade's Building and Zoning Department to pay his way through FIU turned into a career. He learned construction and its regulatory side on his feet, in the middle of a region rebuilding itself.At 22, when most of his peers were collecting diplomas, Armando Codina recruited him to work on Dolphin Mall. He never really left that world. When Codina Group merged into Flagler in 2006, he stayed on under Florida East Coast Industries, eventually rising to Executive Vice President of Corporate Development, the person responsible for the parts of development nobody claps for: land use, zoning, environmental, traffic, and the government relationships that decide whether a project ever gets out of the ground. His biggest stage was Brightline, the privately built rail line connecting Miami and Orlando, alongside the industrial buildout through Flagler Global Logistics that reshaped South Florida's warehouse map.In this episode we go all the way back, family, upbringing, the version of Jose who thought he'd be arguing in front of juries instead of zoning boards. We get into what Andrew actually looked like on the ground, what Armando Codina saw in a 22-year-old, the low points he doesn't usually talk about, and what he thinks is genuinely broken about how Miami gets built. He also tells us what it means to have come full circle, back in the Codina orbit where the whole thing started.Recorded at Buró, where we do our best work and drink our best drinks. Thanks to Mike Feinstein for the room and to Nick Garcia and the Vinya team for the pour. Connect with usWant to dive deeper into Miami's commercial real estate scene?

Everyone in Miami has a commute horror story. Omar sits down with Alice Bravo, the engineer who literally wrote Miami-Dade's SMART Plan, to find out why a fully mapped transit expansion has been sitting on a shelf since the 1980s. Alice spent 25+ years building South Florida's biggest infrastructure projects, the Port of Miami Tunnel, the 95 Express Lanes, and as Director of Miami-Dade's Department of Transportation and Public Works, she created the Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit (SMART) Plan: six corridors designed to finally give Miami a real transit network. In this episode, she breaks down exactly what's built, what's funded but stalled, and why a half-penny sales tax voters approved back in 2002 still hasn't delivered the big-ticket corridors people voted for. Chapters: 0:00 – The 2.5-hour commute nobody talks about 0:31 – Welcome to the show + meet Alice Bravo 1:12 – Alice's 25-year path to writing the SMART Plan 4:03 – State of Miami transit: what's working, what's not 6:58 – Inside the new South Dade Bus Rapid Transit launch 10:49 – The SMART Plan, unpacked: 6 corridors that could change everything 15:29 – The half-penny sales tax: where the money actually goes 19:08 – Why these corridors keep stalling out after 40 years 20:03 – North, Northeast, East-West, Kendall, Beach: every corridor explained 23:59 – Realistic timeline: what could happen in the next 5 years 27:44 – The property tax debate now competing for transit funding 32:53 – The Miami Beach connection: what killed the monorail plan 36:19 – What it takes for Miami to become a true global city 38:52 – How residents can actually make their voice heard 40:00 – Final thoughts: autonomous vehicles and what's next  

Send us Fan MailIt's common knowledge that Florida is one of the hottest markets in the U.S. – whether you're considering a personal lifestyle upgrade or a new environment for your business. But that influx of people and industry, coupled with the state's numerous sunny days, is a recipe for an extreme heat event and can spell disaster for an unprepared infrastructure.Host Donna DiMaggio Berger and featured guest Jane Gilbert – the world's first Chief Heat Officer – explore the dangers posed by extreme heat in highly urbanized areas and discuss how municipalities around the world are collaborating on solutions to protect both present-day and future communities.  Highlights include: How Jane's recent experience as a Chief Resiliency Officer prepared her to serve as the first-ever Chief Heat Officer and what this new role means for communities in Florida and beyond;Defining the ‘urban heat island' and how the green street vision for Miami-Dade helps reduce this;Why awareness of the risk associated with extreme heat needs to be increased and whether naming heat waves would emphasize the importance of safety during rising temperatures;How community association boards can adjust governing documents to encourage energy efficient practices – green spaces, reflective roof surfaces, upgraded A/C units, indoor/outdoor lighting choices, building weatherization, etc.;Strategies when considering how to address the disproportionate impact of heat waves on already vulnerable communities, including seniors on fixed incomes, socio-economically disadvantaged, etc.;Expansion of existing directives to ensure evacuation shelters have adequate backup power for cooling in the event of a widespread outage;The connection between extreme heat and rising sea levels, and how Florida has integrated its climate action strategies to address both;How community associations, local businesses, and incoming corporations can collaborate with Jane's office to identify ways to protect outdoor workers in the construction, tourism, trade & logistics, public safety industries; and so much more. BONUS: Donna and Jane share a little about what to expect from the county's three-year action plan, scheduled for release in May 2022 and recommend viewing the Miami-Dade County's Extreme Heat Toolkit for ways you can stay safe in South Florida. Related Links:Podcast: We're Having a Heat Wave – The Physical and Mental Impacts from Extreme Heat and What Your Community Should Do with Dr. Jason Mansour, Medical Director at Broward Health Medical Center's Emergency DepartmentResource: Extreme Heat Action PlanArticle: Preparing for Extreme Heat: The New Natural Disaster

Is anything sacred for Democrats when it comes to helping citizens.The short version is this: federal agents raided the home and office of LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, and multiple reports indicate the investigation is tied to LAUSD's failed AI chatbot project called "Ed," which was developed through a multimillion-dollar contract with the education technology company AllHere. Carvalho has not been charged with any crime, and the FBI has not publicly disclosed the full scope of the investigation. What happened?On February 25, 2026, the FBI executed search warrants at:Carvalho's home in Los Angeles LAUSD headquarters A Florida residence connected to education consultant Debra Kerr, who had ties to AllHere and Carvalho dating back to his time in Miami-Dade schools. Two days later, the LAUSD Board placed Carvalho on paid leave. On June 21, 2026, Carvalho resigned as superintendent, though he continued to deny wrongdoing. Authorities still have not announced any charges against him. What was the chatbot controversy?The controversy centers on an AI assistant called "Ed."LAUSD unveiled Ed in 2024 with considerable publicity. The chatbot was marketed as a personalized digital assistant for students and parents that could:Track grades and attendance Provide academic recommendations Translate communications into roughly 100 languages Help families navigate school services Carvalho championed the project as a major innovation for the district. The problem is that the vendor behind Ed, AllHere, collapsed shortly after launch.Why did it become a scandal?Several issues emerged:1. The company imploded.Within months of Ed's rollout, AllHere furloughed employees, entered bankruptcy, and ceased operations. LAUSD terminated the relationship after already paying millions of dollars toward the project. 2. The founder was indicted.AllHere founder Joanna Smith-Griffin was later charged with securities fraud, wire fraud, and identity theft related to allegations that investors were misled about the company's financial condition. 3. Questions arose about how the contract was awarded.Investigative reporting uncovered connections between AllHere and consultant Debra Kerr, who had longstanding professional ties to Carvalho. Kerr later claimed she was owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions related to the LAUSD deal. Federal investigators reportedly began examining the financial aspects of the contract and the relationships surrounding it. 4. Student data concerns surfaced.After AllHere's collapse, critics raised concerns about how student information was handled and whether proper safeguards existed for data collected through the chatbot. Is Carvalho accused of anything?Not publicly.That distinction is important.The FBI searches indicate investigators believed there was sufficient reason to gather evidence, but as of today:Carvalho has not been charged. Prosecutors have not publicly accused him of criminal conduct. The search warrant affidavits remain sealed. His attorneys continue to maintain he acted lawfully and was not involved in selecting AllHere as a vendor. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Because Miami, Billy Corben is joined by Miami New Times reporter Scott McLendon who wrote about former Miami Beach mayor Phil Levine's relationship with Jeffery Epstein. Plus, Camila Ball comes on the show to talk about being forcefully removed from a Miami-Dade county commission meeting during public comment with the intent on discussing local law enforcement working hand in hand with ICE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is anything sacred for Democrats when it comes to helping citizens.The short version is this: federal agents raided the home and office of LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, and multiple reports indicate the investigation is tied to LAUSD's failed AI chatbot project called "Ed," which was developed through a multimillion-dollar contract with the education technology company AllHere. Carvalho has not been charged with any crime, and the FBI has not publicly disclosed the full scope of the investigation. What happened?On February 25, 2026, the FBI executed search warrants at:Carvalho's home in Los Angeles LAUSD headquarters A Florida residence connected to education consultant Debra Kerr, who had ties to AllHere and Carvalho dating back to his time in Miami-Dade schools. Two days later, the LAUSD Board placed Carvalho on paid leave. On June 21, 2026, Carvalho resigned as superintendent, though he continued to deny wrongdoing. Authorities still have not announced any charges against him. What was the chatbot controversy?The controversy centers on an AI assistant called "Ed."LAUSD unveiled Ed in 2024 with considerable publicity. The chatbot was marketed as a personalized digital assistant for students and parents that could:Track grades and attendance Provide academic recommendations Translate communications into roughly 100 languages Help families navigate school services Carvalho championed the project as a major innovation for the district. The problem is that the vendor behind Ed, AllHere, collapsed shortly after launch.Why did it become a scandal?Several issues emerged:1. The company imploded.Within months of Ed's rollout, AllHere furloughed employees, entered bankruptcy, and ceased operations. LAUSD terminated the relationship after already paying millions of dollars toward the project. 2. The founder was indicted.AllHere founder Joanna Smith-Griffin was later charged with securities fraud, wire fraud, and identity theft related to allegations that investors were misled about the company's financial condition. 3. Questions arose about how the contract was awarded.Investigative reporting uncovered connections between AllHere and consultant Debra Kerr, who had longstanding professional ties to Carvalho. Kerr later claimed she was owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions related to the LAUSD deal. Federal investigators reportedly began examining the financial aspects of the contract and the relationships surrounding it. 4. Student data concerns surfaced.After AllHere's collapse, critics raised concerns about how student information was handled and whether proper safeguards existed for data collected through the chatbot. Is Carvalho accused of anything?Not publicly.That distinction is important.The FBI searches indicate investigators believed there was sufficient reason to gather evidence, but as of today:Carvalho has not been charged. Prosecutors have not publicly accused him of criminal conduct. The search warrant affidavits remain sealed. His attorneys continue to maintain he acted lawfully and was not involved in selecting AllHere as a vendor. Why this became a political storyThe optics are terrible for LAUSD.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The question at the center of the Anna Kepner case has shifted from the accused to the adults who allegedly put her in harm's way. Timothy Hudson's own step-grandmother publicly stated on CBS that the parents should be held accountable and described the family cruise as “a recipe for disaster.” Anna's ex-boyfriend has stated she was afraid of her stepbrother and took steps to avoid being alone with him. Three teenagers who had not been raised together were assigned to a single cabin aboard the Carnival Horizon.The Crumbley precedent — in which both parents of the Oxford High School shooter were convicted of involuntary manslaughter for ignoring documented warning signs — has dominated public discussion. But the jurisdictional framework differs fundamentally. The Carnival Horizon is a Panamanian-flagged vessel. The alleged crime occurred in international waters, outside any state's jurisdiction. No federal contributing-to-the-delinquency-of-a-minor statute applies in this context. If no applicable law exists, the comparison to the Crumbley prosecution lacks a statutory foundation.Separately, Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres reversed his own pretrial release decision on June 10 after receiving sealed evidence filed two days earlier. His detention order states that Hudson's alleged conduct suggests “a level of psychopathy and lack of remorse” and that he could “snap at any time.” Hudson surrendered to U.S. Marshals and is being held at Citrus County Jail pending transfer to Miami-Dade's Metro West Detention Center. Trial remains set for September.Retired FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer and retired FBI Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program Chief Robin Dreeke examine the jurisdictional obstacles, the legal shift from juvenile to adult detention rules, and what the sealed evidence likely contains.Timothy Hudson, sixteen, is charged as an adult with first-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty and is entitled to the presumption of innocence.A look back at the most compelling stories of the week.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#AnnaKepner #TimothyHudson #CruiseShipMurder #CarnivalHorizon #CrumbleyPrecedent #FederalDetention #JusticeForAnna #PanamaCruise #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers

On May 27, Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres kept Timothy Hudson free. On June 10, after receiving sealed evidence filed two days earlier, the same judge ordered Hudson detained and used language federal judges spend their careers avoiding. He wrote that Hudson allegedly exhibits “a level of psychopathy and lack of remorse” and could “snap at any time.” He said no placement could contain the danger.Something in that sealed filing moved Torres from caution to certainty. The defense had argued perfect compliance for months. The judge had been defending his own release decision since February. Whatever prosecutors delivered on June 8 was enough to reverse everything.Hudson surrendered to U.S. Marshals and is being held at Citrus County Jail. He'll be transferred to Miami-Dade's Metro West Detention Center by July 10. A mental health evaluation has been ordered. The September trial date holds.Meanwhile, the question of parental accountability grows louder. Hudson's own step-grandmother has publicly said the parents should face consequences. Anna's ex-boyfriend says she was scared of Hudson and avoided being alone with him. Three teenagers who weren't raised together were placed in a single cabin. But the Carnival Horizon is a Panamanian-flagged vessel, and there is no federal statute that covers parental negligence in this context.Retired FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer and retired FBI Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program Chief Robin Dreeke examine the timeline of the reversal, what the sealed evidence likely contains, the Crumbley comparison, and whether any legal path exists to hold the parents accountable.Timothy Hudson, sixteen, is charged as an adult with first-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty and is entitled to the presumption of innocence.A look back at the most compelling stories of the week.Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#AnnaKepner #TimothyHudson #CruiseShipMurder #CarnivalHorizon #JusticeForAnna #FederalDetention #FBI #PanamaCruise #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime

Something arrived under seal in the Anna Kepner case — and within two days, the judge who'd been defending Timothy Hudson's freedom for four months reversed himself and ordered him detained. The question everyone should be asking: what was in that filing?Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres had released Hudson in February under juvenile rules. He'd called the government's case “a much closer call” with “various defenses.” On May 27, after a full hearing, Torres kept Hudson free. The defense pointed to months of flawless compliance. And then prosecutors filed sealed “newly disclosed, supplemental information” on June 8. On June 10, Torres signed the detention order.The language was unlike anything he'd written before. Hudson displays “a level of psychopathy and lack of remorse.” He could “snap at any time.” No curfew, monitor, or custody arrangement could contain the danger. Torres expressed concern that Hudson could “make another very wrong decision the closer the trial gets.” That's a forward-looking danger assessment from a judge who doesn't trust the next three months.Hudson surrendered to U.S. Marshals and is at Citrus County Jail. He'll be transferred to a juvenile facility at Miami-Dade's Metro West Detention Center by July 10. Mental health evaluation ordered. September 8 trial date holds.This episode tracks the legal architecture behind the delay, the moment the Bail Reform Act replaced the juvenile framework, what Torres's own words reveal about what he saw in those sealed filings, and the reality of preparing for a life-sentence trial from inside a detention facility.Anna Kepner was eighteen. Her stepbrother is charged with first-degree murder. He pleads not guilty and is entitled to the presumption of innocence.Links:Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#AnnaKepner #TimothyHudson #TrueCrimeToday #CarnivalHorizon #CruiseShipMurder #TrueCrime #JusticeForAnna #FederalDetention #SealedEvidence #CarnivalCruise

Timothy Hudson met every condition of his release for months. No violations. Total compliance. And a federal judge just said none of it mattered — not against what he was reading. Anna Kepner's accused killer is behind bars.Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres had released Hudson in February and held the line through prosecution pressure and public outcry. As recently as May 27, Torres kept him free after a hearing. The defense's argument was simple and, on paper, true: Hudson had done everything right. Then on June 8, prosecutors filed sealed supplemental evidence. Two days later, Torres wrote an order revoking Hudson's release — and the language was devastating.Torres described the government's evidence as “beyond clear and convincing.” He wrote about “a level of psychopathy and lack of remorse” and the concern that Hudson could “snap at any time, despite the well-meaning and serious efforts of his caretakers.” The alleged crime — committed against a household member inside a shared private space — was exactly the kind of danger that home detention is least able to address.Hudson surrendered to U.S. Marshals and is being held at Citrus County Jail. Transfer to a juvenile facility at Miami-Dade's Metro West Detention Center is ordered by July 10. A mental health evaluation is underway. The defense's strongest pretrial argument — compliance — is now legally dead.This episode covers why the system took this long, what changed when the case moved from juvenile to adult prosecution, what the sealed filing appears to have done to Torres's calculus, and what September 8 looks like for a defendant preparing from custody.Anna Kepner was eighteen years old. Her stepbrother faces first-degree murder charges. He pleads not guilty. The presumption of innocence applies.Links:Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspodX Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePodThis publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.#AnnaKepner #TimothyHudson #HiddenKillers #CarnivalHorizon #CruiseShipMurder #TrueCrime #JusticeForAnna #FederalCourt #PretrialDetention #CarnivalCruise

He texted her "Is love going to kill me?" and was dead 33 days later. What the medical examiner found next changes everything. Christian Obumseli was a 27-year-old Nigerian-American engineer and former college linebacker who met OnlyFans creator Courtney Clenney in Tulum in 2020. Over the next two years, their relationship became increasingly violent — documented in police body cam footage, elevator surveillance video, and Christian's own text messages describing being stabbed in the leg, cut on the face, and called racial slurs. On April 3, 2022, he died from a stab wound to the chest in their Miami penthouse. In Part 1, Tyrella and Nikita walk through who Christian was before Courtney, every documented incident of violence, and the night he died — including the Miami-Dade medical examiner's findings that directly contradict Courtney's defense. Part 2 (the arrest, the four-year delay, and prosecutorial misconduct) is available now for patrons, or drops Thursday for everyone. ⚠️ Content warning: domestic violence, racial slurs, graphic descriptions of injury and death. Want access to our first 45 episodes? Grab em here! We've made them available for free to anyone who signs up! Remember, these episodes were recorded when we had no idea what we were doing, so just keep that in mind. The audio isn't the quality we would want to put out now, but the cases are on point! Visit killerqueens.link/og to download and binge all the archived episodes today! Hang with us: Follow Us on Instagram Like Us on Facebook Join our Case Discussion Group on Facebook Get Killer Queens Merch Bonus Episodes Support Our AMAZING Sponsors: Tumble: Machine Washable Rugs, Made Better.  For a limited time only, our listeners get 10% off + free shipping at tumbleliving.com/QUEENS #Tumble #ad   © 2026 Killer Queens Podcast. All Rights Reserved Audio Production by Wayfare Recording Music provided by Steven Tobi Logo designed by ⁠Ingrid at Penguin Designing⁠  

This week on Because Miami, Billy Corben talks to Florida state senate candidate Richard Lamondin as the environmental entrepreneur tries to convince potential District 38 voters why they should vote for him. Also, David Villano, editor of the Coconut Grove Spotlight talks about how the Grove is being swallowed up by the city of Miami and the county of Miami Dade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices