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On Your World of Creativity, we travel the world talking with creative practitioners about how they get inspired, organize ideas, and turn imagination into impact.Today's guest believes that imagination isn't just a creative skill—it's infrastructure.Adelia Schleusz has built a career at the intersection of commercial interior design, behavioral psychology, sensory design, research, and strategic foresight. As the founder of What If LAB, she helps organizations use creativity, science, and cross-disciplinary thinking to design better experiences, better environments, and perhaps even better futures.Adelia 's Website@adeliapcs on InstagramConnect on LInkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/adelia-c-schleusz-rid-ncidq-iida-195b116/If you've ever wondered how curiosity becomes innovation—or how asking "What if?" can transform the way we work, create, and collaborate—this conversation is for you.Guest BioAdelia C. Schleusz is the Founder of What If LAB, LLC, a creative consultancy operating at the intersection of interior environments, human experiences, strategy, and science.A licensed and registered interior designer, Adelia has spent her career exploring how creativity, behavioral psychology, research, and sensory design can work together to shape meaningful experiences. Her work has earned numerous industry honors, including the prestigious Interior Design 2023 HiP Award, recognizing the most innovative people in commercial design.Adelia is a public speaker, SXSW workshop facilitator, and recipient of the IIDA 2025 Kimball International Makers of a Better Future Fund Award. Through What If LAB, she helps organizations cultivate curiosity, challenge assumptions, and design solutions that bridge imagination and practical impact.Her philosophy is simple: stay curious, ask better questions, and never stop exploring the possibilities hidden inside "What if?"1: Imagination as InfrastructureOne phrase that immediately caught my attention is your description of using "imagination as infrastructure."Many people think of imagination as something abstract or artistic, but you see it as foundational to innovation and problem-solving.What does "imagination as infrastructure" mean to you, and how has that philosophy shaped your career journey from interior design into strategy, research, and future-focused thinking?Are organizations doing enough to nurture imagination—or are they unintentionally designing it out of the workplace?2: The Soul of Your BrandWhen I look at What If LAB, I don't see an interior design firm. I see a curiosity engine. A place where diverse disciplines collide to create new possibilities.How has your mission evolved as you've gained experience working across industries and disciplines?3: Designing for Human ExperienceYou've worked extensively in commercial interiors, behavioral psychology, sensory design, and research. Many people think design is about aesthetics. But your work suggests it's really about human behavior and experience.What have you learned about how environments influence the way people think, collaborate, create, and even feel?What are some simple design principles listeners could apply in their own workspaces or creative environments?Have you seen examples where changing a space transformed the outcomes of a team or organization?4: The Power of Cross-Disciplinary ThinkingA recurring theme on this podcast is that creativity often happens at the intersection of disciplines. You've intentionally built a career that connects design, psychology, research, science, business strategy, and innovation.Why do breakthroughs so often emerge when we bring together people with different perspectives, and how can leaders create environments where that kind of collaboration thrives?5: Living in the "What If?"In a world increasingly focused on efficiency, certainty, and immediate results, curiosity can sometimes feel like a luxury. If listeners wanted to strengthen their own curiosity muscle this week, what's one question they should begin asking themselves?If you enjoyed today's conversation, please subscribe, rate, and review the podcast.

After 800 episodes, I've observed that many of my remarkable guests are connected by one or more common threads. Each episode of Special Collections focuses on a particular thread that ties together some of my guests.  In this episode, the common thread is a group of young artists who are dedicated to keeping alive and vibrant the music of the Great American Songbook and the big band era and carrying forward the tradition of great crooners like Frank Sinatra. This episode features four extraordinary young artists who have each been a guest on the podcast and who exemplify this tradition. They all know one another and they're all connected. Let me re-introduce them to you. Benny Benack III is a phenomenal Emmy nominated trumpeter, crooner and consummate showman. Bria Skonberg is also an extraordinary trumpeter and vocalist. She is a Juno award winner, 10x Downbeat Rising Star, and Lincoln Center Swing Award recipient. Christian Wiggs is a terrific singer, band leader, lyricist and record label executive who has performed at major venues including Birdland, the Blue Note, Dizzy's and SXSW. He also leads the Christian Wiggs Big Band. And Danny Jonokuchi is another outstanding trumpeter, singer and arranger. He's arranged for Lady Gaga as well as for Benny and Christian, and he leads the Danny Jonokuchi Big Band. This episode features a song by each of these talented artists. Music is a continuum. Everything builds upon what has come before. By honoring their traditions as they do these artists are not just preserving the past they are keeping it alive, evolving it and carrying it forward. This is Robert Miller with Follow Your Dream.

This week, the guys are joined by Nojo Wallace for a wide-ranging conversation about sports, music, and his new project, Goldie II. They discuss Kawhi Leonard's possible return to Toronto (19:28), where LeBron James could play next (23:54), and whether Future's music still reflects where he and his audience are in life (50:47).Nojo also breaks down why Goldie II was released directly to listeners (34:19), his approach to rapping, singing, production, and sampling, and his experience performing with TDE at SXSW (1:14:04). The episode closes with conversations about Jay-Z, Kanye West, Project Pat's influence, and Nojo's theory about Forrest Gump.Support Nojo Wallace and purchase Goldie II hereFollow the podcast:Merch: https://shop.rightontargetpod.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/rightontargetpodTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rightontargetpodYouTube: https://youtube.com/@rightontargetpodcast?si=X42GWpfGekAnQMds

"On 2 U" It's hard to imagine a band working today that captures the grit and the glamor of Los Angeles better than Starcrawler. Formed in 2015 by teenage classmates, the young band tore out of the gates with an aggressive blend of crunchy punk and deliciously sleazy hard rock. Led by singer Arrow De Wilde, Starcrawler are one of those rare out of the box bands that knew who they were early on--which is really just a way of saying they sounded like they were born ready to be rock stars. The band's three long players--Starcrawler, Devour You and She Said--form a winning triptych of driving and doomy rock and roll that's powered by DeWilde's winning vocal bite. The band, which is made up of DeWilde, Cash and his brother Bill, and rounded out by Seth Carolina and Tim Franco, play tight sludgy riffs, whiplash drum fills and prowling baselines that stalk through each number with muscle and nerve. One of the most charismatic, dynamic and adrenalized live acts on the planet, Starcrawler have done a lot in the last decade; they've played South By Southwest, Later With Jools Holland, toured all over the U.S., Europe and Australia, played shows with Garbage and Nick Cave and have just released their new single "On 2 U." As for guitarist Henri Cash, the Southern California native is a busy guy--known for playing a three-string guitar, Cash's riffs are inventive and intuitive and beneath their aggression is an undeniable discipline and craft. Cash has collaborated with the band Plague Vendor and along with Sophia Skye he formed the duo Cash & Skye, who put out a seven-inch on Jack White's Third Man Records. He's a busy guy, so we're grateful he took the time to sit down with us. www.starcrawler.com www.bombshellradio.com (http://www.bombshellradio.com) www.stereoembersmagazine.com (http://www.stereoembersmagazine.com) www.alexgreenbooks.com (http://www.alexgreenbooks.com) BLUESKY + THREADS + IG: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

Jesse Zhang is the Co-founder & CEO of Decagon, one of the world's fastest-growing AI companies. In just two and a half years, Decagon has grown to around 500 employees, raised approximately US$500 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Accel and Bain Capital Ventures, and today powers AI customer service for many of the world's largest airlines, banks, retailers and technology companies. In this rare in-depth conversation, Jesse reflects on growing up in Boulder, Colorado, an intensely disciplined childhood shaped by maths competitions and Chinese immigrant parents, graduating from Harvard in just three years, and why his first startup taught him far more than his second. Vidit and Jesse explore how Decagon found its billion-dollar opportunity by interviewing hundreds of customers, why they reached US$1 million in ARR with just two people, how to hire exceptional talent, why speed has become the ultimate competitive advantage in AI, building one of Silicon Valley's leading AI companies, and what it really takes to scale from founder mode to leading 500 people. Please enjoy exploring your curiosity. ________ 00:00:00 Who is Jesse Zhang? 02:10 The Huawei story that shaped Decagon 07:20 Why Maths Olympiads create successful founders 13:05 Leaving Harvard a year early 17:40 The startup that nearly broke him 23:30 Losing two co-founders 29:15 Why he started again 34:20 The question that found Decagon 40:10 Hitting $1M ARR with just 3 employees early on 45:25 Learning enterprise sales from scratch 50:35 Building AI agents before the hype 56:15 Why Decagon is beating bigger rivals 1:02:20 Hiring only "serious people" 1:08:15 Letting go as CEO 1:13:10 Marriage, sleep & startup obsession 1:17:05 What he's really building ________ Get in touch with us via email at contact@curiositycentre.com Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.  Show notes and more episodes here Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here Contact us via our website ________ The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world's most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW. Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), David Eckstein (CFO, Legora), Jesse Zhang (CEO, Decagon), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear), Gautam Chari (Head of Capital Commitments, Bank of America), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India), 

Canary Cry Radio is on the bleeding edge of reporting boots-on-the-ground from Burning Man for nearly a decade. Standing on the shoulders of researchers like Carl Teichrib and his work on the Re-Enchantment, and Transformative Events, no other Christian podcast has addressed why these events are important for the future of our culture, while evangelizing and preaching the Gospel message of Jesus Christ in the middle of the most esoteric annual event in Black Rock City. Carl is back with an much needed update on everything! Visit BurningManResearch.com to get the archive of episodes on this topic over the last 15 years! Find out how to support Basil's trip to Burning Man 2026, where the theme is AXIS MUNDI!LINKShttps://orbis-sentry.orghttps://www.gameofgods.cahttps://CanaryCry.Support0:00 — Intro: Carl Teichrib returns1:25 — Carl's research background6:23 — Globalism, interfaith, transhumanism converge9:25 — Discovering transformational festival culture11:35 — Burning Man's countercultural roots18:07 — Festivals prove secularism's dead20:15 — What makes festivals "transformational"31:27 — Origins of "re-enchantment" term33:35 — Pagan environmentalism: Rio quote35:53 — SXSW: consciousness, psychedelics admission42:35 — Re-enchantment history since 1800s46:16 — California: spiritual petri dish54:49 — True re-enchantment: the resurrection57:17 — "Christians made resurrection boring"1:04:59 — Jesus: the true Axis Mundi1:12:31 — Warning: parroting worldly language1:20:17 — "Not a place for Christians"1:22:28 — 2017: first burn story1:24:03 — Camp of the Unknown God1:28:22 — Naming the camp: Acts 171:30:50 — Paul at Athens breakdown1:35:21 — Cultural diplomacy, not war1:48:40 — This year's theme & concerns1:51:25 — Burning Man: propaganda target?1:57:18 — Handling the temple carefully1:59:23 — Christians bear false witness2:07:04 — Rosie's story: rights of nature2:09:52 — Psalm 51 tears moment2:14:25 — Orbis origin: Texas Eclipse2:16:42 — George's three-day culture shock2:19:44 — NATO Dayton, forming Orbis2:33:16 — Prayer requests & farewell

Canary Cry Radio is on the bleeding edge of reporting boots-on-the-ground from Burning Man for nearly a decade. Standing on the shoulders of researchers like Carl Teichrib and his work on the Re-Enchantment, and Transformative Events, no other Christian podcast has addressed why these events are important for the future of our culture, while evangelizing and preaching the Gospel message of Jesus Christ in the middle of the most esoteric annual event in Black Rock City. Carl is back with an much needed update on everything! Visit BurningManResearch.com to get the archive of episodes on this topic over the last 15 years! Find out how to support Basil's trip to Burning Man 2026, where the theme is AXIS MUNDI! LINKS https://orbis-sentry.org https://www.gameofgods.ca https://CanaryCry.Support   0:00 — Intro: Carl Teichrib returns 1:25 — Carl's research background 6:23 — Globalism, interfaith, transhumanism converge 9:25 — Discovering transformational festival culture 11:35 — Burning Man's countercultural roots 18:07 — Festivals prove secularism's dead 20:15 — What makes festivals "transformational" 31:27 — Origins of "re-enchantment" term 33:35 — Pagan environmentalism: Rio quote 35:53 — SXSW: consciousness, psychedelics admission 42:35 — Re-enchantment history since 1800s 46:16 — California: spiritual petri dish 54:49 — True re-enchantment: the resurrection 57:17 — "Christians made resurrection boring" 1:04:59 — Jesus: the true Axis Mundi 1:12:31 — Warning: parroting worldly language 1:20:17 — "Not a place for Christians" 1:22:28 — 2017: first burn story 1:24:03 — Camp of the Unknown God 1:28:22 — Naming the camp: Acts 17 1:30:50 — Paul at Athens breakdown 1:35:21 — Cultural diplomacy, not war 1:48:40 — This year's theme & concerns 1:51:25 — Burning Man: propaganda target? 1:57:18 — Handling the temple carefully 1:59:23 — Christians bear false witness 2:07:04 — Rosie's story: rights of nature 2:09:52 — Psalm 51 tears moment 2:14:25 — Orbis origin: Texas Eclipse 2:16:42 — George's three-day culture shock 2:19:44 — NATO Dayton, forming Orbis 2:33:16 — Prayer requests & farewell

Welcome back to another episode of Private Conversations! This week on Private Conversations, we're breaking down the biggest upcoming sneaker releases and why Nike may be losing its grip on the sneaker industry. We dive into how brands like New Balance, ASICS, HOKA, On-Cloud, and Solomon are gaining momentum while Nike shifted away from major retailers in favor of a direct-to-consumer strategy.  We also put Gilberto's viral Birria Balls and Hot Cheetos Burritos to the test, tell some unforgettable Kanye West concert and SXSW stories, and Larry delivers an all-time rant about Pokémon fans, scalpers, and why people keep accusing sneaker stores of ruining the hobby. In this episode we discuss: • The hottest upcoming sneaker releases • Is Nike losing the sneaker war? • Why running brands are dominating right now • Kanye West concert memories & SXSW stories • Trying Gilberto's viral Birria Balls & Hot Cheetos Burritos • Larry vs. Pokémon fans • Sneakers, food, stories, and plenty of chaos   New episodes every week.   SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHANNEL ► https://www.youtube.com/@prvt.selection   LISTEN ON: APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-conversations/id1641605422?ign-itscg=30200S&ign-itsct=podcast_box_promote_link SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/5wnDrQiUCPcUErprdaBX2b  ALL PLATFORMS: https://linktr.ee/PrivateSelection   ADD US ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/prvt.selection/   ALL OF OUR SOCIALS: https://linktr.ee/PrivateSelection Follow the Hosts: Ian (@masterchefian) Full Fit Larry (@fullfitlarry) Scotty (@beammmeupscotty) _________________________________________________________________ #PrivateConversations #Sneakers #Streetwear #Podcast

David Eckstein is the CFO of Legora, one of the world's fastest-growing enterprise software companies, which grew from $1 million to $100 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) in just 18 months. David reflects on his parents' divorce, graduating from college in three years, and realising at 22 that he was “living someone else's life” before leaving investment banking for Silicon Valley. Vidit and David explore his journey through Box, OpenDNS, Menlo Security and Vanta to Legora; helping sell OpenDNS to Cisco; investing in more than 100 startups; and how 16 years of relationships helped Legora attract $1.5 billion in investor demand and raise a $600 million Series D. They also discuss the changing role of the CFO, AI economics and token spend, how to diligence a startup before joining, lessons from exceptional founders, Legora's extraordinary growth, and David's philosophy of loyalty and giving more than he takes. Please enjoy exploring your curiosity. ________ 00:00:00 Meet David Eckstein 00:05:00 Why Loyalty Drives Everything 00:13:00 The Obsession With Permanence 00:23:00 “I Was Living Someone Else's Life” 00:28:00 How Relationships Helped Raise $600M 00:38:00 The New Economics of AI 00:45:00 Lessons From Four Hypergrowth Companies 00:55:00 Why He Bet His Career on Legora 01:05:00 What Makes Legora Special 01:12:00 The Hardest 25 Days of His Life 01:15:00 Give More Than You Take 01:21:00 Rapid Fire ________ Get in touch with us via email at contact@curiositycentre.com Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City of Sydney and more.  Show notes and more episodes here Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit Agarwal directly here Contact us via our website ________ The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world's most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW. Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Jeanne DeWitt Grosser (COO, Vercel), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica), Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India), Vivek Bhatia (CEO, MUFG), Cristina Cordova (COO, Linear) and more.

Catch up on the biggest Oregon startup news of 2026 news with a breakdown of the top 10 startup stories defining the year so far. Get the essential details you need to stay informed on the major headlines without the filler. Whether you have been following the news closely or just need a quick catch-up, this summary breaks down the key developments affecting current events today. It is designed for anyone looking to understand the broader context behind the noise.By reviewing these top 10 stories, you will gain a clearer picture of the 2026 trends that are influencing our daily lives. We filter out the speculation to focus on the facts that actually matter, making it easier to track the progress of the year.Subscribe for weekly current events summaries and comment below with which of these 2026 news recap stories you want me to cover in more detail next.CHAPTERS00:00 Oregon startup news00:51 Startup Story 1005:50 Startup Story 9 11:15 Startup Story 813:46 Startup Story 717:10 Startup Story 621:19 Startup Story 525:00 Startup Story 430:50 Startup Story 334:34 Startup Story 250:35 Startup Story 159:27 SecretsFIND RICK TUROCZY ON THE INTERNET AT…- https://patreon.com/turoczy- https://linkedin.com/in/turoczy- Portland Oregon startup news on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/portland-oregon-startup-news-silicon-florist/id1711294699- Portland Oregon startup news Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2cmLDH8wrPdNMS2qtTnhcy?si=H627wrGOTvStxxKWRlRGLQ- Startup Stories on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1Tk7bbzaNYowGouI9ucKC3- Startup Stories on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startup-stories-with-silicon-florist/id1849468494- The Long Con on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-long-con/id1810923457- The Long Con on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/48oglyT5JNKxVH5lnWTYKA- https://bsky.app/profile/turoczy.bsky.social- https://siliconflorist.substack.com/- https://pdxslack.comABOUT SILICON FLORIST ----------For nearly two decades, Rick Turoczy has published Silicon Florist, a blog, newsletter, and podcast that covers entrepreneurs, founders, startups, entrepreneurship, tech, news, and events in the Portland, Oregon, startup community. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a startup or tech enthusiast, or simply intrigued by Portland's startup culture, Silicon Florist is your go-to source for the latest news, events, jobs, and opportunities in Portland Oregon's flourishing tech and startup scene. Join us in exploring the innovative world of startups in Portland, where creativity and collaboration meet.ABOUT RICK TUROCZY ----------Rick Turoczy has been working in, on, and around the Portland, Oregon, startup community for nearly 30 years. He has been recognized as one of the “OG”s of startup ecosystem building by the Kauffman Foundation. And he has been humbled by any number of opportunities to speak on stages from SXSW to INBOUND and from Kobe, Japan, to Muscat, Oman, including an opportunity to share his views on community building on the TEDxPortland stage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj98mr_wUA0). All because of a blog. Weird.https://siliconflorist.com#pdx #portland #oregon #startup #entrepreneur

This week in Portland startup news, we start with the top 10 Silicon Florist posts from H1 2026 — the list readers built by clicking, not me — and the story it tells is worth pausing over: QSBS grabbed the top two slots, Dwayne Johnson's community read landed at number three, and Panthalassa's quiet $140 million Series B slotted in at four. From there, a midyear refresh of the "how to Portland startup community" primer — the front door for anyone who's been circling the edges and hasn't quite found their way in yet. CHAPTERS:00:00 Portland startup news02:05 Small Business resources07:10 Top 10 Oregon startup stories so far18:35 How to Portland startup community22:15 SecretsLINKS:Top 10 Silicon Florist posts, H1 2026 — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/01/top-10-silicon-florist-posts-for-the-first-half-of-2026/How to Portland startup community (midyear) — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/02/refresher-how-to-portland-startup-community-midyear-2026-quickstart-edition/Portland Startups Slack — https://pdxslack.com/Bricks Need Mortar × Portland Office of Small Business AI Shop Talk — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/06/29/run-a-small-business-curious-about-ai-bricks-need-mortar-can-help/The AI Conversation — register (Jul 16) — https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-ai-conversation-thats-been-missing-for-small-business-tickets-1991933655184Our Place — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/01/helping-you-find-your-people-and-community-with-our-place/Our Place app — https://www.ourplace.community/LocalFirst PDX — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/07/01/portland-loves-local-small-business-localfirst-pdx-makes-them-easier-to-find/LocalFirst PDX site — https://localfirstpdx.com/FIND RICK TUROCZY ON THE INTERNET AT…- https://patreon.com/turoczy- https://linkedin.com/in/turoczy- Portland Oregon startup news on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/portland-oregon-startup-news-silicon-florist/id1711294699- Portland Oregon startup news Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2cmLDH8wrPdNMS2qtTnhcy?si=H627wrGOTvStxxKWRlRGLQ- Startup Stories on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1Tk7bbzaNYowGouI9ucKC3- Startup Stories on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startup-stories-with-silicon-florist/id1849468494- The Long Con on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-long-con/id1810923457- The Long Con on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/48oglyT5JNKxVH5lnWTYKA- https://bsky.app/profile/turoczy.bsky.social- https://siliconflorist.substack.com/- https://pdxslack.comABOUT SILICON FLORIST ----------For nearly two decades, Rick Turoczy has published Silicon Florist, a blog, newsletter, and podcast that covers entrepreneurs, founders, startups, entrepreneurship, tech, news, and events in the Portland, Oregon, startup community. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a startup or tech enthusiast, or simply intrigued by Portland's startup culture, Silicon Florist is your go-to source for the latest news, events, jobs, and opportunities in Portland Oregon's flourishing tech and startup scene. Join us in exploring the innovative world of startups in Portland, where creativity and collaboration meet.ABOUT RICK TUROCZY ----------Rick Turoczy has been working in, on, and around the Portland, Oregon, startup community for nearly 30 years. He has been recognized as one of the “OG”s of startup ecosystem building by the Kauffman Foundation. And he has been humbled by any number of opportunities to speak on stages from SXSW to INBOUND and from Kobe, Japan, to Muscat, Oman, including an opportunity to share his views on community building on the TEDxPortland stage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj98mr_wUA0). All because of a blog. Weird.https://siliconflorist.com#pdx #portland #oregon #startup #entrepreneur

Imaginez que notre univers ne soit qu'un gigantesque jeu vidéo. Popularisée par "Matrix" et tournée en dérision dans "Le Vertige" – la dernière comédie de Quentin Dupieux –, cette idée est prise au sérieux par des figures de la tech tels Elon Musk, Sam Altman ou encore George Hotz. Lors de sa conférence au festival SXSW intitulée "Jailbreaking the Simulation", ce hacker expliquait rechercher des failles ("glitchs") dans notre quotidien. Il milite pour trouver ces vulnérabilités, prendre le contrôle du "serveur" qui héberge notre univers... et pourquoi pas rencontrer son "créateur". Si cette théorie est intéressante, elle ne doit cependant pas nous pousser à l'inaction.

Guest Elizabeth Weingarten is a journalist and applied behavioral scientist who works at the intersection of science and storytelling. A graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, she has worked on the editorial staffs of The Atlantic, Slate, and Qatar Today, and was Managing Editor of Behavioral Scientist. Her writing has appeared in publications including The Atlantic, Slate, CNN, The Financial Times, Quartz, Harvard Business Review, and Time. She has led research programs at the think tank New America, the consultancy ideas42, and at tech companies Torch and Udemy. An in-demand speaker, she has shared her work and conducted workshops at venues including SXSW, the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, and the University of Virginia. She lives in Northern California with her husband and son. Summary In this conversation, author Elizabeth Weingarten discusses her book How to Fall in Love with Questions—a New Way to Thrive in Times of Uncertainty, which explores how people can develop a healthier relationship with uncertainty. Drawing on the writings of Rainer Maria Rilke, behavioral science, neuroscience, philosophy, and personal experience, she argues that uncertainty is not something to be eliminated but to be navigated thoughtfully. Weingarten explains that our brains are wired to seek certainty, which leaves discomfort in the wake of unanswered questions. Yet rushing toward easy answers often leaves us more confused and stuck. She introduces practical frameworks, including a "question map" and a fruit-tree model that categorizes questions by the time and attention they require. The discussion also examines leadership, decision-making, perfectionism, community, and self-compassion. Ultimately, Weingarten suggests that growth comes not from finding immediate answers but from learning to live with meaningful questions long enough for deeper clarity and wisdom to emerge. The Essential Point The central idea of Elizabeth Weingarten's message is that uncertainty is not a problem to be solved as quickly as possible; it is a condition of life that can foster growth, insight, and self-discovery when approached with curiosity and patience. Many of life's most important questions cannot be answered immediately, and trying to force certainty often prevents us from finding the deeper understanding we actually need. Social MediaWebsite LinkedIn

Two weeks straight, we've lost the people who showed us this was even possible — first Josh Baer, and now Om Malik, the guy who made writing about tech a real job. The models keep leaving, and I don't have a clean way to say what that feels like. So this week is a tribute first — and then, because Om would've wanted us to keep going, a hometown robot company walking onto the public markets at $2.5 billion.We start where it hurts: a tribute to Om Malik — GigaOm, True Ventures, the patron saint of thoughtful tech blogging — and why, if you write about any of this, you owe him one. From there we pivot to the kind of news Om loved: Agility Robotics, the OSU spinout building bipedal humanoids, going public via SPAC at a $2.5B pre-money and roughly $620M in proceeds, with Digit logging 65,000+ hours for the likes of Toyota and GXO. I tease the Prosperity Council report — Gov. Kotek's council dropped its final 10 recommendations early, the startup community had a seat at the table, and one rec hits close to home (full breakdown Monday). Plus quick hits on Astrid Scholz and Juan Barraza's TEDxMtHood talk — and in Secrets, some honest reflection on how much more I should be doing for this community, after catching up with Mitch Daugherty, Charles Voloshin, Shay Carrillo, and Skip Newberry.CHAPTERS:00:00 Oregon startup news02:10 Remembering Om Malik06:10 Oregon Prosperity Council report08:15 Agility Robotics IPO12:40 SecretsLINKS:Agility Robotics goes public — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/06/24/agility-robotics-plans-to-go-public-via-spac-at-a-2-5-billion-valuation/Agility Robotics — https://www.agilityrobotics.com/Amy Jermain sits down with Astrid Scholz — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/06/23/amy-jermain-sits-down-with-astrid-scholz-to-talk-growth-hacking/TEDxMtHood: Juan Barraza — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/06/24/tedxmthood-juan-barraza/Remembering Om Malik — https://om.co/Portland Startup Slack — https://pdxslack.comFIND RICK TUROCZY ON THE INTERNET AT…- https://patreon.com/turoczy- https://linkedin.com/in/turoczy- Portland Oregon startup news on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/portland-oregon-startup-news-silicon-florist/id1711294699- Startup Stories on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1Tk7bbzaNYowGouI9ucKC3- Startup Stories on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startup-stories-with-silicon-florist/id1849468494- The Long Con on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-long-con/id1810923457- The Long Con on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/48oglyT5JNKxVH5lnWTYKA- https://bsky.app/profile/turoczy.bsky.social- https://siliconflorist.substack.com/- https://pdxslack.comABOUT SILICON FLORIST ----------For nearly two decades, Rick Turoczy has published Silicon Florist, a blog, newsletter, and podcast that covers entrepreneurs, founders, startups, entrepreneurship, tech, news, and events in the Portland, Oregon, startup community. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a startup or tech enthusiast, or simply intrigued by Portland's startup culture, Silicon Florist is your go-to source for the latest news, events, jobs, and opportunities in Portland Oregon's flourishing tech and startup scene. Join us in exploring the innovative world of startups in Portland, where creativity and collaboration meet.ABOUT RICK TUROCZY ----------Rick Turoczy has been working in, on, and around the Portland, Oregon, startup community for nearly 30 years. He has been recognized as one of the “OG”s of startup ecosystem building by the Kauffman Foundation. And he has been humbled by any number of opportunities to speak on stages from SXSW to INBOUND and from Kobe, Japan, to Muscat, Oman, including an opportunity to share his views on community building on the TEDxPortland stage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj98mr_wUA0). All because of a blog. Weird.https://siliconflorist.com#pdx #portland #oregon #startup #entrepreneur

Stand Up is a daily podcast. I book,host,edit, post and promote new episodes with brilliant guests every day. This show is Ad free and fully supported by listeners like you! Please subscribe now for as little as 5$ and gain access to a community of over 700 awesome, curious, kind, funny, brilliant, generous souls Anya Kamenetz speaks, writes, and thinks about generational justice; about thriving, and raising thriving kids, on a changing planet. Her newsletter on these topics is The Golden Hour. She covered education for many years including for NPR, where she co-created the podcast Life Kit: Parenting. Her newest book is The Stolen Year: How Covid Changed Children's Lives, And Where We Go Now. Kamenetz is currently an advisor to the Aspen Institute and the Climate Mental Health Network, working on new initiatives at the intersection of children and climate change. Anya Kamenetz speaks, writes, and thinks about generational justice; about thriving, and raising thriving kids, on a changing planet. Her newsletter on these topics is The Golden Hour. She covered education as a journalist for many years including for NPR, where she also co-created the podcast Life Kit:Parenting in partnership with Sesame Workshop. Kamenetz is currently an advisor to the Aspen Institute and the Climate Mental Health Network on new initiatives at the intersection of children and climate change. She's the author of several acclaimed nonfiction books: Generation Debt (Riverhead, 2006); DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education (Chelsea Green, 2010) ; The Test: Why Our Schools Are Obsessed With Standardized Testing, But You Don't Have To Be (Public Affairs, 2016); The Art of Screen Time: How Your Family Can Balance Digital Media and Real Life (Public Affairs, 2018), and The Stolen Year: How Covid Changed Children's Lives, And Where We Go Now (Public Affairs, 2022). Kamenetz was named a 2010 Game Changer in Education by the Huffington Post, received 2009, 2010, and 2015 National Awards for Education Reporting from the Education Writers Association, won an Edward R. Murrow Award for innovation in 2017 along with the rest of the NPR Ed team, and the 2022 AERA Excellence in Media Reporting on Education Research Award. She's been a New America fellow, a staff writer for Fast Company Magazine and a columnist for the Village Voice. She's contributed to The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York Magazine and Slate, and been featured in documentaries shown on PBS, CNN, HBO and Vice. She frequently speaks on topics related to children, parenting, learning, technology, and climate to audiences including at Google, Apple, and Sesame, Aspen Ideas, SXSW, TEDx, Yale, MIT and Stanford. Kamenetz grew up in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana, in a family of writers and mystics, and graduated from Yale University. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two daughters. The Stand Up Community Chat is always active with other Stand Up Subscribers on the Discord Platform.   Join us Monday and Thursday at 8EST for our Weekly Happy Hour Hangout!  Pete on Threads Pete on Tik Tok Pete on YouTube  Pete on Twitter Pete On Instagram Pete Personal FB page Stand Up with Pete FB page All things Jon Carroll  Follow and Support Pete Coe Buy Ava's Art  Hire DJ Monzyk to build your website or help you with Marketing

What if the best things in your life all began in a moment of fear?My guest Scott Simon, author of Scare Your Soul, believes exactly that.After a panic attack on a plane, he committed to one scary act every single day for a year. Those small daily acts transformed his life, and one of them, singing in front of a restaurant, sparked a global movement. He now coaches individuals, leaders and organisations to build their own courage practice.We get into why high performers get stuck coasting on past success, and what it takes to break free. You'll also hear how building a personal courage practice shapes the culture and trust of the teams around you. Scott also shares why asking for help and practising forgiveness are strategic acts, and how small consistent actions create the conditions for bolder decisions and better leadership.If you think your life is fine and you do not need to push yourself, this one is especially for you.“When we start doing brave things in life, it affects everyone around us” – Scott SimonYou'll hear aboutA panic attack that sparked a daily courage practice.Focusing on action, not outcome.Courage as internal work, not just external action.Why forgiveness is the ultimate act of courage.Being successfully stuck and how to break free.The CEO who took on Big Tobacco despite success.The lie you tell yourself to stay safe.Why courage is an act of service.Why 85% of our fears never materialise.About Scott:Scott is the founder of the global Scare Your Soul courage movement and bestselling author of Scare Your Soul: 7 Powerful Principles to Harness Fear and Lead Your Most Courageous Life (Hachette). As a keynote speaker and courage consultant, he has worked with the Cleveland Cavaliers, United Nations, Nestlé, Logitech, Lululemon, and SXSW to inspire braver teams and bolder cultures. His methodology is a unique blend of neuroscience, positive psychology, and behaviour design. Scott is dangerously obsessed with the NYT online word puzzles and is on a perpetual quest to discover the world's best hole-in-the-wall restaurants.He teaches that courage is not a personality trait — it's a practice.Scott's work: www.scottsimon.us Weekly courage challenges: https://scareyoursoul.substack.com Books: www.scottsimon.us/bookMy resources:Try my High-stakes meetings toolkit (https://bit.ly/43cnhnQ).Take my Becoming a Strategic Leader course (https://bit.ly/3KJYDTj).Sign up to my Every Day is a Strategy Day newsletter (http://bit.ly/36WRpri) for modern mindsets and practices to help you get ahead.Subscribe to my YouTube channel (http://bit.ly/3cFGk1k) where you can watch the conversation.For more details about me:Services (https://rb.gy/ahlcuy) to CEOs, entrepreneurs and professionals.About me (https://rb.gy/dvmg9n) - my background, experience and philosophy.Examples of my writing https://rb.gy/jlbdds).Follow me and engage with me on LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/2Z2PexP).Follow me and engage with me on Twitter (https://bit.ly/36XavNI).

Nick Flanagan is a Toronto based comedian and founding member of the hardcore band Brutal Knights. His latest comedy album 'Mortal Komedy' is out now! Nick sat down with us to discuss Q Bar, Rotate This, Arcadia Books, growing up in Toronto's west end, learning to drive later in life, thrifting in the outskirts of Toronto, Vietnamese restaurants, cultural generalisations, the Annex in the early 90s, daycare co-ops, Suspect Video, The Vinyl Museum, BMV, Honest Eds, his first band Head Cleaner, seeing bands at CFNY, The Deadly Snakes, 'Location Nepo Babies', CIUT 89.5, the origins of Brutal Knights, Danko Jones convincing him to try stand up, SCTV, Howard Stern, Rage Against the Machine, Sneaky Dee's, 'Drunk Punk', the early 2000's hardcore scene, Will Munro, Limp Wrist, Deranged Records, Fucked Up, Career Suicide, Vice's 'Practice Space' show, SXSW, moving to LA, Comedy Death-Ray, Ariel Pink, his new comedy album and much more!Nick FlanaganJosh McIntyreNick Marian----COLD PODJoin us on Patreon to access all episodes and weekly one on one pods!

Hello friends! Jayna Doyle and Blake Arambula from Austin alternative pop outfit Glass Mansions are my guests for episode 1578! Their new EP Soft Witness drops this Friday, June 26th on all streaming services and they're celebrating the release with a show show on Saturday, June 27th at Hotel Vegas in Austin. Go to glassmansions.com for music, videos, show dates/info, and more.  We have a great conversation about Soft Witness probing the duality of holding grief and joy at the same time after Jayne lost her parents back-to-back in 2025, moving from South Carolina to Austin, their songwriting process, "recession pop", touring, DJ'ing, playing SXSW and The Warped Tour, their new music community, and much more. I had a great time getting to know these two fine folks. I'm sure you will too. Let's get down! Find Glass Mansions on Spotify, Instagram Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you pod. Go to johnny-goudie.com for all things Johnny.   If you feel so inclined. Venmo: venmo.com/John-Goudie-1  Paypal: paypal.me/johnnygoudie

A terrific opportunity to hear from Australian actor Shabana Azeez as she prepares to begin filming Season 3 of The Pitt in the US. Equity member Kat Hoyos sits down with Shabana to explore her journey from starting out in Adelaide to working on one of the most talked-about TV series today. Widely regarded as one of the most popular shows of the moment, The Pitt has captured global attention with its gripping storytelling and distinctive style. This a great opportunity to hear firsthand about the experiences, influences, and stories that continue to shape her work. They discuss how she has navigated the industry, developed her craft, and embraced the opportunities and challenges of an international career. Shabana Azeez has quickly established herself as one of the most exciting actors to watch with her undeniable talent and magnetic screen presence.  As a breakout star of HBO Max's Emmy-winning hit series, THE PITT, she can be seen reprising her role as “Victoria Javadi” in the second season which is currently streaming on Max in the USA, Binge in Australia and a number of other platforms around the world. She recently wrapped production on SBS's new drama, THE AIRPORT CHAPLAIN. The eight-part series stars Shabana opposite Hugo Weaving and captures the high-stakes world of a bustling international airport, told through the struggles and triumphs of the workers who keep it running. Recently in film, she voiced the lead character of “Saira” in the animated feature film LESBIAN SPACE PRINCESS which was selected for the 2025 Berlinale where it won the Teddy Award and honored with an AACTA Award for ‘Best Indie Film'. Previously in film, she starred as “Irene” in the feature film, BIRDEATER, for which she was awarded ‘Best Actress' by the Australian Film Critics Association. The film also won the AACTA for ‘Best Independent Feature Film', the audience award for ‘Best Australian Narrative Feature at Sydney Film Festival' and had sold out screenings at Melbourne International Film Festival prior to a very well-received release in the USA at SXSW. Shabana co-won ‘Best Female Actor' at Tropfest in 2019 and was nominated for ‘Best Performance' at Stellar Film Festival and ‘Best Actress' at the South Australian Screen Awards for her work in the feature CRUSH. She also plays “Lali” in the short film I'M THE MOST RACIST PERSON I KNOW which won the Special Jury Award at SXSW 2025, ‘Best Short Film' at Cinefest Oz in 2025 and ‘Best Short Film' at the 2026 AACTA Awards. Previous television credits include roles on the animated series TALES FROM OUTER SUBURBIA, ABC's IN LIMBO, SBS's THE HUNTING, Netflix's APPLE CIDER VINEGAR, Disney+'s NAUTILUS, ABC'S UTOPIA and WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?. Shabana also regularly lends her voice and talent for accents to voiceover work and audiobooks, including the very important story Home to Biloela by Priya Nadesalingam.  Splitting her time between Australia and Los Angeles, she continues to take on bold, diverse roles that showcase her talent and versatility while highlighting her passion for telling stories that push the envelope.

Derek Champagne talks with Rohit Agarwal, CEO of The Weather Company.Rohit Agarwal is the CEO of The Weather Company, the world's most accurate forecaster. In this role, Rohit is responsible for setting the strategic vision that spans the company's digital consumer properties, including The Weather Channel app and weather.com, as well as its enterprise business across media,advertising, aviation, defense, and a variety of other industries. He stands behind the belief that high-performing teams are critical to innovation, growth, and impact, and diverse backgrounds and thinking benefit the end customer.Prior to joining The Weather Company, Rohit was the chief product and revenue officer at SoundCloud, the world's largest online community of artists, bands, DJs, and audio creators, where he led the vision, strategic execution, and revenue. This included overseeing business and product strategy, delivery and operations, design, product marketing, and growth. Through Rohit's leadership, SoundCloud refactored the product, doubled its subscriber base, and meaningfully improved its ads business, leading the company to its first profitable year in its 16-year history.Rohit previously served as chief product and growth officer at CNN. Throughout his career, he has driven 2-3x user and revenue growth across leading companies in industries including music (Last.fm, CBS), media(CNN/WarnerMedia, The Economist, Bild), banking (HSBC), B2B SaaS (Trustpilot, Akamai), and consumer internet (AOL). Rohit is a frequent speaker at leading conferences (Google I/O, SXSW, CES, RISE, WebSummit, Product Summit), an active advisor and investor in startups, and launched his own startup in the past. He is also a committed supporter of diverse and inclusive education initiatives – both as a board member of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and as a board member of Leap Year, a unique program based in metro Atlanta dedicated to improving college access and early adolescent reading skills to under-represented youth.Rohit lives in Atlanta with his wife and two daughters. An avid sports fan, he also enjoys playing soccer and tennis, painting, and cooking, and he acknowledges that his creative endeavors make him a better leader.Business Leadership Series Intro and Outro music provided by Just Off Turner: https://music.apple.com/za/album/the-long-walk-back/268386576

The barrier to making your first film has never been lower, and this episode breaks down exactly how to start. In Part 2 of his conversation with host Gregg Goldfarb, filmmaker Steve Dabal pulls back the curtain on how his documentary Italian Wannabe came together: shot largely on a phone, edited by hand from terabytes of footage, and finished through community crowdfunding. Steve makes the case that you don't need a perfect subject or a big budget to begin. You need a story you care about and the willingness to start filming. From the free tools that turn a phone into a cinema camera, to why short films are the best reps a beginner can get, to how AI is quietly reshaping what independent filmmakers can afford, Steve offers a grounded look at the craft and the business of documentary work today, and why "make the thing" matters far more than worrying about how it will be received.   Join Gregg and Steve on Cut to the Chase as they explore: How to shoot a documentary for $0 using just an iPhone and free apps  Why the story "reveals itself" and how to start before you know the ending  Why short films are the best training ground for first-time filmmakers  The realistic path to a finished film: rough cuts, community, and crowdfunding  How AI is changing the cost of color, graphics, and finishing work  Why the festival system favors certain films, and how feel-good stories find their audience What comes after festivals: roadshows, screenings-with-dinners, and t-urning a film into an event    KEY MOMENTS 00:00 — Cold open: which films "climb the ladder"  00:01 — You've got a story and an iPhone — what do you actually need? 00:02 — The Blackmagic app: turning a phone into a cinema camera 00:03 — "Just start filming" — 14 terabytes and finding the story 00:04 — Do you really need a great subject to begin? 00:06 — Making the thing vs. releasing the thing 00:07 — Why short films are the best reps for beginners 00:09 — The money question: what $0 can (and can't) get you 00:10 — Rough cuts, honest feedback & the freelance colorist 00:12 — Spend $0 first, then crowdfund the finish 00:13 — AI and YouTube: best or worst time to start? 00:14 — Handmade stop-motion vs. AI temp graphics 00:15 — Inside the festival world: programmers & blind submissions 00:17 — Pairing screenings with dinners to build community 00:18 — What's next: roadshows, AI outreach & the film-as-event 00:21 — Closing: stop chasing the checklist — just make the thing    Steve Dabal is an Italian-American director, cinematographer, and editor with a deep VFX background and a focus on non-fiction storytelling. As co-founder and Creative Director of The Family, a New York-based production house, he has interviewed subjects ranging from Scarlett Johansson and Fortune 500 CEOs to war veterans and 9/11 survivors. His work has screened at SXSW, the New York Film Festival, and internationally. Italian Wannabe is his debut feature documentary. The film sold out five screenings at the 2026 Palm Springs International Film Festival and was also an official selection at the Berkshire International Film Festival. The film was directed, shot, and edited by Dabal, and produced with The Family in association with Current Mindset.    RESOURCES MENTIONED: Learn more about Italian Wannabe and follow the film's festival and pop-up screening tour Learn more about Fiore Market Cafe, chef Bill Disselhorst's legendary South Pasadena restaurant, one of America's Top 100 restaurants Learn more about the village of Casperia, Italy — one hour north of Rome — featured throughout the documentary Learn more about The Family, Steve Dabal's New York-based production company Follow the Italian Wannabe pop-up screening tour to find a screening near you   Want to hear more conversations about life, law, and the stories that matter? Subscribe to Cut to the Chase: with Gregg Goldfarb.   Want to stay updated on our latest podcasts? Subscribe to Cut to the Chase: Podcast Newsletter for monthly podcast releases and the latest legal news: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/KqDopgE

Peso Pluma Biography Flash a weekly Biography. Peso Pluma has just lived through one of those weeks that end up as a whole chapter in a future biography. The biggest personal headline is the confirmed end of his relationship with Kenia OS, and the way it unfolded tells you a lot about how he manages his image. Entertainment outlets on Instagram report that in the last few days he quietly deleted every photo and post featuring Kenia OS from his social media, scrubbing their digital history together. According to multiple Latin entertainment accounts, Kenia OS then issued a formal statement on her main Instagram profile confirming that the couple had decided to end their relationship and emphasizing that it was an amicable split. She characterized it as a mutual decision, closing the door on fan speculation that they were just taking a break. Pages like Soy Grupero style gossip reels are calling it the definitive end of a romance that had become a pop‑culture storyline in its own right. That breakup moves the narrative of Peso Pluma decisively back toward his music and business. On TikTok, Pedro Tovar of Eslabon Armado recently played a preview of an upcoming collaboration titled Oblivion, tagging Peso Pluma and teasing a track that could extend the hugely successful creative chemistry that first put both acts at the top of the regional charts. Because this preview is coming directly from Tovar's own account, it carries more weight than the usual rumor mill, and it points to Peso Pluma continuing to bet on high‑impact duets as a core career strategy. In parallel, fan and media accounts continue to reinforce his status as a touring powerhouse and cultural reference point. The official Facebook page for Santander Arena in Pennsylvania resurfaced photos of his recent concert there while wishing him a happy birthday, describing him as one of the breakout forces in Mexican music with multiple back‑to‑back number one hits and now based in the United States, underscoring his crossover life and career arc. Sneaker and culture platform Complex Sneakers reposted a clip remembering when he “cashed out” on shoes at ComplexCon and got blessed with extra pairs by fellow star JLP, a reminder that Peso Pluma has become a fixture not just in music but in streetwear and youth culture. On the softer side of coverage, culture pages like CultrGio on Instagram are using his birthday moment to frame him as one of the biggest names in Mexican music of the last few years, reinforcing his rapid evolution from local corridos singer to global streaming figure. Commentators also keep invoking his appearances at major festivals and his placement alongside artists like Dolly Parton and the Beastie Boys in SXSW retrospectives as evidence that he is now viewed as part of the broader pop‑culture canon, not just a niche regional act. Social media remains the main stage for all of this. Over the past few days, the breakup cleanup on his profiles, combined with a steady stream of fan edits, birthday shout‑outs from venues and culture pages, and collaborator teases, paints a picture of an artist consolidating his brand after closing a very public romantic chapter. Unconfirmed rumors circulating in Spanish‑language gossip reels suggest that the breakup might subtly shift his setlists and onstage banter in upcoming shows, but for now there is no direct confirmation from Peso Pluma himself beyond the visual erasure of his past posts with Kenia OS. In biographical terms, the last few days mark a hinge moment: a very public relationship officially ends, his social feeds are re‑curated to center only on his art and image, and the next wave of collaborations is already being positioned. That combination of personal reset and professional momentum is likely to loom large when we look back at this period in his story. Thank you for listening, and make sure you subscribe so you never miss an update on Peso Pluma, and search the term Biography Flash for more great biographies. Thanks for listening. This has been a Quiet Please production. Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta

I almost didn't record this week. We lost Josh Baer — Capital Factory's founder, the godfather of the Austin startup community, and honestly one of the few people who showed the rest of us this work could actually be done, and done right. Then we turn the corner toward the Portland dream that refuses to die: Devin Gaffney's CoCore, an "Airbnb for compute" rebuilt on AT Proto — the same rails as Bluesky — picking up a thread CPUsage chased here back in 2011. From there we get to Quickish, where you drop a folder of HTML and get a live URL in seconds — I used it myself to park a countdown clock to Silicon Florist's 20th birthday. And we close on CodeTV, Jason Lengstorf's coder reality show pitting two human dev teams against an AI on the same prompt. Plus secrets.CHAPTERS:00:00 Portland startup news00:30 Joshua Baer, the godfather of the Austin startup community04:45 CoCore09:30 Quickish17:20 ⁨@codetv-dev⁩ SecretsLINKS:Remembering Joshua Baer — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/06/17/remembering-joshua-baer-the-godfather-of-austin-texas-startups/Joshua Baer (RuntimeWire) — https://runtimewire.com/article/joshua-baer-capital-factory-founder-dies-laredo-plane-crashAnother swing at collaborative compute (CoCore) — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/06/18/another-swing-at-collaborative-compute-comes-in-the-form-of-cocore-on-at-proto/CoCore — https://console.cocore.dev/Need a new single page site…? Quickish — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/06/18/need-a-new-single-page-site-lets-get-that-done-quickish/Quickish — https://quickish.website/CodeTV pits software developers against AI — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/06/19/codetv-pits-software-developers-against-ai/CodeTV / Jason Lengstorf — https://jason.energyPortland Startup Slack — https://pdxslack.comFIND RICK TUROCZY ON THE INTERNET AT…- https://patreon.com/turoczy- https://linkedin.com/in/turoczy- Portland Oregon startup news on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/portland-oregon-startup-news-silicon-florist/id1711294699- Portland Oregon startup news Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2cmLDH8wrPdNMS2qtTnhcy?si=H627wrGOTvStxxKWRlRGLQ- Startup Stories on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/1Tk7bbzaNYowGouI9ucKC3- Startup Stories on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/startup-stories-with-silicon-florist/id1849468494- The Long Con on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-long-con/id1810923457- The Long Con on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/48oglyT5JNKxVH5lnWTYKA- https://bsky.app/profile/turoczy.bsky.social- https://siliconflorist.substack.com/- https://pdxslack.comABOUT SILICON FLORIST ----------For nearly two decades, Rick Turoczy has published Silicon Florist, a blog, newsletter, and podcast that covers entrepreneurs, founders, startups, entrepreneurship, tech, news, and events in the Portland, Oregon, startup community. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a startup or tech enthusiast, or simply intrigued by Portland's startup culture, Silicon Florist is your go-to source for the latest news, events, jobs, and opportunities in Portland Oregon's flourishing tech and startup scene. Join us in exploring the innovative world of startups in Portland, where creativity and collaboration meet.ABOUT RICK TUROCZY ----------Rick Turoczy has been working in, on, and around the Portland, Oregon, startup community for nearly 30 years. He has been recognized as one of the “OG”s of startup ecosystem building by the Kauffman Foundation. And he has been humbled by any number of opportunities to speak on stages from SXSW to INBOUND and from Kobe, Japan, to Muscat, Oman, including an opportunity to share his views on community building on the TEDxPortland stage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj98mr_wUA0). All because of a blog. Weird.https://siliconflorist.com

Lucas Rizzotto is one of the most distinctive artists working at the intersection of technology and human experience. He built Where Thoughts Go, a VR piece that proved genuine connection was possible inside a headset when everyone said it wasn't. He followed it with Pillow, a mixed reality app designed around the bedroom. He then spent months letting an AI algorithm run his life — wearing Mantra smart glasses, building a surveillance and memory system on himself, and documenting it as an ongoing series on Instagram and TikTok. Now he's making a live cinematic experience called Escape the Internet, which he calls Broadway crossed with a video game crossed with standup comedy. It premiered as a ghost debut at SXSW this year.Mike Boland, analyst and founder of AR Insider, sits in for Rony Abovitz in this episode. The conversation opens on the Rec Room shutdown — $250 million raised, a $3.5 billion valuation, and now a wind-down. The panel connects the collapse to a pattern: VR has always been an exotic pursuit sold as a mainstream one, and the unit economics of concurrent immersive social spaces are nearly impossible. The discussion moves to OpenAI shutting down Sora, the AI video generation race between Google VO3 and Kling, the rise of AI slop in social feeds, and Lucas confirming he quit LinkedIn because it's unreadable.AI XR News: Rec Room is shutting down after raising $250M at a $3.5B peak valuation. Snapchat is acquiring its remaining assets. OpenAI closed down Sora, overwhelmed by competition from Google VO3 and Kling. AI-only social feeds from Meta and Grok are not gaining traction — users are tuning them out.Key Moments:[05:37] – Ted's thesis: VR is an exotic pursuit that was never going to be mainstream, and Rec Room would have been healthier if it accepted that early[07:33] – Lucas: Ready Player One was the worst thing to happen to XR — it gave executives a fictional roadmap to fund[18:38] – Ted asks whether Apple can do for mixed reality what it did for the smartphone — and the panel is skeptical[27:42] – Mike on physics as the hard ceiling: Moore's Law doesn't apply to waveguides and optics the way it applies to chips[29:02] – Lucas explains why he dropped display glasses for his wearable AI experiment — they increase engineering complexity by 50x[32:17] – Lucas's AI-controlled life series: a complex algorithm watches him, mines personal data, and tells him what to do to find happiness — including an unplanned trip to Lithuania[34:12] – Ted asks if the experiment is a net positive or negative. Lucas: neutral if you're in control, net negative if Meta or OpenAI are running the system[37:52] – Lucas on convenience as a death by a thousand cuts: he optimized his life in Berlin to have everything within three minutes and became miserable[41:00] – Charlie on Where Thoughts Go: assigned it to students every semester; it only works if you surrender to it[47:15] – Escape the Internet: hundreds of people in a movie theater, all on their phones, playing a shared cinematic narrative. Lucas calls it a modern version of church[53:40] – The standup model applied to software: Lucas tested Escape the Internet at SXSW and cut 50% of the material that didn't get a reactionThis conversation sits at the intersection that the AI XR Podcast lives for: technology as creative material, not just commercial tool. Lucas's view that we've been building things people use all the time when we should be building things that blow their minds for two hours and then get out of the way is one of the sharper critiques of the attention economy you'll hear this year.This episode is brought to you by Zappar and Mattercraft — the leading visual development environment for building immersive 3D web experiences on mobile, headsets, and desktop. Mattercraft now includes an AI assistant that helps you design, code, and debug in real time, right in your browser. Start building at mattercraft.io.Subscribe to the AI XR Podcast so you never miss a conversation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This was a, well, sudden show Tim Renner and I did about the Capturing Bigfoot documentary.

Live from SXSW London 2026, the event's second annual outing, we sit down with Cecilia Morelli to chart how the event's adapting to the UK while maintaining its Texan core. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Filmmaker Billy Luther talks with Sandy about his coming-of-age film, ‘Frybread Face and Me,' which was executive-produced by Taika Waititi and distributed by Ava DuVernay's company, Array, on Netflix.Written and directed by Billy, ‘Frybread Face and Me' was selected for SXSW 2023's Narrative Spotlight and TIFF 2023's Discovery and New Wave Selects. Billy's feature documentary, Miss Navajo, premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and aired nationally on PBS' Independent Lens that same year.Billy has also served as a writer and director on the hit AMC series Dark Winds, adapting Tony Hillerman's novels featuring Navajo tribal police investigations.You can watch ‘Frybread Face and Me,” ‘Miss Navajo,' and all of Billy's films for free on his website here: https://billyluther.comIf you have Netflix, go watch ‘Frybread Face and Me' right now!  Pick up the remote, click the link.  Do.  The PAGE International Screenwriting Awards sponsors the WRITERS' HANGOUT.Executive Producer Kristin OvernCreator/Executive Producer Sandy AdomaitisProducer Terry SampsonMusic by Ethan Stoller

The week starts with Dwayne Johnson's "The Red Pill" — the most honest structural diagnosis of Oregon's innovation economy I've read in years, from someone who's been inside the system for two decades, not outside it. Oregon fell from #7 to #41 in CNBC's Top States for Business across the Brown era; Oregon got second in semiconductor productivity and 0.002% of federal CHIPS R&D funds. His phrase: "Oregon runs on cliques, not networks." Then Friday, Engine's Innovation Flywheel report lands — four dimensions for a healthy innovation ecosystem, three of which Portland already has covered, and one — Center of Gravity — that's the exact tripwire Dwayne was pointing at. Plus Expensify ships an MCP server that lets your AI agent talk directly to your expense data, Missing Middle Housing Fund's Nate Wildfire joins the Housing Voices podcast, and Portland moves up five spots to #17 in the Financial Times ranking of best U.S. cities for foreign business — Boston at the top, Seattle slipping.CHAPTERS:00:00 Portland startup news04:15 Dwayne Johnson on Portland's archipelago 08:20 Engine's Innovation Flywheel14:10 Financial Times ranks Oregon #1716:17 SecretsLINKS:Long-time innovation ecosystem builder Dwayne Johnson — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/06/08/long-time-innovation-ecosystem-builder-dwayne-johnson-shares-insights-on-oregon-economic-woes/Dwayne Johnson on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/drfortune/Your AI agent can now talk to your expense data with the new Expensify MCP — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/06/08/your-ai-agent-can-now-talk-to-your-expense-data-with-the-new-expensify-mcp/Expensify MCP — https://expensify.com/mcpPortland's Missing Middle Housing Fund joins Housing Voices — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/06/08/portlands-missing-middle-housing-fund-joins-housing-voices/Missing Middle Housing Fund — https://www.missingmiddlehousing.fund/Portland moves up five spots in Financial Times "best US places for foreign businesses" — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/06/09/portland-moves-up-five-spots-in-financial-times-best-us-places-for-foreign-businesses/FT-Nikkei ranking — https://www.ft.com/content/3fb85af1-d581-4f43-b962-a1d79160cdecUsing Engine's "Innovation Flywheel" to benefit the Portland startup community — https://siliconflorist.com/2026/06/12/using-engines-innovation-flywheel-to-benefit-the-portland-startup-community/The Foundations of an Innovation Flywheel (Engine) — https://www.engine.is/news/category/the-foundations-of-an-innovation-flywheelApply to lead the Portland Metro Region Innovation Hub https://jobs.hrc.pdx.edu/postings/49951FIND RICK TUROCZY ON THE INTERNET AT…- https://patreon.com/turoczy- https://linkedin.com/in/turoczyABOUT SILICON FLORIST ----------For nearly two decades, Rick Turoczy has published Silicon Florist, a blog, newsletter, and podcast that covers entrepreneurs, founders, startups, entrepreneurship, tech, news, and events in the Portland, Oregon, startup community. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a startup or tech enthusiast, or simply intrigued by Portland's startup culture, Silicon Florist is your go-to source for the latest news, events, jobs, and opportunities in Portland Oregon's flourishing tech and startup scene. Join us in exploring the innovative world of startups in Portland, where creativity and collaboration meet.ABOUT RICK TUROCZY ----------Rick Turoczy has been working in, on, and around the Portland, Oregon, startup community for nearly 30 years. He has been recognized as one of the “OG”s of startup ecosystem building by the Kauffman Foundation. And he has been humbled by any number of opportunities to speak on stages from SXSW to INBOUND and from Kobe, Japan, to Muscat, Oman, including an opportunity to share his views on community building on the TEDxPortland stage (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj98mr_wUA0). All because of a blog. Weird.https://siliconflorist.com#pdx #portland #oregon #startup #entrepreneur

Brian is known for his work in cinema genres, with his films showcased at major festivals like: Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, and Toronto. Brian's film work includes: Bad Day for the Cut, The Devil's Doorway, Boys from County Hell, Let the Wrong One In, Oddity, The Occupant, Hokum, and The Incomer. Brian's television editing work includes: Dalgliesh and The Wreck.

Most of us are moving faster than ever — more content, more hustle, more output. But what if the most powerful thing you could do right now is stop? In this episode of Cut to the Chase: with Gregg Goldfarb, Gregg sits down with filmmaker Steve Dabal, director of Italian Wannabe — a feature documentary that sold out five screenings at the 2026 Palm Springs International Film Festival and is now doing pop-up screenings across the country. Italian Wannabe follows chef Bill Disselhorst — co-founder of Fiore Market Cafe, one of America's Top 100 restaurants — as he walks away from his Los Angeles life and returns to Casperia, a small medieval village an hour north of Rome, where he and his late wife Anne first fell in love with Italian food, slow living, and the kind of community that doesn't exist on a screen. What started as one man's grief became a meditation on reinvention, passion, and what it really means to belong somewhere. Join Gregg and Steve on Cut to the Chase: as they discuss:   How chef Bill Disselhorst built one of America's Top 100 restaurants — and what happened when he lost it all Why the village of Casperia, Italy holds the secret to a life most of us only dream about What Italian Wannabe is really about — and why it's not just a food documentary How Steve went from a year of no work and near burnout to making his first feature film with a borrowed camera Why community is the most underrated currency in business, film, and life What the film festival circuit looks like right now — and why it has never been a better time to make a documentary The one lesson from Bill Disselhorst that will change how you treat every person you meet   Key Moments:   00:00 — Gregg introduces Italian Wannabe and filmmaker Steve Dabal 01:30 — What Italian Wannabe is really about and how it began 03:00 — How Steve met Bill at Fiore Market Cafe during film school 05:00 — The village of Casperia, Italy and why Bill keeps going back 07:30 — The contrast between hustle culture and the Italian slow life 10:00 — How Bill's approach to community changed how Steve lives and works 13:00 — The one habit — asking people their names — that builds real connection 16:00 — How the writers' strike and a year without work led to the film 19:00 — What it takes to make a documentary today — no degree, no big budget required 22:00 — Italian Wannabe's journey: from borrowed camera to Palm Springs Film Festival sellout 25:00 — Why this film will make you rethink what you're chasing   Guest Bio: Steve Dabal is an Italian-American director, cinematographer, and editor with a deep VFX background and a focus on non-fiction storytelling. As co-founder and Creative Director of The Family, a New York-based production house, he has interviewed subjects ranging from Scarlett Johansson and Fortune 500 CEOs to war veterans and 9/11 survivors. His work has screened at SXSW, the New York Film Festival, and internationally. Italian Wannabe is his debut feature documentary. The film sold out five screenings at the 2026 Palm Springs International Film Festival and was also an official selection at the Berkshire International Film Festival. The film was directed, shot, and edited by Dabal, and produced with The Family in association with Current Mindset. Resources Mentioned:   Learn more about Italian Wannabe and follow the film's festival and pop-up screening tour Learn more about Fiore Market Cafe, chef Bill Disselhorst's legendary South Pasadena restaurant, one of America's Top 100 restaurants Learn more about the village of Casperia, Italy — one hour north of Rome — featured throughout the documentary Learn more about The Family, Steve Dabal's New York-based production company Follow the Italian Wannabe pop-up screening tour to find a screening near you   Want to hear more conversations about life, law, and the stories that matter? Subscribe to Cut to the Chase: with Gregg Goldfarb. Want to stay updated on our latest podcasts? Subscribe to Cut to the Chase: Podcast Newsletter for monthly podcast releases and the latest legal news: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/KqDopgE  

Janek Ambros is a filmmaker, producer, writer, and founder of Assembly Line Entertainment whose work has screened in connection with major festivals including Sundance, Venice, SXSW, and TIFF. As both a producer and director, he has built a career balancing the creative and business sides of independent filmmaking while helping bring a wide range of projects to life. In this episode, we discuss Janek's unconventional path from studying economics and interning at Morgan Stanley to building his own production company and producing award-winning independent films. We talk about his documentaries IMMINENT THREAT and MONDO HOLLYWOODLAND, the importance of editing as a storytelling tool, and why producing other filmmakers' work helped shape his perspective as a director. We also dive into the collaborative spirit of the legendary "Film Brat" generation, the influence of filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson, and James Cameron, and the current state of independent cinema. Janek shares his thoughts on practical effects versus CGI, the future of moviegoing, why comedy films have become increasingly difficult to make, and the importance of building communities of filmmakers who support one another. As always, we close the conversation with Janek's two favorite movie scenes and the lessons filmmakers can learn from them.   Hosted by Zef Cota Produced by Cole Howard

How can leaders support their team's mental health if they ignore their own? In this episode, Kevin talks with Melissa Doman about why leadership mental health deserves more attention. Melissa explains that leaders are often expected to shoulder more responsibility, model resilience, support employee well-being, adapt to constant change, and deliver results—without the same permission or support to care for themselves. Kevin and Melissa explore the pressure leaders face, the self-sacrifice narratives they tell themselves, and why organizations must make it clear that mental health resources are for leaders, too. They also discuss practical first steps, including reflecting on what you want to share, why, whether your workplace is safe for the conversation, and how organizations can build mental health self-management into leadership development. Melissa's Story: Melissa Doman, MA, is the author of Yes, You Can Talk About Mental Health at Work (Here's Why And How To Do It Really Well), and the new title, Cornered Office: Why We Need To Talk About Leadership Mental Health. She is an Organizational Psychologist, a former Mental Health Therapist, and Founder of The Workplace Mental Health Method™. Melissa works with companies across industries and around the globe, including clients like Google, Progressive, Estée Lauder, the MLS team - Orlando City Soccer Club, Microsoft, and Salesforce. She's spoken and mentored at SXSW and has been featured as a subject matter expert in CNN, Vogue, NPR, Fast Company, the BBC, CNBC, Inc., and LinkedIn's Top 10 Voices on Mental Health. Melissa has one core goal: to equip companies, individuals, and leaders to have constructive conversations about mental health, team dynamics, and communication at work. https://www.melissadoman.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissadoman1/ https://www.instagram.com/thewanderingmel/ Looking to Develop Stronger Leaders? Want help developing the leaders in your organization? Reach out to explore how the Kevin Eikenberry Group can support your team at info@kevineikenberry.com.  Book Recommendations Yes You Can Talk About Mental Health at Work — Melissa Doman Cornered Office — Melissa Doman The Righteous Mind — Jonathan Haidt Radical Respect — Kim Scott Radical Candor — Kim Scott Like this? Bringing the Art of Reflection into Your Busy Life with Joseph Badaracco How to Break Free from Daily Burnout, Struggle Less, and Thrive More with Nataly Kogan How Leaders can Connect with People and Reduce Isolation with Ryan Jenkins and Steven Van Cohen Leave a Review If you liked this conversation, we'd be thrilled if you'd let others know by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Here's a quick guide for posting a review. Review on Apple: https://remarkablepodcast.com/itunes    Join Our Community If you want to view our live podcast episodes, hear about new releases, or chat with others who enjoy this podcast join one of our communities below. Join the Facebook Group Join the LinkedIn Group  

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Today in the business of podcasting:SXSW 2027's PanelPicker application period opens June 23, with live AMAs scheduled and Podcast Movement Evolutions confirmed to return Monday through Wednesday of the event.The Alliance for Measurement in Podcasting unveiled its first unified impression framework for audio and video podcasting, ratifying four cross-platform exposure definitions to give advertisers and publishers a shared basis for measuring podcast inventory across audio and video.Tom Webster's latest Sounds Profitable article reflects on a year of deepening AI use, arguing that the real question for creators is not whether AI was involved but whether they are proud of what they made.Both Sport Social Network and Quill + CoHost have new articles this week in the Sounds Profitable thought leadership article series. To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.

Today in the business of podcasting:SXSW 2027's PanelPicker application period opens June 23, with live AMAs scheduled and Podcast Movement Evolutions confirmed to return Monday through Wednesday of the event.The Alliance for Measurement in Podcasting unveiled its first unified impression framework for audio and video podcasting, ratifying four cross-platform exposure definitions to give advertisers and publishers a shared basis for measuring podcast inventory across audio and video.Tom Webster's latest Sounds Profitable article reflects on a year of deepening AI use, arguing that the real question for creators is not whether AI was involved but whether they are proud of what they made.Both Sport Social Network and Quill + CoHost have new articles this week in the Sounds Profitable thought leadership article series. To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.

The Immersive Impact Review launched on March 13, 2026 at 4p CDT in Austin Texas during SXSW, and they describe themselves as "a hybrid journalistic and academic magazine examining immersive media's strive for social impact." The first issue theme is titled “Value(s) in Practice: Impact and Sustainability in XR,” which is investigating the following questions: "How do we measure and demonstrate social impact? How do we justify costs and tradeoffs in immersive vs. more traditional media?" I spoke to managing editor Michael Epstein at SXSW four days after their launch to get a bit more context on their founding with support from Agog, and we unpack some of the articles from the first issue. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality

Agog is having their first open call on Climate Futures + Immersive Media that closes on June 12, 2026, at 11:59p PDT. Agog is "committing up to $1 million in grants to support innovators, technologists, artists, organizers, researchers, organizations, studios, and creative teams using immersive media to engage people on climate, from awareness to action." Their official page has a lot more details, including a FAQ as well as a link to an info session held in VRChat. I had a chance to catch up with Agog's co-founder and executive director Chip Giller as well their chief of programs and strategy Amy Seidenwurm. I got some updates on where some of their initial $6.5 million of funding has gone so far in order to support the broader XR industry around immersive storytelling in what has been a lot of foundational field building. Most of this money has been done through private invitations, and this open call is the first time that Agog has opened up funding to the wider XR industry. We dig into more details about this Climate Futures + Immersive Media open call, and be sure to check out my previous three conversations for more context: Episode #1720 on the Immersive Impact Review hybrid journalistic / academic magazine launched at SXSW, Episode #1721 on the Impulse Impact Study that came out last week, and #1722 is the keynote on Patterns of Meaning, Transformation, and Impact that I gave at the Meaningful XR Conference over the weekend that explores my phenomenological framework for understanding the unique affordances of experiential design and immersive storytelling as well as some theories of change for XR. Giller said that each proposal will need to have their own theory of change with plans for how to engage existing communities and be able to track the success or failure of your work. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality

Today in the business of podcasting:Tom Webster reflects on a year of rapid AI adoption — from pasting into ChatGPT to running open-source language models on a home server — arguing that the real question for creators is not whether they use AI, but whether they stand behind what they publish.The Alliance for Measurement in Podcasting (AMP) Task Force has released its first unified impression framework, defining Podcast Play, Podcast Audience, Ad Impression, and Ad Audience to enable cross-platform comparison of audio and video podcast inventory for the first time.SXSW 2027's PanelPicker submission process opens June 23, with live AMAs and office hours scheduled through July, and Podcast Movement Evolutions confirmed to return for the conference.DIRECTV Advertising's Drew Groner argues that sports rights fragmentation across streaming apps has undermined the reach of national ad buys for local and regional sports fans, while CBC Podcasts opens a pitch call for a new narrative sports feed.Podscribe's May 2026 Industry Ranker shows Crime Junkie and The Daily holding the top two spots for audio reach, The Oprah Podcast jumping from #7 to #4, and Shopify leading advertiser spend across ten industries represented in the top ten.To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Paul Rainey. He holds a powerful executive role in the media world, shaping the future of iconic brands like Billboard, Rolling Stone, and SXSW.

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Paul Rainey. He holds a powerful executive role in the media world, shaping the future of iconic brands like Billboard, Rolling Stone, and SXSW.

Hey friends, Chase here Austin Kleon is back on the show, and this conversation is exactly the kind of reminder every creative person needs. You probably know Austin from Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work!, and Keep Going, the books that have helped millions of people rethink creativity, sharing, influence, originality, and what it actually means to make things in public. But Austin's new book, Don't Call It Art: 10 Ways to Create Like a Kid Again, goes somewhere even more fundamental. It asks a question that feels especially urgent for creators, entrepreneurs, artists, writers, photographers, parents, and anyone trying to make meaningful work in a world that wants to turn everything into content: What if the way back to your best creative work is not becoming more serious, but becoming more playful? That question matters because most of us have made creativity too heavy. We have wrapped it in identity, pressure, productivity, platforms, metrics, perfectionism, and the fear of being judged. We get stuck asking whether we are real artists, serious writers, successful creators, or legitimate professionals. We worry about the noun before we do the verb. Austin's message is simpler, deeper, and more freeing: "Don't call it art. Don't worry about being an artist. Forget the nouns. Do the verbs. Just make stuff." That idea is the center of this episode. We talk about what kids can teach us about creativity, why play is not frivolous, how to build the conditions for your best work, why attention is your most valuable resource, and why some of the most important ideas in your life might come from goofing off. This conversation is about loosening the grip. It is about getting back to the part of you that makes before it judges, explores before it explains, and follows the energy before it knows exactly where the work is going. Why This Conversation Matters Right Now We are living in a strange moment for creative people. On one hand, there has never been more opportunity. An individual with a laptop, a camera, a newsletter, a sketchbook, a phone, a point of view, or a weird little idea can reach people directly. That is extraordinary. But it also comes with a cost. The pressure to turn every interest into a brand, every hobby into content, every project into a product, and every creative impulse into a strategy has never been stronger. We are constantly being asked to define ourselves: What do you do? What is your niche? What is your platform? What are you building? How are you monetizing it? What is the plan? Those questions can be useful at the right time. But when they show up too early, they can suffocate the very thing they are trying to organize. Austin's work reminds us that creativity begins before identity. Before "artist." Before "writer." Before "photographer." Before "entrepreneur." Before "content creator." Before the nouns, there are verbs. Drawing. Writing. Walking. Noticing. Building. Playing. Collecting. Tinkering. Making. Sharing. Kids understand this instinctively. They do not sit down and ask whether what they are making fits the market. They do not wonder whether they are allowed to call themselves artists. They do not freeze because the thing in front of them might not be good enough. They simply begin. And in that beginning, there is a kind of wisdom most adults have forgotten. What We Explore in This Episode Why kids can be some of the best creativity teachers because they make before they judge, label, or perform. How to reconnect with the feeling you wanted as a kid, not necessarily the exact childhood you had. Why play is not the opposite of serious work, but a form of creative research and development. How to create the conditions for creativity through time, space, materials, and permission. Why tools should feel more like toys if you want to stay curious and experimental. How phones fracture attention and why protecting the edges of your day can change the texture of your life. Why hobbies matter and how bikes, music, golf, drawing, and other forms of play can return us to ourselves. Why "don't call it art" can be liberating for anyone who feels trapped by labels or legitimacy. How to use jealousy, disgust, and frustration as creative information instead of letting them turn into bitterness. Why people pay attention when someone truly believes in what they are doing. The Core Idea: Forget the Nouns. Do the Verbs. The fastest way to get unstuck is often to stop asking what you are and start paying attention to what you do. That sounds simple, but it is one of the biggest traps in creative work. We get obsessed with identity. Am I an artist? Am I a real writer? Am I a serious photographer? Am I a professional? Am I successful enough to call myself this thing? Am I allowed? That kind of thinking can freeze you before you even start. Kids do not have that problem. They are not trying to become "artists." They are drawing. They are building. They are making noise. They are inventing stories. They are throwing materials around and seeing what happens. Austin's point is not that craft does not matter. It is not that ambition does not matter. It is not that we should abandon discipline. It is that the living center of creativity is action. The verb comes first. Make the thing. Move the pencil. Open the notebook. Pick up the guitar. Ride the bike. Take the walk. Make the zine. Shoot the photo. Write the sentence. Start the weird little project that begins with, "Wouldn't it be funny if…" That is where the energy is. Play Is Creative R&D One of the big tensions in this conversation is the voice many of us carry around that says play is not practical. That voice says: You have responsibilities. You need to make money. You need to be serious. You need to have a plan. You need to stop messing around. Austin's response is that play is not the opposite of serious work. Play is often what makes serious work possible. He talks about play as research and development. Any healthy company needs R&D. It needs space to explore, test, wander, fail, and discover things that cannot be found through pure efficiency. The same is true for a creative life. A lot of us start in explore mode. We are curious. We are trying things. We are learning. We are following our taste. We are discovering our voice. Then, if something works, we shift into exploit mode. We repeat the thing. We build a career around it. We systematize it. We professionalize it. We optimize it. That can be useful. But if you stay there forever, you eventually run out of juice. You need space to explore again. That is what play gives you. It returns you to the part of the process where you are not just producing, but discovering. And in creative work, discovery is everything. Create the Conditions, Then Get Out of the Way One of my favorite parts of this conversation is Austin's simple equation: Play = time + space + materials. That may sound almost too simple, but it is profound. When I look back at the most creative seasons of my life, the pattern is obvious. I had uninterrupted time. I had a place to go. I had the right materials around me. I had enough structure to begin and enough freedom to be surprised. That is what we often give kids when we want them to create. We give them a table, some paper, some markers, a chunk of time, and permission to make a mess. Then we grow up and deny ourselves the same basic conditions. We say we are blocked, stuck, confused, or uninspired, but often we have not created an environment where anything could actually emerge. No time. No space. No materials. No quiet. No room to tinker. The lesson is not complicated, but it is easy to forget: Set the conditions. Allow the work to happen. Get out of the way. That is not laziness. That is not indulgence. That is how the good stuff gets a chance to show up. The Best Ideas Often Come From Goofing Off I have said this before, and I mean it: so many of the best ideas in my life have come from goofing off. Not from trying to optimize. Not from grinding. Not from forcing. Not from staring at a blank screen and demanding genius. They came when I was tinkering. Playing. Walking. Talking with friends. Making something that had no obvious point. Trying something because it felt fun, strange, or impossible to explain. Austin and I talk about this because it is one of the hardest things for ambitious people to accept. We want the path to be linear. We want effort to equal outcome. We want the best ideas to come from the most serious hours. But creativity often does not work that way. The mind needs room. The body needs movement. The soul needs a little nonsense. Goofing off is not always avoidance. Sometimes it is how the deeper intelligence gets a chance to speak. Tools Should Be Toys Austin says something in this episode that every creator should sit with: Tools should be toys. That does not mean your tools are unimportant. It means the best tools invite you into a state of play. They make you want to touch them, try them, misuse them, combine them, push them, and see what happens. A sketchbook can be a toy. A camera can be a toy. A guitar pedal can be a toy. A bicycle can be a toy. A cheap notebook, a box of crayons, a microphone, a drum machine, a kitchen table, a phone in airplane mode, a pile of index cards — all of it can become part of the creative playground. The danger is when tools become only professional instruments. When every object in your creative life carries the pressure of output, performance, monetization, or proof, it becomes harder to begin. A toy invites curiosity. And curiosity is one of the most reliable doors back into making. Attention Is the Beginning of Everything Another major theme in this episode is attention. Austin shares a simple practice: start and end the day without your phone. Not as a moral performance. Not as some extreme digital detox. Just as a way to protect the edges of the day from people and companies that do not care about you, but desperately want your attention. That hit me hard. Because attention is not just another resource. In many ways, it is the resource. What you give your attention to shapes your thoughts, your desires, your mood, your relationships, your sense of possibility, and your work. If the first thing you do every morning is hand your mind to the internet, you are letting someone else set the tone for your day. Austin's practice is simple. Coffee. Breakfast. Journal. Kids. Life. Then the phone. At night, the phone charges in the kitchen. Small boundary. Huge impact. Creativity requires attention. And attention has to be protected. Return to Who You Were Before All This There is a beautiful thread in this conversation about returning to the things that made you feel alive before life got complicated. For Austin, that includes riding a bike and playing in a band. For me, golf has become one of those things. Not because it is productive in the traditional sense, but because it gets me outside, off my phone, walking with friends, and fully present for hours. That matters. A lot of people feel lost because they are trying to think their way back into aliveness. But sometimes the way back is physical. Pick up the instrument. Ride the bike. Throw the baseball. Walk the dog. Draw badly. Make noise. Get outside. Do the thing you used to love before you thought it had to mean something. Austin brings up the question: Who were you before all this? Before the career. Before the metrics. Before the audience. Before the obligations. Before the identity got heavy. There may be clues there. Not because you need to go backward, but because some part of you may have been waiting to be invited forward again. Don't Call It Art The title of Austin's book is not a dismissal of art. It is a liberation from the weight we put on the word. For a lot of people, "art" has become intimidating. Sacred. Serious. Something that belongs to museums, geniuses, experts, critics, galleries, and people who have permission. But making is older and deeper than all of that. Kids understand this. They do not call it art. They just do things. And when we stop obsessing over whether something is art, we create more room to actually make. We get less precious. Less frozen. Less performative. Less worried about the label and more connected to the act. That is the invitation: Don't call it art. Don't worry about being an artist. Forget the nouns. Do the verbs. Just make stuff. It sounds almost too simple. That is why it works. Use What Bothers You Austin also offers a surprising creative tactic: pay attention to what you hate. Not publicly. Not performatively. Not as a way to become bitter or cynical. But privately, as information. Disgust can point toward values. Frustration can reveal desire. Jealousy can show you something you want. The things that bother you can become clues, if you are willing to ask what the opposite would look like. Instead of turning your irritation into a rant, turn it into a project. What would you rather see in the world? What is the opposite of the thing you cannot stand? What would it look like to make that? That shift is powerful because it transforms complaint into creation. It turns "I hate this" into "What if we made something different?" People Pay Attention to Belief Near the end of the conversation, Austin shares a line from Kim Gordon that I love: "People will pay to watch other people believe in themselves." That is true in art. It is true in music. It is true in entrepreneurship. It is true in leadership. It is true in life. We are drawn to people who are alive in what they are doing. Not perfect. Not polished beyond recognition. Not optimized into sameness. Alive. When someone believes in what they are making, that belief travels. This does not mean you will always feel confident. It does not mean you will never doubt yourself. It does not mean every idea will work. It means you keep returning to the work. You keep paying attention to what matters to you. You keep making the thing only you can make in the way only you can make it. That is where the signal comes from. About Austin Kleon Austin Kleon is the New York Times bestselling author of a series of illustrated books about creativity in the digital age: Steal Like An Artist, Show Your Work!, Keep Going, and Don't Call It Art. He is also the author of Newspaper Blackout, a collection of poems made by redacting the newspaper with a permanent marker. His books have sold over two million copies and have been translated into more than 30 languages. Austin's work has been featured on NPR's Morning Edition, PBS Newshour, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. New York Magazine called his work "brilliant," The Atlantic called him "positively one of the most interesting people on the Internet," and The New Yorker said his poems "resurrect the newspaper when everybody else is declaring it dead." He has spoken for organizations including Pixar, Google, Netflix, SXSW, TEDx, Dropbox, Adobe, and The Economist. In previous lives, he worked as a librarian, a web designer, and an advertising copywriter. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and sons. Follow Austin Kleon Website Don't Call It Art Newsletter Instagram X YouTube Timecodes 04:24 – Austin returns to the show and talks about the new book 06:17 – How Austin's kids became his best creativity teachers 07:04 – What it means to take care of a creative person 10:43 – The childhood question that reveals what makes time disappear 18:34 – Why play is creative research and development 21:43 – Finding what you were not looking for 23:06 – How a fixed vision can blind you to what is actually in front of you 28:13 – Chase reflects on creating the right conditions for creative work 31:37 – Austin's equation: play equals time plus space plus materials 32:48 – Why tools should feel more like toys 35:25 – Reconnecting with the activities that made you feel alive as a kid 38:53 – Who were you before all this? 43:08 – Protecting attention from companies that want to take it 44:17 – Starting and ending the day without your phone 47:08 – Why friendship, hobbies, and shared activities matter 57:17 – Where the title Don't Call It Art came from 58:32 – Forget the nouns, do the verbs, just make stuff 01:00:01 – Why "wouldn't it be funny if…" is a clue worth following 01:03:15 – Finding your creative family tree 01:06:36 – How to use frustration and disgust as creative information 01:08:31 – Why people pay attention when you believe in what you are doing 01:09:44 – Austin's newsletter, book tour, and where to find his work Questions to Ask Yourself If you want to turn this episode into action, take a few minutes with these questions: What did I do as a kid that made hours pass like minutes? Where am I making creativity heavier than it needs to be? What noun am I clinging to that might be keeping me from doing the verb? What conditions do I need in order to make more freely? Do I have time, space, and materials available on a regular basis? What tool in my life could become more like a toy? Where is my attention being stolen before I have a chance to choose? What hobby, activity, or form of play would help me return to myself? What bothers me enough that it might contain a creative clue? What would I make this week if I stopped worrying whether it counted as art? A Simple Practice for Making Like a Kid Again Here's something practical you can do this week. Set aside one uninterrupted hour. No phone. No audience. No outcome. No need to make something good. Choose a space. Put a few materials in front of you. Paper and markers. A camera. A guitar. A notebook. Clay. Index cards. A laptop with the internet off. Whatever feels inviting. Then begin with this prompt: Wouldn't it be funny if… Follow whatever comes next. Do not evaluate it too early. Do not ask what it is for. Do not decide whether it is art. Do not turn it into a brand, a strategy, or a pitch deck. Just make stuff. Then notice how you feel. Notice what surprised you. Notice whether something small wants to keep going. That is enough. Final Thought The longer I do this work, the more I believe that creativity is not something we need to earn. It is something we need to return to. It was there before the labels. Before the pressure. Before the metrics. Before the platforms. Before the fear of being judged. Before we learned to ask whether we were allowed. Austin's invitation in this conversation is simple, generous, and quietly radical: Stop making creativity so precious that you cannot touch it. Give yourself time. Give yourself space. Give yourself materials. Protect your attention. Find your friends. Pick up the toy. Follow the weird little idea. Let yourself begin before you know what it means. Until next time: forget the nouns, do the verbs, and just make stuff.

What does it truly take to build a workplace where people don't just show up - they ignite? In this electrifying episode of Start With a Win, host Adam sits down with Moe Carrick, a visionary work futurist and culture architect whose unconventional path - from wilderness guide to organizational mastermind - has given her a perspective on human potential that most leaders never discover. Moe pulls back the curtain on the invisible forces shaping today's most successful (and most struggling) organizations. In a world rocked by seismic workplace shifts, a loneliness epidemic, and the relentless rise of AI, she challenges everything leaders think they know about what employees actually need - and what it costs when those needs go unmet. This is the raw, resonant truth about what separates thriving cultures from toxic ones, and the surprisingly human principles that make all the difference. If you lead people - or aspire to - this episode will change how you see your organization forever.Moe Carrick is a work futurist, culture architect, and bestselling author who helps leaders and organizations turn workplace friction into fuel for growth. With over two decades of experience working with companies big and small - from Nike to nonprofits - Moe's research-backed methods help teams align, scale, and create cultures where connection drives performance. A TEDx and SXSW speaker recognized by Thinkers 360, Fast Company, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Moe is on a mission to fix the way we work so people thrive - and businesses win.00:00 Intro03:45 We all need this… 04:54 This is where organizational culture starts.08:55 Never heard this statement before… 12:40 Employers are being mindful and designing systems for this! 16:00 Biggest important need!20:01 Why we fixing after the fact when those things are core?24:50 Non-negotiable in setting a culture for your organization. 26:15 My fav ritual.  https://moementum.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/moecarrick/ https://www.instagram.com/moecarrick/ ===========================Subscribe and Listen to the Start With a Win Podcast HERE:

Felicity Hannah speaks to a small business owner who has paid off their COVID loans and finds out how many of the government-backed loans handed out during the COVID pandemic have been repaid. She also looks at the demise of the convertible car and speaks to the boss of a UK technology company attending SXSW 2026 in London.

Matthew Shear IG: @matthew_shear takes us on the journey to cast Amanda Peet, Alessandro Nivola, and Judd Hirsch in his directorial debut. In the midst of a long and successful career as an actor, should you ever write your own film? Does it even make sense to follow your agent's advice about making more content?Matthew just wrapped as series reg, and Matt and Oren are curious about how and why he figured that making a film and getting into SXSW, was a good thing? Afterall this is a film that Oren's DP said they loved!So Matthew dives deep into what it means to be vulnerable. The blood, pain, and the angst, as only an actor can understand. And he takes us through how, after deciding to act and direct in the film he spent years toiling to write, he decided it might be best "for the film" if he were to give up his role as lead actor!!!Well... that's what happened, and not how it ended. And if you want to know how you can turn fortune yourself, and hear about how good guys win and money doesn't always, then this is the episode you have to hear!Help Matts' film: https://wefunder.com/badfeelingHelp our Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/JustShootItPodMatt's Endorsement: the D line of the LA Metro opened 2 new stops:Oren's Endorsement: Have a jumping off point for creative inspiration. Read a book before bedtime.Matthew's Endorsement: Watch interviews with Robert Smith from "The Cure" on YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 90 - With Susie Pearl - author, TEDx and SXSW speaker, cancer survivor and PR founder - about her remarkable Near Death Experience, years of sobriety and books on happiness and creativity with David Lynch.Disclaimer: Please note that all information and content on the UK Health Radio Network, all its radio broadcasts and podcasts are provided by the authors, producers, presenters and companies themselves and is only intended as additional information to your general knowledge. As a service to our listeners/readers our programs/content are for general information and entertainment only.  The UK Health Radio Network does not recommend, endorse, or object to the views, products or topics expressed or discussed by show hosts or their guests, authors and interviewees.  We suggest you always consult with your own professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advisor. So please do not delay or disregard any professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advice received due to something you have heard or read on the UK Health Radio Network.

"Of Ghosts And Gods" The New Jersey-born, Harvard educated David Berkeley is one of modern music's true renaissance men. Now, people throw that term out a tad lazily but in the case of Berkeley, it truly fits. Aside from releasing close to ten perfect albums, including The Confluence, Some Kind Of Cure and Oh Quiet World, Berkeley is an author, a label owner, and he's been a river rafting guide, a band manager, a travel writer and a creative writing teacher. A writer of tremendous depth, focus and sensitivity, much like Paul Simon or Nick Drake, Berkeley has the uncanny ability to slow the world down and hold it still. Informed by actual geography as well as the geography of loss and emotional reconstruction, Berkeley's songbook is a wondrous collection of compositions that gaze out at the map of the human heart with effortless poeticism and grace. He's toured with Billy Bragg, Ben Lee and Gary Jules, appeared on This American Life and played South By Southwest and he's one of the most consistently critically-acclaimed musicians around. He's also one half of the aforementioned transatlantic folk duo Sons Of Town Hall. Along with singer/songwriter Ben Parker, Sons Of Town Hall are hard to describe, but I'm going to try. Under the guises of Parker's George Ulysses Brown and Berkeley's Josiah Chester Jones, Sons Of Town Hall are fictitious 19th Century Victorian-era vagabonds who sing about their travels by way of a kind of magical hand-built raft. Falling somewhere between Coleridge, Lord Byron by way of Simon and Garfunkel's Wednesday Morning, 3AM, Sons Of Town Hall's new album Of Ghosts and Gods is a stirring collection of songs about travel, friendship, following your heart and staying afloat while doing it. www.davidberkeley.com (http://www.davidberkeley.com) www.sonsoftownhall.com (http://www.sonsoftownhall.com) www.bombshellradio.com (http://www.bombshellradio.com) www.stereoembersmagazine.com (http://www.stereoembersmagazine.com) www.alexgreenbooks.com (http://www.alexgreenbooks.com) Stereo Embers The Podcast: IG + BLUESKY + THREADS: @emberspodcast

Documentary filmmaker Ivy Meeropol (“Bully. Coward. Victim.: The Story of Roy Cohn”, “After The Bite”) returns for her 3rd visit to the podcast. Her latest film “Ask E. Jean” which recently had a very successful festival run and is currently in theaters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgyI8GStcao Ivy Meeropol is the Director and Producer of “Ask E. Jean”, a feature documentary film about the advice columnist and journalist E. Jean Carroll who sued Donald Trump for rape and defamation and won. In 2023, she completed “After The Bite” (HBO), a feature documentary about the explosion of great white sharks and seals on Cape Cod. She premiered her HBO documentary “Bully. Cward. Victim.: The Story of Roy Cohn” at the 2019 New York Film Festival and in 2020 the film was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Historical Documentary. She was the Senior Story Producer on the CNNFilms documentary “The End: Inside the Last Days of the Obama White House” , which premiered at the National Archives in Washington, DC. She directed and produced the feature “Indian Point”, about an aging nuclear power plant close to New York City, which was honored with the Frontline Award for Journalism in a Documentary Film and aired on NHK during the anniversary of Fukushima in Japan. Ivy created and directed the 6-part nonfiction series “The Hill” (Sundance Channel), about Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) and his young staff (nominated for best series by the International Documentary Association). She produced the feature documentary “Museum Town”, which premiered at SxSW, and has produced and directed for the Emmy Award winning climate change series “Years of Living Dangerously” (National Geographic) and for “Death Row Stories” (CNN). Ivy's debut film, “Heir to an Execution” (HBO), explored the legacy of her grandparents Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. It premiered at Sundance and was shortlisted for an Academy Award. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences and serves on the Professional Advisory Board of The Jacob Burns Film Center.

In this episode, we sit down with writer and director Jing Ai Ng to discuss her feature directorial debut, Forge. Fresh off its world premiere at SXSW, this stylish crime dramedy dives into the neon-lit underworld of Miami's art scene, exploring the thin line between authenticity and ambition.

THE G.Y.M. — PILOT, ACTS TWO AND THREE By Dani HanksPick up where Act One left off. Valerie still cannot get her commercial. The film crew is still in her face. The Solstice gym across the street is still winning. And things are about to get considerably worse.Bryan is teaching group fitness despite not knowing what "happy baby" is, and every senior in the building keeps asking when Reggie is coming back. Kayla is supposed to be training her client. Her client is currently turning purple under a barbell. The cameraman looks weirdly familiar to her and she cannot place it. Chris is somewhere in the locker room going through a smoothie situation he did not ask for. Wade the IT guy is crawling through a server closet stuffed with the unpaid invoices Valerie has been hiding in her clipboard. And Valerie, our hero, has just told the cute IT guy that her anaconda doesn't want his real estate funds.It's fine. Everything is fine.By the time we get to the pool, Alexa is jumping off a diving board she has no business being on, Bryan is leading a secret back room of seniors through a yoga pose he learned thirty seconds ago, Wade is sitting next to a soaking wet Valerie holding the worst envelopes she's ever seen in her life, and the truth about who's been filming all day is about to drop in the middle of the room like a brick through a window.Underneath the chaos, this is what the show is actually about: a woman trying to save the only place she ever felt at home, with a crew of misfits who have nowhere else to go either. Norman Lear would recognize this gym. So would anybody who's ever worked at one.Meanwhile, across the street, in a chrome office at the new Solstice, a Southern silver fox in a tall cowboy hat is watching the whole thing through binoculars. He is having the time of his life. He is not done with The G.Y.M. Not even close.Recorded live at Podcast Movement at SXSW in front of a packed house of our peers, and you can hear it in the room. Video version available on YouTube and across our channels.CASTHeather Foster - Narrator Allison Dunbar - Valerie Yasmine Al-Bustami - Kayla and Spin Client Kensington Tallman - Alexa and White Trash Spin Diva Shaan Sharma - Wade, Bored EMT, and Johnny Joe Nemmers - Gary Hughes, Cocky Newscaster, Television, and Gruff Driver Jacob A. Ware - Bryan and Sam Brian Villalobos - Chris, Weak-Armed Client, and Handyman Amy Bailey - Mary, Gem, Peppy Newscaster, First AC, and Phone Scott Hervey - Client Carlin (special guest appearance, our attorney from Weintraub Tobin)Produced by Manifest Media. Created by Jack Levy, Mark Knell, and Shaan Sharma.This live read benefits Best Friends Animal Society, selected by Allison Dunbar, dedicated to bringing no-kill to every shelter in the country. Save Them All. bestfriends.org/donateSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

THE G.Y.M. — PILOT, ACT ONE By Dani HanksWelcome to the run-down fitness shithole at the end of the strip mall. Two buildings left standing, a tech repair shop and The G.Y.M., and across the street a brand new chrome-and-barbell luxury chain called Solstice is having its grand opening on the same day Valerie is trying to film her grand re-opening commercial.Valerie inherited her childhood sanctuary the hard way. The previous owner got hauled off in handcuffs as "The Flamingo King," the FBI took the penguins, and she sank her life savings into keeping the bulldozers off the lot. Now the bike handlebars are snapping mid-shoot, the wifi is down, the POS is down, the smoothie blender is wifi-controlled (a mistake), and a real estate vulture in pinstripes will not stop circling the parking lot. Her ragtag crew, an Insta-thirsty trainer, a Finnish golden retriever on a visa, a chaos-gremlin receptionist who cannot swim, a buttoned-up IT guy from next door, a smoothie-bar veteran who misses the cocaine era, and a crystal-worshipping yogi with prison connections, is the only thing standing between Valerie and the wrecking ball.It's a found-family workplace comedy in the bloodline of Cheers, Superstore, and The Bear, but make it the gym. HBO sitcom material with prime-network legs. Dani Hanks' pilot won the 2024 Austin Film Festival Josephson Entertainment Fellowship, the year-long development deal AFF hands to the one teleplay it bets the most on, and ISA named Dani one of the Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2025.We recorded this live at Podcast Movement at SXSW in front of a packed house of our peers, and you can hear it in the room. The energy, the laughs landing in real time, the cast riding the wave together. Video version available on YouTube and across our channels. Lean in with that, then let Act One take you the rest of the way.CASTHeather Foster - Narrator Allison Dunbar - Valerie Yasmine Al-Bustami - Kayla and Spin Client Kensington Tallman - Alexa and White Trash Spin Diva Shaan Sharma - Wade, Bored EMT, and Johnny Joe Nemmers - Gary Hughes, Cocky Newscaster, Television, and Gruff Driver Jacob A. Ware - Bryan and Sam Brian Villalobos - Chris, Weak-Armed Client, and Handyman Amy Bailey - Mary, Gem, Peppy Newscaster, First AC, and Phone Scott Hervey - Client Carlin (special guest appearance, our attorney from Weintraub Tobin)Produced by Manifest Media. Created by Jack Levy, Mark Knell, and Shaan Sharma.This live read benefits Best Friends Animal Society, selected by Allison Dunbar, dedicated to bringing no-kill to every shelter in the country. Save Them All. bestfriends.org/donateSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.