After Amherst

John Haskell has spent over 20 years living in Russia, a decision that began as a calculated professional bet in the post-Soviet 1990s and became, almost accidentally, a permanent life. John walks us through what it has meant to build a family, a business, and a sense of home in a place most Americans only know through headlines, and why the reality on the ground often looks very different from what we imagine from afar.

We talk about the moment that anchored him there: a near-surreal episode involving forged documents, vanished partners, and a company secretly sold out from under him. Out of that chaos came an improbable outcome: John salvaged thousands of acres of farmland and eventually built a cattle operation that he still operates to this day. Along the way, he offers rare, thoughtful context about personal safety, perceived risk, and what daily life in Russia actually feels like for an American who has chosen to stay.

John also reflects on the enduring value of a liberal arts education—especially language learning—as preparation for an uncertain future.

Highlights include:

Email John at [email protected] or find him on Facebook. Big thanks to Evan Wollen for nominating John.

Ricky Quinones has spent his life exploring and expressing music across genres, geographies, and stages, from Amherst to New York, including Broadway, and Grammy-winning collaborations. Ricky opens up about his musical evolution, the artists who shaped him, and why the blues remains the emotional and structural foundation of everything he plays (and, surprisingly, what he sometimes hears in the music of JS Bach).

We talk about the lessons learned from proximity to greatness, playing alongside artists like Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, and India.Arie (with whom he won a Grammy). Ricky reflects candidly on what it takes to sustain a career in one of the most competitive and uncertain of professions, and why preparation and empathy matter more than virtuosity alone.

He also revisits his Amherst years, a time he describes as creatively fertile but emotionally difficult, when music became something deeply personal and stabilizing. Today, Ricky continues to evolve as a musician and as a mentor and substitute teacher in Queens, finding new ways to keep his creative cup full while giving back.

Highlights:

Email Ricky at [email protected]. Big thanks to David Young for nominating Ricky.

As a very amateur geologist, I’ve been looking forward to catching up with Sonia Nagorski ever since my podcast project started. That’s because she’s a geologist whose work focuses on understanding Earth’s history and what it can tell us about the world we humans are shaping today. Perhaps not surprisingly, she and I share a sense of wonder about the mind-bending qualities of Earth time and the pleasures of connecting to the geology right under our feet.

We talk about her two decades living and teaching in Alaska, the sense of community that comes from life at the edge of wilderness, and her recent move to the University of Colorado Boulder. Along the way, Sonia explains how geology provides essential context for understanding topics that go beyond geology, and why learning to notice and name the landscape around us can deepen both curiosity and responsibility.

Highlights:

You can email her at [email protected].

Also, check out the Rockd app to learn about the geology in your neck of the woods.

Big thanks to Deb Thalheimer Long for nominating Sonia.

Mike Gold has built a life defined by range. He ran an art gallery in New York. He scaled an animation studio to nearly 200 artists. He has built backend systems for massively multiplayer online games, collaborated with DARPA on next-generation engineering tools, and even mined gold on a beach in Nome, Alaska.

Mike traces the throughline that unites these pursuits: he loves learning, assembling strong teams, and building systems that improve the human experience. Today that compass points to two long-term missions: helping more children learn to read earlier, and reducing serious sports injuries through a short weekly training regimen that is proven to deliver outsized results.

Highlights include:

You can email Mike at [email protected]. Thanks to Jordan Hayslip for nominating him.

Asim Ahmed has three passions: the detection and workings of infectious diseases, sports (especially his hometown St. Louis teams), and music, and in this wide-ranging conversation, he shows how each one has shaped his life.

We talk about his one-of-a-kind custom jerseys (clever mashups of teams, players, and music references), his journey from pediatric infectious disease (ID) in academic medicine to metagenomic diagnostics in biotech, and the “detective work” mindset that drew him to ID in the first place.

We also close with something deeply personal: Asim reflects on the reality of caring for aging parents, including how complex the system can be, and why he’s willing to help others who find themselves learning it on the fly.

Highlights include:

For those not familiar with “Seven Nations Army” by the White Stripes, you can listen to it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J2QdDbelmY.

You can email Asim at [email protected]. Big thanks to JC Leveque for nominating him.

Here are a couple more photos of Asim’s jerseys.

Mariela Rexach’s life reflects a combination of steadiness, self-knowledge, and humble assertiveness. From Amherst to Penn Law and back home to Puerto Rico, Mariela has raised a family and built a nearly three-decade career at the same women-owned labor and employment law firm. She shares the thinking that has helped her make decisions that align with her values rather than conventional expectations.

Mariela reflects on the mentorship of a federal judge she credits with giving her more than any advanced degree ever could. She talks candidly about how fear fuels her courtroom preparation, the recurring discomfort that comes with new challenges, and how she has learned to recognize those feelings as signals that she’s exactly where she needs to be.

Listen carefully and you’ll take away so much wisdom, including what it looks like to advocate for yourself, how to shape your work around your life, how to ask for what you need, and the importance of leading with empathy.

Highlights

To get in touch with her, find her on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. Big thanks to Alisa Pincus for nominating Mariela!

Kensei Nishikawa arrived at Amherst as a transfer student from Japan already holding a degree from the University of Tokyo, carrying with him two languages, two cultures, and a deep love of literature. What he didn’t yet know was how profoundly Amherst would shape not just how he reads and writes, but how he listens.

We explore Kensei’s lifelong devotion to the humanities, especially poetry, and the role they have played in his life as both a student and a teacher. Now a professor of English and poetry in Japan, Kensei has spent decades moving between languages and academic traditions, translating words, structures, and ways of thinking. He shares why he believes the humanities remain essential for cultivating empathy, moral imagination, and the ability to hear one another.

Kensei also speaks candidly about aging, memory, and the work of maintaining one’s intellectual vitality over time. Rather than chasing novelty, he is focused on preserving the richness of language and thought.

Highlights include:

To get in touch, you can email Kensei at [email protected]. Many thanks to Brian Clark for nominating Kensei.

Amherst isn’t known for launching fashion designers and entrepreneurs, but that’s just one of the reasons why this conversation with Parke Lutter was so much fun.

This talent has been building inside of him since his childhood in the Midwest, where he made clothes for one of us stuffed animals, his friends, and even a prom dress for his sister. Still, Parke hadn’t awakened to that interest as a professional possibility when he arrived at Amherst imagining a Wharton-bound career in business. His study abroad in Paris, the friendships he formed, and his own coming-out process helped him understand that his childhood instinct to make things wasn’t just a hobby.

We also talk about the birth and evolution of Parke & Ronen, the fashion and lifestyle brand he co-founded with his now-husband, and how building a business that has lasted nearly 30 years has required resilience, reinvention, and a willingness to keep learning. Parke shares how his creative process has changed with age and how he’s thinking about the next phase of life, including questions about legacy, freedom, and what work might look like when you finally have the option not to do it.

Highlights include:

To get in touch, email Parke at [email protected], and follow Parke & Ronen on social.

Recommendation we made in the episode: Strength to Strength by Arthur Brooks.

Deb Thalheimer Long’s career and life since graduating with me from Amherst College have been marked by subtle yet profound transformations. From Wall Street to academia, from the Baltimore public schools to the hospital floor, Deb has navigated big career pivots with intentionality. Now a nurse specializing in wound care and infusion therapy, she brings to her patients the same attentiveness she has offered students, colleagues, and friends: an ability to read people gently, listen deeply, and act thoughtfully.

The conversation explores how her gift for quiet perception, honed at Amherst through the close reading of texts and refined through her study of literature, theology, and now medicine, has shaped her approach to work, family, and community. Her story is one of continuous learning and service, and of finding profound meaning in small, human acts of compassion. Along the way, she shares lessons she’s passed on to her two grown sons, both out in the world now, and the two bits of terrific life advice they’re most likely to say they hear from their mom.

Episode Highlights:

Plus, she nominates two new classmates to appear in the guest’s chair.

You can email Deb at [email protected].

Matt Sawyer has built a career rooted in one place: the Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, Mass., where he’s taught English, coached baseball and football, and served as ninth-grade dean for more than three decades. In a world that celebrates mobility and reinvention, Matt’s story is one of steadfastness and the value of deep community attachments.

This conversation explores how teaching has changed since the 1990s, why he’s finally stepping away from coaching varsity baseball after 30 seasons, and how much he’s looking forward to watching more of his children’s college athletics careers instead of leading practices himself. Matt reflects on building strong team culture, the lessons learned from Amherst football’s ups and downs, and how the classroom can remain a place for curiosity and honest disagreement, even in an age of AI and youthful risk aversion.

Highlights include:

Matt also shares whom he hopes will take the mic next.

You can email Matt at [email protected] or call or text him at 413.695.8370.