After School with Dylan Mak

Aurorae Khoo is a playwright and television writer who has written for the CBS show  Unforgettable,  Showtime's  Nurse Jackie, the USA network's In Plain Sight, and Running Wilde on Fox. She’s also produced episodes of the CBS shows JAG and Walker, Texas Ranger. In this episode, we interview Aurorae and ask about her journey into the writing world, some good habits she picked up along the way, and everything in between.

Sylvie Bigar, an International food and travel writer, was born in Geneva, Switzerland, and is based in New York City. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, and many more. She recently wrote a book called Cassoulet Confessions. Today we interview her on her journey through food and how it connected to her writing, how she finds inspiration, and writing tips for others, with everything in between.

Rabbi Davidson was honored with a Corkin Family Fellowship at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and Clal-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. He has also written articles in The New York Times, The New York Post, The Jerusalem Post, and more.  Today we interview him to ask about his journey into becoming involved with religion, if this was always his calling or if he pursued something else at the start, and essential pieces of advice he learned from being a leader.

Amanda Dubois has been an independent commercial producer since 2004, a full member of the Broadway League since 2005 with shows such as Lehman Trilogy, Grace, and Spring Awakening, and has several shows in various stages of development. Today we interview her and ask her about her journey to the theater industry, if she always knew this is what she wanted, and tips and tricks for future people interested.

In this episode, we interview Alice Ho, Co-Director of the Breast Cancer Clinical Research Unit at Duke University Medical Center. Today we ask Alice about how she got into the business, her childhood and upbringing, what she does daily, and advice she has for younger kids figuring out what they want to do.

In this episode, we interview Rory Christian. An engineer at heart, but his official title is the Commissioner of the New York State Public Service Commission. Today, we ask Rory about his rise to the top, the pressures of being there, how race has played a role in his career path, and what advice he has for people that want to become leaders.

In this episode, we interview Francisco António Duarte Lopes. Recently, appointed the new Ambassador of Portugal in Washington. While he has also served as permanent representative of Portugal to the United Nations (UN) since 2017. He has had many other distinguished roles. Today, we ask about his different experiences, how he got to where he is, and what advice he has for people that are interested in careers regarding communication skills.

In this episode, we interview Mark Gutkowski. A global academic dean who works at Avenues The World School, whose lessons are drawn from concepts such as philosophy, educational theory, and psychology research, where he puts it all into classroom settings. This episode is a bit different. Instead of just getting Mark’s career path, we also get into the philosophy that he dabbles in. He gives us insight into younger people such as myself on finding a passion, growing up, and more. 

Sanford M. Benardo has achieved global recognition within the legal and medical communities as an innovator in the fields of surrogate parenting and alternative family formation. In this episode, we interview Sandy to learn the answers to questions we don’t normally ask, what’s it like to start a company and make it successful, how it is to work with your partner and many more.

In this episode we interview Seth following the founding of the company Conductor, and how has led the company through multiple financing rounds and extraordinary growth, such as Conductor’s successful spin-out from WeWork in 2019, as well as his expertise in customer-first marketing, people-first culture, and entrepreneurship, as well as how he overcame the challenges he faced.