SOLRWAVE joins Zach to talk about building his own sound after becoming known for remixes, finding queer community in New York after years of feeling like he didn’t belong, and how famous he actually wants to become. They get into Lady Gaga, Gwen Stefani, Carly Rae Jepsen, Chromatica, friendship, bullying, ambition, and why SOLRWAVE believes there’s still something missing in pop.

Matt Conrado is the founder and CEO of The Alphabet Mafia Consultancy · the LGBTQ+ marketing and brand consultancy behind Deutsche Bank's NYC Pride TV spot · host of Thanks For Swiping Left · and in his own words, The Gay Kris Jenner.

He spent 7.5 years at PepsiCo building queer marketing for Bubly (Adweek Pride Star, 2021) before launching Alphabet Mafia in January 2025.

We get into ·

· monetizing your broken heart

· the abundance argument for corporate Pride

· the Deutsche Bank float everyone had opinions about

· the Dylan Mulvaney moment everyone got wrong

· why Kris Jenner is a legitimate business goal

· legacy over ownership

Follow Matt: @mattconrado · Alphabet Mafia: alphabetmafiaconsult.com · Podcast: Thanks For Swiping Left

Before We Cheers · @beforewecheers · hosted by @iamzcm

20 years in, the show stopped documenting the culture and started making it. New Housewives enter the franchise already fluent in a language the old ones invented. Fights become vocabulary. Hot mics become canon. The experiment changed its subjects.

Full essay on why dismissing this as trash TV doesn't cut it anymore.

New drops on Instagram @iamzcm.

According to the gospel of James Rodriguez, Britney is the lesbian daughter of Janet and Madonna, the myth of Taylor's work ethic is doing a lot of heavy lifting, Olivia actually pulled off something on Sour, and modern pop has two moms and everybody else is downstream.

James has spent 20 years inside the pop machine. This is the conversation.

New episodes weekly.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Iamzcm

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@Iamzc92

#BeforeWeCheers #PopMusic #Podcasts #Original Doll #BritneySpears #JamesRodriguez

In ep 016 of Before We Cheers, Stefan Doyno is back for part 2. Two-time Emmy winner, twenty years in fashion media, Good Morning America, Women's Wear Daily, Harper's Bazaar.

Part 1 was the cred. Part 2 is the opinions.

We get into what actually counts as a New York institution, why New Yorkers are like snowflakes, the dating behaviors you are officially too old for, the loud subway dating call as a carbon footprint on strangers, and the moment we call cheers to New York City. If you missed part 1, listen to that first.

New episodes weekly at 6 PM ET.

Follow on Instagram @beforewecheers
Follow on TikTok @beforewecheers

In ep 016 of Before We Cheers, Stefan Doyno is back for part 2. Two-time Emmy winner, twenty years in fashion media, Good Morning America, Women's Wear Daily, Harper's Bazaar.

Part 1 was the cred. Part 2 is the opinions.

Stefan defines what actually counts as a New York institution and puts J.G. Melon, EJ's, and the diner on the list. He calls New Yorkers snowflakes as a compliment. He rules on the dating behaviors you are officially too old for: canceling day of, overstaying, splitting the bill uneven, voice memos over 60 seconds, and ghosting after three dates. He frames the loud subway dating call as a carbon footprint you leave on other people. We close with cheers to New York City and the Knicks watch parties keeping the West Village alive.

Watch part 1 first if you have not yet. Then come back for the opinions.

Chapters
0:00 Cold open, institutions thesis
0:15 Late arrival ad-lib
0:34 Canal Street fake Vuitton, part 1 callback
1:38 New Yorkers are snowflakes
3:02 Brady's birthday party, SATC riff
4:57 The Jane Hotel, part 1 callback
6:06 Private members clubs deep cut
13:00 Institutions defined
14:41 Etiquette rapid fire
17:04 Subway carbon footprint, loud dating call
18:57 Too old for that, dating rules
21:20 Business ghosting reveal
22:48 Speed round
24:36 Cheers to New York City
25:13 Thesis loop close

Listen on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/3OZIoSMsDb46cYCOT8RDuB?si=7b265c8701f64e5f

New episodes weekly at 6 PM ET.

Follow Before We Cheers
Instagram @beforewecheers
TikTok @Iamzcm92

About Stefan Doyno
Instagram @thewritestefan

#beforewecheers #stefandoyno #nycdating #nycpodcast #interviewpodcast #newyorkinstitutions #dating #datingadvice #nyclife #podcast

Dr. Lee Phillips is a queer sex therapist who has watched the conversation inside his therapy room shift across the last four years. In this Pride episode of Before We Cheers, we get into what his patients are bringing to him in 2026 that they weren't bringing in 2022, why affirming therapy isn't what most people think it is, and what it actually means to treat shame as something with its own diagnosis.

Topics include sex therapy 101, shame and self compassion, what therapists get wrong about chronic illness and disability, non monogamy in 2026, the kink and fetish vocabulary every therapist should know, the Grindr nightmare conversation, and a 16-year practice built on the idea that intimacy is not a reward for being healthy or straight or simple.

Lee is the author of Dating and Sex with Chronic Illness and a clinician who has built a career disarming patients with comedy and then teaching them something about themselves.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Follow Lee on Instagram @drleephillips.

Follow the show @beforewecheers and the host @iamzcm.

Chapters:

0:00 Cold open

0:46 Sex therapy 101

9:30 Shame and self compassion

13:00 Porn, shame, and what therapists get wrong

22:00 Chronic illness and sex therapy

26:00 Non monogamy

32:00 Kink, fetish, and why a sex therapist matters

41:00 Dating apps and Grindr nightmares

49:00 Liberation, marriage, and Scruff

55:00 Acting, comedy, and identity

63:30 Toast

In ep 015 of Before We Cheers, Stefan Doyno (two-time Emmy, Good Morning America, Harper's Bazaar) reframes the new private members clubs in New York, the glam squad era of reality TV, and what twenty years inside fashion media actually taught him.

Stefan has watched every wave of New York taste from the inside. We get into why the new wave of private clubs is a hamster wheel sold as belonging, why the glam squad era hurt reality TV, why the hotel bar is the last honest room in the city, and the stories you never heard from twenty years inside the rooms most people only see from the outside.

New episodes Sundays at 6 PM ET.

Follow on Instagram @beforewecheers
Follow on TikTok @iamzcm92

In ep 015 of Before We Cheers, Stefan Doyno (two-time Emmy, Good Morning America, Harper's Bazaar) reframes the new private members clubs in New York, the glam squad era of reality TV, and what twenty years inside fashion media actually taught him.

Stefan started at Good Morning America. Then he led fashion content at Women's Wear Daily and Harper's Bazaar. He has watched every wave of New York taste from the inside.

We get into why the new private members clubs are a hamster wheel sold as belonging, why the glam squad era hurt reality TV, why the hotel bar is the last honest room in the city, and the stories you never heard from twenty years inside the rooms most people only see from the outside.

This is the episode about what New York taste actually rewards now, and what got broken along the way.

Chapters
0:00 Cold open
0:35 Welcome
3:00 Building a brand in ninth grade
13:00 Private clubs and the hamster wheel
18:00 Hotel bar thesis, Bemelmans and the Carlyle
22:00 Glam squads and what reality TV gave up
35:00 The cancel culture reframe
42:00 Cheers

Listen on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/[add show id]

Listen on Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/[add show id]

New episodes Sundays at 6 PM ET.

Follow Before We Cheers
Instagram @beforewecheers
TikTok @iamzcm92

About Stefan Doyno
Instagram @thewritestefan

#beforewecheers #stefandoyno #fashionmedia #goodmorningamerica #harpersbazaar #womenswear #privateclubs #nyc #podcast #interviewpodcast

Connell Barrett has spent twelve years coaching men on dating. Psychology Today named him America's top dating coach for men. He's been on Today, Good Morning America, Access Hollywood, in Cosmo, Playboy, and Maxim. He's coached for The League and Tinder. He's worked with thousands of men in 17 countries.

On this episode of Before We Cheers, we talk about the worst dating advice on the internet, why a firefighter can run into a burning building but can't say hi to a woman, what most men get wrong about being themselves, and the date Connell blew up on purpose.

Connell's book Dating Sucks But You Don't is published by Simon and Schuster.

This episode is brought to you by Athletic Brewing. 25% off plus free shipping for new customers. Terms and conditions and certain limitations apply.

https://athletic-brewing-co.sjv.io/c/7278555/3848473/12298

Chapters:

00:00 Cold open

00:45 Welcome

02:30 Cuffing season and why most dating advice is wrong

06:45 The friend zone, Putin, and the year Connell spent there

10:13 The firefighter who can run into burning buildings but can't say hi to a woman

14:30 Mystery and The Game era

18:45 Interview mode and why men ask too many questions

22:00 The Obsession question

25:30 Brushstrokes of femininity and the false alpha paradigm

30:00 The first date Connell blew up on purpose

36:45 What he tells himself before every date now

Follow Connell:

Instagram: @datingtransformation

Web: datingtransformation.com

Book: Dating Sucks But You Don't (Simon and Schuster / Tiller Press)

Before We Cheers is hosted by Zach Miller.

Follow the show: @beforewecheers

Host: @iamzcm

Dylan Forgione, aka Dylan DiGi, was a Yale junior transfer who soloed for the Whiffenpoofs, got the McKinsey offer in October of senior year, and walked into the consulting firm convinced he was going to be Jeff Bezos. 2 years later, he walked away from Mckinsey with his debt paid off, and started a fashion comedy account in Brooklyn.

In this episode, Dylan and I talk about:

- the Bozo cold open and the version of himself he thought he was going to be

- soloing for the Whiffenpoofs at Yale

- getting the McKinsey offer cold and what the firm actually does for a living

- "experts at nothing but making money for corporations"

- the PIP, the timing, and walking out elated

- substitute teaching, fashion comedy on TikTok, and not being one thing

- his mom announcing his sexuality to the family before he could

- the toast: to the multifacetedness of human beings

Follow Dylan: @dylan.digi

Before We Cheers is a filmed podcast about people betting on themselves. New episodes drop Fridays.

Follow the show:

Instagram: @beforewecheers

TikTok: @Iamzcm92

YouTube: @beforewecheers

Host: Zach Miller, @iamzcm

Producer and editor: Katie Sadler

Recorded at WTF Media Studios, SoHo, May 19, 2026

Today's beer: Athletic Brewing. New to Athletic? 25% off plus free shipping on two six-packs from the best-sellers. Terms and conditions and certain limitations apply.

https://athletic-brewing-co.sjv.io/c/7278555/3848473/12298

For 20 years Dan Wakeford ran the rooms that decided who America paid attention to. People Magazine. Us Weekly. Britney 2007. The Kardashians. Meghan and Harry. Every cover story you remember was either his call or the call of someone he hired.

Earlier this year he walked away from all of it to start Celebrity Intelligence, his own newsletter, and bet on himself for the first time in his career.

In this episode:

00:00 The line that lands on him

01:30 Running a newsroom of 300

07:45 The ethics shift in celebrity journalism

14:20 Why the Meghan and Harry story actually mattered

21:10 Britney 2007 as the inflection point

27:30 Leaving a giant title to start something new

34:00 The mistakes that made him better

37:45 What it costs to be the one the buck stops with

44:30 The toast

Subscribe to Celebrity Intelligence: https://celebrity-intelligence.com

Follow Dan: @danwakeford and @celebrity.intelligence

Before We Cheers is a filmed podcast about people betting on themselves. New episodes drop Fridays.

Instagram: @beforewecheers and @iamzcm

TikTok: @iamzcm92

YouTube: @beforewecheers

Host: Zach Miller

Editor: Katie Sadler

Recorded at WTF Media Studios, Midtown

#DanWakeford #PeopleMagazine #UsWeekly #EditorInChief #CelebrityIntelligence #BeforeWeCheers #MediaPodcast