Most people know Carson Kressley from Queer Eye or RuPaul's Drag Race. But the kid who grew up on a pony farm in Pennsylvania with 200 Shetland ponies and taught himself to survive junior high with humor because it was the only weapon he had — that is the version worth knowing.

In this episode Carson opens up about realizing he was fabulous in the fourth grade, what it felt like to carry the secret of being gay in a conservative small town with nowhere to bring it, how fear of being found out developed the sense of humor that built his entire career, going from world champion equestrian to Ralph Lauren to calling the Bravo offices himself with no agent and no plan, and why even he — the person whose trademark is authenticity — still wears a mask sometimes.

This one will surprise you.

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📲 Follow Carson Kressley: www.instagram.com/carsonkressley

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Dawn Cardi didn't come from comfort, and she didn't wait around for permission. The founding partner of Cardi & Edgar LLP has spent decades in matrimonial law, family law, and federal criminal defense, work she calls "people law" because it means helping people when they need it most.In this episode of Beyond the Bar Podcast, host Denisa Tova sits down with Dawn to trace a story that starts with a 15-year-old mother and a great-grandmother who cleaned offices in Brooklyn, and runs through the case that brought an innocent man home after eight years in prison. They get into why thinking deserves time in a world that demands instant answers, the hardest word for a lawyer to say, and the advice she gives every woman entering the profession.A conversation about resilience, work, and building a life on your own terms.Follow Beyond the Bar for new episodes featuring voices across law, entertainment, and beyond.

Learn more about Dawn Cardi: https://cardiedgarlaw.com/dawn-m-cardi-esq/

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He was a special education teacher in North Carolina. Then a parent of one of his students dared him to audition for American Idol. He got cut in Charlotte. So he drove to Atlanta and tried again. Forty million people watched what happened next.

In this episode Clay opens up about not knowing it was a big show until thousands of people showed up screaming in Raleigh, what ten years traveling to war zones with UNICEF did to his perspective on everything, why he refuses to solve his son's problems for him, what the subway story at midnight in New York says about how he parents, and why after 18 years away he is finally making music again.

This one has a lot to say. And so does he.🔔 Subscribe to Beyond the Bar Podcast for weekly conversations that go beyond the title and into the real story.📲 Follow Clay Aiken: clayaiken.com🎵 Stream Rewind: https://ffm.to/rewindcaWatch more episodes and connect with Denisa here: beyondthebarpodcast.comLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/denisatovaFacebook: www.facebook.com/denisatovaInstagram: www.instagram.com/denisatova/Podcast Production by HypeCats.com, webinars, and podcasts: hypecats.com.

She built a 35 person law firm from the ground up in Denver, Colorado. She did it while raising three kids in diapers. She did it without a roadmap. And she did it because she wanted to create something that did not exist when she needed it most.April Jones is one of the most influential women in Colorado law and the founding partner of one of Denver's most respected family law firms. But before any of that she was a curious little girl from inner city Los Angeles who asked too many questions, talked too much, and had too many ideas. Turns out those were exactly the right qualities for everything that came next.This one is full of energy, wisdom and the kind of honesty that only comes from someone who has genuinely figured it out.📲 Connect with April Jones:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/april-d-jones/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AprilJonesLaw

IG - https://www.instagram.com/apriljoneslaw/

X - https://x.com/JonesLawFirmPC

🔔 Subscribe to Beyond the Bar Podcast for weekly conversations that go beyond the title and into the real story.Watch more episodes and connect with Denisa here: https://tovaretirement.com/btb-podcast/

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Podcast Production by HypeCats.com, webinars, and podcasts: https://hypecats.com.

Lou Diamond Phillips has been one of Hollywood's most resilient and versatile actors for over 40 years and in this episode, he holds nothing back.From crashing Robert De Niro's hotel room in a stolen bellboy uniform at the Deauville Film Festival, to becoming a co-owner of the Tribeca Grill, to navigating what it means to stay relevant in an industry obsessed with the flavor of the month — Lou gives us the real story behind the resume.We go deep on what it felt like to be "offer only" and suddenly invisible, why he walked back into audition rooms and fought for his career, and what he's learned about fame, gratitude, and staying grounded when Hollywood tries to put you in a box.Plus: his new film Gangland (100% on Rotten Tomatoes), his upcoming mini-series Count My Lies with Shailene Woodley, Lindsay Lohan, and Kit Harington, the animated Stranger Things universe, and a legal thriller he's attached to direct.This is the Lou Diamond Phillips most people don't know, and it's the best version of him!

------------------🎙️ Beyond the Bar is the podcast for unhurried conversations with people who build something — past the headlines, past the resumes, and into the real story.🔗 Connect with Lou: https://x.com/LouDPhillips?lang=en Watch more episodes and connect with Denisa here: https://tovaretirement.com/btb-podcast/LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/denisatovaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/denisatovaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/denisatovaPodcast Production by HypeCats.com, webinars, and podcasts: https://hypecats.com.

Ice-T and Coco Austin return to Beyond the Bar Podcast with host Denise Tova for an unfiltered conversation on marriage, money, parenting, and life behind the headlines.Ice-T (Law & Order: SVU, Body Count) and Coco are back — and this conversation goes places the first one didn't. From road rage and their three English Bulldogs to the origin of Body Count and the Cop Killer controversy, from Ice-T's "$20,000 care level" philosophy on lending money to friends, to raising their daughter Chanel Nicole in the spotlight without raising a brat - nothing is off limits.This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Part 2 drops Friday as a special bonus episode!🎙️ Subscribe for more Beyond the Bar conversations💬 Drop your favorite moment in the comments below📺 Watch Part 2 Friday, only on Beyond the Bar PodcastABOUT BEYOND THE BAR PODCAST:Hosted by Denise Tova, Beyond the Bar is a podcast about real conversations — the kind that happen after the cameras stop rolling. Subscribe for interviews with artists, athletes, entrepreneurs, and the people shaping culture today.📲 Connect with Ice-T: https://icet.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/icet/

📲 Connect with Coco Austin: https://www.instagram.com/coco

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Three divorce attorneys. One firm. Twenty-five-plus years together. And not a single slammed door.Joseph Demarco, Jennifer Rosenkranz and Lisa Schoenfeld are the founding partners of Calcados Rosenkranz DeMarco and Schoenfeld, one of Long Island's most respected matrimonial and family law firms. They didn't just build careers. They built something together. And in a field where most people go it alone, that kind of partnership is rare.In this episode all three open up about how they each found their way to family law, why Lisa knew from the age of five that this would be her calling after living through her own parents' brutal divorce, what it actually takes to run a law firm with two other people without losing your mind, how parenting changed the way each of them approaches their cases, why Jennifer says she could never do any of this without Joe and Lisa, Joe's confession that he shuts down the group chat after a certain point and just gives up, what matters to each of them now that didn't matter fifteen years ago, and the advice they would give to every young attorney just starting out.This one is warm, funny, and full of hard-earned wisdom from three people who have genuinely figured out how to make it work in the courtroom and with each other.🔔 Subscribe to Beyond the Bar Podcast for weekly conversations that go beyond the title and into the real story.📲 Connect with the firm: www.krdslaw.com

Jennifer Rosenkranz: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-rosenkrantz-8358b95/

Lisa Schoenfeld: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-schoenfeld-2638a18/Joseph Demarco: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-demarco-4a630243/

Watch more episodes and connect with Denisa here: tovaretirement.com/btb-podcast

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Podcast Production by HypeCats.com, webinars, and podcasts: https://hypecats.com.

Most people think they know Chris Noth. Detective Mike Logan. Mr. Big. Peter Florrick. Three of the most iconic characters in television history — all played by one man who has spent decades deliberately staying out of the machine that made him famous.

In this episode Denisa sits down with Chris for one of the most honest and unexpected conversations Beyond the Bar has ever had. Chris opens up about raising a six year old at his age and why he wouldn't trade it for anything, his oldest teenage son heading off to college and learning not to take the distance personally, the annual 100 mile hiking trips through Scotland and Spain with the same group of lifelong friends, why he finally made peace with being called Mr. Big after years of it driving him crazy, his love of theater and the role in Marlowe's Doctor Faustus that he calls genuinely transformative, the cigar he is creating in the Dominican Republic and why he wants to call it Meditations, what meditation actually revealed about his own anger and impatience, how the last few years kept him close to home and gave him something he didn't know he needed, and why after everything he is still hungry to find that one piece of material that will satisfy his soul.

This is the version of Chris Noth most people have never seen. Thoughtful, unguarded, and completely himself.

If you grew up watching Law and Order, Sex and the City, or The Good Wife — this one is for you.

🎙️ Beyond the Bar is a podcast hosted by Denisa Tova that goes beyond the title and into the real story — the human being underneath the fame, the career, and the headlines.

📲 Connect with Chris Noth: https://www.instagram.com/chrisnothofficial/

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Podcast Production by HypeCats.com, webinars, and podcasts: https://hypecats.com.

Michael Nouri has spent 54 years in Hollywood. You know him from Flashdance, Yellowstone, and right now from The Pit. At 80 years old he is more honest about his life, his wounds, and his work than most people half his age.Michael opens up about growing up as the peacemaker in a combative household, being bullied as a kid and the day he finally fought back, spending decades seeking his father's approval and the moment on a Broadway stage with Julie Andrews that cracked him open, the men's group he has been part of for 12 years alongside Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne and Alfred Molina, the upcoming book A Seat at the Table, how he turned down Sam Peckinpah to take a chance on a script called Flashdance, and why at 80 his only goal is to finally give himself the pat on the back his father never did.This one stays with you.🔔 Subscribe to Beyond the Bar Podcast for weekly conversations that go beyond the title and into the real story.📲 Connect with Michael Nouri: www.michaelnouri.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelnouriofficial/?hl=enWatch more episodes and connect with Denisa here: https://tovaretirement.com/podcast/

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Most people walk into a divorce expecting a battle. Family law attorney and divorce mediator Jacqueline Caputo has spent over two decades proving it doesn't have to be one.Jackie is a Partner at Joseph Law Group where she leads the mediation and collaborative divorce practice on Long Island, New York. She never planned on family law — never even took it as a course in law school. But the moment a pro bono family case landed on her desk early in her career, everything changed. She has never looked back.In this episode Jackie opens up about almost choosing journalism over law, being voted kindest and best personality in a graduating class of over 1100 kids, why she reframes divorce not as an ending but as a reorganization of a family, the moment a husband broke down crying in mediation and everything finally moved forward, what it really takes to keep people solution focused when emotions are running the show, Sunday mornings frying meatballs while her husband coaches high school football, their home in Maine that keeps the whole family grounded, and why she just joined the board of directors at the Nassau County Bar Association.If you are going through a divorce, considering mediation over litigation, or looking for a more collaborative approach to family law — this conversation will change how you think about the entire process.📲 Connect with Jacqueline Caputo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacqueline-caputo-21493218/🌐 Joseph Law Group: https://josephlawpc.com/Watch more episodes and connect with Denisa here: https://tovaretirement.com/podcast/LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/denisatovaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/denisatovaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/denisatova/Podcast Production by HypeCats.com, webinars, and podcasts: https://hypecats.com.