Guests:

Erin Dahlke ATC, LAT is a certified athletic trainer at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill with women’s volleyball and men’s lacrosse teams. She uses clinical skills to help athletes recover and return to the field. She is passionate about athlete connection and communication to better understand her athletes holistically. She often uses functional testing, evidence based practice, and functional rehabilitation to return athletes to play with confidence. Prior to UNC she worked with football and hockey programs that sparked her love of emergency medicine and quick decision making that came along with sports. 

Marisa Scandole, MA, LAT, ATC, CIDN, is a certified athletic trainer with extensive experience in sports medicine, injury prevention, and athlete rehabilitation across both high school and Division I collegiate settings. She currently serves as the Athletic Trainer at Durham Academy, where she provides comprehensive medical care for student-athletes, oversees concussion management, and integrates advanced techniques such as dry needling to support recovery and performance.

Prior to this role, Marisa worked at San José State University as an Associate Athletic Trainer for Division I football and women’s tennis, where she coordinated medical care, mentored athletic training students, and helped streamline sports medicine operations. Marisa is passionate about evidence-based practice, athlete safety, and optimizing return-to-play outcomes. She earned her master’s degree in Kinesiology from San José State University and her bachelor’s degree in Athletic Training from the University of South Carolina.

Guest:

Jared Jarvi is a strength and conditioning coach at the University of North Carolina. Since joining Carolina in 2023, he has worked closely with women’s lacrosse and also serves as the assistant strength coach for women’s basketball. He also oversees the Sport Science Internship Program within Carolina Strength & Conditioning. Jared is currently in his second year of UNC’s Human Movement Science Ph.D. program. He’s in the early stages of developing his dissertation, which focuses on deceleration and braking in female athletes. His research looks at how female athletes change direction, what physical qualities contribute to it, and how to better measure and train those movements. He’s focused on improving late stage return-to-sport assessments after injury. Jared’s goal is to find better ways to profile change of direction, understand the underlying physiological qualities that drive it, and develop stronger training protocols that improve performance and reduce injury risk. Before coming to Chapel Hill, Jared worked at Penn State, Michigan, and Northern Michigan, supporting a variety of Olympic and team sports. He holds certifications as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, Certified Performance and Sport Scientist, and USA Weightlifting Coac

Guests:

Gwen Fink is a senior on the UNC Gymnastics Team. In her experience competing as a D1 gymnast, Fink has competed in the all-around throughout all four years of her college career. Along with her athletic accomplishments, Fink has excelled in the classroom, majoring in political science and management as she pursues her long-term goal of becoming a lawyer. During her time at Carolina, Fink has gained experience on both sides of NIL—first as a student-athlete benefiting from opportunities, like her partnership with Athleta, and also on the agency side through her work as a Legal Summer Intern with Article 41 Talent Agency. With her knowledge captured through her degree and first-hand experience outside the classroom, she holds a valuable perspective on how political opinions affect NIL opportunities.

Livis Freeman is an associate professor and administrator at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, as well as the founder of 4ourFans, Inc., a public relations company focused on helping professional athletes build their brands, community impact, and careers. A UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, he has worked with numerous professional athletes across the NBA, NFL, PGA, and boxing while also creating internship opportunities for students in sports communications. At UNC, Freeman serves as assistant dean for course management and staffing and is the Distinguished Professor for Sports Communication, where he leads key programs and teaches a wide range of media, PR, and sports communication courses. 

Alexandra Zelaya (pronounced zeh-LIE-uh) is a Division I women’s basketball player whose career spans both Power Five and mid-major levels, giving her a unique perspective on women’s sports. She played four seasons at the University of North Carolina, where she appeared in 21 games as a senior and started on Senior Day against Duke. She averaged 2.1 points and 1.0 rebounds, highlighted by a career-high 12 points in a win over No. 6 NC State. She also served on UNC’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council and graduated in May 2024 with a degree in Environmental Science, with minors in Marine Science and Business Administration.

After transferring to UNC Wilmington, Zelaya had a breakout season, starting all 32 games and leading the team with 12.3 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game. She was named CAA Defensive Player of the Year, earned First Team All-CAA honors, and ranked among the NCAA leaders in blocks and rebounds.

Her experience across both levels gives her valuable insight into differences in opportunity, exposure, and pay in women’s basketball.

Guests:

Livis Freeman is from Clinton, North Carolina. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1999 with a degree in psychology and later earned a Master of Arts in Integrated Marketing Communications from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He is currently an associate professor at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media and serves as the Distinguished Professor for Sports Communication. Freeman is the founder of 4ourFans, a sports marketing and public relations company, and has worked with athletes across the NBA, NFL, PGA, and boxing.

Colette (Coco) Boyden is a second-year Honors student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, originally from Corte Madera, California. She is pursuing a double major in Business Administration at the Kenan-Flagler Business School and Advertising and Public Relations in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media. At UNC, Boyden is also a member of the club soccer team, where she continues her passion for athletics while balancing a rigorous academic schedule. Her experience as a student-athlete fuels her interest in sports business, along with tech marketing and consulting. She is driven to create meaningful impact through both business and media and is actively involved in her community.

Evie Culbreath is a junior on the University of North Carolina women’s track and field team, competing in jumps and combined events. She is originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee and attended Baylor School, where she was a standout multi-sport track athlete and a multiple-time state champion. At UNC, Culbreath has competed in indoor and outdoor ACC competitions, earning personal bests across several events and debuting in both the pentathlon and heptathlon. Her experience as a college athlete shows how resources, attention, and fairness work in women’s track and field.

Guests:

Jocelyn Johnson

Senior student athlete at UNC, majoring in Communications with a minor in Business. Originally from Phoenix, Arizona. Member of the Women’s Track and Field team.

Lea Spindell:

Sophomore student athlete at UNC, majoring in Psychology with a minor in Neuroscience. Originally from Gilbert, Arizona. Member of the Women’s Track and Field Team.

Hema Chanamolu:

Freshman student athlete at UNC, majoring in Psychology. Originally from Ashburn, Virginia. Member of the women's rowing team. Enjoys fishing in her free time. 

The episode features William Berckemeyer, who brings a personal perspective to the conversation through his background as someone who is half Peruvian and has dual citizenship in Peru and the United States. He shares how Hispanic /Latino identity and culture are portrayed in American media, and the gaps and inaccuracies as well. His perspective connects the topic to real-world experiences and emphasizes how media framing impacts the perception and understanding of Hispanic/Latino communities.

Guests:

Joy Goodwin is the director of the screenwriting minor program at UNC-Chapel Hill. Prior to joining the UNC faculty, she worked as a writer and as a movie producer with credits in Black Nativity (2013), After.Life, featuring Liam Neeson, and smaller indie films like May in the Summer (2013), which follows a woman returning to her childhood home in Jordan and grappling with the cultural divide between herself and her family.

Dr. Michelle Robinson is a professor of American studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, where she teaches courses on cultural forms including standup comedy, film and literature, particularly detective fiction. Her work studies how pop culture reflects and interacts with the American experience.

Guests:

Olivia Carter is a writer from Northwest Arkansas. In 2023, she received her Bachelor's in Music with a minor in Psychology at Harvard University. With a background in media writing and consulting, she is particularly interested in researching the intersection of entertainment, storytelling, and audience engagement. Olivia is passionate about how the media influences audience perception and industry trends. As a management consultant, she worked across industries like consumer, finance, and healthcare to solve complex organizational problems in operations and communications. 

Hope Long is a strategic communicator and creative storyteller who focuses on turning ideas into experiences people genuinely connect with. With a background that blends creative direction and strategic communication, she approaches projects from both the messaging and execution side, whether that’s copywriting, visual design, or interactive content. She is especially drawn to sports and entertainment spaces where culture and fandom intersect, and enjoys building campaigns that feel participatory rather than promotional. Her work centers on clear narratives, audience insight, and purposeful messaging, aiming to create communication that not only informs but builds connection and leaves a lasting impression.

Guest--Toby S. Jenkins, Ph.D. serves as Associate Provost for Faculty Development and is a tenured Professor in the Department of Leadership & Inquiry at the University of South Carolina.  Her scholarship focuses on the ways that cultural leadership approaches can be used as tools to transform and innovate professional practice. Her most recent book, The Hip-Hop Mindset: Success Strategies for Educators & Other Professionals explores success mindsets and transformative leadership practices found within hip-hop culture.