Hello Sonoma!

The world around us is full of surprises where we might not typically look. Early one morning in Milwaukee, I cleaned carpets with my friend Rick, and was reminded once again of just how true that is. 

In this episode, we talk to Rick about his experience in the carpet cleaning business, but also his love of the outdoors, his passion for horses, his experience as a bull rider, and even his foray into bodybuilding.

On a similar note, we talk with Bee Kilgore, whose adventures have included trips from Cairo to Capetown, sheep herding in the Australian Outback, and two trips to Everest Basecamp. The surprise is that she is my aunt, and that by asking new questions I learned all kinds of new stories about her experiences and her advice. I hope you might learn something new too.

Why are these two in an episode together? They met on a cattle drive too and have been friends ever since! So it felt fitting to put their stories side by side.

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If you want to:

Learn more about Rick's Carpet Cleaning, visit www.preferredcleaningservice.com

Learn more about Hello Sonoma, visit Hellosonoma.org 

Learn more about Bee Kilgore, you'll just have to meet her :) 

Thank you, as always, for tuning in.

Sandro Melaranci is many things: painter, makeup artist, musician, producer, restauranteur. But most of all he is a connector and a community builder. His restaurant Manuia, founded with his brother Tony, became one of Rome's most successful spots not only because of its good food, wine, and music, but because of the focus they put on making their customers feel like family. His patrons, many of them Hollywood and Cinecità stars, kept coming back. In this episode, we talk not only about the restaurant's history, but about Sandro's many other projects, pursuits, and passions.

If you want to:

Learn more about Sandro, visit www.SandroMelaranci.com

Learn more about Hello Sonoma, visit Hellosonoma.org 

Thank you, as always, for tuning in.

Last episode set the scene for our journey to Tokaj with perspectives from various people of all ages and occupations. In this episode, we speak with Hajni Prácser about the history of our Hungarian sister city, and her role in it, her thoughts on wine-tasting, and the chances of meeting your husband while on an exchange journey in Sonoma.

We also speak with Kathryn Arontsohn, who moved to Tokaj after her own exchange journey from Sonoma and has fallen in love with the wines and vineyards of the region. We talk with her about what makes these underground cellars so special, about tough career decisions, and about the challenge of defining where you're from.

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Learn more about Sonoma's Sister Cities Here.

Tokaj Sister City Page

Learn more about Hello Sonoma.

Thank you to Sharing Skies for the music in this episode!

Thank you to all those who spoke to me and thank you, as always, for tuning in.

Tokaj, Hungary, is a world-famous wine region, known for its aged special sweet wine known as Aszu. In this episode, we talk to some of the people who make this Hungarian delicacy, as well as many other characters from around town. I speak with a local teacher and a few of her students, inn-keepers, historians, cultural ministers, wine makers, and even the present and former mayor. Through each conversation, we learn a little bit more about this unique town and about the bonds of friendship between our two communities.

Learn more about Sonoma's Sister Cities Here.

Tokaj Sister City Page

Learn more about Hello Sonoma.

Thank you to Sharing Skies for the music in this episode!

Thank you to all those who spoke to me and thank you, as always, for tuning in.

Greve-In-Chianti is has been Sonoma's Sister City since 1983, and over the years various students, adults, and groups have visited to learn more about wine-making, to practice their Italian, and to see what this beautiful city has to offer. 

During my three days there, I had the chance to talk with Alessandra (from the office that promotes the Chianti territory) Stefano (from the renowned Falorni family of locally-grown but internationally known butchers), Giulio (the vice-mayor and former representative at the European Union), Gianni (a former banker turned artist), Sauro (A local family restaurant owner), Giovanni (a Julliard-educated opera singer), Barbara (an AirBNB owner and world traveler), and Sofia (an olive oil producer and vendor in downtown Greve).

In this episode, we talk about their experiences and the unique perspectives they bring to Greve. For some of them, they share their fond memories of visits to Sonoma! 

It was such a pleasure seeing the ways in which this sister city relationship can manifest itself into true cross-atlantic friendships. Here's to many more years of sister cities! 

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Learn more about Sonoma's Sister Cities Here.

Greve in Chianti City Page

Learn more about Hello Sonoma.

Thank you to Sharing Skies for the music in this episode!

Thank you to all those who spoke to me and thank you, as always, for tuning in.

Chambolle-Musigny has been a sister city of Sonoma since 1959, and this visit to speak with Chambolle's citizens highlighted the strength of those long-time connections.

In this episode, I got the chance to speak with three statesmen of the sister city organization Lucien (former president of the sister city organization for 25 years), Regis (former teacher and mayor of Chambolle), and Henri (local viticulturist), who sat with me for brief interviews, as did Henri’s granddaughter Pauline who is helping take over the family business.

We discuss their life stories, what it was like growing up in this town – even what it was like to find love here.

Ultimately, this episode and all those in these series, aim to rekindle the spark of friendship between our cities. 

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Learn more about Sonoma's Sister Cities Here.

Chambolle-Musigny Wikipedia Page.

Learn more about Hello Sonoma.

Thank you to Sharing Skies for the music in this episode! 

Thank you to all those who spoke to me and thank you, as always, for tuning in.

The North of France is known for its corn and dairy farms, for its old coal mines, and for the horses and cows that dot the landscape. In this episode, I interviewed some of the people behind each of these staple cultural phenomena, hearing about how they got interested in each of them and what they aim to do in the coming years.

As has become custom, this episode also includes unexpected stories from a car mechanic who drove to Morocco, an Escargot farmer, a Sonoman living in Paris, and a Graffiti artist teaching his craft. 

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Visit pico.link/hellosonoma to learn more about the newest updates from Hello Sonoma! 

Thank you to sharingskies for the beautiful music in this episode

Thank to the Ferm Helicicole de L'Avesnois for teaching me so much about escargot

Thank you to Korny_Hec for showing me how to do graffiti

Thank you to everyone who shared their story, and of course, thank you for listening.

The Golden Triangle is one of India’s most famous road trips. From New Delhi, to Agra, to Jaipur, the voyage includes stops at the center of Jaipur’s walled city, old monuments in Delhi city center, and, of course, the glorious Taj Mahal.

In this episode, we visit these sites, hearing what it sounds like to be on the grounds of the Taj Mahal as well as inside.

We talk to my guide Mahesh about his calling to be a cultural ambassador, but also his singing as we run through the rain.

Kishore, a local Agra guide, tells us about the history of the Mughal Empire and his own lessons through a foray into social media and Youtube.

This episode is marked by music from a local musician named Deepak Prabhakar, his Indian flute music as beautiful as his story.

And finally, once back in Delhi, we speak with Arshiya and Aritra, two teenagers who have already lived on 4 continents before turning 18. With all that traveling, they have some great advice on what it means to be home.

Thank you to:

Kishore, Agra guide: www.privatetourguideindia.com/about/

Mahesh, Jaipur guide: http://jaipurtourwithmahesh.com

Deepak, Music: instagram @deepakprabhaker45

Hello Sonoma! Is on a journey! This episode comes to us from New Delhi, India. The history of India spans over 5 millenia, with thousands of different communities and hundreds of languages, it is a vastly diverse place – plus India is massive. Not only is it in the top 10 largest countries by area, but it is set next year to overtake China as the world’s most populous. This hour long episode doesn’t even scratch the surface of all that this magnificent place entails, but with a trip to the foothills of the Himalayas and a conversation with Sumer and Shaurya (Sho) – two New Delhi natives and US University graduates – it’s a good start.

Francisco knows Sho and Sumer from college where they were all friends. In this episode, they discuss the basics of Indian geography and business as well as the experience of going to college in a new country and coming back to their hometowns.

Visit pico.link/hellosonoma to learn more

Music from Om Shanti Om & Sharing Skies

Broadcasting from the French Pyrenees, in this episode I interview local journalists, bakers, fishers, and hoteliers. All of them have one thing in common: human stories. 

This is the second episode as part of the Hello Sonoma Global series in which I am traveling to 3 of Sonoma's sister cities to hear stories and broadcast them at home. While we don't have a sister city in the south of France, this is a new storytelling experience with new voices. Here are a few of them:

Lydia owns and runs the Hotel Vignemale in Gavarnie, France. She grew up in the village nearby and, until she was 18, hadn't spent time abroad. When she did leave, she went to University in the United States and ended up managing facilities for a Fortune 500 company in all of Western Europe. But then, she came back. In this episode, we discuss each of those transitions, as well as the historic village of Gavarnie itself. If you're especially interested, you'll like this video that explains a bit more about its geology as well. 

Sandrine is a journalist at Frequency Luz, a local radio station in Luz, France. Originally from Quebec, she studied journalism and has taken on various roles at the station including interviewer, researcher, and producer. In this episode, we talk about what Frequency Luz does and about the role of radio in the future and beyond.

Special thanks to Sharing Skies for the music in this episode.

Visit pico.link/hellosonoma to follow on social media and more.