Today, my guest is Dr. Lucy Kalanithi, the widow of the late Dr. Paul Kalanithi, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling memoir, When Breath Becomes Air, for which she wrote the epilogue.  At the age of thirty-six, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer and he wrote a deeply profound book on death and his illness as he went from doctor to patient and a new father to a baby girl, all the while confronting his own mortality.  I sat down with Lucy and talked to her about her personal and heartfelt experience standing alongside her husband during his life, diagnosis, treatment, and ultimately, death.

loved talking with @HsuUntied about life, loss, #WhenBreathBecomesAir https://t.co/7AyCY7T4g8

— Lucy Kalanithi (@rocketgirlmd) July 21, 2016

Today, my guest is Paula Boggs*, a musician and former General Counsel of Starbucks.  Despite her self-classification as the “quintessential reluctant lawyer,” Paula has enjoyed a successful career as a government prosecutor, inhouse counsel and law firm partner.  After serving as General Counsel at Starbucks, Paula decided to follow her childhood passion of being a musician by starting her own “soul grass” Paula Boggs Band, a fusion of folk, blues, jazz and rock.  Despite leaving the practice of law, she still remains very involved with the profession of law as a speaker, advisor and mentor.  Her music can be found on SoundCloud, YouTube, Facebook, iTunes and Amazon.

*with special thanks to Sonya Olds Som

Happy to share lawyer and podcaster @HsuTubeEsq‘s recent interview of me for his Hsu United blog/podcast: https://t.co/081jli1uTH

— Paula Boggs (@plutorevenge) February 23, 2015

Today, my guest is Augustine Yee, Chief Legal Officer and Global Head of Corporate Development and Affairs at Hoya Corporation, who talks about recently taking a C-level role at a public Japanese multinational company leading legal, M&A/business development, venture capital investments and a number of other global functions for this highly diversified high tech and life sciences company.  Prior to joining Hoya, Augustine was AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals’ Head of Asia Pacific Regional and Corporate Business Development where he was an expat based in Shanghai, China.  A musician, molecular biologist and attorney by training, he has held interesting and diverse commercial, corporate and legal/IP roles in the high-tech, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.  I have known Augustine since he began his private practice career as a patent litigation attorney at Lyon & Lyon in Los Angeles and a corporate securities lawyer at Pillsbury Winthrop in San Diego so it was a pleasure to catch up with him at his office in Singapore.

Today, my guest is Dr. Thomas J. Fogarty, an internationally recognized cardiovascular surgeon, inventor, entrepreneur and vintner. He has dedicated his entire career to improving patient care and has acquired 165 medical patents for his revolutionary work, including the "industry standard" Fogarty balloon catheter and is widely considered one of pioneers of minimally-invasive surgery. Dr. Fogarty has been recognized by countless organizations for his contributions to medical science, including the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, an honor granted by the President of the United States to innovators who have made significant contributions to new and important technology.  He is the founder of Thomas Fogarty Winery and the Fogarty Institute for Innovation which helps early-stage startups get their products to market faster with the vision of lowering healthcare costs and improving patients' lives.

Today, my guest is Mike Dillon, General Counsel of Adobe Systems, who bicycled across the country from Florida to California. When he started the trip, he was nothing more than a weekend cyclist and honestly didn’t even know if he would even complete the ride.  He eventually not only finished it, but he blogged about it every day and was inspired to write a book about it called Changing Cadence, the proceeds of which go to support the Aldar Academy.  As Mike described the end of his 2-month solo trek across the country, he became emotional just thinking about what an exhilarating and life-changing journey it had been.

Many thanks, Richard. I can’t recall having this much fun doing an interview! http://t.co/7FyqLGxQeU

— Mike Dillon (@DillonNotes) October 13, 2014

Today, my guest is Ron Bell, Vice President and General Counsel of Yahoo!  Ron was very gracious to take the time to sit down with me at the Yahoo! headquarters to talk about what it’s like being the Yahoo! GC and the exciting challenges he faces. Only the Company’s 4th General Counsel, Ron talks about his predecessors, the influence they had on him, and his own style of management and leadership.

Through hard work, foresight @HsuUntied cornered the lucrative GC interview market. Here’s my 9 minutes of fame — http://t.co/2128MakGQR

— Ron Bell (@ronsbell_tech) June 22, 2015

Today, my guest is Guy Spier, a Zurich-based investor and author of a book entitled The Education of a Value Investor.  Guy manages the Aquamarine Fund, an investment partnership inspired by, and styled after Warren Buffett’s 1950s investment partnerships.  In June 2007, Guy paid US$650,100 with Mohnish Pabrai for a charity lunch with Warren Buffett.  He recently sat down and talked with me about what it was like to write his first book.

Today, my guest is Sandy Kurtzig, who has been the founder, co-founder and investor in many successful software companies. She founded her first company, the ASK Group and grew the company into one of the ten largest software companies in the world and was the first woman CEO to take a technology company public.  She is the author of the best-selling autobiography, CEO: Building a $400 Million Company from the Ground Up and her latest company, Kenandy, is transforming the world of enterprise software on the cloud with a SaaS model. Sandy holds B.S. in mathematics from UCLA and an M.S. in aeronautical engineering from Stanford University.

Today, my guest is Chef Ming Tsai, a world-renowned chef, owner of the famous Blue Ginger restaurant and host of the television show Simply Ming.  Despite his incredible success and international celebrity, what Ming finds most rewarding — after his family — is cooking for Family Reach, a national charity dedicated to providing direct financial support to families fighting cancer, where my daughter Maya has volunteered (see picture below).  As part of his role, Ming recently hosted a Cooking Live event on November 2, 2015 at the Ritz Carlton Battery Park, along with his close friends, Masaharu Morimoto, Bryce Shuman, Ken Oringer, Johnny Iuzzini, and Alan Dancyger to raise money for this terrific organization.

Today, my guest is Anja Manuel*, author of "This Brave New World" and Co-Founder and Partner along with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, of Rice Hadley Gates LLC, which assists companies to expand their businesses and meet regulatory challenges in international markets. A graduate of Harvard Law School and Stanford University, she also served as Special Assistant to Under-Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns at the U.S. Dept. of State and an attorney at the law firm of Wilmer Hale.

* with special thanks to Guy Spier