Just a Good Conversation

Chet White completed his 12th season as the director of photography for University of Kentucky athletics department. 

Christina Burkenroad is an American soccer player who plays as a forward for Liga MX Femenil club CF Monterrey. Born in San Diego, CA, she was only four years old when her mother past away. Her father suffered from depression and she became homeless for a time as well as a self described junkie. Christina hired a scholarship to Cal State Fullerton and played under Demian Brown. She signed with the Orlando Pride out of college, later finding here way to Norway to play for IK Grand Bodø. In July of 2020 Christina signed with Liga MX Femeni in Mexico. She has written a book about soccer and her journey. We talk about that and more on the podcast.

Jordan Larson is a three time (2012, 2016, 2021) USA Olympic Women's Volleyball player. Her 2021 Olympics win allowed her to complete the trifecta of winning an Olympic bronze, silver, and gold medal. Not bad for a kid from Hooper Nebraska. Jordan started her college volleyball career at the University of Nebraska. In 2006, she led the Huskers to the NCAA title and was named to the AVCA All-America First Team. In 2008, as a senior, she was named to the AVCA All-America First Team. She was also chosen as the Big 12 Player of the Year and the league's defensive player of the year; it was the first time that a player achieved both in the same year. Over her four-year college career, Larson had a total of 1,600 kills and 1,410 digs. Larson graduated from the University of Nebraska in 2008 with a degree in communications studies. On June 7, 2021, US National Team head coach Karch Kiraly announced Larson would be part of the 12-player Olympic roster for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, her third straight Olympic Games. She has discussed how this would be her last Olympics, and she became the fifth oldest volleyball player in USA history to be named to an Olympic roster. We talk about how it all started, growing up a small mid west town of 800 people, leadership, marriage and coaching. In January 2022, Larson was named as an assistant coach for the University of Texas women's volleyball team, her first collegiate coaching role.

Art director, producer, stand-up comedian, TV show host. If those job descriptions don’t conform to your image of a successful production executive, maybe that’s because you’ve never met one quite like Marcus Vadas. He has 15 years of experience creating and producing award-winning commercials, videos and documentaries. Just over 6 years ago Marcus co-founded Campsite Media House. We talk about his career path and what it took to get to where he is today. He understood very early on that staying in on e spot for to long is not a good with without growth. 

Maxx Wolfson has been working at Getty Images since 2003. He is the current Director of Photography for the Americas. At Getty Images, Maxx started working directly with the NBA working on images from photographers all over the league. He quickly transitioned to a field editor working in sports, news and entertainment. Maxx would be in charge of editing events ranging from the Super Bowl to the Academy Awards. In his time at Getty Images, it has taken him to major events all over the world. Through his work with many sports leagues, Maxx possesses a deep institutional knowledge of the industry. He is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a degree in journalism. We talk about his time at UA and covering the great wildcat basketball teams. His 19 years at Getty and what he has learned along the way.

Drone talk with Jay Seidel; we talk about what's new, what's coming and all the new rules are happening to the drone world. Jay is professor and director of the Fullerton Drone Lab at Fullerton College. He has always had a passion for aviation as he was a member of the Civil Air Patrol as a teenager, where he flew gliders and immersed himself in all things aviation. This, coupled with his other passion of visual storytelling is what lead him to drones and to create the Fullerton Drone Lab at Fullerton College.

He is a Part 107 certified UAS Pilot and has been flying drones since 2016. He is an AUVSI TOP (Level 3) UAV Instructor and is a member of the FAA’s Safety Team where he is a Drone Pro for Orange and Los Angeles counties. He regularly speaks across Southern California communities about drone safety and drone education.

He wrote the textbook Drones: Training and Applications to Digital Imaging and has been a guest speaker and trainer at a variety of industry workshops and conferences. He is the president of the AUVSI Lindbergh Chapter, which include members from all areas of autonomous systems from all of Southern California.

He served 12 years in the U.S. Army and California Army National Guard where he worked as an engineer and photojournalist.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism of Cal State Long Beach and his master’s degree in communications from Cal State Fullerton. He is helping to build the drone journalism course and program at CSULB, San Diego State University and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University.

In addition to teaching drone tech courses, he also teaches a variety of courses in multimedia and visual journalism and trains students on everything from writing and photography to audio and video (including drones and 360 video). He has worked as a journalist for more than 15 years.

He is also the festival director and founder of the Southern California Drone Film Festival, which showcases the creative work or aerial visual storytellers.

The Orange County native enjoys spending time with his family, sports, traveling, photography, flying drones, 360 video/VR, and all things tech.

Dr. Laura Zettel-Watson is an Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Psychology and a Coordinator, Aging Studies Program at California State University, Fullerton. Her research focuses on close relationships in later life. She is especially interested in how social support and social participation impact physical and psychological well-being for at-risk populations. She currently is involved in studies investigating caregiver health and well-being, social support resources available to those aging without a spouse and/or adult children, and the impact of psychosocial factors on persons with fibromyalgia. We talked about how to age better and understand the process. 

Ricky Romero was born and raised in East Los Angeles. He attended Cal State Fullerton from 2001 to 2005. The lefty starter helped the Titans capture the 2004 College World Series. Romero was drafted by the Blue Jays as the sixth overall pick (and first pitcher selected) in the 2005 MLB draft. On April 9, 2009 Romero made his Major League debut against Detroit Tigers. Ricky earned the win while surrendering two runs on seven hits over six innings in the Blue Jays' 6–2 victory. Injuries shorten his baseball career. On December 31, 2018, Romero officially announced on Instagram that he would be retiring from professional baseball. He is married to retired Canadian soccer player Kara Lang and they have 2 sons and a daughter.