Speaking Broadly

Nini Nguyen feels her younger brother's presence in everything she does even though he passed away tragically and swiftly at the age of 27. Growing up, Nini and her brother went shopping at farmers markets in New Orleans, made meals for their Vietnamese immigrant parents, and fantasized about the future. One of his last wishes was for Nini to pursue her dream of being on Top Chef. When she competed in on season 16, each win was for him. Listen in to hear about how Hurricane Katrina shifted Nini's path, how her mentor at Eleven Madison Park showed her the best way forward, and why 2019 is her Year of Yes. 

Want to stay up to date on the latest Speaking Broadly episodes? To hear more conversations with Dana Cowin and her accomplished yet accessible guests, subscribe to Speaking Broadly (it’s free!) on iTunes or Stitcher. If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate + review us on Apple’s podcast store and follow Dana on Instagram @speakingbroadly and @fwscout. Thanks for tuning in!"

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Jennifer McDonald is determined to provoke conversations about racism and sexism, and she's doing it in an unusual way: by making wine in Wichita, Kansas. A black child adopted by white parents, McDonald grew up in a small town in Nebraska, hyper-aware of race issues yet never daunted. She was a track star, a success in her HR job, and an award-winning home winemaker. But after her life got disrupted by her son's debilitating medical condition, she wanted to devote time to something she was passionate about. She launched her business, Jenny Dawn Cellars, to address a problem that was meaningful to her: the lack of female and African-American role models. Listen in to hear how McDonald became an entrepreneur, and overcame the challenges of making wine in a state not known for its vineyards.

Want to stay up to date on the latest Speaking Broadly episodes? To hear more conversations with Dana Cowin and her accomplished yet accessible guests, subscribe to Speaking Broadly (it’s free!) on iTunes or Stitcher. If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate + review us on Apple’s podcast store and follow Dana on Instagram @speakingbroadly and @fwscout. Thanks for tuning in!

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The moment that The Culinistas founder Jill Donenfeld was ready to give up, to start over and open a restaurant in Malibu, was the moment that her business was saved. On this episode of Speaking Broadly, listen in as Donenfeld explains how one networking dinner led to a game-changing partnership that reinvigorated her and allowed her to commit whole-heartedly to her business. Before that, Donenfeld got by doing things she loved—offering private chef services to families looking for healthy meals, traveling in India, curing bottarga for chefs, and researching the foods of Madagascar, among others—but never giving 100 percent. Today Donenfeld is focused and confident about the future ahead: ""Having a partner puts a mirror up to you and tells you who you really are.""

Want to stay up to date on the latest Speaking Broadly episodes? To hear more conversations with Dana Cowin and her accomplished yet accessible guests, subscribe to Speaking Broadly (it’s free!) on iTunes or Stitcher. If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate + review us on Apple’s podcast store and follow Dana on Instagram @speakingbroadly and @fwscout. Thanks for tuning in!"

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After a very successful 30 year career in restaurants, Heather Carlucci lost her passion for the business. So she took a big step: she came out of the woo closet, and shared that she was a lightworker—a medical intuitive (she works with doctors on diagnoses) and psychic. For the last 7 years, she's been a full-time medium. Listen in to this episode of Speaking Broadly to hear how Heather compares her past career in hospitality with her new one (both professions require the gift of empathy and the ability to check one's ego at the door), her earliest memories of being "different," and her experiences as a famous pastry chef as well as owner of an Indian restaurant that was way ahead of its time. Clearly she knew something.

Want to stay up to date on the latest Speaking Broadly episodes? To hear more conversations with Dana Cowin and her accomplished yet accessible guests, subscribe to Speaking Broadly (it’s free!) on iTunes or Stitcher. If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate + review us on Apple’s podcast store and follow Dana on Instagram @speakingbroadly and @fwscout. Thanks for tuning in!

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

One month after opening the New York outpost of her Houston restaurant Pondicheri, Anita Jaisinghani got the horrific news that her husband had stage 4 cancer. Her daughter, Ajna Jai, dropped everything and took over the NYC restaurant's day-to-day operations. And after their immensely challenging year, Jaisinghani and Jai are looking ahead to bringing even more meaning to their work. On this episode of Speaking Broadly, host Dana Cowin interviews this fierce and loving mother-daughter duo about their efforts to elevate America’s understanding of Indian food, the challenges of running a restaurant under the darkness of heartbreak, and much more. "People are the most important thing, not food," says Jaisinghani, as she plans to connect the two in new ways.

Want to stay up to date on the latest Speaking Broadly episodes? To hear more conversations with Dana Cowin and her accomplished yet accessible guests, subscribe to Speaking Broadly (it’s free!) on iTunes or Stitcher. If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate + review us on Apple’s podcast store and follow Dana on Instagram @speakingbroadly and @fwscout. Thanks for tuning in!"

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When she finally healed from multiple surgeries, got a life-threatening infection under control, and emerged from the haze of years of intense pain, Valerie Gordon thought of one word: Toffee. An enthusiastic baker since childhood, she wanted to create a business around this crunchy, beloved sweet. On this episode of Speaking Broadly, Gordon tells host Dana Cowin about baking her way to comfort when she was a scared latchkey kid; the illness that consumed her; and about Valerie Confections, the extraordinary Los Angeles-based business that she's built in the last 15 years.

Want to stay up to date on the latest Speaking Broadly episodes? To hear more conversations with Dana Cowin and her accomplished yet accessible guests, subscribe to Speaking Broadly (it’s free!) on iTunes or Stitcher. If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate + review us on Apple’s podcast store and follow Dana on Instagram @speakingbroadly and @fwscout. Thanks for tuning in!

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Bravo’s Top Chef fan favorite, cookbook author and TV host, Carla Hall is known for her vivacious personality and warmth. In her latest book, Carla Hall’s Soul Food, other aspects of this culinary star emerge: the connection to her roots in the South as well as her desire to highlight extraordinary African-American cooks and farmers. In a far-ranging conversation on Speaking Broadly, Hall discusses not only recipes of her ancestors, but how she has overcome challenges including advocating for herself to get a raise on the talk show The Chew and what she learned from opening and closing a restaurant in under a year. Listen in for heart-warming, humorous, empowering stories from one of America’s most beloved cooks.

Want to stay up to date on the latest Speaking Broadly episodes? To hear more conversations with Dana Cowin and her accomplished yet accessible guests, subscribe to Speaking Broadly (it’s free!) on iTunes or Stitcher. If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate + review us on Apple’s podcast store and follow Dana on Instagram @speakingbroadly and @fwscout. Thanks for tuning in!

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For Nasim Alikhani, co-owner of the Iranian restaurant Sofreh in Brooklyn, cooking both allows the world outside to disappear, and to make lost worlds re-appear. It is the thread that ties together her childhood in pre-Revolution Iran, her 20s in New York when she was a student and nanny trying to make ends meet, and now her life as a restaurateur. On this uplifting episode of Speaking Broadly, Alikhani describes her gratitude for early hardship and later happiness, how optimism grows with experience, and how she thinks about the lifespan of a passion project.

Want to stay up to date on the latest Speaking Broadly episodes? To hear more conversations with Dana Cowin and her accomplished yet accessible guests, subscribe to Speaking Broadly (it’s free!) on iTunes or Stitcher. If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate + review us on Apple’s podcast store and follow Dana on Instagram @speakingbroadly and @fwscout. Thanks for tuning in!"

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

World-renowned author and negotiation facilitator Priya Parker grew up shuttling between her mother's Indian, liberal, incense-filled Buddhist-Hindu-New Age household and her father's American, meat-eating, conservative, climate-denying one. Not surprisingly, she never knew exactly where she belonged. Parker channeled that childhood discomfort into a powerful mission: to make people experience a sense of belonging. Parker's recent book author of The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters, focuses on what makes people in groups make meaningful connections, whether at a dinner party or a wedding or peace talks. One hint: the answer isn't the food. On this episode of Speaking Broadly, Parker reveals her methods to ensure both engagement and delight. Listen in to hear more about creating (and naming) an event with a purpose, embracing exclusion to maintain deeper relationships and so much more.

Want to stay up to date on the latest Speaking Broadly episodes? To hear more conversations with Dana Cowin and her accomplished yet accessible guests, subscribe to Speaking Broadly (it’s free!) on iTunes or Stitcher. If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate + review us on Apple’s podcast store and follow Dana on Instagram @speakingbroadly and @fwscout. Thanks for tuning in!"

Photo by Mackenzie Stroh

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Holly Whitaker was at one time addicted to alcohol, pot, and cigarettes. She was bulimic, depressed, tried to get help. But the services that existed—the clinics and AA—weren’t right for her. Six years ago, she finally hacked her way to her own recovery. Now she’s founded a company called Tempest that is reinventing rehab for a new generation. Whitaker's plan makes recovery affordable, accessible, empowering, self-directed, and non-anonymous. On this episode of Speaking Broadly, Whitaker shares intimate details of her own story as well as her pointed opinions about our culture which glamorizes alcohol while demonizing those who have a troubled relationship with it.

Want to stay up to date on the latest Speaking Broadly episodes? To hear more conversations with Dana Cowin and her accomplished yet accessible guests, subscribe to Speaking Broadly (it’s free!) on iTunes or Stitcher. If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate + review us on Apple’s podcast store and follow Dana on Instagram @speakingbroadly and @fwscout. Thanks for tuning in!

Speaking Broadly is powered by Simplecast.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.