The Aron Bender Podcast

Aron Bender hangs out with Julie Chang, a TV journalist most recently with Fox 11 here in Los Angeles but she also spent a lot of time working in New York. She’s a wife, a mother of two adorable little ones, an activist, an actress, and a brain tumor survivor. She’s also the founder of 940 Life, which she explains in this quick conversation that we had to squeeze into an afternoon a few weeks ago is about the 940 weekends we have with our children from the time they're born to when they turn 18. Here's the trailer on her YouTube channel "940 with Julie Chang." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfTX4Bx4dAM

Julie and I talked about the crimes targeting the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, how she talks with (and learns from) her kids about racism, sliding into her now-husband's DMs, and how my late wife nudged her to say yes to coming on the podcast to begin with. Thank you for your time, Julie. Means the world!

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Connect with Julie Chang:

https://www.instagram.com/trulyjuliechang/

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Connect with Aron Bender at www.aronbender.com

NEW! The Aron Bender Podcast on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMSMpzy_IebRXXbpTlVjmXg/featured

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Aron Bender talks with "The Badass Lawyer" Emily D. Baker. She traded the courtroom for the creator studio, and now has one of the more popular legal commentary channels on YouTube. We talk about moving from Southern California to Tennessee in the middle of the pandemic, grappling with identity when your career is taken away and how her family has grown from it, how she picks the cases she covers and how her channel gained 55,000 subscribers in a month, and we get her thoughts on Los Angeles County's new District Attorney George Gascón.

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Connect with Emily D. Baker:

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheEmilyDBaker

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Associate Producer: Erika Murrietta

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Connect with Aron Bender at www.aronbender.com

NEW! The Aron Bender Podcast on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMSMpzy_IebRXXbpTlVjmXg/featured

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Aron Bender talks with LZ Granderson, who can be heard on Sedano, LZ & Kap weekday afternoons 4-7 on ESPN LA 710, is the LA Times Sports & Culture Columnist, and can be seen on ABC News and other platforms. We talk about the guilty verdicts in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the differences between justice and accountability, growing up in Detroit, how he manages trauma, struggling with his racial and sexual identity, impostor syndrome, the role God has played in his life even if LZ wasn’t listening, and an unexpected deep dive into the tennis world. I'm so grateful for this conversation. Thank you, LZ!

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Connect with LZ Granderson:

https://www.instagram.com/lzgranderson

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Connect with Aron Bender at www.aronbender.com

NEW! The Aron Bender Podcast on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMSMpzy_IebRXXbpTlVjmXg/featured

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Aron Bender talks with Elex Michaelson -- a Southern California native who went to USC double majoring in broadcast journalism and political science — graduating at the top of his class. He started his career at XETV San Diego 6 but quickly made it back to LA as a reporter for ABC7. He made the move to Fox 11 in 2017 and in addition to anchoring multiple newscasts a night he’s the host of the political talk show “The Issue Is” and co-host of a nightly special on COVID-19. In this episode we talk about recognizing bias in reporting, the difficulty of covering politics at a time when that arena’s full of hate, the future of news and how it’s delivered, and his love for storytelling.

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Connect with Elex Michaelson:

https://www.instagram.com/elexmichaelson/

https://twitter.com/Elex_Michaelson

https://www.facebook.com/ElexMichaelson/

https://www.foxla.com/the-issue-is/the-issue-is-tv-schedule

https://www.foxla.com/person/m/elex-michaelson

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Connect with Aron Bender at www.aronbender.com

NEW! The Aron Bender Podcast on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMSMpzy_IebRXXbpTlVjmXg/featured

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Aron Bender talks with Star Harvey -- a meteorologist at CW39 in Houston. Before getting to Texas she was a reporter and did the weather at KREX5 in Grand Junction, Colorado. But even before that she was one of my students at California State University, Northridge. And Star lived up to her name. Still does. She went from an on-again-off-again college student to single mom to standout university graduate to making one of the biggest TV market jumps ever … from 187 to 8. It’s a testament to her drive, ambition, and faith. Not only in God but ultimately herself. I talk with Star about why she thought she couldn't be on TV, conversations with her son about playing with guns and interactions with police, being black in Colorado, Houston humidity, and her message to her mom who raised 7 kids on her own.

Connect with Star Harvey:

https://www.instagram.com/starharveywx/

Star on The Aron Bender Podcast on YouTube:

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Connect with Aron Bender at www.aronbender.com

NEW! The Aron Bender Podcast on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMSMpzy_IebRXXbpTlVjmXg/featured

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Aron Bender talks with Lori Lizarraga -- a TV news reporter who just finished a two-year stint at KUSA 9News in Denver. Prior to that she worked at KGET in Bakersfield. On her way out of Colorado she wrote an article for Denver news website Westword.com called "LatinXed: 9News Got Rid of Three Latina Reporters This Past Year, Including Me." (linked below) She writes about what she describes as oppressive policies and actions — including using “illegal” instead of “undocumented,” one reporter wasn’t allowed to cover immigration stories unless she revealed her immigration status, Lori says she wasn’t even allowed to wear her hair in a bun with a middle part as she’s seen and worn as a Mexican and Ecuadorian woman all her life, and a week after she and her colleagues presented a plan to improve the station’s coverage of last year’s racial justice movement SHE was put on improvement plan. In this episode we get into Lori’s thought process going into writing the article, concerns about what she’s done to her career, and conversations with her siblings and immigrant parents before and since it came out.

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Connect with Lori Lizarraga:

https://www.instagram.com/lorilizarraga/

READ:

LatinXed: 9News Got Rid of Three Latina Reporters This Past Year, Including Me

Lori on The Aron Bender Podcast on YouTube:

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Connect with Aron Bender at www.aronbender.com

NEW! The Aron Bender Podcast on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMSMpzy_IebRXXbpTlVjmXg/featured

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Aron Bender is joined by True Crime YouTubers Stephanie Harlowe and Jon Chrymes. Stephanie has been creating content on YouTube for three years. She posted her first video on April 12, 2018. Happy Anniversary! Initially it was lots of beauty reviews and unboxings but in July of that year she started experimenting with Mystery Mondays — posting true crime content. And as you’ll hear Stephanie tell the story — true crime quickly took over. And Stephanie co-hosts the Crime Weekly Podcast. Also in 2018, Jon Chrymes moved in to the true crime space on YouTube. He's quickly gained a loyal following. We talk about some of the cases they've covered, such as Madeleine McCann and Chris Watts, how they maintain their mental health when deep diving into mysteries and the worst of humanity, what they do for self-care, and how they handle the fame that comes with becoming stars in the true crime genre on YouTube.

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Connect with Stephanie Harlowe:

https://www.youtube.com/c/StephanieHarlowe/featured

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Connect with Jon Chrymes:

https://www.youtube.com/c/JonChrymes/featured

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Connect with Aron Bender at www.aronbender.com

NEW! The Aron Bender Podcast on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMSMpzy_IebRXXbpTlVjmXg/featured

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Associate Producer: Desi Madigan

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Aron Bender first talked with author and KTTV Fox 11 Good Day LA meteorologist Maria Quiban when he hosted Wake Up Call on KFI in Los Angeles. She had just returned from bereavement leave after her husband Sean died of glioblastoma (GBM), a deadly form of brain cancer. In Maria's new book "You Can't Do It Alone: A Widow's Journey Through Loss, Grief and Life After," she writes about the 18 months she, Sean and their son Gus spent from diagnosis to Sean's passing, how she and Gus handled Sean's death, and what they learned about themselves and each other. "You Can't Do It Alone" has been a big help in my life since my wife's passing 4+ months ago. Maria and I talk about watching our warrior partners power through pain, the toll it takes on us and our children, the importance of therapy and communication, how losing her own father when she was 7 helped her prepare for Sean's death, and how she and her son have bonded using TikTok. This is such a meaningful conversation, and I hope you are as moved by it as I was. Thank you for supporting The Aron Bender Podcast.

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Connect with Maria:

https://www.mariaquiban.com/

Buy Maria's book: "You Can't Do It Alone"

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0738285943/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_TNF0VBQFVAZ04MTFK2MC

https://www.instagram.com/mariasearth/

https://twitter.com/mariasearth/

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMea9Mx8C/

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Connect with Aron Bender at www.aronbender.com

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Aron Bender and Corey Nathan are practically neighbors in Santa Clarita, California. Corey was born in New York but raised on the Jersey side. He's been in SoCal since 1995. Over the years he’s worn a lot of hats: stockbroker, theatre, independent film, and is a partner in the team-building firm Nathan, McDowell & Rose. But what drew me to Corey was his podcasting. He hosts two podcasts. The first is Trailer Geeks & Teaser Gods — going behind the scenes of the trailers that go viral on social media. But much of our conversation centered around Corey’s newest podcast: Talkin’ Politics and Religion Without Killin’ Each Other. I’m actually his guest on the latest episode of TP&R (link below). We talk about how he told his Jewish parents he's converting to Christianity, why he moved to California, sometimes co-hosting the podcast with his dad, and channeling his creativity into podcasting.

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Connect with Corey:

Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other Podcast

Trailer Geeks & Teaser Gods Podcast

https://twitter.com/coreysnathan

https://www.linkedin.com/in/corey-nathan-5278b01/

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Connect with Aron Bender at www.aronbender.com

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Music provided by:

Aron Bender first found Destiny Malibu on LinkedIn. As I started to reconnect with the world after my wife passed away LinkedIn was actually the first social media I spent any time on. And there she was: Destiny Malibu "Singer-Songwriter, Mental Health Advocate." It's the last part for me. That someone would so proudly put into their title they're a "mental health advocate." So I reached out and it’s been such a treat to learn more and follow her these last few months — and it’s cool that my girls can actually watch her videos and listen to her music. We talked about self-care and self-love, how her family got through the Borderline Bar & Grill Shooting and losing their house in the Woolsey Fire in 2018 -- just months after being on American Idol, her upbringing with a mom who had her own singing career, and how she deals with haters and trolls in her IG Live that she does every weeknight at 8. Yes, Destiny is from Malibu but for now she lives in Las Vegas.

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Connect with Destiny Malibu:

https://destinymalibu.com/

https://www.instagram.com/destinymalibu/

https://twitter.com/destinymalibu

https://www.facebook.com/destinymalibuxo

https://www.tiktok.com/@destinymalibu

https://linktr.ee/destinymalibu

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Connect with Aron Bender at www.aronbender.com

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