Behavioral scientist and bestselling author Jon Levy joins us to explore the science behind trust, connection, and influence.

Jon is known for hosting the now-famous Influencers Dinner, a secret dining experience where strangers cook a meal together before discovering they’re sitting with Olympians, astronauts, Nobel laureates, and cultural leaders. The twist? No one is allowed to share their last name or what they do for work.

In this conversation, Jon shares what hundreds of dinners and thousands of guests have taught him about human behavior, including:

• Why shared effort creates stronger relationships than small talk
• The surprising psychology behind asking people for help
• What makes a team truly intelligent (hint: it’s not IQ)
• Why people should introduce their connections more often, not less
• How vulnerability actually builds trust faster

We also dive into Jon’s new book Team Intelligence, discuss the contagious nature of human behavior, and unpack why connection thrives when people collaborate instead of compete.

If you’ve ever wondered how to create deeper relationships at work, in friendship, or even at a dinner party, this episode is full of surprising insights.

Links to explore:

• Jon Levy's website
• The Influencers Dinner
• Jon Levy's new book: Team Intelligence
• Jon Levy's TED Talk "What Makes us Influential"

In this capsule conversation, Rachel Gillman Rischall and Jeana Anderson Cohen explore one of the most tender and rarely discussed relationship topics: friendship breakups and estrangement.

Inspired by Hillary Duff and her recent reflections on estrangement in an interview with Anthony Mason, Rachel and Jeana unpack what it means to lose someone close to you — and not know how, or whether, to repair the relationship.

Together, they discuss:

• How to tell the difference between a friendship worth repairing and one that’s okay to let go
• Why friendship breakups can hurt differently — and sometimes more deeply — than romantic ones
• Whether there’s a way to have a “final conversation,” and what to do when closure doesn’t come
• How to hold boundaries without abandoning compassion

Drawing from personal experience, research, and insights from Platonic and For You When I Am Gone, the episode closes with a reminder that friendship isn’t “just friends,” it’s a profound form of love. And when it ends, the grief deserves to be honored.

In Show & Tell, Rachel shares the connective power of live storytelling and shared vulnerability, while Jeana highlights a striking insight about emotional connection and fear of loss — adding one final layer to how deeply we’re wired for friendship.

In this episode:

• Hillary Duff and Anthony Mason interview, referencing estrangement
• Platonic by Marisa G. Franco
• For You When I Am Gone by Rabbi Steve Leder
• Jay Shetty — referenced via The New York Times

(Catch full video episodes on The Connection Code with Rachel and Jeana's YouTube channel)

In this clip from The Connection Code, Rachel and Jeana share the impact of friendship breakups and estrangements.

Episode out everywhere March 4, 2026.

This week’s conversation had us thinking a lot about systems — how people track relationships, follow through on introductions, and stay intentional about connection in busy seasons of life.

Our guest, Megan Roudebush (founder of keepwith), shares her approach to networking as a long game — one built on curiosity, follow-through, and respect.

It’s a thoughtful episode for anyone who’s ever wondered:

• “How do people actually do this well?”
• “And how could I be more deliberate about it?”

More to explore:

• keepwith: Megan Roudebush’s relationship-first networking platform
• Parker Dewey : Paid micro-internships for students and recent graduates
• Executives’ Club of Chicago: A cornerstone of Megan’s early Chicago network

(Catch full video episodes on The Connection Code with Rachel and Jeana's YouTube channel)

In this clip from The Connection Code, Megan Roudebush shares how curiosity, informational interviews, and intentional relationship-building helped her create a network without shortcuts or inherited connections.

Episode out everywhere Feb. 25, 2026.

Content warning: This episode and clip discuss grief, the loss of a child and breast cancer.

What does it really mean to be lucky?

In this deeply moving episode of The Connection Code, we’re joined by author, grief writer, and patient advocate Kelly Cervantes, whose memoir The Luckiest challenges everything we think we know about fortune, success, and happiness.

Kelly shares her extraordinary story on navigating motherhood, caregiving, and devastating loss while her husband starred in Hamilton on Broadway and in Chicago. We talk about how luck is often just a snapshot of what others can see, how grief reshapes identity, and why community isn’t optional during life’s hardest chapters.

This conversation explores:

• Why “luck” is often a matter of perspective
• How female friendships can become lifelines
• The grief of losing an identity — not just a person
• Letting go of control and learning to surrender
• Why connection matters most when life feels unbearable

Kelly’s reflections are honest, funny, devastating, and deeply human. This conversation is a powerful reminder that none of us move through life alone.

More from Kelly:

• READ: The Luckiest: A Memoir of Love, Loss, Motherhood, and the Pursuit of Self
• FOLLOW: Kelly Cervantes on Instagram at @kellygc411
• SUBSCRIBE: Kelly's weekly substack here

Content warning: This episode and clip discuss, grief and the loss of a child.In next week's episode, we're lucky to sit down with Kelly Cervantes, whose memoir ⁠The Luckiest⁠ challenges everything we think we know about fortune, success, and happiness.Prepare for a moving and truly human conversation of high-highs and low-lows. Kelly shares her extraordinary story on navigating motherhood, caregiving, and devastating loss while her husband starred in Hamilton on Broadway and in Chicago.

On this episode of The Connection Code, it’s just Rachel and Jeana.

We kick off the year with a “connection inventory”—a thoughtful, honest look at the season of connection they’re each in right now. From nurturing core relationships to following up without being annoying, this conversation spans friendship, networking, rituals, and the lessons we only learn by getting it wrong first.

If you’ve ever wondered:

• How often should I follow up?
• How do I build relationships without feeling transactional?
• What rituals actually keep friendships alive?
• And what does “connection” look like in this season of life?

This episode is for you. Cozy, practical, and full of real talk. Consider this your permission slip to reconnect with intention.

What if community wasn’t something parents had to find after a baby arrives, but something they could build before?

This week on The Connection Code, we’re joined by Georgia Kastaris, founder of Expecting Together, a prenatal social club designed to bring expecting parents together through education, connection, and shared experience.

Inspired by the UK’s National Childbirth Trust, Georgia is reimagining how parents prepare for one of life’s biggest transitions—by forming small, intentionally matched cohorts of expecting parents based on due date and neighborhood, and pairing expert-led prenatal education with built-in community.

In this conversation, we explore:

• Why loneliness in early parenthood is so common—and so solvable
• How shared timing and life stage fast-track meaningful connection
• What Georgia learned from becoming a parent abroad
• The power of “organized friendship” for adults
• Fundraising, entrepreneurship, and building a mission-driven company while pregnant
• Why connection should be part of healthcare, not an afterthought

This episode is for anyone thinking about friendship, systems of care, and how we show up for each other in moments of major life change.

In this deeply resonant episode of The Connection Code, Jeana Anderson Cohen and Rachel Gilman Rischall sit down with Shabnam Mogharabi, entrepreneur, author, journalist, and co-founder of SoulPancake alongside Rainn Wilson.

Shabnam shares her journey from traditional journalism to building one of the internet’s most uplifting corners, creating beloved series like Kid President, The Science of Happiness, and My Last Days. Together, the trio explore big questions about faith, purpose, rejection, and meaning. They dig into why the messiest moments of our lives often matter most.

They discuss spirituality without dogma, the science behind awe and connection, parenting as soul-work, and Shabnam’s latest chapter: Soul Boom, a movement and upcoming workbook offering spiritual tools for modern living. From “rejection is God’s protection” to building community through service, this conversation is equal parts grounding, hopeful, and practical.

If you’ve been craving more meaning, deeper connection, or permission to believe there’s something bigger at work, this episode is for you.

More to love in this episode:

• Shabnam Mogharabi
• Soul Boom
• The Soul Boom Workbook
• Relive Kid President
• Revisit The Science of Happiness
• Revisit My Last Days

Books & Thinkers Referenced:

• Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
• Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic
• Martin Seligman & Positive Psychology (PERMA framework)
• Dacher Keltner Awe