Jackie Anderson is the owner of Ascend Speech Therapy, LLC. She is a certified speech-language pathologist specializing in diagnostics and treatment of speech-language disorders in toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children. 

When I met her, she was 15, and cast against a then 27 year old Michael Buckley as Sandy to his Danny. It was awkward. I love Jackie and she has accomplished so much in her 30 years. Her views on working with children during the pandemic are optimistic and refreshing. I am glad to know she is out there taking care of our nation's children. 

We also talked about murder podcasts. Cause that's how we do. 

Joel Freeman is responsible for some of the most intensely grueling and inarguably effective on-demand workout programs ever created. I know because I've done them all, and I hate Joel Freeman as much as I love him for the pain that he is inflicted upon me. His programs for Beachbody, including his newest, "10 Rounds", as well as the classic "Liift 4" and "Core DeForce" are fantastic resources for those who want to keep up their exercise at a high level during the quarantine. 

He is also just a cool guy. We talked about his career, his ability to leave everything he knew behind and take a chance on himself, some behind the scenes info on how those programs were filmed, and whiskey. 

M. Dickson is a comedian and writer in LA. She has worked on shows you have seen like Superstore, Instant Mom, Disenchantenment, the MTV VMA's, etc. We grew up near each other and traveled in distant circles until we performed together in the Rocky Horror Show in 2014, after which her career catupulted. I take full credit. 

We chatted about her career, how she got to meet Craig T. Nelson AND Steven Tyler, being a gay woman in the writing world, and of course, what we are watching. 

Lowell Korman is a Hospitalist. He taught me that is basically your General Practitioner while you are in the hospital. So, he knows A LOT. But, even he and his colleagues did not know how to handle the COVID-19 pandemic when it hit, and they are working to figure it out on a daily basis. Hearing this from the perspective of a Doctor is a truly sobering experience. 

But, Lowell is also my friend from childhood. So, we made time to catch up, nerd out about Star Wars and such, and discuss his somewhat...excessive love of all things Disney. 

Dr. Nzinga Harrison is Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder of Eleanor Health, a value-based provider of comprehensive, outpatient addiction treatment. She approaches addiction with an innovative, long-term, whole-person philosophy that challenges the traditional 30 day model at its very core.

She is also just fabulous. She was prominently featured on Last Day, a podcast exploring the opioid crisis in more depth than anything I have ever encountered, and her new podcast, In Recovery, debuted on 5/18. So go listen to it! After you listen to this! 

We talked about addiction as it relates to EVERYTHING (drugs, food, etc), how she outed her son's ADHD (to him) on a radio show, the surprisingly magical powers of LinkedIn, and, of course, TV. 

 

Caroline is a Family Counselor and therapist in an area of California with a 90% percent poverty rate. She sees firsthand the children who are unable to do their work remotely because they don't have computers. Or internet. She counsels families who are having a hard time finding a way to eat during this pandemic. She sees reports of abuse on a daily basis, exacerbated by the quarantine. Caroline deals every day with victims of the COVID-19 epidemic who may never get the virus, but whose lives will never ever be the same.

Caroline is a true hero. She has had to do some work on her own mental health to be able to have the fortitude to do her job every day. She is as essential as they come. Of course we laughed, but this was the first time I almost couldn't go on with the interview from being so overwhelmed with emotion for these kids. These children need their stories to be told. Please help us to get them out.

You can help children across America by visiting Feeding America and donating. 

Lauren Duca shot to viral fame when she published "Donald Trump is Gaslighting America," an exploration of the nature of truth and reality, for Teen Vogue in 2016. She then famously appeared on Fox News where she handled herself with pose and intelligence in the face of a disrespectful, misogynistic, neckless Tucker Carlson. She has since written How to Start a Revolution, a handbook for the youth (and everyone) of America, detailing ways to become actively involved in the democratic process. She writes "Pancake Brain" a weekly newsletter that attempts to make some sense out of...all this. 

She is a supremely intelligent, passionate woman who has had her entire world turned upside down (maybe more than most) over the last 4 years, and yet has managed to stay entirely true to her self and her beliefs. She has come out as queer, and is currently quarantined with her partner and her staunchly conservative family. It's a party! 

I loved every moment of our conversation, and I implore you to follow her on all of the social things, but absolutely to read her book and join her newsletter!

Margot Traverso Bruemmer lost her father and her uncle to COVID-19 within the same week. The story has been featured across several news outlets, but getting to speak to Margot, whom I have known for 25 years, and hearing firsthand what it feels like to suffer such tragic loss at the hands of this pandemic, is not only heartbreaking, it is the very definition of essential. I would challenge anyone who says things like, "Why are we living in fear? The death rate is so LOW," to tell that to someone whose family COVID-19 has devastated.

Of course, we laughed. Of course, Margot is a phenomenal, resilient, hero for more reasons than can be written here. I implore you to take a listen to this, and to spread this story as far and as wide as you can.

Music by Steve Kupp and Remember Jones
Editing by PodBear Audio

You can read more about Margot's father and uncle here. 

Teresa is an ICU Nurse in Ohio. I won't lie to you, some of this is not easy to hear. Not easy, but definitely important to the full understanding of the scope of this pandemic. Teresa has seen things that many of us will never ever have to see, and she is learning to cope with that on a daily basis. 

Of course, being a through and through nurse, Teresa doesn't think she is doing anything special by doing her job. Of course, she is wrong. She's a hero, and she is also just plan awesome and a lovely woman to converse with. You KNOW we laughed as well as borderline wept. 

Thank you for your continued support. Please share and get stories like these the attention they so richly deserve. 

Music by Steve Kupp and Val Emmich

Editing by PodBear Audio

Andrea D'Oria has been an outpatient dietitian for almost 20 years, counseling thousands of patients and clients. She has focused her practice largely on bariatric patients over the last 5 years, but we certainly did not constrict our conversation to that topic. (get it?) We spoke about trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle while stuck under quarantine. We also laughed.

Andrea is absolutely the coolest nutritionist I have had the pleasure to speak with, and there has been no shortage. Check out her practice here, Check out her Facebook Group here. And, while you're at it, check out the Lighter Side of Weight Loss with Jay Facebook Group here.

Please share! There are so many who could benefit from hearing this!

Music by Steve Kupp and Remember Jones.
Editing by PodBear Audio