The Sport Lifestyle Network Podcast

In this episode of the SLN Podcast, our friend of the Network, Ermis Sfakiyanudis, from Uproar PR, speaks with his pal, James Miceli, the founder of Epoch Lacrosse. They talk about James' formidable years growing up on Long Island and his first love, lacrosse. James developed a passion for business while "majoring in lacrosse and minoring in everything else" at Adelphi University. James would parlay an internship at NASCAR into a career in consumer electronics calling on the likes of Best Buy. While cycling, James became obsessed with composite technology and knew it would enhance lacrosse products, so Epoch Lacrosse was born.

This episode of the SLN Podcast is a replay of a panel John Peters had the privilege of moderating as part of Lake Point Sports’ recent sports technology conference. Lake Point is the ultimate youth sports destination with over 1 million visitors annually. Featured on this panel was the CEO for Mustard, Rocky Collis, the CEO from Strive, Nikola Mrvaljevic, and Comcast's very own Ken Durand, who is the program director for Comcast Sports Tech.

Chad Capellman had the opportunity to talk with world famous author Jeff Kinney, whose 16th book in his Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, a sports-themed book called Big Shot comes out on October 26. Jeff talked about how he figured out how to put together a sports-themed book, the surreal nature of many parts of his life, including the jump between writing in isolation to encountering fans around the world, seeing his books come to life in live-action and soon in 3D animated Disney, the responsibility he carries after once being named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people, his thoughts on the current state of the publishing industry and how he fits in it. Jeff also talked about his perseverance, how he was guided to his target audience and the importance of perfecting your craft in an age of instant, connected feedback.

Chad Capellman had the chance to re-connect with a colleague from his student newspaper days, Jon Schwartz. After successful runs with NASCAR and the National Football League, Jon has just begun his role as Senior Vice President, Communications, Marketing, Digital & Social Media at the Big Ten Conference.

They talked about Jon’s goals for his new role at the Big Ten, and some of his favorite moments during his time as Senior VP of Communications and Public Affairs at the NFL. Those moments included preparing for a Zoom draft during Covid-19, coordinating messaging around the league’s 100th anniversary, the league’s response to Black Lives Matter protests and the satisfaction that came from league’s Coming Out Day promotional efforts.

They talked about how the role of public affairs has evolved and the challenges and opportunities that exist when every single player can now be their own media entity.

Jon brought us back to school to share what he’s gleaned about the media consumption and creation habits of current students as a professor at New York University, and how his own lessons learned during his student newspaper days helped start him on a path that led to the creation of his own mentoring podcast.

Jon also talked about the evolution of NASCAR and why it has a love-hate relationship with a certain Will Ferrell racing movie.

In this episode of the Sport Lifestyle Network Podcast, John Peters is joined by Eloiza Tecson, Managing Partner for EY Ventures. Eloiza spoke about her background at Red Bull and Orange Theory Fitness, and how stepping outside her comfort zone helped her land in the world of Venture Capital. Eloiza also spoke about EY Venture's thesis as investors in the wellness and active lifestyle ecosystem, and gave three clear actions on how we all can do more to empower women in sport today.

Chad Capellman had the chance to re-connect with Michael Parks Randa, a former colleague who is coming off the release of his first feature film after more than a decade as an established music video director. Best Summer Ever, an original inclusive high school musical, features a fully integrated cast and crew of people with and without disabilities, and has been backed by the likes of Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Maggie Gyllenhaal and others. The critically-acclaimed film was a labor of love for Randa, whose parents have been actively involved in supporting people with disabilities for more than 50 years.  They talked about the challenges of shooting realistic sports scenes, the star turn and by two young sports announcers in the film, the teamwork involved with co-directing, and Randa's ties to the people behind the Oscar-nominated documentary Crip Camp.  They also talked about life at Doomsday Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based agency that includes industry standouts like Childish Gambino, Barry and Atlanta director Hiro Mur-ai, and how Michael's activist father's adventures are now providing inspiration for his next writing and directing endeavor.

In this episode of the SLN Podcast, Mike Gugat catches up with his old friend Andy Levinson.  As an executive at the PGA Tour, Andy wears several different hats.  His day-to-day role is Senior Vice President of Tournament Administration, while he also serves as Executive Director of USA Golf. With a Communications, Business Development, and Marketing background, Andy is the PGA Tour's go-to guy for Anti-Doping Policy and the Tour's response to Covid.  We touched on shared experiences at Mizuno while also delving into Team USA and the forthcoming Tokyo Olympic games.

In this episode of the SLN Podcast, Chad Capellman had a chance to re-connect with Jim Brady, the person who hired Chad for his first online job when he was the sports editor for the just-launched WashingtonPost.com. Jim is currently CEO of the consulting firm Spirited Media, and in between has held roles that included Executive Editor of washingtonpost.com, Editor in Chief of Digital First Media, General Manager of TBD, Head of News and Sports for America Online, and public editor of ESPN from 2015 to 2018. Jim looked back on some of the more free-wheeling days at WashingtonPost.com ahead of a 25th anniversary reunion. They also talked about how local publications should think about measuring success, the generational divide from both a journalistic and a digital perspective, his favorite management lesson, the value of extended road trips, when being cursed at can be a good thing and how, as a NY Jets fan, he has dealt with the infamous Butt Fumble game.

Chad Capellman had a chance to reunite with a former colleague, Suzanne Medina, who has spent the past 15 years with Major League Baseball and where she was recently promoted to Vice President of Spanish Content Development & Operations. They talked about her early days building out the first Spanish-language sites for major league teams, and how that became a business model for her current department. They talked about how both teams -- and companies outside of baseball -- should approach multilingual endeavors, and how social media better connects her and her team to passionate fans around the world. She shared a great story about how years ago, her mother once mortified her in front of Hall of Famer Ricky Henderson. She also shared her take on the importance of the hiring of Kim Ng as major league baseball’s first female general manager and how Fernando Tatis, Jr. is transcending languages and cultures as he brings a welcome energy to the game.

In this episode of the SLN Podcast, John Peters is joined by George Sun, the CEO and Founder of Nextiles, a materials science company that has patented the ability to sew circuitry directly into fabrics. George is no stranger to the lab, having completed his Ph.D. in bioengineering from MIT where he was inspired to innovate a new solution for wearable technology through fabric and sewing. George spoke about the genesis of the company, early challenges presented during Covid-19, and the ability to pivot while navigating a fast-growing startup. George shared some great case studies for entrepreneurs as he explains how Nextiles has been building products for professional athletes and how sports found Nextiles as a solution to a major market need. George also spoke about the beauty of sewing technology and why he’s most bullish on leveraging fabrics as a platform for a more connected future.