The Ronan Levy Podcast

Hello everyone! Welcome to Seasons 5 of The Ronan Levy Podcast. Today we're back with a fascinating conversation with Stephen J. Cloobeck. Stephen is running for Governor of the great state of California. Although Stephen is best known for his work founding and operating Diamond Resorts , he also has political experience having been the Chairman of Brand USA (a a  public-private partnership &...

When it comes to being successful in the business of managing musicians, there is one piece of advice that trumps them all: do your best to keep them on the straight and narrow. So it's no surprise that Brandon Reid, whose clients include The National , Big Red Machine , Broken Social Scene , Georgia Harmer and Aaron Dessner (co-author of Folklore by Taylor Swift , for all the Swifties out there)...

Dr. Jared Pelo is the Chief Medical Officer at Bionic Health , a pioneering health startup that integrates biomarker testing, AI, and advanced technology to deliver personalized, precision, and preventative medical care. With a background as an emergency medicine physician, Dr. Pelo has also co-founded and led successful health tech startups, bringing a blend of clinical expertise and entrepreneur...

After my efforts to convince Scott Galloway to start a podcast with me failed, I decided to go for the next best thing and started a podcast with Ben "Doc" Askins. And so we'd like to introduce you to The Know Nothing Podcast, a podcast dedicated to nothing. Think of it as Seinfeld meets The Big Lebowski for the podcast generation by two below average talent podcast hosts. If you like what you hea...

After disrupting the hospitality industry twice, first as the founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, the second-largest operator of boutique hotels in the U.S., and then as Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, leading a worldwide revolution in travel, Chip Conley co-founded MEA (Modern Elder Academy) in January 2018. Inspired by his experience of intergenerational mentoring as a ‘moder...

After the death of a close friend at seventeen, Tom Turcich resolved to make the most out of life; to travel and be forced into adventure; to experience and understand the world. On April 2nd, 2015, he set out to see it all—one step at a time. The World Walk is the emotional and exhilarating story of the tenth person and first dog to walk around the world. Together, Turcich and his dog, Savannah,...

Jayson Gaignard is the Founder and Head Curator of MMT (MastermindTalks), one of the world’s most exclusive communities for entrepreneurs. The invite-only MMT community has a lower acceptance rate than Harvard University and brings together brilliant minds from various industries for networking, targeted troubleshooting, and community building. Jayson’s work has been featured in Entrepreneur Magaz...

Whether you are a big hockey fan or not at all, I thought the beginning of the NHL season was a good excuse to invite strength & conditioning coach Andy O’Brien on the show. He’s worked with some of the world’s biggest athletes and I wanted to ask him about how sports are changing and what lessons us non-athletes can take away from hockey players around team building and resilience. For more t...

Pilar Gerasimo is a health journalist, podcaster, and the author of The Healthy Deviant: A Rule-Breaker’s Guide to Being Healthy in an Unhealthy World . In today’s society where such a small percentage of people are truly happy and healthy, Pilar says we have to take it upon ourselves to buck a lot of society’s norms and reject a lot of conventional health prescriptions to find our own sense of ba...

In 1968 a young Canadian filmmaker named Paul Saltzman was seeking solace in transcendental meditation for a broken heart and was befriended by The Beatles in Rishikesh, India during their immersive study with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.  2020 saw the release of his documentary, Meeting The Beatles In India - a film that brings together others who were there for this pivotal moment in music histor...

Raghunath Cappo ( @raghunathyogi ) is the punk who became a monk. A teen in search of meaning, Ray Cappo fled his suburban Connecticut enclave for New York City—and found community among the misfits of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. He fell in love with punk rock, so he started a band and a record label. By the late 1980’s, Youth of Today had thousands of fans, cementing Ray as a leading voice and t...

Mike Brcic is an entrepreneur, adventurer, writer, and family man in Toronto with a penchant for world travel. After selling his company Sacred Rides in 2019 (the AirBNB of adventure mountain biking)  He went into a deep existential search for meaning and a journey to find new practices that would raise his consciousness and self awareness. Today he runs Wayfinders, where he works with impact...

Dr. Jack Feldman @jacklfeldman is a neuroscientist, the David Geffen School Chair in Neuroscience, and a Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology at The University of California Los Angeles. If you are a fan of Andrew Huberman and the “physiological sigh” you can thank Jack’s research for making that a thing. We’ve never really explored breathing in depth on this podcast but if you do a little bit...

Ben “Doc” Askins, PhD (Hon.) has an eclectic background with degrees in Outdoor Education, Intercultural Studies, Physician Assistant Studies, and Divinity.  I wanted to bring him back on the podcast after his last visit was an audience favorite so he could share his ideas on how to live a good, long life. Doc has nearly two decades of experience practicing and teaching wilderness, tactical,...

Dr. Jordan Shallow aka The Muscle Doc (@the_muscle_doc) is a chiropractor, strength and conditioning coach, powerlifter, and founder of Pre-Script and RX’D RADIO. Jordan works with teams, companies, and individuals on biomechanics, sports performances and injury risk management. In this episode we discuss the role of intuition and feeling in fitness, the dangers in putting too much faith into scie...

Laura Gassner Otting is an executive coach, speaker, and best-selling author who inspires people to push past the doubt and indecision that keep great ideas in limbo by helping people think bigger and accept greater challenges. She is the author of three books, including Wonderhell: Why Success Doesn’t Feel Like It Should… and What to Do About It, Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve Your Own...

Sanjay Singhal is an entrepreneur who filed for personal bankruptcy at 31 and later sold Audiobooks.com for $56 million in 2016. This venture capitalist, author, and restaurateur has really done it all. Today he focuses on philanthropy after creating the Nikean Foundation in 2019 to fund mental health research, focusing on novel psychedelic therapies. Now at 58 years old he has started a popular b...

Chris Van Loan II is a video marketer, content strategist, and he also just so happens to be the producer of this show. In my life I have never met anyone so committed to the craft of podcasting or someone who believes so fervently in the power of podcasts to move a generation and raise consciousness. We talk in this episode about relaunching the show as A Good Long Podcast, how the medium is chan...

Dr. Sherry Walling is a clinical psychologist, speaker, podcaster, best-selling author and mental health advocate. Her company ZenFounder provides mental wellness resources for leaders as they navigate transition, loss, and conflict. She is the co-author along with her husband Rob Walling of a book called The Entrepreneur’s Guide To Keeping Your Shit Together as well as her recent book Touching Tw...

What is this feeling of “awe” and what role does it play in our lives? Dacher Keltner is the Founding Director of the Greater Good Science Center, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life .  He is also the scientific advisor behind Pixar’s Inside Out & Inside Out 2! I broug...

This episode touches on something that honestly scares the living daylights out of me, and that is getting cancer at a ridiculously young age. So why would I start the first official new episode of this podcast about longevity talking about early onset cancer? When you hear Florence Shaffer’s story about the diagnosis giving her clarity and finding direction and meaning in the impermanence of life...

After a brief hiatus, Ronan is back with a new focus for the podcast. While being non-ordinary is fun and insightful, there is more to life to explore. So say hello to A Good, Long Podcast: Lessons for a Good, Long Life . A podcast in which we speak with people from all walks of life about the wisdom they've received on how to live a good and long life. Produced by Chris Van Loan II, Van Loan Film...

Jon Hopkins, a highly acclaimed musician and electronic music producer, joins Ronan from across the pond to discuss the inspiration and creative process for his new record “Music for Psychedelic Therapy,” his own journey with psychedelic medicine, posthumously collaborating with Ram Dass, and more! Jon’s works have been Grammy and Mercury Prize nominated, he has done film scoring, and has collabor...

As 2023 has been a year of profound changes, ups and downs and lots of confusion and uncertainty for me, I couldn't think of a better episode to send this year off with than this one with Ben "Doc" Askins. Give a listen and you'll understand why. Ben "Doc" Askins is a no-one. But he is also Banksy’s erudite elder brother, a Deadpool wannabe, and the Shadow of the world’s most interesting man. When...

Danny Morel is a life coach and spiritual leader guiding millions throughout the world to awaken, heal and transform their lives. But don't tell him that. Because he doesn't like those labels, and I can understand why. There's something weird about calling yourself a spiritual leader. But sometimes doing this work, whatever you call it, is going to mean you're going to run into people who want to...