Duologue with Leslie Heaney

They never appear in the photo. They never take the credit. But without them, there’s no flyover, no Brandenburg Gate speech, no “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” For sixty years, the people behind every presidential moment have operated under one unwritten rule: what happens on the road stays on the road. Jean Becker and Tom Collamore have finally convinced 96 of them to break it. Jean and To...

Nina Campbell has been one of my favorite people I have had the pleasure of sitting down with since I started Duologue — sixty years of designing the most beautiful rooms in the world and she is still the most curious, most passionate person in any room she walks into. In this conversation we talk about how she got her start working under the legendary John Fowler at Colefax and Fowler, the projec...

At some point in all of our lives, we will experience Grief. Thanks to my next guest, we will now have the tools to manage it when it arrives.  Kate Doerge — certified grief coach, founder of Penny's Flight Foundation, and author of Reimagining Grief (out June 16th) — has lost her father, her mother, and her daughter Penny at sixteen to neurofibromatosis-related glioblastoma. And in every case, sh...

Most people don't think of themselves as creative. In fact, research shows that about 75% of adults self-identify as non-creative. But what if the problem isn't that they lack creativity — it's that they've been defining it wrong?  Blythe Harris, co-founder and former chief creative officer of Stella & Dot, and Mallory May, jewelry designer and illustrator, created Daily Creative to change tha...

I have to tell you about this one. James Patterson — who has sold more than 420 million books — and his longtime friend and collaborator Tim Malloy, a seven-time Emmy winner and veteran journalist, came on to talk about their book American Heroes, which chronicles the recipients of the Medal of Honor, the Silver Star, and the Distinguished Service Cross. The stories in this book are almost impossi...

May is Mental Health Awareness Month — and I wanted to do something that felt real rather than performative. So I called a suicidologist. His name is Mark Kaplan, and he has spent his career studying why people die by suicide: the data, the risk factors, the gaps in how we think about prevention, and what any of us can actually do. This conversation is personal for me and I think it will be for mo...

If there was ever an episode to send to every parent you know, this is it. I sat down with Dr. Cara Natterson — pediatrician and author — and Vanessa Curl Bennett, and we went there. All the way there. Breast buds, NARBs, vaginal discharge (yes, we said it out loud), the sex talk, consent with kindergartners, and what to do when your kid's been watching porn before you've ever had the conversation...

Leslie sits down with two of the country's most respected immigration attorneys — Bo Cooper, former General Counsel of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, and Austin Fragomen, of the global immigration law firm Fragomen — to walk through what the U.S. immigration system actually looks like from the inside. Right now, there are roughly 4 million people waiting in various visa categorie...

Testosterone levels in men have declined more than 25% over the last two decades. And most people — men and women alike — have no idea why, what it means, or what to do about it. In this episode, Leslie sits down with Shalin Shah, CEO of Marius Pharmaceuticals and one of the leading voices in the testosterone therapy space, to have the conversation that a lot of doctors still aren't having. Leslie...

When Acquavella Galleries first mounted a Matisse exhibition in 1973, the lines stretched down the block. Now, more than fifty years later, the gallery has done it again — and the wait was worth it. Leslie sits down with Eleanor Acquavella, Director at Acquavella Galleries, to go inside Matisse: The Pursuit of Harmony — a once-in-a-generation exhibition on view free to the public at their East 79t...

We're kicking off the Duologue Summer Travel Series with one of the most beautiful and beloved corners of the country — the Hudson Valley. Leslie sits down with Lidey Heuck, cookbook author, New York Times recipe contributor, and the voice behind Lidey Likes and the Lidey Letter Substack. Lidey lives in the Hudson Valley with her family and knows the region the way only a local can — the antique s...

Confused about the SAT vs ACT ? In this episode, Leslie sits down with Bryan Bibler, CEO of Thirty-Six Education, to break down everything parents and high school students need to know about standardized testing, college admissions, and test prep strategies for 2025 . They cover the key differences between the ACT and SAT , how to choose the right test, when to start preparing, and how recent test...

Five years ago, Genevieve "Veve" Wheeler Brown flipped over a jug and found a woman's signature. What followed was a five-year quest across three continents — and a book. In this episode, Leslie sits down with her longtime friend and author of Beyond Blue and White to trace the hidden history of Delftware: from Dutch Golden Age workshop owners who built trade empires, to the Gilded Age women who f...

In honor of Women’s History Month, we’re revisiting a powerful conversation from The Interview vault with author and journalist Ed O’Keefe. In this episode, Ed shares the remarkable story behind his book The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President . What began as a fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School led to an unexpected discovery: unpublished letters between Theodore R...

In this episode of Duologue, Leslie sits down with Nicholas Varney. Nick is the founder and designer behind Nicholas Varney Jewels. His work has earned him widespread recognition—from appearances in Vogue, Town & Country, and W Magazine, to being named by Forbes as one of the “Five Jewelers Working Today That You Will Be Collecting Tomorrow.” In their conversation, Leslie and Nick discuss his...

In this week’s episode, Leslie Heaney sits down with Vasant Dhar—professor at NYU Stern School of Business and the Center for Data Science at New York University, founder of SCT Capital, and author of Thinking with Machines: The Brave New World of AI . Together, they explore how artificial intelligence evolved, why language prediction changed everything, and what it means now that machines can thi...

I am very excited to bring you Part 2 of my conversation with clinical nutritionist and co-founder of Hamptons BioMed, Tapp Francke. In last week’s episode, we talked about learning about your own body’s “terrain,” focusing on vitamins, nutrients, the gut biome, genetics, and how testing can guide smarter supplement choices and better overall health. In Part 2, we explore the environmental factors...

In Part 1, Leslie sits down with clinical nutritionist Tapp Francke to talk about a more personalized, functional approach to health. Instead of only treating symptoms, they explore what might be happening underneath — from nutrition levels to gut health to individual biology. Tapp also shares how her own recovery journey reshaped the way she thinks about care and healing. Together, they unpack to...

Most people think they’re protected... until the day they find out they’re not. In this episode, Leslie sits down with Julianna Obeid of Alliant Insurance Services to explain how homeowners and families become dangerously underinsured, and what “replacement value,” fine print, and policy language really mean when disaster strikes. Julianna also breaks down the hidden risks of modern life—from teen...

When Laura Delano was just 14 years old, a single psychiatric appointment set her on a 14-year path of diagnoses, medications, and a belief that her brain was permanently broken. In this conversation, the author of Unshrunk shares how treatment that initially promised relief gradually led to dependency, identity loss, and despair — and how questioning that narrative changed the course of her life....

What does it really mean to own a song? In this episode of Duologue, Leslie sits down with Josh Gruss, founder and CEO of Round Hill Music, to explore the hidden business behind the songs we love. From Nashville songwriting rooms to global music catalogs, Josh breaks down how songs are created, who owns them, and how royalties actually work. They discuss the difference between songwriters and arti...

At 39, Hollye Jacobs went in for a routine mammogram and received a life-changing breast cancer diagnosis—suddenly moving from caregiver to patient. In this deeply human conversation, Hollye, a nurse, social worker, and resilience coach, shares how she navigated treatment with intention rather than panic, drawing on both clinical expertise and lived experience. We talk about advocating for yoursel...

Each year in New York City, thousands of young people in foster care face a life-altering transition: aging out of the system at 18—or 21 if they opt in—often without stable housing, financial support, or guidance into adulthood. This week, Leslie speaks with Nancy Jarecki , longtime board member of New Yorkers for Children (NYFC) , and Eyhdi (Eydi) Osorio , NYFC Scholar, Youth Advisory Board Vice...

Etiquette expert Elizabeth Anne Russell , founder of the Mannerly, joins Leslie for a deep, practical, and inspiring discussion on how modern manners shape our daily lives. Elizabeth Anne shares guidance on dinner-party etiquette, place settings, seating arrangements, napkin rules, introductions, and conversational flow—plus the often-asked questions about hostess gifts, phone usage, thank-you not...

In this powerful and inspiring episode, Leslie sits down with Kate LaGere , co-founder of The Mahjong Line , the design-driven brand that transformed the look, feel, and cultural momentum of American Mahjong . Kate shares the real story behind how she and co-founder Annie O’Grady built one of the most recognizable modern game brands — from their first design prototypes and Pantone-specific tiles t...