Friend Request

Analisa Six is a songwriter, musician, astrology enthusiast, and an all around badass chick. She discusses growing up with two young parents and a series of mixed families, as well as how her parents stepped in to educate her about music when she began listening to pop punk at a young age. Analisa also talks about joining a band as a teen and what comes along with the success of being a young fema...

Danielle Blanchard is a Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, producer, and teacher. She discusses how she got into music, including the summer she followed Styx around. Danielle also iscusses how the industry has changed over the years and what it means to put out an album now versus then. She also talks about her career in the world of commercial jingles and how she fit that into her life while w...

Antonio joins us once again after four years to catch us up on what's been going on. He discusses his car accident that landed him in the hospital for a total of 78 nights, and how he dealt with that isolation and inability to take care of himself. Antonio also talks about how he processed through the harder parts of the last two years and came to terms with suffering brain damage. He also discuss...

Mariah Goodell is a lover of animals, books, and people. She discusses growing up in Florida and finding herself leaning into her imagination longer than some, as a child. Mariah also talks about going to college, falling in love with her best friend, and moving across the country to Park City, Utah. She then discusses how she got into high-end hospitality and met her husband working on the ski sl...

Laurel Day is an entrepreneur, business owner, mother, and former cop. She discusses growing up in a small town in western Michigan and going to college nearby, as well. Laurel also talks about how her waning desire to become an attorney shifted into her becoming a police officer, which brought her to a rough area of North Carolina. She also discusses losing interest and gaining anxiety in that fi...

Ben Goodvich is a woodworker, an uncle, and an expert at hospitality. He discusses some of the intricacies of trying to find a career after playing hockey his whole life and why he chose to get into hospitality. Then Ben discusses getting stuck during COVID and finding an outlet in woodworking. He then talks about how his career plans have shifted into tour mangement for country bands and embracin...

Eshtar Oraha is a graduate student, Chaldean immigrant, and former Disney employee. She discusses growing up near Detroit and her fondness for music as a child. She also discusses her passion for people and and desire to connect. Eshtar then talks about going to school for Psychology and leaving her program temporarily to work at Walt Disney World. She then discusses living in Florida and why she...

Kate Brown is a mother of two and a storyteller for life. She discusses her intricate family dynamic, with both parents remarrying and having more kids, as well as how her relatinoship to each of those step-parents evolved. Kate also discusses how she went fast and hard into partying until an eviction and a pregnancy changed things. She then discusses losing her father and the effect that had on h...

Lizzie Donaldson is a writer and television writer from Pittsburgh. She discusses growing up with her head in books and how that love of the written word transformed into a dream career. Lizzie also talks about climbing her way up the ladder in Hollywood from a Production Assistant to an Executive Story Editor on Black-ish, a show so good it won a Peabody Award! Justin and Lizzie then discuss the...

Summer is over! This week Justin talks about the indicators we have in our lives to signify the end of summer. He also discusses the future of the podcast, as well as some news about the upcoming season five and anniversary episodes. Justin then talks about other podcast ideas, the ethical battle of continuing Friend Request, and the best films of 1999. He also talks about how his ADHD thoughts co...

This week, Justin talks about the memoir he wrote,  Two Years in Los Angeles , and reads the prologue after discussing the difficulty he had writing and potentially sharing the book.  Email: JustinsFriendRequest@gmail.com FFollow us on socials: @FriendRequestPod

This week, Justin talks about the role music has played in his life, both externally and internally. He discusses the music he grew up with and how his tastes changed and were reflected in his own songwriting. Then, Justin plays a selection of songs that work as pillars of time in his music and songwriting lifeline.  "Promise" - 24:09 "West Virginia" - 33:58 "My Father's Song" - 39:48 "Running" -...

In this final part of a three part series, we're going back to basics: making friends at school. This is how we all naturally begin to make friends, but what does that look like later in life when age differences, lifestyles, and interests all begin to play a much heavier role in selection. Listen in and dissect your own version of friendship.  Follow us on socials! @FriendRequestPod

This week, we discuss what happens when you're featured on a popular Instagram account (@iamthirtyaf) as someone looking for new friends, what kinds of messages you get, what kind of people you meet, and what happens when you meet up with those people in real life (IRL for you cool kids). We'll here from the perspective of Justin, as well as the person he met: Mariah! The two then branch off into...

This week we start our three-part series on making friends at 40 years old. There are many methods out there for making new friends and Justin discusses many of them in this series, starting with BumbleBFF. The well known dating app has a counterpart for making friends and whether you're a dancer from Chicago, a songwriter from Bloomfield, or a chef from Detroit, you're also probably looking for f...

This week, Justin walks through getting an official Attention Defecit Hyperactivty Disorder (ADHD) diagnosis at 40 years old, including the impact of prescribed medication, the stigma related to the disorder, and the normalization of disordered functioning after going nearly four decades thinking the struggle was normal. Justin discusses the difficulties he has been forced to confront, as well as...

This week, Justin reflects on how his views on alcohol and sobriety have evolved, changed, and shifted over the last four years. He also discusses the people we surround ourselves with, the powerlessness you can feel when you're friends have a drinking problem, and how alcohol is possibly too big to fail. Justin also discusses non-alcoholic beers and the role they play in his life now versus the l...

This week, Justin discusses how he decided to become a therapist and what it's been like to completely shift careers at 40 years old and how he got to this point. Justin is also joined by his wife, Erica, to discuss how she viewed the decision to take on student loans and possibly lose out on income this late in life.  This week's episode is brought to you by WellBeing Brewing. Non-alcoholic beers...

Summer has different meanings to each person, but why do we cherish it so much? Could we have been conditioned over generations to feel a certain way about a season? Does the body keep the score in ALL things? Listen and find out this week, with special guests: my family!  @FriendRequestPod

This year's Summer Series is going to be a Personal Journal. We will be talking with friends and family in a conversational style (as opposed to interviewing) and I will be discussing things like personal growth, changing careers and getting a Master's Degree at 40 years old, imposter syndrome, writing a memoir about yourself, and a three-part special on friendship, including the strange ways I ha...

Keith Bartley is a designer, architecture enthusiast, and former member of the Young Americans. He discusses his parents' divorce, moving to L.A. at 18 to be in the Young Americans, and coming out of the closet. Keith also discusses shifting his academic career to focus on architecture, moving to Pittsburgh, and helping to build the now famous African American History Museum in Washington, D.C. He...

Kris Lixey is a man of many talents, who covers just as many topics. He discusses growing up with divorced parents and how he took up knitting on the school bus. Kris also talks about coming out in junior high and how he uses his sexuality as an ice breaker and a litmus test. He then talks about going through his adult life and switching careers in patterns of extreme highs and extreme lows, until...

Josh Jostock is a Licensed Professional Counselor (that's a therapist!), a professor, a father, husband, and, dare I say, a role model. He discusses growing up in a household of four men and one woman and being praised as the "miracle baby" following an older sister that was lost before he was born. Josh also talks about death anxiety and developing his people pleasing skills as a teen and how tha...

Brett Jerdon is a father of two, lover of 80s and 90s cartoons, and all around nice dude! He talks about growing up with divorced parents and being a younger sibling. Brett also discusses the struggles he had as an adolescent and how he found himself in the rave scene before high school graduation. He then talks about becoming a father as a teenager and how he shifted his values and focus to make...

Kent Morton is a veterinarian, entrepreneur, and self-described nerd. He talks about growing up in a mixed family and how close him and his siblings are. Kent also talks about the effects of Goldeneye on his teenage social life and how he went to college for advertising. He then discusses moving to Austrailia and how that trip got him interested in animal science and eventually into the career he...