Friends & Neighbors

As Executive Director of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Alberto Mendoza transformed the organization's mission while driving record-breaking membership. Now the Managing Director for the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford University, Alberto shares his path from high school journalist to non-profit entrepreneur in the second in our MTC Journeys series sponsored by...

Last August, armed with a dozen new demos, I set out for FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to begin recording my forthcoming LP, Constellations. The album, my tenth, drops October 14th. This week, the journey from iPhone demo to mastered album track for the first single, Wide Awake.

Since 1973, Bo and Sita Lozoff’s Human Kindness Foundation has given talks and distributed countless copies of their spiritual guidance to the incarcerated across America in order to encourage more kindness, simple living and service in the world. Fred Rogers was a fan, purchasing copies of books like "Deep & Simple" (the key message in Mister Rogers & Me) by the box load. As the organization appr...

As Assistant Managing Editor for International at The New York Times, Michael Slackman oversees international reportage across the newsroom and bureaus around the world. This week, the three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner talks about growing up in the Bronx, getting shot at in Bahrain, defying Gaddafi in Libya, and learning life lessons from a gold-toothed Muscovite.

In the first in a series of episodes sponsored by the Media Transformation Challenge at the Poynter Institute, newly-installed Freakonomics Radio Network's Executive Vice President Neal Carruth walks us step-by-step through his exceptional career and provides a deep dive into how his MTC experience helped him drive transformation at NPR, catalyzed personal and career growth, and provided immediate...

Yoga instructor, Kirtan Smith, shares his experience growing up in a Hare Krishna ashram, how painful sports injuries led him to yoga, and how – even as he led others through this deep and sacred practice – he was hurting inside too. 

Journalist Samantha Critchell shares how growing up in the garment business informed her career at Associated Press and beyond, and how that loving but sometimes unpredictable upbringing led to her profound objectivity.

Grammy-winning songwriter, producer and performer, Dennis Scott, takes us on a wild ride from Queens to The Catskills, Broadway to Nashville, where he produced two albums of songs from the Fred Rogers Songbook with Amy Grant, Roberta Flack, Tom Bergeron and more.

Detoxicity podcast host, music exec, and wellness advocate, Mike Joseph, shares his often challenging and ultimately uplifting journey from Brooklyn to the Billboard Pride Power Player list.

Ride shotgun on Grand Canyon frontman Casey Shea's rock n’ roll road trip from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Nashville, Tennessee, New York City, and Los Angeles, California.

On this week’s blockbuster episode, Happy Sad Confused Host and MTV Movies Correspondent, Josh Horowitz, regales us with heartbreaking and hilarious tales from growing up on mean streets of the Upper West Side, to hanging out with Meryl Streep, pestering Tom Cruise, casting Johnny Depp, yelling at Chris Pratt, and much, much more.

Following stints at The Houston Chronicle, MTV and Discovery Channel, Emmy Award-winning producer, social justice advocate, and mindfulness teacher, Kim Thai, founded GaneshSpace in order to help create a community where she could be her authentic self on her own healing journey while helping others on theirs. 

As a music therapist, singer and songwriter, Kelli Rae Powell parlayed her education, and personal and professional experience to heal herself, and bring healing to others – including and especially me.

As Executive Director of the Center for Environmental and Economic Partnership and Director of Hudson Valley Energy, my longtime hiking and existential conversation partner, Jeff Domanski, leverages environmental and behavioral science, public policy, art and communications to help communities make the right choices for a sustainable future.

A dear friend since tenth grade, Matthew is a certified Breema Practitioner and Instructor who combines hands-on bodywork with practical psychology. In this episode, we trace his journey from strait-laced, Lacrosse All-American, Ivy League Scholar, to Berkeley somatic psychologist, and learn about the unification of body, mind, and feelings.

From a one-bedroom in Woodside, Queens, to jamming with Elmo, puppeteer Kathy Kim shares the remarkable story of how she got to Sesame Street. In this special episode, Kathy takes us inside her audition, her first meeting with meeting Big Bird, and the development of Ji-Young, Sesame's first Asian American Muppet.

This week, the second of our two-part conversation with Neighborhood Archivist, Tim Lybarger, “Simple Faith of Mister Rogers” Author, Amy Hollingsworth and “I’m Proud of You” Author Tim Madigan, in which Amy, The Tims, and I discuss how reflection is critical, hope is participatory and “deep and simple” is an ever-evolving concept.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Mister Rogers & Me on PBS, we asked Neighborhood Archivist Tim Lybarger to reminisce with authors Amy Hollingsworth, Tim Madigan and me about the enduring and evolving legacy of America's Favorite Neighbor, Fred Rogers.

Christofer Wagner graduated with a major in broadcast journalism, a minor in political science, and an eye on Tom Brokaw’s chair. He ended up in the edit suite, cutting everything from The Year in Rock to Monday Night Football. This week, Chris talks about growing up in the Midwest, his early days in digital media, and making Mister Rogers & Me .

Of all the people who helped “Mister Rogers & Me” get made, find its audience, and make its impact, few did so much so quickly and with such potency as PBS Distribution’s Amy Letourneau.

Throughout March, we're celebrating the tenth anniversary of “Mister Rogers & Me” on PBS by reconnecting with some of the friends and neighbors who made our film possible. In the coming weeks, I'll be speaking with PBS Distribution's Amy Letourneau; Sesame Street puppeteer Kathy Kim; Neighborhood Archive Creator Tim Lybarger; authors Amy Hollingsworth and Tim Madigan; and Wagner Bros. #1,  Christo...

Backstaged author Alison Bonaguro discusses her journey from Motown to Music City, the power of the small gesture and the magic of the middle eight.

On stage and in-studio, Jamie Leonhart has been one of my most frequent collaborators for nearly two decades. As singer-songwriter, playwright ("Estuary") and backup singer (Steely Dan, St. Vincent), she has always been game to wade into the gray areas of life, love and art, self, spouse and family. On the eve of the release of her new album, "The Illusion of Blue," Jamie shares her journey from a...

Sarah McBride, the United State's first openly transgender state senator, author of the deeply moving memoir, “Tomorrow Will Be Different,” and my Wilmington, Delaware, neighbor, shares how our deepest insecurities can be our most potent inspiration.

Michael Tyler is the author of the Carl Sandburg Literary Award-winning children’s book, "The Skin You Live In," and Co-Founder of Ubica Advisors.