Keoni Chats

After settling into her first Nomad location out of the PNW, Annie Weaver joins me for this week’s Keoni Chats. Annie is one of three sisters, while also being a twin. Annie and I shared the same high school together and while we never spoke to each other, this conversation felt like we had been talking for years. We spoke about her family dynamic and the decision to have a nomadic life. I always...

Kai Limuaco (aka DJ OreGuam) takes the first seat in the new studio for this week’s Keoni Chats. Kai and I wrestled in high school and our social circles always overlapped. I remembered Kai as a fun loving guy but we barely had classes together so I never knew how he was academically. We talk about his decision to forgo college due to anxiety and his journey that led him to becoming a DJ. With bei...

Anthony Holton takes the seat and is my guest for this week’s Keoni Chats. When I initially reached out to Anthony, I had no idea what to expect because we never had long conversations while in high school. We talked about his journey with sharing his emotions and what it’s like for him to stay connected with people. Anthony also shared what it was like moving from LA and growing up with a dad as...

The chase is over as Ben Collins finally joins me for this week’s Keoni Chats. Ben was one of the first people I asked to be a guest on this show but opted to work on himself before taking the seat. Geesh did this guy work on himself as we talk about everything from his time as a guitarist, jumping from band to band, to the incident that pushed him to sober living. We talked about the connection o...

From one-time football player to Vice President of Personal Capital, Kevin Corbin stops by for this week’s Keoni Chats. Kevin has bounced around following college but found his home back in Oregon. I played freshman football with Kevin where he sustained a knee injury making him convert to basketball. We talk about the hardship of handling that injury at a young age. Kevin found Economics and the...

Nick Newcom joins me for this week’s Keoni Chats. Nick and I met in middle school but our friendship didn’t grow until high school. We are both younger brothers and we spoke about the challenges of creating our own path. Following high school, Nick had a stint in the military and that threw me off completely. I wanted to learn more about his mindset heading into and being deep in the military. Che...

Fresh off Adelsheim’s Vineyard, Emily McMullen sits down with me for this week’s Keoni Chats. This will serve as Emily and I’s first conversation outside of email. We talked about a wide variety of topics including the life of a mother during early COVID to jumping to Adelsheim after being a teacher. While it was tricky balancing the conversation to cover both work and life, Emily surprised me whe...

I reunited with my former Nike Portland coworker Katrina Wilson. Katrina and I only shared a handful of weeks together but I always thought of her as a reliable and dependable person to get the job done. She has had a few jobs since leaving Nike and one of those is continuing her law career that she started in high school. We spoke about the hardship of that kind of work as well as being a mother...

Longtime friend and sibling-like figure Rolando Rado drops in for this week’s Keoni Chats. Rolando is my brother’s age but we always spent time together either watching WWE or attending a ComiCon. As he progressed through life, I noticed that Rolando’s tough exterior started to soften up and he was being more open. We talk about his military experience and the moment that led to his PTSD. While he...

The Keoni Chats show goes international as I sat down with Laurel Barker (formally Green) for this week’s episode. At the time of this recording, Laurel checks in from Japan with her husband Andrew in the military. Laurel and I met back in middle school as we would spend our summer days at the local bowling alley. Laurel attended Brigham Young University where she would get an internship with Disn...

The Oregon based, funk music singer Samira Lobby joins me for this week’s Keoni Chats. Samira and I have both called the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication building - Allen Hall - a second home and that was the first spark that led to me wanting to have this conversation. While it was challenging to make this interview different from previous podcast interviews she's had,...

Kristiana Kamara leaves the warmth of Arizona and returns to Oregon for this week’s Keoni Chats. I met Kristiana in high school and when we talked about our time under that roof, I realized that I knew close to nothing about her. Kristiana is the eldest of six sisters and her parents were far from ideal. She had to grow up quickly. Despite her childhood being shortened, she is able to relive it wi...

Jen John virtually makes the trip down Interstate 5 and joins me for this week’s Keoni Chats. I met Jen through my partner and the first sentence she used to describe Jen was that she is sober. This was the first sign that I wanted to hear her story and get it out to the public as alcohol is engraved in a lot of society. I had so many questions for her at that moment that bringing her on as a gues...

The explorative traveler Lena Harris virtually returns to Oregon for this week’s Keoni Chats. Lena is also a Duck TV alumnus and we spoke about her discovery of the program and how it helped propel her career in sports journalism. We conversed about the process of handling rejection while continuously hunting down the next journalism opportunity. While she ultimately decided to switch careers, spo...

EJ Akins is this week’s Keoni Chats guest. EJ and I had a short time together while in high school and shared a year of football together. He virtually returns back to Oregon and we talk about topics that made me, as the host, reevaluate some aspects of my life. EJ opens up about his outside view of Portland’s Black Lives Matter movement. He was always seen with a smile on his face so we talk abou...

Ben Creighton finds time in his busy schedule to be this week’s guest on Keoni Chats. Anytime I thought about the combination of sports and Journalism, Ben was the first person I thought of. When I first embarked into this field, I immediately thought of my first interaction with Reporter Ben back in high school for the student newspaper. As I kept up with his career, I was more inspired to work h...

Anna Nickels takes a virtual trip down i5 for this week’s Keoni Chats. I usually have some kind of plan heading into an interview but as soon as we started talking, this conversation blindsided me. Anna opens up about her thinking process and her fear of talking about deep issues and her mental health while in high school. She is a former college softball athlete (now coach) and Anna reflects on t...

On this 60th episode, I bring back my episode 1 guest in Branden Shimada (aka Branden Kota). With this being my first episode with a returning guest, my goal was to make it different. Branden opens up on his childhood and the supporters and opposers he faced on his journey. We also spoke about producing music and creating eye-catching music videos during the pandemic. Check out his episode now and...

I reunited with fellow UOSOJC alumni Gus McTigue in this week’s Keoni Chats. Gus’ creativity always stood out in class and I am ecstatic to have him on the show. We spoke about the stresses of handling multiple projects and the importance of making sure that each project got the same amount of attention. From his time behind the camera, Gus has developed deep ideologies on the world and being able...

The last time Albert Joo (or Flannel Albert) and I shared a room together was 13 years ago in high school. Albert finds time before heading back to LA for a visit and is this week’s guest on Keoni Chats. Once the “holy crap, it’s been awhile” glow subsided, we had a deep conversation about everything from leaving the United States after his freshman year of high school to being an introvert workin...

Paddle sport athlete, crossfitter and Pizza Schmizza manager Aaron Boje virtually sat down with me for this week’s Keoni Chats. Aaron’s responsibilities as a husky dog dad to Hoku-lele cause this interview to shift from an in-person to a video interview. Reflecting back on the 15 years I've known Aaron, there were a lot of facts about him that I did not know. Check out his episode now and find out...

Fresh off the first year in her pursuit of a Doctorate in Physical Therapy, former D1 soccer athlete Emily Walker joins me for this week’s Keoni Chats. I met Emily during her playing days at Lane Community College and immediately got the impression that she is a fierce competitor. Emily comes from a military family, for which he brought a ferocious and intense mentality to the field and to the cla...

Former Oregon Duck and 2x Super Bowl Champion Dennis Dixon stops by for this week’s Keoni Chats. Dennis’ lucrative college football career at the University of Oregon helped the push to turn Oregon from a well-known basketball school, into the football powerhouse it is known for today. Dennis has been drafted twice into Major League Baseball but ultimately chose to pursue the NFL and was drafted b...

Juwaan Williams shows another layer in this week’s Keoni Chats. I met Juwaan at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication in a couple classes. I always saw Juwaan with a big smile on his face and laughing but we got to talk about topics that hit him the hardest. We talked about the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement in Portland, OR that garnished the attention of the Homeland S...

Joe McNeil takes a virtual visit back to Oregon for this week’s Keoni Chats. I met Joe when we were kids playing soccer together and had one year of high school wrestling together. Joe would join the ROTC ranks at Colorado State University and lead the push up group during football games. We talk about that experience and how fitness has carried his life to where he is now. Joe is currently a trai...