Keoni Chats

Torrey Henderson joins me for this week’s Keoni Chats. Torrey and I met in middle school and while it felt like we went to high school together, she only used the school as the stop before heading home. Torrey opened up about raising a child, as a single parent, at the age of 22 with only a minimum wage salary. Torrey has also gone through extreme body changes as she adopted the Keto diet and open...

Olivia Ontkean hangs up the dance shoes for the day and sits down with me for this week’s Keoni Chats. In our first conversation in over 10 years, Olivia opens up about developing anxiety and handling depression. Following a childhood in the spotlight as a dancer, she is now helping the next generation as a coach and instructor. Olivia is also an avid cosplayer (when we had Comic-Cons) and you can...

For the 50th episode of Keoni Chats, I bring on the guy that helped me raise the show from an idea to reality in Alex Moan. Prior to becoming co-workers, he told me about his business Black Bulb Creative and that he is the Video Marketing Specialist for the company. Along with those two jobs, he also is the co-founder of Passport to Tacoland, an Instagram account that goes around the Portland, OR...

While in between feedings, Acupuncturist and new mother Whitney Green - Bautista stops by for this week’s Keoni Chats. Whitney is the wife to Keoni Chats episode 3 guest, Alvin Bautista, so this felt like a continuation from that episode. This was a great glimpse into Whitney as I’ve only encountered her as my doctor, the sports fanatic and now a mother. If you are in Oregon, to inquire about Whit...

High school classmate and good friend Ian Slade visits with me for this week’s Keoni Chats. I met Ian on a random day in high school as my friend and I decided to have lunch with him on his first days in Oregon. While in New York during the COVID year, he was able to get some acting gigs before returning back to LA. Learn his story now. Follow Ian here: https://bit.ly/3eTaW0h; https://bit.ly/3uL8y...

As Mother Day approaches, my mom, Nena Conlu, stops by for this week’s Keoni Chats. I’ve had deep conversations with my mom before but this was the first time we had a deep conversation with a microphone and on record. We covered a few topics but I could easily see this having multiple parts. I learned a lot about my own traits and where they stem from while learning my mom’s back story. Check out...

Erick Villar balances a chat while tending to his dog Luna in this week’s Keoni Chats. Erick’s story following college is what sparked my interest in having him on the show. At the end of the conversation, I found myself relating with Erick more than I thought and that was enlightening and exciting. Check out Erick’s episode now and find out what his mom told him as he was deciding where to go to...

UO Alumni and host of the Boo Boys Podcast, Chris Keizur stops by for this week’s Keoni Chats. Chris and I were briefly writers on the Daily Emerald, UO’s student-run newspaper. We both shared a love for sports and once I found out that he has his own podcast, I wanted to talk with him about how he ran his show and the road that led him there. The Boo Boys Podcast can be found here https://spoti.f...

Life long friend David Rodriguez makes the in person visit for this week’s Keoni Chats. David is my brother’s friend that became like a brother to me so this felt different vs other episodes. When you’ve known someone for as long as I’ve known David, the conversations can feel routine. This conversation felt different because it included topics that I never thought I would have with him. Learn his...

Jake Eiland and I were best friends in high school. We haven’t kept up with each much since but this conversation felt like we picked up right where we left off. Jake is a US Army Sergeant currently stationed in Iowa helping with their Covid vaccine efforts. I always remembered this guy as someone that wants to help people and to help end this pandemic is admirable. This episode is filled with sto...

Podcast enthusiast and host of her own show, The Beginner’s Project, Claudia Bueermann joins me for this week’s Keoni Chats. Claudia is the daughter of the CEO of the company I currently work at and when I met her, all I remember was how happy and excited she was, and still is. During our first couple conversations, she mentioned working on podcast episodes for her thesis and even getting a podcas...

Ryan Brown closes up shop for the day and we reconnect on this week’s Keoni Chats. I met Ryan at my last job and he and I immediately hit it off. I remember the work we did for him and Future Work Design being absolutely breathtaking. We always had great conversations and it was a lot of fun catching up and talking about his adjustments to covid and the creative world’s adjustment. Check out Futur...

Switching perspectives to being a guest, Ashmere Prasad joins me for this week’s Keoni Chats. Ashmere and I are former University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communications classmates. Following graduation she moved back home to California and continued fostering her passion for sports joining Nuts and Bolts Sports as their Featured Writer and Video Host. Check out Nuts and Bolts here: http...

Austin Candanoza steps out of the Octagon to be this week’s Keoni Chats guest. Austin and I started at Nike Portland together and while we went on our own path towards the tail end of our time together as employees, he was able to get sponsored from the company as he embarked on his professional career. Austin went back down to California where he continues to train for when fights open up again....

Kael Newton locks up the virtual classroom for the day and sits down with me for this week’s Keoni Chats. Kael was the first and last person I anchored an episode of DuckTV Sports with so bringing him onto the show was a lot of fun. We talked about a plethora of topics ranging from dating someone taller to his battle with Testicular Cancer in his teens. Kael was always the person that can be seen...

Josh Makler sits down with me for this week’s Keoni Chats episode. Josh and I were athletes for Sunset high school for football. In addition, he played baseball and for a short time, wrestling. He would continue his baseball career into college while also developing a passion for brewing. That passion would take him into opening his second business named Kove, a hard yerba mate brewing company. Ch...

Jordan Luyamba and I worked together for a couple months at Nike Portland before he went off to greener pastures. Since he left, he was able to pursue all kinds of challenges with an open mind and the acceptance to “fail at full speed.” Jordan has explored photography and continued his experience in directing with his most recent project “Ode to a Woman.” He has most recently released his art seri...

*Due to poor internet connection, the interview you are about to listen to will have glitches and broken words or sentences. I was able to clean up as much as I could and string together some sentences. I hope this doesn’t deter you from learning about Mariah’s story. Mariah Mills gets to try a new perspective as she becomes the interviewee in this week’s Keoni Chats. Mariah and I are DuckTV alumn...

Robert ”Buddy” White’s passion knows no end. Whether it is to show his support in the Black Lives Matter movement or setting an example for his daughters, Buddy White can’t turn the passion off. He sits down with me for this week’s Keoni Chats and we talk about a wide array of topics. We touched on everything from his incarceration at a young age to finding the right mentors and friends to set him...

August Jefferson has a big presence. Whether it’s his wide smile, booming voice, or his infectious personality, August can bring the noise. I met August as he was helping me get through Spanish class. We didn’t spend a whole lot of time together outside of class and that is a shame because I discovered that we have a ton in common after this interview. Finding someone that has the same overthinkin...

In the first episode of 2021, I get to reconnect with Alana Richardson (aka Alana Rich). Alana and I were high school classmates as she was a cheerleader and I was a football player. She donned my jersey number during pep rallies and game days so it was fun to walk down that memory lane again. Since high school, she continued to grow both her musical career and her personal life as she became a wi...

In the early 2000s, I grew up watching Seven Oh Five and repeating the jokes or their mannerism. As I rewatch their videos now, I am still cracking up. Roman Cortez, my guest this week, is 1 / 3 of the team that makes up Seven Oh Five. I was floored when he agreed to be a guest and this was so fun. We go into the dynamics of Seven Oh Five behind the scenes and into his current business that includ...

Sean Morgan, owner of CafeGo Delivery, is this week’s guest on the Keoni Chats show. I met Sean briefly and as he was telling me the story of his company, I wanted to help get his story out to the public. Sean began CafeGo Delivery in 2014-2015 as the food delivery industry was starting to swing upwards. We talk about handling competition with big companies and helping the community as well how he...

I’ve admired this week’s guest since I first saw her work at DuckTV. Lexi Sloan virtually returns back to Oregon and sits down with me for this week’s Keoni Chats. I was starstruck after I first saw her work as a part of Damsels in Control with Claire Larson. It blew my mind that someone that is my age that has sat in the same classrooms as me, created an amazingly funny and clever piece of video....

Katy Weaver started her photography business in 2009 and has gone on to create such a unique portfolio and her website captures her personality perfectly for couples needing her services. I reached out to her as our only connection was that I am her twin sister’s age and she is my older brother’s age. I’ve seen her work through social media and knew that the Weaver last name was synonyms for creat...