Let’s Talk About Love Stories from Everywhere

What happens when a successful corporate attorney trades legal briefs for international intrigue, political conspiracies, and high-stakes thrillers? For A. Marc Ross, the answer is a second creative career filled with unexpected twists, fascinating characters, and a healthy dose of real-world geopolitics. In Episode 78 of Let's Talk About Love: Stories from Everywhere, host Jill L. Ferguson welcom...

What happens when a successful corporate attorney trades legal briefs for international intrigue, political conspiracies, and high-stakes thrillers? For A. Marc Ross, the answer is a second creative career filled with unexpected twists, fascinating characters, and a healthy dose of real-world geopolitics. In Episode 78 of Let's Talk About Love: Stories from Everywhere, host Jill L. Ferguson welcom...

What if a single letter could change two families forever? And what if a promise made at the end of a loved one's life could become the very thing that saves yours? In 1959, a white farm family in Minnesota heard a Black father from Indiana say something heartbreaking during a radio interview: he had never been invited into a white person's home as a guest. Rather than simply sympathize, Rosalyn D...

What happens to creativity when artificial intelligence can generate thousands of songs in the time it takes a human musician to write just one? And in an industry increasingly driven by technology, shrinking budgets, and instant gratification, does the human touch still matter? In Episode 76 of Stories from Everywhere, host Jill L. Ferguson welcomes Daniel Silberman, a Chicago-area audio engineer...

What if a single letter could change two families forever? And what if a promise made at the end of a loved one's life could become the very thing that saves yours? In 1959, a white farm family in Minnesota heard a Black father from Indiana say something heartbreaking during a radio interview: he had never been invited into a white person's home as a guest. Rather than simply sympathize, Rosalyn D...

What makes us fall in love with a car? For Alan Sztaba, it might be the sound of an engine, the feel of the road, the challenge of bringing a classic back to life, or the satisfaction of solving a mechanical problem that refuses to follow the manual. In Episode 75 of Stories from Everywhere, Jill L. Ferguson talks with Porsche Classic-trained technician Alan Sztaba about a rapidly changing automot...

What happens to creativity when artificial intelligence can generate thousands of songs in the time it takes a human musician to write just one? And in an industry increasingly driven by technology, shrinking budgets, and instant gratification, does the human touch still matter? In Episode 76 of Stories from Everywhere, host Jill L. Ferguson welcomes Daniel Silberman, a Chicago-area audio engineer...

What happens when pain quietly takes over your life—and then, after years of adjusting, sacrificing, and missing out, you finally begin to get pieces of that life back? Julianne Browne is a writer, gamer, student, aspiring polyglot, animal lover, and self-described “yapper” who can make a new best friend almost anywhere. But for more than 15 years, chronic migraines shaped nearly every part of her...

What happens when pain quietly takes over your life—and then, after years of adjusting, sacrificing, and missing out, you finally begin to get pieces of that life back? Julianne Browne is a writer, gamer, student, aspiring polyglot, animal lover, and self-described “yapper” who can make a new best friend almost anywhere. But for more than 15 years, chronic migraines shaped nearly every part of her...

What happens when a place you never expected to call home changes the direction of your life? For Michael Hassett and Chiara Colette, that place was Tonga. Michael and Chiara arrived in the South Pacific as Peace Corps volunteers, neither having originally planned on Tonga as their destination. What they found was a culture rooted in community, generosity, and a deeply communal understanding of wh...

What happens when a place you never expected to call home changes the direction of your life? For Michael Hassett and Chiara Colette, that place was Tonga. Michael and Chiara arrived in the South Pacific as Peace Corps volunteers, neither having originally planned on Tonga as their destination. What they found was a culture rooted in community, generosity, and a deeply communal understanding of wh...

What happens when you lose everything you thought made you who you were and discover that maybe none of those things were your identity in the first place? Austin Rampt’s story sounds almost impossible: addiction beginning at a young age, multiple arrests and overdoses, eight trips to rehab, nine years of sobriety followed by relapse, fleeing the United States for Mexico, living among people conne...

What happens when the world stops paying attention, but the bombs keep falling? In Episode 71 of Stories from Everywhere, Jill L. Ferguson sits down with Ukrainian American opera singer, educator, and cultural advocate Irina Petrik for a deeply personal conversation about Ukraine, identity, grief, resilience, and what it means to keep caring long after a cause has disappeared from the headlines. B...

What if the most important business skills of the future aren't technological at all, but deeply human? In Episode 70 of Stories from Everywhere, Jill L. Ferguson sits down with internationally bestselling author, Hall of Fame keynote speaker, customer-experience expert, and business consultant Richard Weylman for a conversation that begins with an extraordinary personal story and ultimately asks...

What if the most important business skills of the future aren't technological at all, but deeply human? In Episode 70 of Stories from Everywhere, Jill L. Ferguson sits down with internationally bestselling author, Hall of Fame keynote speaker, customer-experience expert, and business consultant Richard Weylman for a conversation that begins with an extraordinary personal story and ultimately asks...

What if paying attention to what's going right in the world is just as important as understanding what's going wrong? In this episode of Stories from Everywhere, Jill L. Ferguson talks with writer, journalist, climate communicator, two-time TEDx speaker, and lifelong environmental advocate Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff about sustainability, storytelling, optimism, and the wonderfully "squiggly" paths our...

What if paying attention to what's going right in the world is just as important as understanding what's going wrong? In this episode of Stories from Everywhere, Jill L. Ferguson talks with writer, journalist, climate communicator, two-time TEDx speaker, and lifelong environmental advocate Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff about sustainability, storytelling, optimism, and the wonderfully "squiggly" paths our...

What happens when storytelling isn't simply what you do, but the way you understand the world? In Episode 68 of Stories from Everywhere, Jill L. Ferguson sits down with actor, voice artist, and prolific audiobook narrator Maria Marquis for a lively conversation about creativity, connection, curiosity, and the surprising places a life in storytelling can lead. Maria's love affair with performance b...

What happens when adventure isn’t something you take a vacation to find, but a way you learn to live? In Episode 67 of Stories from Everywhere, Jill L. Ferguson sits down with entrepreneur, author, marketer, traveler, mountaineer, husband, and father Tim Christiansen for a conversation about what can happen when we deliberately step beyond the familiar. For Tim, that started early. Raised in an en...

What if the greatest legacy you'll ever leave isn't your career, your bank account, or even your name, but a single idea that quietly changes someone else's life? In this thoughtful episode of Stories from Everywhere, Jill L. Ferguson sits down with award-winning author, speaker, and leadership expert Richard V. Battle to explore the stories that shape nations—and the quieter stories that shape fa...

What if the greatest legacy you'll ever leave isn't your career, your bank account, or even your name, but a single idea that quietly changes someone else's life? In this thoughtful episode of Stories from Everywhere, Jill L. Ferguson sits down with award-winning author, speaker, and leadership expert Richard V. Battle to explore the stories that shape nations—and the quieter stories that shape fa...

Technology is changing faster than ever, but what if the biggest obstacle isn't artificial intelligence or the latest app? What if it's the stories we've been telling ourselves all along? In this thought-provoking episode of Stories from Everywhere, Jill L. Ferguson sits down with licensed clinical social worker, entrepreneur, and self-described "Squirrel Wrangler" Stacy Braiuca to explore the fas...

Some journeys change your passport. Others change the way you see humanity. In this thought-provoking episode of Stories from Everywhere, host Jill L. Ferguson sits down with traveler, Fulbright Scholar, and Silicon Valley professional Wesley Warshawer to explore what happens when we intentionally step outside the lives we've always known. Wesley shares how a scholarship to study in India at just...

Every great story begins with a question. For Richard Coto—better known by his pen name, Rick London—that question was: What if a werewolf didn't want to be a monster? In this engaging episode of Stories from Everywhere, Jill L. Ferguson sits down with first-time novelist Rick London to explore the unexpected path that led him from a career in hospitality, limousine driving, and hospital surgery s...