Only One In The Room

Celebrating Black Stories And Voices: Imagine that everyone you grew up with was destined for jail or an early death? Celebrity Table Tennis pro and co-founder of SPIN, New York, Wally Green joined a gang while growing up in one of the most dangerous housing projects in Brooklyn and was constantly abused by his stepfather who told him repeatedly that he would never amount to anything. But what wou...

Celebrating Black Stories And Voices: “The police are the community and the community is the police. If we don’t start recognizing that simple fact, if we don’t start healing – together, we will continue to wake up to the same headlines of unarmed black men being shot, of police officers being ambushed, and of a growing rift between police and the people they’re sworn to protect.” Today’s guest is...

Celebrating Voices From The LGBTQ Community: To continue our celebration of Pride month, today I am reading the deeply personal essay, The Definition Of Brave by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor.  Stefanie Wilder-Taylor is a guest from season one of The Only Only One In The Room (an OG!) She is the author of five books, including the best-seller, Sippy Cups Are Not For Chardonnay. She’s been seen on NickMom...

Celebrating Voices From The LGBTQ Community: Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Nick North right after the show. Special thanks to our sponsors: BetterHelp: BetterHelp is a great, affordable option for professional counseling done securely online. As a listener, you'll get 10% off your first month by visitin...

Celebrating Voices From The LGBTQ Community: Imagine you were assigned female at birth, but nothing ever quite felt quite right. And you found yourself wondering over and over, why you couldn’t just be a boy like all the other boys? Brand strategist, Nick North lived as a woman and married a man, giving birth to four beautiful children before meeting Catherine, the love of his life. But what would...

National Geographic Explorer Alyea Pierce is a spoken word poet and researcher who recently contributed to National Geographic’s podcast series Into the Depths, funded by the National Geographic Society. Alyea also uses her creative work with poetry, spoken word performance, audio, and photography to examine oral storytelling and folklore traditions in Carnival celebrations across the African dias...

Ten years ago I was lucky enough to be a part of a project called The Moment, which is described as wild, poignant, life changing stories from 125 writers and artists, famous and obscure (I was definitely one of the more obscure ones). My editor, Larry Smith was wonderful – inspiring, supportive and unflinching. I look back on this experience now with gratitude as Atria/Simon & Schuster is prepari...

Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Bill Mitchell right after the show. Special thanks to our sponsors: BetterHelp: BetterHelp is a great, affordable option for professional counseling done securely online. As a listener, you'll get 10% off your first month by visiting betterhelp.com/one   PATREON SHOUT OUTS:...

What if twenty days after your daughter graduated from college you got a call from a detective, asking if they could meet with you? Author, speaker, and activist, Bill Mitchell, met with that detective and got the news that every parent dreads, that his twenty-two-year-old daughter, Kristin, had been murdered by her ex-boyfriend. But what would you do if after you’d written her eulogy, after the f...

Today we’re talking to our girl, Angela Means, owner and head chef of Jackfruit Cafe in Los Angeles. Angela was best known for playing Felisha in the classic 1990s cult classic, Friday, but is now widely known as a vegan soul food chef. Since 2017, Angela has been bringing delicious plant-based food to Los Angelenos and beyond.  http://www.jackfruitcafe.com http://www.instagram.com/jackfruitcafe h...

Jessica Nordell’s Book, The End Of Bias, A Beginning, blew me away to the point where I just HAD to share some of it with all of you.   Jessica Nordell is an award-winning author, science writer, and speaker whose writing has appeared in the Atlantic, the New York Times, the New Republic, the Washington Post, and more. Educated at MIT and Harvard in physics, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison...

Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Charlie Cifarelli right after the show. Special thanks to our sponsors: Year & Day: Year & Day is giving The Only One in the Room listeners a special offer. Visit yearandday.com/one and use code: ONE to get $25 off your first order of $150 or more. Also, receive Free shippi...

Imagine reading the paper and seeing a horrific story about a dog who died after being shot by the police, and inexplicably feeling that the public was being misled, that the dog was not dead, but alive. Businessman and former correctional officer, Charlie Cifarelli, was living in Nebraska when we read the story of Star The Dog getting shot in the head by a New York City police officer while she w...

Jessica Nordell is an award-winning author, science writer, and speaker known for blending rigorous science with compassionate humanity and will be speaking at SXSW in March. After ten years of investigating unconscious bias, she has written her first book, The End of Bias: A Beginning (paperback 9/22,) a solutions journalism guide to answering the question: What do we do about this problem? It ha...

We held a writing contest to celebrate our third year anniversary, and it is our pleasure to present our essay contest winner, est, by Mia Idrissi to you today.   Mia Idrissi grew up in Seattle, WA in a home filled with gifted artists, musicians, and other emotionally challenged people. In her early twenties, she moved to New York determined to be the next Bette Midler. After 10 years at large on...

Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Nathalie Walton right after the show. Special thanks to our sponsors: BetterHelp: BetterHelp is a great, affordable option for professional counseling done securely online. As a listener, you'll get 10% off your first month by visiting betterhelp.com/one   Away: We love our...

What if when you were twenty weeks pregnant, your doctor told you that there was a good chance you wouldn’t be able to carry your baby to term? Nathalie Walton, Chief Executive, CEO, and co-founder of the Expectful app, understood that the stress and anxiety of knowing that she could give birth prematurely might actually increase her chances of going into early labor. So what would you do if you d...

Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Artis Stevens right after the show. Special thanks to our sponsors: Carpe: Carpe is the #1 dermatologist recommended brand for sweat all over the body, scientifically tested and proven. Go to mycarpe.com, get free shipping plus TWENTY FIVE PERCENT OFF with the code ONE. Tha...

Imagine an organization where 70 percent of the clients are young people of color, and the goal is to pair these kids with adult mentors who can help guide them through their lives. When Artis Stevens became the first Black President and CEO of Big Brothers and Big Sisters Of America in their 118-year history, he understood the significance of that moment. But his goal was to do more than just rep...

Sarah Fay (Ph. D., MFA) is an award-winning author and mental health advocate working to improve how we think and talk about our mental health by moving the conversation away from simplistic diagnoses and toward a deeper understanding of our mental and emotional lives. Her personal experience of being diagnosed with six different mental health disorders and finding no relief led her to investigate...

Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Catherine Gray right after the show. Special thanks to our sponsors: BetterHelp: BetterHelp is a great, affordable option for professional counseling done securely online. As a listener, you'll get 10% off your first month by visiting betterhelp.com/one   PATREON SHOUT OUTS...

What if instead of having kids in your twenties or thirties, you decided to wait to get pregnant until you had both a partner and financial stability? Catherine Gray, best-selling author of the Unexpected Joy book series, was forty-one years old when she and her partner decided to try for a baby. But what would you do if after finding out that you were pregnant, people suddenly felt as entitled to...

To honor Mental Health Awareness Month, I am reading a piece that I wrote last summer for Huffpost Personal about Simone Biles and her courageous but highly controversial decision to pull out of her event at the 2021 Summer Olympics.   Laura Cathcart Robbins is the host of the popular podcast, The Only One In The Room, and author of the forthcoming Atria/Simon & Schuster memoir, STASH (due out in...

Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Cole Richman right after the show. Special thanks to our sponsors: Year & Day: Year & Day is giving The Only One in the Room listeners a special offer. Visit yearandday.com/one and use code: ONE to get $25 off your first order of $150 or more. Also, receive Free shipping on...

Imagine spending eight years in prison and having no idea where you’ll go or how you’ll make a living once you’re released. Cole Richman, founder and creative director of Bottom Bunk Sneaker House, was given two hundred dollars by the state upon release and welcomed back to the rehab where he’d previously gotten sober. But what would you do if your rehab roommate showed you how you could turn a pr...