Only One In The Room

Can you imagine being on a number-one hit show at age-12 and not being able to ride a rollercoaster without getting mobbed by your fans? Angelique Bates, actress, dancer, and comedian, landed a coveted spot on a Nickelodeon hit show, after a nationwide search for talented kid comedians. But what would you do if everyone assumed because you’d been on TV, your life must be all glitz and glamour, but...

Vari McKechnie is a podcaster, writer, coach, and mentor for women who aren’t alcoholics but want to break the cycle of accidental daily drinking. She teaches women how to release the handbrake of accidental daily drinking, so they can drive their lives forward with more ease and flow and less resistance and hustle. Originally from Scotland, she’s called Australia home since 2007 where she lives b...

Who knew that my friend and first publisher and season eleven guest, Emily McCombs, Deputy Director of HuffpostPersonal, was also such an incredible writer? I love all of her pieces but chose to share this one with you because it spoke to me today.  Emily McCombs is the Deputy Editor of HuffPost Personal. She writes and edits first-person essays in all topic areas including identity (race, gender,...

Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Benny Pough 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   Best Fiends: Join us...

Imagine going to a friend’s barbeque with your wife and your daughter and then your friend asks you to take a spin with him, in his new Mercedes Benz. Benny Pough, music executive, entrepreneur, author, real estate proprietor, and founder of DVerse Media flew home earlier on that fateful day, just so he could accept his friend’s invitation and show up as he’d promised. But what would you do after...

Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Mikal Vega right after the show. Special thanks to our sponsors: Best Fiends: Join us and the millions of Americans who are already playing this game. Download Best Fiends for FREE on The Apple APP store or Google Play. That’s friends without the R, Best Fiends. BetterHelp:...

Imagine being a Navy SEAL and being deployed to Iraq to serve your country. Twenty-two-year combat veteran and Vital Warrior nonprofit founder and CEO, Mikal Vega, was set to deploy yet again when he was called to another type of duty, one that allowed him to be closer to his son. But what would you do if that child you loved so much tragically died when he was a young adult? Would you numb yourse...

Please join us for our 2021 commencement, as we look back over the year and look forward to 2022. In this episode, Laura and Scott discuss a range of subjects, from how long it's actually been since Laura has been inside a grocery store, to Scott's very special thirteen-year sobriety anniversary. Please join us for this candid discussion of their relationship and how the events of this year have i...

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: Mercato: Mercato is a grocery delivery service that supports local, independent merchants. Sign up for Mercato Green at https://www.mercato.com/ for unlimited free delivery and use the code THEONLYONE to get $...

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 you do if you came to understand that you we...

Can you imagine what it’d be like to watch the sunset, or a football game, or even take a picture, knowing that it would be the last time that you could see what was in front of you? Author and inspirational speaker, Chad Foster, was just three years old when he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a disease that gradually robs you of your eyesight. Twenty years later, he was self-medicating w...

Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Wally Green right after the show. Special thanks to our sponsors: Best Fiends: Join us and the millions of Americans who are already playing this game. Download Best Fiends for FREE on The Apple APP store or Google Play. That’s friends without the R, Best Fiends. Mercato: M...

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 would you do if someone noticed you and o...

Jessica Frew is the co-host of the podcast Husband In Law. Along with her husband and ex-husband, they share their stories of love, marriage, coming out, infidelity, divorce, and co-parenting. Jessica and her ex-husband were married for just over a year when he came to terms with the fact he was gay. They then remained married for another seven years.   Instagram: @husband_in_law Join our Patreon:...

My friend Amy Bond, (episodes 25 and 54) sent me a screenshot of an article about Demi Lovato last month and then texted, “Oooh you could write about this.” Turns out she was right. I had a lot to say about California Sober vs Regular Sober. Laura Cathcart Robbins is an author, freelance culture writer, and host of the popular podcast, The Only One In The Room, living in Studio City, California. S...

Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Robert Kabera right after the show. Special thanks to our sponsors: Join our Patreon: Become an Only One In The Room patron by joining us on Patreon! Starting at only $5.00 per month, you’ll get bonus content, access to outtakes that the general public will NEVER see, extre...

Picture this, you’re five years old and your mom is cooking dinner, like she does every night. Suddenly the air around your home is filled with screams and gunfire. Robert Kabera, Stanford graduate, co-founder, and COO of Sync Energy A.I., survived the 1994 Rwandan Genocide with his family by hiding in tunnels, evading soldiers, and spending six years in refugee camps.  But what would you do if af...

Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Angela Rose right after the show. Special thanks to our sponsors: Mercato: Mercato is a grocery delivery service that supports local, independent merchants. Sign up for Mercato Green at https://www.mercato.com/ for unlimited free delivery and use the code THEONLYONE to get...

Picture this: You’re seventeen and walking to your car after work and a man follows you, puts a knife to your throat, and puts you in his car. Angela Rose, victim empowerment advocate and founder of PAVE, which stands for Promoting Awareness | Victim Empowerment, kept her cool and remembered everything that happened to her the day that she was abducted and sexually assaulted. But what would you do...

I love this story and was particularly in awe of the plain and beautiful way Mr. Shompole Ole Leroka brings us into what it was like to grow in Maasailand, Kenya in the 1930s and 40’s.. Dare to Defy captures the efforts of an individual in Africa as he breaks the constraints of ethnic traditions and carves a path for himself in a fast-changing world. Told in a detailed, humorous and captivating ma...

Scott Slaughter co-host and producer of The Only One In The Room has a short and casual, yet deep conversation with our guest Zoë Ruderman right after the show. Special thanks to our sponsors: Mercato: Mercato is a grocery delivery service that supports local, independent merchants. Sign up for Mercato Green at https://www.mercato.com/ for unlimited free delivery and use the code THEONLYONE to get...

Imagine trying to get pregnant and each attempt was met with heartbreaking loss and disappointment? PEOPLE, Digital editor, Zoë Ruderman, spent hours and hours in doctor’s offices doing whatever was suggested in order to bring the baby she knew she was supposed to have into the world.   So what would you do if your journey to becoming a mother included stressful rounds of IVF and several painful m...

Zibby Owens is the creator and host of the award-winning podcast Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books. Zibby, named “NYC’s Most Powerful Book-fluencer” by New York magazine’s Vulture, conducts warm, inquisitive conversations with authors, making her daily show a top literary podcast as selected by Oprah.com in 2019 and 2020. Zibby is the Co-Founder and CEO of Zibby Books, a publishing home for ficti...

As the holidays are upon us, I thought it fitting to read an essay I wrote for the magnificent Catherine Gray’s Sober Spring blog called, How My Drinking Friend’s Helped me Stay Sober.    Laura Cathcart Robbins is an author, freelance culture writer, and host of the popular podcast, The Only One In The Room, living in Studio City, California. She has been active for many years as a speaker and sch...

Working in the fashion industry is full of glamour, beauty, allure, and STRESS. If you had a successful career but felt a calling to do something else, what would you do? Would you stay in the comfort of the known, or would you run towards the unknown? On this episode of Behind The Booty, host Kelly Nishimoto, Founder of Cute Booty Lounge, speaks with Mark Montano, Best-Selling Author, Designer, a...