Stories from the Center of the Universe

Mila Liakhovitser comes to the podcast by virtue of working together with Paul.  Mila was born and raised in New York City, and though she was born on Long Island and lived for a brief time in Queens, she is a Bronx girl through and through!  She is also a long suffering NY Jets fan. From the beginning, Mila was recognized as very intelligent and gifted.  She attended math camps after school for m...

Andrew Slater joins us for the podcast today.  Andrew is the Head Baseball Coach at The Collegiate School.  Paul and Andrew have known each other since they were both at St. Christopher’s though Paul is a few years older.  Andrew attended St. Christopher’s through 6th grade and then went to Collegiate where he graduated in 1996.   Andrew talks about getting a football scholarship to the University...

Trip Chalkley is the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Hanover County, Virginia.  Trip has known Paul since he was a kid through Paul’s dad Larry.  Both Larry and Trip went to the T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond and worked together in Hanover County. Trip talks about growing up in Richmond, attending John Marshall High School and how he almost didn’t go back for his second year...

Lynne Hughes joins us this week.  Lynne , with the help of others, runs Comfort Zone Camps.  CZC is a camp for people who are grieving.  It started out for kids and has now expanded in many ways. Lynne has personal experience with the grieving process.  Lynne, who has 3 brothers, lost her Mom when she was 9 and her dad when she was 12. She lived at various places until she graduated high school an...

On this episode, we have Kevin Flippen who is a previous guest (Episode 32 with Al Lester) and now doubles as an occasional guest host. Kevin aka Flip, and Paul have been friends for over 28 years.  Kevin talks about a myriad of subjects including being adopted by awesome parents and all things sports from being a long suffering Padres fan to wiffle golf.  Kevin also discusses the tragic death of...

This week we welcome Chase Miffleton.  Chase grew up in Powhatan and played baseball and also competed in cross country and track.  Chase gets his running genes from his grandma who has run quite a few marathons.   After graduating high school, Chase attended Va Tech. Influenced by a family member, Chase applied for and got a unique job on campus as an equipment manager for the Hokie Football team...

This week’s story is told by Ilona Levine.  Ilona was born and raised in the Moldovan part of the Soviet Union.  When Ilona was 13 years old, the Soviet Union collapsed and she witnessed her native Moldova begin its journey to becoming a sovereign nation.  Ilona grew up in an apartment and usually climbed the 15 flights of stairs rather than take the elevator due to the unreliable supply of electr...

Bobby Alirezai, AKA DJ Oso Fresh, fled his native Tehran as a child when the Shah of Iran was exiled in 1979. In this conversation, he tells us about his story of moving to America, having to learn English from scratch, and the passions he has found joy in, including breakdancing, graffiti art, and DJing.  He is the brother in law of Tim Clark, whom we interviewed on this podcast in episode 69. 

Lionel Bacon is our guest this week. He is a former VCU basketball player and the youngest of twelve children. Lionel discusses his childhood and growing up in the Beecher Terrace neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky. He told us how he got to VCU (an amazing mom, God and the ability to play basketball).  Lionel talked about his journey and how it has led him to a life of helping others. From his 2...

Kevin T. Eastman is the former assistant coach and VP for Basketball Operations of the Los Angeles Clippers. He also served as head coach and assistant coach in the college ranks, and was on Doc Rivers' coaching staff with the Boston Celtics for over a decade.  He is now a semi-retired motivational speaker for sports teams and businesses. Pictured: Kevin Garnett, Kevin Eastman, Doc Rivers

Kenny Wingle is a stand-up comedian and producer of the upcoming ROFL Comedy Series in Richmond VA. Kenny is a Detroit native, born to a Native American mother and Polish father. He has been a stand up comedian for years, and has produced comedy shows featuring the likes of Whitney Cummings. He is producing Richmond's Open For Laughs (ROFL) Comedy Series which you can enjoy at Atlas 42 (4032 Cox R...

Cla Meredith is a former MLB pitcher who played for the Red Sox, Padres, and Orioles. This episode he tells us about his Richmond roots, the origin of his name, and his athletic career, including some thoughts on teammates like Greg Maddux and Trevor Hoffman, and coaches such as Bruce Bochy. He now serves as a firefighter for Henrico County. 

Boomer Muth is a musician, entrepreneur, and soon-to-be father, and this episode we heard his story. At the tender age of 5, Boomer learned the truth about Santa in a way that will bring a tear to your eye and put hairs on your chest. In the 8th grade, he was a star Mathlete, and carries a love for math and music to this day. An entrepreneur, he is the co-founder of a successful point-of-sale fina...

Travis Herman is a brewmaster and co-founder of Scofflaw Brewery, an Atlanta based brewery founded in 2015.  Scofflaw experienced phenomenal growth, clocking in one of the fastest first-year expansions in craft-brewing history. Travis tells us about his origins, how he earned his wings as a brew master, meeting Rachel Ray, and what it takes to get a batch right and build a business. Read more abou...

DuBois Miller is an author and former correctional educator of 32 years. He grew up in Lynchburg VA, going to segregated schools and living in a house without electricity, but experiencing great cultural enrichment on the buzzing McKinley Street. He documents his coming of age in the 50s in his book "Ten on Tin," for which there is a sequel called "Three More on Tin."  DuBois spoke with us about h...

Justin Addison is a US Army Veteran, Jets fan, and Executive Chef at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. He enlisted on 9/11, and was later deployed to Fallujah, Iraq as a PsyOps specialist. We were also joined by Mohammed Saeed, who served as the interpreter for Justin's team during deployment. They formed a natural connection and were effective teammates in the field. They now consider each ot...

Caroline Slaughter is a voiceover actor, filmmaker, and podcaster. You have probably heard her before as the voice for brands like Subway, Ford, and Holiday Inn. She just launched a podcast on iHeartRadio called Astray , an exploration into how far people go for enlightenment. Caroline joined us to tell us about her story and how she got into podcasting, and even to graciously offer us some podcas...

Wali Rainer is a former NFL linebacker who played for the Cleveland Browns, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Detroit Lions. In our conversation, Wali told us about growing up in the inner city of West Charlotte, and how football was like therapy for him to vent his anger and pain. We talk about his college recruitment and playing at UVA - which he attended on condition that his older brother also...

Rolando Lamb is a VCU Hall of Fame basketball player, Coach, pastor, and motivational speaker. In our conversation we discuss Rolando's upbringing in Portsmouth VA, the attention he received in high school as a result of being an athletic phenom, his career at VCU, getting drafted to the NBA, and how he has kept basketball in his life ever since.   We hear about some of the characters he interacte...

Brandon Nunnally is an Emergency Room Doctor.  In our conversation we discuss Brandon's med school experience -  the insane amount of work required,  the misconceptions that people have, and the type of people that succeed. He went to Randolph-Macon college for undergrad, then UVA for med school, and University of Pittsburgh for residency. He also tells us about his role as an ER Doc, including th...

Tim Clark is the Chief Digital Officer at NASCAR. He is a Mechanicsville native, US Army veteran, and a great lover of sports.  This episode, Tim talks to us about growing up on a farm, what it's like to drive a tank, how his first job out of college was to spearhead Circuit City's ecommerce efforts, and about his work at NASCAR. NASCAR had a big year in 2020 which involved a COVID-inspired pivot...

Pete Silvester is a social scientist, entrepreneur, and proud Territorian who has traveled the world by virtue of a career in International Aid and Development. He has spent many years in SE Asia, and came on to give us his take on the events in Myanmar.  Myanmar, formerly Burma, was under military rule for 50 years before it began its experiment with democracy in the early 2010s. As it reopened t...

Amanda Ripley is a journalist and author whose work has been featured in Time Magazine, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and others. She has written three books on psychological and cultural themes varying from how we respond to disaster to how we get addicted to conflict. Amanda talked with us about growing up in central NJ, the public vs private school experience...

Dan Crain is the director of groups and mobilization at OneRace, an organization dedicated to addressing racism and racial division through faith, in Atlanta and beyond.   In our conversation Dan tells us about his life, the path of his faith, his inspirations, and the work he is doing with OneRace. To find out more and to support Dan and OneRace, head to OneRaceMovement.com. 

Garrison Coward is a proud Virginian and a former Republican candidate for the 2019 Virginia House of Delegates, a race which he lost narrowly.  He is currently a Managing Director working in the investment banking space. In our conversation we talked about whether running a political campaign is actually like House of Cards, how to deal with political division,  why local politics are undervalued...