Swan Dive

Born Nov. 1923 in Key West, long-time Miamian, Ruth Wolkowsky Greenfield is an American concert pianist, composer and teacher who, through music, broke racial barriers and brought together black and white students, taught by black and white teachers. She moved to Paris in 1949 to study piano and there experienced a society far more racially integrated than Miami, which was in the throes of profoun...

As a fertility doctor, Michael Freeman is responsible for helping his patients bring new life into the world. Which makes his second bout with cancer all the more ironic. Yet, Michael's humor and optimism remain fully activated. "I'm still flossing," he told us when asked how he's changed his life to face the disease. Optimism abounds. This loving husband and father to thr...

Ken Russell had a dream job, traveling the world kite-surfing and paddle boarding with is watersports company, when he got involved with the cleanup of the city park across the street from his Miami home. That civic engagement resulted in a run for office and a hard pivot from entrepreneur to his current position as Vice-Chairman of the Miami City Commission, recently re-elected in November 2019 f...

Robert Arleigh White’s life forever changed when at 14 years old, his lifelong friend, Lenny, handed him a flyer and said, "Come on, we're gonna audition for the school play." In that moment, as Bob now recalls, Lenny handed him is life. Bob shares his winding but deliberate path, from high school teacher (11 yrs) to running Theater Jacksonville (16 yrs), where he directed over 50 p...

Bhakti Baxter (born in Miami FL, 1979) lives and works in Topanga, CA. At 38, having never lived anywhere but his hometown, Bhakti outfitted an old Sprinter and made his way to the west coast, immersing himself in the deep solitudes of Southern Utah and other singular landscapes along the way. Exploring the relationship between science and spirituality, his work hinges heavily on geometry, the sys...

In the late 1990s Richard Bowsher co-founded the conference company, StreamMedia.com which pioneered the nascent space devoted to the delivery of audio and video over this new thing called the Internet. He sold that thriving company to NYSE publisher Penton Media. In 2007, Richard founded Klipopmekaar and started farming rooibos tea high in the Northern Cederberg mountains of his native South Afri...

Award-winning journalist Gloria Riviera spent 20+ years as an ABC News producer and correspondent based around the world covering breaking, investigative and feature stories for the network's flagship broadcasts and social media platforms, including Good Morning America , World News Tonight & Nightline . She has a very exciting New Project as host of “No One is Coming to Save Us,” a podca...

Jay Sweet runs some of America’s most iconic music festivals: the Newport Folk Festival & Newport Jazz Festival. During his tenure as Executive Director of the non-profit Newport Festivals Foundation , his Folk Festival has won five Pollstar awards for Music Festival Of The Year … and America's original music festivals have regained their stature among the country’s premier happenings. He...

Danny Báez immigrated at 20 from the Dominican Republic to the US and worked for one week in a factory before realizing he had to find another route. Odd jobs paid the bills the next 5 years, until serendipity changed the entire trajectory of his life. A friend who worked for renowned Thai artist, Rirkrit Tiravanija, needed help for a 3-day gig. Danny showed up and worked hard, doing whatever was...

“This kid was a bit of a unicorn … very much a life force. He  had this big energy, super kind, great humor ... this kid was loved ... when you met Sam, you didn’t forget it, even if you met him for only five minutes on a chairlift," says Ron Jackenthal of his son Sam. Ron left a very successful career as a senior telecom executive to found the Live Like Sam Foundation two years ago to honor...

Christa Niven and her Journey Schools have made vast strides in creating a utopian template for learning, focusing as much on emotional intelligence as academic excellence. She began her career in education at the Institute of Child Development researching infancy, risk and resiliency in early childhood. She then directed a program supporting homeless teen parents and their children living in shel...

“I think of myself as a real-life advocate who argues in the court of public opinion rather than a courtroom.," says Sue Ariza, an Argentinian-Dominican Human Rights expert and producer based in New York City. With a BA in political science and law from the University of  Zurich and an MA in International Law, Sue began her career as an international lawyer before pivoting to social justice P...

Tanya Selvaratnam ’s new book, Assume Nothing: A Story of Intimate Violence , speaks truth to power by exploring her journey through an abusive relationship with the very powerful politician, former NY Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, who was forced to resign based on Tanya's revelations. Covered extensively in Time Magazine, The New Yorker and beyond, Tanya's narrative has created p...

Laetitia Deweer is the founder and development director of CEPIA (Culture, Education and Psychology for Infants and Adolescents) , an internationally recognized, award-winning nonprofit that serves over 1000 at-risk children, teenagers, their families and adults in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. CEPIA provides a wide array of education programs, psychological, legal and medical care as well as recreation...

As a mother of two bright and healthy children, writer and professor, Sarah Clarke Stuart, never imagined she’d hear the words, “your child will either end up in prison or dead” from the ravages of drug addiction. It's a trauma no parent can ever prepare for, yet she and her young adult daughter have faced the fire together for 5 yrs now, and “today is a good day,” Sarah tells us. Sarah curre...

Joshua Deitch changed the game in residential real estate in tony Marin County, CA, setting sales records and amassing a legion of ecstatic clients. Josh started as a professional basketball player in Israel and brings an athlete’s passion and competitive spirit to work each day, setting him apart in what can be a cookie-cutter profession. He then built a thriving, decade-long career as a successf...

In the late 70s, Scot Nicol, was a young hippie living on the coast in Mendocino County (CA), when an article appeared about this new “Clunker Bike” movement happening in Marin County, CA and Crested Butte. A handful of guys were essentially retrofitting old Scwhinn bikes to ride on the dirt. Scot reached out to these kindred spirits (now cycling legends: Joe Breeze, Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly...

In 1960, Rodney Lawrence Hurst, Sr., the 16-yr-old president of his local NAACP Youth Council, led a sit-in at a local segregated lunch counter. All this young black leader desired was basic respect and dignity. In no time, a mob of 200 angry whites showed up with axe handles, spitting and shouting epithets, in what came to be infamously known as "Axe Handle Saturday." Sixty years later,...

A descendant of slave owners, former museum director, Hope McMath, spent 23 years at Jacksonville's venerable Cummer Museum of Art. Her abrupt exit five years ago resulted from "push back" against the 2016 exhibit “LIFT: Contemporary Expressions of the African American Experience,” consisting  of work by 10 local artists inspired by the song “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” considered t...

As a chid, Khalil Osiris's most treasured gift was the Encyclopedia Britannica set he kept at the end of his bed and read cover to cover. Education was the highest priority in the home of this self-described "happy-go-lucky" country boy. So, it's not surprising that, at age 13, when the local chapter of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense opened in his rural community, Kha...

Internet pioneer and early stage investor, Josh Felser , was co-founder and president of Spinner, the first multi-channel Internet radio service, acquired by AOL for $320mm in 1999. He next co-founded and was CEO of Grouper/Crackle - one of the first user-powered Internet video networks, acquired by Sony for $65mm in 2006. While we would’ve next disappeared forever onto a mega-yacht in the Greek I...

We did it, this year 2020 is drawing to a close.  What did it teach us?  What did we learn?  This Swan Dive journey launched on March 26th, 2020.  Stu and Ron started this collaborative art project that turned into a most needed distraction for a most unique year.   In this episode, we take time to reflect on the year that was, talk about the guests and moments that filled us up and helped us grow...

When John Spence was sixteen, his father, a famous attorney, came home and told his second youngest child, "You’re a complete disappoint as a son. I wish you’d never been born. Get out of my house." Mind you, at that moment, John was a straight-A student, captain of the football team and homecoming king. By 26, John Spence was the CEO of an international Rockefeller foundation, overseein...

Bob Wiltfong is an Emmy award winning journalist, actor and dad. His recent book, “The BS Dictionary: uncovering the origins and true meaning of business speak”, takes a humorous jab at the numbing language that is BS (Business Speak). His love for BS was fostered through 20+ years of working as a consultant in presentation skills for several Fortune 500 companies including T-Mobile, General Elect...

Josué Rivas (Mexica and Otomi) is an Indigenous Futurist, creative director, visual storyteller and educator working at the intersection of art, journalism, and social justice. "My mission, I think, is to come and show us the light. Like, what does that look like. How can you do it with storytelling that is compelling and is beautiful and is also regenerative for the people in the image,” he...