The Carlos Whittaker Podcast

Kirsten has spent her career as a political commentator on Fox News, CNN, and USA Today. She watched firsthand from in front of the camera as America spiraled towards chaos during the 2016 and 2020 elections. And today she helps us ALL realize how to get it BACK TOGETHER… Kirsten offers a template for a different kind of America, one where we can engage with people who hold opposing views without...

When we flew to Korea to pick up our 7 month old son in 2007, I took my camera and vlogged the entire thing. From the moment we picked up Losiah till today, at 15 years old, there has barely been a week he hasn’t been on camera. Today Losiah jumps on the mic and all 15 years of his wisdom comes pouring out. We cry. We laugh. We apologize. We learn. From adoption to social media, to friendships, to...

Is the news really the enemy of the people? How can we trust a news source? How do you keep your bias out of your reporting? In today’s episode, I asked journalist Travis Lyles of the Washington Post all the hard questions. And I also take a peek into a journalist’s heart in 2021 when so many people bash them daily. What’s that do to your soul when you are one of the good guys? Travis was an incre...

This week on instagram I asked people if they needed prayer to leave a comment. I was fully expecting like 300 comments. I got over 5000 requests. While many people told me that it felt heavy, I reminded them that this is normal. People are suffering and in need of our prayers all around us. So today we dive deep with the prayer warrior herself, my wife, Heather Whittaker. Heather has studied inne...

We all have a bias towards what it means to be an “undocumented worker” in America. We think it’s cut and dry. We think it’s black and white. Well if that is what we think… Then I promise you we are not Walking With People… we are Standing On Issues. In today's show, we have the honor of hearing from Bambadjan Bamba. An award-winning actor, filmmaker, and immigrant rights advocate. He has worked i...

You guys know that I am a huge advocate for abolishing the death penalty. Many of you walked hand in hand with me as we watched Brandon Bernards failed last-second appeal last December and were all holding our breaths as he took his last. Stacy Rector joins us today to talk about what we can do to see this broken system abolished. And yes it’s broken. People for and against the death penalty would...

Ashley Lemieux is a literal miracle. I’ve known people who have said they have “lost everything”, and listening to their stories you would know why they would say that… But after listening to Ashley you realize that she in fact has lost absolutely everything… And is still standing. Not only standing but running. In today’s episode Ashley shares her story of losing not one, not two, but all three o...

3 months ago someone DMd me an account of a beautiful family who was going through hell. Shanell of @TwoLightsAcademy had the first seizure of her life in March of 2021 and her condition had rapidly deteriorated to where she was having up to 100 seizures a day… She was trying to raise $25k for a seizure alert dog and after a month of fundraising was stuck at $9k. Enter… InstaFamilia… I asked and i...

You guys did it again. I asked “What’s the best thing that has happened to you this year?” AND YOU DELIVERED. So if you are in need of some hope, the Human Hope Fam has you covered… From overcoming covid to beating self harm… From road trips with dogs to sight being restored… You guys seriously are the best. I love you so. If you feel led please give some hope to AIM as they fight to end child sex...

On Jan 6th, 2021 I got a text from a friend of mine… “I see now.” Three words from a super close friend who lives on the opposite side of the aisle as I do. Three words that finally broke me and I wept. A white, conservative, middle-aged, Trump-voting man whom I love dearly. We have had many deep talks the last 4 years. Me explaining the depths of my concern. Him listening and explaining his. The...

So a few days ago I did a Q&A where I talked about how our kids have been doing all the laundry in the house since they were in elementary school. Insert 4324325543 DMs as to how we pulled that off. Yes it’s true. Heather and I have not done any laundry nor have we even made our own bed since the kids were old enough to wash a dish. We go over homeschooling, the sex talk, chores, allowance, techno...

I’m still blown away at the opportunity I had to interview Karim. Karim was a translator for the United States Marines in Afghanistan and was granted permission to move to America but he had to leave his entire family behind. As Kabul has fallen to the Taliban Karim is now video chatting with his wife and children daily as they try and make their way to the airport to attempt to flee the country....

Guys. I CAN’T WITH THIS CONVO. Mary Heffernan shares her story of how she and her attorney husband Brian risked everything and sold it all in the suburbs to raise their 4 little girls on a cattle ranch in Northern California. THEY HAD TO LEARN HOW TO DO EVERYTHING. And now they are a successful company growing every day. It wasn’t overnight. It was a lot of hard work. But today's conversation will...

On Tuesday I spent 8 hours inside a maximum-security prison here in Tennessee and even got to visit an inmate on death row. One of the inmates told me that the person they hurt had forgiven them. And now they are freer inside than they ever were outside. It got me thinking DEEP about forgiveness. Today I dive deep into the 3 types of forgiveness that finally gave me freedom. I unpack them. My wife...

November of 2019 we rushed our 17-year-old daughter to Vanderbilt University Medical Center as she was experiencing massive chest pain. The next 21 days in the hospital would change all of our lives and bring out a strength we didn’t know existed. Sohaila’s story is going to make you feel like you can bust down any wall that is in front of you. Also your stories of the most impactful gift you ever...

I stopped to have some Chick-fil-A in concourse A of the Atlanta airport and noticed nobody was paying attention to this piano player, so I thought I would sit down and enjoy his music. After listening for a few minutes I invited him over for a chat. I learned that Tonee has kidney disease and is on dialysis 9 hours every night but then comes to the airport to play piano 4 hours a day… I saw his e...

Texas? They came after me on Instagram this week when I said that Dallas was Central Texas.  Which caused me to go through trauma that ended up with me in therapy for 4 days in San Diego. Only 1/2 way kidding. In today's episode, I take a deep dive into my journey with my dad's dementia and how therapy is helping me process it all. I also give you 2 acronyms that will help you communicate better w...

Leeann Miller met a strong, soft-spoken Amish young man when her father hired an Amish carpentry crew to fix their suburban home fireplace. 28 days later they eloped. 30 years later she sits down to tell us the story of how their 30-year love story started and how it’s going. I haven’t been this enthralled with a guest’s story in a long time. What does sacrifice really mean when it comes to relati...

Recorded live from ALASKA!!! We’ve been all over the world as a family. We never let our lack of resources get in the way of our exploration. This episode is going to help every single one of you get out there and travel again… or maybe even for the first time. We took a lot of your travel questions and tried to answer them! How do we afford to travel as a family? Where do we find the incredible t...

I’ve brought back one of your favorite episode ideas. The one where YOU GUYS deal hope. I asked you guys to leave me a voicemail with your stories of hope and YOU DELIVERED. So if you are in need of some hope… From infertility to cancer, to job loss, to relationship loss, to dreams on hold… THIS IS THE EPISODE FOR YOU. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

She may just be the sweetest, most creative, entrepreneur on Instagram… But don’t let that fool you. Danielle Coke is a strong and focused freedom fighter. In today’s episode, she takes us on her journey from 700 followers on Instagram to 1/2 a million in a little over a year and we dive into the personal details of how she is feeling after 18 months of being an anti-racism educator. Follow Dani o...

WE ALL WANT THIS TO BE OVER. And Jessica helps us understand when we can say it's finally over. This week we dive deep into the ethos of Jessica Malaty Rivera. Infectious disease epidemiologist and science communication lead at the COVID Tracking Project. She has spent the last 16 months of her life trying to communicate the science behind Covid19 to people across the planet. I know that there are...

I realized after getting numerous messages from you that I have not gone into the story of how I lost my marriage and family and how I got them back… Like I’ve written about it in detail in my book from 2017 but haven’t really talked about it online since then. With over 130,000 new friends around here I thought maybe some of you could use some encouragement that no matter how far away from freedo...

You guys. I CAN’T WITH THESE INCREDIBLE HUMANS. My 2 new favorite humans on planet earth (sorry mom and dad). These legends are leading up the incredible organization called AIM (https://aimfree.org/carlos/) which is working to relentlessly rescue, heal and empower survivors of trafficking to be free. In addition to this, their protection programs are targeting the root of the issue by addressing...

Next week is our 21st wedding anniversary. And we are JUST BARELY figuring this marriage/relationship thing out. From almost calling it quits 10 years ago to thriving in year 21… We go all in with you guys… If you loved episode 5 with Heather and I just jawing back and forth about life you are going to love this one as well. I took questions off of Instagram and we answered your relationship quest...