The Kelley Kitley Podcast

Kicking off season 2, episode #25 with Kevin Boehm the legendary restauranteur and one of the world’s foremost hospitality visionaries! Kevin is the Co-CEO + Co-Founder of BOKA Restaurant Group , Co-Founder of BIÂN Wellness and Social Club, and Author of ‘ The Bottomless Cup .’ An autobiography about the highs and lows of opening numerous (50!) restaurants, earning James Beard awards, and navigati...

This episode will help families who have been impacted by addiction, approach the holidays from a different lens. Tom Farley is breaking generational traumas by sharing his experience, strength, and hope through his recovery and advocacy work. He’s the New York Times best -selling author of “The Chris Farley Show,” older brother of the late Chris Farley (SNL cast member, comedian, actor) and the C...

WBEZ Chicago reported this week, “Alcohol consumption in the U.S. is at a 90-year low. That trend has resulted in an explosion of tasty local options for alcohol-free imbibing.” In this bonus holiday episode, we invited one of the leading experts of non-alcoholic drinks on the podcast to take a deeper dive into this growing trend! Ryan Foley is the publisher of Bartender Magazine (following in the...

Take a moment to think about what your relationship has been like with alcohol. From how old you were when you took your first drink to where you are at this moment. How does that feel? Maybe you haven’t experienced a “rock bottom” but you hear a quiet whisper, “this isn’t working for me anymore.” Suzanne Warye went from a fashion influencer to a sober movement maker and is shifting the way we vie...

Almost 20 years ago, Jamie Tworkowski founded To Write Love on Her Arms. A non profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self injury, and suicide. 80% of young people first look for mental health support online. TWLOHA provides a therapy scholarship program, peer support groups, mental health tool kits, community, and connection...

Today, for this special Thanksgiving episode, I’m joined by my four younger siblings, Bradley Rompza, Nicole Rompza, Emma Urquiaga, and AJ Rompza. We discuss holiday traditions, supporting each other through tough times, how each of us take care of our mental health, growing up in the restaurant and bar business and how that’s shaped who we are today as business owner’s in the health and wellness...

In this episode Kelley, Dawn, and Taryn discuss how the She Recovers community came into existence in 2011, their journey as women in long term recovery as a mother and daughter, the heartbreak of watching a child in active addiction and setting boundaries, healing generational family trauma and the importance of community. Dawn Nickel, PhD and Taryn Strong mother/daughter Canadian Co-Founders of...

In this episode Biet discuss’ her heroin addiction to reinvention, the ritual that saved her, how we all suck at life and that’s normal. She opens our conversation singing Amazing Grace and closes the conversation with a beautiful guided meditation. Biet is the world-renowned Spiritual Teacher and Best-Selling Author, dubbed the “David Bowie of Meditation.” As a musician, Biet weaves the world of...

Joyce Marter is an internationally renowned mental health thought leader and financial mindset expert, who considers it her life’s purpose to spread the Mental Wealth; to remove the shame and stigma from both mental health and financial stress and provide a global audience with practical strategies and tools to heal, recover, thrive and prosper. In this episode, Joyce shares her personal experienc...

In this episode, Scott and Kelley discuss how he’s redefining addiction and recovery as a person with 28 years of sobriety, why trauma is the #1 health crisis, how he built a marketplace for healing and designed an app to put our phones down and connect in community. He shares his experience, strength, and hope living with dyslexia, how lifting others lifts us, and rewriting your next chapter. Sco...

A prominent advocate, speaker, author, and media commentator, Ryan Hampton travels coast-to-coast to add solutions to our national addiction and drug overdose crisis. In recovery from a decade-long opioid addiction, Hampton is regarded as a forefront expert and thought leader in America’s rising addiction recovery advocacy movement. For nearly a decade, he’s worked with multiple non-profits and ad...

October is Trans Empowerment Month and Kelley couldn’t think of anyone more empowering than Charlotte Clymer! Kitley and Clymer met at the inspiring Clinton Global Initiative as content creators a few weeks ago in NYC. In 2017, Clymer came out as transgender after decades of a deep knowing and attempting self convergent therapy. She’s the former Director of Communications at Catholics for Choice-a...

Niro Feliciano graduated from Columbia University with a Masters of Science in Social Work and completed her internship at Beth Israel Medical Center. She also worked at Mount Sinai’s adolescent health center, one of the largest adolescent clinics in the country. She’s been in private practice in CT for nearly two decades as a certified cognitive therapist. She’s a co-founder of a multi-specialty...

Gabby is programmed in Kelley’s phone as “Queen Softball Mom.” Her partner is an assistant softball coach on their daughters team and gets sh*t done, at the softball fields and in daily life. After a season of their daughters playing together, it wasn’t until nationals at the end of the season that they really got to know each other. Another parent mentioned they were both social workers and immed...

“ Top U.S. health officials urged pregnant women not to use acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, claiming it could cause autism, though studies have been inconclusive.” NYT Dr. Cira shares passionate opinions, backed by scientific evidence, about last week’s dangerous and false headlines released by The Trump Administration. Not only is Dr. Cira an expert in the field, she identifies a...

September is National Recovery Month and Deaf Awareness Month. Beth Leipholtz uses her platform (she’s an on-line sensation with millions of followers) as an advocate, educator, and hope dealer through her personal experience as a young woman in long-term recovery and raising a deaf child, Coop. In this episode we discuss getting sober at the age of 20, how she uncovered her son’s rare diagnosis w...

In this episode, Dr. John Duffy-renowned expert, specializing in treating boys and men and Kelley discuss raising kids in today’s landscape of social media, sex, drugs, and isolation. Duffy writes a weekly substack that will challenge your thinking and encourage you to take action. Subscribe Dr. John Duffy ! Kitley refers to Dr. D as the GOAT of therapists. He’s as real as they come, tells it like...

In this episode, we discuss the climb of her career, grit and resilience, aging parents, raising kids, marriage, living the American dream and having faith that everything will work out. Her parent’s believed this to their core, as refugees from Vietnam, with her in tow at 6 months old. Vicky Nguyen has over twenty-five years of experience as a journalist. She started her career locally at Central...

LZ Granderson famed for a "Hero for Living Life Openly." Becoming a father at the age of 22, his work as a minister in the church, coming out as queer, and last year publicly disclosing he had been living with HIV. He creates amazing content across platforms as a journalist, to change the conversation about politics, sports, and culture. In this episode Kelley and JZ discuss lessons in authenticit...

In this episode Sr. Nancy talks about her mission work as a transgender advocate. She has a magnanimous gift of holding space with an open heart and an open mind. She encourages us to do the same and teaches us how. Sr. Nancy was a former high school teacher of Kelley’s. She saw something in her that she didn't see in herself and set the foundation for her life's work in social justice. Sister Nan...

In this episode, Kate and Kelley discuss her lifelong career in journalism and the phenomenal mental health stories she covers. Kate’s been a long time SHERO of Kitley’s as an advocate for mental health, using her national platform to educate and shine light on stories that often go unnoticed and untold. Usually, Kate is the one interviewing Kelley, as a regular contributor on her show, NBC News D...

In this episode, Anthony shares his experience, strength, and hope as a man with 16 years in addiction recovery. He’s dedicated his life to traveling around the country to talk to young people about mental health, addiction recovery, and the power of owning your story. On May 17th, 2020, Anthony lost his 17 year old son Gavyn, to an accidental drug overdose. He shares his pain through grief and lo...

In this episode, Kelley catches Jen in the thick of her newly launched book, "Proof of Life' tour, which just hit #1 on Amazon's New Release list. (Also Author of 'On Being Human') In this episode, Jen candidly and hilariously talks about rejecting society's timeline pressures, shame, disappointment and wanting more, quieting our inner as*hole, grief, and so much more! Jen Pastiloff travels the wo...

In this episode, Danielle Robay and Kitley have an immediate connection through their Chicago roots and dove right in. They discuss career, the importance of mentors, relationships, therapy, and her newest endeavor as host of Reese’s Book Club Hello Sunshine podcast, ‘Bookmarked.’ You will feel inspired beyond measure to make your dreams happen, without permission from anyone! Danielle Robay is a...

The fourth episode of ‘The Bear’ released this week and Kelley Kitley goes on location with Chris Zucchero, the son of the Original Mr. Beef. ‘The Bear’ which has won four Emmy Awards is based on his story. Christopher Storer, Screenwriter, director, and producer of ‘The Bear’ is a childhood friend. Zucchero holds nothing back in this interview and shares his experience, strength, and hope with ad...