The Pod of DC

Tony Barone is a Protective Paramedic Practitioner and CEO of Emergility, a security, protection, and emergency medical services company based in Alexandria, Virginia. Over 60 years ago in Alexandria, four physicians established 24/7 year-round emergency care, which today has become accessed and over-accessed from the most minor ailments to the most life-threatening ones. On this episode of the po...

Tina Fox is an Entrepreneur, Creator, and CEO of TERN Mentoring, a B Corporation that provides a platform for individuals to share their experiences and live their legacy through mentorship. Of course, through networking, I met Tina's husband, who encouraged me to connect with Tina as she was a fellow JMU Duke. Tina and I hit it off immediately and chatted it up on how mentorship and networkin...

Sytera Field is an innovative yoga instructor and owner/operator of Sytera Yoga in Vienna, Va. I’ve spent the last 1 ½ years taking classes from her and the instructor team there and wanted to learn more about Sytera’s yoga journey and experience as a small business owner. For this pod episode, Sytera and I met just outside the studio doors to share some laughs and delve into her early experiences...

Rick shares another Happy Father's Day message to all the Dads out there and explains why this Father's Day feels extra bittersweet.

In 2005 David Reynolds Jr. was teaching General Music to Elementary School students when he was approached to start a percussion ensemble for kids as a community service project. At first the group consisted of about two dozen 5th and 6th graders banging on instruments available to them in the school from xylophones to trash cans and other non-traditional instruments. Fast forward to today, The Vi...

Julie Cangialosi is the founder of Operation Little Angel 101: Hope after Loss centered on advocacy and support for the pregnancy and infant loss community. It was almost six years ago that Julie and I first crossed paths on the Mrs. DC America stage and upon her crowning that evening, Julie set in motion an array of mission-driven pursuits centered on her journey as a mother, nonprofit founder, a...

Kristen Berset-Harris is an award-winning host of Great Day Washington on WUSA9 in the greater DC/Baltimore metro area. For the final pod of 2022, I visited Kristen at WUSA9 to discuss her upstart in broadcasting, how competing in pageantry gave her a foundation to find her voice and confidence that led to years as a news and sports anchor and co-host of the Ravens Report. But it was a second brea...

Kathleen Klawitter is a speaker, resiliency expert, visionary, former LPGA golf pro, and author of Direct Hit: "A Golf Pro's Remarkable Journey Back from Traumatic Brain Injury." On this episode of the pod, Kathleen shares her story from gifted athlete to marketing manager on the stock exchange to finding her true calling as an LPGA golf instructor helping students discover and refine the art of c...

Michael Pukownik is the Head of Genre Marketing at Amazon Music. Michael and I met as classmates and fraternity brothers in college and we connected on our shared love for all things music, but he was the one who dove head first into the music business in New York after a short stint in DC upon graduation. Soon after his move to NYC, Michael's brother gifted him a CD of original music that Michael...

Meghan Grana is the author of Call Me Penny Pickleberry, a relatable story for children and adults alike about a girl named Penelope who faces a roller coaster of emotions in her everyday life and learns to reframe her thinking to take on everyday challenges. Meghan has been a tireless advocate for children and families in some of the country's largest public school systems for decades working to...

Graham Dodge is a serial entrepreneur, patented inventor, and technology leader whose career has spanned the industries of entertainment, healthcare, and information technology over the last two decades. Always gracious and generous with his time, Graham shares his journey to entrepreneurship starting with music and playing in bands around LA, to creating the first data map of crime with producers...

Kinosha Soden has been on the move since arriving in the nation's capital over a decade ago. She made her way to D.C. via St. Louis holding a Masters in Biomedical Engineering and Analytics from Washington University in St. Louis. She cheered for the Super Bowl Champion St. Louis Rams ("Greatest Show on Turf"), became a master esthetician, was crowned Mrs DC America 2016, and is now Creator/Produc...

Alison Gary is founder and editor-in-chief of Wardrobe Oxygen, a professional blog offering "real-life style advice for grown-ass women." Her work has earned her features in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and on the Today Show to name a few. A native of the Washington, D.C. area, Alison began blogging and musing on fashion for enjoyment and to stay busy as she continued climbing the ladd...

Mala Persaud is an environmental advocate, sustainability commission member in the Town of Vienna, Virginia and owner of Trace - The Zero Waste Store, the first zero waste store in Fairfax County, the most populous county in the state of Virginia. As the daughter of South American immigrants, Mala learned early in life to appreciate the gifts of the Earth and to push herself outside of her comfort...

Courtney Phillips is a mental health advocate and coach who founded Hope for Invisible Wounds to provide awareness and understanding for mental anguish caused by trauma and has shared her own story of survival through her platform as a former Washington, D.C. and Virginia state pageant title holder. When Courtney and I first met onstage in 2018 during the Mrs. DC America competition, Courtney was...

John Daly is a three-time Winter Olympian in Skeleton Racing and friend who is closing in on his fourth Winter Olympic Games in February 2022. From the age of 14 John has been training, competing, and performing at the highest level of sport to capture that elusive medal that was in his grasp in 2014 but slipped away in his final run. On this episode of the pod, John shares his story of entering c...

Leiah Rochleau is a licensed health coach, certified personal trainer, and mentor to many seeking a healthier body, spirit, and self image. Leiah was in the midst of her own personal self-discovery when we met onstage during the Mrs. DC America Pageant competitions in 2017 and 2018. On this episode of the pod, Leiah details where she was in her life when she walked that stage, how pageantry helped...

Twenty-one years ago this week, just after her 18th birthday, Deveney Shea joined the Army on whim and began her two decades plus military journey from Midwest America to Virginia and currently the DC Metro region. Over those two decades of service, Deveney has taken on a variety of roles within the Department of Defense in both active duty and civilian/reserve status, but it was almost exactly 18...

Dr. Renee Allen, "The People's Emcee", is a speaker, author, talk show host, mentor, and advocate for human decency in the nation's capital region. Renee and I teamed up on several Mrs. DC America and Miss DC for America pageants as co-hosts and I was excited for the opportunity to get the story behind a woman who radiates love and positivity in all that she touches. On this episode of the Pod, Re...

Rounding out the third episode of our three part spotlight series on the Behavioral Health program at Mary’s Center in Washington, DC, we have a conversation with Spencer Northey and Daniel Veiga, licensed therapists within the Couples & Family Therapy program at Mary’s Center. Spencer and Daniel share practices and anecdotes around relationship therapy, the role of genograms and what family h...

On this second of three episodes of our spotlight series on the Behavioral Health program at Mary's Center in Washington, DC, we have a conversation with Tiffani Boykin, a licensed therapist within the school-based mental health program at Mary's Center. Tiffani shares her approach to her practice working with teens in schools, how the program and her practice has evolved over the course of the pa...

Kicking off the first of three episodes of our spotlight series on the Behavioral Health program at Mary’s Center in Washington, DC, we have a conversation with Georgette Saad, a licensed therapist and Senior Early Childhood Manager at Mary’s Center. Georgette shares the importance of being in tune with your child, that parenting is not a one size fits all and what works today with your child migh...

Music is truly a gift, one that gives us comfort and inspiration and helps create memories that last a lifetime. One fun and special way to draw on the magic of music is honoring your child through song. On this episode of The Pod, the Rossman Family share how their love of music inspired them to self publish their new book "Sing Your Child's Story, Parents as Modern Bards," the simple ways parent...

From the time he learned to read, Steve Trout was following box scores and idolizing his local DC sports teams and sportscaster George Michael as a sports obsessed kid growing up in Reston, VA. On this episode of The Pod, Steve shares how he cultivated his passion for all things sports into calling high school sporting events to pursuing a sports journalism degree at James Madison University and w...

With thousands of Twitter followers and over 200 podcast episodes published, the JMU Sports Blog continues to provide fresh and entertaining takes on all things JMU Sports both past and present. On this episode of the pod, JMU alums Rob Abbott and Todd Davis share what led them to establish the blog back in 2009, how the blog and the JMU football program specifically have evolved over the years, s...