What It's Like To...

Send us Fan Mail In celebration of the Summer Olympics, we're reprising some past episodes featuring guests who have been there!   Sue Humphrey says she was a "not very good" athlete growing up--but she loved sports, and she found her niche early: as a teenager she started helping other athletes.  She excelled at coaching track and field, and worked her way up to college coaching (e...

Send us Fan Mail In celebration of the Summer Olympics, we're reprising some past episodes featuring guests who have been there!   Justin Spring went from tumbling around his neighborhood to later winning NCAA gymnastics titles and eventually earning a place on the 2008 Olympic team.  The road getting there had its share of twists and turns (pun intended), including a slew of injuries leading...

Send us Fan Mail In celebration of the Summer Olympics, we're reprising some past episodes featuring guests who have been there!   Photographer Jeff Cable has had a front-row seat at the past seven Olympic Games--although his seat is cluttered with cameras, lenses, and laptops.  As the photographer for the United States Olympic Committee, Jeff has an all-access pass to any event he chooses. ...

Send us Fan Mail Interest in "tiny living" is getting bigger.  But what is it, really--what are the benefits, and what do you sacrifice by "going small"?  Tiny house enthusiast Laura Lynch shares what inspired her to trade in her 2300-square-foot house for a home about one-fifth that size; the process of downsizing  ("do you own your stuff,  or does your stuff own you?&quo...

Send us Fan Mail We're revisiting a popular episode from our archives this week!  It's not easy to get to the top of the world.  It takes a lot of training and determination, a willingness to endure pain and suffering--and no small amount of luck.  Even the most prepared climber can confront a deadly avalanche or fatal turn in the weather. Our guest, Jeff Gottfurcht, was the first person...

Send us Fan Mail Lots of people say they “like to travel”... but most probably can’t claim they're “travel addicts.” Karen Gershowitz has earned that title by visiting more than 95 countries–many of them numerous times!  She’s worked her career around traveling, and is now a travel writer. She has also published two books about her travels. In this episode Karen shares tales from her adventur...

Send us Fan Mail EJ Snyder has spent 206 days in very tough, uncompromising environments, having to create his own shelters, forage for food, and keep warm in the elements--all in the nude.  EJ--a.k.a. "Skull Crusher"--is an extreme survivalist, and has appeared six times on the reality television show "Naked and Afraid" (as well as other shows). So are reality shows really as...

Send us Fan Mail Todd Jones has crashed into walls, been punched in the face, flown through the air,  tumbled down stairs, and fallen off high buildings, numerous times--willingly.  He is a professional stuntman for movies and television shows.  Todd also is a strongman: among other things, he holds a Guinness World Record for "hearting" horseshoes (bending steel with his hands).  Think...

Send us Fan Mail Jenell Jones has everything she owns with her at all times, and can travel wherever she chooses (as long as the destination is on this continent!). Jenell is a full-time RV (recreational vehicle) traveler.   She spends her life on the road, but Jenell isn't lonely: she runs an RV club for other solo travelers, so they travel "alone, together."  In this episode Jenel...

Send us Fan Mail Silja Paulus spent a year pounding weights in the gym, tailoring what she ate (and often massively restricting calories), and sculpting her body--all for a few short minutes posing in a bikini and high heels in front of a panel of judges.  This is the life of a bikini fitness athlete, a form of bodybuilding that requires a particular form of dedication.  Silja had to train her bod...

Send us Fan Mail Everybody has a superpower--you don't have to be a superhero to have one or to know what it is.  Mary Beth Robinson, a "superpower queen," helps us find out what our special talents are, and how we can best use them to help ourselves and other people.  In this episode, Mary Beth describes her own gift of intuition, and then uses her unique ability to "tune in&q...

Send us Fan Mail It's the holidays! So no full new episode this week.  Instead, Elizabeth sat down with her daughters and asked them about their favorite Christmas traditions and what they'll be doing over Winter Break.  Next new episode coming in the new year--January 10, 2024! Support the show

Send us Fan Mail At age 10, Rachel Zemach lost her her hearing in an accident.  That obviously changed her life--but, she says, becoming deaf was one of her life's greatest gifts.  In this episode, Rachel shares her experiences going through the world with and without hearing, and offers advice on how hearing people can help and advocate for deaf people (including words and actions both to us...

Send us Fan Mail For most of us, climate change is a heavy topic. Ethan Brown has made it his mission to make environmental issues more approachable and understandable--by using humor.  His website and podcast, aptly titled "The Sweaty Penguin," is able to cut through the noise and the doom-and-gloom of the climate conversation with late-night-comedy-style monologues and in-depth convers...

Send us Fan Mail In 2008, Celeste Mergens was volunteering at an orphanage in Kenya when she saw an issue that she couldn't ignore, and decided to try to help improve it.  Through some trial and error, and lots of listening, humility and determination, she founded Days for Girls, which champions women's health and menstrual equity.  Days for Girls has now served 3 million women and girls...

Send us Fan Mail Andrew Backer decided to enter his first-ever bicycle race--but not just any old competition: the Trans Am Bike Race, a self-supported, ultra-distance ride that takes weeks to complete (21 days, for Andrew).  Not only did Andrew do it, and complete the ride (a feat in itself); he was sixth overall, and the first American to finish!  In this episode he shares what inspired him to g...

Send us Fan Mail When Adesuwa Elaiho was a little girl, she pretended to be a contestant on cooking shows; now, she actually is one!  Adesuwa is one of the 12 bakers competing  on the Food Network's "Halloween Baking Championship." On this episode, she shares the inside scoop about life on the set of a baking reality show--from the time pressure to what happens when your cake falls...

Send us Fan Mail Barbara Legere experienced every parent's ultimate nightmare: her child died.  Her son took his own life, after years of struggling with mental health issues and addiction.  After an intense period of feeling "in a fog," Barbara started writing, which eventually became a bestselling book, called "Keven's Choice."  In this episode, Barbara shares very...

Send us Fan Mail Movies and TV shows often take us behind the scenes of the New York Police Department--but the truth is often stranger than fiction.  Vic Ferrari spent 20 memorable years as a member of the NYPD, most of them as a detective.  In this episode, he shares stories from his many hours on the job, and on the streets:  targeting car thieves; sitting overnight with a just-deceased man; wo...

Send us Fan Mail Making a podcast requires a lot more than just sitting in front of a microphone, hitting "record," and talking with a guest--as I've learned over the past few years.  To find out what it takes to make a good podcast, and make it grow, I turned to an expert: Colin Gray, the founder and CEO of ThePodcastHost.com.  Colin gave me tips and advice that can apply to other...

Send us Fan Mail Debi Silber experienced two major betrayals: first by her family, and then by her husband.  What did she do next? She didn't just sit on her couch and wallow. She used her story as her own case study as she embarked on a PhD about betrayal; came up with groundbreaking discoveries; and eventually founded an institute to help others heal and transform from their own betrayals. ...

Send us Fan Mail Eleven years ago, Terry Tucker learned he had an extremely unusual form of melanoma.  Since then he has had two amputations, one of his foot and later of his leg above the knee.  He recently learned he also has tumors in his lungs.  Terry has endured physical pain most of us will never know.  Yet, as he says, "Suffering is optional."  Terry has been more than resilient--...

Send us Fan Mail Dave Albin knows all the reasons you don't want to walk with bare feet on 1000 degree hot coals--after all, he didn't want to do it either!  He was first presented with the opportunity at a Tony Robbins seminar many years ago.  But he did it--and soon thereafter was working as the Fire Captain for Robbins.  Albin now runs his own company, Firewalk Adventures, where he us...

Send us Fan Mail Elizabeth explains why she's replaying the episode, "What It's Like to be a Voice Actor" with John Malone (hint: she's away on vacation--but there's more to it than that); and gives a behind-the-scenes look at what went on during the taping of John's interview. Show notes from John's episode: A voice actor can be a silly animated bear one da...

Send us Fan Mail For 24 years, Daniel Dluzneski's job required him to be in the White House and attend events with the President--often with a large, very well-trained dog: Daniel was a lieutenant in the U.S. Secret Service.  In this episode he shares behind-the-scenes stories from that position--what it was like to be in the White House on September 11, 2001; his "favorite" Preside...