Behind The Story Show

What does it take to change a habit that has outlasted every attempt to break it? Connie Kwan, author of Story Habits, says the answer starts with the story you tell yourself about who you are, not with more willpower. Connie grew up between Hong Kong and Canada, trained as a computer engineer, and spent much of her career in product. Then she joined a smoking cessation company and, in her words,...

The word "DEI" has been demonized — but what does it actually mean? In this episode of Behind the Story, Jelani Gonzalez sits down with Celeste Warren, former Global Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Merck, decades-long HR leader, author, and founder of CRW Diversity, for the clear-eyed conversation the topic has been missing. Celeste grew up in a small steel-mill town in Wester...

On Monday, September 14, 2026, the Supreme Court closed the book — at least for this election — on a fight Behind the Story has tracked across five episodes. By a 7-2 vote, the justices refused to let the Trump administration enforce a new U.S. Postal Service rule on mail-in ballots for the 2026 midterms, leaving a federal judge's nationwide injunction in place. In this series finale, host Je...

Twenty-six years ago, a comedian in a yellow tracksuit and orange shades sat across from real politicians, generals, and diplomats — and they answered him seriously. That was Ali G. This fall, Sacha Baron Cohen is bringing the character back in Ali G: Who Is I? — and tens of thousands of people are trying to make sure you never get to watch it. In this Behind the Story Exposé, we go past the headl...

In 2004, Sheena Meade was a young single mother earning about $18,000 a year when an $87.26 check bounced. Two months later, police arrested her in front of her four children. She paid the check back, completed the courses, and thought her sentence was over — but as she says in this conversation, "My true sentence was just beginning." In this episode of Behind the Story, Jelani Gonzalez...

He was born in Jamaica, named Robert Kennedy III by a grandfather who said it "with such glee" — and he's spent his life turning that name into a conversation starter. In this episode of Behind the Story, Jelani Gonzalez sits down with communication coach, speaker, and self-described polymath Robert Kennedy III for an honest look at how a quiet kid who was told "you talk too mu...

Back where we started — except this time, it's different. The same judge who was forced to lift her block on Trump's mail-ballot rule put a new one right back up, days later — and for the first time in five months, a federal court actually ruled on whether the policy is constitutional. Her answer was no. In this episode: how a "motion for reconsideration" unwound Wednesday&apos...

We told you two days ago this story wasn't over — it moved even faster than expected. A federal judge has now ruled that the Trump administration violated her own court order restricting mail ballot rules... and then declined to do anything about it. In this follow-up, we break down Judge Talwani's violation finding, the administration's two-part legal defense (including a genuinely...

The Supreme Court just ruled 6-3 on who controls your mail-in ballot — but by its own admission, the ruling doesn't decide if any of it is actually legal. "Time will tell," the Court wrote. So what did the justices actually decide today, and what did they deliberately leave unresolved? In this episode, we go beneath the surface of the March 2026 executive order that put USPS and DHS...

Somewhere in Washington this week, the Supreme Court will decide something that affects your life — and you may never know why. No hearing. No explanation. Sometimes not even a signature. It's called the emergency docket, better known as the "shadow docket," and over the last decade it has gone from a quiet technical corner of the Court to one of the most powerful and most disputed...

What happens when a man becomes so convinced of a single truth that he legally changes his name to match it? In this episode of Behind the Story , Jelani Gonzalez sits down with the author and philosopher known as One I Am — a name he took after a 2004 spiritual awakening and the book I Am That . What follows is a wide-ranging conversation about awareness, identity, and the idea at the center of a...

Dr. Keith Hersey spent more than twenty years behind the pharmacy counter. Then he did something most pharmacists never do — he stopped focusing on dispensing pills and started coaching people to need fewer of them. In this episode, Dr. Keith sits down with Jelani Gonzalez to trace the full arc: caring for his grandmother after her strokes, discovering his own type 2 diabetes from a free glucose c...

Tom Hunter didn't plan any of this. He started as a primary school teacher in London, burned out, and Googled "how to make money without a degree." That search led him into recruitment — and nine years later, he walked away to build Story Recruitment, a firm placing the CFOs and senior finance leaders behind fast-growing startups. In this episode, Tom sits down with Jelani Gonzalez...

Manny Hernandez grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, in a world that no longer exists — and left in 2000 as the country changed around him. Years later, a routine checkup in the U.S. led to a diabetes diagnosis, and then a misdiagnosis: he was told he had type 2, when he actually had LADA, sometimes called type 1.5, a form that's often missed in adults. In this episode, Manny sits down with Jelani...

Naresh built the kind of business most people are told doesn't exist: one that funds his life instead of consuming it. In this episode of Behind the Story, he sits down with Jelani Gonzalez to trace the road from a Duke degree and a coveted banking offer to becoming a self-described “laptop landlord” — a work-from-home founder running two companies, raising two sons, and owning nine investmen...

Theresa Garcia didn't set out to become a coach — she set out to survive. After losing her fiancé and her mother six months apart, she rebuilt her life from the ground up, eventually writing the book Warrior of Light and founding Ruby's Positive Empowerment. In this conversation, Theresa opens up about the difference between survival and real strength, the years-long crisis that forced h...

Why do so many smart, capable, successful people still feel disconnected from their work? Sarah Aviram has spent her career answering that question — first as a director of talent development, then as the person who convinced her CEO to let her work from 12 countries in 12 months (before remote work was normal), and now as an author, keynote speaker, and leadership coach. In this conversation, Sar...

Send us Fan Mail Sam Daley-Harris spent twelve years as a professional percussionist and a career as a music teacher before a single question changed the direction of his life: does your member of Congress know your name? In 1978, he asked 7,000 high school students, classroom by classroom, if they could name their own representative. Fewer than three percent could. That gap became the anti-povert...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Neelam Perry spent over two decades practicing internal medicine and treating HIV/AIDS patients before a personal health crisis changed the direction of her life. After surviving seven strokes and fighting to access a costly medication she says her insurance wouldn't approve, she made a decision: leave medicine and try to fix the system from the inside. In this conversati...

Send us Fan Mail After 27 years practicing as a pediatrician and allergist in Texas, Dr. John Poothullil noticed something in his own body that medical textbooks couldn't explain: weight that crept on every winter and refused to leave by spring. The standard answer — "improper diet and lack of exercise" — wasn't an answer at all. So he spent the next several decades building hi...

Send us Fan Mail Scherrie L. Prince did not take a straight path into law. Before becoming an attorney, entrepreneur, business coach, and podcast host, she worked in operations, real estate, mortgage brokerage, and business ownership. Then the 2008 mortgage crisis hit, and she lost everything while raising two young children. In this episode of Behind the Story , Jelani Gonzalez sits down with Sch...

Send us Fan Mail For more than 150 years, birth on American soil has been understood as one of the clearest paths to U.S. citizenship. But after President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14160 on the first day of his second term, the country was forced back into a constitutional debate many people thought had already been settled. In this BTS Exposé Special Edition of Behind the Story , Jelani...

Send us Fan Mail George Tinsley Sr.’s story begins in Smoketown, Louisville, where he was raised by Willie Tinsley, a woman with one leg who could not read or write but gave him the foundation of loyalty, responsibility, and resilience. In this episode of Behind the Story , Jelani Gonzalez sits down with George to talk about the journey behind the championships, the businesses, the book, and the l...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when an award-winning vocalist and songwriter sits down with an AI music producer building a weekly online producer battle? In this episode of Behind the Story , Jelani Gonzalez is joined by Gerard Barnes  and David Nichol  for a timely, honest, and surprisingly personal conversation about AI music, creativity, ownership, and the future of performance. David shares ho...

Send us Fan Mail What does it really mean to lead people well? In this episode of Behind the Story , Jelani Gonzalez sits down with Germain St-Denis , author of Empowering People Through Caring Leadership , for a thoughtful conversation about the difference between managing tasks and truly leading people. Germain shares lessons from his long career in technology, strategy, management, and executiv...