Intentional Performers With Brian Levenson

Spike Mendelsohn is a world-renowned chef and he has worked with some of the top chefs in the world including Thomas Keller, Sirio Maccioni, and Drew Nieporent. After making his television debut on Bravo TV’s Top Chef, Spike went on to appear on several other cooking shows including Life After Top Chef, Iron Chef of America, Late Night Chef Fight, and Beat Bobby Flay. He also hosted Midnight Feast and Food Network’s Kitchen Sink. He has made a presence in the DC area where he opened up Good Stuff Eatery, and his since opened up a number of other restaurants including, We, The Pizza, Bearnaise, and Santa Rosa Taqueria. He has a presence not just because of his food, but he also works with several other brands as a consultant and works with a number of other people on policy. He has a passion for food, equity, and education so he began working with organizations like Care and DC Central Kitchen as a Chef Ambassador and Contributor. His work has landed him as the first chairman of DC’s Food Policy Council. He ha

Megan Gebbia joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Coach Megan Gebbia is Head Coach of the Women’s Basketball team at American University. They have had amazing success since Coach Gebbia has been there, having gone to the NCAA tournament twice. Megan has helped the team to two conference championships, and they have been a very competitive team every year since she’s been there. They have created a culture that is selfless and specific in what they are trying to do and is system oriented.  They are a talented, smart, gritty group that I am lucky to get to work with. This conversation gets into her journey and will give you some insight into how she has come to be, and she will share some watershed moments that have shaped her life, and some people that have really influenced her. In this episode, they discuss what life was like for her as a kid (5:20), what it was like to win a championship her Junior year of High School (8:05), her parent’s reaction when she got involved in sports (9:15), if she

Eric Carcich joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Eric was previously the Head Women’s Rowing Coach at George Washington University and is now the Head Women’s Rowing Coach at Cornell University. Eric has always been passionate about the mental side of rowing. Eric will talk about his journey, how he first found rowing at UMass, and how he’s worked with elite rowers in men’s and women’s rowing. He is very intentional when he thinks about the culture and vision for the program that he’s running, and he cares deeply about his relationships in general, and about his relationships with the athletes that he serves. In this episode, they discuss what his childhood was like (7:20), the values his parents passed down to him (11:30), what he loved about soccer (12:40), when rowing came into his life (14:00), what it felt like when his friend asked if he was in (19:10), what about his childhood allowed him to go down his path (20:30), what he liked about rowing as a player (22:40), how he got better at rowi

Cody Royle joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Cody is passionate about coaching coaches. Cody is an author, keynote speaker, podcast host, and an Australian Rules Football Coach. He is the head coach for AFL Team Canada which is the men’s national program for Aussie Rules Football. Cody is a big voice in the crossover between leadership principles in sports and business. His first book, “Where Others Won’t,” proposed that businesses should look at how pro sports teams look at team dynamic and talent optimization in order to innovate. In this conversation, we also talk about how the sport’s world now needs to leverage some of business’ best practices when it comes to human development and what that might look like going forward. His podcast, “Where Other’s Won’t,” is a great listen and we highly recommend following Cody on twitter @codyroyle. In this episode, they discuss what life was like as a little kid (5:05), Aussie Rules Football and Cricket (7:30), what he likes about Aussie rules football

Lee Sommers joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Lee is a strength and conditioning coach that does amazing work and truly cares about his clients. He is somebody who is a servant leader, somebody who wants to make his athletes and clients as strong as they possibly can be, and he has worked with the tip of the arrow athletes, most notably Katie Ledecky. Lee started working with Katie when she was 15 years old. Lee has carved out a niche for himself in the Washington, DC area working with elite swimmers. He will share his journey and how he became a strength coach at a really young age and helped build Sport and Health’s Sport and Performance Program that works with elite athletes. In this episode, they discuss what life was like as a kid (4:20), the values his parents passed down to him (6:50), his transition from New York City to Maryland (11:20), his relationship with his Dad (14:05), his experience trying to play college basketball (17:30), what it was like leaving Temple to go to Towson (19:2

Dr. Norman Rosenthal joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Dr. Norman Rosenthal is a world-renowned psychiatrist, researcher, and author who first described seasonal affective disorder, also known as SAD. He pioneered the use of light therapy as a treatment during his 20 years at the National Institute of Mental Health. He is a highly cited researcher and best-selling author, and he has written over 200 scholarly articles and authored or co-authored 8 popular books. Dr. Rosenthal has worked in the weeds with patients and had a private practice while also going deep into the research. He has written books including “The Winter Blues,” and he also has New York Times bestsellers list called “Transcendence” and “The Gift of Adversity.” He has practiced psychiatry for over three decades, coached, and conducted numerous clinical trials of medications and alternative treatments such as transcendental meditation for psychiatric disorders. He and his work have been featured on Good Morning America, The Today

Miranda Holder joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Miranda is an Executive Coach that has a background in sport. She was a three-sport athlete in High School and then she found Rowing in College where she competed at an elite, high level. She then became a Rowing Coach and ended up becoming the Head Rowing Coach at Georgetown University. That journey of becoming a Rowing Coach ended up leading her to become an Executive Coach. Today, she spends a lot of time working with people in all walks of life in the corporate space, and she considers herself to be an insight wizard and she will give insight into how she came to develop her eye for coaching. She helps people see themselves in their situation more clearly, and for the people brave enough to do the work, there’s an incredible leader, person, and idea ready to surface. She loves to work with people on being the best leader or CEO that they can be while also taking risk to start a company or refusing to settle into a career path that doesn’t elic

David Vobora joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Since 2014, David has painstakingly built a business and a dream around training elite and adaptive athletes. Many of the athletes are wounded warriors, and his adaptive training environment gym provides free 9-week bootcamps to people with amputations, spinal cord injuries, and other disabilities. He’ll say in this conversation a lot of those people are veterans, but not all of them are. He has a ton of respect for veterans, and his foundation is about serving those who are adaptive athletes. David has appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show, he’s been to the White House where he shook hands with President Obama, he has had President Bush accompany him, House Speaker Paul Ryan visited the foundation, and they presented him with a set of cuff links with the Presidential seal. Also, when David was 10 years old, a teenage neighbor sexually abused him, and we jump into this in the conversation. He will talk about how that shaped his life and his career.

Don Yaeger joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Don is an award-winning keynote speaker, business leadership coach, 11-time New York Times best selling author and a long-time associate editor for Sports Illustrated. Don is a writer, but what has made him a great writer over the years is his thirst for curiosity on how people compete at their highest level. As a speaker, he has worked with audiences as diverse as Fortune 500 companies and Cancer Survivor groups, where he shares his personal stories. In this episode, you will hear how Don is a story-teller and many of the stories he tells involve elite competitors. He loves to share the human side of those elite performers in these stories. In this episode, they discuss when writing first came into his life (4:00), what life was like for him as a kid (6:40), how faith was a big part of his upbringing (8:50), the values his parents passed down to him (9:40), when sports came into his life (11:20), what he loves about sports (12:10), what inspired him

Bram Weinstein joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Bram covered the Washington Redskins for a number of years, worked on sports talk radio, and eventually became an anchor on ESPN’s SportsCenter. When he finished up at ESPN, he came back to the DC area in sports talk radio, and now he has decided that he wants to go into the world of podcast production. He brings a great perspective on performing under the pressure. He also shares his thoughts on media, and specifically sports talk media in this conversation. In this episode, they discuss the crazy story when Bram and Brian first met (4:10), what life was like for him as a kid (12:10), if his parents wanted him to go into broadcast journalism (14:10), the dynamic with his siblings (16:30), the values his parents passed down to him (17:30), where creativity comes from for him and his brother (19:30), where he saw himself while in high school (22:10), what covering the Redskins involved (23:05), how much ESPN was around during his childhood (25:00)

Honest Tea Founder Seth Goldman joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Seth Goldman is the Co-Founder and TeaEO Emeritus at Honest Tea. He started Honest Tea years ago and he is also the Executive Chair of Beyond Meat. We will talk about both companies in detail and the mission behind both companies. Honest Tea specializes in beverage that are a tad sweet, organic and fair trade certified. In March 2011, Honest Tea was acquired by the Coca Cola Company becoming the first organic and fair-trade brand in the world’s largest beverage distribution system. Honest Tea and Honest Kids is sold in over 140,000 stores in the US and Europe including McDonald's, Subway, and Chick-fil-A. Beyond Meat is also rapidly expanding distribution as the company seeks to expand the accessibility and availability of plant-based protein. You will hear Seth’s passion for vegetarianism and providing plant-based options that can provide protein for us. Seth is passionate about providing quality ingredients to humans so they can

Brendan Tuohey joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Brendan is an Executive Director at PeacePlayers. Brendan grew up in the DC area in a diverse environment which has helped shape his life. At PeacePlayers they are inspiring people to see each other as people through the game of basketball. Brendan played Division 1 basketball at Colgate so he’ll talk about that experience, and then he’ll talk about his experience at Peace Players. Brendan serves over 100 employees and over 6500 kids throughout the world. PeacePlayers has sites in Israel, Cyprus, South Africa, Ireland, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Brooklyn, and Baltimore. They are expanding rapidly into the U.S. and their mission is to have people leverage the game of basketball so they can go into areas of conflict and start seeing each other as humans and develop empathy. Brendan is a terrific leader that empowers people in his organization and is very thoughtful about how he sets up his organization and what he wants the organization to be mo

Coach Gary Williams joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Gary Williams is a Hall of Fame Basketball Coach from the University of Maryland. In 2001, Gary led the University of Maryland to a Final Four appearance, and then in 2002, he led the Terrapins to their first NCAA National Championship. In this conversation, we learn about Gary’s journey, about some of his coaching outside of the basketball world, his mindset, and how he approached basketball as a player and as a coach. You will find out that Gary really values work ethic, hard work, people that would play with effort and intensity, and he coached with a strong intensity as well. In a lot of ways, he helped build a culture of intensity with the University of Maryland’s basketball team. In this episode, they discuss when basketball first came into his life (4:20), if his family was into sports (7:00), if he ever thought basketball could be his way into college (8:40), the people that most impacted him (11:00), what he liked about basketball (

Matt joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Matt has a background in venture capital, and he has also developed technology for companies, so he is a developer, but he also invests in companies. Today he works for a company called Beta Works which is a nice convergence of what Matt is passionate about. At Beta Works, they make new products that can make an impact, and then Beta Works will then invest in those products. Matt has a really interesting story that involves music, technology, and partnerships, and he will get into all of that today. At his core, Matt really cares about developing products that can make an impact on people. In this episode, they discuss his story growing up (5:40), his curiosity for products (11:20), when music came into his life (17:10), his thoughts on the performance vs. preparation mindset (20:30), what his high school experience was like (25:40), if he ever thought about going the music route (28:30), when he realized he could go music or software, and then went this d

Professor Maria Brown joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Dr. Brown has a PhD from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and she wrote her dissertation entitled, “Psychiatric history and cognition trajectories in later life: variations by sex, race and ethnicity, and childhood disadvantage.” You will find out from Maria that her upbringing was anything but normal, and she had to deal with mental illness in her family, poverty, and other challenges that made her a unique case coming out of high school and at Ithaca College. Fortunately, Maria was willing to share her story, the challenges she’s faced, and how she’s risen above some of those challenges. In this episode, they discuss what her childhood was like (5:40), what her day to day was like with her mom’s illness (7:00), what her siblings were like (8:25), the values her parents passed down to her (9:50), how religion played a role in her life (13:40), if she was surrounded by poverty (15:20), how her upbring

Brian Mitchell joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Brian was a longtime Washington Redskins that started his career as a 5th round draft pick in 1990, and he went on to become a kickoff and punt return specialist. Brian is the all-time leader in kickoff and punt return yards and is the NFL all-time leader with 13 total special teams’ touchdowns. Brian is somebody who has done it as well as anybody, and there’s certainly an argument to be made that he’s the greatest of all time when it comes to kickoff and punt returns. Brian is also in the Redskins Ring of Fame, and was just nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is a three-time first team all-pro player and is second only to Jerry Rice in total yards. Brian had an illustrious playing career, and today he works on TV and radio in the DC area. In this episode, they discuss what childhood was like for him (5:00), which of his older siblings had the biggest impact on him (7:10), what his parents were like (8:15), how teachers reacted to his

Collin Martin joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Collin played soccer at Wake Forest University for a year and then played professional soccer after that where he has played for DC United and Minnesota United FC. Soccer took Collin all over the country and in a sense, all over the world. Collin will talk about his transition into professional soccer, and the challenges of being in the business in sports. Collin also came out of the closet publicly in June of 2018, and is currently the only openly gay professional soccer player in the MLS. Collin is still a young guy at 24 years old, still figuring out professional soccer, and somebody who is at the beginning of his journey, but he is incredibly knowledgable. In this episode, we discuss what childhood was like for him (6:00), why soccer for their family (7:40), how his parents reacted when he would say he wanted to play pro soccer (9:40), what it was like going to boarding school (15:05), how he thinks about environment in relations to someone’s

Chris Cassidy joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Chris is currently an astronaut that was previously a Navy Seal from the Naval Academy. Chris was an honor graduate of basic underwater demolition with the Seal Buds Class 192, and he received a bronze star for his work leading a 9-day operation on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. He has been a guest speaker at the U.S. Naval Academy Combat Leadership Seminar, and you’ll hear about how the Naval Academy was a baseline and foundation for his leadership. In 2003 and 2004, he was awarded a second bronze star for combat leadership service in Afghanistan. He has also received the NASA exceptional achievement medal, and he has finished an Ironman World Championship Triathlon. He has done a lot during his 48 years on this planet and seems to have a desire to do work on other planets as well. He will talk a lot about the value of leading and serving other people in this conversation. In this episode, they discuss what his childhood was like (6:10), what h

Moses Maddox joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Moses works as a veteran’s counselor at California State University, San Marcos, and they provide professional development services to veterans who have left the military and are in college entering their post-military careers. You will find out from Mo that he is passionate about helping people, and he loves the feeling he gets from helping people. One of the interesting parts that Mo will get into is the ability to receive help as well as give help, and how we need to be vulnerable in order to do both. Mo will talk about his upbringing, being in the Marine Corp, what he did overseas in Iraq, and he will talk about some of the struggles he had when he came back from war. Mo is very passionate about helping people get help so they can live their best lives and be their best selves. Mo really gets going with his story immediately so there isn’t an introduction with this podcast in the beginning. In this episode, they discuss his thoughts on discussi

Dr. Wade Gilbert joins us on this week’s episode of the podcast. Dr. Wade Gilbert is an internationally renowned coaching consultant and sports scientist, as well an award-winning professor of kinesiology at Fresno State University. He has a great book called Coaching Better Every Season, and he will talk about how that book is constantly evolving in this podcast. Dr. Wade has taught at the University of Ottawa, UCLA, and Fresno State. He has contributed to over 100 publications, serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the International Sport Coaching Journal, and was the lead author of USOC Quality Coaching Framework. He is a growth minded individual that is always trying to learn and grow. He is at the forefront of coaching coaches, and tries to help them see better, and solve complex problems. In this episode, they discuss what led to him being a coach of coaches (5:50), when he became passionate about working with coaches (9:10), the differences in working with athletes vs. coaches (10:50), whether he focuses m