Nina Campbell has been one of my favorite people I have had the pleasure of sitting down with since I started Duologue — sixty years of designing the most beautiful rooms in the world and she is still the most curious, most passionate person in any room she walks into. In this conversation we talk about how she got her start working under the legendary John Fowler at Colefax and Fowler, the project in mainland China that required flying in thirty people, their own paint, and their own tea, the house in Maine that became her favorite project of her career and the subject of her book, and what it actually means to design a room for the life someone lives in it — not the life they imagine. We also get into Nina’s insider tips on paint, bedding, tabletop, and the best places to find antiques. Nina Campbell is the author of A House in Maine and the creator of fabric and wallpaper collections sold worldwide, as well as the new Nina Campbell for NEXT line.

(00:00:00) Intro
(00:02:04) Learning from John Fowler at Colefax and Fowler
(00:04:23) London's Annabelle's
(00:09:16) Opening a Shop with Mark Birley / Porto Linens
(00:11:37) Cullen House in Scotland
(00:16:06) Starting Her Fabric and Wallpaper Collection
(00:18:25) The Tree-of-Life Wallpaper Rescued from a Scottish Ruin
(00:20:50) The China Project
(00:28:00) A House in Maine and Her Favorite Client Relationship
(00:32:11) The Lavender Telephone Box Bar
(00:35:03) What She Loves Most About the Work
(00:36:54) Breaking All the Rules
(00:37:21) Signature Is Detail
(00:39:56) Lampshades and Cushions: The Shoes and Handbags of Design
(00:42:16) Different Places to Entertain and Dine
(00:44:39) Must Haves: The Embassy Story
(00:47:04) Senior Living Projects and Nina Campbell for Next
(00:51:47) Insider Tips: Argile Paint, Bedding, Tabletop, Antiques

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At some point in all of our lives, we will experience Grief. Thanks to my next guest, we will now have the tools to manage it when it arrives.  Kate Doerge — certified grief coach, founder of Penny's Flight Foundation, and author of Reimagining Grief (out June 16th) — has lost her father, her mother, and her daughter Penny at sixteen to neurofibromatosis-related glioblastoma. And in every case, she chose light over dark, faith over fear. She reached for signs, she moved her body, she turned her pain into a foundation that has raised over $6 million for neurofibromatosis research. This episode is about what grief can look like when you refuse to let it define you — and the five actions that can help you get there.

00:00:03 Introduction

00:04:20 Kate's Losses and Her Father's Advice

00:08:55 Losing Her Mother Five Days Before Christmas

00:11:14 Rejecting the Five Stages of Grief

00:13:34 Penny, Neurofibromatosis, and the Love Cocoon

00:27:29 The Five Actions for Moving Through Grief

00:29:50 Movement and the Neuroscience of Grief

00:34:18 Signs, Faith, and Sunshine People

00:45:38 Changing the Language Around Grief

00:48:02 Penny and the Prom

00:52:37 The Book Tour and Penny's Flight Fam Jam

00:59:24 Outro

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Most people don't think of themselves as creative. In fact, research shows that about 75% of adults self-identify as non-creative. But what if the problem isn't that they lack creativity — it's that they've been defining it wrong? 

Blythe Harris, co-founder and former chief creative officer of Stella & Dot, and Mallory May, jewelry designer and illustrator, created Daily Creative to change that conversation. Their practice is built around mini-c creativity: just five minutes of creative engagement per day — no talent required, no finished product expected — that delivers measurable benefits including lower stress, improved focus, healthier dopamine, and the kind of meditative calm most of us are chasing through much more complicated means.

In this episode: the science behind why five minutes works, how Blythe's near-death experience in 1995 became the seed of Daily Creative, why perfectionism kills creativity faster than anything else, and how to start a creative practice that actually sticks — whether you're going through a career transition, entering midlife, managing kids on Zoom school, or just looking for five minutes that are genuinely yours.

Follow Duologue:

Instagram: @duologuepod

Substack: duologue.substack.com

Find Blythe & Mallory here:

📖 Daily Creative book → dailycreative.com (now back in stock!)

✉️ Free Substack with weekly exercises → dailycreative.substack.com

📸 Instagram → @blythe.harris, @mallorymay & @daily__creative

00:00 Intro

02:04 How Daily Creative started

04:25 The pandemic art class & kids on Zoom school

06:48 The Wordle model

09:17 The 75% stat & removing the drawing ability barrier

11:42 Adults, play & the preschool idea

14:02 Mallory's path & Blythe's accident

18:35 "I wasn't Frida Kahlo" — doodling as mental wellness

21:01 Doodling, focus & ADHD

23:26 The four C's of creativity & mini-c

25:51 Perfectionism as a creativity killer

28:13 Creativity in life transitions, menopause & the pause

30:36 Daily Creative dinner parties & the book launch

32:55 Keeping low-stakes art supplies around

35:15 What's next for Daily Creative

37:32 Where to find them

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I have to tell you about this one. James Patterson — who has sold more than 420 million books — and his longtime friend and collaborator Tim Malloy, a seven-time Emmy winner and veteran journalist, came on to talk about their book American Heroes, which chronicles the recipients of the Medal of Honor, the Silver Star, and the Distinguished Service Cross. The stories in this book are almost impossible to put into words: acts of courage so far beyond what most of us will ever be asked to do that you find yourself reading on a plane and suddenly trying to hide the fact that you’re crying. We also got into their earlier collaboration on Filthy Rich — the Epstein book they wrote before almost anyone else was paying attention — and the documentary that came out of it. With Memorial Day this week, I wanted to bring this conversation back because I think these are exactly the stories we should all be sitting with right now.

00:00:00 Introduction — James Patterson and Tim Malloy

00:01:20 How Patterson Got Started as a Writer

00:03:41 First Novel, the Vietnam Lottery, and Leaving His PhD Program

00:06:01 How Patterson and Malloy Met — The Epstein Story Begins

00:08:16 How the Epstein Story Finally Broke — The Plea Deal and the Press

00:10:34 Walk in My Combat Boots and Matt Eversman

00:12:58 How American Heroes Came Together

00:13:58 Woody Williams at Iwo Jima — A Medal of Honor Story

00:15:15 Duty, Sacrifice, and Why This Book Should Be in Schools

00:17:40 Woody's Grandson, Gold Star Monuments, and Veteran Support

00:19:53 The Sergeant and the Napkins — Veteran Transition

00:22:14 Finding and Interviewing Medal of Honor Recipients

00:26:49 Cozy Earth Ad

00:45:34 Alex Cross — Origin Story and the Prime Video Series

00:47:43 On Screenwriting, Hollywood, and the Alex Cross Origin Story

00:50:04 Patterson's Creative Process and What's Next for Tim Malloy

00:52:27 Outro

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May is Mental Health Awareness Month — and I wanted to do something that felt real rather than performative. So I called a suicidologist. His name is Mark Kaplan, and he has spent his career studying why people die by suicide: the data, the risk factors, the gaps in how we think about prevention, and what any of us can actually do. This conversation is personal for me and I think it will be for most of you, too. We cover the numbers (they're staggering), why so many people we lose don't fit the profile we expect, what the research actually says about warning signs, and what upstream prevention means — practically, not as a policy abstraction. If you've ever been touched by this — directly or indirectly — this one's for you.

If you or someone you love is struggling, help is available 24/7 — call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

00:00:03 Introduction & Context

00:01:11 What Is Suicidology

00:03:33 Origins of the Field & 988

00:05:59 Mark's Personal Entry

00:08:17 Silent Suicides

00:10:39 Upstream vs. Downstream

00:13:05 The Numbers: 50,000 a Year

00:15:27 Why the Rate Is Still Rising

00:17:46 Social Media's Role

00:19:53 80% of Suicides Are Men

00:22:16 Older Adults & Not Being a Burden

00:24:42 Veterans & Suicide

00:26:58 Global Comparisons

00:29:07 Risk Factors Deep Dive

00:31:30 Precipitating Events & Leslie's Story

00:33:56 Behavioral Warning Signs

00:36:16 Red Flag Laws & Firearms Policy

00:38:42 The Window Problem

00:41:03 What Mark Would Change

00:43:28 Harm Reduction & Mental Health

00:45:49 Universal Prevention

00:48:08 Primary Care as First Line

00:50:57 What You Can Actually Do

00:53:18 Loneliness, Social Media & Closing

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If there was ever an episode to send to every parent you know, this is it.

I sat down with Dr. Cara Natterson — pediatrician and author — and Vanessa Curl Bennett, and we went there. All the way there. Breast buds, NARBs, vaginal discharge (yes, we said it out loud), the sex talk, consent with kindergartners, and what to do when your kid's been watching porn before you've ever had the conversation.

Their book, This Is So Awkward, is one of the most practical, honest, funny, and genuinely useful things I've read as a parent of teens. It walks you through the science of what's happening in your kid's body, helps you recognize your own baggage so it doesn't derail the conversation, gives you scripts for the actual hard moments, and — my favorite part — ends each section with perspective from young adults who've already been through it.

We talked about: what breast buds actually mean (and why they're showing up years before a period), how to handle the first bra conversation without making it weird, what the NARB is and why your son needs a strategy for it, the concept of "not now" vs. "never" when it comes to alcohol, sex, and body hair, how the average age of first porn exposure is now 12 — and what that means for the conversations you need to have, and how to teach consent starting in kindergarten, long before sex ever enters the picture.

I laughed. I cringed. I took notes. You will too. Find Cara and Vanessa at lessawkward.com.

00:00:00 Introduction

00:02:25 Breast Buds: The First Physical Sign of Puberty

00:05:58 How the Puberty Timeline Has Shifted

00:08:24 The Sign Most Parents Don't Know to Look For

00:13:01 Breast Development in Boys — Yes, Really

00:17:32 Introducing Bras Without the Shame Spiral

00:24:24 Body Privacy & the White Soccer Jersey

00:33:16 Not Now vs. Never

00:37:39 Boys' Puberty: NARBs, Wet Dreams & Why It's Not a Punchline

00:42:18 Hair, Manscaping & How to Start the Conversation

00:53:46 When to Start the Sex Conversation

00:56:11 Consent Starts in Kindergarten — and French Fries

00:58:31 The Porn Data Every Parent Needs to Hear

01:03:12 Where to Find Cara & Vanessa

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Leslie sits down with two of the country's most respected immigration attorneys — Bo Cooper, former General Counsel of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, and Austin Fragomen, of the global immigration law firm Fragomen — to walk through what the U.S. immigration system actually looks like from the inside.

Right now, there are roughly 4 million people waiting in various visa categories for a path to permanent residence in the United States. In this conversation, Leslie, Bo, and Austin break down exactly how that line works: the three legal pathways to permanent residence (family, employment, and humanitarian), why some people wait months while others wait over two decades depending on country of origin and family relationship, how the asylum system was designed in the aftermath of World War II and whether it fits the crises of today, and what is actually happening with deportation, birthright citizenship, and student visas.

They also discuss what Congress could do — and why comprehensive reform has remained out of reach for decades.

Whether you have been following immigration in the news and want to understand the underlying system, or you are simply curious about how this process works for real people — this is a clear, factual, and genuinely clarifying conversation.

Follow Duologue on Instagram @duologuepod and subscribe so you never miss an episode.

00:00:03 Introduction

00:02:33 The Three Pathways to a Green Card

00:07:20 Family-Based Immigration Explained

00:12:09 Why the Post-WWII Refugee Definition Is Outdated

00:14:32 How Long Is the Line? The 4 Million Figure

00:16:56 Employment Visas: H-1B, L Visas, and the Skills Gap

00:21:43 The Afghan Translator Story and the Refugee System

00:24:08 Asylum vs. Refugee: What's the Difference

00:38:12 Student Visas and the China Security Concern

00:45:25 Birthright Citizenship Around the World

00:50:10 Deportation, Enforcement, and What's Actually Possible

01:01:57 What Congress Could Do — and Why It Hasn't

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Testosterone levels in men have declined more than 25% over the last two decades. And most people — men and women alike — have no idea why, what it means, or what to do about it.

In this episode, Leslie sits down with Shalin Shah, CEO of Marius Pharmaceuticals and one of the leading voices in the testosterone therapy space, to have the conversation that a lot of doctors still aren't having. Leslie brings her own experience — she's been on topical testosterone as part of her HRT protocol — and together they go deep on why T levels are dropping, how to know if yours are low, and what the treatment landscape actually looks like in 2026.

They cover the difference between total and free testosterone and why the number your doctor shows you may be almost meaningless. They talk about the FDA panel that convened in December 2025, what was asked of regulators, and why the outcome could change how millions of people access care. They discuss why testosterone got classified as a controlled substance in 1990, the faulty studies that put cardiovascular and prostate cancer warnings on labels for decades, and what the landmark 2023 Traverse Study finally put to rest.

They also talk about women — because testosterone is a female hormone too, and the gap between how men and women access treatment is still significant.

If you've been curious about this subject — whether for yourself, your partner, your father, or your sons — this is the conversation to start with.

Follow Duologue on Instagram @duologuepod and subscribe so you never miss an episode.

00:00:00 Introduction & Leslie's Personal Story

00:02:18 The State of Testosterone Today

00:05:57 What's Causing the Decline

00:08:00 Symptoms of Low T & Why You Should Get Tested

00:10:10 Why Your Doctor Probably Isn't Testing You

00:12:24 What's a Normal Testosterone Level?

00:16:20 Testosterone and Women

00:20:00 Leslie's HRT Journey & Treatment Options

00:25:20 Natural Ways to Boost Your Levels

00:30:03 The FDA Panel — What Was Discussed

00:33:20 The Prostate Cancer Study — 3 People, 80 Years of Policy

00:36:30 What Needs to Change & What's Next

00:40:34 Outro

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When Acquavella Galleries first mounted a Matisse exhibition in 1973, the lines stretched down the block. Now, more than fifty years later, the gallery has done it again — and the wait was worth it.

Leslie sits down with Eleanor Acquavella, Director at Acquavella Galleries, to go inside Matisse: The Pursuit of Harmony — a once-in-a-generation exhibition on view free to the public at their East 79th Street townhouse through May 22nd. Over 50 works borrowed from private collections, many unseen publicly, brought together by a family that has spent six decades knowing exactly where the best Matisse works live.

In this conversation, Leslie and Eleanor explore how Matisse used sculpture to unlock his painting, his rivalry with Picasso, the odalisque and what it reveals about his relationship to color and form, and why top-quality Matisse works almost never come up for sale. They also discuss why and how the world is having a "Matisse moment" right now — with major shows opening simultaneously in Paris, Chicago, San Francisco, and Baltimore — and why New York has not seen anything like this in years.

Whether you're an art lover, a curious visitor to New York before May 22nd, or someone who wants to understand how the private art world really works — this one is for you.

Follow Duologue on Instagram @duologuepod and subscribe so you never miss an episode.

00:00:03 Introduction

00:01:30 About the Exhibition

00:03:51 The 1973 Show and 50 Years Later

00:06:08 Borrowing from Private Collectors

00:08:25 How Sculpture Unlocked Matisse's Painting

00:10:40 The Odalisque Explained

00:15:31 Matisse vs. Picasso

00:29:54 The Global Matisse Moment

00:32:17 The Matisse Art Market

00:37:04 What's Next for Acquavella

00:41:54 Outro

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We're kicking off the Duologue Summer Travel Series with one of the most beautiful and beloved corners of the country — the Hudson Valley.

Leslie sits down with Lidey Heuck, cookbook author, New York Times recipe contributor, and the voice behind Lidey Likes and the Lidey Letter Substack. Lidey lives in the Hudson Valley with her family and knows the region the way only a local can — the antique shops worth the detour, the farmers markets, the swimming holes, the restaurants, and yes, a few cautionary foraging tales.

Lidey's culinary journey began with none other than Ina Garten (yes, they talk about Jeffrey), and her debut cookbook Cooking in Real Life has become one of Leslie's all-time favorites.

In this episode: favorite antique stores, must-visit restaurants, hidden gems in the Hudson Valley, Litchfield County, and the Berkshires — plus what makes this region so worth falling in love with.

Whether you're planning a trip or just love dreaming about charming getaways, this one's for you.

Follow Duologue on Instagram @duologuepod and subscribe so you never miss an episode.

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Confused about the SAT vs ACT? In this episode, Leslie sits down with Bryan Bibler, CEO of Thirty-Six Education, to break down everything parents and high school students need to know about standardized testing, college admissions, and test prep strategies for 2025.

They cover the key differences between the ACT and SAT, how to choose the right test, when to start preparing, and how recent test-optional college admissions policies—including at Ivy League schools—are changing the landscape. Bryan also shares proven methods to improve SAT and ACT scores, realistic prep timelines, and affordable test prep resources for families without access to private tutoring.

Perfect for high school students, parents, and college applicants, this episode delivers actionable insights on SAT prep, ACT prep, college application strategy, and maximizing test scores.

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