Welcome to a new edition of the Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino series. On this episode, we talk with Chicago-based writer and storyteller Rebecca Chamian Ribaudo about her debut novel, Crossing Division Street, coming September 26, 2026, along with her life, career, creative inspiration, and the stories that shaped her as a writer.

At the heart of Crossing Division Street is a powerful question: What happens when personal principles collide with family heritage?

Spanning four generations and two timelines, the novel explores loyalty, betrayal, redemption, inheritance, identity, family, and the complicated ways history continues to shape the present.

But beneath the fictional story is a largely overlooked chapter of Chicago history—the intertwined experiences of Italian immigrants, Black American migrants, and the generations that followed in a changing mixed-race neighborhood once known as Little Sicily, Little Hell, and later Cabrini-Green.

Rebecca brings those worlds together through a story designed to make readers think about race, identity, heritage, immigration, assimilation, family loyalty, cultural memory, and what it means to inherit both the strengths and contradictions of previous generations.

While fiction has always been a passion, Rebecca's professional career has centered on brand development, storytelling, communications, and writing for organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to nonprofits.

She has also remained active in organizations and initiatives supporting freedom of expression, civil liberties, intellectual freedom, women's freedoms around the world, and the Harvard alumni community.

In this conversation, we explore the inspiration behind Crossing Division Street, Chicago's layered history, Italian-American identity, Black migration, family heritage, generational conflict, storytelling, writing a debut novel, and the complicated American story that emerges when different communities live, struggle, grow, and change side by side. 

Crossing Division Street ultimately asks readers to wrestle with one of America's oldest—and still deeply relevant—questions: How do we honor where we came from while deciding who we want to become?

It's a fascinating story about family, Chicago, immigration, race, heritage, identity, and the complicated inheritance of American history.

Enjoy this story and interview.

More Rebecca Chamian Ribaudo
Rebecca Chamian Ribaudo on LinkedIn
Crossing Division Street on Amazon

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Welcome to a new edition of the Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino series. On this episode, we talk with Mothers in Arms Podcast Host and Advocate for Accessible Third-Party Reproduction Leslie Lopez about infertility, donor conception, gestational surrogacy, solo motherhood, family building, identity, resilience, and creating community around experiences that can often feel incredibly isolating.

Leslie spent six years working with California Fertility Partners before embarking on her own deeply personal journey to build a family as an independent mother through donor conception and gestational surrogacy.

That experience became much more than a personal story. It helped shape her commitment to creating honest, compassionate conversations around infertility, third-party reproduction, egg donation, surrogacy, non-traditional family structures, and the emotional realities of becoming a parent outside of traditional pathways.

Through her work and the Mothers in Arms podcast, Leslie is helping create space for people to talk openly about the complicated realities of fertility and family building—without shame, stigma, or the feeling that they have to navigate the journey alone.

In this conversation, we explore the emotional dimensions of infertility, the mental and social challenges of fertility journeys, donor conception, gestational surrogacy, egg donation, solo parenting, non-traditional families, motherhood, identity, resilience, community, and making fertility options more accessible and less isolating.

Leslie's story offers an important look at what happens when a deeply personal experience becomes a mission to help others feel seen, understood, supported, and less alone.

This is a conversation about family, motherhood, resilience, reproductive choices, community, and the many different ways people create the families they dream of.

She has quite a story that is creating a solid community at large. Enjoy this interview.

Tune Into Mothers in Arms
Mothers in Arms Podcast on Apple Podcasts

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Welcome to a new edition of the Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino series. On this episode, we talk with seasoned entrepreneur, author, MIT engineer, speaker, and business leader Ted Yang about artificial intelligence, peak performance, leadership, entrepreneurship, learning, and the future of human potential.

Ted is the author of Ageless Peak Performance: The Playbook for AI-Powered Excellence, a practical guide for experienced professionals, leaders, and ambitious strivers who want to use AI as cognitive leverage—not as a replacement for human thinking, but as a powerful tool for thinking better, learning faster, executing more effectively, and sustaining excellence over the long term.

His background gives him a unique perspective on the rapidly changing AI landscape. An MIT engineer and entrepreneur, Ted is a former finance executive who has worked with firms including Bridgewater and Citadel, a worldwide speaker, and the founder of more than 12 companies and nonprofits. He also serves as a Regent for Higher Education in Connecticut.

Rather than approaching AI purely from a technical perspective, Ted focuses on the human side of the equation: How do we use technology to amplify judgment, creativity, learning, decision-making, productivity, and performance?

In this conversation, we explore AI and productivity, cognitive leverage, peak performance, leadership, entrepreneurship, lifelong learning, professional reinvention, human potential, artificial intelligence, business strategy, and how experienced professionals can remain effective and relevant in an increasingly AI-powered world.

Ted's story is also a fascinating journey through engineering, finance, entrepreneurship, education, leadership, and the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence.

How can experienced professionals use AI without losing the human judgment and experience that made them successful in the first place? And what happens when technology becomes a genuine partner in how we think, learn, and work?

It’s quite a story. Tune in.

More Ted Yang
Ageless Peak Performance — Official Website

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Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz Interview Series with Detroit-based jazz pianist, bandleader, composer, and educator Zen Zadravec.

We caught up with Zen to explore his new 2026 album, New Paradigm, and a remarkable musical career that has taken him across continents and through decades of contemporary jazz.

With a rich international career as a bandleader, collaborator, and educator, Zadravec has developed a distinctive voice rooted in the belief that music is more than sound—it is a form of creative communication, an expressive language shaped by human experience, connection, and a deeply humanistic perspective.

Throughout his career, Zen has performed and collaborated with some of the most respected figures in the international jazz community, including Ron Carter, Louis Hayes, Sean Jones, Steve Turre, and many others.

Today, he leads two original projects that showcase different dimensions of his musical vision: the Zen Zadravec Quintet and the fusion-oriented ensemble Human Revolution.

In this conversation, we get into New Paradigm, Zen's international journey, his Detroit roots, the philosophy behind his music, collaboration, improvisation, education, and the continuing evolution of jazz in the modern world.

Zen Zadravec's story is one of musical exploration, international collaboration, education, and a lifelong commitment to using jazz as a language of human expression.

From Detroit to stages around the world, his work continues to connect tradition with innovation while exploring where contemporary jazz can go next.

Listen to New Paradigm
Zen Zadravec — *New Paradigm* on Apple Music

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Welcome to a new edition of the Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino series. On this episode, we talk with Author, Registered Psychotherapist, Expressive Art Consultant/Educator & EMDR Therapist Elke Scholz about anxiety, emotional freedom, creative healing, psychotherapy, self-discovery, and finding more energy and vitality in everyday life.

Elke Scholz is the author of the 3rd edition of Loving Your Life, an internationally available book filled with more than 40 creative exercises designed to help readers explore their emotions, mindset, relationships, and personal well-being. The book is available in both e-book and paperback formats, is teen-friendly, and has also been translated into German.

She has also created Anxiety Warrior, Vol. 1 and Anxiety Warrior, Vol. 2, offering practical tools for people navigating anxiety and working toward greater emotional freedom.

One of the most compelling parts of Elke's approach is that she doesn't present anxiety as something she simply teaches about—she openly manages her own anxiety and believes that effective strategies should be accessible, practical, and easy to use.

As an Energy Rich Vitality Specialist, Elke also focuses on living with passion, energy, and a deeper sense of vitality. Her work extends into new offerings including her “Energy Rich” webinar and a series of audio meditations designed to help people reconnect with themselves and cultivate greater well-being. 

In this conversation, we explore anxiety management, emotional health, psychotherapy, EMDR therapy, expressive arts, creative exercises, self-awareness, emotional freedom, vitality, meditation, personal growth, and the importance of loving the life you're actually living.

This is an honest and uplifting conversation about learning to work with anxiety, discovering practical tools for emotional freedom, and creating a life filled with more passion, energy, creativity, and meaning.

From her base in Canada, we get into it all. Enjoy this interview.

More Elke Scholz
Loving Your Life — Official Website

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Welcome to a new edition of the Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino series. On this episode, we talk with Master Certified Consistency Coach and creator of The Busy Woman’s Blueprint, Alicia Dupree, about helping busy, overwhelmed women finally stop putting themselves last—and start following through on the goals they've been talking about for years.

For working mothers and women juggling careers, families, relationships, responsibilities, and countless competing priorities, personal goals can easily become the thing that gets pushed to tomorrow.

Alicia Dupree believes it doesn't have to be that way.

With a background in coaching, leadership, and wellness, Alicia specializes in helping women create realistic systems, habits, routines, and strategies that actually fit their lives. Her approach isn't about adding another complicated productivity system to an already overloaded schedule. It's about creating consistency in a way that feels sustainable, practical, honest, and achievable.

Through The Busy Woman's Blueprint, she helps women move from overwhelm and good intentions to meaningful action and follow-through.

In this conversation, we explore consistency, goal setting, productivity, time management, self-care, working motherhood, leadership, wellness, overcoming overwhelm, building sustainable habits, and how women can make progress without feeling like personal growth has become another full-time job.

This is a conversation about making progress realistic, building consistency without perfection, and helping busy women create lives where their own goals finally have a place at the table.

We get into the whole story. Enjoy this interview.

More Alicia Dupree
Alicia Dupree — Official Website

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Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz Interview Series with veteran Austin, Texas-based saxophonist Elias Haslanger.

We caught up with this longtime fixture of the Central Texas jazz scene to talk about his ninth album, Legacy, and the remarkable 30-year journey that has made him one of the enduring voices in Texas jazz.

Legacy is deeply personal.

The album is dedicated to the great mentors who have influenced Elias throughout his musical life, and it serves as an all-original program celebrating the people, experiences, lessons, and musical traditions that helped shape his sound.

For this special recording, Elias assembled an exceptional group of musicians from across the country, including his longtime partner Mike Sailors on trumpet and flugelhorn.

Over the course of his three-decade career, Elias Haslanger's playing and writing have drawn comparisons to jazz giants including John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Ben Webster, and Wayne Shorter. He has also performed, recorded, and toured with numerous world-class musicians, including legendary New Orleans pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis and acclaimed bandleader and trumpeter Maynard Ferguson.

In this conversation, we explore Legacy, the mentors who shaped Elias' musical identity, his evolution as a saxophonist and composer, the Austin jazz scene, and what it means to continue creating original music after 30 years in the business.

At its heart, Legacy is about more than music.

It's about the people who teach us, inspire us, challenge us, and leave something behind in us that continues long after the lesson is over.

Elias Haslanger brings three decades of experience, an impressive musical résumé, and a deep respect for the jazz tradition into this fascinating conversation about mentorship, composition, performance, Austin jazz, and the continuing evolution of his sound.

Get the Album & More
Elias Haslanger Official Website 

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Welcome to a new edition of the Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino series. On this episode, we talk with Positioning & Founder Strategist, Executive & Pitch Coach, Author & Podcaster Dr. Esther Zeledon about leadership, strategy, positioning, sustainable growth, purpose, and turning big ideas into measurable impact.

Dr. Zeledon partners with governments, donors, executives, NGOs, communities, and individuals to help them transform vision into action and create meaningful, measurable results.

At the center of her work is the idea of identifying pivotal “branch points”—those critical moments and opportunities when a different decision, strategy, or direction can dramatically change what comes next.

With deep expertise in systems analysis, ESG-focused development, organizational strategy, and leadership, Dr. Zeledon helps leaders structure both short- and long-term goals through practical, tailored strategies. Her work includes strengthening organizational capacity, refining KPIs, developing sustainability and communication strategies, and aligning business development with long-term objectives.

But her approach goes beyond spreadsheets, strategies, and performance metrics.

Her whole-person, whole-team philosophy recognizes that sustainable impact requires leaders and organizations to understand not only what they want to accomplish, but also the barriers, competing demands, relationships, and personal realities that can determine whether those goals become reality. 

In this conversation, we explore leadership positioning, founder strategy, executive coaching, pitching, systems thinking, ESG, organizational development, sustainability, communication, purpose, personal clarity, and the decisions that create lasting impact.

This is a fascinating conversation about the moments that change trajectories, the strategies that turn vision into results, and how leaders can create meaningful impact without losing themselves in the process.

We get into the whole story. Enjoy this interview.

More Dr. Esther Zeledon
Be Act Change — Official Website
Dr. Esther Zeledon on LinkedIn

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Welcome to a new edition of the Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino series. On this episode, we talk with writer, poet, baseball historian, former sports journalist, and communications professional Matthew Johnson about his upcoming 2026 poetry collection, Jackie Robinson Real Gone, and the fascinating intersection of baseball, literature, history, faith, and the written word.

Matthew's love of poetry and baseball runs deep. His upcoming collection draws inspiration from the legendary Jackie Robinson, while reflecting the literary and cultural influences that have shaped his own voice as a writer.

Among his many professional pursuits, Matthew has worked as a freelance editor and served as a teaching assistant and tutor in American Literature and English Studies. He currently works in communications within higher education.

A native of New Rochelle, New York, and raised in Stratford, Connecticut, Matthew now calls Greensboro, North Carolina home.

His literary influences include some of America's most important writers and poets, including Langston Hughes, Jean Toomer, Carl Sandburg, Walt Whitman, and Mark Twain. His passion for baseball provides another powerful lens through which he explores American history, culture, identity, perseverance, and the human experience.

Faith also plays an important role in his creative life, informing the themes, values, and stories that emerge through his poetry and writing.

In this conversation, we explore Jackie Robinson Real Gone, the legacy of Jackie Robinson, Matthew's love of baseball, poetry as a form of storytelling, American literature, his career in journalism and communications, his literary influences, faith, and what drives him to keep writing.

This is a conversation about baseball, poetry, history, literature, faith, and the people and stories that continue to shape America.

If you love Jackie Robinson, baseball history, poetry, American literature, sports writing, or great personal stories, this is an interview worth spending some time with.

We cover all of this and more. Enjoy the interview.

More Matthew Johnson
Matthew Johnson Poetry — Official Website

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Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz Interview Series with Brooklyn-based jazz flutist/composer Michel Gentile and drummer/composer Rob Garcia as we explore two exciting new 2026 albums from Connection Works Records.

Released worldwide on May 29, 2026, these two recordings offer different perspectives on contemporary jazz while sharing a deep commitment to composition, improvisation, collaboration, and creative exploration.

First up is Light of Day by Michel Gentile FLOW—Gentile's debut recording as a leader. The project features Gentile on flute, alto flute, bass flute, and piccolo, joined by Michael McGinnis on clarinet, Jacob Garchik on trombone, Chris Lightcap on bass, and Tom Rainey on drums. The music moves between carefully constructed compositions and open-ended improvisation, creating an adventurous chamber-jazz sound filled with texture and interaction.

Then we get into **Rob Garcia's Sizzle Ensemble, a new group featuring Garcia on drums with Noah Preminger on tenor saxophone, Shane Endsley on trumpet, Gary Versace on piano/electric piano, and Kim Cass on bass. The album combines Garcia's original compositions with inventive interpretations of music by artists including Thelonious Monk, Marcus Miller, and Herbie Hancock.

Both artists are deeply connected to Connection Works, the Brooklyn artist-run nonprofit they co-direct with pianist/composer Daniel Kelly. The organization has been supporting new jazz and creative music in Brooklyn since 2007.

In this conversation, we explore the creative thinking behind both albums, the Brooklyn jazz community, composition and improvisation, building ensembles, the relationship between structure and freedom, and what it means to create adventurous jazz in 2026.

It's a special dual-album conversation with two important voices in the Brooklyn jazz community—and two musicians who continue to push their music forward through collaboration, curiosity, and fearless creativity.

Get the Albums
Connection Works Records — Michel Gentile & Rob Garcia releases

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Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz Interview Series with Washington, DC–based baritone saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Leigh Pilzer.

On this episode, we dive into Leigh's compelling new 2026 album, Keep Holding On, released on Strange Woman Records. The project finds Pilzer exploring intimate trio and quartet settings, creating an environment where composition, improvisation, interaction, phrasing, and musical structure can breathe.

Leigh brings a distinctive compositional philosophy to the record. Rather than simply placing her baritone saxophone within an ensemble, she approaches instrument, composition, arrangement, and collaboration as one unified expressive system.

The result is music where every detail matters—from the shape of a melody and the architecture of an arrangement to the spontaneous interaction between musicians.

In this conversation, Leigh and Joe also explore what it means to create meaningful music in 2026 America, the evolving role of the jazz composer and bandleader, her approach to ensemble design, and the possibility of bringing her music to Kansas City in the near future.

Keep Holding On is a fascinating look at what can happen when composition, musicianship, improvisation, and ensemble chemistry become inseparable.

This is a conversation about the architecture of jazz—and the freedom that can emerge when great musicians know exactly when to follow the structure and when to break away from it.

Leigh Pilzer — Keep Holding On
https://leighpilzer.bandcamp.com/album/keep-holding-on

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