Swan Dive
Now in its 5th year, with over 100 episodes, Swan Dive features inspiring people who had the clarity and courage to pivot in life and chase their dreams. Hosts and life-long friends, Ron Rothberg and Stu Sheldon, both made massive swan dives from successful careers in media and finance to the unknowns of content creation and fine art. Through failures and successes, both eventually found the soul satisfaction of becoming "who they wanted to be when they grew up." Their joyful wisdom graces each conversation with guests that include: legendary musical artists, National Geographic photographers, social justice warriors, clergy, journalists ... even Africa's first black, female brain surgeon. Each guest opens up about their unique emotional journey, their fear of the unknown, the grind of starting a new path and, hopefully, the world's embrace on the road to their most authentic selves. Vulnerability, laughter and inspiration abound. Hopefully, you'll find comfort and kinship in your own big pivot, whether you've made it yet or not. Share your Swan Dive story with us and we may feature you. Find us @stuart_sheldon and ronrothberg@comcast.net.
Episodes
108 episodes
The Truth Behind The Mask - NaJei (GiGi) Webster - The Trials of Reentry After Life in a Cinder Block Cell
NaJei (GiGi) Webster wrote and directed the short-film, The Truth Behind The Mask - The Harsh Realities of Reentry, now streaming to 100 million viewers on Tubi. Based on her own...
Emil Pinnock - "Each One Teach One" - Falsely Accused to Film Industry Powerhouse
Emil Pinnock is an accomplished film director, producer, and writer who has been active in the film industry for over 20 years. Raised in Harlem, Emil launched his film career a...
Artie Ahier - "Endurance" - From Hospitality Host to Arctic Adventurer
Artie Ahier developed a fascination with all things polar after reading Endurance at age 13. The harrowing story of Shackleton’s Antarctic misadventure so gripped young A...
Dawn Feinberg - "Dawn Patrol - More Than Just Yoga" - Professional Dancer Turns Severe Injury into Miami's Top Yoga Studio
Dawn Feinberg is founder of AHANA Yoga, voted the "Best Yoga Studio" in Miami three times by the Miami N...
Barry Krutchik - "That's a Good Question" - Legendary Hollywood Interviewer Writes a Book of Classic Conversations
Barry Krutchik is an legendary Hollywood and pop culture journalist who has conducted over 2000 celebrity interviews across music, film & television over the past 40 years, capturing raw, unscripted moments — from Bob Hope to The Beastie Bo...
Kimberly & Jason Ocana - "Planting New Roots" - Firefighter & Corporate Exec start Plant Medicine Retreat Center
The devastating 2022 hurricane that destroyed their Florida home was the last straw in a chain of traumas for Jason and Kimberly Ocana. A paramedic/firefighter for nearly 15 years, Jason loved being of service, but the work's constant physical ...
Asha Elias - "A Novel Swan Dive" - Miami Beach Yoga Mom to Red-hot Author
“Delicious, decadent, and utterly diabolical. No one serves up a scandal like Asha Elias,” writes author Kirsten Miller about this writer, mother, and reluctant s...
Eric Gottesman - "Where Do We Go From Here?" - Photographer/Professor/Collaborator
Eric Gottesman teaches, organizes, writes, and makes artworks with other people that address nationalism, migration, structural violence, history, and intimate relations. His work is always collaborat...
Robert Sinclair - "Speculative World Builder" - An artist writes the future he wants to live in
Robert Earl Sinclair is a Future Architect & Speculative World-Builder striving to make sense of our rapidly changing world and co-create bold futures. Born in "the hood" ...
David Garfunkel - "Building Community" - From Peace Corps to re-building a forgotten neighborbhood
How does one claw their way out of the deep hole of generational poverty and income inequality if the walls are too steep and slippery to climb? David Garfunkel has tackled this problem with meani...
Nate Monroe - "How do you Know?" - USA Today Columnist Speaks Truth to Power
Nate Monroe writes a column about Florida for USA Today, exploring how power works in the gilded, strange human heart of the modern Republican Party. His intrepid ir...
Samantha Rose Williams - American Patriot - From Opera Singer to Activist
The Stanford Arts Review described Samantha Rose Williams as a “Mezzo-Soprano with ‘jaw-dropping vocal power.” This opera singer and arts activist is committed to creating spac...
Daniel K Forkkio - "Healing & Reconciliation via Storytelling & Filmmaking" - CEO, Represent Justice
Daniel K. Forkkio is CEO of Represent Justice, building a critical mass of “syst...
Matt Hartley - "DEI Criminal" - Incredible Educator Becomes Guiltless Victim of Culture War
Matt Hartley is an Interfaith expert and "DEI Criminal." He's an educator and ordained minister, a dad, a cellist, a high school running coach .... In other words, one of the good guys. Yet, after 5 years leading the University of North Florida...
Suz Howard - "Designing Creative Leaders" - IDEO Industrial Design Legend Goes Solo
Trained as an anthropologist, Suz Howard spent 20 yrs as a partner at IDEO, one of the world's leading design and innovation companies, playing a critical ro...
Jeff Kollath - The Soul of a Story - Exec Dir of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music
As Executive Director of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis, TN, Jeff Kollath oversees the world’s only museum dedicated to preserving and promoting the legacy of Stax Records and American sou...
Clark Butcher - Victory Bicycles - Bike Lover Revolutionizes the Bike Shop Game
Clark Butcher will be the first to tell you he is addicted to endurance athletics. He started running age 7, completed his first half marathon at 11 and discovered triathlons at 14, where he naturally excelled in cycling. By 16, Clark was compe...
Dr Scott Morris - "Fine and Blessed" - Doctor/Minister Opens Largest Faith-based Hospital in US
As a teenager, Dr. Scott Morris became deeply interested in two things: his religion and the practice of medicine. He's spent his entire life creating a way to connect the two to serve humanity. Now 70, Morris is the founder and chief executive...
Chris Jenkins - "Being There" - Documentary Filmmaker Turned Educator & How He Listened to "The Signs"
Chris Jenkins is Head of Production in University of California, Santa Barbara’s Film & Media Studies Department. He has been behind the lens of many notable and award-winning documentaries. His work has ...
Gary Adler - "Right Time, Right Place" - Life as a Hollywood Creative Director
Hollywood Creative Director and Graphic Artist, Gary Adler, has a blackbelt in branding on a global scale. He moved to LA in 1986 to chase his dream and, after decades designing for the film industry’s best, from Disney to Dreamwork...
Taylor Keen - "Living Red" - From Ivy League to Sacred Seeds ... Indigenous Leader Finds Home
Taylor Keen has an astonishing resume: Golden Gloves boxer, Dartmouth undergrad, Harvard MBA and Masters in Public Administration. Business man. Indigenous leader, Strategy consultant and full-time instructor in Corporate Strategy and Entrepren...
Lolo Reskin - "Sweat and Vinyl" - Iconic Record Store Pioneer
In 2019, Miami New Times tweeted “Does anyone know Miami music better than Lolo Reskin?” Music is in this woman’s blood. Lauren Reskin, better known as Lolo, is founder of Miami’s iconic, Sw...
Katie Hathaway - "I'll See You Tomorrow" - Mom turned gun sense activist
Katie Hathaway's swan dive moment came as her 7-yr-old son got in the car at school pickup and said, "Mom, I know it. We’re gonna be the first classroom shot up. We’re closest to the front of the school." Katie's heart sank. That any child woul...
Andy Peay - "Pinot Pioneers" - From Wall Street to World Renowned Winemaker
In the mid-1990s, Andy Peay and his brother, Nick, set out to find land for the vineyard they dreamt of creating. Eventually, they settled on a property in California’s West Sonoma Coast, an old sheep farm and apple orchard. Here, the brothers,...
