Do you have a good friend; someone who you consider yourself close to and who is impactful on your life, although you’ve never actually met them in person? For me, that person is Ian, who I was connected with a long time ago based on a mutual friend and wild life events (long story).  For years now, Ian and I have chatted on Facebook and got to know each other, getting to know about each other’s lives, families, aspirations, and even supporting our favorite charities back and forth.  So, it...

When I first moved to Sacramento in 2003, I literally knew no one in the city. Eager to make friends and expand my circle with positive, impactful people, I started volunteering and attending charity events. It paid off with lifelong friends and connections, such as with the guests on the Who in the World podcast today, Sharon Gerber Scherer and Rob Scherer. To me, they stood ten feet tall – they were well-accomplished in business, revered in the community, and incredibly well connected....

In this episode #32 of the Who in the World Podcast, I have the pleasure of introducing you to ML, one of the most amazing human beings I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing.  I first met ML in Sacramento, Ca when we had both newly moved there in the 2000s, her from NYC where she was an actress and arts promoter for 7 years, and me from CT. Upon being introduced by a mutual friend, we became homies instantly, and shared a common vision for community, networking, empowering the arts scene in...

In this episode #31 of the Who in the World Podcast, I share part two of my conversation with Kay Kay, live from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I was able to travel back to Cambodia last year – one of my favorite countries on earth and I place I lived for a few years – and had the chance to visit Kay Kay at his home for a few beers and a deep conversation about his life. For those who didn’t get to listen to part one of our talk yet, you can listen here: And in this part two, we start off when Kay...

In this episode, I travel back to Phnom Penh, Cambodia – one of my favorite places in the world – and sit down with my friend Kay Kay. Kay Kay is one of the “Deportees,” those Cambodian nationals who grew up in the U.S. but were later deported back to Cambodia, to a country and even language they didn’t know. Raised in California in a poor neighborhood amid crime, drugs, and gangs, Kay Kay was more about the breakdancing and graffiti tagging life. However, he did fall victim to the...

In this podcast, I catch up with my old friend Mounika, who tells me about her trip of a lifetime to Japan. I was friends with Mounika and her husband Rohit back when I lived in Sacramento and became good friends with them towards the tail end of my stay there before leaving to live abroad in 2011. Last year, Mounika invited me to speak via video chat to a club with some of her girl friends from India to California. I talked about my adventures, went over a few stories from the books I’ve...

In this part two of my podcast with Wicced, or Kalvin Hang, we reunite in Phnom Penh, sitting down in a corner of a bar tucked away in an alley to talk about his story, live from the Kingdom of Cambodia. In episode #26, Wicced and I covered how he was born in a refugee camp in Thailand, made his way across the world to settle in California, and then fell into the street life because of his surroundings. Never a naturalized citizen, he ended up in an immigration prison for years and, post...

One of the amazing things about traveling and living abroad is the people you meet in random, chance, and fleeting encounters. Even if you just chat at the airport for 5 minutes or run into someone at a café, you form these deep, meaningful connections that stay with you for life.   One of those chance encounters occurred for me in the little mountain spa town of Fortuna in Costa Rica. I walked down into the lobby of my backpacker’s lodge one day and saw this tall European woman struggling...

I’m honored to introduce you to my great friend and brother, Kalvin Hang, or Wicced as he’s known.  Wicced was born in a refugee camp in Thailand as his parents escaped war-torn Cambodia, then emigrated to California, where he grew up in San Diego.   From dire poverty to gang violence to prison, to say Wicced had it tough is an understatement. He was even thrown in an immigration prison and deported to Cambodia, never allowed to return to the U.S. - even though he’d never actually lived in...

I recently visited Qatar for the first time, the Arabian country set to host the 2022 World Cup. Amazed and impressed by what I experienced, I wanted to learn more. So, I enlisted the knowledge and perspective of my new friend, Jennifer, in this podcast, an American who’s lived in Qatar with her family for more than twelve years.   I had so many questions.  For instance, what is life like for an American family in a traditional Islamic country?  How is it possible that Qatar is so safe that...

Imagine if you had to leave your country virtually overnight, your home, your job, your friends, most of your savings, and almost everything you owned? You needed to scramble to find a new, safe country for your entire family to live in and could only bring one suitcase with you – possibly never to return again.  Oh, and you couldn’t tell anyone about it or even let on that anything was out of the ordinary. One wrong step, one mistake, and you (and your entire family) would most likely be...

Living in Medellin, Colombia for six months, I was invited to go volunteer at a remote center of a social program by a local friend. That’s how I first met Sabine, my new friend and the Program Director at The Children of Medellin, and see firsthand what they do.  The trip alone was no joke, as the community of Bello Oriente is the highest in all of greater Medellin, up snaking, winding streets then alleys then dirt paths on the mountain rim of central Medellin below. Bello Oriente is also...

In this podcast, we take a guided tour of Comuna 13, the most amazing neighborhood I’ve witnessed anywhere in the world, with my friend and long-time resident, Laura Loaiza.  A comuna is a zone of the city, and Medellin, Colombia is divided into 16 of them. But Comuna 13 was always plagued by violence since its inception on the steep side of a mountain overlooking central Medellin.  As a logical access route for drug traffickers coming into and out of the city, it became a war zone in the...

In this podcast, you have the pleasure of meeting Kyle McGee or “Goo,” as everyone used to affectionately call him, my best friend since high school. Goo (also known as “Goo Man,” “Goo Rasta,” or “Goo Monster”) is the son of ministers, a social worker, racial advocate, musician who specializes in West African drums, and traveler.  He also happens to be one of the kindest and most caring human beings you’ll ever know. So, in this trip down memory lane, we talk about meeting in high school and...

My humble little Who in the World podcast has now hit 20 episodes, with such an eclectic and interesting cast of characters that I’ve been fortunate enough to know in my life.  And you can expect a lot more remarkable people from my journey, starting today with my new-but-great friend, Molly Ruland. For many years, Molly was an activist and community organizer in Washington D.C., hosting underground music and artistic events at the iconic One Love Massive space as well and being integral in...

In this episode, I chat with my old homie, Stephen White.  Stephen (or just "Whitey" as his friends and coworkers call him) came from the East Coast like me but made his way out west, finding his way to San Francisco, California post-college.  I moved out to San Francisco around 1995-98 as well, and together with our incredibly eclectic but tight-knit crew, we ripped up the city.  But more than just partying and experiencing the music and culture the city had to offer, Stephen was like a big...

🎸 In this podcast, I’d like you to meet my good friend, THE Tek Cortez, the Philippines favorite musical busker. 🇵🇭 For those who don’t know (like I didn’t), busking is a word that describes street performance, whether its art or movement or music. 🎹 And Tek Cortez is one of the Philippines favorite buskers, singing and strumming his guitar along Bonifacio High Street in the BGC area of Manila many evenings.  🎶 I first spotted Tek on Instagram when I lived in Manila back in 2018 and 2019...

I recently got back from a three-week trip to Medellin, Colombia. My first time in the country, I was lucky enough to meet a few other young expats and digital nomads from the U.S., albeit in their 20s – the next generation of Road Dogs. These guys were totally unique and interesting in their own way, with different backgrounds, motivations, and goals, but collectively they assured me that there are still some cool people worth celebrating out here. So, I had the chance to sit down and chat...

In this podcast episode, please meet John Abate. I’ve known John all the way back to my post-college days back in Colorado, where we definitely saw some wild stuff and have some stories to tell. John and I both happened to move to San Francisco years later and were friends there, where I always got a kick out of his bike messenger lifestyle and crowd. He went on to race semi-professionally for years in Encinitas before tragedy came on August 16th, 2016.  John was struck by car while on a...

Today on the Who in the World podcast I’m super stoked to have on my friend Jen Queen, who I met around 2015 when we both we’re living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Originally from Ohio before relocating to San Francisco, Jen is a world-class bartender and Mezcalier, the term for someone who’s an expert in Mexican mezcal spirits.  Similar to a sommelier with wines, my understanding is that Jen was only the 14th person in the world to earn that Mezcalier designation. She went on to establish...

Meet Gaspar - the "Nicaraguan Ray Donovan" and on e of my best friends. One of the most memorable and positive experiences of my life was the year I lived in a local barrio in the sleepy seaside town of San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua. There, I met Gaspar, who was sort of like the patron saint of Barrio Chino – or, China Town.  Gaspar grew up right there in Barrio Chino in the wake of the revolution and ensuing civil war in Nicaragua. With no father and a mother forced to cross the border into...

Today on the Who in the World Podcast, I have the pleasure of interviewing my good buddy, Trevor Gibbs.  Originally from Austin, Texas, Trevor studied engineering and actually completed his masters degree while living in Qatar. He went on to travel throughout the middle east, Europe, Latin and South America, and has 40-something countries under his belt (and we had a fun rivalry about who’s visited more countries.)  I first met Trevor when we were both living down in Costa Rica in 2011, and...

In this podcast, I catch up with my great Aussie friend Clint G, or, 'Clint da Monsta" as I call him.  I first met Clint at a remote fitness complex in Cambodia, and we hit it off immediately and started to train, travel, and do a little bit of partying together.  Since then, I've hung out with Clint dozens of times throughout Cambodia, in Pattaya and Koh Samui in Thailand, and Manila in the Philippines.   Now a family man who's got a beautiful wife and child, Clint is one of the smartest,...