Episode #59: Wendy Slusser – Behind the Mic

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In this special “Behind the Mic” episode, podcast producer Kayleigh Ruller interviews Dr. Wendy Slusser to learn more about her career, her inspirations, her mentors, and how the Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center came to be. Dr. Wendy Slusser has been leading the Semel HCI center for nearly a decade to advance health research, host summits, gather leaders, and embed health equity across campus. 

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Dr. Wendelin Slusser is Associate Vice Provost for the Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center at UCLA, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics in the UCLA Schools of Medicine and Public Health, and Co-Founder and Academic Director of the UCLA Fit for Healthy Weight Program. She graduated Cum Laude from Princeton University, received her Medical Degree and Master’s in Science in Nutrition from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. She completed her internship and residency in Pediatrics at Babies Hospital, Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. She joined the UCLA faculty in 1996 and since then has been a leader in community, school, clinic, and family-based programs focused on enhancing the physical, social and emotional wellbeing of infants, children, young adults and their caregivers. Dr. Slusser practiced and taught General Pediatrics and health promotion at the Venice Family Clinic for 19 years.

Episode #57: Where Food Meets Performance with Elizabeth Schiffler

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You don’t want to miss today’s episode–mainly because Wendy and Elizabeth reveal their reigning favorite salt! How’d we get there? Because Elizabeth shares how she guides her students through a mindful salt tasting–an exercise that embodies her research at the intersection of food and performance. A PhD candidate at UCLA in Theater and Performance Studies with a graduate certificate in Food Studies, Elizabeth discusses how she approaches food experiences and food justice through an artistic research lens.

More about Elizabeth Schiffler

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Elizabeth Schiffler is a PhD candidate at UCLA in Theater and Performance Studies, with a graduate certificate in Food Studies. She is a part-time faculty member in Food Studies at The New School. Her work focuses on contemporary performance that uses food in and as performance, entangled with human, nonhuman, and ecological scales. She is the 2022 recipient of the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge Fellowship at UCLA, and a Global Food Initiative Fellow with University of California Office of the President. She has contributed to Theatre Journal, Food, Culture & Society, and the Graduate Journal for Food Studies.

Episode #56: Making Music and Working from the Heart with Jeremy Barrett

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Jeremy BarrettIf you have ever visited UCLA, you have likely seen and heard piano melodies around campus. We have today’s guest, Jeremy Barrett, to thank for that. In this conversation, we hear how Jeremy’s Piano Project was sparked by a desire for community engagement. We learn how he pitched the concept to UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, and how eventually, he landed a job with music legend Quincy Jones. All of his outward success is guided by preparation, courage, and a desire to connect through the universal language of music. For more info, visit The UCLA Piano Project.

More about Jeremy Barrett:

Jeremy Barrett has been building community through music since he was ten years old in a band with his brother. A 2019 UCLA graduate, Jeremy sees musical instruments as instruments of peace, as demonstrated by the UCLA Piano Project, which he founded and led on campus. He also directed Semel HCI’s end of the year celebration, “Health in Harmony,” honoring music legend Quincy Jones. Jeremy now works at Quincy Jones Productions as a Project Manager and advocate for artists. Jeremy is a musician himself and part of the group “Bash Dogs.” 

Episode #55: Super Education of the Soul with Bob Thurman

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Bob Thurman

Bob Thurman, longtime Professor of Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, believes education is one of the most important aspects of being human, but not education in the way academics typically refer to. A Tibetan Buddhist writer, student, and teacher, Bob believes in the education of the soul—cultivating character, not simply mind, and revolutionizing culture toward equanimity, harmony, and justice.

More about Bob Thurman:

Bob Thurmam is the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, President of the Tibet House U.S., a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Tibetan civilization, and President of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies. Time chose Professor Thurman as one of its 25 most influential Americans in 1997, describing him as a “larger than life scholar-activist destined to convey the Dharma, the precious teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, from Asia to America.” The New York Times recently said Thurman “is considered the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism.” He taught students as a Harvard grad student, then 15 years at Amherst College, then 31 years at Columbia. He still teaches actively online. Inspired by his good friend the Dalai Lama, Thurman stands on Buddhism’s open reality, and then takes us along with him into an expanded vision of the world. He recently published “Wisdom Is Bliss: Four Friendly Fun Facts That Can Change Your Life.”

For more information, visit https://bobthurman.com/ or https://religion.columbia.edu/content/buddhism.

Episode #54: Staying Flexible in Transition with Anna Glenn

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Former UCLA gymnast, Anna Glenn, shares with us how she translated athleticism into advocacy during her time at UCLA and beyond. We found out how Anna is a masterful transitioner, so to speak–moving to LA from North Carolina, facing career-pausing injuries, being adopted, graduating in the pandemic, and embracing her Asian American identity.

More about Anna Glenn:

Anna Glenn is a former UCLA gymnast who has developed a strong passion for mental health and wellness during her collegiate career. Her passion for advocacy started after personal experience with multiple season-ending injuries. On top of developing the UCLA Athletics Bruin Brave Campaign, Anna was also involved in several other mental health organizations on campus during her time at UCLA including the Bruin Mental Health Advisory Committee and the Bruin Mental Health Advisory Committee. Anna plans to continue helping others as an occupational therapist as she awaits entering the USC entry-level Occupational Therapy Doctorate Program in the fall.

Episode #53: Coffee, Community, Connection with Joe and Celia Ward-Wallace

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Coffee, community, and connection are the ways that Joe and Celia Ward-Wallace advocate for their South Central LA community. As founders of the South LA Cafe and the South LA community nonprofit, this dynamic duo is paving the path toward food justice and community health. Learn how Celia, with her coaching and consulting background, and Joe, with his firefighting background, came together to create a place of gathering.

Click here to learn more about South LA Cafe!

About Celia Ward-Wallace:

Celia Ward-Wallace is a leading business coach and consultant for social enterprises creating a business with an impact. She is an internationally recognized empowerment, entrepreneurship, and leadership expert who leads her clients to start, launch, and grow purpose-driven businesses and become thought leaders through entrepreneurship, coaching, speaking, writing, community building, and activism. Celia’s coaching and consulting firm The Ward-Wallace Group, has worked with over 1,000 social enterprises, non-profit organizations, brands, coaches, and entrepreneurs to help them launch and scale world-changing ideas. Their impressive corporate client list includes The Honest Company, Downtown Crenshaw, The Los Angeles Urban League, LAFD, USC, UCLA, and the Leimert Park Village Vendors. She also serves as a contributor for the Huffington Post, a featured guest expert for ABC7 Eyewitness News & an awarded Top 20 Business Coach in Los Angeles. To learn more about Celia here and connect via email at info@southlacafe.com.

About Joe Ward-Wallace:

Joe Ward-Wallace is a life-long resident of South Central Los Angeles, a retired Los Angeles City Fighter, and a sales and marketing expert with over 25 years of business experience. A child of evangelists and entrepreneurs, Joe brings his unparalleled faith and resilience to all of his diverse ventures, which include real estate investing and management, an impressive career as a college basketball referee, and founder and CEO of the SLAC ecosystem which. aims to break the shackles of systemic oppression and inequality by creating, building, and empowering an equitable, healthy, and sustainable South Central community for all. To connect with Joe or learn more, visit or email at info@southlacafe.com.

Episode #52: Part 2: A Culture of Care with Peter Sellars

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How is controversy a good thing? What does it mean to have five eyes? Why is there no such thing as spectatorship? 

This is what we set out to uncover in Part 2 of our Special Series with Peter Sellars, world-renowned theater and opera director. Join us as we discuss imagining new and revolutionary solutions to issues and injustices by centering art and community care. 

More about Peter Sellars: 

MacArthur Fellow Peter Sellars is a world-renowned Director and artist, regarded as one of the most influential opera, theater, and film directors of the past four decades. Peter explores challenging moral issues through his work, abstracting traditional performances into a socio-political spectacle. His work spans disciplines and cultures across both academia and art. He also happens to be a distinguished professor in the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, where he has taught since 1988, and is the founding director of the Boethius Institute at UCLA. As mentioned on the Boethius Initiative site, Peter’s work illuminates art’s power as a means of moral expression and social action. Sellars has led major arts festivals in Los Angeles, Adelaide and Vienna. His many awards include a MacArthur Fellowship, the Erasmus Prize, the Gish Prize, and the Polar Music Prize. Sellars conceived and directed “this body is so impermanent…” in response to the global pandemic .

Episode #51: Part 1: A Culture of Care with Peter Sellars

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Why were snakes at the original Olympics? How are the arts and sports intimately connected? How did the Greek tragedy come to be? Somehow, we cover all of these questions in Part 1 of our Special 2 Part Interview  with Peter Sellars. 

Peter, with his gift of storytelling, takes us on a journey to the Olympics in ancient Greece, where health, theater, and the arts were of equal importance in this celebration of togetherness. Fast forward to today, we look at how arts and sports are both lifelong commitments to navigating struggle in thrilling, liberating, and uniting ways.

More about Peter Sellars: 

MacArthur Fellow Peter Sellars is a world-renowned Director and artist, regarded as one of the most influential opera, theater, and film directors of the past four decades. Peter explores challenging moral issues through his work, abstracting traditional performances into a socio-political spectacle. His work spans disciplines and cultures across both academia and art. He also happens to be a distinguished professor in the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, where he has taught since 1988, and is the founding director of the Boethius Institute at UCLA. As mentioned on the Boethius Initiative site, Peter’s work illuminates art’s power as a means of moral expression and social action. Sellars has led major arts festivals in Los Angeles, Adelaide and Vienna. His many awards include a MacArthur Fellowship, the Erasmus Prize, the Gish Prize, and the Polar Music Prize. Sellars conceived and directed “this body is so impermanent…” in response to the global pandemic .

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Episode #50: Psychology, Identity, and Superheroes with Dr. Drea Letamendi

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Superheroes, science fiction, and fantasy tell a much more complex story than what meets the eye. Dr. Drea Letamendi, clinical psychologist, media consultant, TEDx Speaker, and former Interim Director of UCLA’s RISE center, talks with us today about the power of storytelling in the fictional media landscape– how storytelling accelerates empathy and helps audiences navigate their own personal experiences of joy, grief, resilience, and healing.

More about Dr. Drea Letamendi 

Dr. Drea Letamendi (she/her/ella) is a clinical psychologist, media consultant, and TEDx speaker with degrees and training from Cornell University, UCSD, and UCLA. For 3 years, Dr. Drea served as the Interim Director of the Resilience Center at UCLA known as “RISE.” As the Associate Director of Mental Health Training, Intervention, and Response in Residential Life, she continues to lead projects in the areas of resilience, crisis-response, and suicide prevention. Dr. Drea has a private practice as a behavioral health advisor for the gaming, visual effects, and entertainment media industries (Riot Games, Warner Bros., Marvel, and Disney). She has written publications about the positive impacts of media storytelling on mental health, as covered in the Atlantic, the Guardian, and the Los Angeles Times. She created and hosts The Arkham Sessions, a podcast about the psychology of Batman and other pop culture narratives. Her latest publication with Springer is titled, The Force Awakens: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Using Star Wars

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Episode #48: Food as Transformation with Evan Kleiman

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This conversation with Evan Kleiman is a breath of fresh air, covering the practices and perspectives that sustain Evan’s regenerative, equitable, and of course, delicious approach to preparing a meal. The perspectives offered honor the transformative role that food can play in a complex social landscape, honoring each and every part of the food system.

More about Evan Kleiman

Evan Kleiman is a Culinary Multitasker ™. Former longtime chef-restaurateur-cookbook author,  Evan has been the host of KCRW’s Good Food for over 25 years. 

After living in and exploring Italy and its food culture at age 17, Evan graduated from UCLA with  a degree in Italian Literature and Film. She founded the beloved Angeli Caffe in 1984, has published six cookbooks, and has hosted over 6000+ interviews with KCRW’s Good Food, received the Best Audio Series award from the IACP in 2012. Evan was inducted into the James Beard Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America in 2017. 

A member of the Los Angeles Food Policy Council and founder of LA’s Slow Food Chapter, Evan incorporates the social, human, political, and environmental aspects into her discussions of food. She looks forward to many more years of conversation with people who inhabit every part of the food system. Keep an eye out for her writing on Substack, “Evan’s Food Thoughts”.