Playboy: Two women revisit the very different lives behind their centerfolds

The Playboy Bunny is one of America’s most recognizable symbols, but it never represented a single experience.  Candace Jordan was both a Bunny and a Playmate in the ‘70s, and remembers Playboy as a source of sisterhood, ambition, opportunity and lifelong belonging.  Victoria Valentino was Miss S…

Journalist Scott Wallace on protecting the Amazon's last uncontacted tribes

For decades, journalist Scott Wallace has traveled the world documenting conflict, culture, and extraordinary lives. But nothing compared to a ten-week expedition through one of the most remote regions of the Brazilian Amazon.  His assignment: accompany an effort to help protect one of the last un…

Our gift to you: Pinch me moments that remind us how beautiful life can be

Most days fade into the next. You make the coffee, answer the emails, run the errands, fold the laundry, try to keep up.  But every once in a while, life gives you a moment that blows your freakin' mind.  For more than a year, at the end of Audacious interviews, we've asked guests one final quest…

A survivor of childhood sexual abuse speaks his truth. We’re listening.

When someone tells you they’ve survived sexual abuse, the conversation can feel tender for everyone involved: the person choosing what to share, and the person trying to respond with care. How can we make those moments feel safer, more honest, and less lonely?  Beth Hamilton, executive director of…

The kidney was just the beginning: Unexpected gifts after transplants

What happens when a Brooklyn woman who identifies as queer, liberal, vegan, and an atheist donates her kidney to a conservative Christian man from Virginia? Kerry Kennedy and Joey Shervey tell the story of what it looks like when compassion outvotes everything else. Their transplant crossed party …

A drummer, a rapper, and a violinist on disability and the art of adapting

How do you play the violin without a right hand? How do you drum after losing a leg? How do you rap and create beats when you can only move your head and shoulders?  Adrian Anantawan was born without his right hand and most of his right forearm, and learned violin using a custom bow adaptation att…

No stage? No problem! Stand-up comedy in offices, ferries, prisons, and nursing homes

When you go to a comedy club, you know what you’re there for. But what happens when comedy shows up somewhere else?  Meredith Dietz describes doing stand-up in a New York City office where employees were told not to laugh, and on a Staten Island Ferry where no one could escape the ride.  Years af…

The minds, hearts (and stomachs) of competitive eaters

Some people savor every bite. Others eat 30 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Welcome to the world of competitive eating! Visit Lake Compounce for a Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest qualifier, where everyone is trying to prove they’re top dog. Then Crazy Legs Conti and Katina DeJarnett - aka Katina E…

Joe Stone, wheelchair rugby, and the full-contact art of resilience

Joe Stone grew up playing volleyball, skateboarding, and breakdancing. Then, in 2012, a car crash left him paralyzed.  Doctors told him he would likely never move anything below his chest again. But five weeks after leaving the hospital, Joe found wheelchair rugby. This violent, fast, full-contact…

A baby’s hot car death, a mother’s grief, and the brain science behind these tragedies

Stephanie Salvilla so deeply loved - still loves - her baby boy, Gannon. In July 2009, after a week of disrupted routines and sleepless nights, her brain went on autopilot. She dropped off her older child, drove to work, and unknowingly left 5-month-old Gannon in the car. He died. In this deeply …