Coffee/Lunch/Beer

In this episode, we welcome Matthew Carroll, a Grammy Award-winning opera singer for the Lyric Opera of Chicago and founder of Keystone Mediation. We discuss getting surprised by texts on Grammy night, what it's like to be a professional opera singer, what sparked his interest in mediation, transitioning to life off the stage, and the future of his profession. Mark also shares a tender parenting moment with Darin and much more.

Today we’re joined by a very special guest: The Soul Food Scholar, dropping knowledge like hot biscuits, Adrian Miller. Prior to becoming a James Beard award-winning author and preeminent scholar on soul food and the culinary history of African Americans, Miller earned degrees from Stanford and Georgetown, served as a special assistant to President Bill Clinton, and served as a senior policy analyst for Colorado Governor Bill Ritter.

Adrian Miller is the author of three books. His first book, Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time won the James Beard Foundation Award for Scholarship and Reference in 2014. His second book, The President’s Kitchen Cabinet: The Story of the African Americans Who Have Fed Our First Families, From the Washingtons to the Obamas was a finalist for a 2018 NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Literary Work – Non-Fiction,” and the 2018 Colorado Book Award for History. And his upcoming work, Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue, is scheduled to come out later this month.

In this episode, we talk to Adrian about leaving the comfort of his political career to pursue his dreams, working with publishers, dealing with rejection, finding inspiration, the best soul food and barbecue places in Colorado and the country, tips for a barbecue road trip, and much, much more.

Today we’re joined by the Director of the Birth Equity Advocacy Project, Morgan White. We talk about her family’s deep roots in political activism, eating nothing but lasagna during her internship for Congressman John Lewis, transitioning to work for then-Senator Kamala Harris, and much more.

A Note From Mark & Darin: You may notice references to the former name of this show, The Mentor, in the episode. This episode was recorded before we switched to the current name: Coffee/Lunch/Beer. The new name is derived from a common question in outreach emails, "Would you be interested in meeting up for coffee/lunch/beer?"

A Note From Mark & Darin: You may notice references to the former name of this show, The Mentor, in the episode. This episode was recorded before we switched to the current name: Coffee/Lunch/Beer. The new name is derived from a common question in outreach emails, "Would you be interested in meeting up for coffee/lunch/beer?"

A Note From Mark & Darin: You may notice references to the former name of this show, The Mentor, in the episode. This episode was recorded before we switched to the current name: Coffee/Lunch/Beer. The new name is derived from a common question in outreach emails, "Would you be interested in meeting up for coffee/lunch/beer?"