During his years working for the CIA as a counterterrorism analyst Aki Peritz had to keep his job a secret. Since leaving the agency he’s able to talk about it generally, and he’s enjoying a successful career as a consultant, writer, and teacher on the subject. But he still maintains…

Toyin Alli is the chef-owner of Puddin’, specializing in Cajun and Creole comfort food operating in DC out of a food truck and a stand at Union Market. On a recent weeknight I met Toyin for the 119th dinner interview; a chat about what got her started in the food…

Meet Mikko Kosonen, he’s a chef from Finland now living in Washington, DC, who divides his time between operating his busy catering company and his namesake restaurant Mikko. We met earlier this month for dinner at his establishment for my 118th interview. Mikko talked about why he wanted to bring…

Every month on the YouTube series “Tired Old Queen at the Movies” actor Steve Hayes shares his love for old movies with five-to-10 minute videos adlibbing about classic features. He covers everything from the characters to the stories of the actors playing them, from the social themes in the plot…

Actresses Jane Lynch and Kate Flannery are perhaps best known to many from their comedic roles on the television shows Glee and The Office respectively, but for the last few years they’ve sold out venues with a series of music revues — their latest, Two Lost Souls, opened in September. Last month, on a trip…

Bernie Clifton, 82, is a legendary British comedian and singer, perhaps best known for a slapstick routine running around on stage in a goofy ostrich costume while he cracks punny jokes. But I recently learned there’s much more to his life story, from his early handyman jobs through to recent…

Next month, the DC Central Kitchen will mark 30 years of taking donated wasted food and turning it into meals for the homeless and non-profits. That’s just one of many services the organization offers, such as a culinary training program for jobless adults so they can get work and “leave…

Mark Bucher is co-owner of Medium Rare, a restaurant business with four locations in the Washington, DC, area offering a very simple menu: bread, followed by salad, then two servings of steak frites. It’s simple yet successful. Medium Rare frequently appears on local and national “best of” lists for steakhouses….

Late last month I was in Brooklyn and had the chance to interview Alex English. He’s a young comedian, writer and actor building his career in his adopted hometown of New York after moving there from Detroit without really knowing what he wanted to do with his life. In 2012,…

Last Friday I uploaded part one of a two-part interview with actress Donna Lynne Champlin, talking about how her discovery of metaphysics helped shape her career. Here’s part two of the interview, in which she charts the course of her career that started at the age of three when she…