Inspired Minds

Peg O’Connor, Ph.D., is a Professor of Philosophy at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. Her training is in moral philosophy, feminist philosophy, addiction studies, and the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein. She believes that philosophy helped her to get and remain sober. Avoiding Alcoholics Anonymous for the first 20 years of her sobriety because of the concept of a “higher power,” she is focused on using some of the gre...

Alicia Dennis is a content executive, award-winning journalist and editor innovating the telling of mass media stories across print, digital and broadcast. A true crime and pop culture expert, Dennis leads teams of breaking news reporters in crime and serves as an executive within multiple brands. Dennis's success as editor, digital content director, creative producer, story consultant and on-camera-talent coupled with her driv...

Standup star Jeremiah Watkins appears on Inspired Minds to talk about film, comedy icons, and his widely-acclaimed style in front of the microphone. Known to make Judd Apatow fall in love with comedy again, Jeremiah lit a fire in the industry that hasn’t been blazing since Chris Farley. 

His debut 1 hour standup special “Jeremiah Watkins: Family Reunion” is streaming now on Amazon Prime, and you can hear him as the new voice of the ...

Eric Morse is an author and activist who wrote the twin children's books, "What Is Hip Hop?" and "What Is Punk?" featuring claymation images of Biggie Smalls, Tupac, The Ramones, The Clash, and other luminaires from their respective scenes.  He cut his teeth in the music industry while joining bands and eventually became a music industry executive.  As Eric says, “When I love something, I advocate for it.”

Podcas...

Jillian Dale is a journalist and has written pieces for The Huffington Post on film as a Contributor, as well as a producer/director for her own company, Bella Luce Productions.  She has directed and created shows like "Omniscient," "Up In Arms," and "Beverly Hills Canine Club."  She was formerly a research attorney and a US Army 2nd Lieutenant, and is currently a digital content producer for the State of Ca...

Pulitzer Prize-winner Marc Fisher is a Senior Editor at The Washington Post, and reports and writes on a wide range of topics. Most recently, he wrote "Trump Revealed," a biography of Donald Trump. He previously was The Post’s Enterprise Editor, leading a team of writers creating narrative journalism and experimenting with new forms of storytelling for digital and print editions of the newspaper.  His books include "Tru...

Entertainment journalist and author Randee Dawn writes for the LA Times Envelope, Variety, Today.com, and a number of other outlets. fiction. She's also a former editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Soap Opera Digest. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and online publications; she also dreams up trivia questions for BigBrain Games. Randee's science fiction/fantasy/horror novel, "Tune in Tomorrow,"...

Drew Fortune is a pop-culture journalist and screenwriter, who has been actively publishing for the past ten years. He is a regular contributor to Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Esquire, and Vulture, but his writings on music, film, and television have been published in Cosmopolitan, Playboy, SPIN, Billboard, the A.V. Club, Stereogum, and many others. His favorite bands are Week, Superchunk, and the Replacements. He loves fly fishing ...

People Magazine Executive Editor, Entertainment Jeremy Helligar opens up about his journey through life, the journalism field, being the underdog as a gay black man and a newfound passion for writing. He’s written for numerous publications over the years: Variety, HuffPost, Reader’s Digest, The Wrap, Queerty, Popular Science, among others.  While living in South America, Australia, Asia and Africa, he wrote two acclaimed travelogue...

Oscar-winning screenwriter, bestselling author and producer Diana Ossana discusses the magic behind art, her thirty-five year friendship with Larry McMurtry and crafting powerful stories and characters. After co-writing novels “Pretty Boy Floyd” and “Zeke and Ned” with McMurtry, the pair’s collaborative partnership exploded with the onscreen adaptation of “Brokeback Mountain,” which forever changed the way the world saw romance in ...

As one of America’s most prominent journalists, Malina Saval is a three-time LA Press Club award winner and National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award winner. She’s currently the Features Editor at Variety where she’s penned profiles on artists and luminaries such as Sean Penn, Robert De Niro, famed litigator Mathew Rosengart and Nick Nolte. Her articles and essays have appeared in the “Los Angeles Times,” “Los Angeles Revi...

Multi-media artist, writer, recording artist, songwriter, filmmaker and actor Brandyn Cross talks about his career and living as a wheelchair-bound amputee. He’s written over 100 episodes of the award-winning hit episodic drama TV show “Proper Manors” (now streaming on Amazon Prime) and the show has been voted the #1 most popular fan-favorite three times. Among his body of written work is the Feature Film “The Legacy,” and the Gary...

“Rolling Stone” legend Jason Fine joins us to share his musical inspirations and journalism journey. He’s been with “Rolling Stone” since 1997 in a number of capacities, from Editor to Director of Content Development to SVP of Rolling Stone Films. He’s edited books on Johnny Cash, George Harrison and Michael Jackson, and wrote/executive produced “Long Promised Road,” a documentary about The Beach Boys' founder Brian Wilson. Fin...