Yinz World

Mike Mihm is an actor and producer who has appeared in such films as Unsane, Bunker, The Taking of Pelham 123, The Box Cutter and The Old Maid and such shows as The Blacklist.  Most recently, he appeared in a commercial starring Tom Brady for Fox, which airs during NFL 2024-25 season games.  Aside from acting, Mike works as a carpenter and welder for film and tv sets. In this episode, we get a taste for his infectious positive outl...

Chris and Bethany chat on a weekend summer morning from their respective homes. Topics broached include but are not limited to: hair-sparagus, being inspired by our guests, ideas for future episodes, our backlog of guest videos, Chris's new original video game, pets dying, intrastate flights, Bethany's new airport friend, girls juggling phone scrolling and movie viewing, and an insane movie Bethany recently saw. If you want to make...

In this interview, Chris couldn’t make it, so it’s a one-on-one chat between Bethany and our guest, Jacquea Mae, vocalist for the band NASH.V.ILL. Jacquea is much more than a singer--she is a presence.  When she performs, yes you hear her big, gorgeous voice, but you also experience her strong and beautiful aura.  Outside of music, she works as a teaching artist, playwright, poet, spoken word artist, actress, business owner, event ...

David Rullo is an award winning journalist and senior writer at the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.  His work has appeared in national and international newspapers, magazines and literary journals.  He has spent the better part of five decades exploring and contributing to the city’s art and literary scene.  In this interview, we discuss Rullo's recent book published by Arcadia Press called “Gen X Pittsburgh:  The Beehive and the ...

Cheryl is an artist living in Pittsburgh, who has carved out a name for herself by focusing on several niche art forms:  puppet making, and dryer lint sculptures.  However, her artistic endeavors go well beyond the scope of creating tangible artwork, as she is also an art teacher by day and leads several events in the city that center around her very fun and colorful puppetry.  We talk about how Cheryl got started, her influences, ...

Byron Nash is a prolific musician, songwriter, and performer, playing guitar in the Pittsburgh-based rock/funk/R&B band NASH.V.ILL, as well as other projects including his own solo work.  He also serves as the Events Coordinator at the Andy Warhol Museum and as a fitness trainer for his own company called Duya Wellness.  Byron has had an exciting career of evolution–from working in the bar & restaurant service industry for ...

Gordon Berkstresser is a retired accountant and former U.S. Army Lieutenant.  He has lived in a handful of different places and worked in various capacities, notably as a platoon leader in the Vietnam War, an auditor for U.S. Steel, and Aristech, VP & Controller for RMI Titanium, a professor at Robert Morris University, and later as the CFO of Lifenet Health, where he worked for the last 14 years of his career.  Gordon shares s...

Kathryn Heidemann is the President + CEO of the Cleveland Institute of Art, an arts & design college in our neighboring state to the west.  Kathryn has been working in the arts & culture administration sector for 25 years, having spent nearly 2 decades of her career in Pittsburgh.  She also plays a mean bass guitar and sings AT THE SAME TIME.  You may know her from such bands as Rockit Girl, Blindsider, The Victors!, and mo...

Franklin Carpio is a filmmaker based here in Pittsburgh.  He holds a degree in entertainment design, has directed six short films and will soon be releasing his biggest project to date, EOS Six (Enemy on Sight), a sci-fi crime thriller (watch the trailer here).  He’s also the owner of Carpio Pictures, a small indie film company.  It’s been fun to watch Franklin grow as a professional filmmaker through his work on various TV shows l...

Gina Winstead (she/her, they/them) has paved her own road to become the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh’s first ever Vice President of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA).  She is working to improve IDEA within Carnegie Museums, including placing a major focus on nurturing relationships with the community and breaking down barriers to pull more people from all backgrounds into the museums.  In this interview, we le...

Anne Celedonia is a professional musician and singer-songwriter who has been working in the music industry for over a decade, notably serving for years as a background vocalist in the acclaimed Pittsburgh rock n soul band The Commonheart.   In this episode, we discuss Anne’s start in the classical music realm, and how her path took her to several cities before finding her way back to Pittsburgh.  We chat about her current role as p...

Dr. Lawrence Ian Reed is a clinical and research psychologist at NYU, who completed his studies at Pitt and his residency and post-doctorate research at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Reed now studies facial expressions of emotion, focusing on why we so visibly express our private motivational and emotional states, and he specializes in treating adolescents and adults with mood and emotional disorders.  Dr. Reed is also an old college...

Walter Ino is an L.A. based touring multi-instrumentalist, producer and singer/songwriter who was born and raised in Pittsburgh.  Music has taken him all over the world playing with such bands as the multi-platinum, Grammy award winning band Survivor, Eagles of Death Metal, Wilson Phillips, Denny Laine of Wings/Moody Blues, The Babys, and many more.  Currently, he plays keyboards for Tommy DeCarlo and the legendary rock band Boston...

Nearing midnight on New Year's Eve, Bethany and Chris tipsily sit down to reflect on their first 6 months of podcasting, including memorable moments, favorite guests, and their own personal growth following some culturally enlightening interviews.  During their chat, Bethany and Chris discover they each pronounce a certain word differently, which means one of them had been inadvertently taught the "yinzer" pronuncatio...

Oleh Dovhun is a Ukrainian professional boxer, who currently holds the North American Boxing Association super-bantamweight title and is #3 in the WBA.  Nicknamed the “Ukrainian Pitbull,” Dovhun is an undefeated southpaw from Stebnyk, Ukraine, currently living in Pittsburgh, PA.  In this episode, we chat about his experiences training and fighting, and his observations on notable fights and big names in boxing.  He also shares what...

Dr. J. Scott Colombo is a physical therapist and former collegiate basketball player for the University of Pittsburgh from 1986-89, when the team won two Big East regular season championships (1987 & '88), as well as the Rainbow Classic in Honolulu (1986).  Since then, Dr. Colombo has spent many years coaching basketball and he founded The Player’s Edge, a community program here in Pittsburgh that offers youth basketball cl...

Shaimaa Fayek is an Iraqi immigrant and proud Muslim living in Pittsburgh.  Our interview takes place during the holy month of Ramadan, so we talk about the significance and cultural traditions of Ramadan.  Shaimaa shares her story of growing up in Iraq under Saddam Hussein’s rule, and her family’s experience during the U.S. bombing of Baghdad and subsequent Iraq War.  She describes the circumstances leading up to her family’s deci...

Dr. Sara Petras is a veterinarian who has spent extensive time abroad in Hungary.  In this episode, Dr. Petras shows up with her new baby in one hand and a bottle of Hungarian brandy in the other to celebrate her last day of maternity leave.  Peer pressured, Bethany and Chris find themselves doing shots at the start of the interview.  Chris is promptly drunk and Bethany tries to remember her train of thought for the rest of the int...

Josh Verbanets is a musician (Meeting of Important People, Lohio, The You), and one half of the award-winning kids’ music/comedy performance duo Josh and Gab.  In this episode of Yinz World, we chat about Josh’s recent trip to London with VisitPittsburgh, his early music influences, playing in bands in the Pittsburgh music scene and other music industry experiences.  Josh and Chris bond over their shared love of horror films and Jo...