Duologue with Leslie Heaney

At some point in all of our lives, we will experience Grief. Thanks to my next guest, we will now have the tools to manage it when it arrives.  Kate Doerge — certified grief coach, founder of Penny's Flight Foundation, and author of Reimagining Grief (out June 16th) — has lost her father, her mother, and her daughter Penny at sixteen to neurofibromatosis-related glioblastoma. And in every case, she chose light over...

Most people don't think of themselves as creative. In fact, research shows that about 75% of adults self-identify as non-creative. But what if the problem isn't that they lack creativity — it's that they've been defining it wrong? 

Blythe Harris, co-founder and former chief creative officer of Stella & Dot, and Mallory May, jewelry designer and illustrator, created Daily Creative to change that conversation. Their pra...

I have to tell you about this one. James Patterson — who has sold more than 420 million books — and his longtime friend and collaborator Tim Malloy, a seven-time Emmy winner and veteran journalist, came on to talk about their book American Heroes, which chronicles the recipients of the Medal of Honor, the Silver Star, and the Distinguished Service Cross. The stories in this book are almost impossible to put into words: ...

May is Mental Health Awareness Month — and I wanted to do something that felt real rather than performative. So I called a suicidologist. His name is Mark Kaplan, and he has spent his career studying why people die by suicide: the data, the risk factors, the gaps in how we think about prevention, and what any of us can actually do. This conversation is personal for me and I think it will be for most of you, too. We cover the ...

If there was ever an episode to send to every parent you know, this is it.

I sat down with Dr. Cara Natterson — pediatrician and author — and Vanessa Curl Bennett, and we went there. All the way there. Breast buds, NARBs, vaginal discharge (yes, we said it out loud), the sex talk, consent with kindergartners, and what to do when your kid's been watching porn before you've ever had the conversation.

Their book, This Is...

Leslie sits down with two of the country's most respected immigration attorneys — Bo Cooper, former General Counsel of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, and Austin Fragomen, of the global immigration law firm Fragomen — to walk through what the U.S. immigration system actually looks like from the inside.

Right now, there are roughly 4 million people waiting in various visa categories for a path to perm...

Testosterone levels in men have declined more than 25% over the last two decades. And most people — men and women alike — have no idea why, what it means, or what to do about it.

In this episode, Leslie sits down with Shalin Shah, CEO of Marius Pharmaceuticals and one of the leading voices in the testosterone therapy space, to have the conversation that a lot of doctors still aren't having. Leslie brings her own experien...

When Acquavella Galleries first mounted a Matisse exhibition in 1973, the lines stretched down the block. Now, more than fifty years later, the gallery has done it again — and the wait was worth it.

Leslie sits down with Eleanor Acquavella, Director at Acquavella Galleries, to go inside Matisse: The Pursuit of Harmony — a once-in-a-generation exhibition on view free to the public at their East 79th Street townhouse t...

We're kicking off the Duologue Summer Travel Series with one of the most beautiful and beloved corners of the country — the Hudson Valley.

Leslie sits down with Lidey Heuck, cookbook author, New York Times recipe contributor, and the voice behind Lidey Likes and the Lidey Letter Substack. Lidey lives in the Hudson Valley with her family and knows the region the way only a local can — the antique shops worth the detour, t...

Confused about the SAT vs ACT? In this episode, Leslie sits down with Bryan Bibler, CEO of Thirty-Six Education, to break down everything parents and high school students need to know about standardized testing, college admissions, and test prep strategies for 2025.

They cover the key differences between the ACT and SAT, how to choose the right test, when to start preparing, and how recent test-optional college admissions policies&m...

Five years ago, Genevieve "Veve" Wheeler Brown flipped over a jug and found a woman's signature. What followed was a five-year quest across three continents — and a book. In this episode, Leslie sits down with her longtime friend and author of Beyond Blue and White to trace the hidden history of Delftware: from Dutch Golden Age workshop owners who built trade empires, to the Gilded Age women who founded their own museums when...

In honor of Women’s History Month, we’re revisiting a powerful conversation from The Interview vault with author and journalist Ed O’Keefe.

In this episode, Ed shares the remarkable story behind his book The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President. What began as a fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School led to an unexpected discovery: unpublished letters between Theodore Roosevelt and th...

In this episode of Duologue, Leslie sits down with Nicholas Varney.

Nick is the founder and designer behind Nicholas Varney Jewels. His work has earned him widespread recognition—from appearances in Vogue, Town & Country, and W Magazine, to being named by Forbes as one of the “Five Jewelers Working Today That You Will Be Collecting Tomorrow.”

In their conversation, Leslie and Nick discuss his creative inspir...

In this week’s episode, Leslie Heaney sits down with Vasant Dhar—professor at NYU Stern School of Business and the Center for Data Science at New York University, founder of SCT Capital, and author of Thinking with Machines: The Brave New World of AI.

Together, they explore how artificial intelligence evolved, why language prediction changed everything, and what it means now that machines can think alongside humans. The ...

I am very excited to bring you Part 2 of my conversation with clinical nutritionist and co-founder of Hamptons BioMed, Tapp Francke. In last week’s episode, we talked about learning about your own body’s “terrain,” focusing on vitamins, nutrients, the gut biome, genetics, and how testing can guide smarter supplement choices and better overall health.

In Part 2, we explore the environmental factors that quie...

In Part 1, Leslie sits down with clinical nutritionist Tapp Francke to talk about a more personalized, functional approach to health. Instead of only treating symptoms, they explore what might be happening underneath — from nutrition levels to gut health to individual biology. Tapp also shares how her own recovery journey reshaped the way she thinks about care and healing.

Together, they unpack topics like micronutrient testin...

Most people think they’re protected... until the day they find out they’re not.

In this episode, Leslie sits down with Julianna Obeid of Alliant Insurance Services to explain how homeowners and families become dangerously underinsured, and what “replacement value,” fine print, and policy language really mean when disaster strikes.

Julianna also breaks down the hidden risks of modern life—from teenage dr...

When Laura Delano was just 14 years old, a single psychiatric appointment set her on a 14-year path of diagnoses, medications, and a belief that her brain was permanently broken. In this conversation, the author of Unshrunk shares how treatment that initially promised relief gradually led to dependency, identity loss, and despair — and how questioning that narrative changed the course of her life.

Laura and Leslie explore what...

What does it really mean to own a song?

In this episode of Duologue, Leslie sits down with Josh Gruss, founder and CEO of Round Hill Music, to explore the hidden business behind the songs we love. From Nashville songwriting rooms to global music catalogs, Josh breaks down how songs are created, who owns them, and how royalties actually work.

They discuss the difference between songwriters and artists, why publishing rights matter,...