Swan Dive

Ron Rothberg and Stu Sheldon
  • 4.8 (43)
  • ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Now in its 5th year, with over 100 episodes, Swan Dive features inspiring people who had the clarity and courage to pivot in life and chase their dreams. Hosts and life-long friends, Ron Rothberg and Stu Sheldon, both made massive swan dives from successful careers in media and finance to the unknowns of content creation and fine art. Through failures and successes, both eventually found the soul satisfaction of becoming "who they wanted to be when they grew up." Their joyful wisdom graces each conversation with guests that include: legendary musical artists, National Geographic photographers, social justice warriors, clergy, journalists ... even Africa's first black, female brain surgeon. Each guest opens up about their unique emotional journey, their fear of the unknown, the grind of starting a new path and, hopefully, the world's embrace on the road to their most authentic selves. Vulnerability, laughter and inspiration abound. Hopefully, you'll find comfort and kinship in your own big pivot, whether you've made it yet or not. Share your Swan Dive story with us and we may feature you. Find us @stuart_sheldon and ronrothberg@comcast.net.

  1. Artie Ahier - "Endurance" - From Hospitality Host to Arctic Adventurer

    2D AGO

    Artie Ahier - "Endurance" - From Hospitality Host to Arctic Adventurer

    Artie Ahier developed a fascination with all things polar after reading Endurance at age 13. The harrowing story of Shackleton’s Antarctic misadventure so gripped young Artie that he spent his whole life dreaming of one day experiencing that desolate, people-less land. Raised in his family’s restaurant in a small New Brunswick town on Canada's Restigouche River, Artie always found happiness in nature on the water. His family didn't travel much, so his original seed of exploring the big world was sown in his best friend's living room reading National Geographic. By a series of happy accidents, Artie made his way into the hospitality business and married a chef. Their life  became one big, glorious adventure. Together, they skippered motor yachts through Florida and the Caribbean, ran hotels and a luxury guest Ranch in the remote Big Bend of Texas and opened an award-winning restaurant on Vancouver Island, where Artie has lived since 2000. Their restaurant, SoBo (Sophisticated Bohemian) was named a Zagat top 100 restaurant in Canada in 2007. For Artie, the theme was always the same, take great care of the guests and show them what natural treasures abound ... whether serving "grassroots gourmet" cuisine or leading bird, bat and nature walks.  Artie's life took a hard turn when he woke up at 50 and realized he just wasn't happy. His marriage had run its course and the restaurant business had burned him out. "I have a love of isolation in nature. The ocean and coastline of the world is my mistress," he mused. This pull toward nature and the water brought him back to skippering boats on whale, bear and bird watching tours in British Columbia, as he said goodbye to his marriage and the restaurant world. Then a phone call took him back to his childhood dream - an opportunity to guide nature tours and Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP) expeditions in Antarctica. Artie didn't think twice. In 2017, just past fifty, he made his fantasy reality and joined the expedition leadership with renowned expedition cruise company Quark. Artie has been guiding in the pristine waters of the Arctic and Antarctica ever since. He spent over 200 days in the Arctic this past year, reveling as he shares his passion for the outdoors with others, helping them (including your host Stu and his family) better understand his favorite mystical frozen wilderness landscape. Artie is ecstatic to now live a life surrounded by nature on an almost daily basis. When not chasing birds he can be found on his SUP, listening to music and enjoying great food and wine, but not generally at the same time. Have a Swan Dive to share? Text us! We are always looking for Swan Dive Stories to share so hit us up, send an e mail to Ron: Ron@artbikesjax.com or Stu: Stuart@stuartsheldon.com

    1h 4m
  2. Dawn Feinberg - "Dawn Patrol - More Than Just Yoga" - Professional Dancer Turns Severe Injury into Miami's Top Yoga Studio

    FEB 10

    Dawn Feinberg - "Dawn Patrol - More Than Just Yoga" - Professional Dancer Turns Severe Injury into Miami's Top Yoga Studio

    Dawn Feinberg is founder of AHANA Yoga, voted the "Best Yoga Studio" in Miami three times by the Miami New Times. She has practiced Ahana Flow and Ashtanga yoga for over 25 years and taught for well over a decade. Prior to practicing yoga, Dawn was an elite professional dancer in NY with a big future head of her, until a severely ruptured Achilles tendon ended her dance career and forced her to take a hard look at her dreams and life goals. As a licensed movement therapist, she brings deep knowledgable about the physical and spiritual aspects of yoga, making her classes hugely popular. She is also trained in traditional Indian Kirtan music and plays the harmonium in many of her classes, inciting energy that starts slow and gentle, then builds in intensity, tempo, and volume, before dropping back into stillness.  Ahana means “light of day,” and Dawn brings radiance, music, wisdom, energy and humor into every yoga space she enters. She dispels the mythology about the peacefulness of yoga and the strength of the yoga body. And gets super real about her extraordinary family life story: overcoming addiction, a maternal grandmother who was a thirteen year old prostitute when she gave birth to Dawn's mother and much more. Strap in for a super fun, high energy episode.  About Ahana Yoga  Videos of Dawn teaching  Have a Swan Dive to share? Text us! We are always looking for Swan Dive Stories to share so hit us up, send an e mail to Ron: Ron@artbikesjax.com or Stu: Stuart@stuartsheldon.com

    42 min
  3. Barry Krutchik - "That's a Good Question" - Legendary Hollywood Interviewer Writes a Book of Classic Conversations

    11/25/2025

    Barry Krutchik - "That's a Good Question" - Legendary Hollywood Interviewer Writes a Book of Classic Conversations

    Barry Krutchik is an legendary Hollywood and pop culture journalist who has conducted over 2000 celebrity interviews across music, film & television over the past 40 years, capturing raw, unscripted moments — from Bob Hope to The Beastie Boys, Santana to Stevie Wonder, Jerry Seinfeld to Jay Z, Mick Jagger, Keanu Reaves, Dave Chappelle, Celine Dion ... basically, the biggest stars EVER! Whether backstage or behind the camera, Barry’s authenticity & quick humor helped high-profile stars feel at home, resulting in raw, unscripted moments. Barry makes things fun!  After a decade, he stopped doing interviews in 2002. “By the third time you're interviewing Peter Frampton, it might be time to try something else” he jokes, a surreal realization, considering that twelve-year-old Barry would’ve never believed he’d even meet Frampton. So, he launched Krutchie Entertainment and, using his vast trove of celebrity contacts, began booking talent and producing high-impact media events for the Grammys, MTV, BET, FOX, Cirque du Soleil, and more. Over the decades, as technology, public relations and the world of entertainment  changed radically, Barry's professional opportunities also changed. He was no longer a hungry young journalist but a seasoned gentleman in an industry looking for youth and diversity. Then, Covid destroyed his live events business overnight. Terrified, Barry had to reinvent himself.  This journeyman is now activating his extraordinary content. He has a new book coming out, Classic Conversations: ‘90s Hip Hop and R&B featuring his intimate, one-of-a-kind moments and quotes with hip hop and R&B royalty. Each interview includes entertaining commentary that only Barry has the ability to provide. In addition, Barry recently returned to interviewing with a one-on-one sit down with Lady Gaga. And, he has new projects in the pipeline harnessing his treasure trove of celebrity content 💎 Hear clips from one of your favorite artists in this episode or @classicconversationsbk as Barry digitizes his archive. Welcome to Swan Dive 🎤  Have a Swan Dive to share? Text us! We are always looking for Swan Dive Stories to share so hit us up, send an e mail to Ron: Ron@artbikesjax.com or Stu: Stuart@stuartsheldon.com

    1h 2m
  4. Kimberly & Jason Ocana - "Planting New Roots" - Firefighter & Corporate Exec start Plant Medicine Retreat Center

    10/14/2025

    Kimberly & Jason Ocana - "Planting New Roots" - Firefighter & Corporate Exec start Plant Medicine Retreat Center

    The devastating 2022 hurricane that destroyed their Florida home was the last straw in a chain of traumas for Jason and Kimberly Ocana. A paramedic/firefighter for nearly 15 years, Jason loved being of service, but the work's constant physical and emotional challenges and the added rigors of being a first responder during COVID were taking a serious toll on his body and soul. After 17 years in corporate leadership, Kimberly had “achieved personal success.” But, in reality, she felt totally burnt out physically and emotionally, suffering chronic sickness, anxiety, and depression. On top of all this, both their young children faced major health issues. In this shared state of crisis, two weeks after the loss of their home, Kimberly asked Jason a simple but profound question, “What can we do to make you happy?” In a moment of clarity and courage, he answered, “move to Costa Rica,” a place he loved and a return to tranquility and deep nature. She was more than ready to make the pivot together. Thus was born Ananda Lodge Costa Rica, a plant medicine retreat center birthed in their collective commitment to save their own lives and make a positive impact in the world. From this point forward they would focus on healing trauma and helping others find their way to wholeness and peace.  Ananda operates on the understanding that each individual, regardless of their background, has encountered various forms of trauma, whether big or small. This work is deeply personal. Kimberly survived sexual abuse while Jason carries the weight that only those on the front lines can know. Together, they made a choice to heal and transform themselves and others with the support of sacred plant medicine in a totally beautiful, safe, intimate and healing environment. Jason is particularly drawn to providing support for first-responders, veterans, healthcare workers and others who have dedicated their lives to serving others; Ananda is one of the few retreat centers with programs dedicates to these heroes. Kimberly knows the toll sexual abuse takes on the body and spirit and has created retreats for women that address these specific issues and more.  One of their 2025 retreat guests said it best, "If you’re feeling the call to do real inner work, to shed what’s not yours, and to reconnect with who you really are ... Ananda is where you want to be." https://anandalodgecr.com/ Have a Swan Dive to share? Text us! We are always looking for Swan Dive Stories to share so hit us up, send an e mail to Ron: Ron@artbikesjax.com or Stu: Stuart@stuartsheldon.com

    56 min
  5. Asha Elias - "A Novel Swan Dive" - Miami Beach Yoga Mom to Red-hot Author

    06/17/2025

    Asha Elias - "A Novel Swan Dive" - Miami Beach Yoga Mom to Red-hot Author

    “Delicious, decadent, and utterly diabolical. No one serves up a scandal like Asha Elias,” writes author Kirsten Miller about this writer, mother, and reluctant socialite. Asha's acclaimed debut novel, Pink Glass Houses, is a seductive social satire about the wealthy PTA moms of an elite elementary school in Miami Beach. We read it and loved it. Her much-anticipated second novel, The Namaste Club is another delicious page-turner about rich people behaving badly, set among the wellness industrial complex, rich ladies doing yoga, and all things fabulous and Florida. It drops next month with a third in the pipeline as part of a multi-book deal with HarperCollins. Asha graduated from the University of Miami with a degree in print journalism then, fresh out of college, landed at Ocean Drive Magazine, where she spent a decade in ad sales and promotion, becoming intimately familiar with the crazy underbelly of the singular South Beach scene. During this time she became an accomplished yogi. When her first child arrived, Asha opted to be a stay-at-home mom for a few years. Until the lifelong itch to write her first novel became too strong to ignore. Asha has contributed to Cosmopolitan magazine and is currently the sex and dating columnist for Miami New Times. She lives with her family in Miami Beach, Florida. Have a Swan Dive to share? Text us! We are always looking for Swan Dive Stories to share so hit us up, send an e mail to Ron: Ron@artbikesjax.com or Stu: Stuart@stuartsheldon.com

    55 min
  6. Eric Gottesman - "Where Do We Go From Here?" - Photographer/Professor/Collaborator

    04/08/2025

    Eric Gottesman - "Where Do We Go From Here?" - Photographer/Professor/Collaborator

    Eric Gottesman teaches, organizes, writes, and makes artworks with other people that address nationalism, migration, structural violence, history, and intimate relations. His work is always collaborative; he has never made an artwork alone. One of Eric’s creative superpowers is his ability to take his time and gently notice the delicacy and hard edges of his subjects, without judgment, before capturing their images. The resulting pictures are remarkably soulful and honest. He is a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow, a Creative Capital Artist, a Fulbright Fellow and a co-founder of For Freedoms, an artist-led organization that centers art as a catalyst for creative civic engagement and was named the "largest creative collaboration in United States history" by TIME Magazine. He co-created the books Sudden Flowers (2014) and For Freedoms: Where Do We Go From Here? (2024). Gottesman is a mentor in the Arab Documentary Photography Program in Beirut, Lebanon, and the W.W. Corcoran Visiting Professor in Community Engagement at George Washington University. TedX talk  Have a Swan Dive to share? Text us! We are always looking for Swan Dive Stories to share so hit us up, send an e mail to Ron: Ron@artbikesjax.com or Stu: Stuart@stuartsheldon.com

    1h 3m
  7. Robert Sinclair - "Speculative World Builder" - An artist writes the future he wants to live in

    03/18/2025

    Robert Sinclair - "Speculative World Builder" - An artist writes the future he wants to live in

    Robert Earl Sinclair is a Future Architect & Speculative World-Builder striving to make sense of our rapidly changing world and co-create bold futures. Born in "the hood" of Los Angeles and challenged with dyslexia, Robert became a successful international hip-hop recording artist in his teens and went on to graduate from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Now, this multicultural, classically trained artist, actor and writer uses storytelling to activate the idea that if something is broken, we can fantasize about what it looks like unbroken, and that exercise, in and of itself, can help us to find our way to a solution. This is speculative world-building. In this pursuit, Robert’s dyslexia has become an asset, because dyslexic people experience information as story and possess a much higher retention of facts which allows Robert, a voracious reader, to draw from a vast store of resources and disciplines. Dedicated to beauty, justice and inclusive imagination, Robert designs at the crossroads of art, culture and technology and has created original content and world-building workshops for: NYU, Google Creative Lab, Sundance Film Festival, The Guggenheim, the Rockefeller Foundation, Pop Culture Collaborative, The Doris Duke Foundation and For Freedoms, where he co-created For Freedoms News and its month-long residency at the Brooklyn Museum. Robert is an original member of the Guild of Future Architects' celebrated Futurist Writers Room, a diverse community of visionary artists, intellectuals, engineers and technologists. Working with Dot Connector Studio, Robert is working to shape alternative economic models of sustainability and thrivability for everyone. Most recently, Robert has  lectured at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and the ASU Center for Science and the Imagination. He is currently teaching Emergent Expressions at the Harvard Divinity School. Have a Swan Dive to share? Text us! We are always looking for Swan Dive Stories to share so hit us up, send an e mail to Ron: Ron@artbikesjax.com or Stu: Stuart@stuartsheldon.com

    1h 2m
  8. David Garfunkel - "Building Community" - From Peace Corps to re-building a forgotten neighborbhood

    01/21/2025

    David Garfunkel - "Building Community" - From Peace Corps to re-building a forgotten neighborbhood

    How does one claw their way out of the deep hole of generational poverty and income inequality if the walls are too steep and slippery to climb? David Garfunkel has tackled this problem with meaningful results in his hometown of Jacksonville, FL. As President & CEO of the non-profit LIFT JAX, David has created meaningful and measurable community revitalization initiatives in Jacksonville’s Eastside, less than a mile from downtown. And it’s not just lofty talk and abstraction. "OutEast" is widely considered to be one of Jacksonville’s most important historically African-American neighborhoods dating back to the mid-1800s. LIFT JAX seeks such culturally rich, generationally inclusive, and economically diverse neighborhoods, where social connections across socioeconomic and racial demographics are commonplace. Instead of gentrification and displacement, legacy residents feel valued and part of the fabric of the growing community with newer residents. David's team is working to activate parks and green spaces and upgrade schools to better support activities for families. Home improvements and other investments in physical infrastructure support the ability for the community to thrive.  These basic lifestyle improvements make a house a home and a neighborhood a village. This way, all residents feel welcomed, valued, and integral to the composition of their neighborhood. Their Purpose Built Communities model, grounded in the foundational beliefs that race and place matter, makes it possible for residents to experience greater racial equity, improved health outcomes, and increased upward mobility in their neighborhoods. For example, the beloved Debs Store was a neighborhood staple for more than 90 years until its closure left the Eastside a food desert. LIFT JAX reopened this community wellness anchor that now, once again, provides easy access to healthy food. David spent 3 years in the Peace Corps in community economic development in the Dominican Republic and then, following the 2010 earthquake, he moved to Port-au-Prince, Haiti to lead a rural loan and education program. David received a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.  Have a Swan Dive to share? Text us! We are always looking for Swan Dive Stories to share so hit us up, send an e mail to Ron: Ron@artbikesjax.com or Stu: Stuart@stuartsheldon.com

    54 min
See All (106)

4.8
out of 5
43 Ratings

About

Now in its 5th year, with over 100 episodes, Swan Dive features inspiring people who had the clarity and courage to pivot in life and chase their dreams. Hosts and life-long friends, Ron Rothberg and Stu Sheldon, both made massive swan dives from successful careers in media and finance to the unknowns of content creation and fine art. Through failures and successes, both eventually found the soul satisfaction of becoming "who they wanted to be when they grew up." Their joyful wisdom graces each conversation with guests that include: legendary musical artists, National Geographic photographers, social justice warriors, clergy, journalists ... even Africa's first black, female brain surgeon. Each guest opens up about their unique emotional journey, their fear of the unknown, the grind of starting a new path and, hopefully, the world's embrace on the road to their most authentic selves. Vulnerability, laughter and inspiration abound. Hopefully, you'll find comfort and kinship in your own big pivot, whether you've made it yet or not. Share your Swan Dive story with us and we may feature you. Find us @stuart_sheldon and ronrothberg@comcast.net.

Information

  • Creator
    Ron Rothberg and Stu Sheldon
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    106
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Swan Dive
  • Show Website
    Swan Dive

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