Remember the last time you and few close friends stayed up too late at the Diner because no one wanted to leave? You didn’t need that grilled cheese with a side of pancakes but damn if it didn’t hit the spot! You laughed until you cried or cried until you laughed. Regardless of which lead to what, you left feeling a little more thoughtful, grateful, and actually full. Those are the best conversations we have in our lives, and the reason why Diner Talks with James exists. I’ll be your bearded bespectacled host, James Robilotta. I’m an author and professional speaker who talks to willing and unwilling audiences on the role that authenticity and vulnerability must play in life and business. I am a life coach with a Masters in counseling and 16+ years of improv comedy experience. Most importantly, I am a fellow human being with a fervent curiosity for others’ passions, relationships, insecurities, ambitions, patterns, and food quirks. So, come join me in The Diner. Slide into the booth, place your order, and tell me a story.
Https://www.jamestrobo.com/diner-talks-with-james
Gesamtlänge aller Episoden: 4 days 10 hours 59 minutes
episode 39: How to Talk About Mental Health in Classrooms and with Friends with Mental Health Pioneer, Ross Szabo
Mental health is important, talking about it is hard and that is exactly why my guest, Ross Szabo is consistently sought after as a go-to teacher on the topic. It was awesome having my friend in the diner and we kicked things off chatting about Pennsylvania diners and circus fries. We then took a classic James hard left and we talked about how Ross got into doing mental health work and the time he tried to take his life in high school...
episode 38: The Realness of Being a Stay at Home Mom with motherhood content creator Tasheka Grant
Y’all, Tasheka Grant, motherhood community creator and influencer, took the diner by storm this week. Tasheka is a fellow New Yorker, so naturally, we kicked things off talking about our fondness of New York diners. We then talked about being a stay-at-home mom and how that came to be in her life. She told me about the strained relationship she has with her mom. We discussed just how hard being a stay-at-home mom is...
episode 37: Punching Low Self Worth in the Face with Married at First Sight’s Rachel DeAlto
Relationship expert and media personality, Rachel DeAlto brought highly caffeinated (her words, not mine) joy and energy to the Diner and we covered A LOT of ground. We talked about deviating career paths and both of our desires to be actors and how we ironically went in very different directions (lawyering for her marine sciencing for me) only to end up back in media/speaking roles. Then we dove in deep with conversations about self-worth, divorce, and finding love again...
episode 36: Screw the NBA, I Want to Play Ball in Europe with Professional Basketball Player, Taylor Rochestie
It’s not every day you get to hop in a diner booth with a professional basketball player, but today was that day! Taylor Rochestie is an incredible man with a great story and a brand new bestselling book. We naturally started with when the goal of being a professional basketball player started for him. Surprisingly, NBA was not the dream! It was fascinating to learn about his work ethic and learning progress over perfection in order to become elite...
episode 35: How to Stop Playing Small and Realize You’re a Big Deal with Erin King
Today I was joined in The Diner by Erin King, a badass with serious Big Deal Energy (tune into the episode for more about that). We kicked off the conversation talking about life in a big Irish family (we both used our best Irish accents) and Erin shared some wisdom from Nana: “You can be someone’s shot of whiskey or everyone’s cup of tea...
episode 34: Beatboxing all the way to Broadway with World Champion Kaila Mullady
When a World Champion Beatboxer comes into the diner you turn the jukebox off and buckle up. That’s exactly what happened when Kaila Mullady slid into the booth with me. Since we are both Long Islanders we first reminisced about the beauty of diners and we ranted about bagels. Kaila then told me about her goal of conquering 30 fears before she is 30, and she decided she is starting with snakes...
episode 33: Why We Teach Others What We Need to Hear with Dr. Bryan McElderry
When I met Dr. Bryan McElderry in a Clubhouse room (that’s the new social media all the kids are into… and by kids, I mean grown-ass adults, the “kids” have no interest in the platform), I knew I needed to have him to The Diner. And I’m glad I did! We talked about his life growing up in Birmingham, Alabama and his days playing college golf. We touched on race in the sport of golf and the shifts that are beginning to happen to make it more inclusive...
episode 32: What Happens When You Book a Dream Role with Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s Lauren Adams
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s, Lauren Adams, slid into the diner booth with me this week! We kicked it off reminiscing about New York diners now that we have both moved. We poked the bear of New York vs. LA culture, too. Then we dove in and I asked when did the theater and being an actress become the dream. We discussed the musical theater program at Elon University and diving into the Upright Citizens Brigade improv scene after moving to New York...
episode 31: Making Friends as an Adult and When You feel Alone with Adam Smiley Poswolsky
I jumped into the diner booth with author and entrepreneur, Adam Smiley Poswolsky! His newest book, Friendship in the Age of Loneliness is coming out in May but before we got to that you know we had to talk about our late-night food preferences. He gave a shout-out to El Farolito in San Francisco and we also bonded over the fact that pineapple has no place on pizza. He then told me wow the nickname “Smiley” happened to him...
episode 30: What the Hulk has to do with being an Anti-Racist with Victoria Alexander
Soon-to-be Doctor, Victoria Alexander, jumped into the diner and dropped a whole bunch of knowledge about identity work and being anti-racist. This one got delightfully academic, but before we dove into all that we talked about Victoria’s preference of eating baklava and challah bread French toast at New York diners. Victoria told me about growing up with 7 siblings and what it feels like to to be the oldest...