With the intent of creating space for thoughtful conversations, Meditations with Ryan Zlomek is a show dedicated to providing a platform for interesting people to tell their stories. Ryan sits down with entrepreneurs, hobbyists, creatives, historians, foodies, specialists, and everyone in between to give them a chance to share their narratives with the world. It’s amazing what we can learn when we take a moment to listen. Check back regularly for interviews and a few fun surprises along the ...
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The Chemistry of the Beverage Business with Director & Distiller Nicole Austin
1:28:54
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1:28:54
On Episode 29, Nicole Austin joins Ryan in conversation about her career in alcohol and spirits production. Nicole works as the Director of Luxury for Diageo but made a name for herself when she took over as the Director of the historic George Dickel whiskey brand in 2018. With a background in chemistry, Nicole started her career in water treatment…
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The Impact of Positive Dialogue with Keynote Speaker & Author Greg Bennick
1:14:58
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1:14:58
Traveling in from Seattle, Greg Bennick joins Ryan in conversation to share his experience as a professional public speaker for over two decades. Greg is a renaissance man who started his career as a juggler in early life and eventually transitioned to giving professional keynote speeches for companies such as Nintendo, Cornell University, Microsof…
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Language as a Playground with Author Soma Mei Sheng Frazier
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1:10:04
In this episode, author and novelist Soma Mei Sheng Frazier joins Ryan in conversation about her newest publication, Off The Books. Soma is a highly regarded educator having worked at institutions such as Oakland School of the Arts, Gavilan College, Cogswell College, and most recently SUNY Oswego. On top of molding minds, Soma is also a notable wri…
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Showcasing Your Identity In Pixels with Digital Artist Jaleel Campbell
1:19:42
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1:19:42
Celebrating the 1 year anniversary of Meditations with Ryan Zlomek, Jaleel Campbell comes on the show to share his artistic journey. Jaleel is a prolific artist and community organizer based in Syracuse, NY who is most famous for his various digital illustration series. Honing his skills over the last decade to develop multidimensional vector image…
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Thinking In Code with App Developer Kent Sutherland
1:21:02
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In this episode, Ryan sits down with Kent Sutherland, the developer of Fantastical and co-owner of the company Flexibits. Kent has been in the app development space for over a decade and was developing language processing systems before the invention of Siri or Alexa. His first major application, Fantastical, was so popular at release that it overt…
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Bringing Brooklyn To The Stage with Cartoonist and Playwright Dean Haspiel
1:38:22
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1:38:22
Ryan travels to Carol Gardens, Brooklyn to chat with Dean Haspiel about his creative career. Dean is most famous for being a cartoonist working on books like The Fantastic Four, American Splendor and The Quitter (with Harvey Pekar), The Fox, The Alcoholic (with Jonathan Ames), The Red Hook and a million other titles for large and small publishers. …
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Transforming Cities Through Public Art with Sign Painter and Illustrator Cayetano Valenzuela
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1:51:26
Ryan sits down with artist Cayetano Valenzuela, known around the world for his imaginative paintings and illustration that have been shown in galleries from New York to Puerto Rico. In Syracuse, NY, he has put his stamp on the city with two famous murals: “We Are The Mighty Salt City” off of Fireman’s Park and “And I Still Rise” on Syracuse’s West …
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Inventing The Algorithm For Fun with Game Designers Andrew and Kristin Looney
1:46:54
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In this episode, Ryan chats it up with Andrew and Kristin Looney, the owners of the Looney Labs game company in College Park, MD. Looney Labs has been making, publishing, and distributing games since 1996. Most known for the game Fluxx, which has been made into over 40 iterations, they also have created the Pyramid gaming system and the time-travel…
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Tuning Into Your Scary Side with Goosebumps Commercial Artist Tim Jacobus
1:21:22
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1:21:22
Ryan is joined by Tim Jacobus, the commercial artist best known for painting the original covers for the Goosebumps book series in the 1990s. His painting and airbrush techniques have graced book covers across the industry and sparked the imagination of young people at book stores, libraries, and Scholastic book fairs for decades. Tim talks about h…
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Sprinkling Your City In Positivity with The Ice Cream Stand owner Amanda Hughes
1:19:36
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1:19:36
Joining Ryan on today's show is Amanda Hughes, the owner of The Ice Cream Stand in Syracuse, NY's Clinton Square. Amanda opened The Ice Cream Stand in 2016 and has turned it into a staple of the downtown Syracuse experience. In this conversation, Amanda dives into the entrepreneurial history in her family, her desire to start her own business from …
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From Punk Rock to Inkwells with Cartoonist Nate Powell
1:45:54
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Ryan is joined by Nate Powell, the National Book Award winning cartoonist known for illustrating the March trilogy in collaboration with congressman John Lewis and writer Andrew Ayden. March was released in three volumes and documents John Lewis's experience growing up and his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. It's an astonishi…
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Music As A Lifestyle with Mighty Mighty Bosstones Guitarist Lawrence Katz
1:09:43
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It's time to turn things up to 11 as Ryan chats with Lawrence Katz, guitarist for the famed ska band The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Lawrence joined the Bosstones in the year 2000 and has not only been their guitarist and songwriter, but he also worked behind the scenes as an audio engineer for several of their releases. In this conversation, Lawrence…
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Connecting Arts and Commerce with Creative Business Advisor Julie Sellers
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1:14:42
In this episode, Ryan sits down with Julie Sellers, the owner of Ellevated Outcomes in East Nashville, TN. Julie is a Creative Business Advisor that works with small businesses to help them develop more sustainable and scalable practices. Julie and her team have helped countless companies become "automated and unemotional" about their finances so t…
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History On The Page with Journalist Bill Lascher
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1:16:09
This week Ryan chats with west coast-based writer Bill Lascher. Bill is the author of Eve of a Hundred Midnights and The Golden Fortress, both of which explore tense historic moments with his insightful language and deep research. In this conversation they chat about Bill’s family and their history in legal writing, discovering a passion for crafti…
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Embracing The Charitable Mindset with the Project Pinball Charity Founder Daniel Spolar
1:26:31
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1:26:31
To celebrate the episode release on Valentine's Day, Ryan spends time talking with Daniel Spolar, the founder of the charity Project Pinball, to talk about showing love in your community. Project Pinball works hard to put pinball machines in children's hospitals, Ronald McDonald Houses, and other places where patients will be in need of amusement a…
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From Sweets to Songs with Vegan Baker & DJ Jenny Johnson
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Following his stomach to Rochester, NY, Ryan chats with Jenny Johnson, a renowned vegan baker. Jenny is the former dessert chef at Owl House restaurant, owner of Pudgy Girl Bakery and Misfit Donuts, and now is on to her new as a DJ for the WAYO radio station. In this conversation, Jenny talks about learning to maneuver the kitchen with her grandmot…
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The Relevance of Film with Pro8mm Business Owner Phil Vigeant
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1:26:40
Heading to the west coast, Ryan interviews Phil Vigeant, the owner of Pro8mm, a company that handles all elements of the Super 8 film production process. Super 8 film was developed by Kodak in the 1960s and is considered the first completely accessible home video format. Since 1982, Phil has owned Pro8mm (formally Super8 Sound), a company that sell…
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Neurodiversity, ADHD, & Creativity with Artist Kyla Yager
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1:06:04
In this episode Ryan connects with ADHD Intuitive Artist Kyla Yager, a practicing creative working in Toronto in Ontario, Canada. After being diagnosed with ADHD, Kyla has spent her career developing artwork that showcases her mental procedures on canvases of all kinds. Her work makes the viewer feel seen, recognized, and even adds a tactile elemen…
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Exploring The Wizard of Oz with Judy Garland & Oz Historian John Fricke
1:21:51
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This week Ryan sits down with John Fricke, the foremost biographer of Judy Garland and historian on The Wizard of Oz. In this episode we travel through time to 1900, the year the book The Wizard of Oz was published by L. Frank Baum and then make our way to 1939 to talk about the production and relevance of the MGM film almost 85 years later. John F…
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Observing Life One Frame At A Time with stop motion animator Tim Allen
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In this conversation, Ryan travels across the globe to sit down with world-renowned stop motion animator, Tim Allen. Having started his career on Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, and more recently working with Aardman Animations on Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, Tim is a giant in the film industry acting with stop motion puppets one frame at a time. In…
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Investing In Your Community with Communications Manager CJ Butler of The Salt City Market
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1:16:37
This week Ryan is joined by CJ Butler, the Communications Manager of The Salt City Market in Syracuse, NY. CJ talks about her journey as a young professional exploring social media management, determining whether to put down roots in the big apple (New York City) or the big orange (Syracuse, NY), the Allyn Family Foundation and the work CJ does for…
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Exploring The Creative Process with Comic Artist and Educator Ryan Claytor
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1:12:30
Two Ryans, one podcast, what could go wrong? This week Ryan Zlomek (college educator, media artists, and pinball collector from New York) is visited by his doppelgänger Ryan Claytor (college educator, comic artist, and pinball collector) from Michigan to talk about the creative process. Ryan Claytor discusses his new book One Bite At A Time, the im…
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In Talks of Healing with Proprietor Kelly Tompkins of Blue Moon Apothecary
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We transport to Liverpool, NY this week to talk with Kelly Tompkins, the owner of the Blue Moon Apothecary. Kelly chats with Ryan to talk about her journey to find work/life balance, the history of apothecaries, the importance of talking through your ailments to find the root cause, and ensuring we rely on both holistic and modern medicine. Additio…
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Podcasting Behind The Scenes with Matt Hartman and Mariana Ruiz
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It's time to get meta in the Meditations Universe as Ryan chats on a podcast with two podcasters about podcasting. Matt Hartman of the Drunkard's Walk and Mariana Ruiz of the Impact Driven Entrepreneur Podcast share their backgrounds and journeys to podcasting from the STEM fields to developing audio media for clients and curious patrons. This epis…
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Vocal Chord Careers with voice actor Marc Silk
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Very rarely can one guest act as multiple people but this week Ryan is lucky enough to chat with voice actor and character creator Marc Silk. Known for his work in Bob The Builder (US), Scooby Doo and Shaggy (UK), Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, Danger Mouse, Chicken Run, video games Two Point Hospital and Two Point Campus, as well as the …
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Art’s Impact On The Community with tattoo artist Jamie Santos
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Jamie Santos, owner of Three of Swords Tattoo & Art Studio in Syracuse, NY, joins Ryan in conversation about her journey as a creative and the impact of art on local and global communities. Jamie discusses finding art as a communication tools early in her childhood, her decision to become a tattoo artist, and the modern culture of tattoo shops. She…
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The Culture of Food with TV Host Dave Forman
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1:07:07
Exploring a favorite topic this week, Ryan chats about food with Dave Forman, alternatively known as David The Gastronome from his food blog. Discovered by the Very Local streaming app, Dave has become the host of the cooking competition TV show Plate It, Pittsburgh and has used his new stature in the culinary world to volunteer with non-profits ar…
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Rod Serling & The Golden Age of Television with writer Nick Parisi
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Ryan sits with Nick Parisi, the president of the Rod Serling Memorial Foundation and the writer of the phenomenal biography Rod Serling: His Life, Work, and Imagination. Nick talks about his life in rock and roll, working with disabled veterans, and the works of Rod Serling, the famed creator of The Twilight Zone. Starting from Serling's early life…
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Educational Entrepreneurship with Ben T Matchstick and Pete Talbot of Pinbox 3000
1:19:22
1:19:22
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1:19:22
Ryan sits down with Ben T Matchstick and Pete Talbot, the owners of the Cardboard Teck Instantute and Pinbox 3000. Ben and Pete are educators who have devoted their lives to developing hands-on initiatives that teach learners of all ages how to invent functional objects with cardboard. Ben and Pete discuss their history with theater, the developmen…
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