Ep51: Dan Lukasik and Cheri Alvarez - Mental Health Awareness Month, and the Power of Showing Up for Someone

Ep51: Dan Lukasik and Cheri Alvarez - Mental Health Awareness Month, and the Power of Showing Up for Someone

In this special Mental Health Awareness Month episode of Angles with John Richmond, John sits down with two of Western New York’s most dedicated voices in mental health advocacy. Dan Lukasik is an attorney with over 35 years of experience, the founder of the website Lawyers with Depression, the creator of the Buffalo Depression Project, and a man who has lived openly with major depression for 25 years. Cheri Alvarez is the CEO of Compeer Buffalo, a mental health nonprofit that has been transforming lives in this community through the radical, simple act of human connection.   Dan shares his story with remarkable honesty: being diagnosed with major depression at 40 while managing partner of his own firm, losing his younger brother to bipolar disorder, and spending the last two and a half decades turning his own pain into a resource for others. He talks about depression in the legal profession, which affects lawyers at four times the rate of the general population, why so many lawyers never ask for help, and why his new Buffalo Depression Project website exists to make sure no one in this community has to figure out where to turn on their own.   Cheri walks through what Compeer Buffalo actually does - matching volunteers with individuals who are struggling for a one-to-one friendship, offering group activities and social events, and providing mental health first aid training to businesses and community members. She makes the case, powerfully, that friendship and human connection are not soft complements to clinical care. They are essential. They can prevent suicide. And they cost almost nothing to give.   The conversation also covers Dan’s documentary Travels with George, a film about his ten-year mentorship of a young man named George through Saint Luke’s Mission on Buffalo’s east side, and what it taught him about love, belief, and showing up even when it is hard. Whether you are struggling, know someone who is, or simply want to understand what Mental Health Awareness Month actually means in this community, this episode is for you. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond [https://instagram.com/anglesjohnrichmond] @johnrichmondlaw [https://instagram.com/johnrichmondlaw] @richmondvona [https://instagram.com/richmondvona] 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond [https://youtube.com/@angleswithjohnrichmond] Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238] > Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

Ep50: John Richmond - The Builder Behind the Mic, What It Cost to Start Richmond Vona, and What He Knows Now

For episode 50 of Angles with John Richmond, the tables are turned. Producer Brett Tuttle steps out from behind the camera and into the host chair to interview the man who has been asking the questions all along. This is the episode John never fully planned for: a honest look at who he is, where he came from, what building Richmond Vona actually cost him, and what he has learned about himself along the way.   Brett pulls John through the origin story of Richmond Vona - the moment at a previous firm that cracked the door open, and how consuming entrepreneur biographies and the Founders podcast drives his curiosity even more. John talks about what it was like to self-fund a law firm through its first years, living in a constant state of fight or flight, watching the bank account drain while all the right markers were moving in the right direction, and why he never once thought about quitting even when he absolutely should have. He goes deep on hiring, on what it means to protect people and where that drive actually comes from, and why high standards are non-negotiable at a firm where the clients are never just case files.   The conversation covers the podcast itself: why John refused to make a legal show, what Angles has taught him about authenticity and curiosity, and which guests genuinely surprised him. He also talks about what being a goalie forged in him that still shows up every day in how he runs the firm, and why he believes leaders are made, not born. Then Brett asks the questions John has been sitting with privately: what fatherhood has changed, who he has not yet thanked enough, and what he would say to the version of himself who almost quit law school.   Fifty episodes in, this is the one where you finally get to know John Richmond.   Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond [https://instagram.com/anglesjohnrichmond] @johnrichmondlaw [https://instagram.com/johnrichmondlaw] @richmondvona [https://instagram.com/richmondvona] 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond [https://youtube.com/@angleswithjohnrichmond] Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238] > Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

Ep49: Charlie Specht - Investigative Journalism, Breaking the Diocese Scandal, and Going Independent in Buffalo

In this episode of Angles with John Richmond, John sits down with Charlie Specht, one of Buffalo’s most recognized investigative journalists. Over a 15-year career at the Buffalo News, Channel 7, and Channel 2, Charlie built a reputation for breaking stories that matter: police corruption, government misconduct, and one of the most significant local scandals in decades - the Diocese of Buffalo sex abuse cover-up. He recently made the leap to go independent, launching his own Substack and writing a book about his experience reporting on the diocese, and what it cost him personally.   Charlie walks John through how investigative journalism actually works: how tips come in, how sources are vetted and protected, what it takes to spend a month on a story before a single word goes on air, and why the business model collapse in media is leaving communities more vulnerable to corruption than most people realize. He talks candidly about the ethical line between being tough and being fair, why attacking the messenger has become a standard defense tactic for people in power, and what it really means to report against your own assumptions.   The conversation goes deep on the Diocese of Buffalo story - the bishop’s administrative assistant who became a key source, the stalker who sent Charlie’s family into hiding under FBI protection, and how a story about institutional cover-up quietly dismantled his own Catholic faith from the inside. He also opens up about what he is doing next: teaching journalism at Saint Bonaventure, finishing his book, building a Substack audience, and making the case that local accountability journalism is worth paying for.   Whether you love investigative journalism or you’ve ever wondered what actually goes into breaking a story that changes things, this is a conversation you will not want to miss. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond [https://instagram.com/anglesjohnrichmond] @johnrichmondlaw [https://instagram.com/johnrichmondlaw] @richmondvona [https://instagram.com/richmondvona] 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond [https://youtube.com/@angleswithjohnrichmond] Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238] > Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

Ep48: Dawne Hoeg - Stitch Buffalo, Refugee Women, and Building Something Buffalo Needed from Scratch

In this episode of Angles with John Richmond, John sits down with Dawne Hoeg, founder and executive director of Stitch Buffalo, a nonprofit on Buffalo’s West Side that brings together refugee women through the craft of textiles. What started 12 years ago as a grassroots community workshop in a borrowed basement has grown into a full organization with a team, a board, a new facility, three distinct revenue streams, and a model that has made Stitch Buffalo what Dawne calls a pillar of this city. She is also, as she mentions in the conversation, a three-time cancer survivor, and that experience is woven into everything that drives her. Dawne walks John through her origin story: a family of women who sewed for practical reasons, a childhood defined by hard work and showing up, a meandering path through packaging design, pattern drafting, a master’s degree in textile education, and teaching at the Waldorf school and Buffalo State College before she noticed something that no one else was doing anything about. The refugee women she kept seeing on her commute to Buffalo State - dressed in traditional clothing, carrying textile traditions from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Bhutan, the Congo, South America, and Ukraine - had no connection to the academic institution down the street and no place to bring those skills together. So she built one. The conversation covers how Stitch Buffalo actually works: the consignment model that puts money directly into the hands of the women, the Second Stitch resale arm that turned a flood of donated materials into a revenue stream, the community classes that are open to everyone, and the five-year arrangement with Rich Products that gave the organization its foundation. Dawne also talks candidly about leadership, delegation, decision fatigue, the current political climate and what it means for the women she works with, and the very difficult work of succession planning when you have built something from nothing and it is your life’s work.   This is a powerful, human episode. By the end of it, you will understand exactly why Stitch Buffalo matters and how you can be a part of it. Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond [https://instagram.com/anglesjohnrichmond] @johnrichmondlaw [https://instagram.com/johnrichmondlaw] @richmondvona [https://instagram.com/richmondvona] 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond [https://youtube.com/@angleswithjohnrichmond] Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238] > Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.

Ep47: Lexi Varecka - Flex Yoga, Following Your Passion Back Home, and Building a Wellness Community Buffalo Needed

In this episode of Angles with John Richmond, John sits down with Lexi Varecka, founder of Flex Yoga, a Buffalo-area yoga and wellness studio with locations in Clarence and Orchard Park. Lexi’s story starts in Washington, D.C., where a yoga teacher training she signed up for just to deepen her own practice turned into the seed of something much bigger. She took that passion to the West Coast, spent years teaching and absorbing everything she could about the wellness and event culture out there, and then made a deliberate decision to bring something new back to the community she grew up in.   Lexi breaks down what makes Flex different: beat-based sculpt, hot power fusion, and a community-first approach that goes well beyond the hour on the mat. She talks about the summer solstice event that drew nearly 80 people just three months after opening, the puppy yoga partnership that brought over 100 people together outdoors, and why she built Flex Friday into the studio’s DNA from day one. The conversation goes deep on what it actually takes to run a yoga studio: the certifications, the hiring auditions, the infrared heat panels, the chaos of a 30-minute class changeover, and the hard-won lesson that delegation is not optional if you want to survive.   John and Lexi also cover the entrepreneurial arc of year one: opening in March, adding a second location within twelve months, winning the Clarence Chamber of Commerce Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year award, and still figuring out how to find an off switch. She talks honestly about the work-life balance that a business built around wellness demands, what keeps her motivated when the days get hard, and why she believes the Buffalo community is hungry for exactly what she is building.   Whether you have never set foot on a yoga mat or you’ve been practicing for years, this episode will change how you think about what a fitness studio can be for a community.   Enjoying the episode? Subscribe, leave a review, and share Angles with John Richmond with a friend. 🎧 New episodes every week. Visit www.richmondvona.com/angles-podcast/ for more 📱 Follow us on Instagram: @anglesjohnrichmond [https://instagram.com/anglesjohnrichmond] @johnrichmondlaw [https://instagram.com/johnrichmondlaw] @richmondvona [https://instagram.com/richmondvona] 🎥 Follow us on TikTok: @richmondvona @johnrichmondesq 📺 Watch on YouTube: @angleswithjohnrichmond [https://youtube.com/@angleswithjohnrichmond] Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238 [https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576886611238] > Disclaimer: This episode is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the guest and host are their own and do not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Angles Podcast does not endorse any specific health claims, products, services, or treatments mentioned in this episode. Listeners should consult qualified professionals for advice tailored to their individual circumstances.