Shows
Life Between TitlesThe Reset: Matt Kelly on Burnout, Fatherhood, and Building What Comes NextMatt Kelly hit a point where he had to admit something out loud, he was in his own way.After a decade in high pressure enterprise sales, constant flights, thousand dollar dinners, whiskey until 3 a.m., and living the persona the job demanded, the bill showed up in his body and his mind. He was run down, not sleeping, not healthy, and stuck in survival mode. Matt owns it with zero excuses, the problem was me, so he chose a reset.We talk about what it looks like to step back...
2026-02-251h 24Life Between TitlesCreative Grit and UX Design with Tim SalazarWhat happens when immigrant parents want stability, but you want to create? Tim Salazar, a first generation Filipino American, joins Life Between Titles to talk about growing up between Northern California, Eastern Washington, and Seattle, chasing film and writing dreams in Los Angeles, and doing whatever it took to stay afloat. We get into his pivot into UX through library school at Pratt, what early UX looked like in the era of massive waterfall specs, and the lessons we both took from Amazon, including what you gain, what you lose, and what happens when you never talk to users...
2026-02-051h 24Life Between TitlesFinding Your Leadership Vision with Vance CooperIn this episode of Life Between Titles, I sit down with my friend Vance, a Philadelphia based healthcare leader with 15 years of experience, plus a PhD in corporate leadership.We talk about why Philly shapes leaders differently, how environment influences who you become, and what it looks like to be intentional about the people you surround yourself with. Vance also breaks down the difference between your job and your work, why self assessment is the starting point for real growth, and how repetition, routines, and small habit changes create lasting leadership development.
2026-01-141h 16Life Between TitlesFinding Worth Beyond Work with Andrew MerchantWhat happens when the path you were taught to follow no longer fits the life you are living?In this episode, Savan sits down with Andrew Merchant for a deeply honest conversation about identity, depression, fatherhood, and choosing family over prestige. Andrew shares what it was like growing up in rural Alabama, building a marriage that started young, navigating undiagnosed depression, and stepping into the role of a stay at home dad in a household shaped by neurodivergence and intentional care.Together, they explore how productivity becomes tangled with self worth...
2026-01-081h 33Life Between TitlesThe Job Search Process is BrokenStarting 2026 unemployed and wondering what you are doing wrong?Hundreds of applications. Resume rewrites. LinkedIn Premium. Interview coaching. And still nothing moves?This is not about working harder.It is about understanding why the job market changed and how to change your strategy with it.If this sounds like you, you are not broken.The system changed.Hashtags#JobSearch#LifeBetweenTitles#Unemployed#CareerAdvice#JobSearchTips#2026Goals
2026-01-0607 minLife Between TitlesBetting on Yourself with Jen TranThis is the last guest episode of the year, and I wanted to close out with a conversation that tells the truth about career transition, the parts that rarely make it into the highlight reel. Jen Tran takes us back to her first General Assembly UX class where she looked left, looked right, and realized most people in the room would not make the switch. Out of about 20 classmates, she saw only three successfully transition.Jen shares what it felt like to bet on herself in her mid thirties, with doubt, limited support, and the...
2026-01-021h 22Life Between TitlesGrowth Starts With Feedback with Tré WrightIn this Life Between Titles conversation, Tré Wright breaks down what makes feedback sustainable, inviting it, receiving it without defensiveness, and building the muscle through small, consistent habits. We also talk about routines that reduce job search burnout, why community matters when the world feels heavy, and how coaching helps people find clarity, accountability, and a more authentic identity at work and at home.#LifeBetweenTitles#Leadership#FeedbackCulture#Coaching#CareerGrowth💡 Support Life Between Titleshttps://www.patreon.com/cw/LifeBetweenTitles▶️ YouTubehttps...
2025-12-171h 27Life Between TitlesInside the Machinery of Public Service with Jason BriefelIn this episode of Life Between Titles, Savan talks with Jason Briefel about the unseen world of federal leadership, policy, and workforce reform. Jason shares a decade of experience representing senior executives across government, describing how agencies struggle to invest in their own leaders, why civil service systems remain outdated, and how culture often outweighs structure. He also opens up about the emotional toll of long job searches, the pressure of living with his parents as a married adult, and how his confidence has changed in this current search. The conversation moves between policy, parenting, personal resilience, and the...
2025-11-301h 27Life Between TitlesA Thanksgiving of Lessons, Gratitude, and GrowthIn this Thanksgiving reflection, I look back on the first two months of Life Between Titles and the guests who shaped it. I share the lessons they taught me about leadership, reinvention, identity, creativity, fatherhood, and the courage it takes to walk into uncertainty. Each guest left me with something meaningful, from empathy to purpose to rediscovery. This episode is my way of saying thank you to everyone who trusted me with their story and to every listener searching for direction. Gratitude has given shape to the hard moments and helped me see how transformation, even when messy, can...
2025-11-2606 minLife Between TitlesIf It Doesn’t Challenge You, It Doesn’t Change You, A Conversation with Cheryl DillonIn this episode of Life Between Titles, Cheryl Dillon shares a perspective shaped by years of guiding people through major life transitions. She explains why the hardest moments in life often become the catalysts for reinvention and how challenge, discomfort, and uncertainty can reveal the next chapter waiting on the other side. Cheryl also discusses the journey that led her to build Funderful Experiences, her approach to meaningful community, and the mindset shifts that help people move forward when fear and doubt try to pull them back.💡 Support Life Between Titles https://www.patreon.com/cw...
2025-11-251h 20Life Between TitlesReinvention Later in Life with Pamela DavisIn this episode, I sit down with Pamela Davis, a seasoned professional whose journey reflects a lifetime of resilience, responsibility, and renewal. Pamela raised two daughters on her own, guided them through private school, worked long hours to keep them supported, and later stepped into another demanding chapter caring for her mother through ten years of dementia. In her fifties, she returned to college to earn her degree in education, proving that personal growth can unfold at any stage of life.Now navigating unemployment after years of caregiving and service, Pamela speaks openly about disrupted...
2025-11-201h 05Life Between TitlesOffice Hours with Ringo Nishioka | The Truth About HR, Layoffs, and Getting Back on Your FeetIn this first episode of Office Hours, host Savan Kong talks with longtime HR leader Ringo Nishioka about what really happens behind the scenes when layoffs, promotions, and performance reviews unfold. Ringo shares decades of experience from inside the world of human resources, explaining how employees can protect themselves, how to negotiate an exit package, and what it actually means to be “layoff resistant.”This is an unfiltered look at the business of people. Whether you are between jobs, managing a team, or just trying to understand how to stand out and...
2025-11-121h 23Life Between TitlesShowing Up Imperfectly: Health Update and What’s Next for Life Between TitlesIn this solo episode, Savan Kong opens up about a recent health scare that forced him to slow down and reflect on what it really means to show up authentically, even when life doesn’t look perfect. After experiencing a seizure earlier in the week, he shares how the moment reshaped his understanding of progress, recovery, and self-worth. This isn’t just a story about setback; it’s about slowing down long enough to remember what matters. Savan talks about guilt, grace, and the surprising kindness that comes when you finally give yourself permission to rest. He also shares what’s...
2025-11-1008 minLife Between TitlesFrom Refugee Camp to Community Builder with Vanny WhitcheloWhat does it mean to move beyond survival and start creating something that didn’t exist before? In this powerful episode, Savan sits down with Vanny Whitchelo, host of Khmer Voices and co-founder of the Cambodian Cultural Center of Vancouver, for a deeply personal conversation about courage, community, and the next generation of the Cambodian diaspora.Born in the same refugee camp as Savan, Vanny shares how she turned reflection into action—launching a podcast, co-founding a nonprofit, and building community while working full-time and raising two kids. Together they explore the...
2025-11-031h 23Life Between TitlesBetween Ambition and Belonging: A Conversation with Vanessa OkoroWhat if success isn’t about how far you go, but how deeply you listen to yourself along the way? In this episode of Life Between Titles, Savan sits down with Vanessa Okoro, a first-generation Nigerian-American who spent over a decade climbing the ranks of management consulting at firms like Ernst & Young before making a bold shift into federal service with the FAA.Vanessa shares her journey of navigating identity across cultures, careers, and expectations—and what it means to walk away from a title you’ve worked your whole life to earn. Togeth...
2025-11-011h 17Life Between TitlesAmazon Layoffs. Government RIFs. Nobody’s Job is Safe — So What Comes Next?Amazon is cutting tens of thousands of jobs. Federal agencies are facing RIFs and shutdown chaos. Two very different worlds — but both are reshaping what work, purpose, and identity mean in America.I’ve lived in both. I worked at Amazon and served in the Department of Defense. In this episode, I share what happens when the institutions we trust begin to shake — and what we can learn about resilience, empathy, and rebuilding ourselves beyond the title.
2025-10-3009 minLife Between TitlesThe Year We Chose Wonder with Reet GermanWhat would happen if you sold everything, left your job, and traveled the world for a year?In this episode, Reet German shares how one bold decision transformed her life, her marriage, and her relationship with her mother—whom she reconnected with after more than twenty years apart.Born in India, raised in Canada, and now living in Hawaii, Reet opens up about trusting her intuition, healing generational wounds, and redefining success beyond the corporate ladder. This journey across twenty-three countries became a spiritual homecoming, leading her back to her roots an...
2025-10-281h 24Life Between TitlesOctober Reflections: Finding Grace and Identity in Life Between TitlesThis month marks one of the most meaningful periods since starting Life Between Titles. When I began this project a month ago, I never imagined I would already have recorded ten interviews filled with so much honesty, emotion, and connection.What started as simple conversations about job searching quickly turned into deep reflections about who we are when the titles are gone. Guests opened up about rejection, uncertainty, and rediscovering themselves. Katie Spector said something that really stayed with me, that it is not normal or human to be rejected over and over again. It...
2025-10-2804 minLife Between TitlesStitching a Life Back Together with Anne GoreWhat holds us together when the fabric of our life begins to come undone?In this episode of Life Between Titles, host Savan Kong talks with Anne Gore, a veteran, educator, and single mother who has spent her life piecing together meaning through change. Anne begins with a reflection that lingers in the air: “I think you asked me about where I am right now, relative to the dismantling of USAID.”From there, she unfolds her story like a quilt—the patches of childhood on Appalachian farmland, the ye...
2025-10-271h 29Life Between TitlesTurning Loss Into Meaning with Katie SpectorWhat happens when purpose is born from pain?In this powerful episode of Life Between Titles, I sit down with Katie Spector, an actress, improviser, yoga instructor, and storyteller. We open with the story of her father, a veteran who lived with Gulf War Syndrome, and how that experience shaped her why. At twenty three, Katie filed a FOIA request for his VA medical records, read thousands of pages, and saw in detail how the system failed him. That heartbreak became fuel for a career focused on improving programs and services for veterans and their...
2025-10-241h 20
The 311 PodcastS2 E8 - Design at Scale with Savan KongTransforming the Department of Defence with Savan Kong. Today my guest is Savan Kong. Savan has a unique resume and set of experiences. He was most recently the first ever Customer Experience Officer for the United States Department of Defense. One of the largest organizations of any kind in the world. When the CIO of the DOD tapped Savan to pioneer the new CXO role, Savan brought a design mindset to the job in every way. And in this episode, he's going to share his mindset and models for how to introduce design in...
2025-10-2253 minLife Between TitlesFatherhood, Divorce, and Rediscovering Self with Michael LeeIn this deeply moving episode of Life Between Titles, host Savan Kong reconnects with his high school friend Michael Lee for a raw and reflective conversation about identity, fatherhood, and finding peace through life’s storms.From growing up as one of the few Chinese American kids in Wichita, Kansas, to navigating Wall Street, entrepreneurship, and single fatherhood, Michael shares how suffering became his greatest teacher.They discuss the challenges of cultural identity, emotional intelligence, and the quiet work of rebuilding after divorce and career transitions. Together, th...
2025-10-201h 36Life Between TitlesInside DoD law, innovation and ethics with Phil ReimanIn this episode of Life Between Titles, host Savan Kong sits down with Phil Reiman, former Department of Defense attorney and lifelong builder of systems, teams, and ideas.Phil shares his journey from architecture to law, revealing how a deep curiosity about how things work led him to one of the most complex institutions in the world—the DoD. Together they unpack what it means to balance innovation with ethics, the role of lawyers in shaping national policy, and why empathy and co...
2025-10-2054 minLife Between TitlesFinding Clarity Through Change with Sarah JohnsonWhat happens when achievement no longer feels like alignment?In this episode of Life Between Titles, host Savan Kong sits down with Dr. Sarah Johnson, who went from designing marketing campaigns at a fast-growing Seattle startup that went from startup to IPO—to walking away and pursuing a completely new path in occupational therapy. Sarah opens up about leaving a high-performing role, navigating uncertainty, and learning to trust her own intuition through the process.They explore clarity, purpose, and the courage to start again. Sarah shares how reflection, community, and self-awareness he...
2025-10-181h 20Life Between TitlesMilitary to Civilian Life: Finding Purpose and Peace with Wes AverkampWhat happens when the mission ends, but life keeps going?In this episode of Life Between Titles, host Savan Kong sits down with First Sergeant (Ret.) Wesley Averkamp, a U.S. Army veteran who served multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Wes opens up about his journey from small-town Iowa to the front lines of war — and how he learned to rebuild his identity after retirement.They discuss everything from leadership and resilience to family, faith, and financial literacy. Wes shares lessons from 22 ye...
2025-10-151h 20Life Between TitlesIt's Better To Find Peace Than Happiness with Howie CohenIn this episode of Life Between Titles, host Savan Kong sits down with Howie Cohen for an honest, insightful conversation about leadership, unemployment, and what it means to find purpose in the in-between. Howie shares lessons from a career built on empathy, strategy, and connection. Together, they explore how relationships shape success, why leadership is about serving others, and how unemployment can be reframed as self-ownership. They also dive into the evolving job market, the rise of AI, and the importance of creating a personal life plan that aligns with your values. Whether you are navigating a job search...
2025-10-081h 08Life Between TitlesI Am Not My Job - Welcome to Life Between TitlesWhat happens when the title that once defined you disappears?In the first episode of Life Between Titles, host Savan Kong reflects on what it means to exist in the space after one chapter ends and before the next one begins. It’s the silence that follows a busy career, the stillness after the introductions stop including your job, and the quiet question that rises in its place: Who am I without that title?Drawing from his own experience navigating a career transition after years leading teams across technology an...
2025-10-0809 min
Khmer VoicesSeeing the Power of Privilege at Play with Savan KongWhen Savanrith (Savan) Kong attended Lakeside School, a prestigious private school with famous alumni such as Bill Gates and Paul Allen, he entered a world he only saw on television. In this episode, while exploring the theme of privilege, Savan also notes that luck sometimes comes into play, and grit. He talks about the limited access to resources and people his Khmer friends had compared to those in his alternate more privileged world. As a child of Cambodian parents who fled to Thailand as a result of the Khmer Rouge then settling in Seattle, Washington, Un...
2025-05-131h 03
The Daily Scoop PodcastReflections from DOD’s first-ever customer experience officerAfter serving for nearly 18 months as the Department of Defense’s first-ever customer experience officer in the Office of the CIO, Savan Kong earlier this month parted ways with the Pentagon. Previously a member of the Defense Digital Service during his first tour of duty with the DOD, Kong helped build the department’s CXO office from scratch, fostering a culture that prioritizes the needs of service members, civilians, and mission partners and striving to streamline governance processes, improve transparency, and ensure that IT solutions meet operational needs. Kong joins the Daily Scoop for a conversation to share the progress his...
2025-03-2529 min
Fed Gov Today7/16/24: Bold Initiatives: Enhancing CX, Strategizing Cyber Battlespace, and Revolutionizing Health IT ContractingThe Defense Department’s new Fulcrum IT Advancement Strategy includes four lines of effort. One of them is focused on customer experience. Savan Kong is Senior Advisor in the User Experience Portfolio Management Office in the Office of the CIO at DoD. At TechNet Cyber recently, he tells me his office is driving what customer experience looks like across the department.One of the jobs of the Defense Department’s Joint Forces Headquarters DoD Information Network is what it calls “organi...
2024-07-1730 min
The Daily Scoop PodcastNATO's 75th, Supreme Court Shifts, and DoD's Digital EvolutionToday's Daily Scoop Podcast delves into the transformative impact of user-focused technology on government missions, with a special emphasis on the Department of Defense's UX overhaul. The discussion opens with an in-depth analysis of the NATO summit in Washington D.C., a pivotal event involving expanding support for Ukraine and launching new cybersecurity collaborations with Indo-Pacific partners. This historic meeting, marking NATO's 75th anniversary, features insights from President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Another significant development discussed is the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Chevron doctrine. This ruling could impact the administration's capacity to enforce stringent cy...
2024-07-0923 min
Federal Fridays with ServiceNow (Government)ServiceNow Federal Forum 2024: Building a Resilient Government with Secure AutomationAutomation plays a key role in supporting the cyber workforce and building operational resiliency. During this session, we emphasized the pivotal role automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and Zero Trust Architectures (ZTA) play in staying a step ahead of sophisticated, evolving cyber threats to deliver resilient government services. Featured Speakers: • Arunkumar (Arun) Iyer, Principal Executive Architect/Field CTO, ServiceNow• Bob Cunningham, Executive Director for Enterprise Command Operations, D• Richard Driggers, Cyber Practice Lead, Accenture Federal Services• Savanrith "Savan" Kong, Customer Experience Officer (CXO), Department of Defense• Dr. Tiina Rodrigue, Chief Information Security Officer, Bureau of C...
2024-05-2433 min
Have a Good Movie2021 Oscars - PredictionsCLICK TO SUBSCRIBE ON YOUR FAVORITE PODCATCHER
We’ve seen all the big contenders, we’ve got opinions, and we’re not afraid to share them. Plus, we break down each original song and let you know who we pick, which, uh, is a little bit tough this year. Welcome to our 2021 Oscar Predictions on
Macintosh & Maud!
You can email us with feedback at macintoshandmaud@gmail.com, or you can connect with us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Also please subscribe, rate and review the show on your favorite podcatcher, and tell y...
2021-04-2200 min