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Behind The Story Show

Behind The Story Show

Jelani Gonzalez 68 episodes Nov 10, 2026

Behind The Story Show is a long-form interview podcast hosted by Jelani Gonzalez. Each episode features candid conversations with entrepreneurs, athletes, artists, creators, leaders, and change-makers. Guests share defining moments, hard-earned lessons, personal challenges, and bold decisions that shaped their paths. The show explores business, creativity, leadership, culture, innovation, and reinvention, focusing on what it took to achieve success.

Episodes

The Champion's Code: The 5 Traits That Separate Champions
The Champion's Code: The 5 Traits That Separate Champions Nov 10, 2026 1:07:44 What actually separates the people who win from the ones with equal talent who don't? Performance coach and author John W. has spent a career answering that — coaching Olympians, pro athletes, and executives — and he distilled it into what he calls The Champion's Code.In this conversation, John traces his own unlikely path: a competitive, blue-collar Long Island kid who became a national
Why Athletes Go Broke and How a Sports Agent Stops It
Why Athletes Go Broke and How a Sports Agent Stops It Nov 5, 2026 56:03 Why do so many pro athletes go broke, and what can a sports agent actually do about it? In this episode of Behind the Story, host Jelani Gonzalez talks with a sports agent and sports business consultant who spent 20 years in the U.S. Army before building a career in international basketball and soccerHe explains how he protects athletes' money, what he says to a 19-year-old about to sign a fi
Understand Your Ballot: A Free AI Voter Guide for the Midterms
Understand Your Ballot: A Free AI Voter Guide for the Midterms Oct 29, 2026 50:04 Staring at a seven-page ballot full of names you don't recognize? You're not alone. In this episode of Behind the Story, host Jelani Gonzalez sits down with a Los Angeles software engineer who was born in China, became a U.S. citizen, and set out to fix one of the biggest problems in American elections: most voters have no idea who the candidates really are.Using AI to gather and summari
What Americans Get Wrong About Iran: The Regime vs. the Iranian People
What Americans Get Wrong About Iran: The Regime vs. the Iranian People Oct 27, 2026 1:07:12 Zolal Habibi was seven years old when her father, a well-known human rights activist and writer, was killed in the summer of 1988, during the wave of executions of political prisoners in Iran. She found out months later, from a newspaper she wasn’t supposed to see.In this conversation, Jelani Gonzalez goes behind the headlines with Zolal to explore the personal story that shaped her life’s work. S
What to Do After You Sell Your Business: Rebuilding Identity After an Exit
What to Do After You Sell Your Business: Rebuilding Identity After an Exit Oct 23, 2026 54:51 Why do so many founders feel lost after selling their business? Adam Roach exited three real estate brokerage franchises in 2019, hit the number he’d set for himself, and then faced what he calls the hangover: a loss of identity no exit plan had prepared him for.Adam, founder of I Love Coaching Co., shares how he rebuilt, from an exercise that connected a wound, a lie and a vow to a question from
Can They Strip Your Citizenship? Both Sides of the Omar Case
Can They Strip Your Citizenship? Both Sides of the Omar Case Oct 18, 2026 16:20 Federal agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home on Oct 12, and reporting says the investigation centers on her 2000 naturalization. No one has been charged. This episode steps back from the headlines to answer the bigger question: can the U.S. government take away a person’s citizenship, and what does it have to prove?We cover what is confirmed, what is only alleged, how denaturalization works in p
What If 1% Could Fund the Entire Government?
What If 1% Could Fund the Entire Government? Oct 14, 2026 1:05:14 What if you never filed a tax return again — no April 15th, no IRS — and a single 1% tax funded the entire government? In this episode of Behind the Story, Jelani Gonzalez sits down with Gary Barnes, a retired tradesman turned author of Fixing America’s Broken Government, for a wide-ranging conversation about the idea he calls the “receiving tax.”Gary spent 45 years as a wallpapering artisan in so
Cut the Boot or Lose the Foot: Reid Robinson's Story Behind the X Leg
Cut the Boot or Lose the Foot: Reid Robinson's Story Behind the X Leg Oct 4, 2026 48:40 Reid Robinson was a hardworking IT infrastructure architect and father of two in Calgary when an icy-road car crash changed everything. What followed was more than a dozen surgeries, years of crutches, and a recovery that tested his patience, his body, and his determination to stay present for his family.In this conversation, Reid takes us behind the story of how he went from hospital bed to inven
Why Habits Change When Your Story Does
Why Habits Change When Your Story Does Sep 26, 2026 51:22 What does it take to change a habit that has outlasted every attempt to break it? Connie Kwan, author of Story Habits, says the answer starts with the story you tell yourself about who you are, not with more willpower.Connie grew up between Hong Kong and Canada, trained as a computer engineer, and spent much of her career in product. Then she joined a smoking cessation company and, in her words, g
What DEI Actually Is — and What It Isn't | Celeste Warren
What DEI Actually Is — and What It Isn't | Celeste Warren Sep 19, 2026 52:34 The word "DEI" has been demonized — but what does it actually mean? In this episode of Behind the Story, Jelani Gonzalez sits down with Celeste Warren, former Global Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Merck, decades-long HR leader, author, and founder of CRW Diversity, for the clear-eyed conversation the topic has been missing.Celeste grew up in a small steel-mill town in Western
The Final Ruling: Inside the Supreme Court's 7-2 Mail-Ballot Decision
The Final Ruling: Inside the Supreme Court's 7-2 Mail-Ballot Decision Sep 16, 2026 14:51 On Monday, September 14, 2026, the Supreme Court closed the book — at least for this election — on a fight Behind the Story has tracked across five episodes. By a 7-2 vote, the justices refused to let the Trump administration enforce a new U.S. Postal Service rule on mail-in ballots for the 2026 midterms, leaving a federal judge's nationwide injunction in place.In this series finale, host Jel
The Ali G Movie Firestorm: Banned Before Anyone Saw It
The Ali G Movie Firestorm: Banned Before Anyone Saw It Sep 12, 2026 18:26 Twenty-six years ago, a comedian in a yellow tracksuit and orange shades sat across from real politicians, generals, and diplomats — and they answered him seriously. That was Ali G. This fall, Sacha Baron Cohen is bringing the character back in Ali G: Who Is I? — and tens of thousands of people are trying to make sure you never get to watch it.In this Behind the Story Exposé, we go past the headli

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