San Diego Unified School Board Trustee Shana Hazan sits down with Tony and a very special guest co-host, Tony’s wife Elizabeth Fitzsimons, to discuss what’s happening locally with the state’s second largest school district, and why it’s getting into the housing business and what that is expected to look like. Shana also discussed the importance of wellness in the classrooms, the Trump effect on education, her ambivalence for the White Lotus, working from home with a spouse who does the same, and more. When Shana is not caring for her two children or the tens of thousands who attend San Diego Unified schools, she works as a consultant for the company she owns and operates, Hazan Strategies, assisting non-profits, businesses and government agencies with development, strategy, planning, and more. Tune in now to check out this fun and informative episode of Dear San Diego.

Few things touch San Diego families as deeply as Little League baseball. Layer in travel ball and the pool of passionate dads, moms, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and grandparents widens. Right now across our region, Little League seasons are kicking off with opening day ceremonies that include enough soft pretzels, clean jerseys, and freshly cut grass to make just about any kid feel like anything is possible. It’s against that backdrop that we give you this new episode of Dear San Diego, hosted by Tony Manolatos, where we zoom in on little league and travel baseball with three guests who are as committed as anyone to youth baseball: Jeff Rosa, Joe Lewis and Chad Starkey.

Unable to catch her breath because of PTSD – brought on by years of abuse and trauma she suffered at the hands of her husband – Mariah Dawn sat down and tried something new. She opened a Word document and started writing. She noticed right away that she felt better. The writing was a release. It was cathartic. So, she kept at it, eventually telling a friend at church she thought she had written a book. Would he take a look? That 164-page Word document is now “Dragon In You, A Memoir” written by Mariah Dawn. Her book was published in October, which is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and the 3-year mark of her husband’s death. Mariah says she wrote the book to help herself, to help others, and to use the dragon in her (she says there’s a dragon in all of us) for good. Tune in to this episode of Dear San Diego to learn more about Mariah and her new book.

POLITICO’s Chris Cadelago joined Tony and Juan for a special 2024 Election Episode of Dear San Diego. Chris provided really smart takes on local, state, and national races, and shared some behind-the-scenes info, too. Chris covered the Trump White House and the Biden White House. He is currently working on building a statewide bureau for POLITICO in California, and covering Kamala Harris and her presidential campaign.

Michael Inzunza is running for Chula Vista City Council. He comes from a long line of public servants and political dynamos. Michael has never held elected office. He has, however, built a career as a community advocate, mostly in the educational space, not unlike his parents, who were among the first to lobby for bilingual education in California schools. “My parents aren't in any way the founders of bilingual education in the state of California, but absolutely within the first pioneers of initiating bilingual education,” Michael says on the podcast.

The Padres sensed they had a problem. So they called John Nienstedt, who helped them figure out they should switch to brown jerseys. John brought in models who wore different jerseys to a series of focus groups. Each participant in the room was armed with a dial that they cranked one way for approval and another way for disapproval. John used the dial tests to block debate and strong personalities from influencing the room, he said. The Padres, of course, used John’s research and data to switch from blue to brown uniforms a few years ago.

Kelly Williams cares for San Diego-area active-duty service members, veterans, and military families suffering from PTSD. She takes care of people who need care, and she’s creating an army of therapists like her to try and meet the needs of people wrestling with PTSD throughout San Diego. Williams is Clinic Director of The Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at Veterans Village of San Diego. She helps San Diego-area active-duty service members, veterans and military families in an environment that was created just for them. “It’s difficult enough to find a therapist who you can connect with, and then the added stress of finding one who can be sensitive to your specific military background can be even harder.”

Chad is the CEO of IVC Media, LLC. A licensed attorney, Chad never expected to lead a binational digital communications company that serves an impressive list of clients with dozens of designers, project managers, and others from offices in Mission Valley and Tijuana. Politically, Chad has sort of cornered the market when it comes to talking to independent or NPP (No Party Preference) voters, but he and his team do so much more for a wide variety of businesses, nonprofits, government agencies and others. 

Lenny Leszczynski is a car guy, dating back to his days as a young man who drove a Daytona Blue 1964 Chevy Impala, but his wife was not expecting him to land this job. After all, Lenny had never been a CEO before. He did take advantage of all the free time the pandemic gave us by going back to school to earn an advanced degree. He was in Disneyland with his wife and kids hours after his job interview when he received the call. He got the job. He was the new CEO of the San Diego Automotive Museum located in Balboa Park.

You won’t find too many political people as smart as Steve Peace, but what really makes him interesting is his life as a grandfather (an Uber driver to his grandchildren is how he describes it), husband, and father. A former California legislator, Peace blazed a trail from San Diego to Sacramento that may never be surpassed. He also found success in the movie making business. He wrote and produced Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, a parody cult classic.