On this episode I speak with Tanya Morgan who is the Chief Operating Officer at Nicola Vassell Gallery. We talk about all the responsibilities of a COO at a contemporary art gallery and what are some of the most underutilized skills in gallery management. We also touch on her time as a Collections Manager at Concept NV, an art advisory firm she managed with Nicola Vassell, and what it’s like to work as the lead logistics director on numerous special projects like BLACK EYE and No Commission, and her work with Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz on The Dean Collection.

On this episode I speak with Jessica Porter who is the Executive Director of ArtTable. We talk about providing leadership and oversight in fundraising to meet financial goals, and directing communications and brand management to enhance ArtTable’s success. We also touch on how she launched Porter Advisory, an art advisory firm, and Porter Contemporary, a Chelsea art gallery, and how she balanced that with being a lawyer. We also delve into the future of gender-based organizations and pay equity in the arts.

On this episode I speak with Lydia Melamed Johnson who is the Executive Director of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) and The Photography Show. We talk about the newest edition of the fair opening on April 23, 2025, what it’s like running a photography fair, and what visitors can expect from this 2025 edition. We also talk about her time as the Partnerships and VIP Relations Officer for Paris Photo and Paris Photo New York presented with AIPAD, where she was the US representative on the Paris Photo team launching the postponed fair in the Americas and her role as Director at Robert Simon Fine Art.

On this episode I speak with Maëlle Ebelle who is the Director at Ceysson & Bénétière. We talk about her professional journey at the gallery from when she joined the team in May 2012 in Genève, to then relocating to Luxembourg, and finally landing at their New York Madison Avenue location. We also touch on her studies in France as well as upcoming exhibitions, Bao Vuong: The Waves’ Breathing and Dennis Osadebe: Forcing Connections at Ceysson & Bénétière.

In this episode I speak with Aki Carpenter who is RAA’s global Vice President and Chief Creative Officer. We talk about what it means to provide vision and creative direction on design projects, what it was like opening over ten award-winning museums and cultural institutions worldwide, her work on the upcoming Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, and her passion for working with issues- and mission-based institutions. We also talk about her passion project, Ripple Effect, a New Orleans based environmental education start-up dedicated to K-12 education about socio-ecological issues of climate change, and what it’s been like for her as a female leader in the design field.

In this episode I speak with Dr. Tenley Bick who is an associate professor of art history at Florida State University and an art historian of global modern and contemporary art, with special interests in post-WWII and contemporary European (especially Italian) and African art (continental and diasporic), with a focus on social art history and cultural geopolitics. We peel back the veil around working in academia and getting tenure and we chat about her new book Michelangelo Pistoletto: Figuration and Cultural Politics (Yale University Press, 2025), the first English-language scholarly monograph on the Italian artist. We also touch on her research for her second book, on contemporary art and visual postcoloniality in and around Italy, focused on works of art by contemporary Italian, Afro-Italian, and East African artists that address histories and legacies of Italian colonialism in Africa.

In this episode I speak with Maura Reilly about her role as the Director of the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, Zimmerli’s latest exhibition Indigenous Identities: Here, Now & Always, which was curated by artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, as well as Reilly’s focus on redefining what it means to be an ‘activist institution’ and dedicating the Zimmerli’s programming to artists who have been historically marginalized. We also talk about her upcoming book, Museums and Social Justice: Towards Reckoning and Change, which will be released in September 2025 with Thames and Hudson. We cover everything from her time at the Brooklyn Museum where she launched the first exhibition and public programming space in the US devoted entirely to feminist art, Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party, and the blockbuster exhibition Global Feminisms (which Reilly co-curated with Linda Nochlin) to being a maverick and making trouble.

*This episode was recorded prior to the passing of Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, who was a groundbreaking artist, curator, activist, and a fervent supporter of other artists and their legacies.

In this episode I speak with Elisabeth Sherman about her current role as the Senior Curator and Director of Exhibitions and Collections at the International Center of Photography (ICP), her newest exhibition To Conjure: New Archives in Recent Photography, and what she loved the most about working at the Whitney Museum of American Art. We cover everything from studying overseas, effectively managing a team, as well as amplifying marginalized voices and counteracting the weight of history written by and for men.

In this episode I speak with Noreen Khalid Ahmad who is the Vice President at ALMA Communications. We chat about what’s coming up at ALMA in 2025, her time at the Morgan Library & Museum, Sutton, Fitz & Co, and LaPlaca Cohen, as well as being the Associate Producer on the HBO Documentary, The Price of Everything. We also cover everything from crisis PR as well as what it takes to put together a successful PR campaign.

In this episode I speak with artist Beatrice Scaccia about her practice, how she investigates the illusions of beauty and constructions of appearance and the cultural links between feminine splendor and monstrosity in her work, and what inspires her. We also chat about her education and life in Italy, what made her want to come to New York and leave everything behind, and what it was like working for artists like Marilyn Minter and Jeff Koons.

In this episode I speak with Grace Astrove who serves as the Director of Corporate Relations for Governors Island Foundation. We also talk about her time at the Jewish Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, Performa, and Magazzino Italian Art, and what it entails to plan galas and secure six and seven figure gifts from donors and sponsors for arts institutions.

In this episode I speak with Katherine Ryckman Siegwarth who is the Executive Director of FotoFocus, a non-profit arts organization that champions photography and lens-based art. We chat about her plans for the future of FotoFocus, its expansion in 2025, and her time as Dayton Art Institute’s Kettering Curator of Photography and Special Projects.

In this episode I speak with Robin Cembalest who has reinvented herself from being a former editor of ARTnews to an art influencer who teaches how to communicate effectively across all editorial channels. We talk about her most memorable experiences at ARTnews to how she manages to get to almost every art exhibition in New York City.

In this episode I speak with YuJune Park about working in the design field. We touch on her role as Partner and Co-founder of Synoptic Office, an award-winning design consultancy, and how she balances that with being a professor at Parsons School of Design. We cover everything from technology as an accessibility tool, how to create the perfect website, what it’s like to design for leading art institutions, to the future of A.I. in design.

In this episode I speak with artist Gina Beavers about her practice. We talk about how she creates her sculptural paintings, where she finds inspiration, the impact of the internet and social media on her work, as well as her solo exhibition Divine Consumer at Marianne Boesky and her surveys at MCA Chicago and MOCA Los Angeles.

In this episode I speak with Clara Andrade Pereira who is the Executive Director of Untitled Art Fairs and a guest professor in the Global Art Market program at Barreira A+D in Valencia, and Art Market Management at Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid. We chat about her passion for democratizing contemporary art collecting, bringing accessibility to the art world, and what it’s like running an art fair.

In this episode I speak with Angelina Lippert who is the Chief Curator and Director of Content of Poster House in New York City, the first museum in the United States dedicated to the art and history of the poster. We talk about everything from her love of posters, working with collectors who share her passion, as well as her time at Rennert’s Gallery, which specializes in poster auctions.

In this episode Adefolakunmi Adenugba and I speak about her journey founding her company ISE-DA, which provides business development, strategic partnerships, and art advisory services for clients. We talk about her time growing up in the UK, her schooling in Switzerland and Atlanta, and what it felt like to be selected for Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in Art & Style in 2024.

In this episode I speak with Brianna Hernández who is a Chicana artist, curator, educator, and death doula. We talk about what it’s like juggling her work as the Director of Curation and Board Secretary of Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation, Assistant Curator at the Parrish Art Museum, and her work as a death doula, as well as the importance of art in death.

In this episode I speak with Chrissie Iles who is the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art. We cover everything from museum acquisitions to what it was like co-curating her third Whitney Biennial, Even Better Than the Real Thing, as well as working with artists like Louise Bourgeois and her time working in England.

In this episode I speak with Nazy Nazhand about what it’s like to be an art advisor to notable musicians and music executives, building world-class collections for an international roster of clients, collaborating with artists on projects, and her previous experiences that got her to where she is today.

In this episode I speak with Allison Rudnick who is the Associate Curator in the department of Drawings and Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We talk about everything from what it’s like planning an exhibition, concept to finish, to her love of prints, and what it’s like working at one of the largest and oldest museums in New York City.

In this episode I speak with Megan Skidmore who is the Development Director for Powerhouse Arts. We talk about what interested her in a career in Development and working for art museums and nonprofits.

In this episode I speak with Rain Lu who is the founder of the gallery RAINRAIN, an art advisor, and a freelance writer based in New York City. We cover everything from her opening her gallery in China and then relocating it to New York, which type of artists she works with, as well as her insights into the art market.

In this episode I sit down with Olivia Taylor who is an art lawyer. We discuss everything from how she weaves her love of art into her practice and how she serves the legal needs of the fine art world, such as collectors, artists, galleries, museums, and advisors.

In this episode I speak with Suzanne Julig who is a fine arts professional with more than three decades of experience in the field. We speak about her career as an art advisor, how she helps her clients build their collections, as well as her job as a career consultant who helps people navigate job choices in the art industry.

In this episode I sit down with Brianna Beckham who is an Artist Liaison at Hauser & Wirth. We talk about everything from what an artist liaison is and does to her art journey in both Chicago and New York.

In this episode I sit down with Sabrina Marsalisi who is the the Director of Education at The Brant Foundation Art Study Center, where she oversees all educational programs for Kindergarten to college level visits for both the Greenwich, CT and NYC locations. We cover everything from her graduate degree to what led her towards education in the art field.

In this episode I speak with Jil Weinstock who is currently the Executive Director of Baxter Street which was recently awarded a $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation. We cover her decades long career in the arts where she has held positions at the Whitney Museum, New Museum, and the Children’s Museum of the Arts, where she helped shape exhibitions, programming, and financial sustainability that reached and engaged new audiences.

In this episode I sit down with Sarah Prickett who is the Exhibition Manager at Pace Gallery in New York. We talk about how she progressed in the company, originally starting as a Gallery Manager as well as the various internships she held across museums on the East Coast, like the Peabody Essex Museum, Wadsworth Atheneum, and Brooklyn Museum, that informed her professional journey, ultimately leading her to a role she loves doing.