City Living With Churchill

A weekly podcast that chronicles the different experiences, communities and highlights of being a young professional in New York City. Joined with Churchill are various guests that discuss everything from the pandemic, interesting interactions, sex, relationships and shameful social moments.

Over the past several years, self care has become a viral craze with an over focus on taking care of the individual more than community. It is now a $450B industry. In this final episode of season 2 of City Living With Churchill, I read a recent reflection piece. I makes an argument on how self care should include community care. I argue it is important to reframe self care not as an individual only work but seeing it as a community effort.

Friendships Amidst The Pandemic: The pandemic changed a lot peoples perspective of how they think about friendships. In this episode of City Living With Churchill, Churchill is joined by his friend Ronny Oppong to discuss how the pandemic has impacted friendships. We talk about how our friendships have been reshaped, transformed and in some cases fizzled out.

The Great Resignation: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 4.5M people quit their jobs in September, October and November  of last year. And there is a forecast of an average 3.7M people per month quitting their jobs. A lot of these people are between ages 18-34. It is being called The Great Resignation. 5M new business applications were submitted nationwide in 2021 and the number of self employed workers in the US has risen to 500 thousand since the pandemic started.

Stillness Amidst The Pandemic: Part two of our discussion with Father Paul Daniels of The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City. We discuss what the pandemic was like Priests and Pastors in NYC, especially when dealing with so much death but not being able to memorialize people because of COVID restrictions. We talk about what New Yorkers can learn from the stillness of COVID and what it can teach us about spirituality and where do we go from here.

Changing the Narrative: A two part discussion with Father Paul Daniels of The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City. We discuss spirituality in New York City and how to change the narrative between the black LGBTQ community (What does it mean to give up the narrative that Christianity is always already antagonistic to queerness?), Millennials and the Church. What can the pandemic teach us about spirituality and where do we go from here.

Season 1 comes to end. This week, for the season 1 finale of City Living With Churchill we revisit some notables moments from the season. Discussions on the importance of black queer representation, NYC Subway stories, maintaining friendships, surviving in NYC and dating in a city like New York. 

Uli Beutter Cohen wanted to connect to New York City in a meaningful way. She noticed there were a lot of people that read on the train. Her observation sparked an idea. She would interview commuters on what books they are reading & why and document it on social media. 7 years later, the movement has grown to 132k followers and has been featured on magazines like Forbes, Esquire, Vogue, New York Magazine amongst others.

This week, I sit down with Subway Book Review founder Uli. Our discussion focuses on fostering human connection through conversations and how to weave our personalities and story into the fabric of New York City. We discuss how the brightest light that shine in NYC is YOU. And yes of course, books!

Part 2 of my discussion with my good friend Jenny. We discuss the mental health hardships of being stuck at home during the pandemic in the winter and our experience in trying to find a therapist. Jenny also shares her experience with cat calling in. New York City.

Usually when folks move to New York City, they want to enjoy life as a singleton and have this Sex and the City fantasy of finding love. However, there are also a group of folks who move to city as a couple and want to have similar adventurous experience of being in an environment like NYC. I have been curious about how that adjustment is like for new couples who just moved to the city.

This week’s episode focuses on my conversation with my good friend Jenny. We discuss her adjustment to the city, moving with her boyfriend and how her experience has been exploring NYC with her boyfriend. This week's episode was recorded in 2020.

I remember my first time trying to find an apartment in New York City, I felt miserable and confused. I have so many stories where I show up to apartments that didn’t match up with the photos posted online by the broker. Some apartments did not even have a ceiling installed. I did not know about broker’s fee. I didn't understand the difference between net effective rent versus gross rent. I was so confused and I didn't understand what I should be looking for.

Each summer there's a huge influx of people moving to the city, trying to find new apartments. All these dreamers come into the city, wanting to find a new spot to be in the midst of it all. At the same time, you just have a group of people that already live in the city and are looking to move to a new burrough and have a real fresh start.

This week, I sit down with broker Jason Christie from the Polaris NYC team to get some tips and insights on how to best find an apartment in New York. From the time you begin searching to the time you sign the lease, he drops a lot of great gems. 

I wish you luck, you need a lot of luck to find an apartment in New York, it is very convoluted, it is very complex. I hope this conversation provides you with the information needed once you begin your apartment search in New York.

A lot of people move to New York to pursue dreams and passions of becoming a musician, model, artist, designer, finance manager amongst others. However, a lot of us run into the reality of pursuing dreams vs the financial struggle of being able to pay rent, utilities, food and debts. We get a 9-5 but that does not satisfy the itch. So we decide to leave our jobs and pursue pursue our passions full time.                 

This week, I sit down with my good friend Heidi to have an honest discussion around moving to New York City to pursue your dreams/passion, balancing a 9-5 and your passion, leaving your job to pursue your passion full time and much more. It was a discussion recorded at three different points starting in 2019 and check in 2021.

This week, I sit down with Johnny Cirrilo, the photographer behind "Watching New York" street fashion blog. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Greenpointers and Brooklyn Magazine amongst others. We discuss his experience growing up in New York, how he got into fashion blogging, his method of capturing street fashion, fashion hot spots in Brooklyn and much more.

In 2020, many people left New York City once quarantine went into effect and the city shutdown. However, there was a group of dreamers who still decided to move to New York City. One of them was my little brother, who moved to the city right before the shut down. His only experience of living in New York City has been with COVID. 

This week, I sit down with my little brother, Edwig, to discuss his move to New York City during the start of the 2020 COVID quarantine shutdowns. We talk about what it's like to be new to New York City with an enforced quarantine and sharing a one bedroom with me while pursuing his dream.

Thank You! This week's episode is dedicated to you. You continue to listen to this podcast weekly and show love and support. You are awesome, and I want to let you know how awesome you are! Many of us don't give ourselves enough credit. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to succeed, but not as much pressure on ourselves to be happy, fulfilled and support the wins along the way. We spend a lot of time, effort, and money chasing after our dreams, but we don't really invest in taking the time to support the community helping us build that dream. I am very grateful for you all tuning in every week and making me part of your life.   

On May 5th, Phil Miner sent out a note to friends and strangers on Instagram inviting them over for World Naked Gardening Day to create a magazine. The vision was to get together naked and celebrate their hobby of plants, bodies and queerness. What started as a one off opportunity for strangers and friends coming together to create a magazine has now led to something bigger (Natural Pursuits). 

This week, I sit down with Phil Miner from Brooklyn to get the backstory behind Natural Pursuits, how the vision has evolved beyond gardening and how the brand is pushing the discussion on body acceptance and building a supportive community for queer artists.

This week, our guest Dajzsa and I discuss the gentrification of Harlem New York (and the role of young black professionals in the gentrification), the cat calling madness in New York City, dating apps and the importance of swiping intelligently.

If you have ever visited New York City or live in New York City, one of your memories or experiences is tied to the subway system. From the mysterious smells, the overcrowded trains, the performers, the many delays/ service changes - the New York city Subway system is made up of 472 stations, 36 rail lines and an annual ridership of 1.7billion.  This Week's episode focuses on bizarre New York Subway experiences from three guests. I also share some of my many crazy experiences riding the New York City subway. The first guest story is about a homeless mad scientist and a knife. The second guest story is about being asked for sexual favor on the train. The third guest story is about saving a stranger from a opioid overdose. And the last guest story is about a dead body and boiler room.

This week on City Living With Churchill, Churchill is interviewed by his good friend Ronny.  We discuss Churchill's journey to New York City, shameful New York moments during his run in Central Park, why New York City is his favorite city, his dream guests and what is installed for the upcoming episodes of City Living with Churchill.  This episode deep dives into learning more about the host of City Living With Churchill

During the 2020 peak of Covid, we were all trying to find new hobbies and activities to keep us busy. One of those popular hobbies was getting into plants. Like most of you, I became a plant parent and adopted 14 plants as a beginner. If you are like me, you had some fumbles with your plants along the way and had to do research on how to take care of them.

In this Special Bonus Christmas Holiday Episode, Churchill sits down with his friend Kevin to discuss Christmas holiday memories and do a verzuz of their top 5 Christmas songs of 2020. It is a very fun and joy filled episode. Happy Holidays and a Merry Merry Christmas! Church's Top 5 Christmas songs of 2020 It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Andy Williams Baby Please Come Home by Darlene Love I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus H Holy Night - Mariah Carey Feliz Navidad - Why Don't We  Kevins Top 5 Christmas songs of 2020 Sleigh Ride - TLC Oh Santa! - Mariah Carey ft. Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson  Carol of the Bells a.k.a Opera of the Bells - Destiny's Child Holiday - lil NasX You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch - Jim Carey DISCLAIMER: I do not own any copyright license to the songs used in this episode. Just a fan enjoying music.

Join along Churchill as he shares details of his time in NYC with his favorite people (Strangers + Friends) that have help shaped his experience. In this episode Churchill sits down with his friend Heidi to discuss dating in NYC and her time maintaining various forms of relationships