Life Changing with Dori Fern

In this episode, Dori talks with music industry veteran and activist Vickie Starr about the importance of empathy, productive conversations, and navigating the messy path of personal and societal change. Together, they reflect on Vickie’s career in music PR, the industry's evolution, and what it means to have difficult, transformative discussions, including a notable, mind-changing exchange with rap icon Ice-T. Vickie shares stories about growing older in an evolving field, learning from unexpected places, and finding joy and connection through community, dancing, and reinvention.

Highlights:

• Handling tough conversations with empathy
• The evolving role of women in music
• Personal reflections on aging in a dynamic industry

Chapters
00:00 Setting the Stage for Deeper Conversations
02:54 The Journey of Vicky Starr in Music
05:52 Navigating the Music Industry: PR and Marketing Evolution
12:03 The Shift to Artist Management
17:47 Cultural Connections in Brooklyn
20:07 Modeling Difficult Conversations
25:57 Empathy and Understanding in Family Dynamics
29:45 Aging in the Music Industry
36:11 Legacy and Living in Joy

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Connect with me!
Instagram: @dorifern
LinkedIn: Dori Fern
Email me: [email protected]
Visit https://dorifern.com for more about Dori's coaching services and to sign up for a complimentary call.

Ep 3: Dori talks about the big latke-making popup she did over the holidays. It didn't go as planned.
Read more about her latke venture here.
Here's Dori's recipe for her Life-Changing Latkes, an adaptation of the recipe published after she won the 2011 Edible Brooklyn Latke recipe contest, which she forgot to mention in the podcast - whoops!):
Ingredients:

• 3 large russet potatoes (about 2 pounds)
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1T kosher salt or to taste
• Freshly ground black or white pepper or a combination of both
• 1 large egg
• Duck fat and/or vegetable oil for frying. (A mix of the two is fine. Or if you’re vegetarian, can’t find duck fat, or are on a duck-free diet, just use vegetable oil.)

Directions:

1. In medium bowl, grate onion on the large holes of a box grater.
2. Peel and grate potatoes into the onion (this helps prevent the potato from discoloring).
3. Add salt and pepper and mix thoroughly, tasting a strand of potato and adding more salt and/or pepper to taste.
4. Scoop the potato-onion mixture with your hands, squeezing out excess liquid and placing dry mixture into another medium-large sized bowl. Repeat until all the “dry” potato-onion mixture is in one bowl, and save the potato liquid in the other. Let the liquid sit about 10 minutes, giving the potato starch time to settle to the bottom of the bowl.
5. Add egg to potato-onion mixture and mix well (hands are the best mixing implement here!).
6. Pour off the liquid squeezed from the potato and onions. There should be a nice layer of potato starch accumulated at the bottom of the bowl (the starchier the potatoes, the more you’ll find). Scoop out the starch and incorporate it into the potato mixture.
7. In a heavy, good-quality skillet or cast iron pan, add about an inch of oil (you’ll want the latkes about halfway submerged in fat while frying) and heat over medium-high flame. You’re ready to go when a strand of potato sizzles when added to the pan.
8. Scoop out a small handful of the potato mixture, and press between your hands to flatten and squeeze out any excess liquid. Make sure the pancakes are even, not too thick in the middle, and about 3 inches around for an average-size latke. Gently add to skillet and cook, making sure not to crowd the pan, for about two to three minutes per side or until golden brown. Take care not to fuss with them while they’re cooking or they may fall apart.
9. Add more fat after each batch as necessary. Too little will cause the latkes to burn on the outside before cooking inside.
10. Remove from pan and place on a paper-towel lined cookie sheet rack.

Text Me!

Connect with me!
Instagram: @dorifern
LinkedIn: Dori Fern
Email me: [email protected]
Visit https://dorifern.com for more about Dori's coaching services and to sign up for a complimentary call.

Dori and Jennie Baird talk about resilience, grief, and the role of timing in their lives. Jennie works as the Chief Product Officer at BBC Studios and is also a certified mental health first aid and volunteer suicide bereavement support facilitator, among her many professional and personal roles and pursuits.
They reflect on their childhoods and the influence their parents played, particularly their fathers. And Dori updates listeners about what happened to her father after this interview with Jennie was recorded.
They talk about their time at Aol, when Jennie hired Dori in 2006 for her first job after a decade as a stay-at-home mom, producing a branded contest sponsored by Dove called Chief Everything Officer. She shares the five words she looks for in all job candidates. Jennie also reminds Dori what she learned from our host about cooking. In admitting that she is not much for looking back and evaluating the past, Jennie reveals much about herself, yes, but also about resilience itself. This is an episode you won't want to miss.
From Dori:
This episode is dedicated to the too many fathers my family and friends lost in 2024, many in this year's very challenging summer. I name some but, in my community alone, there were more. Too many. Much love and care to those in the complex, life-changing process of grief and mourning.
TW: This episode contains a discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, please listen with care or consider skipping this episode. In the United States, the suicide help line to call is the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You can reach them by dialing 988

Text Me!

Connect with me!
Instagram: @dorifern
LinkedIn: Dori Fern
Email me: [email protected]
Visit https://dorifern.com for more about Dori's coaching services and to sign up for a complimentary call.

Dori's long-term consulting job had ended and her next-door neighbor Khori Petinaud's Facebook post about the urge toward negative thinking as her show, Lempicka, was closing struck a chord. Khori talks about choosing faith over fear, a lesson that took Dori years and a coaching certification to learn.
Khori shares her journey to becoming a Broadway dancer and performer, from her traditional ballet roots to the experimental world of downtown dance during her NYU days and the instability inherent in an artist's career, insights that resonate with Dori's childhood dreams to be a musical theater performer.
She reflects on her single mother's influence, a woman who pursued her dreams in cosmetics with relentless ambition, shaping Khori's views on success and parenting. Khori also opens up about the challenges she faced as a
Black ballet dancer, about her struggles with body image and disordered eating and how she's developed a healthier relationship with food.
The episode explores the courage it takes to chase dreams, even as they change, the shaping of a balanced life, being an artist in NYC, and how, in trusting the process, new connections are made.
Follow Khori
X @khorirpetinaud | Instagram @kmr8787
TW: This episode contains a discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, please listen with care. In the United States, the suicide help line to call is the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You can reach them by dialing #988

Text Me!

Connect with me!
Instagram: @dorifern
LinkedIn: Dori Fern
Email me: [email protected]
Visit https://dorifern.com for more about Dori's coaching services and to sign up for a complimentary call.

Dori talks with writer and music storyteller Piotr Orlov, exploring themes of identity, the immigrant experience, and the transformative power of community. Piotr, whose grandmother was a classical musicologist and father, a prominent, American basketball-loving sportswriter, came here from Leningrad to New York at 7-3/4 years old, fully bought into the American Dream story. He shares how his cultural background shapes his perspective and how that lens has changed over time. His first, indelible (and timely!) New York City memory proves how the truth we see isn't always THE truth. The discussion delves into the significance of community in music, the challenges of building new institutions when the ones that formed us are no longer sustainable...or relevant, and the legacy we leave through our stories.
Piotr's writing has appeared in New York Times, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and the Village Voice. He was director of special projects at AFROPUNK, senior editor at NPR Music, and editorial director at MTV.
He helped produce the Red Bull Music Academy in New York. He is an adjunct teacher of writing and history at NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music and at Columbia University. Peter is also the founder of Dada Strain, a platform grounded in rhythm, improvisation, and community.
Subscribe to Dada Strain to get Piotr's weekly, mostly independent, mostly jazz, electronic and house music event picks in the NYC area -- with a heavy Brooklyn focus.

Text Me!

Connect with me!
Instagram: @dorifern
LinkedIn: Dori Fern
Email me: [email protected]
Visit https://dorifern.com for more about Dori's coaching services and to sign up for a complimentary call.