Angles with John Richmond
John Richmond is the Co-Founder & CEO of Richmond Vona, a 3x Inc. 5000 personal injury law firm in Buffalo, NY. Angles is where he has real conversations with interesting people from Buffalo and Western New York. Not about their titles or accomplishments. About how they actually got here. Their process. What keeps them rooted. The decisions that shaped them.
You'll hear from scientists and artists, rappers and historians, business owners, and
preservationists. Success from every Angle.
Angles is your space to hear real stories and think differently.
New episodes drop every Wednesday on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and all major platforms.
Episodes
69 episodes
Ep69: Mike Shatzel - Cole’s, Buffalo’s Bar Scene, and 40 Years of Wild Stories
John sits down with Mike Shatzel, second-generation owner of Cole’s and one of the most respected figures in Buffalo’s bar and restaurant industry. Mike grew up busing tables at Cole’s at ten years old, played D3 basketball at Johns Hopkins and...
Ep68: Joseph Gramaglia - Retired Buffalo Police Commissioner, Tops, and Leading Through Crisis
John sits down with Joseph Gramaglia, Retired Commissioner of the Buffalo Police Department and President of the Major City Chiefs Association - the organization representing the 70 largest urban police departments in the United States and nine...
Ep67: Lisa Smith - Buffalo Zoo, Conservation, and the Accidental CEO
John sits down with Lisa Smith, President and CEO of the Buffalo Zoo - the third oldest zoo in the United States, a 151-year-old institution that has survived two world wars, the Great Depression, and 115 days of Covid closure, all starting fro...
Ep66: Catie Stephenson - Olmsted Parks, the 33, and Investing in Buffalo’s Future
John sits down with Catie Stephenson, Executive Director of the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, the first nonprofit in the country to manage an entire historic urban park system. Catie oversees 850 acres, six parks, seven parkways, and eight...
Ep65: Jim Sandoro - Building the Pierce Arrow Museum
John sits down with Jim Sandoro, founder of the Pierce Arrow Museum in Buffalo, for a conversation that spans nearly seven decades of collecting cars, buildings, and history. Jim traces his obsession back to age three, when he pulled back a tar...
Ep64: Jonathan Borden - Music, Juilliard, and the BPO
John sits down with Jonathan Borden, double bassist for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and a Juilliard trained musician who chose to build his career in Buffalo. Jonathan walks through growing up in a musical family, the teacher who changed...
Ep63: Christen Civiletto - Thundering Waters, Niagara’s Toxic Legacy, and What’s Happening Right Now
John sits down with Christen Civiletto, Niagara Falls-born environmental attorney and author of Thundering Waters: The Toxic Legacy of Niagara County, published by Princeton University Press. Christen has spent 23 years researching the 89-plus ...
Ep62: Beth Machnica - Food as Medicine, Blue Zones, and Fixing Buffalo’s Health
John sits down with Beth Machnica, Director of Health and Wellbeing at Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and registered dietitian whose big hairy audacious goal is to make Buffalo a blue zone. Beth grew up in Cheektowaga on pizza, wings, and Hambu...
Ep61: Tom Eoannou - 44 Years of Criminal Defense, the North Park Theater, and Restoring Buffalo’s Soul
John sits down with Tom Eoannou, one of the most celebrated criminal defense attorneys in Western New York with 44 years in practice and a reputation built on taking the cases nobody else would take, giving money back when it was the right thin...
Ep60: Laura Fitzgerald - Cemetery Historian, and the Stories Carved in Stone
John sits down with Laura Fitzgerald, cemetery historian, longtime docent at Forest Lawn, and current director at Oakwood Cemetery in Niagara Falls. Laura has spent over two decades learning to read the stories carved into headstones, buried in...
Ep59: Brian Higgins - Shea’s Performing Arts Center, Buffalo’s Vision, and Why Place Matters
John sits down with Brian Higgins, former U.S. Congressman and current President and CEO of Shea’s Performing Arts Center. Brian is South Buffalo born and raised, the son of a bricklayer-turned-city-councilman, and a man whose grandfather helpe...
Ep58: Matt Fairburn - The Athletic, Beat Reporting, and What He Sees Inside Buffalo’s Teams
John sits down with Matt Fairburn, staff writer at The Athletic covering the Buffalo Sabres and one of the most trusted voices in Western New York sports media. Matt has covered both the Bills and the Sabres across his career, spending years at...
Ep57: Shane Stephenson - The Buffalo Naval Park, the USS Sullivans, and Why These Ships Must Be Preserved
John sits down with Shane Stephenson, Director of Museum Collections at the Buffalo Naval Park. Shane is an archivist by trade who came to the career at 35 after a trip to the National Archives in Washington changed everything, and has spent th...
Ep56: Julie Blackman - Six Generations, One Store
John sits down with Julie Blackman, owner of Farmers and Artisans in Snyder and sixth-generation farmer of Blackman Farms in Niagara County. If you live anywhere near Snyder, you probably already know the store. If you don’t, this episode will ...
Ep55: Howard Cadmus - Sweet Jenny’s, 1811 Comics, and Building a Life You Actually Love
John sits down with Howard Cadmus, owner of Sweet Jenny’s chocolate and ice cream shop and 1811 Comics and Collectibles in the historic Williamsville Mill. Howard is one of the funniest, most self-aware people to sit across from John in 56 epis...
Ep54: Tim Herzog - The Godfather of Craft Beer in Buffalo
John sits down with Tim Herzog, founder of Flying Bison Brewing Company and the man known as the Godfather of Craft Beer in Buffalo. Tim is one of the best storytellers you will ever hear, and this conversation covers all of it: a four-pack of ...
Ep53: Dr. Kevin Williams - What’s Really Out There
John sits down with Dr. Kevin Williams, director of the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium at Buffalo State University, for a conversation that covers black holes, Mars, dark matter, life on other planets, and why most of us have completely lost ou...
Ep52: Anthony Greco - Buffalo History Museum, the Stories Buffalo Doesn’t Know About Itself, and Why the Past Keeps Rhyming
In this episode of Angles with John Richmond, John sits down with Anthony Greco, Director of Exhibits at the Buffalo History Museum and host of the Buffalo History Museum podcast. Anthony has spent nearly 20 years going down rabbit holes in old...
Ep51: Dan Lukasik and Cheri Alvarez - Mental Health Awareness Month, and the Power of Showing Up for Someone
In this special Mental Health Awareness Month episode of Angles with John Richmond, John sits down with two of Western New York’s most dedicated voices in mental health advocacy. Dan Lukasik is an attorney with over 35 years of experience, the ...
Ep50: John Richmond - The Builder Behind the Mic, What It Cost to Start Richmond Vona, and What He Knows Now
For episode 50 of Angles with John Richmond, the tables are turned. Producer Brett Tuttle steps out from behind the camera and into the host chair to interview the man who has been asking the questions all along. This is the episode John never ...
Ep49: Charlie Specht - Investigative Journalism, Breaking the Diocese Scandal, and Going Independent in Buffalo
In this episode of Angles with John Richmond, John sits down with Charlie Specht, one of Buffalo’s most recognized investigative journalists. Over a 15-year career at the Buffalo News, Channel 7, and Channel 2, Charlie built a reputation for br...
Ep48: Dawne Hoeg - Stitch Buffalo, Refugee Women, and Building Something Buffalo Needed from Scratch
In this episode of Angles with John Richmond, John sits down with Dawne Hoeg, founder and executive director of Stitch Buffalo, a nonprofit on Buffalo’s West Side that brings together refugee women through the craft of textiles. What started 12...
Ep47: Lexi Varecka - Flex Yoga, Following Your Passion Back Home, and Building a Wellness Community Buffalo Needed
In this episode of Angles with John Richmond, John sits down with Lexi Varecka, founder of Flex Yoga, a Buffalo-area yoga and wellness studio with locations in Clarence and Orchard Park. Lexi’s story starts in Washington, D.C., where a yoga tea...
Ep46: Del Reid - The Godfather of Bills Mafia, how it started, and What 26 Shirts Is Doing for Buffalo Families
In this episode of Angles with John Richmond, John sits down with Del Reid, the man widely credited as the godfather of Bills Mafia. What started as a late-night tweet from a pizza pickup in Tonawanda in April 2011 has grown into one of the mos...
Ep45: Aaron Mentkowski - Forecasting, Discipline, and Life as Buffalo’s Chief Meteorologist
In this episode of Angles with John Richmond, John sits down with Aaron Mentkowski, chief meteorologist at WKBW Channel 7 in Buffalo. A Lockport native who has spent 26 years forecasting for Western New York, Aaron is one of the most recognizab...