NO: Rocky is great. We met years ago on a photo shoot. It was her actual real first commercial shoot for State Farm. It’s one of my favorite ads— young kids hanging out on cool vintage cars in sunsets. We met and I casted her for other photo shoots. We went to Cuba and did a project together there recently. We’ve shot quite a few times together.

NO: Graphic design and branding was my first career. I moved into photography eight or nine years ago and the podcast just happened a few years ago when I realized the expansive network I had of interesting and inspiring people. The podcast was dreamt up when my friend Lewis Hawes interviewed me for his podcast probably like three years ago and I just thought it was a lot of fun. I met his producers and they made it much easier to execute. So I just had to start my own and start interviewing my network. At the core, photography is what I do and love. Photography is the primary outlet of my business. It’s business and creativity and I love it.

NO: I try to interview everyone in person because I like to create a portrait of each person. You have to create a rapport with your subject and be genuinely interested in them. I think casting is a piece of it as well. The subject must have depth and that can be determined by asking myself, what is it about this person that’s interesting and what is unique about them? From a photographic stance, I am fascinated with a person’s look, their style, and the way they dress. A lot of it is aesthetic but the flip side is that the people I interview always have something amazing going on. I conduct my interviews in different places. A lot of times people will come to my studio in Williamsburg but I like going to people’s spaces in New York City to capture them in their environment. I think it makes it more dynamic to show the environment that’s theirs and it gives context to the portrait. I have a portable studio with microphones. I have the package condensed down so I can transport it really easily in a backpack.

NO: Usher has become a friend of mine over the past few years. He’s great to interview. I think what I liked about our interview was that he didn’t want to talk about normal things or promotional things like the songs he’s making. Instead, the interview was more personal. It was about what he cares about, like his friends and family. We sat down together for an hour. It’s hard to list all of my favorite podcast episodes because there have been so many. Amber Rae is a very talented artist and writer. I enjoy inward exploration and in the interview she talks a lot about creating art from the inside out. I interviewed Erv Braun, the father of Adam Braun, philanthropist and founder of Pencils of Promise, and Scooter Braun, music talent manager and founder of record labels and media companies, School Boy Records and RMBG. Erv escaped the Holocaust as a kid and moved to New York City. The interview with Erv is titled, How To Raise World Changing Children. Artist and author, Ella Luna, and I talked about her book, The Crossroads of Should and Must. In that interview, we focused on what you must do in life versus what everyone says you must do. It’s a really strong concept and it’s so important for artists.Stacy London, former co-host of What Not To Wear, and author of The Truth About Stylegave a really open and honest interview. She’s actually my girlfriend. We dove into people’s fears and mindsets, and what drives people’s success.
MR: How did you meet Stacy?
NO: I met Stacy through a friend, television personality, producer, and filmmaker, Max Lugavere. He’s on the podcast. He talks about how what you eat affects your brain. He has become a good friend of mine. I was at Soho House one day and I ran into him. We were catching up for a minute and he said he was going to meet his friend, Stacy.
We all jammed and had a great conversation and I said to Stacy, “You need to be on my podcast. She had so many amazing things to say. We were friends for five months before we started dating. We have lot of good chemistry.