Episode #1 - Brooklyn Castle

Hess's Heroes

Welcome to the very first “Hess’s Heroes” podcast! I feel like there should be some sort of drum roll or fireworks going off in the background. The reason we are here is that a while back I was thinking about my own strengths and weaknesses and after fumbling around with some classes in machine learning and human-centered design that I thought would help me in my day job, I came to a realization that what I enjoy most is a good story, and so I decided to start a podcast about people’s stories that I personally find inspiring with the may provide a lesson or two for all of us and perhaps a little loftier maybe make us happier and perhaps better. There is a lot of negativity in today’s world and I hope this can provide people some hope. To that end, my guest today is long time friend Nelson Dellamagiore, making him “Hess’s Hero” number one. Nelson was one of the first people that came to mind because he and his team, including his amazingly talented wife Katie have been making documentary films for some time that champion underdogs, inspire their audience and often manage to tug at your heart strings. You probably know their work best from the 2012 film Brooklyn Castle that documents the chess team from IS 318 in New York. I rewatched the film yesterday to get ready for this discussion and it validated every intuition I had about having Nelson on – it is a GREAT story with wonderful characters – I found myself choking up at several moments (I have become a total softy since becoming a father). You want so bad for these kids to succeed, hell I wanted to write my congressmen afterward to suggest greater allocation for after school programs (and we can perhaps talk about government funding later on). In short, Nelson is a great storyteller and I liked that it would be a little “meta” to have someone on that captures stories in a way that this show might aspire to. So welcome Nelson, I am sure that little diatribe only scratches the surface. Tell us a little bit about your background and perhaps what motivates you every time you get up in the morning.