Del Be Del Podcast

About Del Be Del Podcast

Del Be Del (دل به دل) is a Persian expression meaning heart to heart. This podcast is an invitation to slow down and explore what it means to be human. Through intimate conversations with people from all walks of life, we explore love, loss, identity, purpose, belonging, relationships, courage, and life’s defining transitions. Together, we uncover the stories beneath the surface—one heart-to-heart conversation at a time. Website, chapters and transcripts: https://delbedelpodcast.com

Publisher

Abbas Hooshmand

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

18 Jul 2026

Latest episode

16 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

5 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   16 Oct 2026

   Episode 004: Coming Home to Yourself with Jesse Bax

   Jesse Bax was fifteen in Missouri when she noticed she cared more about what other people thought of her than what she thought of herself. On December 28, 2014, she looked in a mirror and said "I hate you," and made herself a promise: never again. She built the body, the business and the big-tech career that were supposed to keep that promise. Six years later, in the fittest shape of her life, the mirror said the same thing. In this episode of Del be Del, I sit down with Jesse for a conversation about what happened after that second mirror: the decision to go inward instead of outward, the healer years, leaving Google, and a June evening when she and her partner rated "I'd move to Bali" on a scale of one to ten and both said eleven. Bali is where she says she knew exactly who she was. It is also where an invitation arrived, and where a voice at a waterfall overruled the part of her that said something doesn't feel right here: "you have to go." She went to the Netherlands, into a community where every day felt like Christmas. We talk about how that works from the inside: the circling that never lets you feel complete, the alone time that was frowned upon, the parents at home who cried themselves to sleep hoping she was still alive. And about the morning a third mirror said "again, I hate you," and the escape she describes as perfectly orchestrated. Jesse draws the line between a community and a cult without a single accusation, and she is clear about where she thinks this one landed. She is equally clear that it can happen to anyone. Then the crumble: "rubble that turned into ashes," and the sentence that follows it, "I get to build again." Bali the second time was not different, she says. She was. We talk about Vipassana, about victimhood and the difference between intensity and depth, about rebuilding a life and a business from a thousand followers, and about what "I am my home" means when home is wherever she chooses to be. We end with a fourth mirror, the one in the room with us, and what she says to it now. Her last line stayed with me for days. Find Jesse: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamjessebax CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold open 00:58 Introduction 01:53 Welcome — the mirror in Holland, 2024 03:20 Missouri, fifteen 05:57 The first mirror (2014) and the body 14:55 The second mirror (2020): going inward 23:09 Never settle: leaving Google 31:23 Bali: 'I know exactly who I am' 41:59 The invitation and the waterfall 46:54 Holland: every day was Christmas 55:50 When does a community become a cult? 01:01:21 The third mirror and the escape 01:08:02 The crumble 01:11:17 Bali again: 'I am my home' 01:15:38 Vipassana, victimhood, depth vs intensity 01:25:00 This year: starting over 01:28:37 A fourth mirror 01:31:41 Outro Del be Del means "heart to heart" in Persian. This podcast is about honest, heartfelt conversations — the stories we live but rarely tell, and the conversations we don't have often enough. If something in this conversation stayed with you, I'd love to hear about it. Leave a comment and tell me what resonated, who you'd like to hear from, or what you would have asked if you were sitting in this room. And if you'd like more conversations like this one, subscribe on YouTube or follow Del be Del on Spotify and Apple Podcasts — it's the best way to make sure the next conversation finds you. Until next time — take care of your heart, and the hearts around you. #JesseBax #DelBeDel #SelfLove #Bali #Cult #Community #Healing #InnerWork #Vipassana #Google #CareerChange #ComingHome #Podcast

2. 

   8 Aug 2026

   Episode 003: Trusting Life with Nahal Farhi

   Nahal Farhi came to the U.S. from Iran in 2006 and built the tech career she was supposed to want — good companies, good pay, good standing. Her heart, as she puts it, was never in it. Then, in 2014, a phone call shattered her world: her father had ALS, combined with frontotemporal dementia. She watched the dearest person in her life fade, in a family of scientists with "not much internal resources to hold that pain." Grief became the doorway. In this episode of Del be Del, I sit down with Nahal for an honest, heartfelt conversation about the ten-year path that grief opened — a book that felt like a download, Zen halls, silent Vipassana retreats, ayahuasca ceremonies from Peru to the Amazon — and about what all that practice turned out to be for, when she found herself in Iran as war broke out. Not once. Twice. Nahal will correct me on one thing herself, and it matters: she didn't quit tech. She was laid off — and made the decision she wasn't going back. What followed was terror before freedom: the money fear, her mother's worry, the identity crisis of having no job title — until a moment on a bathroom floor in the middle of a ceremony, a stranger crying in her lap, made her calling "clear as light." And we go deep on Iran. A five-week family visit that placed her in Tehran the night the 12-day war began — waking to an explosion and telling herself it was just the garden door. Flying back months later for Noruz and a sick aunt, five days before the second war. Two months without internet. A twelve-story building collapsing at the end of her childhood block. Three-hour meditation sits. And what actually kept her up at night — the arguments inside a family that loved each other, "not because of the bombs." This is one heart's view of days that millions lived. When I suggest that her decade of practice equipped her for all of it, she pushes back: there were moments she wasn't centered, moments she took the bait. That honesty is the episode. And we end where Nahal's wisdom lands deepest — on surrender: "Let's dance with life... can I trust life enough that I'm held?" CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold Open & Introduction 01:27 A Trip to Iran — the Night the War Began 06:45 A Decade in Tech 10:08 Her Father's Diagnosis 16:06 Losing Her Father 25:23 Walking Into the Zen Center 30:18 The Day She Quit 35:15 Ayahuasca in Peru 40:07 Zazen at Green Gulch 43:49 Vipassana — "Mind Blown" 45:52 Hearing the Teachings in Farsi 53:38 "I Didn't Quit — I Got Laid Off" 57:18 A Commitment to the Heart 01:01:08 The Amazon & the Bathroom Floor 01:05:48 Living the 12-Day War 01:10:53 Choosing to Return 01:12:47 The Second War 01:17:39 Three-Hour Sits & the War Inside the Family 01:20:26 Did the Practice Hold? 01:21:43 What Is a Good Life? — Surrender Del be Del means "heart to heart" in Persian. This podcast is about honest, heartfelt conversations — the stories we live but rarely tell, and the conversations we don't have often enough. If something in this conversation stayed with you, I'd love to hear about it. Leave a comment and tell me what resonated, who you'd like to hear from, or what you would have asked if you were sitting in this room. And if you'd like more conversations like this one, subscribe on YouTube or follow Del be Del on Spotify and Apple Podcasts — it's the best way to make sure the next conversation finds you. Until next time — take care of your heart, and the hearts around you. #NahalFarhi #DelBeDel #Meditation #Vipassana #Ayahuasca #Grief #Mindfulness #Iran #CareerChange #Surrender #Podcast

3. 

   27 Jul 2026

   Episode 002: The Freedom of Letting Go with Alex Bedner

   Alex Bedner spent his life becoming a professional musician. He grew up in his father's garage music studio, fell in love with the trombone at San Francisco's School of the Arts, trained at the SF Conservatory of Music and Indiana University, and built a working life across Northern California's "Freeway Philharmonic" — one orchestra, one weekend, one city at a time. Then, at 28, deep in preparation for an audition he badly wanted, he woke up one morning able to play only three notes. In this episode of Del be Del, I sit down with Alex for an honest, heartfelt conversation about what happens when the identity you've spent your life building disappears overnight — and about everything that path's closing opened up. The condition was focal dystonia, a neurological dysfunction so elusive even MRIs can't detect it. Alex spent six years trying to rebuild his playing — leaving concerts in tears while colleagues told him he sounded fine — before a doctor finally confirmed the diagnosis. His reaction surprised even him: "I just felt free." Alex is still a professional musician — he'll tell you so himself, and it matters. He simply chose a different path, in tech. But this conversation goes far beyond the career change. We talk about worth — realizing "my worth is defined by how well I play this instrument," and slowly discovering you are more than a function. We talk about the breakup that led Alex to breathwork (and to our friendship), the men's group we built around holding each other instead of giving advice, and the childhood wounding around belonging that made him one of the most intentional community builders I know — including the Thanksgiving dinner that accidentally became a Jeffersonian dinner (see The Art of Gathering). We go deep on Phoenix Rising, the leadership program that changed both of our lives — how it helped Alex reconcile with his mother after more than a decade of estrangement, and start keeping the promises he'd made to himself, including one about a long-deferred dream car. And we end where Alex's wisdom lands hardest: losing music was both tragedy and gift. As he puts it — "it's not this or that, it's this and that." CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold Open & Introduction 01:18 Growing Up Around Music 05:01 Falling in Love with the Trombone 06:20 The Freeway Philharmonic Years 08:54 The Morning Everything Changed — Focal Dystonia 16:07 "The Day I Got Diagnosed, I Just Felt Free" 19:12 Leaving Full-Time Music for Tech 21:52 Breathwork, Friendship, and New Versions of Alex 25:03 Men's Group — Holding Instead of Advising 28:29 Intentional Community and the Jeffersonian Dinner 33:18 Phoenix Rising and Keeping Promises to Yourself 40:59 Tragedy or Gift? "It's This and That" 41:58 Surrendering to Practice 45:56 "I Need To" vs. "I Get To" 48:00 Final Thoughts 49:49 Take Care of Your Heart — Outro Del be Del means "heart to heart" in Persian. This podcast is about honest, heartfelt conversations — the stories we live but rarely tell, and the conversations we don't have often enough. If something in this conversation stayed with you, leave a comment and tell me what resonated, who you'd like to hear from, or what you would have asked from this room. Subscribe on YouTube or follow Del be Del on Spotify and Apple Podcasts — it's the best way to make sure the next conversation finds you. Until next time — take care of your heart, and the hearts around you. #AlexBedner #DelBeDel #FocalDystonia #ClassicalMusic #Musician #Identity #Reinvention #CareerChange #Breathwork #MensGroup #Community #PersonalGrowth #Transformation #Podcast

4. 

   19 Jul 2026

   Episode 001: Beyond Success with Narges Baniasadi

   What happens when you achieve the success you spent your life chasing—and realize there may be something more? Narges Baniasadi has lived many lives in one lifetime: immigrant, Stanford researcher, entrepreneur, founder, executive, professor—and through it all, a human being navigating the same questions of identity, loss, belonging, and purpose that so many of us face. In this episode of Del be Del, I sit down with Dr. Narges Baniasadi for a deeply personal conversation about ambition, identity, entrepreneurship, grief, health, belonging, and what it means to redefine success. Narges is the Founder and Executive Director of the Emergence program at Stanford, where she develops educational and translational programs focused on improving societal health through entrepreneurship. She is also an Adjunct Professor in Stanford’s Department of Medicine, teaching impact entrepreneurship in areas related to prevention and health equity. Her career has spanned more than a decade at the intersection of technology and life sciences. She founded Bina, a pioneering bioinformatics company born from research at Stanford and UC Berkeley that developed high-performance computing and AI solutions for cancer research and genomics. Bina was later acquired by global healthcare company Roche, where Narges served as VP of Informatics at Roche Sequencing, leading clinical software development and AI research.But this conversation goes beyond the résumé. Narges shares her journey from growing up in Iran to building a life in the United States, navigating the worlds of Stanford and Silicon Valley, and confronting the question many ambitious people quietly carry: “Am I good enough?”We talk about what it means to be an immigrant and a woman in leadership, the pursuit of achievement, and the invisible costs that can come with constantly pushing forward. Narges reflects on selling her company at the same time her mother became seriously ill, the experience of grief and saying goodbye, and how her own health challenges eventually forced her to reconsider the way she was living. Our conversation also explores health equity and the powerful idea that sometimes your “zip code beats your genetic code”—how the conditions in which we live can shape our health and opportunities.Ultimately, this is a conversation about transformation: moving from proving to being, from trying to control outcomes to accepting uncertainty, and from a life driven primarily by ambition toward one with more room for connection, joy, art, poetry, and dance. CHAPTERS 00:00 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeONQE8ihLw) Introduction 03:00 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeONQE8ihLw&t=180s) Growing Up in Iran and Family Influences 11:30 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeONQE8ihLw&t=690s) Being Seen as a Human First, Not a Woman 13:13 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeONQE8ihLw&t=793s) “Am I Good Enough?” — Ambition and Self-Worth 22:40 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeONQE8ihLw&t=1360s) Becoming a Bridge Between Different Worlds 24:17 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeONQE8ihLw&t=1457s) Stanford, Silicon Valley, and the Meaning of Success 32:54 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeONQE8ihLw&t=1974s) Navigating Entrepreneurship as an Immigrant Woman 43:04 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeONQE8ihLw&t=2584s) Leadership and the Glass Ceiling 44:46 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeONQE8ihLw&t=2686s) When Success and Grief Collided 55:29 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeONQE8ihLw&t=3329s) Saying Goodbye and Losing Her Mother 1:00:21 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeONQE8ihLw&t=3621s) “Zip Code Beats Genetic Code” — Health Equity 1:07:04 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeONQE8ihLw&t=4024s) Human Connection and Our Need for Each Other 1:10:44 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeONQE8ihLw&t=4244s) Health Challenges and Learning to Slow Down 1:16:06 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeONQE8ihLw&t=4566s) Letting Go of Control and Redefining Purpose 1:21:24 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeONQE8ihLw&t=4884s) Identity and Refusing to Be Put in a Box 1:28:28 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeONQE8ihLw&t=5308s) Beyond Ambition: What Matters Now Del be Del means “heart to heart” in Persian. It’s a podcast about the conversations underneath our accomplishments and identities—the experiences that shape who we are and who we are becoming. If this conversation resonates with you, subscribe for more heart-to-heart conversations about life, identity, purpose, love, loss, belonging, and the moments that change us. #NargesBaniasadi (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/nargesbaniasadi) #DelBeDel (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/delbedel) #Stanford (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/stanford) #Entrepreneurship (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/entrepreneurship) #HealthEquity (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/healthequity) #WomenInLeadership (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/womeninleadership) #IranianAmerican (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/iranianamerican) #ImmigrantStory (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/immigrantstory) #Biotech (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/biotech) #Bioinformatics (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/bioinformatics) #ArtificialIntelligence (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/artificialintelligence) #Genomics (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/genomics) #Grief (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/grief) #Purpose (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/purpose) #Identity (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/identity) #PersonalGrowth (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/personalgrowth) #Podcast (https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/podcast)

5. 

   18 Jul 2026

   Episode 000: Heart to Heart Begins

   Welcome to Del be Del.Over the years, I've discovered that some of the most meaningful moments in life happen during honest, heart-to-heart conversations. Del be Del (which means "Heart to Heart" in Persian) is a podcast exploring the questions that shape us as human beings—not what we do, but who we are becoming.We'll talk about identity, purpose, love, grief, belonging, failure, hope, and the life transitions that quietly transform us. This is Episode 000—the beginning of a journey.My goal is to have 200 conversations with remarkable people from all walks of life, and I'd love for you to join me from the very beginning. If this resonates with you, please subscribe and come along for the journey. ❤️ Abbas ──────────────────── 🎙 Del be Del PodcastNew episodes featuring entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, community leaders, and everyday people with extraordinary stories.

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Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

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