{"podcast":{"title":"Rise Above with Kevin Lanning","slug":"rise-above-with-kevin-lanning-6803198","podcast_index_feed_id":6803198,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/AKTBA1006605000","website_url":"https://linktr.ee/riseabovewithk?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=6b1f7764-7419-4a7f-a839-cf8c0a598b67","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/3a5442ec-eabc-11ee-95dd-e7ccf73ae422/image/0b066f67235f4a85e5e9bfde2a02c902.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Kevin Lanning","episode_count":315,"summary":"Welcome to Rise Above with Kevin Lanning. Join Kevin, a former Google executive in sobriety, as he shares inspiring stories of resilience. Each episode features individuals who have faced life’s toughest challenges—addiction, trauma, anxiety, and more—and emerged stronger. These conversations aren’t just about survival; they’re about thriving and finding practical solutions to rise above adversity. Kevin’s own journey through addiction and childhood trauma fuels his passion for sharing stories that uplift, educate, and inspire. Tune in and discover the strength within you.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-25T08:19:45.225844+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/rise-above-with-kevin-lanning-6803198"},"episode":{"title":"He Went From Princeton & Harvard Law To Shooting Heroin On Skid Row","slug":"he-went-from-princeton-harvard-law-to-shooting-heroin-on-skid-row","published_at":"2026-07-07T21:45:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/rise-above-with-kevin-lanning-6803198/he-went-from-princeton-harvard-law-to-shooting-heroin-on-skid-row","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/rise-above-with-kevin-lanning-6803198","url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/AKTBA7638093095.mp3","audio_url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.megaphone.fm/AKTBA7638093095.mp3","summary":"Damon Watson did everything right. Harvard-Westlake prep school. Princeton, where he was a national debate champion. Harvard Law School. A career as an intellectual property litigator at Latham & Watkins, one of the biggest law firms in Los Angeles. On paper, his life was the American dream. Then five people close to him died in six years — his mom, his dad, his grandmother and more. His marriage fell apart. And the man who had been so terrified of becoming his alcoholic mother that he was the designated driver all through college took his first drink at 30, right after graduating law school. From there it moved fast: ecstasy at the clubs, then cocaine, then crystal meth, and finally a needle in his arm. Damon lost everything. He ended up homeless on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, shooting heroin and meth, fighting for his life, cycling through LA County Jail on check-fraud charges he committed just to survive. He describes sitting there with a needle in his arm, certain he was going to die in that spot — and something in him refusing to accept it. His way out came through a former debate rival turned friend running for city council, who flew him to New York, put him on her couch, bought him a suit, and helped him get clean. He never picked up again. Now 8.5 years sober, Damon works for the New Jersey Reentry Corporation helping formerly incarcerated people and those in recovery rebuild their lives — pulling together his Ivy League book smarts and his hard-won street smarts to give other people the second chance he got. This one is proof that addiction truly does not discriminate — and that no one is too far gone to come back. 🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week📲 Follow Damon: @damonesquire (Instagram) | Damon Watson (LinkedIn)🌐 New Jersey Reentry Corporation Da…","meta_description":"Damon Watson did everything right. Harvard-Westlake prep school. Princeton, where he was a national debate champion. Harvard Law School. A career as an in…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":5584,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/rise-above-with-kevin-lanning-6803198/episodes/he-went-from-princeton-harvard-law-to-shooting-heroin-on-skid-row/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/rise-above-with-kevin-lanning-6803198/he-went-from-princeton-harvard-law-to-shooting-heroin-on-skid-row.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}