Take a deep dive into a featured guest’s personal history; the crucial moments of their childhood and adulthood that defined them and the sometimes painful decisions they made that forever changed the course of their lives. Each episode of And Then Everything Changed is an intimate conversation; sometimes funny, sometimes profound. Hosted by me, Ronit Plank.
I’m a writer, podcaster, teacher, wife and mother in no particular order– or I guess, like so many of us, the order depends on the day. I’ve lived in Los Angeles and now Seattle but I’m a native New Yorker and former actress who studied with Uta Hagen, Alfred Molina, and at Ensemble Studio Theatre in NYC. I headed to LA to fulfill my actress dreams and got to perform at Improv Olympic, study at The Groundlings, and work with Tim Robbins and the company at The Actors’ Gang for several productions. I also spent a year of Sundays volunteer-training and feeding marine mammals at the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific, met my husband, and decided I was okay with leaving Los Angeles.
Soon after moving to Seattle with my family I transitioned from acting to writing and began publishing short stories and essays. Some of my work has been published in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The HuffPost and The Rumpus, but for a complete list of links please visit my Published Work page. I’m a One Story Workshop for Writers alum, have a Masters in Fine Arts in Nonfiction from Pacific University in Oregon, and have a memoir manuscript I’m about ready to find an agent for.
I have led support groups for new parents in the Seattle area and have taught 7th, 8th, and 9th graders and volunteer-coached high school seniors in western Washington public schools on their college admissions personal statements. Weekly, I teach Hebrew reading and writing to 3rd graders and volunteer-teach middle and high school English Language Learners who have just arrived in the U.S.
Before I created my podcast And Then Everything Changed I co-hosted the weekly podcast Mouthy/Messy/Mandatory with Katie Anthony and was a guest on the podcasts Inside Voice, Acme Writing Company, and on KUOW’s The Record with Bill Radke where discovered I really enjoy the interview-format.
I deeply appreciate learning about my And Then Everything Changed guests’ lives and sharing those conversations with listeners who love stories of compassion, hardship, resilience, grit, and understanding.
I think sharing stories is one of the most powerful ways we have to connect, to understand each other better, and to remember none of us are alone.
Thank you for taking the time to learn a little about me.
-Ronit (pronounced ro-neat)
Listen to And Then Everything Changed HERE or wherever you get your podcasts.