Bright Lights by Lacy Johnson

Bright Lights with Lacy Johnson EP51: Richard Roth

Roth is the founding partner of The Roth Law Firm, PLLC, a New York-based law firm that has built a strong reputation as a premier litigation boutique firm in the metropolitan area. He is regularly featured in all media, from print to television. He has recently appeared on television commenting on cases of national significance including the trials of John Edwards, Mike Tyson, Martha Stewart, and Casey Anthony. He also follows and comments on all celebrities who experience legal troubles, from, among others, Lindsay Lohan to Prince Harry and several other superstars and celebrities. He is featured on CNBC, FOX News, MSNBC, TruTV, CNN, Al Jazeera, Huff Live, The Blaze. In the print media, Mr. Roth is regularly quoted in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the New York Post, the New York Daily News and several other national and local newspapers and magazines. Richard made his Broadway producing debut with Gettin' The Band Back Together. In Spring 2014, he helped finance The Realistic Joneses on Broadway. An attorney in New York City who handles sophisticated entertainment, sports, securities and employment matters, Roth began theater investing in 2013 with the smash hit Kinky Boots (2013 Tony Award for Best Musical) and has continued to do so in other shows.

Bright Lights with Lacy Johnson EP50: Lasalle Gabriel

LaSalle Gabriel is a Grammy & Stellar award-winning music producer, songwriter, & world class guitarist with 18 Top 40 songs & 7 #1 singles on his resume.

As a producer, songwriter, & arranger Gabriel holds chart positions in over 300 issues of Billboard Magazine, including 70 consecutive weeks in the Top 40 on 5 Billboard charts, simultaneously.

Gabriel was the original guitarist of Sounds of Blackness from 1990-1998, on Perspective/A&M Records, & has been featured in the Washington Post, New York Times, L.A. Times, Billboard, Finance & Commerce, Detroit Weekly, Radio & Records, & The Pioneer Press.

Gabriel has worked for Jamie Foxx, Charlie Wilson, Anita Baker, TLC, Barry White, Dallas Austin, Prince, DJ-Quik, The Gap Band, Johnny Gill, Karyn White, Ann Nesby, Sheila-E, Color Me Badd, Vesta Williams, Lo-Key, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Chante’ Moore, Carl Carlton, & Framework. Gabriel is a product endorsee for Gibson, Mesa Boogie, Carvin, & Peavey Guitars & joined the elite circle of B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, & George Benson when AKAI announced the launch of the LaSalle Gabriel Signature Series Guitar in Europe & Asia.

Gabriel produced two songs on the #1 Billboard Blues Album from 2018 by Malina Moye "Bad As I Wanna Be" (WCE/ SONY). Gabriel wrote & produced "A Little Rough" which peaked at #29 on the Billboard Singles Chart & the Hendrix remake "Foxy Lady", both tracks were recorded at the historic Capital Records Studios L.A.

In the early 90s, Gabriel released his first single “The Room” on his first record label, Framework. The 12-inch single sold over one million units worldwide, launching Gabriel’s music career overnight.

Gabriel’s 2nd start-up record label Studio Lexicon drew immediate success with Nashville artist Dean Justin whose 6 song EP ‘Carry the Flag’ sold over 200,000 CDs from Gabriel’s modest 1500sf recording studio in the heart of Minneapolis. ‘Carry the Flag’ debuted on the Billboard

Gabriel worked as a songwriter for NBC's ‘Days of our Lives’. His 46 television appearances include The Tonight Show, Soul Train, The Kennedy Center, Arsenio Hall, MTV, & BET.

These are achievements are among many others which Gabriel has achieved in the music, entertainment, and business fields.

Bright Lights with Lacy Johnson EP49: Marklyn Johnson

Marklyn T. Johnson is a published author, comedian, and motivational speaker. Marklyn was born and raised in central New Jersey and is a graduate of the Connecticut School of Broadcasting. He has worked in the production industry for over twenty years speaking everywhere from schools to churches and other live events. Growing up, Marklyn idolized Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Michael Jackson, Eddie Murphy, Michael Jordan, and Tupac Shakur. All of these figures inspired Marklyn to follow his dreams, embrace his passions, and speak his mind. Marklyn’s greatest idol, however, was his father, Willie.  His first book Lessons from a Sh*t Talker applies the lessons his father taught him as groundwork to achieving one’s dreams. His second book, Facebook Conversations: The Good The Funny The Ugly released on 3/26/2022 is a social media memoir, both introspective and hilarious, based on truthful interactions the author has had over a number of years on Facebook. Here, you will find candid and cringeworthy conversations on the shared human experience. 

Bright Lights with Lacy Johnson EP48: Cindy Vavra

Cindy Vavra was born and raised on a Southern Minnesota dairy farm, where she acquired a hard work ethic and learned the importance of daily functional movement. Working for over 30 years in the legal industry, she was also a partner in a large corporate farming business. Leaving both behind to pursue her passion in health and wellness, she moved to Minneapolis and immersed herself in the fitness industry, obtaining certifications as a Personal Trainer, Corrective Exercise Specialist, Performance Enhancement Specialist, group fitness and yoga Instructor, while simultaneously co-founding and helping to create and build ZeSa. ZeSa is a Minneapolis based start-up that’s developed a progressive line of patented instability training devices used for athletic training, fitness, injury prevention and recovery. Cindy recently proudly became a member of the North Carolina Center for Optimization of Military Performance, a new consortium formed for the purpose of unifying, accelerating, and delivering innovations in military health and performance.

Bright Lights with Lacy Johnson EP47: Felton Smith

Felton Smith is the Chief Executive officer of Atlanta-based 4 Kings Consulting Services.  Former Senior Technical Manager at 3M, Felton enjoys volunteering with 32ndStreetMedia, LLC, a nonprofit digital health company, that developed :30bp app to track and monitor blood pressure for adults struggling to manage high blood pressure.

Bright Lights with Lacy Johnson EP46: Royce White PT2

White led both De LaSalle and Hopkins high schools to state basketball titles. He starred at Iowa State and was taken in the first round of the NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets in 2012. Battling his own anxiety, White became an outspoken mental health advocate. According to White, mental health isn’t just about anxiety, depression or PTSD or OCD or addiction. "It’s about the human condition, and like there’s a huge existential crisis going on, an identity crisis going on, a moral crisis." White believes we need to talk more about mental illness and understand it’s an issue with a lot of people.

Bright Lights with Lacy Johnson EP45: KB Balla

KB Balla is a Minnesota firefighter and entrepreneur whose sports bar, Scores, was destroyed and burned down during the riots in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd in May 2020. Mr. Balla is still working to reopen his sports bar and on other business ventures.

Bright Lights with Lacy Johnson EP44: Zack Redmon

Local businessman Zack Redmon is the owner of Redmon’s Popcorn, located in New Hope. The nostalgic popcorn shop is truly one-of-a-kind, welcoming, and filled with delicious, gourmet popcorn. The flavors are unique, outstanding, and unforgettable.

"It’s been a dream of mine to have a successful business and serve my community with unique and creative popcorn flavors. My dream brought me all the way to New York to be featured on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert! The attention brought an amazing amount of support, but also revealed some steps that got missed along the way. So, back to the grind! Along with the help of my community, I quickly completed the tasks needed to get my physical shop back up and running!"

Bright Lights with Lacy Johnson EP43 Caleb Truax

Caleb Truax (born September 14, 1983) is an American professional boxer. He held the IBF super middleweight title from 2017 to 2018 and challenged once for the WBA (Regular) middleweight title in 2015. 

Truax played football at Virginia State University for one year before a knee injury ended his gridiron career. He returned home in 2003 to attend the University of Minnesota, and it was there at the age of 19 that Truax entered a local Toughman contest. He lost his first fight, but soon became consumed by boxing—altering his diet and training as he pursued an amateur career.

Truax graduated from the University of Minnesota majoring in Sociology, minoring in both African American studies and Political Science.

Caleb Truax debuted as a professional fighter in April 2007 with a 2nd-round knockout of Ray Walker. As of March 2015, Truax has a professional record of 25 wins, one loss, and two draws. Truax has defeated Ossie Duran, Matt Vanda, Andy Kolle, Phil Williams, Jonathan Reid, Antwun Echols, Durrell Richardson, and James Crayton. His professional loss came to former undisputed middleweight world champion Jermain Taylor (Truax knocked Taylor down in the 9th round.)

Truax drew Ossie Duran in a 10-round non-title bout at the Target Center in Minneapolis. The bout was part of an eight-fight card promoted by Mike Tyson's new company, Iron Mike Productions. Mike Tyson was in attendance at the event, and said of Truax, "I hear he is exciting and he is something that we need for boxing, he is a breath of fresh air because boxing is in the doldrums right now. I'm looking forward to seeing him and if he is as much as everyone has told me."

Bright Lights with Lacy Johnson EP42 Mark Blaxill

Mark Blaxill is the father of a daughter diagnosed with autism, Chairman and co-founder of the Canary Party, Editor-at-Large for Age of Autism, a former director of SafeMinds and a frequent speaker at autism conferences.
He writes often on autism and has published a number of articles, letters and commentaries on autism in journals such as Public Health Reports, the International Journal of Toxicology, the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Neurotoxicology and Medical Hypotheses.  His groundbreaking book The Age of Autism: Mercury, Medicine, and a Man-Made Epidemic explores how mankind has unwittingly poisoned itself for half a millennium.
Mark received a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. In his professional career, he spent 25 years at The Boston Consulting Group, where he was a Senior Vice President. Recently, he co-founded 3LP Advisors, an advisory firm focused on intellectual property transactions, where he is a Managing Partner. Mark has authored 6 books.