I went to go check @wes.rodgers at his apartment in Manhattan around 2021 just to catch up and reflect on how much has changed in our lives over the years. In the midst of that conversation, I remember telling him I wanted to sit down and interview his dad one day. Not to delve into his storied career as an actor and filmmaker, or to get the history of their beautiful Gerald Luss designed home that was the backdrop for many of our teenage hangouts over a decade ago. But to talk to the man that inspired me from afar on what was possible. Not based on what he acquired, but on who he was and what he modeled to me and so many others, both directly and indirectly.

Three years later, when the idea for @insidevoicesseries came about, he was one of the first people I knew I had to get in the studio. If you’re fortunate enough to know Rick—even on a surface level, you’d know exactly the type of human he is within five minutes of meeting him. His kindness, his spirit, his wisdom and his empathy all radiate off of him effortlessly and it’s the reason why I’ve referred to him as “my blueprint” for the close to 20 years that I’ve known him and his wonderful family.

Beneath the accolades—actor, director, filmmaker, etc. he’s a father and a husband first. I’ve been welcomed into his home and his family from childhood and I’m blessed to have had the opportunity to sit down and talk with him and his three sons—who just so happen to be my own childhood friends—about the evolution of manhood, vulnerability in male spaces or the lack thereof, unconditional love, generational curses and so much more.

I’ve been grateful to Rick, his wife Moe and his entire family for a number of years for their friendship, their support, their hospitality and their inspiration. And having the opportunity to document a conversation that not only meant the world to me, but has the potential to inspire countless others, is more than I could ever wish for.