Dr. Azin Ghesmati brings a rare combination of engineering precision and advanced dental training to every patient she treats. Her background in restorative, cosmetic, endodontic, and microsurgical dentistry allows for a level of diagnostic accuracy and treatment planning that prioritizes long-term health, aesthetics, and preservation.
At Chevy Chase Digital Dentistry, care is delivered with intention— using advanced digital technologies to achieve elegant, minimally invasive results in a calm, highly personalized setting.
Sun-Drenched & Here for It
June brings a natural shift in pace. The days grow longer, the evenings feel more open, and there’s a quiet invitation to slow down and be more present. It’s a time of transition, when routines soften and summer begins to take shape.
At the heart of the month is Father’s Day, a moment to recognize the men and father figures who lead with consistency, strength, and care. Their impact is often found in the everyday: showing up, offering guidance, and creating a steady foundation for those around them. It’s also a time to acknowledge the mentors, coaches, and role models who invest in others and help shape what comes next.
In Chevy Chase, that sense of community is built through these connections. It’s reflected in the people who contribute not just to their own success, but to the well-being of those around them. This issue highlights that spirit, featuring individuals and businesses rooted in purpose, service, and lasting impact.
June also reminds us to be intentional with our time. To step outside, to connect, and to appreciate the moments that might otherwise pass too quickly. Often, it’s the simplest experiences that stay with us the longest.
As summer begins, I hope you find time to enjoy what matters most, your family, your growth, and the community that surrounds you.
Dr. Janan Gohari is a former pulmonologist turned concierge-style preventive care physician — and she’s changing what healthcare looks and feels like in Gaithersburg. Whether you’re managing hormones, exploring aesthetic treatments, or simply ready for a doctor who truly listens, Gohari Health Group is your next step.
inside the issue
Born From Experience
Kathleen transformed loss into
From Birkin Bags to Blue Fox Farm
Chevy Chase resident and veterinary neurosurgeon Lauren Rae Talarico is launching her memoir this
Failure Is Not a Bad Word
D.C.-area coach James Lewis is helping leaders across the DMV separate who they are from what they do, at exactly the moment the region needs to hear it.
scene
1-14: The Red Carpet Romance event at Aston Martin Washington D.C. is a celebration of fashion, beauty, and unforgettable style. Guests enjoy a curated runway experience by Joy Kingsley, showcasing stunning looks from Signature Dresses by Gilda Mizrahi, the flawless artistry of Mona Tehranchi of Cezanne Beauty By Mona, and the radiant glow of Vishka Skincare — all complemented by light bites, bespoke cocktails, and luxurious sponsor experiences. Chevy Chase Lifestyle is proud to spotlight this remarkable evening, a true reflection of the elegance and community that defines our region.
Photography by Dr. Ceylon Mitchell
See how our signature Gl amedicine ditches the “done” look. We c reate sophisticated, natural results for the modern patient.
— Morgan Gale, NP | @TheAestheticVisionary
business monthly
A ROUNDUP OF NEWS FROM LOCAL BUSINESSES
Capital Tan
Skip the sun and still give a glow. Capital Tan offers a sunless alternative to traditional tanning with professional, personalized spray tans that are fast-drying, non-sticky, and streak-free. Certified technicians customize every session to your skin tone and goals, delivering a natural-looking result that works across a broad range of complexions. Mobile services are also available for weddings, bachelorette parties, and special events — because your glow should go where you go. www.capitalcryo.com
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Heather Lane Adventures
A purpose-driven travel boutique connecting curious adventurers to different people, places, and ways of experiencing the world. Founded by international relations specialist turned travel designer Heather Lane Chauny — who has traveled, worked, and lived in more than 45 countries, the boutique offers fully customized itineraries, seamless logistics, and on-the-ground expertise for travelers who want their journeys to be as meaningful as they are memorable. Explore your next adventure at heatherlaneadventures.com
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Onder Ons
Ōnder Ōns is a DC-based supper club bringing young professionals into the city's art scene, one dinner at a time. Founded by Roxana Kaplan, the series hosts intimate pop-up dinners inside local galleries alongside the work of emerging DMV artists and local brands. Each event transforms a gallery space into an intimate evening of food, drinks, conversation, and cultural connection.
AARON GOLDMAN AND THE SOUND OF COMMUNITY
ARTICLE BY YVONNE SIU TURNER
PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE WILSON & SCOTT SUCHMAN
DC Flutes, now in its 16 th season, brings together flutists of all levels to make music and build community together.
At the highest level of orchestral music, perfection is not the goal. Connection is.
That’s what Aaron Goldman, principal flute of the National Symphony Orchestra, has learned in his career as a professional flutist. Now playing alongside some of the most accomplished musicians in the country, he considers his position a dream job.
And yet, when he first began in that role, he was so focused on technical perfection and performing that he quickly began to feel a bit like a circus monkey.
“It took me a while to get out of the idea that I was a circus monkey who couldn’t ‘drop the plate,’” said Goldman. “Getting the high notes or playing perfectly in
When played beautifully, orchestral music can take us to another plane of existence, connect us to the transcendent, and help us to be more fully human.
tune—that’s all important, and we need to do that, but that’s not why I was there. I was there because I had something to say that was worthwhile for people to hear. It’s something that I could give to people that’s separate from ‘spinning the plate.’”
Now with every piece he plays, he focuses not only on playing the music perfectly, but also on creating an expression for the audience and being open to their energy and the experience.
And what a powerful experience it is to hear 100 of the finest musicians in the country making beautiful music together, whether they are playing a Beethoven symphony or a violin concerto by Mozart.
It is an experience that evokes emotion, tells a story, and taps into something that, according to Goldman, is higher than empathy. It is connection and community.
In fact, when played beautifully, orchestral music can take us to another plane of existence, connect us to the transcendent, and help us to be more fully human.
“That’s the most important thing there is,” said Goldman.
In an age where social media and shortform content dominate much of the cultural conversation, orchestral music can bring us back to something that we long for—something timeless, something that builds community and nourishes the soul.
“Music lives in the community between people,” Goldman said.
DC FLUTES
This need for community is something that Goldman noticed and decided to do something about beyond the concert hall. In 2010, he formed DC Flutes, a local choir of 35 professional and skilled amateur flutists who find joy in making great music together. They have performed concerts in New York, Chicago, Richmond, and at the National Flute Association Convention. They also play three concerts locally every year and perform at the DC Cherry Blossom Festival.
Aaron Goldman, principal flutist with the National Symphony Orchestra, lives in Chevy Chase, where nature and connection shape his approach to music.
If we’re all working together to express great music, then that’s what creates a shared experience that brings us closer and builds community
Goldman has seen the contrast between perfection and expression show up in DC Flutes as well. “If people are focused on getting it right, it can lead to tension. If we’re all working together to express great music, then that’s what creates a shared experience that brings us closer and builds community,” he said.
“What I enjoy about DC Flutes so much is hearing what kinds of music people of all skill levels are able to make. It is very fulfilling.” DC Flutes holds auditions annually and is open to welcoming flute enthusiasts at all levels.
WHEN EXPRESSION REPLACES PERFORMANCE
In addition to serving as principal flutist with the National Symphony Orchestra and conducting DC Flutes, Goldman also teaches flute privately and at DePaul University, the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins, and at The Catholic University of America. But his road to success wasn’t always clear. When he was a senior in high school, Goldman auditioned for a major conservatory and was told that he would never be able to have a career in music. His own
parents also cautioned him about the practicality of studying music and being able to find a job.
His love of music and persistent mindset carried him through. “I figured I would study music and keep trying until I failed or couldn’t go any further, and then I’d do something else. But I had to try,” he said.
Through effort, mindset, and perseverance, Goldman steadily built his musical career.
From early orchestral work with the Greater Lansing Symphony and the Orlando Philharmonic, he progressed to principal flute of the National Symphony Orchestra, a position he’s held since 2013.
Goldman’s story is not just about achievement. It’s about what becomes possible when expression replaces performance, and when excellence is at the service of connection.
For those who haven’t listened closely to a flute before, he recommends listening to Claude Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun or Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2.
Listen until the sound itself feels alive. Notice what it connects you to.
For Goldman, the depth of orchestral color creates a powerful shared experience.
Photography by Steve Wilson
ADVOCACY BORN FROM EXPERIENCE
KATHLEEN TRANSFORMED LOSS INTO PURPOSE, ADVANCING ELDER ADVOCACY THROUGH COMPASSION.
ARTICLE BY VIVIAN MAMMEN
PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED
Kathleen’s work in elder advocacy began not as a career ambition, but as a necessity shaped by lived experience. When her father fell ill, she found herself navigating a healthcare and eldercare system that was fragmented, confusing, and often unresponsive. What should have been a time focused on care and connection became an education in systemic failure. “I couldn’t believe how hard it was to get clear answers,” she recalled. “Even when you’re advocating constantly, people still fall through the cracks.”
That experience fundamentally changed her understanding of aging and care. She saw firsthand how families without knowledge, resources, or time could easily become overwhelmed. Early in her career, those lessons stayed with her, sharpening her belief that advocacy is not a luxury, it is essential. Aging, she came to understand, is not only personal, but structural, and without intentional support, dignity is often compromised.
These experiences led to the creation of KMM Consulting, where Kathleen focuses on helping older adults and their families navigate complex systems with clarity and compassion. The mission behind the work is deeply personal: to ensure that no one feels as lost or unsupported as she once did. Her consulting centers on care coordination, system navigation, and empowering families to make informed decisions during vulnerable moments. Kathleen’s leadership naturally extended into broader community roles, including Friendship Heights Neighbors Network, a nonprofit devoted to helping neighbors age in place, where she leads as President. And the Commission on Aging, where she advocates for policy and programmatic improvements grounded in real-world experience. Her goal has always been impact and a system that works better for everyone it serves.
Community has been both Kathleen’s anchor and her motivation. During periods of profound personal loss, including the death of her husband and parents, she found herself rebuilding her life while continuing to show up for others. Through those years, her children became her greatest source of strength. “They gave me a reason to keep going,” she said. “They taught me resilience without ever meaning to.” Motherhood, especially through grief and
transition, reshaped how Kathleen leads. It deepened her empathy, strengthened her resolve, and clarified her priorities. She learned that care is not abstract, it is daily, imperfect, and deeply human. Those lessons inform how she works with families today, particularly those navigating illness, loss, or major life change. Her values were also reflected in her leadership at Charles E. Smith Life Communities, where she worked alongside an exceptional staff and embraced unconventional hiring practices. By prioritizing compassion, adaptability, and lived experience over traditional credentials, she helped foster a culture centered on residents as people, not patients. Kathleen’s commitment to service was formally recognized with the GROWS Humanitarian Award, though she measures success differently. She hopes people remember her as someone who made systems easier to navigate and moments of crisis more humane. Looking ahead, Kathleen sees growth as collective. As her community continues to evolve, she remains committed to advocacy rooted in experience, resilience shaped by loss, and the belief that caring well for elders, families, and one another, is the true measure of a strong community.
AN EXCERPT FROM EPISODE 6 OF SHARE THE LIFESTYLE, A CITY LIFESTYLE PODCAST
Photographer: Brittany Dawn Short
Creative Director: Jen Birn
Stylist: Stephanie Coultress O’Neill
Location: Hotel Saint Cecilia, Austin, TX
MIKE JOHNSON HAS BUILT HIS LIFE AROUND ONE QUIETLY RADICAL IDEA: THE STANDARD YOU SET PRIVATELY IS THE ONLY ONE THAT MATTERS.
After eight years in the Air Force, a celebrated run on national television, and a health crisis abroad that sent him deep into supply chains and ingredient certifications most founders never touch, the result is Oshun — a luxury ritual brand built on provenance you can trace and integrity you can verify. In an exclusive conversation for the Share the Lifestyle podcast, Mike shares what it actually takes to build something worth putting your name on. Read the highlights below, then scan the QR code for the full episode.
Q: YOU BECAME A FAN FAVORITE ON THE BACHELORETTE AND THEN LEFT THE SPOTLIGHT. YOU MOVED TO MEXICO, LEARNED SPANISH, THEN COSTA RICA, AND BUILT A COMPANY. WHAT DID THAT EXPERIENCE TEACH YOU ABOUT HUMAN BEHAVIOR?
A: “If you’re a good person going in, that shows. If you’re not, that shows too. I also learned that people form this parasocial relationship with you — they assume things about you. When all actuality, different circumstances bring out different parts of who you are. I was on TV trying to find love. The kindness people were showing after felt a bit fake, because they wanted to be a part of something that isn’t who I am individually, but a part of what they saw on TV. And so I had to get away from everybody and everything and the noise.”
THE QUIET STANDARD:
MIKE JOHNSON
“Too many people have prayed for me. So I’ve got to get up and do the walking.”
— Mike Johnson
Q: YOU JOINED THE AIR FORCE RIGHT OUT OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE. WHAT WERE YOU ACTUALLY RUNNING TOWARD?
A: “There was something in me that was saying: I’m not living up to my full potential. I was being a follower. My uncle said, ‘What’s going to make you become an adult the fastest?’ I said, obviously, the military. The Air Force broadened my thought process more than anything. We’re so caught up in our own perception — when you learn to understand different people’s perspectives, it adds to you in so many ways.”
Q: WITH OSHUN, YOU OWN YOUR MANUFACTURING, YOU EMPLOY A CHEMIST, EVERY PRODUCT HAS A BATCH NUMBER TRACEABLE TO ITS ORIGIN DATE. WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO GO THAT DEEP WITH THE BRAND?
A: “The EU bans 1,100 ingredients in personal care products. The U.S. bans nine. That’s my starting point. Oftentimes, it might be the same ingredient, but it comes from a place where it doesn’t have the highest purity. And 60% of what we put on our skin is absorbed. Every product Oshun makes carries a batch number that goes back to the exact day it was created — I can show you every single supplier, the date, the origin. I own more than one part of the supply chain because that’s the only way I can stand behind what’s in the bottle.”
This conversation is just the beginning. Mike goes deeper into why he’s buying land up north, the family in the Philippines who prayed over his factory floor, and what he’d tell every person ready to stop performing and start building. Scan the QR code for the full, exclusive City Lifestyle interview on the Share the Lifestyle podcast.
MIKE JOHNSON
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Chevy Chase resident and veterinary neurosurgeon Lauren Rae Talarico is launching her memoir this June. Her story is not what you’d expect.
FROM BIRKIN BAGS TO BLUE FOX FARM
ARTICLE AND PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED
Lauren Rae Talarico’s kids have different answers when someone asks what her upcoming book is about.
Her daughter V says it’s about Daddy dying. Her son P says it’s about horses. Her daughter Gigi says it’s about when their mom was fancy.
They’re all right.
The book is called Haute Couture to Oat Couture, and it launches this June. It is a memoir about loss, about animals, about leaving a prestigious career and a life that looked perfect from the outside. But more than anything, it’s about a woman
finding her way back to herself after everything she thought she was, got stripped away.
Lauren grew up driven. She pursued veterinary medicine with the same intensity she brought to everything, eventually becoming a veterinary neurosurgeon. For over twenty years, she performed complex spinal and brain surgeries on animals. She was precise, controlled, trained at an Ivy League institution to trust only what science could prove.
“All bleeding stops eventually,” she used to tell her interns in the operating room. It was her steady reminder that she was in control of the situation, that she knew what she was doing, that everything would be fine.
Then her husband, Marc, died suddenly. And nothing was fine.
She was forty years old. She had three children under the age of five. And the one thing she had built her entire identity around, her ability to fix things, was useless.
“There was no surgical procedure I could perform to bring him back,” Lauren has written about that time. “And no procedure I could perform for myself or my children to heal us and make us all whole again.”
What came next is what the book is really about.
Lauren did not take the conventional path through grief. She turned toward things her scientific training had taught her to dismiss: plant medicine, Kabbalistic astrology, breathwork, daily meditation. She talks to Marc still. She believes her horse Blue, a gift Marc gave her near the end of his life, carries his presence. She rebuilt an abandoned farm and named her platform Mama Farmette, a nod to the new life she was building in the soil and the stalls and the quiet.
She also left clinical veterinary medicine entirely.
That part surprises people. Two decades of training and expertise, a career most people would never walk away from. But Lauren will tell you that the version of herself who needed that career, who needed the Birkin bags and the credentials and the external markers of success, is not the person she is anymore.
“It took me forty-three years to return to Lauren,” she has said. “And I don’t want to leave again.”
She lives in Chevy Chase now, raising her three children and tending to her horses, dogs, and garden. Her Substack, where she writes honestly about grief, motherhood, and healing, has built a devoted following of readers who recognize something true in what she shares. She is working on a pitch for Modern Love. She is planning appearances at local bookstores and venues around the DMV in the weeks surrounding the launch.
CONTINUED >
“All bleeding stops eventually,” she used to tell her interns in the operating room. It was her steady reminder that she was in control of the situation, that she knew what she was doing, that everything would be fine.
Lauren’s first book Haute Couture to Oat Couture: A Memoir of Transformation will be released in June 2026.
The book itself is about all the versions of Lauren that existed before this one. The high-achieving veterinarian. The wife. The woman who performed a version of herself for years without realizing it. And then the widow, the mother, the person who had to figure out who she actually was when none of the old answers applied.
She describes her children as part of that reckoning. The animals too. Blue the horse. James, her golden retriever, who she believes connects her to Marc in ways she doesn’t try to explain away anymore. The ponies her daughters ride, Fish and Limbo, who she credits with helping her girls hold on through the hardest years. Waiting for Lauren at the end of her healing journey is her partner, Scott.
“The animals helped,” she says simply. “How they helped is in the book.”
Haute Couture to Oat Couture is the kind of memoir that does not offer easy comfort. Lauren is not writing about grief as something you get through and then leave behind. She is writing about it as something that, if you let it, can take you apart and put you back together as someone more real than you were before.
For a woman who spent decades fixing things, that required learning to do the opposite. To stop controlling. To stop performing. To sit in the barn with her horses and actually listen.
The book comes out this June. Lauren is planning appearances at local bookstores and venues around the DMV in the weeks surrounding the launch. For updates on events and to follow her writing in the meantime, find her on Instagram and Substack at @mamafarmette
Timeless Elegance in Design
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Failure Is Not a Bad Word
ARTICLE AND PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED
D.C.-area coach James Lewis is helping leaders across the DMV separate who they are from what they do, at exactly the moment the region needs to hear it.
Ask James Lewis what struggle teaches a man that success doesn’t, and he doesn’t hesitate.“What you do is not who you are.”
It’s the line his clients tend to remember first. He says it, then lets it rest with them for a moment before following up with, “Your identity is not what you’ve built. It’s what you uncover through the fire.” Lewis would know. He lost his career and his marriage in the same season and, at one point, feared losing custody of his children. “I hadn’t recuperated from one battle before the next started,” he says. “I went into survival mode.”
In the middle of that season, he met the woman who would become his wife, Crystal, early proof that the rebuild ahead wouldn’t be a solitary one.
That rebuild is what Fail4ward is built on. The thesis is in the name. “God didn’t restore me to be silently successful,” Lewis says. “He restored me to lead others through failure, so they can grow, reach, and succeed, by showing them it’s not a bad word.”
A REGION RECKONING WITH IDENTITY
He’s bringing that message to a region in the middle of its own reckoning. The recent reshaping of the federal workforce has rolled through Bethesda dinner tables, Chevy Chase carpool lines, and Arlington happy hours, leaving high-performers holding severance packages and asking a question Lewis once asked himself: who am I if I’m not this? “A lot of men don’t know who they are,”
he says, “because they’re too busy being who they think they’re expected to be.”
The men who walk into his practice are driven, accomplished, and quietly carrying a version of imposter syndrome they’ve learned to hide. “They were never told it’s OK to be themselves, or that it’s ok to ask for help,” Lewis says. “They cover up what they need with humor, isolation, and silence.” His job, he insists, isn’t to be anyone’s savior. “I’m not solving the problem. I’m just walking alongside you. I’m the tour guide. They have to choose their path and take the next step(s) forward.”
One man who took that walk is Matt Monaghan, a longtime client. After being let go, his life was “up in the air.” Today, he says: “I’m sitting in my truck, on a site developing seventy-five acres right now. I’m able to do what I want to do.”
That work is unsentimental by design. Lewis coaches through conversation, memory, and the Co-Active Coaching framework. “A great coach listens deeply and remembers what’s shared from session to session,” he says. “So as you grow, they’re walking alongside you.” His work rests on one principle: a man rises and falls to his standards—not his feelings, successes, or failures. “Otherwise, however the wind blows is how his life goes.” In practice that means accountability, hard conversations, and a refusal to lower the bar. Time is everything and how we manage it determines everything which is why his business card reinforces the need to take meaningful action through the saying, “Make time, not excuses. No one is coming to save you.”
WHAT HE WANTS MEN TO CARRY INTO MEN’S HEALTH MONTH
For Lewis, men’s health isn’t just physical, it’s identity. The men most at risk aren’t always the ones with the worst lab results, but the ones whose identity was tied to a job that’s no longer there. If you’re a man reading this in a Chevy Chase living room and the title you’ve worn for a decade feels heavier than it used to, that’s not weakness, it’s information.
His habits are simple: morning discipline, quiet reflection, and date nights with his wife, Crystal. What is he still working on? “Mental rest.”“I know what it’s like to be lost, alone, and cast out,” he says. “I’m proof that you can be rebuilt better… if you’re willing to get up every time you fall.” The Fail4ward mantra:“Everyone fails. Winners Fail4ward.”
If the past year in the DMV has produced anything in surplus, it’s men with the raw material for that exact rebuild. James Lewis is right here in the metro, holding the door open. James Lewis Sr. founded Fail4ward, an executive coaching and leadership development practice based in the Washington D.C. metro area. His coaching is faith-friendly and open to leaders and organizations of any background. The bigger the need for solving challenging problems, the greater his interest in being a part of the solution. Book a complimentary session at https://www. fail4ward.com/bookwithfail4ward.
“I’m not solving the problem. I’m just walking alongside you. I’m the tour guide. They have to choose the path.”
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