At the Coalface

In this episode, I sit down with Daniel Freeman, a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, entrepreneur, and community builder whose life has been shaped by movement, reinvention, and the search for belonging.
Daniel reflects on growing up in a military family, constantly adapting to new places while carrying a quiet sense of not fully fitting in. Over time, that same tension would shape his path through service, marriage, fatherhood, and a deeper journey of self-understanding. 
We talk about his 20 years in intelligence, what it revealed about how large systems really function, and why institutions so often drift away from the people they are meant to serve. 
Daniel also speaks candidly about leaving the military, hitting a personal low point, and the transformative role of therapy, recovery, and community in rebuilding his life. He shares how those experiences led him into entrepreneurship, where he now helps veterans build businesses with less risk while pursuing a broader mission around poverty, second chances, and access to meaningful mental health care. 
Recorded on 16 April 2026.
Connect with Daniel on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/danieljfree/.
Instagram: @at.the.coalface
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In this episode, I sit down with Barker Keith, whose career spans military service, law, and sovereign risk management.
Barker reflects on growing up in Venezuela, and how his early, idealised view of the United States was challenged by friends who saw the world less through ideology and more through national interests.
He shares formative experiences from his time in the U.S. Army, his transition into law and political risk insurance, and the complexities of structuring protection for international investments. Drawing on decades of experience, Barker offers a behind-the-scenes view of how nationalism shapes outcomes, and what it takes to navigate risk in a world driven less by rules and more by interests.
Recorded on 8 April 2026.
Connect with Barker on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/barker-keith-329b1b8.
Instagram: @at.the.coalface
And don’t forget to subscribe to At the Coalface for new episodes every two weeks.

Help us produce more episodes by becoming a supporter. Your subscription will go towards paying our hosting and production costs. Supporters get the opportunity to join behind the scenes during recordings, updates about the podcast, and my deep gratitude!

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In this episode, I speak with Siobhán MacDermott, a cybersecurity and public policy expert whose career spans Silicon Valley, global finance, and advisory.
Siobhán reflects on an itinerant childhood and how constantly being the “new kid” shaped her relationship with risk, identity, and belonging. What began as an ambition to become an ER doctor took unexpected turns, from scouting mobile tower locations to eventually working at the intersection of cyber risk, geopolitics, and financial stability.
We talk about how she found her voice in high-stakes, often male-dominated environments, and the role risk-taking has played throughout her life.
Siobhán also reflects on her current focus protecting children from the risks of social media, connecting her work today to her own experiences of vulnerability, parenting, and growth.
TeenAegis is accessible at: https://teenaegis.com/portal/platform-danger.
Siobhán mentions The Anxious Generation: https://www.anxiousgeneration.com.
Recorded on 20 March 2026.
Connect with Siobhán on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/siobhanmacdermott/.
Instagram: @at.the.coalface
And don’t forget to subscribe to At the Coalface for new episodes every two weeks.

Help us produce more episodes by becoming a supporter. Your subscription will go towards paying our hosting and production costs. Supporters get the opportunity to join behind the scenes during recordings, updates about the podcast, and my deep gratitude!
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In this episode, I sit down with Jay Truesdale, a geopolitical risk adviser and former U.S. diplomat and Navy Reserve officer whose career spans diplomacy, military service, and private sector leadership.
Jay traces his sense of duty back to childhood, inspired by family stories of wartime service. That early call led him into diplomacy and the Navy Reserve, with formative experiences across Russia, Ukraine, and South Asia.
We talk about the craft of diplomacy in the real world: building trust with local leaders, listening far from Washington, and learning how countries actually work beneath the surface.
Jay also reflects on his transition to the private sector, first helping bring political risk into the traditional business risk approach, and later leading two geopolitical risk consultancies. Drawing on frontline experience, he shares the frameworks he uses to help leaders think clearly about risk in a world where the old rules are rapidly breaking down.
The book Jay mentions is The Captive Mind by Czesław Miłosz, published in 1953.
Recorded on 6 March 2026.
Connect with Jay on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jrtruesdale/.
Instagram: @at.the.coalface
And don’t forget to subscribe to At the Coalface for new episodes every two weeks.

Help us produce more episodes by becoming a supporter. Your subscription will go towards paying our hosting and production costs. Supporters get the opportunity to join behind the scenes during recordings, updates about the podcast, and my deep gratitude!
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In this episode, I sit down with Andres Boaz Munoz Mosquera, a former Spanish military officer, NATO legal adviser, professor of international law, and spiritual caregiver, whose life has been shaped by war, democracy, and service.
Andrés describes himself as “the product of three wars”: the Spanish Civil War, Spain’s colonial conflicts in North Africa, and the war in Bosnia in the 1990s. His family history carries the trauma of exile under Francisco Franco, a grandfather imprisoned in concentration camps, a father who returned to Spain through the Foreign Legion, and a childhood where politics were largely left unspoken.
We talk about his decision to join the military and what it meant to be trained not just as a soldier but in constitutional law. From there, he takes us to Bosnia in 1994, where serving under the United Nations exposed him to both the limits of peacekeeping and the realities of bureaucracy in wartime. Later, working within NATO, he saw how institutions function under pressure, and why he still believes international cooperation is necessary.
In the final part of the conversation, we shift to a different kind of service, Andres's call to accompany people at the end of life.
The book Andres mentions is ”Seeking in the Company of Others – The Wisdom of Group Spiritual Direction”, written by Roslyn G. Weiner (https://www.bu.edu/sth/seeking-in-the-company-of-others-the-wisdom-of-group-spiritual-direction-by-dr-roslyn-g-weiner-sth0103/).
Recorded on 6 February 2026.
Connect with Andres on LinkedIn at Andres Boaz Munoz Mosquera | LinkedIn.
Instagram: @at.the.coalface
And don’t forget to subscribe to At the Coalface for new episodes every two weeks.

Help us produce more episodes by becoming a supporter. Your subscription will go towards paying our hosting and production costs. Supporters get the opportunity to join behind the scenes during recordings, updates about the podcast, and my deep gratitude!
Support the show