ABOUT PATERNAL

PATERNAL is the passion project of veteran podcast host and producer Nick Firchau. Paternal offers candid and in-depth conversations with great men who are quietly forging new paths. Listen as our diverse and thoughtful guests – a world-renowned soccer star in San Diego, a Oglala Sioux elder in South Dakota, a New York Knicks barber in Queens, a pioneering rock DJ in Seattle and many more - discuss the models of manhood that were passed down to them, and how they're redefining those models as they become fathers themselves.

NICK FIRCHAU has spent the past 15 years in journalism and digital media. He is the youngest of three boys and a father of two young children.

THE PATERNAL LOGO was designed by Gabriel de los Rios and features the male emperor penguin, one of the most dedicated fathers in the animal kingdom. By the time the female emperor penguin lays her egg, she’s expended so much energy she must set out to sea for two months to feed. The male becomes a single father and keeps the egg warm by carefully balancing the egg between the top of his toes and his belly. The father doesn't eat or move for two months while protecting the egg, and if the chick hatches before mom is back, dad will feed the chick with milk he produces from his esophagus.