Derek A. Chandler

“I was supposed to be a doctor. Then the entertainment industry made me a better offer—and everything got more interesting.”

My career has been anything but linear. That is exactly why it produced someone worth listening to.

The Foundation

I grew up in New Orleans—a city that shapes people in specific and irreversible ways. I was on the path to medicine when legendary television executive Brandon Tartikoff saw something in me that a stethoscope would have buried and redirected me toward Los Angeles and the entertainment industry.

I was fortunate to be mentored by two of television’s great creative minds. Brandon shaped my understanding of storytelling, audience, and execution at scale. Our collaboration included original projects such as an unproduced Rodney Dangerfield sitcom, with me serving as co-executive producer alongside Brandon.

Emmy-winning director James Burrows—whose work includes Cheers, Will & Grace, and the Kelsey Grammer executive-produced comedy series Girlfriends, starring Tracee Ellis Ross—refined my instincts for comic timing, character, and what makes broad audiences respond.

Training at The Second City completed the foundation, strengthening the risk-taking, adaptability, and bold storytelling approach I bring to production, performance, and media.

The Pivot

In 1996, Deepak Chopra invited me to the opening of his center in La Jolla and later to a private family gathering in Goa, India. Those experiences expanded my understanding of human potential, awareness, and performance in ways Hollywood never could.

Around the same time, I chose sobriety—in New Orleans. Anyone from there will tell you that is either the hardest thing a person can do or the bravest. Possibly both.

What came next was a blend that informs everything I create: a comedian’s timing, a strategist’s precision, a recovering person’s honesty, and a conscious human being’s depth.

The Work

My experience spans creative development, executive production, strategic partnerships, and media strategy across entertainment and beyond.

I have developed and pitched unscripted television concepts with secured talent attachments to major agencies, working alongside Sandy Grushow, Stuart Benjamin, Howard Lapides, and John Ferriter. Those collaborations sharpened my perspective on development, packaging, and high-level execution.

I produced and narrated a documentary on post-Hurricane Katrina recovery in New Orleans—a project rooted in what my hometown gave me and what I learned after leaving it.

I was also an early adopter of video podcasting, producing lifestyle and interview content featuring notable voices across industries long before the format reached its current cultural prominence.

Current Work

Today, Maria and I co-create and executive produce the Double Good Mojo Show, a weekly long-form video podcast available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and major platforms.

The show reflects what I do best: create the conditions for real conversation. I help guests open up, make complex ideas feel like dinner conversation, and bring a storyteller’s instinct, a strategist’s clarity, and a comedian’s sense of when to let the moment breathe.

Areas of Focus

My work and thinking are shaped by a lived interest in:

Peak performance and decision-making under pressure

Human potential, self-actualization, and personal evolution

Wellness, longevity, and sustainable high performance

Recovery as a creative and spiritual practice

Comedy as a vehicle for truth

These are not categories I researched. They are territory I have lived and continue to explore, on and off the mic.