Marcelo Leone ’25 is no stranger to dedication, hard work and podcasting. Leone has been very involved on John Carroll’s campus over his four years as an accounting major, but he stands out as the host of his podcast, “From The Lion’s Cove” or FTLC. He mainly interviews JCU athletes about their journeys in sports, diving into their experiences and stories on and off the field.
The name “From The Lion’s Cove” comes from his last name, Leone, which means lion in Italian. “I needed something that stands out,” Leone told The Carroll News. So his father came up with the title and it simply stuck. When he began FTLC in 2024, Leone bought about 40 dollars worth of equipment and interviewed one of his close friends, Omar Abuhamdeh ’25, from the JCU Men’s Basketball team.
Leone was unsure about whether the podcast would be successful before his first interview, but now he has completed 25 episodes and says some students on campus know him only as “the podcast guy.” In the beginning, Leone focused on surface-level questions surrounding the athlete’s history. Now, he realized that having a deeper conversation with each guest is important and tries to ask more substantial questions.
“I really get to know them as a person and what they’ve gone through, the challenges they faced.” He says “everyone has their own story,” and Leone “sits down with people and goes through their start to finish here at John Carroll.” He learns new things about everyone he interviews and “gets to build a stronger relationship” with each guest. Even when interviewing his friends, Leone has garnered deeper connections with every interviewee.
Interviewing students has impacted Leone’s view of the relationships made on campus. “That’s what makes John Carroll so special,” he said, “the people you meet here.” He has been able to make connections with many people in his class and every person that he has asked on his podcast as a guest is willing to be interviewed. Being at a smaller campus has allowed him to expand his podcast and Leone is unsure that he would have had the opportunity to create a successful podcast as a larger university.
“Carroll has definitely been a big part of this podcast journey…and I am very thankful for the relationships it has given me,” Leone explained.
Leone told The Carroll News that he wants to tell the listeners more about himself. “If I’m interviewing people non-stop, my audience doesn’t get to know who I am as a person.” Although Leone is graduating this spring, he plans to continue with FTLC. In the future, Leone hopes to reach 100 episodes and wants to interview people outside of the world of sports. “Going forward, I definitely want to interview more people within arts, music, and other sports…As of right now, I want to make the most that I can here.”
