Well, Now What?!: Recent Episodes
Savannah Locke
A podcast for twenty-something year olds confused on what to do post-grad. @wellnowwhatpodcast on Instagram!
Rachelle is a Registered Dietitian and Personal trainer. She focuses on optimizing performance with plants and helping women reclaim their health.
We chat about when is a good time to reach out to a dietician, women's health, struggles with disordered eating, what most of her clients come to her for, working as a trainer at F45, being an empath and absorbing others' problems, working for herself rather than a hospital setting. Rachelle is also coming out with an ebook course soon. :). Keep an eye out for it!
Yoooo. Back with my lovely gal pal Nik. We chat about being in the fitness industry, recovering from an ED, finding a healthy relationship with exercise, freelancing, getting more clients, content fatigue, what to charge, putting yourself out there and any tips she has to freelancing. :)
Sorry for such a long hiatus. I'm back!! We shared a quick story on our engagement and what's been new in our lives. Feels so good to be back : ' )
Noam is a full-time content creator, podcaster, business owner and she is a first-year family medicine resident... all at the age of 24. This gal literally does it all and I had to sit down with her and chat about how she balances her passions, personal life and mental health.
I am joined by Laura Renstad! Laura and I connected through a few mutual friends from F45 (sorry I can't shut up about it :p). Laura grew up dancing in North Van and went to the Laine Theatre Arts School in London with honors in dance and musical theatre. She now dances professionally at the prestigious Moulin Rouge in Paris! We chat all about her history with dance, the struggles she faced with body image, moving to Paris by herself, what it's really like at the Moulin Rouge, dancing pretty much 24/7, dating Parisien men vs Canadian mans, and any advice she has for dancers hoping to do it professionally!
I am joined by Ed & Natasha, the husband and wife duo behind Bred, an Organic Sourdough Bakery located in Whistler, BC. Originally from the UK, Ed has always worked in fine dining kitchens around the world and has been making sourdough since 2008. Ed and Natasha moved to Canada in 2013 to snowboard for a season.
BReD is known for their 100% vegan breads and treats. Sustainability is also a key part of the menu at BReD, with every coffee purchased resulting in a tree being planted. If that’s not enough, this powerhouse duo actually got their bcorp-certified business in September! They are also launching a Sourdough cookbook next year!
We chat about what it's really like running a vegan business as husband and wife, how they met, who made the first move lol, advice for entrepreneurs, the vegan community in BC, their ideal workday, and their first memory involving scent! Such a fun episode
Use link betterhelp.com/wellnowwhat for 10% off Better Help!
I am joined by Ssonia Ong!
Ssonia is the creator of the famous TikTok page, Ong Squad. She is a full-time content creator and mom of 5 kids! The TikTok page has grown to 8.7 million followers and over 253 million likes. She just started her YouTube channel a month ago and it's reached 716K subscribers already! Her videos often feature her husband and 5 kids. Prior to becoming a full-time content creator, she worked as a trauma counselor at a kids' hospital in Vancouver. She did her undergrad at Standford and master's at Harvard.
I absolutely love how funny her videos are and how creative they are. Definitely not like any of the family content I’ve seen. We dig into her childhood and immigrating from Hong Kong, getting into tennis more competitively as a mom, switching careers from trauma counselor to content creator, protecting her kids from social media, how she told her parents about the TikTok page and some of her dream brands that she'd love to work with. Hint hint (@disney, @apple, @amazon)
This episode is sponsored by Better Help! Get 10% off www.betterhelp.com/wellnowwhat
This episode is sponsored by Better Help! Get 10% off better.com/wellnowwhat :)
Imagine traveling the world solo for a year... Jenna Brown is living all our dreams.
We actually went to uni together and lived in the same residence! She studied Electrical Engineering and after graduating, worked as a Design Engineer for over 2 years.
She's always had this dream to travel the world and she finally did it! We sit down and chat all about her her traveling experience SOLO so far. Volunteering at Okertobest, having a beautiful European summer to now in Columbia taking Spanish lessons.
She shares some insights on some of her favorite countries, if she's been homesick, our thoughts on long-distance relationships, meeting new people, and putting yourself out there and why she carries scuba google everywhere she goes. ;)
From scientist to entrepreneur.
Victoria Stockman is a strategist, entrepreneur, and scientist who has consulted over 200 startups across a wide range of industries. She is also the CEO of Crosby. Based in NYC, CROSBY is a branding + business strategy firm that specializes in startups - early to growth stages. They are a team designers, copywriters, brand strategists, business strategists, developers and even scientists.
Some of their clients include: 818 tequila, A24, Patagonia, Adidas.
Prior to co-founding CROSBY, Victoria developed and designed a novel technology platform. Victoria holds a patent and has published in many journals including Nature Neuroscience, Genome Biology and PLoS One.
If you're an entrepreneur or want to start a business, Victoria shares some great insight into the top mistakes brands/founders are making with their business, what her day-to-day looks like being a new mom, some of her favorite projects she's worked on, how she got her first client and how she makes the perfect pitch to clients.
This is sponsored by Better Help. Use my link for 10% off! www.betterhelp.com/wellnowwhat
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp! Use my code foe 10% off :) betterhelp.com/wellnowwhat
We are joined by Andrea Alridge! Such an awesome convo. Savio Volpe is one of our fav restaurants in Vancouver and it's actually where we had our first date!
Born in Vancouver with Jamaican and Filipino roots, Andrea Alridge says her grandmothers inspired her love of food and taught her the fundamentals of cooking at a young age. Prior to working at Savio, she was also head chef at CinCin in Vancouver.
We chat about how her culture influenced her passion for food, the hierarchies of the food industry, any challenges she faced in a male-dominated industry, how important mentorship is, her favourite meal that she's cooked, and what it's like cooking for herself vs group of people.
If you know me IRL, you know I love the Twilight series... I've seen it at least 30-40 times. Jordan on the other hand, has never seen it. So obviously I had to make him sit through all 5 movies and then record his predictions and review of the series.
Hope you enjoy how inaccurate his predictions were hahaha.
I first met Andres as he was our dog trainer for Tahfi! Literally did god's work with her.
We then watched a show on Apple TV that Jordan's parents recommended called Surface (produced by Reese Witherspoon) and guess who we saw on the big screen? Andres Joseph.
I dug more into his story and found out he's also the founder and owner of a pottery studio in Vancouver, Mud Lab. What doesn't this man do?
Loved our chat and really enjoyed digging deeper into building relationships in all areas of his life, what it's like to be an actor in Vancouver, all his passions and trying to balance his personal life, how he got into dog training, and the process of opening up a studio!
You read that right.
I interview people about online dating and you'll get some variety, single ladies and mans, heterosexual and homosexual relationships.
This episode is definitely so chaotic and all over the place, but who doesn't love a little bit of chaos.
@Hinge @Tinder @Bumble @Grindr sponsor this episode. thanks!!
Let me know if you guys enjoy the on-the-street interviews!
Happy first day of Fall! It's a beautiful crispy day out here in Vancouver PLUS it's Jordan's and I's 1st year anni so of course, I had to record a pod.
Fall is such a cozy and moooody time of year. I share some of my favorite fall activities, I also share my experience with seasonal depression and some things I do to try to combat it. But I also love just staying home and watching tv shows and movies <3
Hope you enjoy :)
I've had several influencers on the pod, but have yet to have one that does content creation full time AND is on her way to becoming a lawyer. She does it all!
Gabby is a full-time fashion influencer and going into her final year of law school. She did her undergrad at UBC, Masters at TRU, and now law school at TRU. Unexpectedly content creation has become a full-time job and she has been trying to balance both law and being an influencer. She never really expected content creation to become a huge component of her life, but it started to take off in her first year of law school, so she decided to keep going (versus stopping it).
We chat about if she ever sees both careers merging together or if she'll keep it separate, how she grew her page, learning that she had hearing loss at the age of 25 and dealing with that big life change, how she does long-distance and finding the love of her life! Loved chatting with Gabby! What an angel.
If you’re like me and you’ve seen one too many movies or TV shows where the main characters have a cute little neighborhood cafe to chill at (Central Perk or @Luke's Diner from Gilmore Girls, I'm looking at you), then you'll want to listen to this episode.
I absolutely love having a main character moment at a coffee shop.
What's a main character moment?
According to the New Yorker: Main-character moments are those in which you feel ineffably in charge, as if the world were there for your personal satisfaction.
To end the 10-episode podcast challenge I set myself 2 weeks ago, I go into why I love coffee shops, the intimacy of coffee shops, and some of my favorite coffee shops in the city. (Take a shot everytime I say the word "coffee shop".
Hope you enjoy!
It was a gray summer’s day, but on the first floor of a grand office block typically occupied by bankers and shipping brokers, Matilda Djerf was basking in the glory of Midsommar.
Ms. Djerf, a 25-year-old social media influencer who founded the fashion brand Djerf Avenue with her boyfriend, Rasmus Johansson, in 2019, has forged a fast-growing business empire on tantalizing glimpses of her soft-focus Scandi dream life — not to mention one of TikTok’s most emulated haircuts.
If you don't know Matilda, she should be on your radar. She commands a following of 2.6 million on Instagram and a million on TikTok on her personal accounts. She's the IT girl of our generation and millions of girls called themselves "Djerf Angels". I'm a fan of her brand and wanted to dive more into why everyone is so fascinated with Matilda.
Networking... nerve-wracking or exciting?
We all have to do it in some way or another whether professionally or in our personal time.
I personally love networking and share some of my insights on how to network successfully, how to build your LinkedIn profile, and how to meet new people/friends as an adult! :)
Hope these tips helped!
Who doesn't love Subway? You know we do.
So of course, we are going to judge and roast people's Subway orders and share some of the more popular Subway orders in each country. We end the episode with a cute silly little Buzzfeed quiz on what our orders say about us and lastly, we do a quiz that tells us how kinky we are based on our Subway order.
Hope you enjoy :)
ALL About Miss Eileen Gu. She is 19 years old and is the face of 30 campaigns in the US AND China. She was the youngest Olympic champion in freestyle skiing after winning gold medals in big air and half pipe and a silver medal in Slopestyle at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Eileen Gu is the poster child for a new type of Chinese athlete. But one wrong move could send her tumbling. We dive into why brands absolutely love her, her dual identity (Chinese/American), the amount of pressure she has on her shoulders, what happens next with her future?
If you're a Gen Z chances are that you've heard of Emma Chamberlain. If you haven't heard of her, this is your time to educate yourself on one of the most powerful Gen Z influencers.
Emma Chamberlain is a 21-year-old content creator who has 16 million followers on Instagram and 12 million subscribers on YouTube. Her videos reach millions of views and she's got this charm and appeal that no one else has. She's been on Vogue, partnered with Louis Vuitton, Levi's & Artizia, and was
DRAMAAA. We love the Hollywood drama. Today we dig into what's going on with the cast of Don't Worry Darling. The love triangle, Harry Styles being unable to act and spitting on Chris Pine?!
It's a spicy one.
Hope you enjoy!
Yes, yes, I know. Some of you may think Crocs are extremely ugly or incredibly cute. But, there is no denying that they are the most comfortable shoe. I'm a Croc wearer myself, sporting a neon blue during the day, and a black during the night. If you've seen me sprinting down 4th in Kitsilano, chances are that I'm in sport mode in my Crocs.
I dig into how Crocs made the biggest comeback and went from ugly poo poo shoe to a household staple. Let's dive in. Also, Crocs sponsor me xoxo
Yes, you read the title correctly... we dive into Mark Ruffalo's or Hulk Mans tragic life story. I also make Jordan rate the avengers from 0-Zaddy.
Hope you enjoy :)
I have to admit... I've been in a little bit of a creative rut when it comes to the podcast. Obviously, I love interviewing people but it can certainly be difficult in terms of scheduling. So, I've set myself a goal to upload 10 short podcast episodes in the next 2 weeks. I'm thinking Monday-Friday, short little episodes on random things that I find interesting. To start off this mini-series, we are doing an episode all about bagels.
First, we talk about the best bagels in Vancouver, what exactly is a bagel, and how bagels originated in the 16th century?!
Bagels, it turns out, are very much a bread thread that pulls through hard times, dreams, visions, organizational development, good luck, and good food.
PS: send us your fav kind of bagel also is a bagel a sandwich?
This one's got to be up there on one of my favorite interviews.
I am joined by the remarkable and inspiring Cory Richards. Cory is an internationally renowned photographer, filmmaker/director, and writer. His work for National Geographic Magazine began with adventure features, exploring the most remote corners of the globe from Antarctica to the Russian Arctic. In 2011, Cory became the first and only American to climb one of the world’s 8000 m peaks in winter, summiting Gasherbrum II in the Karakoram Himalaya of Pakistan. His documentation of the climb and aftermath of the experience was made into the award-winning documentary, COLD and appeared on the cover of the 125th-anniversary issue of National Geographic Magazine.
Much of Cory’s life has been defined by his journey with Mental Health to which he speaks openly and honestly, laying bare the hidden struggles that so many face in silence and solitude. As a high school dropout at 14, his life has followed an irregular arch that has lent itself well to exploring the balance of high achievement and struggles with mental health. His advocacy work has garnered millions of views online through his social media platforms as well as through his speaking career.
I’m a huge fan of his work and really admire his courage and resilience with all the obstacles he’s faced in his life.
We chat about finding people in his personal life and supporting him on his journey and evolvement, what identity means to him, writing a book about his life and the hardest chapters to write, and the importance of community (finding a group of men at his gym), as well as internal and external goals he has. We also end the episode with some rapid-fires such as his least favorite photograph that he's taken and the 3 most influential people in life right now (the answer may surprise you).
I am joined by the incredible Nitsan Raiter. I’ve been a long-time follower of hers(back to when she was Beauty Rewritten) She was a marketing professional turned content creator, turned business owner. After 3 years of leading influencer strategy for a top beauty brand while doing content creation on the side, she decided to risk it all and make it her full-time career.
5 years later, she’s grown her personal brand and built an amazing community.
Inspired to change this and put power into the hands of creators, Nitsan launched Mind Your Business, professional development & education start-up dedicated to giving emerging and established content creators the tools and information they need to run their social media businesses.
Since its launch in January 2021, Mind Your Business by Nitsan Raiter has debuted a creator crash course and day planner and has grown to a community of over 14k creators I absolutely love her online presence and how much she's grown over the last few years.
We chat about growing up in Israel, what her friends would describe her as back in high school, leaving the corporate world, making it her full-time job, the #1 creators struggle with in regards to brand partnerships, collaboration vs competition in the space and not comparing herself to other beauty influencers, why she created the course. We end the ep with some fun rapid fires like who she would let choose to dress her to meet the queen: Momma Raiter or The Husband.
I am joined by Karen Danudjaja. She is the founder of Blume! Blume is a superfood wellness brand. Their mission is to be your best friend in wellness with simple products that are easy to use and build rituals on. Their blends make delicious lattes that are refined sugar-free, certified organic and boosted with superfoods. They are also based in Vancouver, BC, and have a plastic-neutral commitment.
I've been obsessed with Blume lattes for a while now and I had to get Karen on to chat all about the business. We talk about growing a company of 1 to 13 females, how she grew the online presence to over 100K followers, creating new recipes, setting up work boundaries, how she got Blume in over 300 cafes in Canada, and where she sees the company down the line. Also she shares her least fav Blume latte and a new flavour coming soon :o
Loved chatting with Karen <3
Hiii guys! Jordan and I adopted a rescue pup named Tahfi! We love her so much and we had to share our adoption journey with you all.
She's a year old, originally from Iran, she was nearly strangled to death at a couple of months old and then later on almost poisoned as a young pup. She's been through so much, but I'm so grateful for her and how much love she's brought into our lives. For those curious about her mix, she's a mix of GSP/Greyhound.
Hope you enjoy this week's episode. :)
Rescue: Loved at Last
I am joined by the LinkedIn queen herself, Sophie Miller. She is the founder of Pretty Little Marketer.
Pretty Little Marketer is an online community to inform and empower you to find your feet in the world of marketing. From 1:1s and webinars, to resources and daily content across socials - if you love marketing, PLM is the place for you. It has seen huge success on the platform since starting her business during the pandemic. The IG has grown over 40,000 followers and the LinkedIn page has nearly 90,000. Her personal page has 68,000 connections. If you haven’t yet seen Sophie’s LinkedIn posts then where have you been?!
She's built such an amazing community of marketers, she gives insight on what brands/influencers should do to increase their community engagement, using your content to become a solution, creating advocates for your brand, the key to growing on LinkedIn and what do most people need help with on social.
Truly such a beneficial convo - highly recommend if you're looking to grow engagement!
I am joined by Willie Mitchell. Willie is the owner of Tofino Resort + Marina, a high-end boutique hotel with adventure in its DNA. He spent 16 years playing hockey as an NHL defenseman and his career peak came with the LA Kings, where he was part of the club’s two Stanley Cup-winning rosters in 2012 and 2014 , he retired in 2016 and took on an entirely different challenge when he and two partners purchased a motel and marina in the small Vancouver Island resort municipality of Tofino.
In this episode Willie talks about his safe haven and his connection with nature, finding his identity, the realities of being in the NHL, learning about business as he went, being known as “Willie Mitchell the hockey player” and feeling like he was more than that, insecurities of not being a great student, and reaching that “high” with the Stanley cup. He also talks about his business and what he learned from being in the hospitality industry.
Follow @wellnowwhatpodcast
In 2013, two friends set out to create a company that celebrated grain and bean farmers, while providing a much needed connection to higher quality, fresher flour and dry goods. Flourist was co-founded by Janna Bishop and Shira McDermott, a clothing designer and food industry pro respectively, to fill what they saw as a gap in the growing farm-to-table movement, and to provide transparency in a whole new, untouched food category.
In this episode, we chat about how the two came together and started the business, working with your best friend, how to delegate and lean on your partner, their relationship with food, some of their favourite Flourist items, and whose the better chef. ;)
Loved chatting with these ladies.
I am joined by Jessica Opon. Jess has been working in post production for several years now. Starting out as an assistant editor for Defy Media in LA, she worked her way up to being an editor at Vice Media in New York, where she was a piece of the group of “Charlottesville: Race and Terror”, which won an Emmy. She also became an integral part of the production process as a shooter and producer.
Now working as a freelancer, her main focus is editing, but brings her knowledge of producing and shooting to her work. She is an editor for the incredible cooking channel, Binging with Babish, starring Andrew Rae, her partner.
She was also a fellow dancer, and you can tell that her background as a professional dancer becomes immediately apparent in the delicate, expertly choreographed stories she weaves behind both the camera and the editing desk.
Absolutely loved chatting with Jess. She's such a wise and beautiful person. We talked about the dance world and not so great relationships with food and image, switching industries and going into production and editing, working on YouTube, how editing and dance is more connected than you might think, advice she has for going into the production/entertainment industry, learning to trust yourself, and end with some fun rapid fires like some of the projects she's most proud of!
Hope you enjoy <3
Back with another episode with Jordan! We talk about the book heist that led us to reading "All About Love: New Visions" by the incredible bell hooks.
We absolutely loved the book and found that we were continuously having conversations about love and how to love not only with each other but with others around us and had to share our perspectives on it. Do note that this is not an extensive review of bell hooks' book or her literature just us touching on some points that she mentions in the book. We also go over some of the poll results that you guys answered on the @wellnowwhatpodcast Instagram.
Hope you enjoy <3
Sponsored by Nature's Path!
I am joined by Emily Kosichek! Emily is a 23 year-old fashion content creator from Vancouver, BC. She grew up in North Vancouver (also dancing) and eventually did her undergrad in Business at Queen’s University. Apart from content creation, she also works in the fashion industry, specifically in Product Development. Her Tiktok account has grown to nearly 160k followers and 4 million views. Her videos often show her day-to-day outfits and vlogs. I absolutely love her style. I’ve had a few different TikTok people on, but none in the fashion industry.
Emily provides amazing insight into what it's like to be in the fashion industry, how saturated it is and how to stand out, how to approach brands, and how TikTok helped grow her social media presence. She also mentions that the two things she believed helped her grow is one, her daily casual outfits, and two, her body type. She finds that a lot of her followers appreciate her style but also feel grateful that there is more diversity in terms of body types on the platform.
Loved our chat!
I am joined by Kelsea. She is half-Chinese and lives in Toronto. With a BFA from OCAD and a lifetime of work in hospitality she currently works in film production but has recently made the big career leap after working for celebrity chef Susur Lee for 10 years as Chief of Staff and Executive Assistant. Whom I interviewed on the podcast earlier!
She’s currently working on a podcast called Mixed Feelings which is set to air this May, The podcast will cover interviews about representation in film, colourism, food rituals and other topics mixed people sometimes have mixed feelings about growing up in a globalized modern world.
Her big interests are food, hospitality, and media. She is happiest when watching TV or trying new restaurants or recipes. She recently took an online graduate-level course with Boston University in Food Studies on Gender Studies where she specifically focused on Chinese birth and death rituals relating to food and deferred (due to COVID) a 6-month culinary position in France at Ecole Ducasse with Chef Alaine Ducasse. She’s looking forward to what her 30s look like for her and how she’ll be able to blend all of her skills and interests together to create an interesting and exciting future!
Follow @mixedfeelingsradio
100 EPISODES?!
Holy shit! Who would have thought that I would have gone this far with the podcast? Haha, not me. I'm so grateful and amazed by the community that this little ting has built. I've had such invaluable conversations with so many incredible and wise guests. It's making me even a bit emotional posting this. Thank you thank you to everyone who listened, shared, commented, and subscribed, I appreciate you!
In this episode, I'm joined by my partner, Jordan once again.
Relationships with food can be complicated -- both Jordan and I had rocky relationships with food as we both suffered from disordered eating. Rebuilding a relationship with food was hard for both of us -- but being able to find joy within the processes and experiences food can bring. In this episode, we explore the great and not-so-great culture of the food industry while diving into my cultural heritage through food experiences!
PSA: We are not licensed professionals, all opinions are our own. Please reach out to a professional for help :) TW: Eating Disorders
Ro is the 29-year-old Founder of The Wilds Skincare — a clean, genderless, and step-simplified skincare line that launched earlier this year.
In just 3 months, The Wilds has achieved some exciting milestones including a social media launch campaign that reached just over 5M Instagram users, upcoming features in Coveteur, Goop, Forbes, PopSugar (to name a few), and most notably, being named a finalist in the Pure Beauty Global Awards for Best New Clean Skincare.
Beyond ethical skincare, The Wilds aims is to cultivate a community that fosters unapologetic confidence, self-acceptance and the permission to be happily wild.
We chat about her upbringing and middle eastern background, her skin journey and why she created The Wilds, starting a business, leaning into her fear compass, marketing herself and manifesting her business, and why she doesn't compare herself to others.
Follow @thewildsskincare
I am joined by the incredibly driven, Indra. A listener actually sent me over her profile and I absolutely loved her page and also found that she was a BC gal! Indra is the proud founder of Incluskivity, an organization that provides avalanche safety training to minorities in coastal British Columbia. She is an icon in the local snowsports world, where she consistently advocates for inclusion and diversity in the field.
We chat about the culture of the snowsports world and how the ski community was built upon wealth and money, gender and race power dynamics in sports industries, balancing life and work, merging diversity and inclusion work in her personal life, and self-censorship. We end the ep with some fun rapid-fire questions, including Bridgerton, her fav breweries in Vancouver, and the most influential people in her life.
Such an amazing convo!
Follow @indruh and @incluskivity
I am joined by the amazing - Maddie Laver! Yet another dance friend! Maddie and I danced together for several years back in the day. She’s now doing all the things. She is a producer and creative, currently working in Art Direction for Apple. She has 6 years of international production experience, with work ranging from direct-response ads to a 10-episode series on Amazon Prime Video. Maddie approaches her work from a human-first point of view and establishes seamless partnerships with her teams and contractors to create world-class content. Maddie was born in the US but lived, and was educated in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, Canada before moving back to the US. She currently lives and works in LA. I know a lot of my listeners are really interested in the producing role, as am I, so I’m super excited for everyone to hear Maddie's journey.
We chat about growing up in the US then moving to Canada, how College wasn't really for her, feeling lost and unsure what to do career-wise, stepping into the entertainment industry, what 16-year old Maddie would think of herself today, and her best advice for getting into the producing/entertainment scene.
Follow @madzlaver
Follow @wellnowwhatpodcast.
Earlier this month, I asked you for funny/cute dating stories, and oh boy, did you deliver! Today I am joined by my boyfriend to read your stories and share some quite frankly hilarious commentary. We dive deep into stories that vary from cute cheese dates to ass-blowing. So if you’re into either of those things, drop everything, I SAID EVERYTHING, and run to the play button cause this is an episode you won't want to miss.
Follow @wellnowwhatpodcast
I am joined by Shannon Burns -- Radio, Interview & Podcast Host extraordinaire. By day, she is the midday host at Virgin Radio and by night you can find her on TikTok, where does videos on the latest entertainment story, behind the scenes of being a radio host, and everything pop-culture. She's grown to over 640,000 followers on TikTok.
Loved chatting with her about all things radio. She goes in-depth about her experience getting into radio, where she sees the industry, how competitive it is, how social media helped grow her career, and any advice for anyone wanting to be in the entertainment/hosting space. We also chat about being in a long-distance relationship with her girlfriend and meeting OPRAH!
Follow @shannon
Content Creator. Creative Director. Designer. Speaker. It has been around a year since Matthew Encina began leading the freelancer life full-time. Over the past seventeen years, the LA -based creative professional had served as the creative director of Blind, a brand design strategy consultancy, and the chief content officer of The Futur, an educational platform for creative entrepreneurs. If you check out Matthew’s YouTube channel, you'll find his content to have this incredibly soothing and relaxing energy to it. His content often includes home DIY renovations, desk setups, and educational and productivity videos. Every time he posts a video, I always get so excited to watch them as does his audience. His channel hit a double milestone: Matthew has now uploaded over 25 videos and garnered over 25 million views. In this episode, Matthew talks about his upbringing and family, taking calculated risks and leaving his previous role, taking breaks and giving him space to rethink and refuel his creative energy, and we end the ep with some fun rapid-fire questions like how Anthony Bourdain is very influential in his life now and his favorite productivity products. An absolute pleasure chatting with him.
I got to interview an Iron Chef?! I am delighted to be joined by the legendary, Chef Susur Lee. Chef Susur Lee has long been an icon in the culinary world, helming 3 restaurants in Toronto, Lee, Lee Kitchen, and Kid Lee. That’s on top of serving as a celebrity judge on Chopped Canada and Masterchef Asia. With 45 years of culinary experience under his belt, Susur was lauded as one of the “Ten Chefs of the Millennium” by Food & Wine magazine. This feels like such a full-circle moment for me as I used to watch him on Master Chef with my parents when I was younger to now being able to sit here and interview him! I’ve absolutely loved his appearances on his son's (Jet Bent Lee) TikTok - where he transforms fast food into gourmet meals!
In this episode, we chat about his upbringing in Hong Kong and some of his first memories with food, moving to Canada and starting a life, Cantonese culture vs. Canadian culture, advice for young chefs getting into the industry, breaking down the hierarchy of the restaurant industry, his family and how media has affected his career and then we end the episode with some fun rapid-fire questions like the best meal he made during the pandemic!
@wellnowwhatpodcast on IG!
I am joined by Annie Macintosh! Annie is a digital content creator, lifestyle model, social media manager, and world traveller! She’s from a small island off the coast of BC, Canada. I’ve followed Annie for awhile and always loved how beautiful and authentic her content was. She originally studied and pursued a career in Psychology and quickly released it wasn’t for her, even though she put a lot of time in to it. Fell in love with content creation and photography and is now doing it part time with her 9-5 also in a similar space. In this episode, we talk about why she went into content creation and any advice she has for people starting out, balancing a full time job on top of it all, growing up in a small town, travelling the world, body image and struggling with a past eating disorder. We also end the ep with some fun rapid fire questions like: her fav local cafe (Snug Cafe) and how the Harry Potter books were a huge part of her childhood. Loved loved chatting with Annie! @annieemacintosh
The Fitbit for your Vagina?!
I am joined by the talented and inspiring Anna Lee. Anna is a technical co-founder of Lioness, a sexual wellness company that built the first and only smart vibrator that lets you see your orgasms to learn how to make them better and better. Anna was previously a mechanical engineer at Amazon, launching the Amazon Dash Button’s original concept and the Kindle Voyage Page Press Technology. She was named 2020’s Forbes 30 Under 30 as well as Paper Magazine’s Asian Women Creators You Need to Know. She is a big advocate in Lioness’s mission to expand understanding and research in sexual health and destigmatize female sexuality.I first heard her on the Asian Boss Girl podcast and knew I had to have her on.
In this episode we chat about the orgasm gap, vibrators, how the pandemic has affected sex, tracking data, how her job has affected her personal life, and we end the episode with fun rapid-fire questions such as top products she recommends in the bedroom - apart from Lioness ;)
Follow @lionesshealth
Yay! Finally putting this episode out! I actually recorded this one a while back when I first started my podcast.
Alexa is the founder and CEO of Huha Underwear and Studio Media. I absolutely love Alexa’s entrepreneurial journey and have been following her for a while.
She noticed and felt like something was missing in the undergarment industry for women - so she seized that opportunity and from there built a movement to uplift and empower women. Huha, is a line of anti-bacteria, anti-odor underwear.
More than a comfortable product, Alexa has positioned Huha as a brand that sparks conversations. In addition to their highly inclusive marketing images, the brand uses fruit as an analogy to sizes, a topic that Alexa realized was uncomfortable for many women to talk about.
Studio Media, Alexa’s marketing agency has almost tripled its revenue in the past three years, working with big brands like Jack Daniels, L’Oréal Professional, and Westin Hotels & Resorts.
So, if you're looking to learn more about starting a product business and using social media to leverage your brand - then this is the episode for you. :)
Follow @wearhuha
Follow @alexasuter
This episode was actually recorded a while back when I first started the podcast, but I'm finally releasing it!
Honestly, Bailey is one of my favorite people to follow on Instagram. Her content is extremely inspiring from a creator/marketer perspective, but also I love how honest and real she is on social. She's not afraid to talk about her insecurities, whether that has to do about relationships, loneliness, or body confidence.
Bailey is Vancouver-born and raised. She describes herself as a huge animal lover, and while she hates labels, she's 99% vegan. Her job title ranges from entrepreneur to influencer to podcaster. Her day-to-day consists of snuggling her blind-in-one-eye Boston Terrier, Banks, working with brands of all sizes via her creative media agency PLAY Digital (they help brands with social media management, content creation, influencer marketing, graphic design, gif design, etc.), to recording podcasts for What Day Is It? (they've had guests like Jillian Harris, Kaitlyn Bristowe, The Birds Papaya, Lauryn Bosstick, etc.).
She is also the founder of Shop State of Grace and co-founded PIPERWEST Watches. On top of this, two of the companies she founded she did by the age of 25! In this interview, we talk about authenticity, friendship, starting three companies, and business advice.
Follow @baileyjst
Follow @wellnowwhatpodcast
Hi friends!! It's my birthdaaaaay! Blessing you all with a short but sweet episode about 25 things I learned by 25 years old. Hopefully I can spread a little wisdom. ;)
Hope everyone had a great New Year! New interviews to come :) xo
Sav
I am joined with Monica Scaglione & Nicole Bento - Hosts of the TGIM Podcast and part of the Monday Girl team. Founded by Rachel Wong & Istiana Bestari, Monday Girl is Canada's first career platform for women. Where women can connect with mentors and other females looking to advance their careers. In her 9-5, Monica is in Business Development at Salesforce and is the Editorial Director at MG. Nicole is a Senior Business Analyst in the Financial Crimes Unit and is the Digital Director at Monday Girl.
I loved chatting with them both today about all things Monday Girl from starting their careers, balancing their 9-5's with MG, where to get started with networking, how to land a job, resume building, podcasting, stepping outside of your comfort zone, and where they hope to see Monday Girl in the future. We also end the episode with some fun rapid-fire questions like what their actual morning routine is, the worst dates they've been on, and their favorite things about each other.
I love the MG platform and highly recommend checking it out!!
Follow Monday Girl
I am joined by the talented Taylor Michael Burk. Taylor is a professional photographer and accomplished outdoorsman who specializes in adventure travel work with a focus on landscapes and activity-based lifestyle imagery. He creates impactful images that ignite a passion in his audiences to get outside, travel, and gain a better understanding of the natural world around them. With an international audience of nearly 400 thousand followers on Instagram, he has worked with brands, advertising agencies, and tourism boards around the world to create engaging, commercial-quality content. I came across his Instagram page from a friend of mines, and I loved his approach and the natural feel his images had. The images didn't try too hard and felt really authentic. Each image truly tells a story.
In this episode, we chat about how he started as a plumber to now a professional photographer, gaining a large number of followers, losing inspiration, finding tranquility & appreciating the importance of slowing down (especially during COVID), most memorable travel experiences, what he enjoys the most about photography and what most people don't know about him.
Taylor actually has an online course/workshop on landscape photography. He was kind enough to give my listeners 35% off! Use code "OHCANADATMB" at checkout. Check it out at taylorburk.com
I am joined by the wonderful Zakia Karmal. Zakia is a 23 years old and is from Vancouver. We actually danced together back in the day! She is a recovering alcoholic and addict, but more than that she is a daughter, a friend, a student, and a partner. She struggled for upwards of 6 years with alcoholism, addiction and an eating disorder and she is here to share her story of what it was like and how she got help to get to where she is today. As well as she’d like to share some awareness of what addiction does to a person and their family to those who have experienced it. She hopes that by sharing some part of her story, it'll help someone struggling and give them hope.
I was SO honored that Zakia trusted me to share her story and to use my platform to help others struggling. This is at the top of one of my favorite episodes that I've recorded. THANK YOU ZAKIA - you are an angel.
In this episode, we chat about her story with addiction, going to rehab, seeking help, what others/loved ones can do with someone that is struggling, how she stays grounded and how she consistently works on herself every day. Highly highly recommend listening to her story and sharing it.
Follow @wellnowwhatpodcast
Follow Zakia on TikTok @kiakarmal
I am joined by Sisley Killam. She is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Acne Coach and Health & Wellness Blogger. She shares her love for nutrition and wellbeing on her Instagram page, The Pure Life. She's also from Vancouver and I absolutely love her recipes and content!
Besides creating beauty food recipes and content for her readers on the daily, she has hosted many workshops, co-hosted retreats and runs her own online nutrition coaching business where she helps women clear their acne.
In today's episode, we chat about holistic nutrition, the misconceptions online about nutrition, the difference between dietician, nutritionist & holistic nutritionist, biggest causes of acne, birth control, starting a business, traveling the world, and building an online brand.
This is the perfect episode for you if you're interested in holistic nutrition, starting a social media presence or if you've struggled with acne.
I am joined with Jake Thiel & Phil Berna - also known as Snake and Goose. They are Canadian Men Rugby Sevens Players and both played in the Tokyo Olympics this year. They also have their own podcast: Snake & Goose the Podcast. I’ve had a few athletes on the pod and I always find it so fun to get to hear their stories and learn more about it - I really don’t know much about rugby as a profession, but Jake and Phil shared really good insight into what it's really like to be an athlete, from payment, brand sponsorships, the rigorous training & traveling. They are absolutely hilarious and I had so much fun chatting with them. They talked about how they met (spoiler: it was love at first sight), the realities of playing a sport that has physical limitations, mental health, trying to balance a social life, and building a brand for themselves. Make sure to comment on my Instagram @wellnowwhatpodcast that Jake looks like he drives a Kia Soul.
I highly recommend checking their pod if you want a good laugh! @snakeandgoosethepodcast
@Jake @Phil
Katie Ruddell is the owner and founder of the sunshine inspired café group, Kokomo Foods. Before opening the doors to Kokomo’s first location in 2017, Katie spent over 10 years working in marketing and brand strategy in Vancouver. Katie’s relationship with fresh, nourishing food is the result of a lifetime of living and travelling abroad. She became inspired by the accessibility of plant-focused food and how it brought people together, especially when paired with the sun. Years later, Katie left her dream job at lululemon to pursue her five year goal of creating that very thing for her own community. Now with three Kokomo locations, Katie serves as a brand and business guide to new entrepreneurs, sharing everything she wished she knew when she first opened Kokomo.
In this episode, we chat about leaving a "dream" corporate role, starting a business, healing herself with food, manifestation, goal setting, her fav KOKOMO meal, and where she sees the business down the line.
If you live in Vancouver - you MUST try Kokomo. I love the burgers, macro bowl, and hot chocolate!
Follow @heykokomo
Follow @katieruddell
I am joined by the lovely Devon Brooks. She co-founded Blo, the world’s first and largest franchise chain of Blow Dry Bars. Born from her second-year university project, the company spans four countries, with 90+ locations, and has collaborated with international mega-brands like Mattel, Guess, Topshop and Gwenyth Paltrow. The genius Blo concept sparked what quickly became the fastest-growing category in the beauty business.
PROFIT Magazine named her 1 of the 30 most fabulous entrepreneurs in Canada and was awarded Business in Vancouver’s 2017 ‘Top Forty Under 40’.
She’s built a reputation for herself by challenging the status quo. After a decade of supporting hundreds of creatives, professionals, start-ups, and Founders in articulating and realizing their goals, she has set her sights on disrupting the personal development landscape. Her newest venture, Sphere, is a first-to-market technology enhancing the experience of personal coaching, by transforming the way Guidance is accessed and delivered. The revolutionary platform, powered by smart technology, unites a global ecosystem of Seekers to the best-fit Guides for them and facilitates the sessions end to end. Sphere makes the experience of personal coaching customized, convenient, and totally approachable. Because, for Devon, growth is the only goal.
In this episode, we chat about her childhood upbringing and how that shaped who she is today, what is coaching, the lack of accessibility and knowledge on coaching, having mentors in all facets of life, what to look for in a coach, what she's passionate about, being a mom, and then we end the episode with some fun rapid-fire questions!
Follow @devsdevelopment
Follow @sphere.guide
Download Sphere
Follow @wellnowwhatpodcast
I am joined by the inspiring Kristie Elliot. Kristie is currently a 21-year-old student at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. She is also on the SFU Football team and is the 1st Canadian woman to play & score in an NCAA football team. Her story is kind of funny on how she joined the team. It started with a $40 bet with an SFU football player that entailed her kicking a 40-yard field goal. She was on the track team, but never kicked a football before, that didn’t stop her and she was able to make it and take video footage of it. From there she got messages from the other guys on the team and eventually got in touch with the head coach.
We chat about her journey joining a team of 80+ men, facing adversity as the only female on the team, falling in love with Football, how she balances friends, football, and school, body confidence & dating. Such a fun episode!
Follow @kristie.elliott
Follow @wellnowwhatpodcast
Ann is a 23-year-old Filipina-Polish Canadian inventor, global keynote speaker, and aspiring writer. She is best known for her invention of the Hollow Flashlight, a flashlight that runs off the heat of the human hand, and the eDrink, a coffee mug that harvests the excess heat of your hot drink and converts it into electricity to charge your phone. Ann has given 5 TEDx talks, is one of Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30, Times Magazine’s 30 Under 30 World Changers, Entrepreneur Magazine’s Young Millionaires, and Glamour Magazine’s College Women of the Year. She recently completed her work on a line of children's toys that run off of green energy. She’s also been on Jimmy Fallon and did a campaign with Miley Cyrus.
In this episode, we focus a lot on cultural identity, the effects of social media as a young female, mental health and the power of saying no, what success looks like for her, and where she hopes to see her career. We also end the ep with some fun rapid-fire questions like her favorite movie, what she dislikes about her job, and 3 most influential people in her life.
Follow @annmakosinski
I am joined by the incredible Massimo Buster Minale! Massimo is the Founder of Buster + Punch, a London-born home fashion label. He is an architect and an industrial designer with a passion for motorcycles, metalwork, and music. At Buster + Punch they work with rare, solid materials to make extraordinary items for everyday use. It all started in a garage in East London where Massimo discovered a passion for making the things we love. He's sold bikes to a number of the Rolling Stones, George Cloney and Alexander McQueen. From lighting and hardware to custom motorcycles and whisky bars. Today they make the unexpected and elegant interior products for those who want to live with conviction. Massimo is inspired by London’s fashion, music, and sub-culture scenes, where he collaborates with street artists, bike builders, musicians, and fashion designers to inject attitude into his crafted products.
In this episode, we chat about his life working in a more corporate role and realizing the moment that it wasn't the path for him, his passion for building and creating, starting Buster + Punch, where he gets his creative inspiration, knowing exactly what people want in their homes/design-wise before they even know themselves, being in a leadership role, and the power of generation z and social media. We also end the episode with some fun rapid-fire questions like his biggest pet peeve when it comes to design, anything he would change about his current home, and 3 most influential people in his life.
@busterandpunch
@massimobusterminale
I had the honor of interviewing Maya Grossman earlier this year. I've been following her #LinkedIn posts for a while and really admired how honest and open she was about not only her career journey but also her personal life experiences that have shaped who she is today.
If you don't know who Maya is, she is a marketing executive with fifteen years of experience taking products to market and driving growth for Fortune 500 companies like Microsoft and Google, as well as fast-growing startups. She is a speaker, a career coach, and the author of Invaluable: Master the Skills You Need to Skyrocket Your Career, an unconventional business book for employees who want to deliver exceptional results.
In this episode, we chat about the most valuable skills for your career for the long haul. So don’t just listen to this episode if you need a job tomorrow. Listen to it if you’re someone who wants to put in hard work and use these skills along the way. At the time of recording this episode, I was still in a corporate role and her advice really made me make the jump to my new role!
Connect with Maya on LinkedIn
Zubin Thakkar is a platinum-selling producer, engineer, songwriter, musical director, and guitarist from Kitchener-Waterloo, Canada. His list of credits includes Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, Taylor Swift, Tyler Shaw, Kira Isabella, and many more.
Since 2015, Zubin has been the Musical Director and lead guitarist for Grammy-nominated artist, Shawn Mendes. In this role, he has put together performances for and played on Saturday Night Live, The Grammy Awards, The Tonight Show – Starring Jimmy Fallon, The American Music Awards, The Ellen Show, X-Factor, The Much Music Video Awards, The MTV Video Awards. He’s also played with the likes of John Mayer, Ed Sheeran, Miley Cyrus.
The Billboard Awards as well as sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden, the Rogers Centre, the O2 and Wembley Stadium in London, and the Staples Center. Heʼs also toured the world with Shawn playing and musically directing his three sold-out, headlining tours, the most recent being “Shawn Mendes: The Tour”.
In this episode, we talk about his childhood in Ontario, his love and passion for music, meeting Shawn, performing all over the world and we end the episode with some fun rapid-fire questions.
Follow @zubin_t
Andrea Barber is the founder and creator of the online and on-demand movement platform A Few Fun Moves.
A Few Fun Moves is a collection of workouts, exercises, and lifestyle support to help you maintain a fun relationship with movement, your body, and yourself.
Born and raised in Vancouver BC and Growing up competing in high-level competitive sport. Andrea has always had a curiosity for movement and sport-related injuries.
As an introvert attempting to thrive in an extrovert's roll as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor for the past 8 years, the burnout was becoming pretty real. The shift to all online because of Covid couldn't have come at a better time and was a true blessing in disguise. From this, AFFM was born on October 1st 2020.
Starting AFFM was something she somewhat selfishly started for herself as means to hold herself accountable to always moving her body for herself, when and how it feels right. Hoping that along the way she could inspire others to do the same. Her relationship with exercise has been a complicated and complex one. But fast forward to today, she can confidently say it looks and feels a lot different than it has in the past. All thanks to the AFFM community.
Andrea and the AFFM community is on a mission to help people to reframe their relationship with movement and get more people having fun while moving their bodies. Because sometimes all it takes is just 'A Few Fun Moves'.
Follow @afewfunmoves
Try it out: https://www.afewfunmoves.com/
Follow @wellnowwhatpodcast
I am joined by the lovely Eman Osman! Eman's podcast "Twenty-Something" actually inspired me to start my own! I absolutely loved our convo and how genuine and open she was about all things post-grad, work, life, and confidence. We recorded the episode a while back when she was working as the Influencer Lead at Blume, but she recently switched roles to work in internal communication at Earls.
We chat all about what did she post-grad, starting a podcast and then closing that chapter, working for a startup, what shes passionate about, what she does when she has down days and how she gets out of the funk, and of course, we end the episode with some fun rapid-fire questions.
Follow @emanosmann
Follow @wellnowwhatpodcast
I’m joined by the one and only, Drew Tarves - also known by his stage name Young Friend. Drew is from Vancouver and is an amazing singer & songwriter. I’m a huge fan of his music (seriously obsessed) and really enjoyed our chat. If you haven’t listened to his songs yet… what are you doing?!
In this episode, we chat about his journey with music and how it actually started off with dance, going into the industry a little “late”, his songwriting process, therapy & mental health, how he measures his success as a musician, and where he hopes to see his career in the future. We also end the episode with a few rapid fire questions like his current fav song, his ideal date AND skydiving lol! Can't wait to hear what you guys think!
Follow Drew @itsyoungfriend
Listen to Young Friend here
Follow @wellnowwhatpodcast
I am joined by the beautiful Natalie Ludwig! Natalie is many things, but she’s is mostly a fashion model and the co-founder of Conscious Co. The one-stop shop for the leading sustainable household and self-care products. Natalie has also modeled for so many incredible brands and magazines. I was so excited to chat with her because she’s also a fellow Vancouver gal. She also did her undergrad at Dartmouth and her Masters at USC.
I absolutely loved chatting with her, she's so genuine and sweet. We talk about how she got discovered with modeling, traveling the world for work, burning out, and learning to take breaks and focus on her mental health, what sustainability means to her, and everything Conscious Co. Of course, we end the episode with some fun-rapid fire questions.
Follow @co.conscious and @natalielud
Hope you enjoy :)
@wellnowwhatpodcast
FUNNY DATE STORIES ARE BACK! I had so much fun reading your stories back on Valentine's Day that I had to do another episode with my lovely friend, Mac Ford.
In the first half of the episode, Mac and I catch up, we talk all about relationships, specifically relationships with friends, yourself, family, and dating. I had such an amazing time chatting with her. She gives really great advice on treating your relationship with friends as you would in a relationship, learning to set boundaries with yourself, dating after a bad breakup.
The second half around 15 mins in, we read your funny date stories. Seriously, these are way too funny.
Follow me on @wellnowpodcast and let me know which one of the stories was your fav!
OK, WHAT! I got to interview the one and only, JP SAXE! This was definitely one of those pinch-me moments. I've loved listening to JP for as long as I can remember - so I'm a huge fan of his. You may have heard his Grammy-nominated song If The World Was Ending featuring his girlfriend, Julia Michaels.
JP recently won the Juno award for breakthrough artist of the year - so incredible!!
As I've said before, I absolutely love interviewing musicians, I really find the industry so fascinating and I feel as though many people don't know too much about it.
In this episode, we chat about his childhood and the moment he found out he could actually sing, we go into detail about his singing career and how he started off playing shows in Toronto, tips he has for aspiring musicians, he also goes over his songwriting process and how he collaborates with other artists like Lennon Stella. We also chat about his upcoming album and tour! Finally, we end the episode with some fun rapid-fire questions like his ideal date spot and what his intro song would be if he were in a movie.
His newest album, Dangerous Levels of Introspection comes out June 25th! Check it out here.
Follow @JPSAXE
Follow @wellnowwhatpodcast
I am joined by Sam Wong, also known as Samantha City. Sam is a digital creator, mostly known for her relationship videos on TikTok. She is also the Content Product Specialist at Lululemon!
We chat about her life post grad and hustling to get her foot in the door for a Lululemon head office position, starting her TikTok career, how she found success in her relationship, advice she has for people struggling to be alone, and then we end the episode with some fun rapid-fire questions. Sam was so lovely and I love supporting local Vancouver creators.
Make sure to check out her videos @samcity_ and @samcity_ on IG!
Follow @wellnowwhatpodcast
I am joined by the wonderful Sophie Coleman.
Sophie is the marketing director at 437 - a women's swim and apparel company founded in Toronto. 437 is founded by two female co-founders, Hyla and Adrien They launched 437 after a summer of travelling across the Amalfi Coast and indulging in everything their hearts desired. The one issue they faced: finding swimwear that could keep up with their craving for adventure and carbs. The two set out to design a bikini that would accentuate their waist, elongate their legs and never stop them from grabbing that second serving of spaghetti bolognese. They launched the brand in the summer of 2017 out of the townhouse they lived in during their last year of university and the company has now grown to a multi-million dollar business. PLUS all it's an all-female team from the ages of 20-26 years old!
Some of her previous roles include working at Saje Natural Wellness and Aritzia, and she has worked on campaigns with people like Kendall Jenner, Megan thee Stallion, and Kaitlyn Bristowe.
In this episode, we chat about her childhood and her super cool and talented family, graduating from school and feeling lost, changing roles and working at several really large companies and what her day to day looks like as a marketing director for a small team. Absolutely loved chatting with Sophie today and really enjoyed her enthusiasm and passion for helping other young females.
Follow @Sophiefcoleman and @437
Follow @wellnowwhatpodcast
Omg! So excited for you all to listen! Joss is the BEST and is so cool.
Founder and CEO, Joss Richard is an Emmy Award-winning Producer who was born and raised in Toronto where she worked as a Television Producer before moving to Los Angeles. At the age of 28, Joss has won a Daytime Emmy Award and worked at Netflix, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and The Walt Disney Company creating digital content and managing their content strategy.
Joss has pivoted to the entrepreneurial world when she realized there was a gap in women’s access to mentorship and that women struggle with asking to be compensated for their time and knowledge.
That's when she founded Margot. Margot is an inclusive online network that helps women and gender-marginalized individuals find mentors in all industries, provides 1:1 virtual time with them, and normalize women being compensated for their knowledge.
In this episode, we talk about her life in Toronto and moving to LA for work, working for large companies such as Ellen, Netflix and her current role at Walt Disney. We also dive into her entrepreneurial journey and starting Margot. We also end the episode with some fun rapid-fire questions like her current obsessions and what most people don't know about her.
Check out Margot and follow them on IG.
Follow @wellnowwhatpodcast
AH SO EXCITED for you all to hear today's guest. Ben Kieleskinski is many things but is mainly a digital creator, entrepreneur, and explorer. Ben is theowner of clothing brand Widly Apparel and is a Tik Tok creator mostly known for his adventurous solo exploration videos. He's grown his community to over 1.4 million followers on Tik Tok. His videos reach millions of views, his most popular hiking video has over 14 million views. Ben’s also from Vancouver and a lot of his videos are him hiking in Vancouver, going on camping trips, fixing old overalls, or writing to his pen pal. Overall a mix of different exploring and creating videos, but the message is always so positive and inspiring. Personally, I know Ben’s made me want to explore my own city more and really appreciate how beautiful of a place we live in.
I absolutely LOVE his videos, they always bring a smile to my face and I know others all over the world appreciate his videos so much.
In today's episode, we talk about his childhood and growing up doing a lot of solo traveling, biking New Zealand, his post-grad struggles and figuring out what he wanted to do with his life, learning to love to be by himself, and the ins and outs of his video creation and how he feels about growing a huge audience. We also end the episode with some fun rapid fire questions such as his absolute favourite spots in Vancouver, what's on his bucket list and what most people don't know about him. Hope you enjoy :)
Watch Ben's videos!
Follow @wellnowwhatpodcast on IG!
Thanks for supporting :)
If you know me then you know I’m OBSESSED WITH The Vampire Diaries and the spin-off show The Originals. Today’s guest actually got to work on both shows! She used to write the VD recap’s after every episode and was a writer & producer on The Originals.
Carina Mackenzie is a TV writer, producer, and show runner. She is most known for writing for The Flash & The Originals as well as is the creator of the CW show, Roswell New Mexico.
Carina is such a powerhouse and her writing journey is absolutely incredible. She shares about all the ups and downs of being the industry - as it is quite difficult to “make it” as a TV writer. She also does give some great advice and tips on how to succeed and network and really encourages young writers to utilize their social media presence to connect with others in the industry. She notes that there is a lot of work to be done in terms of diversity and inclusiveness in the industry, but there are conversations slowly happening! Carina is super transparent about her journey in this episode and I really appreciated her honesty. We also end the ep with some fun rapid-fire questions! Hope you enjoy!
Carina on IG
Follow @wellnowwhatpodcast
I am joined by Cameron Field! Cameron is a dancer, actor & digital creator. You may recognize him on social media by his amazing fashion sense, delicious food account, or youtube videos with his best friend, Maddie Ziegler.
He is 20 years old and is originally from Australia but is now living in Vancouver, Canada to pursue his dancing and acting career. I absolutely love his work and I'm obsessed with his food page.
Cameron has traveled and lived all over from Australia to LA to Ottawa and now Vancouver. We really go in-depth about his experience living in other countries at such a young age, feeling lonely and what he does when he feels down, where he hopes to see his acting & dancing career, and how making new friends in a city can be extremely difficult as well as finding his confidence. We also end the episode with some fun rapid-fire questions like his fav vegan restaurants, his ideal morning routine, and his current fav items at the moment. Cameron is so lovely and I had a lot of fun learning more about him!
Follow Cameron! Follow his food IG @fieldsfeeds
@wellnowwhatpodcast on IG.
Wonder what it's like to be a Tiktok Star or how people actually make a living off of Tiktok?
This week's guest is Lydia Keating. Lydia is an LA-based writer, performer, and digital creator.
Her writing has appeared in the LA Weekly, NPR member station: WCAI, and, most prestigiously, on her own personal Instagram page (@lydialoo12). She is also a former DIV 1 Rower from Yale University. This girl is EDUCATED, FUNNY & ATHLETIC.
One of Lydia's first videos that I found on Tiktok was vlog-style video where she prepping to run a marathon and she took her audience with her through each step of the way. She often posts storytimes, vlogs, fit checks, and running videos. She's amassed over 1.1 million followers on Tiktok and has created a huge community of followers as she likes to call them, "fruit gang". I'm obsessed with her videos and love how much positivity and light she brings to the app.
In this episode, we chat about her days in college as an athlete, becoming comfortable in her own skin after transitioning from being a full-time athlete, how she got started on Tiktok, how people make money off the app, brand partnerships, tips on getting started on running, and how she's built an online business for herself.
Follow Lydia on Tiktok!
Follow Lydia on IG.
Follow @wellnowwhatpodcast on IG.
Today's guest is miss Claire Hacker. Claire is currently a psych student focusing on trauma healing and the founder of the up-and-coming brand, Okay To Rest. If you’re from Vancouver especially, you’ve definitely seen her Instagram - she creates the comfiest and most stylish sweatsuits and accessories. Launching it only in 2020, she has completely sold out of her last two capsules. She started it with the belief that no one should ever feel guilt when resting their mind, body or soul.
Within the height of what feels like a major “hustle/grind” movement that often seeks to glorify constant strain and burnout, it can be so easy to fall into a self-loathing cycle of guilt and exhaustion.
Claire is here to remind you that, especially in the height of a global pandemic, your responses to stress and uncertainty, whatever they may look like, are completely natural and VALID!
I absolutely LOVE the mission of her company and I had so much fun chatting with Claire. We talk about a range of different topics from disordered eating, the importance of rest and talking about mental health, running a business with no experience, imposter syndrome, and where she sees Okay To Rest in the future. I think we even end the episode by talking about the Twilight soundtrack hahaha. Very on brand for me. Hope you enjoy! :)
Shop Okay To Rest. Follow her on IG @okaytorest
Sponsored by MYK SILK - Use code WELLNOWWHAT15 for 15% off :) My favs are the silk pillowcases, eyemasks, and hair scrunchies!! myksilk.com
Follow me on IG @wellnowwhatpodcast
Today's guest is the incredible, Sophie Beren.
Even though I had just met Sophie, she was honestly one of the kindest and most genuine people I have met. She's such an amazing conversationalist (ha pun intended), that it truly felt like two friends talking rather than an interview.
Sophie is the Founder & CEO of The Conversationalist, the go-to destination to amplify Gen Z voices. The Conversationalist community and content platform empowers young people everywhere to have conversations that matter. Sophie was recently named "25 Under 25" by Social Entrepreneur's Magazine and “21 Womxn Entrepreneurs to Watch in 2021.” Her social impact journey began at The University of Pennsylvania where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and her Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Leadership. Sophie is dedicated to breaking open echo chambers and unifying the world, one conversation at a time.
In this episode, we talk about her journey growing up as the only Jewish person in her school in Kansas, the transition period to college, starting the conversationalist, experiencing major imposter syndrome, the effects of cancel culture, and her new platform Geneva.
JOIN The Conversationalist on Geneva!!
Follow Sophie & The Conversationalist on Instagram.
Follow the @wellnowwhatpodcast.
I feel like Nic is the person I strive to be. She's funny, creative, and can take really good care of your plants.
So, who is Nic Mercado?
Nic is currently the Director of Strategic Operations at Social House. If you're unfamiliar with Social House, it is a creative strategy group based in LA. Their mission is to replace traditional social media with cultural dialogue and memorable experiences that resonate and inspire. They bring the world’s most influential brands to life, some of their clients include, Pepsi, Playboy, 7up, Sonos, and Urban Decay.
Starting her career with Vitaminwater, she worked with brands such as Microsoft, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures and NBC Universal. Her main goal at Social House is to develop fresh creative concepts, keep up with the ever-changing social rat race, and to ultimately drive results that matter.
If you're in the marketing/social realm - this is the perfect episode for you. Nic talks about all the different kinds of paths you can go into in marketing, how to make that leap from social coordinator to strategist to then a director role, working for large corporations vs. agencies, creating viral campaigns, what it means to be resourceful, and how social media has played an impact in her personal & professional life. We then end the episode with some fun rapid-fire questions such as who are the 3 most important people in her life, what she dislikes about her job, advice she'd give to young Nic, and things that you may not know about her.
Follow @nicmercado on IG and Tiktok.
Follow @socialhouseinc on IG.
Check out my podcast IG @wellnowwhatpodcast.
Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcast! THANK YOU <3
By now you may have seen Sarah Everard’s name floating around on your social feeds. On March 3, Sarah went missing while walking home from a friend’s house. Nine days later, it was confirmed that she had been murdered, her alleged killer an active police officer. Her disappearance and the week-long search that ensued before her body was found, sent shockwaves throughout the world, sparking widespread conversations about women’s safety in 2021. I was absolutely heartbroken when I heard the news and realized what lengths we go to ensure our safety and how many other females have gone through something similar.
According to a recent poll, 80 percent of all U.K. women have been sexually harassed and in Canada, half of all Canadian women have been victims of physical or sexual violence since the age of 16. These staggering figures are but a snippet of today’s realities as women or non-binary people. Yet within conversations surrounding Sarah, victim blamers and misogynists have still found ways to take up space.
With that in mind, today I am joined by Maya Siegel.
She the Founder and Executive Director of Space to Speak, an organization dedicated to giving youth a leading voice in the sexual violence prevention movement. Under her leadership, Space to Speak helped raise over $118,000 for survivors experiencing domestic violence during COVID in 2020. In addition to her work with Space to Speak, she is also a web designer, strategy consultant, campus outreach manager, and full-time college student. Her work has been recognized in the Washington Post, HuffPost, MTV, and the NYT Upfront.
In this episode, we talk about her personal experience with sexual assault and why she started Space to Speak, realizing your worth and what you deserve, how to become a better ally to a sexual assault survivor, what men can do to better educate themselves, and how to approach intimacy after being sexually assaulted. I really valued my conversation with Maya today and I hope you learn something new. My heart goes out to all those sexual assault survivors - you're not alone.
Please seek out professional help if you're in need.
Space to speak: https://www.spacetospeak.org/
Maya: @maya.siegel
@wellnowwhatpodcast
I am joined by Ben and Mackenzie Sehl, husband-and-wife team who founded KOTN with their co-founder Rami Helali. The inception of the Toronto-based clothing brand started because three friends wanted to be able to buy wardrobe basics that didn’t affect their values (because it seemed you always had to give in to something). When they initially set out to rebuild the Egyptian cotton industry, they didn’t realize how fragmented it truly was. Nevertheless, Ben, Mackenzie and Rami have managed to create a brand of sustainable, high-quality cotton basics that are also affordable, while ultimately starting a movement that aims to improve the quality of life for the people of the Nile Delta in Egypt—including their farmers, weavers, and factory owners.
In this episode, we chat about how the two met, balancing working together 24/7, the struggles and challenges they've faced as young entrepreneurs, where they see the future of fast fashion, and why sustainability is so important to them. We also end the episode with some fun rapid-fire questions such as what they enjoy the most and what they dislike about their jobs, their fav travel spots, and their fav KOTN items.
Check out @kotn, @mackenzieyeates and @benjaminsehl
Follow my podcast IG! @wellnowwhatpodcast
Curious to know what it's REALLY like to be a successful Youtuber or how Justin built a 7 figure business at the age of 23?
I am joined once again by Justin Tse. This is our second episode together and we actually got to record this one in person which was so fun. We're also joined by Trevor Good - Justin's Business Operations Manager as well as Chris Clark - Videographer.
In this episode, we definitely do more of a deep dive into Justin's entrepreneurial and personal life. We talk about his childhood and being raised with parents with high expectations, dropping out of college, balancing working with friends, (Trevor & Chris talk about what it's like to work for Justin), how much Youtubers/Influencers usually make with brand deals, how he measures his success, do top Youtubers like David Dobrik feel lonely at the top, and where he sees the future of his business.
I can't wait for the day that I have my own studio and I'll be able to record more episodes in person!!
Follow Justin on IG @justin.tse and Youtube.com/JustinTse
Follow my podcast IG @wellnowwhatpodcast
Happy International Women's Day! What better guest to have on other than Emily O'Brien!
From being manipulated to smuggle drugs to turning her life around by starting her own business, Emily O’Brien’s story will spark inspiration in just about anyone that comes across it. While still in incarceration, the idea for a business that combines “prison and purpose” struck her. And that’s how Comeback Snacks was born. Emily’s Comeback Snacks expands far beyond just gourmet popcorn, it is more so about second chances and equal opportunities. Comeback Snacks provides reintegration opportunities and second chances for people who have difficulty finding meaningful employment opportunities when they are released from prison.
In this episode, we talk about Emily's journey from her arrest and her time incarcerated, through her entrepreneurial journey and success in developing her business. Emily sought every opportunity to grow and learn during her time incarcerated, and understands the opportunities isolation, freedom from social media, and time with yourself can provide. Tune in for her insights on isolation, coping during uncertainty and the anatomy of a comeback! And visit https://comebacksnacks.com/ to track down her delicious popcorn.
Follow the @wellnowwhatpodcast.
Follow @emz.obrien and @comebacksnacks
Leave a review on Apple Podcast and let me know what you thought. :)
This was such a cool episode for me. I absolutely LOVE The Lumineers - their music is INCREDIBLE.
Today's guest is Brandy Schultz. Brandy is the founder of Adventure Nannies. She founded Adventure Nannies after 8 years of working as a travel nanny. As the original Adventure Nanny, she went cliff diving with kids in Italy, worked on a farm in Southern France, attended Burning Man, and learned survival skills in the Rocky Mountain wilderness. Brandy’s passion for active families and dynamic visionary leadership has propelled Adventure Nannies from its infancy into the high-touch worldwide boutique nanny agency it is today.
In between Brandy’s adventures, she met an aspiring musician, Wesley Schultz, who had recently moved to town and was working as a busboy to make ends meet. They began dating and, as Brandy’s calendar filled up with families trying to hire her for upcoming trips, she saw an opportunity to launch a business and support her musician boyfriend. You may know Wesley from his amazing band, the Lumineers. (Biggest indie/folk rock band in the world).
In this episode, Brandy and I chat about her unconventional journey as an entrepreneur, building a business while being on tour, mid-way through we are joined by her husband, Wes and they talk about the crazy life of being on tour and keeping their relationship alive after 10 years, Brandy ends the episode with some advice she has for aspiring entrepreneurs. This was such a fun episode - Brandy absolutely is hilarious! I hope you enjoy :)
@wellnowwhatpodcast on IG.
Follow Brandy @brandybschultz on IG and @adventurenannies. @wesleyschultz
Sometimes in life, in order to achieve success, you have to create your own path. That rings true when it comes to the ups and downs of Hollywood. One minute your phone is ringing off the hook, then the next minute, you haven’t worked in months or years sometimes.
With that downtime, some people take the initiative and make opportunities happen. One person who definitely fits that mold is writer/director/actor Castille Landon.
Born in Florida, Castille is a graduate of Harvard University and a graduate of the Creative Writing Masters program at Oxford University where she was the only screenwriter accepted.
This amazing woman does it all and has accomplished so much at only 29 years old. The entertainment industry is known to have these big gatekeepers (top producers, casting agents, directors) to be quite established in their careers and to be a lot older. So, for her to have directed, written, and starred in numerous films as a young female is truly inspiring for other young women hoping to break into the industry.
She’s written, directed, and starred in several films such as Albion: The Enchanted Stallion, Apple of my Eye. More recently she is the writer and director of the YA thriller called Fear of Rain starring Katherine Heigl (Grey’s Anatomy), Israel Broussard, and Madison Iseman. She also just finished filming and directing the last two movies of the After series in Bulgaria. I actually had Anna Todd the writer of those series on the podcast!
In this episode, we chat about how important education is to her, the transition from actor to writer/director, being a young female director and how she is perceived in the industry, her newest movie Fear of Rain, and what is what like taking over as director for the last two AFTER movies.
Follow me on IG: @wellnowwhatpodcast.
Leave a review on Apple Podcast.
Follow Castille @castillelandon.
This was such an interesting conversation for me because prior to talking to Kenan, I knew NOTHING about marine biology or what it was like to work in the field.
I feel like most people, including myself, often think that marine biologists/ecologists lead this glamorous life, diving on distant reefs, studying exotic marine animals, and fending off sharks. ;) While some of this may be true, there are also long days, travel to sometimes inconvenient places, and frequently not enough income. Marine biology jobs are hard to get, so to be competitive, you need to plan early.
Today, I am joined with Kenan Chan. Kenan is 28 years old, born and raised in California. Kenan is a marine ecologist, scientific diver, and avid photographer. He did his undergrad at UC Santa Cruz in Marine Biology. He has experience working at US National Park Services as a diver. More recently, he was in Ireland working as a full-time marine ecologist and scientific diver.
In this episode, we talk break down what exactly marine biology and ecology is, the difficulties of securing a full-time job, some funny stories and realities of working in the field, living in the US compared to Ireland, and his passion for photography. Kenan is actually so funny and I loved how honest he was about the nature of his industry! Even if you don't plan on going in marine biology, I think this episode is super informative and light-hearted.
Kenan's photography IG (he's actually so talented) @kenanchan
Follow me on IG @wellnowwhatpodcast.
Leave a review on Apple Podcasts.
JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP!
Intimacy Coordinator? What's that?
Honestly, before watching Normal People and the hit Netflix series, Bridgerton... I had no idea what an intimacy coordinator was.
Lucky for you, I interviewed an expert in the field. I am joined by none other than Lizzy Talbot! She is the founder and Director of Intimacy for Stage and Screen - one of the first companies in the UK advocating for safe intimacy for the stage and screen. She has worked internationally across the UK, EU and the USA. Lizzy is one of the lead instructors in Intimacy Coordination and works professionally as an Intimacy Coordinator across various networks including HBO, Netflix, and Starz.
Her latest project, Bridgerton, has taken the world by storm. 82 MILLION households have watched the series and it's projected to become one of the most-watched Netflix original series. That’s crazy! Bridgerton’s highly talked about sex scenes have been on everyone’s mind, but the relatively new role of intimacy coordinatoris still largely unknown outside of the industry.
I absolutely love and binged the series within a few days. The acting, the decor, and the concept of the show were so good. The intimate scenes and chemistry between the main actors were absolutely beautiful! In this episode, we talk about the history of intimacy coordination, her transition from fight coordination to intimacy, the rules & regulations surrounding intimacy coordination, her experience working on Bridgerton, misconceptions of her industry and where she hopes to see intimacy coordination in the future. Lizzy is so lovely! I really enjoyed this one.
Leave a review on Apple Podcast Canada/ Apple USA
Lizzy's Training/Workshops.
Follow me on IG @wellnowwhatpodcast
This was such an amazing and IMPORTANT conversation!
One of the many wonderful things that I love about my podcast is that I get to learn about other people's origin stories and how they got to where they are at now, but it also serves as a platform to educate not only myself but others as well.
Sara is SO honest and open about her journey, and I really appreciated learning more about being undocumented in the United States.
Sara Mora is 24 years old and has been an immigrant rights activist since her early teens years growing up in Hillside, New Jersey. In 2014, her work supporting the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy (DACA) led her to interview the president of her home country, Costa Rica. It was then that Sara divulged her status as undocumented, an admission that caused her to go viral. Revealing her status was uncommon in her community and the country at the time and she quickly began to receive responses from peers. Many were extremely appreciative of her honesty and ability to open up the important conversation of immigrant status and rights. This surge of support prompted Sara to start Population MIC, an organization centered around providing communities with the tools necessary to tell their stories and be heard by lawmakers. Since then, Sara has taken on many roles, using her platform and her follower base (136K and counting) to push for immigration reform and support others who are undocumented in any way possible.
Sara has also been featured in OPRAH'S 8 Young Visionaries as well as Seventeen Mag's 2020 Voices of the Year.
In this episode, we talk about what it means to be undocumented to her and why she decided to speak about it publicly, the societal expectations that you will only succeed if you have a post-secondary education, the importance of rest and not feeling guilty about it, her activism work and how social media has played a large part in her career.
Ahh, this was such a PINCH ME moment. I am such a huge fan of Jennifer's and I can't wait for you all to listen!
I am joined by the one and only, Jennifer Gibgot. Jennifer is a Hollywood film producer. She's produced some of my favourite ROM COM'S of all time. Let me just name a few: All of the Step Up's including the first one with Channing Tatum, 17 Again with Zac Efron, She's all that with Rachel Leigh Cook, Usher & Paul Walker, Cheaper by the Dozen with Steve Martin, Rock of Ages with Tom Cruise, The Last Song with Liam Hemsworth and Miley Cyrus, Hairspray with John Travolta, The Pacific with Vin Diesel, and The Wedding Planner with Jennifer Lopez, Going the Distance with Drew Berrymore. She's also sister to Adam Shankman(Director), and together they started Offspring Entertainment.
Jennifer is such a strong, and powerful woman in the industry. She really brings a lot of insight and wisdom to anyone interested in entering the entertainment industry.
In this episode, we chat about how she got started, why she never doubted her abilities and why confidence played a key factor in her success, we chat about some of her favourite films shes produced, we talk about filming AFTER and her relationship with Anna Todd and the main stars (Hero & Jo), filming 2 movies during a pandemic (He's all that with Addison Rae), and the last 2 AFTER movies, and any advice she has for someone wanting to go into the industry.
Follow me on IG at @wellnowwhatpodcast.
Leave a review on Apple Podcast Canada or Apple Podcast US
Olivia Perez is a journalist, businesswoman, and entrepreneur in New York City. She is the founder and host of the Friend of a Friend podcast, a weekly talk show that deep dives into the next generation of luminaries. She's interviewed talent like Bella Hadid, Hannah Bronfman, Jen Rubio, Ross Bailey, Morgan DeBaun, Lindsay Peoples Wagner, and moderated panels for businesses like Shopify, Bumble, Hxouse, WWD, The Wing, and more.
Perez is also a contributing writer to Forbes.com, and has written for Harper’s Bazaar, Teen Vogue, and Huffington Post. A graduate of New York University’s Gallatin Program, Olivia has made her mark as an editorial and cultural archaeologist, digging up the best of the unknown to encourage her followers to push past their comfort zones and create their own trends. She's partnered with brands like Chanel, Kith, Tory Burch, Michael Kors, Nike, Calvin Klein, and as a brand ambassador for Outdoor Voices and Coach.
In 2018, Perez co-founded System of Service, a community that provides accessible and engaging service opportunities for all that strives to create impactful service experiences beyond the dollar.
In today’s episode, we chat about landing her first internship at Teen Vogue, is getting a job based on who you know or is it based on your resume, navigating the uncertainty post-grad, starting her own business and platform, starting Friend of a Friend while in college, and pivoting her business into a podcast.
This episode is sponsored by Fig Face. Book in a facial at figface.com
Follow Olivia at: @livvperez.
The new year is finally here, and along with it often comes the onslaught of messaging that you should work out harder, eat differently, and make yourself smaller in 2021. You know the drill: new year, new you. But why does it feel like that messaging applies exclusively to weight and size?
To be clear, wanting to work out or eat more vegetables are not bad resolutions. They're just not the only resolutions that you can make going into 2021.
Your body, you know, the one that just got you through a traumatic and unprecedented nine months, deserves to spend the next 12 doing what makes it feel good: inside and out.
So, what better way to start off the new year than with an honest conversation about the struggles and realities of disordered eating with my lovely friend, Nat Kunz. Nat and I danced together in high school and she is currently a fitness instructor.
Last year, I opened up about my own struggles with disordered eating, and even though it was extremely terrifying to open up about it publicly, I'm so glad I did it because so many others have reached out to me, telling me they've gone through it themselves or have seen a loved one go through it. It can be daunting to share something so personal, but the best way to face those fears is the talk about it because chances are, someone else has gone through the same thing. I'm so glad Nat reached out to me and I'm so proud of her for talking about her experience with disordered eating so openly.
Today, we talk about her journey struggling with disordered eating in high school and as a young adult, how she learned to love and accept her body, the positives of weight gain, PCOS and period troubles, and any advice she has for others going through it.
Please note: we are NOT medical professionals by any means, so if you require any medical attention or advice, please ask your doctor. :)
I really hope you enjoy this one!
Find Nat @natkunz on IG.
I thought it would be fun to end the year with a fun episode! Please note that we do swear and talk about mature content in this episode.
I am joined by my college roommates, Veronica, Rose, Morgan & Caroline. We all lived together for over 3 years. These gals were so instrumental in making my college experience so memorable, and honestly, if it wasn't for them, I know I wouldn't have enjoyed my university experience as much. Living all together was seriously the dream - imagine a never-ending sleepover with your best friends.
We are all at different points in our lives and career, so I thought hearing their individual perspectives about post-grad life would benefit a lot of people out there. In this episode, we chat about the biggest post-grad struggles, finding a job, relationships, and dating in college and during a pandemic, advice we would give to our younger selves and we end the episode with some fun rapid questions. I hope you enjoy it!
Follow me on Instagram @wellnowwhatpodcast. I'll be doing a T-SHIRT MERCH GIVEAWAY this week!
PLEASE leave a review on Apple Podcast!! It truly helps!
Nadya Okamoto is a 22-year-old Harvard student. In early 2020, Okamoto co-founded August, a lifestyle brand working to reimagine periods. As the Today Show describes, “August is a growing online community aiming to "re-imagine and redefine the period experience to be powerful and dignified," with members who engage in conversations about how to properly use menstrual cups or what it's like to be a transgender man having a period, for example.”
Nadya is also the Founder of PERIOD (period.org), an organization fighting to end period poverty and stigma that she founded at the age of 16. Under her leadership as Executive Director for five years, PERIOD addressed over 1.5 million periods and registered over 800 campus chapters in all 50 states and 50 other countries. In 2017, Nadya ran for public office in Cambridge, MA at age 19 — at the time, becoming the youngest Asian American to run.
In 2018, Nadya published her debut book, Period Power: A Manifesto for the Menstrual Movement. She has been recognized on the lists of Forbes 30 under 30, Bloomberg 50 “Ones to Watch” and People Magazine's Women Changing the World.
In this episode we chat about her experience with trauma and PTSD, dealing with backlash and being "canceled", holding herself accountable and finding her identity, and why she is so passionate about ending period poverty.
This episode is sponsored by Natures Path. Visit https://www.naturespath.com/
BUY WELL NOW WHAT PODCAST MERCH HERE. or Visit wellnowwhatpodcast.com
Mike Sleath is a drummer and percussionist, who’s energy, creativity and style has seen him perform all over the world on some of the biggest stages. After spending over a decade globetrotting with an array of different established artists, Mike has found a home in the last 5 years as the full time touring drummer for Grammy-nominated artist, Shawn Mendes.
He’s also played alongside many more amazing artists like John Mayer, Miley Cyrus, Camila Cabello, Khalid, and Zedd to name a few, Mike has made a name for himself on the world stage.
This is my first time interviewing a musician on the podcast, and although I’m no a musician myself, I truly respect the talent and dedication that Mike has. I think he’s going to offer a really great perspective on the music industry and his success wasn’t overnight, it definitely took a lot of years of practice and determination to get to where he’s at today.
In this episode, we chat about how he started playing the drums, facing rejection from Humber College 3 times, meeting Shawn and playing for him the first time, how he prepares himself mentally for high-pressure situations like the Grammys and Jimmy Fallon, his setup, advice he has for young musicians, and some of his favorite songs he likes to play.
This episode is sponsored by Natures Path. Visit https://www.naturespath.com/
Check out my friend, Liam's music here.
Today's guest is the wonderful and inspiring Mackenzie Rigg. Mackenzie and I shared a few classes together during our business degree at the University of Victoria. When he wasn't busy pitching business ideas or attending case competitions, Mackenzie played 5 years on the Vikes Soccer team and was captain from 2018-2019.
Unfortunately, Mack was diagnosed this July with brain cancer, officially known as Astrocytoma Grade IV. When I first heard the news, it broke my heart and I know everyone around him was just in complete utter shock. It was so saddening to hear, but Mack has really made light of the situation and is an inspiration for us all. His girlfriend and some of his close friends have set up a fundraiser for brain cancer research. The fundraiser, called Vikes Kick Cancer, saw members of the men’s and women’s soccer teams at UVic participate in a 270 KM relay at the end of November. So far, the fundraiser has raised over $70,000, far surpassing its initial goal of $10,000.
In this episode, we talk about how he first found out about his diagnosis and his initial reaction, how he told his loved ones, what he's been up to, and the Vikes Kick Cancer Fundraiser.
Please check out the Vikes Kick Cancer fundraiser and donate if you can. I hope you enjoy this episode!
What if I told you that you could achieve greater success and more money in your career in less time? Well, today’s guest, Max Altschuler is on a mission to help other millennials navigate their careers through promotion pathing and learning the skills necessary to capitalize on the short term while thinking long term.
Max is the founder and CEO of Sales Hacker, the leading community for the next generation of sales professionals. He’s the author of Hacking Sales, Sales Engagement, and Career Hacking For Millennials.
Max is redefining what it means to build a successful career. When most people were busy trying to land internships in college, Max got his school to agree to pilot one of the earliest bike sharing programs. When that business failed to raise the necessary funds to get off the ground and Max found himself without a job as he graduated into one of the worst economies of the century, he started a social media consultancy that generated revenue within its first 30 days.
After that, Max launched Sales Hacker and became a self-made millionaire by the age of 30, forever changing how he thinks people should approach their careers.
In this episode we talk about the importance of sales in any career path, how we can increase diversity in the sales industry, the absolute yes’s and no’s when it comes to pitching, and how anyone can go into sales without an extensive background and still become successful.
Follow Max: https://maxalts.com/
Buy his books here: https://www.amazon.ca/Career-Hacking-Millennials-How-Built-ebook/dp/B07BTDMYY3
This episode is sponsored by Fig Face. Book in a facial or check out their products here: https://figface.com/
This may be one of my favourite episodes to date. I am joined by my lovely sister, Arielle.
Arielle's journey and life has been anything but ordinary to say the least. As her younger sister, I've always admired her courage and determination. Seriously, if you tell her that she can’t do something - she’ll prove it to you in no time and probably succeed even further. During university, she studied at McGill in Cell Biology and Anatomy AND was a professional dancer at the same time. She then decided to pursue a Masters in Human Nutrition in Denmark and now is in Med School in Ireland. Incredible, right?
In this episode, we chat about picking up her life and starting over... TWICE, how she dealt with moving to a foreign country on her own, the importance of embracing a culture when you travel, loneliness during a pandemic, and her future plans. I hope you enjoy this one!
This episode is sponsored by Nude Beverages. Check them out at https://nudebeverages.com/
Today, I interview not 1, not 2, but 3 specials guests! Lucie Quinlan, Paige Thompson, and Cameron Macintyre are the founders of Maggie Zine. Maggie is a Toronto-based, online and print publication aiming to redefine what it means to be ladylike by sharing stories of feminine power. Their goal is to create a community where people can engage in complex and curious discussions about how feminist issues impact everyone, uniquely yet unequivocally.
Founded in October of 2019, Maggie’s online presence reaches hundreds of readers each month. In November of 2019, they released their first print zine, Maggie 01. Maggie 02: Evolving is available now!
They have articles that range from eating disorders and food insecurity to miscarriages to finding love after a sexual assault.
In this episode, we talk about how they all met and founded Maggie in University. The realities of working with your best friends, how much maggie as grown in the past year, the ins and outs of publishing an article and printing a magazine and the future of Maggie.
This episode is sponsored by Nude Beverages. Find them at nudebeverages.com
How do I actually make meaningful connections on LinkedIn? How do I stand out from thousands of candidates applying to my dream job? How do own my weaknesses during an interview? Do employers actually look at my social profiles?
Today's guest - Emily Murgatroyd McCann, answers all your burning questions about connecting online and job searching.
Emily is the founding partner at ivy group, the newly created brand from the completed merger of Talent&Culture and Headway Search Group. Ivy was founded by a group of inspired women who wanted to provide an upgrade to a dusty, aging industry by providing progressive, professional search solutions. They celebrate the diversity of talent that presents outside of the 'usual networks'. Emily has been in search for over a decade having come directly from industry working in sales, marketing and corporate development positions.
As many of us are either new grads, or looking for a change of careers or recently let go because of COVID, the Well, Now What?! moment is real. 2020 has changed everything and finding a job in normal circumstances can be extremely difficult and demotivating.
Emily's incredibly relatable LinkedIn posts often appear on my feed, and I'm always so inspired to see how honest and vulnerable she is on the platform. Connection lives deep in her DNA and she is on a mission to bring more trust and transparency to the world of recruitment.
I hope you enjoy this week's episode!
This episode is sponsored by Organika. Shop at : www.organika.com
Today’s guests are Lexi Christiansen and Sterling Beaumon. Lexi is a professional model and an incredible baker, seriously check out her cake decorating videos. Her boyfriend, Sterling an American actor and producer. He is known for his roles as Max Doyle in the 2008 film, Mostly Ghostly, and as young Benjamin Linus in the ABC television series, Lost. He has had guest roles in Law & Order SVU, Criminal Minds, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He is recently starring in the movie, "Don't Log Off" featuring Ariel Winter and Luke Benward.
Their love story is so cute and it’s really interesting hearing both of their perspectives about the entertainment industry. Sterling has grown up in LA and is used to being in the limelight because it’s all he's ever really known, Lexi, on the other hand, is originally from Vancouver, Canada, so she is fairly new to the whole "Hollywood World".
In this episode, we talk about how they met on Instagram, the constant rejection and physical expectations of being in the modeling industry for Lexi, what it’s really like to be a working actor and producer in LA (if it’s too easy, you’re not doing it right) if the entertainment industry is actually embracing diversity, and advice they have for those in a long-distance relationship, and meeting drake in the bathroom?! This was a really fun and light-hearted episode. I hope you enjoy it!
Sponsored by STIL. I love their GET DONE planner - perfect for someone who has a busy schedule and trying to organize it all. Check them out at: https://stilclassics.com/
I know a lot of us out there have been curious about the influencer industry or hoping to get into it. Well, today I chat with the expert about all things influencers and partnerships.
Ali Grant launched Be Social in 2012 as one of the first agencies with a focus on executing influencer outreach and collaboration. Ali recognized the power of digital creators and built a business harnessing their influence. Today, BE SOCIAL is headquartered in Downtown LA specializing in influencer, media, and events for brands and digital creators.
With Ali at the helm, Be Social has been named one of Inc.’s fastest-growing businesses spearheading digital-forward campaigns across influencers, events and editorial. Accolades and press include Fast Company, Inc., Forbes, Huffington Post, Daily Front Row, and more.
We talk about the growth of the micro influencer vs macro, what brands are looking for in partnerships, how to start as an influencer and what to say, how she measures success with her clients, and we discuss if it’s too late to become an influencer today.
Organika Health Products is a Canadian leader in quality vitamin, supplement, and functional food products. Shop Organika
Today's guest is Victoria Garrick. Victoria is a former Division I Volleyball Player, TED Talk Speaker, Social Media Influencer, and Mental Health Advocate. Since delivering her TED Talk in 2017, Victoria has become a leader in the mental health and body-image advocacy space.
After graduating from the University of Southern California in 2019, Victoria has traveled the country speaking on college campuses, hosts her hit podcast Real Pod, and creates daily content for her army of over 1.0M+ people who follow her message of authenticity and self-care on social media.
I personally really admire the work that she’s doing in particular around body image. I released an episode talking about my struggles with a past eating disorder, so it’s been really refreshing seeing her positive content out there on my feeds.
In this episode, we chat about her crazy schedule of being a college athlete and how she learned to deal with the stress, her struggles with binge eating and opening up about anxiety and depression, how she deals with expectations of having to be real all the time, and productivity tips she has as a young female entrepreneur.
WOODLOT: Premium, natural home + body basics created to inspire beauty rituals of those who value clean, natural, plant-based products. Available online shopwoodlot.com and fine natural & independent retailers.
If you’re Canadian and a Millennial or GEN Z, you’ve certainly heard of or seen NARCITY news on your social channels. Today's episode is with the CEO of Narcity Media.
Charles "Chuck" Lapointe is the co-founder and CEO of Narcity Media, an online media company and publisher that focuses on local news and travel content. Narcity Media owns and operates NARCITY.com and MTLBLOG.com.
Chuck spearheaded the Sponsored Content movement in Canada back in 2013 and continues to lead the movement in creating content that matters to millennials.
As the CEO of Narcity Media, Chuck has shaped the brand and company into the go-to source for lifestyle, local restaurants, and activity recommendations for over 8 million Canadians and 3 million Americans every month. He has a mission to connect everyone to their city, through experience and content.
In this episode, we chat about how Narcity Media doubled it’s growth in North America this past year, how he scaled his business by investing into people, the shift of interest of the new generation, his opinion on creating content that people want vs. content that pays the bills, the rise of social media influencers and how that affects his business.
This episode is sponsored by 437 Swimwear. Check them out!
ANNA TODD is the New York Times bestselling author of the After series of books, The Spring Girls, and the recent The Brightest Stars.
Always an avid reader, Todd began writing stories on her phone on Wattpad, the reading and writing multi-platform for original stories, with After becoming its most-read series with over 1.5 billion reads.
The print edition of After was published in 2014 by Simon & Schuster and has since been released in over 30 languages with more than 11 million copies sold worldwide. After has been a #1 bestseller across the globe including Italy, Germany, France and Spain. She has since written eight additional novels and serves as a producer and screenwriter on the upcoming film adaptation of After We Collided, the sequel to After.
Todd has been hailed by Cosmopolitan as "the biggest literary phenomenon of her generation." A native of Ohio Anna, her husband and son currently live in Los Angeles.
In this episode, we talk about it isn't necessary to have an academic background to be a successful writer, self-confidence and the importance of diversity in the entertainment industry, her rise to fame by gaining over 1.5 billion reads online, how she handles constant hate and negative reviews, and the process of turning her book into a movie. This was such a fun episode, definitely worth a listen.
Please leave a review on Apple Podcast!
This episode is sponsored by Nutsie - try them out: https://nutsiesnacks.com/
Listen and Recommend on Podyssey! https://podyssey.fm/podcast/itunes1498212470-Well%2C-Now-What%3F
A decision to become vegetarian at the age of 12, paved my next’s guest career path. Growing up in Tokyo, Mikoyo Schinner loved the flavourful gourmet cheeses but found herself conflicted as she as such strong compassion for animals. She eventually went vegan and set out to create one of the biggest plant-based cheese brands of all time. Miyoko first found success in 2012 with the release of her ground-breaking book ‘Artisanal vegan cheeses’ which kicked off the start of the vegan cheese revolution. From there, she set out to create it for others. Today, Miyoko’s Creamery offers all types of dairy-free cheese, including versions of cream cheese, mozzarella, and #1 product butter. Her products can be found in more than 12,000 stores throughout the USA.
Today, we talk about her cultural upbringing in Japan and her difficult transition to the United States, becoming vegan and writing her own cookbooks, launching another business in her 50s, setting expectations as a leader, and the future of generation z leaders.
Listen and Recommend on Podyssey! https://podyssey.fm/podcast/itunes1498212470-Well%2C-Now-What%3F
Arch Products: https://findyourarch.ca/
Interested in quitting your corporate job to start your freelance career? This is the episode for you!
Today's guest is the lovely Katy Bellotte! This interview is so exciting for me because I’ve been a fan of Katy’s for such a long time. I feel like I’ve known her at this point because I remember watching her high school doing makeup tutorials, then when she went off to university and then exchange, got her first job, and moved to NYC and she’s still one of my favorite Youtuber’s to this day. She now has almost half a million subscribers and a large following on her social channels. I know there are a lot of content creators out there now, and I’ve even interviewed a few on my podcast, but I believe that the content that Katy is creating is so authentic and really different from what I’ve seen out there. At only 24, it feels like she’s lived a lifetime and gives some really great advice in her videos and her podcast "Thick & Thin'.
In this episode, we talk about how she left her seemingly "dream corporate job: at L’OREAL Paris to pursue freelance, ins and outs of working for yourself and getting clients, how she got started on Youtube and her streams of income, her successful podcast, and advice she has for college students.
Listen and Recommend on Podyssey! https://podyssey.fm/podcast/itunes1498212470-Well%2C-Now-What%3F
Max Browne was the #1 football recruit in the country and offered a full-ride scholarship to USC at the age of 14. Newspaper outlets even cited him as the "next Peyton Manning." But once he began his career at USC, no one expected what would happen next especially not Max. He actually opened up about his story on his girlfriend’s Victoria’s podcast, the REALPOD, where he talked about the most devastating and painful time in his life. So “failing" as a Quarterback in College football, so not fulfilling the goals he had planned for. For people who aren’t too familiar with the sport, if you’re at the #1 recruiting spot, it’s believed that you have a real chance to play in the NFL. When I had listened to the episode, it honestly brought me to tears because you could really tell how much pain that the was in. Failing is something we all go through, it doesn't matter if you're an NCAA athlete, we all go through it in our careers and our personal life.
In today’s episode, we chat about being the #1 football recruit in the united states, “losing his job” to a younger QB, suffering a career-ending injury, starting a career in social media with no prior experience, and how football serves him in his career today.
An award-winning speaker, Jess has worked with thousands of couples from all corners of the globe to transform their relationships via her wildly successful Marriage As A Business program. From Prague and Istanbul to Albuquerque and New York City, her relationship retreats receive rave reviews from some of the most powerful couples in the world who are drawn to her enthusiastic, practical and no-nonsense approach to happily ever after.
Jess’ doctoral research focused on sexual health and relationship education and she is passionate about accessible, classroom-based education. When she isn’t globetrotting for speaking engagements, she volunteers with students, teachers and social service organizations to empower young people to embrace healthy, happy relationships.
As a global ambassador for several brands,Jess contributes regularly to the biggest names in international media. You’ll find her advice weekly in the likes of Women’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Cosmopolitan, SELF, Showtime and The Movie Network. Her insights into couples’ issues reaches millions of homes across America as the host of the hit reality series Swing, which just capped its fifth season on PlayboyTV.
In today’s episode, we chat about her doctoral research and the lack of sexual education in the school system, the challenges that come withbeing a woman of color in the public eye often discussing controversial topics, her shift in services during COVID, and what most people ask her when they need help with their relationship.
Sex with Dr. Jess Podcast
I’ve recently been really enjoying watching Selling Sunset on Netflix. I found the show very entertaining because selling real estate in the Los Angeles market can be glorious, given the area's sunny location and an abundance of the rich and famous living there. It can also be cutthroat as agents fight over clients and properties. "Selling Sunset" showcases the ups and downs of being a realtor in LA. One of my favorite realtors on the show is Maya Vander. You can tell that she really understands her client's needs and is a natural negotiator. I truly believe that the skills that realtors use to be successful in their job can apply to many other career paths out there.
In this episode, we talk about how she became a realtor in LA and in Miami, how she feels as a young woman in an industry dominated by men, the biggest challenges as a realtor during COVID, the behind the scenes and reality of filming a Netflix show, and advice she has on negotiating tough deals.
Make sure to check out Season 3 of Selling Sunset on Netflix!
I remember when I was younger, one of my favorite comic books to read was the Archie Comic Books and it happened to be my mom's favorite as a child as well. From generation to generation, everyone always loved the Archie series. When I found out that Netflix was going to release a new TV show based on the books - I knew it was going to be a hit. Released in 2017 on CW, the show Riverdale just boomed right from the beginning and has grown to a huge following all over the world. I thought it would be so great to hear from one of the actresses of the show. At only 25 years old, Tiera Skovbye already has over ten years of acting experience under her belt. Spotted by an agent while at a Vancouver children’s festival when she was 7, Tiera seemingly kind of stumbled into the field. But once opportunity knocked there was no looking back. She is most known for her role in the hit teen drama series Riverdale as Polly Copper. She has also appeared in the show Dirty John as Young Betty, Global TV's Nurses, the fantastic movie Summer of 84’ and will be appearing in the upcoming movie '2 Hearts' alongside Jacob Elordi. That’s just to name a few of her successes. I thought it would be great to hear the perspective of being a young female actress and her experience with Hollywood and the entertainment industry as a whole. In this episode, Tiera talks about how she landed her role in Riverdale, what she finds most challenging as a female actress in Hollywood, the realities of having a large social media following, how she prepares for her roles, and advice she has for young actors trying to get their foot in the door.
This week's episode is with the lovely Dr. Lisa Gunderson. Dr. Lisa began One Love Consulting in Victoria, B.C., at the end of 2012. One Love specializes in providing organizations anti-racism and equity workshops/training, consultation. Dr. Gunderson specializes in racism against persons of African ancestry (anti-black racism both in the United States and Canada). Her motivational speaking centers around the mental wellness in being unapologetically black while engaging in discussions around white fragility, power, privilege, microaggressions, bias, white supremacy, and systemic discrimination.
In this episode, we chat about her journey becoming a clinical psychologist, how she started one love consulting and how she specializes in providing organizations anti-racism and equity workshops, and we also discuss the George Floyd movement as well as the increase of her services during this difficult time. I hope you enjoy this episode!
Click here for list of resources.
Today's guest is Koa Smith. Koa is a Pro Surfer, Model, Youtuber, Business Owner, and a true role model for a lot of people out there. Born and raised in Hawaii, KOA is a three-time amateur national surf champion of America. He's traveled the world with sponsors such as Hurley, Nike, and Oakley, competing and creating content since a young age. In 2016, Koa surfed a wave in Namibia called Skeleton Bay and captured the longest barrel in surfing history. He is the current record holder of the longest barrel in history and the most barrels ridden on one wave. SO INCREDIBLE to have accomplished all that at such a young age. On top of all that - with his brothers, they co-founded the Sunrise Shack - the go-to place for healthy eats to fuel your body and soul. They now have two locations in Hawaii and in Japan and over 80K dedicated followers on Instagram. In today’s episode, we talk about his intense training routine, the ride of his life at Skeleton Bay, how he manages a business with his brothers, his brand partnerships with Hurley and Nike, and how he continues to stay motivated and positive every day to reach his goals.
NOTE: This episode was filmed back in May 2020. * This week's guest is the talented and amazing Gaby Melian. Gaby is hard to pin down with words because she’s so many things: chef, teacher, and most recently, test kitchen manager at Bon Appetit - the holy grail for test kitchen chefs. Bon Appetit is one of the biggest food magazines in the world and they also have a Youtube channel with over 6 million subscribers, often showing recipes from their test kitchen. The Buenos Aires native has an infectious energy that instantly makes you fall in love with her. A slightly-less-than-compulsive organizer with an intuitive sense of the makings of a good recipe, she’s the perfect person to keep the fast-paced test kitchen at Bon Appétit on track. In this episode, we talk about how she decided to become a chef at the age of 32, how she joined the Bon Appetit kitchen as an assistant, the process of creating a recipe and working with the entire team, and finally some of her favorite recipes. This was such a fun episode. I hope you enjoy!
I know a lot of people out there have dealt with negative body image thoughts, disordered eating, or has seen a loved one go through it. The pressures of social media can definitely create a toxic mentality of how you think you should look like. Every day, we are bombarded by health influencers telling us we should eat a certain way or work out a specific way, but in reality, everybody is different. There is no one size fits all when it comes to our health and bodies. So, today’s Guest is Ali Eberhardt. Ali is a Registered Dietician who has helped countless women ditch diet culture. She has been working in the Provincial Adult Tertiary Specialized Eating Disorders Program since 2011 . She also has her own podcast called "Let Us Eat Cake", where her and her co-host Hannah answer questions all about nutrition and disordered eating! In today’s episode, we talk about the process of becoming a registered dietician, her thoughts on health influencers, how she built her practice and how she continuously grows her client-based, why most women deal with disordered eating and top 3 skills she thinks you should have to be a successful RD. I hope this episode is helpful for anyone either interested in becoming a Registered Dietician or just curious to learn more about the industry.
Today's beautiful guest is Maripier Morin. She is a French Canadian actress, TV personality, fashion expert, and kick-ass business woman. She’s hosted her own TV show, she’s appeared in a critically acclaimed movie, she’s the face of Revlon and Buick, has her own clothing line and has over half a million followers on Instagram. What doesn’t she do? And that’s just to name a few of her successes. I absolutely love how energetic and passionate she is about all the projects that she’s has worked on. Her large following is certainly due to the fact that is she isn’t afraid to be real and honest with her audience. In today’s episode, we talk about a range of different topics. From being a reality star on Hockey Wives, being a tv host, to acting in french Canadian cinema. We also dive into her brand partnerships with top companies such as Revlon and Reebok, how she makes her income and the realities of being in the public eye, and the pressures that come with it.
Experiencing a gap in the market herself is how Lilian Umurungi-Jung built and brought Mumgry, delicious plant-based snacks using only the good stuff, to life. She is a woman who is doing the work, supporting women in their own wellness journies and cultivating a community to talk about the real stuff. In this episode, we talk about how getting laid off from her previous job was a blessing in disguise and really gave her that push to start her passion project, Mumgry. We also chat about the ins and the outs of running a business on your own, from creating the product, the marketing, competitors, and how to get your product on the shelf. She does it all on top of being a mom to a two-year-old! If you're looking for the inspiration and push to start your own business and product - this is the episode for you! Check out the Mumgry Podcast.
This week's guest is Ania B. You might have seen her beautifully created Instagram photos, where she showcases beauty, travel, and lifestyle content. What you most likely didn’t know is that Ania was an accountant for 6 years. Growing up with a family experienced in the field, accounting seemed like the obvious career path for Polish-born Ania. However, with years of modeling experience under her belt, she decided to quit number crunching and focus full-time on her fashion and lifestyle blog. The blog may have started out as a solo project with the main purpose to document daily inspiration but it has evolved into being a creative platform for both Ania Boniecka and her husband, Tyler Stalman to showcase their work, travel, and sartorial endeavors through the medium of photography and video. In this episode, we talk about how she dealt with finding a job during the 2008 crash and what advice she has for those out there still looking for jobs during this pandemic. We also chat about why she decided to pivot careers, how her accounting background still serves her today, how she makes money & her experience body dysmorphia in the modeling industry.
Today's guest is Samatha Feher. At Cosmopolitan, she serves as the Editorial Assistant and Assistant to the Editor-in-Chief (Jessica Pels). Her responsibilities include writing for the magazine, supervising the internship program, managing day-to-day workflow, and helping the team produce content for the largest young women’s media brand in the world. Most recently, she has been operating Cosmopolitan’s Instagram LIVE—booking talent, scheduling content, and developing programming for over 3.2 million followers.
To top that all off, she is also an online content creator (With over 50,000 followers), freelance consultant, and owner of an online clothing store. In this episode, we talk about how she developed a strong brand to land her dream job, what it’s really like to work for one of the largest media/magazine company's in the world. and how she balances working full time with her own online clothing company.
So, I’ve always been obsessed with Smart Sweets. For those that don’t know the product, well you should because it’s so good. It’s the first delicious candy without the sugar, free from artificial sweeteners. As a foodie myself, I was curious to know how the product was made and the story behind it. What better person to ask than the R&D and Innovation Manager aka Food Scientist at SmartSweets, Lauren Jans. So, yes Lauren is pretty much you’re modern-day Willa Wonka, or Wilma Wolka as she likes to be called. In today’s episode, we talk about the difference between food science and nutrition, how she got into the research background, what she does day to day from developing recipes to testing out the product, how powerful Smart Sweet’s mission is on the world and how much impact their customers have on their product development. Follow Smart Sweets on Instagram!
Today's guest is Conrad Flaczyk. Conrad is a knowledge and innovation lawyer at a prominent corporate law firm in Toronto. He attended law school at McGill University, where he graduated with a medal and was on the law review. He's passionate about innovation, start-ups, and small businesses,
I actually found Conrad through LinkedIn, and I really noticed how engaged he was with his network, often posting about law, law school, and the legal profession. Through his various posts, you could tell that Conrad really wants to engage with his community by encouraging everyone from students to professionals in the law field to connect and start a conversation. I have considered a law career myself, and I thought it would be beneficial for those interested in pursuing a career in law to hear Conrad’s journey as a young lawyer.
In this episode, we talk about how he got into law school, the process of securing an articling position, how he was able to balance his entrepreneurial spirit and law passion, and we debunk some of the common misconceptions of lawyers. I hope you enjoy!
Karin Bohn is a Canadian Award-winning Interior Designer, Business Woman, Speaker and YouTube Personality. After almost a decade of building her Interior Design business, House of Bohn, Karin has expanded her portfolio across the globe with a wide range of projects including commercial and multi-family work with a strong focus on luxury residential. In hopes of giving back to her community, Karin launched a self-titled YouTube channel which gives viewers a raw glimpse into her day-to-day life as an Interior Designer and Entrepreneur, offering up knowledge and advice that is not taught in school. In addition to running her busy design firm, Karin stars in the Netflix show Restaurants on the Edge, a docu-reality series dedicated to transforming restaurants around the world.
In this episode, we talk about how she dealt with imposter syndrome at the beginning of her career when she didn’t finish design school, how to negotiate and stand your ground with little experience, what she looks for when hiring an employee, and her experience working on a hit Netflix show. I hope you enjoy!
Today's guest is Kim Kaupe. She is the CEO of The Superfan Company, a fan engagement agency focused on creating one-of-a-kind products and programs for entertainers, brands, and celebrities. Since starting the company her all-female team has collaborated with A-list properties such as Oprah, The New York Mets, KISS, Shawn Mendes, ACE Comic Con, Miller Coors, and Paul McCartney. Kim has been named to Forbes 30 Under 30, Advertising Age’s 40 Under 40, and Inc.’s 35 Under 35 list while the company was hailed as a Top 30 Startup to Watch by Entrepreneur, and dubbed an “overnight success” by Inc. Magazine. She was featured on ABC’s hit primetime show, Shark Tank, securing offers from 4 out of 5 sharks and was most recently seen on Live on FOX judging the 2019 Miss USA pageant. When not working on The Superfan Company, Kim speaks on stages across the world helping employees and aspiring entrepreneurs to own their voice, take control of their careers and businesses, and to get aggressive about putting themselves first. In today’s episode, we talk about how she went from a corporate job at Conde Nast to jumping into a new venture at only 25 years old, the importance of keeping in touch with your contacts, how she landed a spot on Shark Tank, and how her business hit a million dollars in revenue within the first year. I hope you enjoy this week's episode!
So, as we are all spending more time at home, you’re probably watching more Youtube, meaning you’re seeing a lot of Youtube ads. Have you ever wondered who creates those ads? Well, today's guest actually leads the team that designs those Youtube ads.
Reena Merchant is currently on the User Experience leadership team at Google. Previously, she was Sr. User Experience Manager at Sony PlayStation and Sr. Customer Experience Manager at Citrix, leading design of the flagship product, GoToMeeting. Reena has also held the position of User Experience Manager at Rogers Communications Inc. and has managed a design team at BlackBerry. Reena is also the Founder and CEO of OurVoice, a community benefit organization dedicated to strengthening our self-esteem and authentic presence.
In this episode, you’ll find out how she learned to understand where she sat as a young woman of color in the boardrooms, where undertones of power and influence often reside and let's be honest - it doesn’t get much more powerful than the Silicon Valley offices of YouTube and Google. She also talks about her experience networking in the tech world as an introvert. I hope you enjoy this episode!
Today's amazing guest is Clio De La Llave. You may recognize Clio as Kaitlyn Bristowe’s Brand Manager. Kaitlyn was the Bachelorette in 2015 and is the host of her hilarious podcast, 'Off The Vine'. Together, they co-founded Dew Edit - a hair scrunchie company- and Spade & Sparrows Wine.
To top that all off, Clio is the President of Booje Media, a digital marketing agency that specializes in cultivating organic relationships with consumers through customized marketing campaigns that incorporate the most vital online media platforms as well as manage influencers and seek the most valuable brand partnerships and most recently is diving into the podcast industry.
In this episode, Clio and I chat about how she wears so many different hats from being a full-time Brand Manager to running a successful media agency and managing several startups. We also talk about how powerful social media influencers can be and the importance of remaining authentic, vulnerable and honest to your audience.
At only 22 years old, today’s guest has mastered the art of online networking and is closing the gap between bringing female mentors and young innovators together. Michelle Kwok is the co-founder of FLIK- The Female Laboratory of Innovative Knowledge - it is a community hub for female-identifying innovators to accelerate their career and companies. Through their female founder & apprenticeship portal, exclusive FLIK interviews, and engaged community, women are elevated to success. In this episode we talk about why she no longer decided to pursue a career in medicine, and how she was able to connect with top entrepreneurs from Nike, to Forbes under 30 leaders, and more! If you're looking for helpful tips and tricks to connecting and finding mentors online - this is the episode for you!
Today's guest is Kenzie Piper, also known as Kenzie Elizabeth. She is a lifestyle Vlogger, Digital Content Creator, and Podcaster. I actually found her through her podcast, I love you so much with Kenzie Elizabeth. Where she interviews entrepreneurs, artists, influencers, experts and thought leaders. I absolutely love her podcast and I find that she really brings a refreshing and positive outlook to a diverse range of topics from relationships, to productivity to mental health. Her podcast is signed on with Dear Media, a podcasting company founded by Micheal Bosstick, co-host of the Skinny Confidential. At only 22 years old, Kenzie has built a reputable brand for herself and has created a large community of liked minded females - all with the goal to support one another. In this episode, we talk about her journey as a young podcast host, from finding guests, to ads, and everything in between. We also discuss how she first started on Youtube and how she stays so motivated during this uncertain time. I hope you enjoy!
From dropping out of college to generating over seven figures every year with his media company, today's guest has created quite a reputation for himself at only 22 years old. Justin Tse is an internet entrepreneur and online content creator in the tech, lifestyle, and travel industry. He started his first business at the age of 13, and has since grown his channel to over half a million subscribers and over 50 million views worldwide. The core focus of his company is to create high-quality content on his social platforms including YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, while also working with consumer technology brands to inform consumers of new product releases and assist with buying decisions. In today’s episode, we talk about how he dropped out of university, the tech, and digital industry - from how he makes money to developing partnerships with top companies such as Dyson, Samsung, Amazon, Google, and Land Rover, and how he has yet to learn how to balance work and his personal life. I hope you enjoy this week's episode!
Today's guest is Christina Disler. She is the founder of Werklab and (also Editor in Chief at) The Werk. With a background in HR, Christina is passionate about disrupting the future through our relationship and approach to “work"; uncovering the interconnectedness between consciousness and work. Supporting this ideology, Werklab is a holistic wellness co-work space in Vancouver. And The Werk is an online publication which houses insights and practices from globally acclaimed subject matter experts, inspiring humans and healers. In this episode, we talk about her commitment to making a systematic change and impact on a global scale, the beauty of taking a break and slowing things down, and the future of wellness in the workplace. If you're looking for some inspiration, make sure to check out the Werk Net, it's a free online community that provides daily videos, workshops & tutorials to help you take care of yourself and your work. I hope you enjoy listening! Please subscribe and leave a review!
So, we’ve all heard of Harvard University. But, ever wonder what kind of people actually go there and what it’s like? Well, you’re in luck because today’s guest isn’t just a top student at Harvard, but also an amazing professional dancer. Jennifer Chu does it all! She has been dancing since the age of 5 and hasn’t stopped since. She’s trained in all the styles you can think of from classical ballet to hip hop, she even attended the prestigious Julliard School of Dance, and even appeared in a hit Disney movie.
Today, we talk about why she decided to pursue a post-secondary education instead of going straight into dance, and how she deals with the fear of missing out on opportunities while in school. This episode is perfect for those either deciding to attend post-secondary or even those currently in university unsure of what their future holds. Check out her incredible dance videos on Instagram @jenniferchu_
You might recognize Lauren Toyota from her TV days as a former MTV and MuchMusic Canada Host. In 2014, she launched Hot for Food as a blog to share her vegan lifestyle. Hot for Food then expanded into a Youtube Channel which now has over 470,000 subscribers and over 35 million channel views. In 2018, she authored her first vegan cookbook, Vegan Comfort Classics: 101 Recipes to feed your Face, which became an instant best seller. Currently, she is devoted to creating engaging content on her Youtube channels, and working on her second cookbook.
In this episode, we talk about her transition as a tv host to a digital content creator, what it’s like to be a woman of color in the public eye, how she successfully launched Hot for Food and grew a massive online community, and how she balances being authentically herself in her personal vlogs, while still keeping some of her life private. Check out her delicious recipes either on her blog, cookbook or Youtube channel. Seriously, they are so easy to follow and they're vegan! I hope you enjoy this week's episode.
Today’s guest is Amal Kassir- also known as Amal the Poet. At only 24 years old, she has performed in 10 countries and over 100 cities, from youth prisons to orphanages to refugee camps. Her work in the community involves humanitarian initiatives for Syria, speaking out and organizing against Islamophobia, and empowering the voice of the marginalized through writing and speaking. In this episode, we talk about how she created her own program in university, how she developed resilience as a young Muslim woman in the United States, and why people of all ages, and races are eager to hear what she has to say. Her TedxTalk "The Muslism on the AirPlane" has reached over 4 million views on Youtube. You can find her at @AmalthePoet on Instagram.
Today’s guests are Rose Wilby and Graeme Peace. Their love story began when they were both working on the Croatia Yacht Week. Rose is originally from Canada and works as a boat cook on Yacht week and Graeme is from South Africa and works as a skipper. They talk about how they got into working at Yacht Week, how their love story started, and how they are now traveling the world together. This episode is a bit different from the others I’ve recorded, as most of my guests have had their set career goals. Graeme and Rose offer a refreshing perspective of living in the moment, doing what truly makes you happy, and being completely content with the unknown. Their story is so wonderful, and for those that are looking for that friendly push to go off and travel- well, this is it. They are now starting to film the good times of their rather expensive relationship. Watch their travel videos here.
Ever wonder what it’s like to be a writer in NYC? Is it all it’s cracked up to be? Well, you're in luck. Today's guest is Frances Thomas. She is originally from Vancouver, Canada, and decided to attend NYU for a Bachelor in Media, Culture and Communications. She now lives in the fabulous New York City as a Content Editor at Quiddity. During this episode, Frances talks about the struggles of securing internships, how to find work-life balance in the digital industry, and female empowerment in the workplace. Interested in reading some of her pieces? Check them out at https://www.quiddity.com/curators/frances-thomas. Some of my favourite articles include: https://www.quiddity.com/stories/the-merge and https://www.quiddity.com/stories/10-things-i-wish-i-knew-before-we-moved-in-together
Danielle is the Founder of Business Babes Collective, a global inclusive community for female entrepreneurs focused on education and community to help women make an impact through their work and businesses. Danielle started out in the business world through marketing, events & social media. Danielle discovered her love for building relationships & networking and in 2015 launched the Vancouver Chapter of Business Babes Collective. Since then, Business Babes Collective has grown to 5 chapters that expand across North America and reach over 80,000+ women through social media and online communities. We talk about building a community, learning from other like-minded people, and getting outside your comfort zone. Find her @danilivinglife or check out the Business Babes Collective website to attend one of her amazing events.
Olivier Aghaby is a French Canadian Writer, Producer and Director. He won the 2017 Best Direction in a documentary for his documentary series, “Interrupt This Program” where he uncovers the underground arts in chaotic cities recovering from major traumas. Some of his most notable work includes the documentary “Pablo Escabar told by his son” - where his small Quebec team won the trust of the drug lord’s son, and gained access to previously unseen images and untold stories. He also produced Taste of Marley - following Rohan Marley and his entourage in Jamaica. Olivier has produced and directed numerous other successful documentaries and even started his own creative music agency. That’s just to name a few of the things he has done. In today’s episode, we talk about the entertainment and creative industry, how to deal with business “failures”, and going after what you want.
Ally Maz is a writer, entrepreneur and yoga teacher. She is the founder of Girlvana Yoga, Ladyvana Retreats and is the co-founder of the renowned yoga/fitness studio The Distrikt. Alex is a Global Yoga Ambassador for Lululemon and a soon to be published author at Penguin Random House. She is known for her warmth, her propensity for real talk and her commitment to making yoga as accessible as possible. She has lent her expertise to NHL and MLB players, co-created a yoga app with EA sports, has taught classes ranging from 500 to 8,000 people, taught a private class to the rapper Common as well as her popular yoga tutorials with lululemon. She currently resides in Brooklyn, New York with her husband Bill and pupper Butcher. We talk about privilege, finding her passion in yoga, and how she dealt with failure and the unknown. Find her on instagram @allymaz.
Kyra Williams is not just a business student at The University of Victoria, but also a cancer survivor. She speaks about her journey and how the challenges we go through are really just a part of our learning process. We talk about the ups and downs of recovering, as well as navigating life post-grad. Currently, she is starting a blog, so visit her website and subscribe to her mailing list if you want some inspiration. @liiveandwelearn on Instagram, and www.kyra.ca.
"Well, now what?!” is a podcast where I will be having transparent and open conversations with people from diverse backgrounds about all things post-grad and figuring out what you want to do career wise. Having recently graduated university, I found it incredibly difficult just figuring things out and just adjusting to this new chapter in my life. I know a lot of people out there are in the same position, whether post-grad or not, or even entering a new phase in their life, I thought this would be the perfect way to share my experiences and loads of other people experiences with the reality that we are facing. So, follow me along this exciting journey!