Ever stopped to take sight of the great big world in front of you? What about the great empire that lies beneath the ground you walk on? Mikey Bustos is an ant keeper and ant enthusiast who runs his company and YouTube channel, AntsCanada to help ant-keepers alike around the world in the art of keeping ants. He speaks with us today on how he helps promote the hobby of ant keeping and even on how he contributes to habitat conservation through his love for ants.

Anything is possible within the limits of gravity and physics, this is especially true to cake artist Mimi Liew of PassioNate Cakes. Specializing in making gravity defying 3D cakes, Mimi is recognized within the industry as a leader at her craft, developing new and creative techniques in the work of cake art and sculpture. Whether it's a simple round cake, an exquisitely subtle or grandeur wedding cake, or even a corporate event to serve thousands, Mimi can take your cake fantasy and turn it into a tangible reality. At present, she often travels across Asia to conduct private classes and group workshops to share her technique and skills in this edible art form.

When you think of hobbies, naturally the conventional list comes to mind: everything from painting and drawing to even baking and cooking perhaps? That’s not the case for Jessie Lee, who walks down the unbeaten path of past times by choosing the art of Chinese Metaphysics as her main creative outlet and career specialization. To commemorate the auspicious beginning of the Year of the Rooster, we speak with Jessie Lee, a Destiny Consultant and founder of Soleil Trinity Resource, to share some insights of what we can expect this 2017. So how will you fare in the Year of the Rooster?  

Andy Cavatorta is a sculptor working with sound and robotics. A graduate of MIT’s Media Lab, his work integrates emerging technologies with traditional crafts to discover new ways to create meaning with sound. And we’re not talking about those conventional electronic mixers, controllers or decks. The list of materials for robotic instrument builder Andy Cavatorta’s project includes, but is not limited to, wine glasses, wheels, vacuum tubes and even Mongolian horsehair and dried wasps nests. Here, we spoke to Andy himself about his work as a sculptor of robots and a sonic virtuoso, as well as his thoughts on the current state of technological innovation and how it affects our lives.

Some even find it difficult take a shower during cold days but imagine taking a swim in the middle of Antarctica. On this episode of Careers Unusual, Jermaine Bee speaks to someone who is attracted to extreme challenges, someone who isn’t afraid to battle frozen death, someone who has a passion for ice swimming. Let’s hear it from the man himself, ice swimmer, Ram Barkai.

In this episode of Careers Unusual, we speak to the world’s most famous Snow Artist, Simon Beck, who has created over 200 snow murals on a freezing cold mountaintop at an elevation of over 8,000 feet. His paintbrush? His feet! He shares with us on what inspired him to become a Snow Artist despite the subzero cold as well as what goes behind creating his phenomenal work of art.

2016 was a fleeting year of highs and lows. This year, we covered the many facets of jobs unseen and unknown to the masses; from a Hot Air Balloonist, Flirtologist, Swordsmith and Soundscape Ecologist, all the way up to an Embalmer, Cockroach Scientist and even SIRI herself. In today’s Careers Unusual Flashback Friday, we conclude the year by presenting the very best of careers in 2016.

On this episode, we speak with someone who holds the whole world in his hands - like literally: a Globemaker. Peter Bellerby is a Globemaker who runs Bellerby & Co. Globamakers in a studio based in London. Along with his team, he creates modern handcrafted world globes of their own design. Since it’s the holiday season, we hear from Peter, who brings us around the world through his unique career.

Xander Bianchi is an ice farmer at the Ouray Ice Park in Colorado, one of the largest ice climbing parks in the world. With nearly 200 different climbing routes covering 17,000 vertical feet of terrain, listen to how Xander creates these beautiful walls of ice in freezing cold conditions everyday, farming and moulding water droplets to build this ice climber’s playground.

Martin Riese is the only certified water sommelier based in the United States. He has curated a list featuring 20 of the world's finest waters, which he sells for up to $20 a bottle at his Los Angeles restaurant. Riese began his renowned career in his native Germany. Today, he is a Water Tasting Educator, acclaimed author, Water Sommelier at Patina Restaurant Group in Los Angeles, and the world’s foremost expert on water. So what is a water sommelier? What is it like to be a professional in water-tasting? And can you really tell the different tastes of water? Audrey Raj finds out.