Self-doubt, fear & creativity - what does it feel like to keep showing up when you're not sure you're ready? A quiet conversation with Anastasia Kontinen on anxiety, introversion, and building something meaningful before you feel ready.
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I use Epidemic Music and Riverside for work. If you use any of the URLs, I get a small payment from them. It helps me greatly :)

Epidemic Music: https://share.epidemicsound.com/q82tax

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If this kept you company, there’s a quiet coffee link here ☕
https://buymeacoffee.com/shepherd_06
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Breakfast With a Friend is a slow, one-on-one conversation series under Shepherd (‪@shepherd_06‬). It’s not an interview, a debate or a productivity podcast. It’s two people sitting down (virtually or physically) and letting one simple idea open the door. The core idea has always been people from different cultures, countries, and backgrounds talking honestly and discovering that underneath the differences, the emotional experiences are often the same.

I’m not trying to extract expertise, nor am I trying to “win” the conversation.
I’m not trying to go viral with shock value.
I’m just trying to meet the human behind the identity.

In this episode, I sat with Marina ( @marinadoit  ). A Russian content creator navigating heartbreak, a restrictive passport, and the quiet tension of wanting a life just out of reach. We talked about humor as a coping mechanism, what it feels like to watch friends move freely while you can't, staying true to yourself online and off, and the dream of a life that keeps moving.

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If this kept you company, there’s a quiet coffee link here ☕
https://buymeacoffee.com/shepherd_06
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Ivan Iushchenko is the co-founder and CTO of Knowzilla. An AI-powered sales tool built in Tallinn, Estonia. But this conversation isn't really about software. It's about what happens when you try to build something that has to think, listen, and respond in real time — while a human is still mid-sentence.
We talk about how Knowzilla started from a simple frustration, how a throwaway comment from an intern changed the whole direction of the product, and what it actually means to build AI that helps people instead of replacing them.
We also get into what it's like to build a startup inside Estonia's ecosystem.
A quiet, honest conversation about building, thinking, and what good technology should actually feel like.

Find Ivan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivaniushchenko/
Find Knowzilla: https://www.linkedin.com/company/knowzilla/
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If this kept you company, there’s a quiet coffee link here ☕
https://buymeacoffee.com/shepherd_06
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Dacoito is a Russian artist who left home in 2023 with almost no money, chasing something he couldn't quite name yet. He got rejected by twenty restaurants, worked shifts while the world ignored him, and lost his father while standing on a shop floor. Through all of it, he kept making music on his own terms, in his own words, without compromise.

This is a conversation about grief, art, identity, and what it actually costs to stay true to yourself when everything around you is asking you not to.
His Spotify is linked below. I think you'll want to listen.

Dacoito's Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2RVknMVoiu7FtucATdcdH6
Dacoito's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dacoito/


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If this kept you company, there’s a quiet coffee link here ☕
https://buymeacoffee.com/shepherd_06
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In this episode, I sit with Edoardo Dusi (‪@edodusi‬) and talk about what it means to be a programmer when the machines are learning to code too. What part of this work is still ours?

We talked about:

• How AI is reshaping the daily life of a developer
• The difference between writing code and solving problems
• What happens to junior programmers when AI handles the basics
• Learning to work with AI instead of against it
• Why curiosity might matter more than syntax
  

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If this kept you company, there’s a quiet coffee link here ☕
https://buymeacoffee.com/shepherd_06
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I sit down with Nabila (@YogaWithNabila) for a slow morning conversation.

We talk about living far from home, building an adult life in unfamiliar countries, loneliness, kindness, creativity, and the strange in-between phase of life where you’re no longer chasing speed. Just meaning.

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If this kept you company, there’s a quiet coffee link here ☕
https://buymeacoffee.com/shepherd_06
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In this episode, I sat down with Shamila (‪@MistOfNiagara‬ ) and we went somewhere I wasn't sure we'd come back from easily.
We talked about grief. Not the motivational, "it made me stronger" version of it. The real kind... the layers, the hits, the mornings you wake up and suddenly understand something painful that your body wasn't ready to let you see before.
Shamila has this way of seeing the inside of human experience in extraordinary detail. She talked about how grief doesn't arrive all at once. It opens layer by layer, at the pace your body decides you can handle. How blame, if you're patient with it, can slowly become curiosity. How suffering doesn't create a new version of you. It just illuminates the room that was always there, dark and full of things you never knew you had.

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If this kept you company, there’s a quiet coffee link here ☕
https://buymeacoffee.com/shepherd_06
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In this episode of Breakfast with a Friend, I sit down with Darko Sokoleski, CEO & Founder of TGEProductionDigital (‪@TGEProduction‬) from North Macedonia. We dive deep into the emotional and practical challenges of entrepreneurship, creativity, and the relentless hustle of building something meaningful in a small ecosystem.

Darko shares his 11-year journey of persistence, doubt, and the grit it takes to carve your own path.... especially when the odds feel stacked against you.

From the loneliness of the grind to the humor and humanity that keep us going, this conversation is about the unseen side of building a dream.

His film "Тркало На Животот - (The Circle Of Life)":    • Тркало На Животот - (The Circle Of Life) (...  
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If this kept you company, there’s a quiet coffee link here ☕
https://buymeacoffee.com/shepherd_06
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In this episode of Breakfast with a Friend, I chat with Annie from ‪@OurSecretSpillPodcast‬ about the messy, unpredictable journey of adulthood.
We share honest reflections on what we thought growing up would be—money, freedom, clarity—and the reality we’re living instead. From grappling with shifting interests to the addictive loops of gaming and social media, we dive into the nostalgia, frustrations, and small wins of adult life.
Annie and I explore how our childhood passions evolve, the psychology of gaming, and the struggle to find balance in a world full of distractions. It’s a conversation about improvising confidence, redefining joy, and embracing the chaos of this stage of life.

In this episode of Breakfast with a Friend, I sit down with Maggie from ‪@OurSecretSpillPodcast‬ to explore a strange idea: What if we live 1000 years!
We talk about jealousy, envy, love, and whether even 100 years is enough to experience the world. We explore how finite our lives are and how we fight about everything on a tiny planet, our pale blue dot!