Don't Talk To Me About Work

This week, our final guest of season 1, Justin Salhani, chats with Jordan Rizzieri about his life and career.

Right from the start, Justin has Jordan wondering why some kids want to be certain things when they grow up, even if that thing doesn't align with their values as adults (1:46). He also shared how growing up in the D.C. area in the early 90's influenced his ideas of what "work" was (5:34), and how his parents shaped him both personally and professionally.

Justin touches on his relationship with learning (13:37) before Jordan goes on a diatribe about Community College in the U.S. (15:36). Justin explains the Arabic word "wasta", and how he ended up in Beirut after college (23:28) and why he was there long after his first job contract had ended (26:29).

Eventually, Justin returned to D.C. and started exploring his passion for journalism, though the roles he took weren't as satisfying as he'd hope (36:01). But D.C. also brought him back to his first love - football (41:12). Justin and Jordan come back to the idea of community, as he discusses his current projects and the people who support him every day (50:39).

Finally, Justin sums up his takeaways from his career so far - and they also nicely sum up this season, too. (53:18).

Many thanks to him, Stu, Rachel, Diane, Matt and Gia for sharing their stories this season!

Follow Don't Talk to Me About Work on Twitter @DTTMAWpod. You can follow Jordan on Twitter and Instagram @JordanRizzieri.

This week, Stu Whiffen, the man of many jobs, chats with Jordan Rizzieri about his life and career.

Stu kicks us off with a discuss about how music was always important to him (1:38), and how his father's relationship with work inspired him as he got older (2:44). His parents did encourage him to get a qualification so he had something to fall back on (7:29).

He goes on to explain how he "stumbled" into his career path by way of the college he attended to study mechanics (10:18). Eventually, he found his way into club promotion, doing it the "DIY way" (14:21). When it comes to promotion, whether it's a club night or promoting his own band, Stu points to an ability to talk to people and be confident that helped make him a success (17:07).

If you're looking for the first name drop, it comes at (19:26), before Stu goes on to discuss his second band and his complicated relationship with joy (21:21).  Eventually, he found himself managing the nightclub, The Pink Toothbrush (24:00), and promoting at other club nights including with our mutual friend Scroobius Pip [name drop number 2 ] (26:12). He puts the blame squarely on Pip for getting him into podcasting as well (28:50).

If you're wondering where Jordan and Stu's paths crossed, it was doing the podcasting magazine PodBible (33:12). Finally, St shares what he hopes any listener takes away from his weird and wonderful story (38:05).

Follow Don't Talk to Me About Work on Twitter @DTTMAWpod. You can follow Jordan on Twitter and Instagram @JordanRizzieri.

This week, Group Managing Director Rachel Caggiano chats with Jordan Rizzieri about her life and career.

Rachel doesn't have a strong memory of what she wanted to be when she was young, which she attributes partially to her deeply religious upbringing (1:32). But she did love school as a kid (3:13), and she now views others in the world with an empathy she felt was lacking from her religious education (5:19).

After college, she moved to D.C. to do some writing that involved a new thing called "The Internet" (8:00). But the job did take up most of her time, and so she moved on to book editing before she found her way into the agency world (13:01). Eventually, her husband encouraged her to move to a company that was working at the forefront of social media (15:45).

Rachel shouts out a mentor, Bethany Little (17:20), and discusses the idea that there's no such thing as balance for anyone, especially working Moms (20:53). She also shares the value of setting boundaries (26:50) and how her father's relationship to his work may have influenced her ideas of what work should be (29:33).

Finally, we get into how important choice is, and how much more choice we all have than we think we do (39:05).

Follow Don't Talk to Me About Work on Twitter @DTTMAWpod. You can follow Jordan on Twitter and Instagram @JordanRizzieri.

This week, voice over artist, broadcaster and media coach Diane Roberts chats with Jordan Rizzieri about her life and career.

Diane originally wanted to be a veterinarian, but eventually started daydreaming of being on broadway (1:35) before eventually falling in love with broadcasting (4:00). Her parents put a lot of emphasis on education (4:24) and it was actually in high school that she got her start in broadcasting (9:19).

Diane shares what it was like to take a position in Des Moines, IA, a much less diverse community than where she'd come from (14:55) and discusses the mentorship she's received in her career (20:02).

Diane traces her path all the way to Washington D.C. (25:19) where she works today, and all of the opportunities the city has provided her (29:13). She tells us about one of favorite stories she's done (36:15), all the things she's doing now (39:20), and what she hopes listeners take away from her journey (44:19).

Follow Don't Talk to Me About Work on Twitter @DTTMAWpod. You can follow Jordan on Twitter and Instagram @JordanRizzieri.

This week, host and podcast producer Matt Richards joins Jordan Rizzieri to talk about his life and career.
Matt shares that he moved around a lot when he was young (2:23) and that the UK school system didn't hold his attention for long (5:20). He left school and got into retail (7:39) until someone's backhanded compliment lit a fire under him to try presenting (12:49).
When it comes to long-term goals, Matt calls himself  "the most ambitious, un-ambitious person (19:30) even though he does have some dreams about what he hopes his future holds (22:22).
Jordan asks him to explain his current project, the Football Manager Therapy podcast (24:03) and the ethos him and his co-host have about discussing football (31:33). This leads Jordan to viewing Matt's story like a three-pronged Recycle symbol of not caring, caring a little , and then caring a lot (34:25). Matt also considers the curse of doing a job you love (37:53) before imparting his final wisdom to the listener (41:46)

Follow Don't Talk to Me About Work on Twitter @DTTMAWpod. You can follow Jordan on Twitter and Instagram @JordanRizzieri.

This week, brand and communications strategist Gia Bagherpour joins Jordan Rizzieri to talk about her life and career.
Gia discuss how her Dad influenced her first career desires (1:46) and how a school assignment ignited her desire for marketing (2:45). She reminisces about the diversity of attending the University of Johannesburg (4:13) and what her marketing program was like. She followed up her undergraduate degree with an ad school program (8:21) and her internship there led to her first job (11:27). They discuss mentorship (13:00), what drove her as a young person (17:14), and refilling her creative well (21:44).
Eventually she and her husband left South Africa for the US (25:50), and she was instantly confronted with a new challenge: not being able to work for almost a year (27:08).  Once she was able to work, Gia ended up at an agency that would later employ Jordan (31:19), before setting out on her own (32:53).
She also ruminates on how becoming a mother has changed her relationship to her work, and how she herself has changed (39:37).

Follow Don't Talk to Me About Work on Twitter @DTTMAWpod. You can follow Jordan on Twitter and Instagram @JordanRizzieri.

Jordan Rizzieri is back to have a quick chat with her producing partner, Jeremy Steinkamp, to catch everyone up on all the changes that turned "I Never Told You What I Do For A Living" into "Don't Talk to Me About Work"!
They cover why Jordan started the podcast in the first place (0:30), why she decided to stop (2:04), and why she decided to start again (4:07). Jeremy introduces himself to the listeners (5:09) and they discuss their shared love of radio and audio (6:16) and why Jordan wanted to work with Jeremy (7:53).
Some of the changes for this new season include how the episodes are named (11:30), the name of the show itself (13:25), and why your favorite old episodes may have disappeared (16:54). Jordan also shares what she's excited about with this new season (17:30), as does Jeremy (18:46), before they announce the first episode is dropping next week (19:40)!

Follow Don't Talk to Me About Work on Twitter @DTTMAWpod. You can follow Jordan on Twitter and Instagram @JordanRizzieri.

The Lady J may not have ever told you what she does for a living, but Jordan Rizzieri is back to talk about everything - well, almost everything. New episodes of Don't Talk to Me About Work are coming soon, so be sure to follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our feed on your favorite podcast platform. You can also follow Jordan on Twitter and Instagram!

This week, J gives into the one topic that comes up more than anything work-related on these shows - wrestling. But that's not REALLY what this episode is about. Irish wrestler and personal trainer Katey Harvey joins J to discuss shift work vs. salaried work, how Ireland is handling the coronavirus, and what it's like to have use of your arms during lockdown.
PHOTO CREDIT: John Morrissey, @whiplashJ on Twitter

The Lady J is back for another sprint of podcast discussions about work, careers, education, and how people feel about how they make money and support themselves. Today's chat is with Ryan, a marketer and DJ out of the Pacific Northwest - this is a fun chat about finding things that are important to you, and how to keep your work self and real life self separate.