Welcome to age, where four people from four different decades throw topics in a trash can and see what happens. This week: Labels.

Reggie, Tim, Mary, and Dylan start with the obvious stuff—branding, logos, North Face knockoffs made with Sharpies—but it doesn't stay surface level for long. They get into identity, the pressure to scale, what it means to be ruthlessly authentic, and whether entrepreneurship is even the dream we think it is.

There's talk of quiet luxury, YA dystopias, cancel culture, and why sometimes loving people at work feels like a radical act. They wrestle with whether labels trap us or help us find our people, and if brands could actually be the new form of protest.

It's messy. It's honest. It doesn't land anywhere clean. But what if that's the point?

Follow Reggie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reggietidwell/

Follow Tim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timscroggs/

Follow Mary: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-greene/

Follow Dylan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanngarciaa/

Produced by Mary Greene.

age the podcast is edited and engineered by Will Canady.

All episodes are filmed at the 40 Hearts Studio in Asheville, NC.

Chapters

• 00:00:00 Introduction: What Is Age?
• 00:02:53 Pulling the Topic - Labels!
• 00:03:22 The Double-Edged Nature of Labels
• 00:06:34 Sharpies and Brand Dupes
• 00:08:22 Fashion, Branding, and Free Advertising
• 00:11:58 When Brands Lose Their Way
• 00:14:56 The Agency Model and Entrepreneurship
• 00:24:12 Corporate vs. Self-Employed: Finding the Middle Ground
• 00:44:09 YA Fiction and Manipulation
• 00:50:20 Ruthless Authenticity
• 00:53:31 What If?
• 01:00:52 Closing Thoughts and Credits