Today’s guest Clément Sreeves is someone I wanted to have on my podcast from Day 1. Clément was my manager at Luma Analytics where I used to work where he still works today as a data science manager. 

Clément is one of the most knowledgeable, intelligent, and passionate data scientists I have ever known. So working closely with him improved me as a data scientist every single day.

As much as I look up to his technical skills, Clément is also one of the kindest, most gentle, understanding, and thoughtful people I know and I look up to that a lot and work hard to have more of those qualities. 

On top of that, Clément’s dedication to climbing, his master ranking in chess, and his overall mindset made him at the top of my guest wishlist. 

Although I have left Luma and I am loving my new job, I still look back to those days when I was excited to go to work every single day and recording this episode with Clément was much of the same fun! I invited Clément on my podcast to pick his brain on how he keeps up to date with the data world, why he prefers Lichess over chess.com, and many other things. 

🔗 Find me on:

Brendon Leung is a represented artist at the Trish Clark Gallery. Brendon studied Bachelor of Visual Arts and Master of Design at Unitec. Throught that and since then, he has been part of and done several group exhibitions and solo exhibitions, accepted and completed the Karekare house residency.

Brendon’s paintings are composed of abstract geometries affinity to nature. Not only does his relationship with the surroundings is expressed in his paintings, but it seems to be embedded in his process, through his painting on found wood and his use of natural materials including coffee and tea.

A big part of his artistic expression is also drawn out in the form of ceramics and I am lucky to have one of his works which I have been cherishing for several years. 

I am always inspired by those who love and constantly hone their crafts and to me Brendon is a prime example of that.  

In this episode, Brendon and I talk about how he learned that he could not survive without painting, how he developed his style, his philosophy, and a lot of other things. 

🔗 Relevant links:

https://brendonleung.com/

https://www.instagram.com/brendon.leung/

🔗 Find me on:

Jhan Magisa is a Data Analyst at TVNZ and part of the film production team called Oil Slick Candy.
I have had the pleasure to work with Jhan on several data projects and he is one of the most passionate and talented data analysts I have worked with. This is why I was surprised when Jhan told me he self-taught data analysis.
Jhan seems to apply this high level of craftsmanship and interest in various aspects of life. This shows in his passion for creative writing, game dev, app dev, and learning languages.
In this episode, Jhan and I talk about self-motivation, time management, passive learning, coding and data and much more.

Tim is a PhD student across the School of Computer Science and the School of Cultures, Languages, and Linguistics at the University of Auckland. He is part of the research groups Strong AI and NAOInstitute.

Tim’s research is in generating data for low-resource languages to train large language models. As large language models become a more and more powerful tool (case in point Chat-GPT), it is becoming a bigger and bigger part of our lives. So it is great to see that there is an effort to make this tool available for wider users.

Tim grew up surrounded by foreign exchange students at home, and perhaps because of that he has always been interested in traveling and languages. After his undergraduate at the University of California, he taught and traveled for a while before settling in New Zealand to pursue a Masters in Linguistics.

After his Masters, he joined a company as a linguistics researcher. There he identified various AI applications he wanted to try out and he started picking up skills to do so. With these ideas, he approached the university to study a PhD where he is today. 

In this episode, I had a great conversation with Tim about his research for low-resource languages, Tim’s love for languages and linguistics, and  being a bridge between Linguistics and Computer science and how more and more of these bridges are being built across multiple disciplines, and much more. 

Make sure to check out the “AI: Now and Future” symposium by NAOI to get a chance to listen to some interesting talks and sit next to Tim!

🔗 Relevant links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-pistotti-a2685b95/

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/science/our-research/naoinstitute.html

https://aiforum.org.nz/event/ai-now-and-future-a-symposium-by-naoi/

I have been wanting to make an episode where you can get to know me a little better so I made an in the form of "A Day in My Life". I hope you enjoy. =)

All songs from

Album: Lud and Schlatt Crossing

Artist: Lud and Schlatts Musical Emporium

Composed by: @officialphilman

Titles: 10 am, 2pm, Financial Obliations, and Ludwig's Lullaby

Creative Commons ► Attribution 3.0 Unported ► CC BY 3.0

Link

Timestamps

00:02:00 Growing up in Taiwan

00:15:52 Moving to and studying in New Zealand

00:32:51 Biotechnology

00:51:04 Getting into entrepreneurship

01:20:59 Becoming the CFO of BioFab

01:41:16 Segment: Everything is Identified

01:48:52 Contact info:

01:54:00 Segment: Atomic Hypothesis

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesschiang/

https://www.biofab.bio/

Jessica Chiang is the Chief Scientific Officer at BioFab, a NZ startup working towards replacing plastic packaging with packages made out of mycelium. As the CSO of the company, she is conducting the research as part of her PhD programme at the University of Auckland.

Jess has a proactive entrepreneurship mindset and this was already showing as an undergraduate student. In her third year of studying Biotechnology at the university, she formed what became the first team to enter the International Genetic Engineering Machine competition, researching enzymes that can degrade plastic. She also had an idea for a 3D printing material out of fungi to replace Styrofoam packaging. This idea won her the Velocity Innovation Challenge and the top prize at the Gap Summit in Washington DC.

For Jess, It was always about making a positive impact on the environment using science. Following her Masters, she wanted to investigate an idea replacing plastic packaging material with fungal mycelium. Coincidentally around the same time, she came across BioFab that had a similar vision as her. She got in contact with the founders eventually became the CSO of the company. 

In this episode, Jess and I talk about not fitting in the academic settings in Taiwan, growing up loving the nature, moving to New Zealand, getting into entrepreneurship, and her passion for conducting scientific research for the environment. 

Please consider subscribing to my podcast  if you enjoy long-form podcasts with fascinating guests. I am on several platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. You can review the podcast up to 5 stars on many podcast platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts and if you have any feedback please leave a comment under my videos on my YouTube channel. 

40:42 Food truck business 'Big Balls'

1:00:26 How to make great meatballs

1:20:58 Joining and role at 'dataengine' as a data solutions lead

1:24:40 Data talk

2:24:25 Luke and dataengine contacts

2:26:23 Quick fire questions

Luke McLeod Instagram: @babyfaceguy

Big Balls Instagram: @meatballsinyourmouth

Koen Outdoors Instagram: @koenoutdoors

Luke McLeod LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukegm/

dataengine website: https://dataengine.co.nz/

dataengine LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dataenginenz/

Luke McLeod is a data solutions lead at ‘dataengine’, a data consultancy. As a solutions lead, he understands the data ecosystem well and uses this understanding to consult and strategise suitable data solutions for clients. 

Luke’s expertise in data adds to his already big and diverse set of skills, of which were developed having worked as a business analyst, management consultant, and a meatball food truck business co-owner.  

Personally, it was fascinating to talk to Luke who has had a very different path to end up in the data scene to a lot of data folks whom I am used to seeing. As data becomes more and more integrated into our workplaces, I come across more and more people with diverse backgrounds, bringing different and interesting perspectives. 

In this episode, Luke and I had an extended conversation about owning a food truck business, his path to being a data solutions lead, an overview of data ecosystem, and how to cook great meatballs.

Follow me on Instagram @everythinggoeswithpascal

Shane is an event manager and a co-host of the podcast Hundy Hundy Hippos, the hundiest pop culture podcast in NZ. The hippos are comedic geniuses and experts in all things fandom including Star Wars, Marvel, and DC. They have recently come back for their Phase 2 with the discussion on Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 and Blue Beetle. 

My introduction to the hippos was at the NZ Podcasting Summit this year where I met Shane. Since then I have been a big fan of the hippos and even been lucky enough to get to know them in person. The amount of passion and work that go into each episode of Hundy Hundy Hippos and their professionalism in the comedy and their expertise are inspiring.

In this episode, Shane and I talk about the ethos behind Hundy Hundy hippos, the need for a podcasting community, and even love at first sight. We also talk about Shane’s experience in stand up comedy and running.

This is everything goes with pascal podcast and here is my conversation with Shane.

Madeline Young is originally from Oklahoma, United States. She decided to move to New Zealand after falling in love with the country on a short visit.

She started going to the University of Auckland and became an active member of the cheerleading club and the motorbike club. 

In 2017, two years after her move to NZ, she was hit by another vehicle while riding her motorbike. She broke 44 bones, was in a coma for 7 days, and had no more than 5-minute memory for 20 days. Through her determination and commitment to rehab, she recovered from the injury she received and is now happily working full-time as an ecologist following her love for nature. 

It was inspiring talking to Maddy about her mindset chasing her dreams even when not everything goes according to plan. When I asked to sum up her whole experience with one sentence she quoted the wise words of Hilary Duff “Why not take a crazy chance, why not take a crazy dance”.

Amandeep Kaur is working at corporate banking. She is also a co-host of the podcast/community @shetakesoncorporate, designed to empower young people in corporate.

Amandeep has special interest in careers, confidence, personal development and brand which we discuss in this episode. We also talk about the difficulty and tips in managing time when we have several commitment and hobbies. I learned a lot listening to the STOC episodes and talking to Amandeep. I believe it can and will benefit many others too. I hope you enjoy the conversation.

@shetakesoncorporate