Millennial Mike

She sold hunting bullets at 16, held a stop sign on a road crew, and handled customer complaints at Canadian Tire. Twenty years later, she’s one of the most respected names in Canadian hair. 🍎

It’s the season one finale of Millennial Mike, and I saved something special. Nicole is the co-founder of Pomme Salon, a master colorist, a scalp expert, and a Kerastase-loving creator who built Pomme from a single chair on an old apple orchard in Kelowna into a flagship in the heart of Toronto.

We talk about:

• Her first jobs in Smithers, BC (a town of 5,000)
• Emailing a brand every month for three years after a non-compete locked her out
• Handling Reddit trolls and the court of public opinion
• Why she wakes up at 4am and loves every minute of it
• Her best advice for anyone in their early 20s betting on themselves
• Throwback prom stories, 2000s hair, and why Tall Girl saved the day

Grab a coffee (or a glass of wine, Nicole’s pick) and enjoy the finale.

#HairStylistLife #HairEducation #SalonOwner #SalonStories #CareerJourney #Nostalgia #MillennialMike #torontopodcast #canadianpodcast

What do a hoarded Halloween stash, a crashed dirt bike, and a $2,000 check from a university dean have in common? They're all part of how Alex "Morsey" Mohr got to where he is today. Mike sits down with his old Ritual partner in crime for an hour of sales war stories, hard-earned wisdom, and 2000s nostalgia.

The stories:

• Alex's first paycheck, which his mom cashed, then took half of, then reminded him he still owed for gas and insurance. "That's life, buddy."
• The summer he worked a full day at the family hardware store, then drove to a fine dining gig and served until 2 AM. Repeat.
• Pitching the Brock business dean (the same school that told him he'd never make it in business) and walking out with a check to exhibit in Hong Kong.
• Mike calling a pizza shop owner who was sure he was being scammed by Uber Eats, while Alex sold Bay Street office towers on the same idea.

What you'll learn:

• Why Alex's whole career comes down to one rule: solve the most valuable problem you can, and you'll get paid for it.
• The difference between building inside a company and building your own thing, from someone who's done it four times.
• What going from 50 to 400 employees at Ritual, then watching Properly rise and crash, teaches you about risk.
• Why Canadian sales cycles run longer than American ones, and how to sell in both.
• How hockey, retail, and serving all become real selling skills.

Plus a nostalgia lightning round covering Beyblades, Crazy Bones, the Samsung Katana, and the email address Alex used in high school. And with a baby boy on the way, this one ends with a client story that comes down to the wire, and a baby arriving right on time.

If you've ever worked two jobs, bombed a pitch, or wondered if your resume "counts," press play.

#PodcastRecommendations #CanadianPodcast #TorontoPodcast #CareerAdvice #EntrepreneurMindset #Proptech #RealEstate #BuildingWealth #SalesStories

Two kids from Aurora, one incredible journey. Mike sits down with childhood friend John Williams, now executive chef at Park Hyatt Toronto and the culinary force behind Joni's acclaimed tasting menu and Writer's Room to trace his path from teenage dishwasher to training in Michelin-starred kitchens across London and the world. They talk sacrifice, the "trust no one" lesson that built his career, and why leaving your comfort zone changes everything. Oh, and there's a story about after prom, first cars and millennial nostalgia.

Before there was a mic, there were voice memos. Ridiculous, unhinged, song-filled videos between two internet strangers who became best friends before they ever met in person — and then finally did, running toward each other in slow motion to Chariots of Fire in the middle of Paris. (Yes, really.)

For the very first episode of Millennial Mike, I sat down with the person who basically dared me into starting this podcast: Jenna Jean Davis — gymnastics coach turned "Juicy J" the Australian juice-shop girl turned social media agency owner turned viral content creator turned yoga teacher turned actual French resident. We go full memory lane: the backflip she still hasn't landed, the TikTok that went viral by accident, the dating-with-IBS series that built her first 100K followers and turned her most embarrassing moments into a whole support group, and the one-way ticket to Nice that turned into a whole new life.

It's messy, it's hilarious, it's oddly moving and it's the conversation that convinced me to hit record in the first place. Grab your headphones, this one's a ride.

She still holds a Guinness World Record. Nobody's broken it.

This week I'm reconnecting with Jasmin Shim, a former WeWork teammate, now a creative project manager who just leapt from Toronto to New York. We rewind to the startup days and trace her "why not?" mindset: unpaid internships, scooping ice cream, Canada Goose, and the freelance career that eventually landed her a US visa.

We also get into growing up Korean in Canada and how that's shifted over the years. Then we close it out MuchMusic-style with a trip down VJ memory lane.

#TorontoPodcast #MuchMusic #KoreanCanadian #GuinnessWorldRecord #CareerPivot #NYCCreatives

⚠️ Gamer warning: this one's got VR headsets, Warzone lobbies, and a genuine Gamescom full-circle moment, but don't skip it if you've never touched a controller. It's really a story about turning a hobby nobody took seriously into a full-time career, staying yourself when it'd be easier to fake it, and what happens when you knock on the right door.

He pretended to play Call of Duty in a VR headset as a joke and the joke went viral. Three years later he's eating dinner with the YouTubers who taught him how, sitting there as a peer instead of a fan.

Episode 3 of Millennial Mike sits down with Mack Falconer. VR content creator, former Call of Duty guy nobody watched, and (turns out) Mike's own neighbor from the building with the rooftop everybody knew about. This one's for anyone who grew up gaming through a Toronto winter, moved downtown broke and split rent with a buddy who didn't even have a job yet, or wants to hear about celebrity sightings. Whether you're deep in the Mac Pack or you've never picked up a controller in your life, there's a lesson in here about betting on the weird thing nobody else is doing yet.

Welcome to Millennial Mike — The podcast for anyone who burned a CD for a crush, worked a job that smelled like regret, or remembers exactly which Top 40 station got you through a traffic jam. Episode 1 is Mike's own story: meat counters, molten butter, marshmallow mishaps, and the late-night radio ads that made downtown Toronto feel like magic. Whether you grew up riding the DVP at rush hour or just remember what it felt like to hear "your song" come on the radio at exactly the right moment, this one's for you.