Eric Cheng is the founder and host of the existential zillenial podcast “Wait, Say More”, recently rebranded from its previous title of “No, So True”. With “Wait, Say More", he aims to tackle the real challenges of navigating your late twenties now in a funny and earnest way. After starting his career in comedy writing and performance, Eric transformed his own quarter life crisis and mental health journey into a platform that has already reached over 13 million impressions across media channels in the first 9 months. Through his work as a teacher, dance coach, and 988 suicide and crisis lifeline counselor, Eric brings a unique perspective to conversations about everything from unemployment and dating to managing anxiety and ADHD. His podcast creates space for underrepresented voices while offering honest discussions about the topics we don't talk about enough during what many consider the hardest time of life. In this episode, we chat all about the reality of building in public, what’s involved in podcast production, why Eric does what he does and what he’s learned from podcasting, and so much more.

https://www.instagram.com/nosotruepod/

I worked at a bakery in La Jolla, San Diego this fall when I had no money and no job and many expenses after moving across the country!!

This bakery, Girard Gourmet, welcomed me with open arms and I learned a lot through working there.

The owners, Diana and Francois, let me interview them about their experience running this place for nearly 40 decades.

Through another story that defies expectations, I share about/how:

• Past experiences shaped how they run the business
• Importance of good customer service
• What a strong community looks like
• Difficulties of running a brick and mortar cafe
• What it means to be a good employee

And so much more. Tune in to have your heart feel warm and fuzzy.

#61. What I Learned in 2024

• What I worked on
• Solopreneurship vs being employed
• Lesson in self awareness: taking accountability for my actions
• Importance of ripping out an old life to make room for a new. How isolation was helpful but painful… because of my perception
• Comparison running rampant, wreaking havoc
• Resources that helped me - people and practices (journaling)
• What’s important to me now
• Moving across the country
• Recruiting while everyone is spouting doomsday vibes about AI
• How perspective shifts were everything throughout all of this
• What I’m looking to call in in this chapter
• Why the podcast is lit

#60. This will be part 2 of my interview with Dr. Sara Howell, a fourth year med student at Howard University and the founder and designer behind Pax Marila, a brand designed to be both a safe place for women of diverse backgrounds and a hub of knowledge, pride and cultural awareness. 

In part 1, we discussed Sara’s background leading up to med school and starting Pax Marila, including her motivation to become a doctor and fashion founder. In this episode, we get to hear all about the details of what it’s been like building Pax Marila for the last couple years, how the brand has evolved since she started it, how Sara collaborates with women of different cultures around the world to bring a new collection to life, how it’s been juggling the business and medical school, her guidance for aspiring designers and so much more.

https://www.instagram.com/paxmarila/

https://www.paxmarila.com/

#59. Sara Howell is the founder and designer behind Pax Marila, a brand designed to be both a safe place for women of diverse backgrounds and a hub of knowledge, pride and cultural awareness. Besides growing Pax Marila for the past several years, Sara has also been busy earning her medical degree from Howard University, finishing up her final year this year and looking forward to a residency in anesthesia.

This is Part 1 of my interview with Sara, where we hear about the background behind her journey and decision to attend medical school while growing a fashion brand. She shares advice for aspiring medical students, anecdotes about her fashion internships in and around NYC, why she enjoys embracing having space in her life for left brain and right brain work, and so much more. Tune in to have your limiting beliefs about “not having enough time” for anything in particular blown to smithereens.

(I know I sound like I'm underwater, working on it xoxo)

https://www.instagram.com/paxmarila/

https://www.paxmarila.com/

#58. Not to get ahead of myself, but we are SO back sis!

Alexandra Dean is the founder of Adhere To, a sustainable, gender-neutral outerwear brand launched in 2022. Previously a designer at Lululemon, Alex took her knowledge of clothing design with her into providing freelance support for various brands, which ultimately allows her to fund her very own brand. Adhere To combines 100% recycled materials, ethical manufacturing and a low-carbon supply chain, all while maintaining a focus on high performance, durability and contemporary design. In this conversation I ask her all about her background in the fashion industry, experience with freelancing, the details of technical clothing design and material sourcing, what it means to be a sustainable brand, guidance for those looking to get involved in the fashion industry, and so much more.

Takeaways

• Started career in fashion design.
• Interned at Lululemon, focusing on menswear product development.
• Transitioned to women's outerwear design at Lululemon.
• Freelancing provided flexibility and financial security.
• Sustainability is a core value in her brand.
• Adhere To aims to combine aesthetics with functionality.
• Understanding supply chain is crucial for fashion brands.
• Technical design skills are essential for product development.
• Experience in large companies aids in starting a brand.
• Understanding garment construction makes you a better designer.
• Sustainability is an open-ended concept with no one right answer.
• Certifications like Oeko-Tex and BlueSign help ensure quality in sustainability.
• Consumers often struggle to discern genuine sustainability claims.
• Quality and longevity in products are key to sustainability.
• Networking and mentorship are crucial for aspiring designers.
• Sustainability doesn't mean compromising on aesthetics or functionality.
• Running a brand requires balancing multiple roles and responsibilities.
• Financial management is a significant challenge for small business owners.
• The fashion industry is evolving, and consumers will need to care about sustainability.

Adhere To Studios: https://www.adheretostudios.com/en-us

Adhere To Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adheretostudios/

#57. Camila Reyes is the president of Girls Club San Diego as well as a business coach through her company Simple Strategy.

Tune in for a conversation on entrepreneurship, women in business, personal growth, business coaching, boundaries, mindset, and so much more.

https://www.simplestrategy.co/

https://www.instagram.com/simplestrategy.co/

https://www.girlsclubsd.org/

https://www.instagram.com/girlsclubsd/

#56. Hello, and welcome to the chaos!

I learned to freelance this year, providing social media management software engineering services.

If you have questions about freelancing, it is essentially having people pay you to provide them with specific services but now you're technically your own employer. You don't have a boss, yay! But you also have several "clients" that you need to please at any given time...

In this episode, I get into the following topics after 4 months of experience of figuring this out as I go: 

• how I got my first client
• what I would do differently if I started today
• what brought me to freelancing and why I see value in it
• power of networking in my experience
• how I noticed a massive ‘gap in the market’ if you can even call it that, in terms of social media
• how I took on a coding client even though I didn't have direct experience in their technologies
• how it’s literally insane that you make up your prices, but also you can't charge anything you want
• budgeting your life based on what clients might be able to pay you based on the size of their business or the need for your service
• aspects of instability
• how I use testimonials, portfolios, and a website landing page to pitch to new clients
• why I think the ‘local’ angle has worked well for me
• challenges of scheduling a diversified workflow
• legal stuff, financial stuff, creating contracts (the main source of confusion)
• a bit of financial insight based on previous non-tech jobs I've had and how this compares to my income so far
• freelancing goals for the future

PPP Website: https://www.rosemadelene.com/podcast

PPP Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

PPP Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

PPP Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6F0aDS5efhzgaCtYzI7fsA

#55. Tayllor Williams founded Studio West Pilates this year after gaining experience teaching in studios around Chicago. She discovered her love for Pilates and low impact movement after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease in 2020.

After noticing the benefits of Pilates in her own life, she decided to pursue her certification and opened her own studio space in order to share the benefits she experienced with her community. Tayllor has had a wide variety of career experiences in her twenties leading up to today, from teaching Spanish to working in real estate.

In this episode, we get to hear about her journey to get to where she is today, mentality with opening the studio, sacrifices and challenges that went into it, how her prior experiences shaped her current approach to business, the surprising role TikTok played in the studio’s origin story, why she does what she does and more!

Studio West Pilates website: https://www.studio-west-pilates.com/

PPP Website: https://www.rosemadelene.com/podcast

PPP Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

PPP Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

PPP Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6F0aDS5efhzgaCtYzI7fsA

#54. Dr. Meg Jay is a clinical psychologist and bestselling author specializing in the twenty something years. She wrote the book The Defining Decade in 2012, followed by a 2013 TED talk “Why 30 is Not the New 20” which has been viewed over 14 million times.

Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Forbes, Psychology Today, and NPR. She earned a PhD in clinical psychology and in gender studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

Her first book, the Defining Decade, did wonders to transform the way millions of people thought about their twenties - it has sold more than 500,000 copies in all formats and has been translated into more than a dozen languages.

In her new recently released book, The Twentysomething Treatment, she moves more towards talking about how to help with the mental health of young adults today.

Tune in to hear us discuss her background and personal experiences with entrepreneurship, her recommendations for twentysomethings today, and more.

Dr. Meg Jay's website: https://megjay.com/

PPP Website: https://www.rosemadelene.com/podcast

PPP Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passionprojectpending/

PPP Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@passionprojectpendingg

PPP Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6F0aDS5efhzgaCtYzI7fsA