Passion Project Pending

#18. Lexi Whaley is the creator and founder of War on Sanity, the brand that revolutionized cowboy hat fashion. It's a symbol of boldness, elegance, and the irresistible allure of the Wild West. War on Sanity may be best known for their creatively designed cowboy hats but they also sell one-of-a-kind pieces of clothing as well as art. On top of running the brand, Lexi also hosts events around L.A., not only advertising War On Sanity but also providing an environment to showcase other growing artists and partner with nonprofits with causes close to Lexi's heart.

Tune in to hear about Lexi's journey prior to launching War On Sanity as well as the growth of the brand since the hats caught fire in terms of popularity, prompting a very public debut at Miami Swim Week in 2021

Shop War on Sanity here, and check out there instagram @waronsanity.

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#17. Sage Miller is a Life Optimization coach and her journey to get to where she is today has been anything but ordinary. From years of working in the field marketing space with brands like Clif Bar and Suja Juice, to creating and managing the marketing strategy for Wanderlust Hollywood, to producing events for Nike, to launching and running a digital marketing agency for years – she has been on a journey to find her deepest passion for quite some time.

After years of struggling to get clear on who she is and how to design her dream life, her goal is to help others get there faster. It is her deepest passion to work with individuals who are feeling stuck and unclear on where to go next, or who are already thriving and ready to take their life to even higher heights.

Through her background in psychology and years of personal development, she works one on one with clients to support them in getting clear on who they are, what they really want, and HOW to get there. They dive in deep and assess what’s holding them back to create liberation for them both in their internal environment (your mind and body) and external reality (the results you experience.)

Sage was such a lovely guest to have on to talk about all the struggles and doubts and uncertainty swirling around in your twenties, so if you’re currently experiencing any of that this episode will be perfect for you.

If you’re interested in contacting Sage for more information on her business, check out her instagram @life.by.sage or her website here. Just know she can’t wait to meet you, and learn more about your world.

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#16. Adrienne Lin is a food blogger, software engineer and recovering tech founder. In other words, she’s an incredible guest for me to have on this podcast, which is meant to be geared towards discovering what you love to do and aligning that with your career. I used to work with Adrienne at Poshmark, so that is how I knew her from before. She has over ten years of industry experience, working as a civil engineer, product manager, backend engineer, product engineer, and even startup CTO. On top of all of that, she has a blog and instagram account where she posts about local restaurant experiences as well as sharing an unfiltered version of her life. Adrienne also attended a well known coding bootcamp called App Academy mid career when she decided to pivot into being a software engineer. As for her experience as a CTO of a startup building software for veterinary clinics, I have never heard a story like this before and while I will save it for the episode, the result is that Adrienne considers herself an advocate for startup transparency. All in all, Adrienne has so much wisdom to provide (in whatever you might be navigating) whether you’re just starting out in your career or thinking about any sort of influencing or content creation, enrolling in a coding bootcamp, or co-founding a startup.

Instagram: @willwanderforfood
Blog: willwanderforfood.com

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#13. Beya Alcaraz is the owner of The Animal Connection, an exotic animal pet rescue and store in the Outer Sunset district of San Francisco! Beya has owned the store for 4 years but has worked there since high school. I’m going to save all the details about her background, decision to buy the store and more for the ep. but FYI this is a very wholesome episode getting to know a San Francisco local who loved working at this store so much she bought it at 22 years old! I’m convinced there’s not a person out there better suited than Beya to taking care of these animals and making sure they go to a good home. We also hear about how a pet rescue works, for profit vs. not for profit organizations, the range of tasks required to manage the store, costs and challenges of running a brick and mortar store in San Francisco with the rise of costs of goods in recent years and so much more.

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#12. Kristina Schagane is the 25 year old owner and founder of Moody Goose, a vintage clothing store in San Francisco. 

If you haven’t been yet, it is an absolute must it’s on Polk street. Kristina started the store about 1 and a half years ago. Moody Goose is this perfect combination of affordable prices and really trendy but unique secondhand pieces. Throughout the store there’s a variety of styles of vintage clothing and then in the front she’s selling jewelry and some apparel by other small business owners.

Moody Goose sells clothing from 20 different vintage curators as well as other small business owners, involving around 30 people in total. In this episode, we hear about Kristina’s background and what sort of things or experiences influenced her to start her store. I also ask her every question imaginable about what it’s like to run her brick and mortar store in one of the most expensive cities aka San Francisco, from day to day tasks she manages vs delegates, her social media approach, different projects she’s tried with her brand, and her current mentality with running moody goose and thinking about the future. 

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#11. Interviewing my cousin John this week! John Kunz went to school in upstate New York and studied Computer Animation. During college, he DJ’d a bit (known as DJ Doctor Teeth) and worked with his friend, playing at house parties and some events and competitions. Also while in college, John interned for Mad Decent in L.A. which is the record label founded by Diplo. After college, he and his friend, going by Chemicals of Creation, continued to play at different clubs and venues and at one point even opened for Tiesto for a crowd of over 10,000 people. Since school, John has worked at various animation studios in the Bay Area, from Dreamworks, Industrial Light and Magic in the Presidio, and Atomic Fiction in Oakland to now doing contract work for Apple. He has also taught animation concepts for students at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Currently located in Portugal, John continues to do contracting and operates as his own LLC, while also teaching animation concepts on the streaming platforms Youtube, Twitch and Patreon. He has created animation seen in the Star Wars movie Rogue One as well as other various films. In this episode I ask John about everything pertaining to his wide range of experiences - from the animation software he uses called Houdini to his decision to teach concepts on streaming platforms vs in a university, his choice to operate as an L.L.C and more. Check out his website with examples of his work here, some of Chemical Creation’s tracks here, and his IMDb profile here!

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#10. Alec Huth  is the creator of the apparel brand Fruit Face SF. I first found out about Fruit Face while shopping at Moody Goose Vintage on Polk, who Alec partners with to sell her shirts in their store. I bought this cute baby tee with a little cow on it, that I later came to find was her Valentine’s Edition tee. Another popular design is their “Strawberry Cowgirl” tee, boasting “I Love SF” where the heart is a strawberry with a cowgirl hat on it (aka v cute). Alec started this brand while still in college at Berkeley and after graduating decided to keep growing it. Since then she has partnered with multiple businesses around SF to sell her shirts in their stores, and has also sold her tees at arts and craft fairs around the city. In this episode, we get to hear about Alec’s journey to where she is today, from screen printing each shirt herself to having her tees produced in U.S. factories, her decisions around what fabrics and designs to use, and the growth in popularity she’s encountered so far. Alec also gives advice on what it's like to go against the grain and start a business when others may not believe you can do it or that it's a viable career option. Obsessed! Check out her website here or instagram here!

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#9. This week I'm interviewing Tess Garcia, an absolute queen in media. She is also from Michigan but is currently living in New York City. For her main gig she creates marketing and social strategies catered towards Latinx audiences for clients like HBO Max at a company called Worthi. In addition, she produces a Shorty-awards nominated podcast called Going Mental by Eileen Kelly with over 100,000 monthly downloads, and incredibly also finds time to be a freelance journalist focused on pop culture, fashion, social justice and the intersection between the three. From writing her first cover story interviewing Jack Harlow for Teen Vogue at age 24 to being flown out to Coachella by Adidas more recently, Tess has had an incredible range of experiences in the media industry. She has curated a career for herself based on her interests and passions through relentless outreach, building her own connections in her industry and being outspoken about the things she cares about. Tune in to hear more about her background and how she got to where she is today, as well as our discussion on various topics ranging from dilemmas of social media as a career to the numbers of what Tess makes managing multiple streams of income and living in one of the most expensive cities in the world :) You can check out Tess's instagram here and her cover story of Jack Harlow here.

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

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#8. In this episode it’s literally just me talking to myself for an hour. I talk about my background, history with working as a software engineer, some side hustles I’ve tried, my experience with social media and entrepreneurship and more. Some of my main topics of focus are the pressure I felt with student loans, the pressure I felt in picking a career, and the pressure I put on myself to do things on top of work LOL. Are we sensing a theme here. To be concise, I briefly considered pursuing doctorhood before I realized that meant more loans and more time between me and financial stability - as well as a near abandonment of my career in evolving technology. I get very honest about the struggles I’ve faced with self doubt and the things I’ve tried in pursuit of my one true “passion” which at this point I’m convinced does not exist and I’ve resigned to having about 10 passions. I will leave you with this evidence of my time on tiktok.

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#7. This is Part 2 with Elise, a San Francisco fashion and lifestyle content tiktok creator. In part 2 we hear more of Elise’s advice to aspiring content creators and her experience of managing a healthy relationship with the app that is notorious for its addictive quality. Elise and I both have experience with tiktok and both have an eye for style, so this episode’s conversation gets into managing the comparison that comes from being on tiktok and seeing success stories from other creators, some who have started their own fashion brand. An example is what we see of someone like Matilda Djerf, who is 26 and has a trending clothing brand with millions of followers. For me at least, it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that I don’t have context into these peoples’ situations, and to compare myself however unfair that comparison might be. We also discuss how having a dream job is a scam, how adjusting to corporate life after college can be difficult, and the type of content she’s excited and rejuvenated to post about in the future after her trip to Japan. Elise is one of my original inspirations on tiktok, for her ability to create content in such a genuine and laidback way, so this is a very rewarding convo for me to have with her. 

Topics We Discuss:

• Instagram vs. tiktok
• Comparison on tiktok
• Fatigue / burnout from tiktok
• How a dream career is BS
• Adjusting to corporate job after college life, not making it your life
• Can’t see context with success stories of brands and whatnot
• How a fashion brand seems enticing to me and I see success stories on tiktok but don’t know the context and it can be hard to take a step back and think about what I don’t know (Ex: Matilda Djerf, Emma Chamberlain)
• The pressure to start a fashion brand
• Thoughts on youtube. 
• What the future holds, posting in Japan inspo. 
• Lack of brand deals means space for creative inspiration
• Difficulty with posting consistent fashion content without overconsuming
• Advice round 2 for any aspiring content creator who has held back for a number of reasons

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

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

https://www.youtube.com/@passionprojectpending