Every now and than a business pops up that I'm just super intrigued to hear the story behind and how it all works. Today's guest, Don from Citizen, is one of those times! Along with three business partners – a chef, a brewer, and a baker – Don is taking the circular business model to the next level.

Citizen was inspired by the fact that every year around the world we waste 1/3 of the food we produce, which is pretty scary when you think about it. So Don and the team decided to do something about it - Citizen makes new products from surplus food. They rescue food waste and re-work it into delicious new food and drink.

To kick off, the Citizen team have just launched their first product – beer made from surplus bread. Then – and this is where it gets a bit mind-bendy – they take the brew mash leftover from the beer and make... wait for it... bread! If that's not circular, I don't know what is.

I'm so keen to hear the full story behind this – not only where the idea came from, how it's been developing it, and what it was like launching it during a global pandemic – but also how it all works in practice and what Don and the team are planning next. Let's go!

If you're keen to give Citizen a go, and do your bit to support what Don and the team are doing to fix our broken food system, head to citizen.co.nz to find out where you can try their products and you can find them on Instagram as well at @heycitizens.

For my second 'Topic Chat' today I've bought in reinforcements! To hear all about the world of crowd-funding, I'm welcoming special guest expert - Lucy Revill of The Residents.

Wellington writer, blogger and influencer, Lucy is currently crowd-funding to self-publish her first book on PledgeMe. The Residents: Made in Wellington is a beautiful design-led coffee table book with inspiring stories about people who have been shaped by the creative, enterprising city of Wellington. She smashed through her goal of raising $22,000 in just 13 hours!! Now she's moved onto her stretch-goals, and is almost there already (with a week to go!).

So who better to educate us on how to raise money with crowd-funding?! It can be such a valuable way to raise money to kick start your project or business, and I know a lot of you will find this chat really helpful and inspiring. Join me while I pick Lucy's brain on the whole process and get her pro tips, plus hear a bit of her personal story as well.

Lucy is working towards her huge next stretch goal of $40K - if you can help her get there, head to her PledgeMe page (click here) to donate now and get your name down for one of the first copies of her book (great for Christmas pressies!).

I'm so grateful to Hatch for sponsoring this episode of Pep Talk! It feels fitting to have this chat all about raising money bought to you by another awesome money platform here in NZ – but Hatch is on the other end of the spectrum and helps you put your money to work in the US sharemarkets. If you want to check it out for yourself, head to hatch.as/peptalknz to score a bonus $20 when you top up $100.

Welcome to the most delicious and colourful episode of Pep Talk! Today I have the absolute pleasure of talking to Shobha and Keryn – the mother/daughter team behind the beautiful Pass It On cookbook.

It had always been Mum Shobha's dream to write a family cookbook full of their traditional family recipes, to curate and hold safe all their family's wisdom - to pass it on, so to speak, to the younger generations.

When daughter Keryn offered to help bring her Mum's dream to life, little did they know by self-publishing a cookbook they were essentially starting a small business of their own. Welcome to the world of income and expenses, photographers and contractors, printers and stockists!

I am so interested to chat with this wonderful duo and find out more about why they decided to self-publish their book, what the experience has been like and what they've learned along the way. I know this will be such an inspiring chat, full of nuggets of gold and wisdom, just like these two.

And who knows, if you have a project or idea brewing in your mind, Shobha and Keryn's story might just inspire you to see what happens when you bring it to life yourself... Let's hear more!

You can order the Pass It On cookbook online (www.passitoncookbook.co.nz) or at lots of stockists around the country (listed on their website too). Catch some behind-the-scenes glimpses and follow along with Shobha and Keryn on Instagram at @passitoncookbook too. Plus if you're listening around the time of launch head to my Instagram (@peptaknz) to enter to WIN a copy!

A big thank-you to the sponsor of today's episode – Hatch. If you fancy having an explore on Hatch yourself like I've been doing head to hatch.as/peptalknz and you'll score a handy $20 credit when you load $100. Nice!