Process The Podcast

"My parents owned a five star luxury hotel that they built when I was ten... it formed me in a way that I cannot even comprehend." — Arielle Thomas

For over 140 episodes, Arielle's been the one asking the questions. This week, she turned the mic on herself. With so many new listeners joining after the Merit episode went viral, it felt like time to rewind the tape, who she actually is, how Process the Podcast came to exist, and where her seven-figure production company, Cinema Thom, stands today.

From growing up behind the scenes of her parents' five-star hotel, to a teenage sales job at Scanlan Theodore, to acting school in New York, to directing a Kmart TikTok vertical that helped drive enormous value for shareholders. 

This is the full, unfiltered walk through everything that built the person behind Process. It's personal, it's honest, and it's the episode to send anyone who's ever asked, "wait, how did you get into this?"

INSIDE THE EPISODE:

00:00 — Process the Podcast and Arielle's Origin Story

01:15 — Growing Up in Hotels: The Lyall

03:53 — Learning the Value of a Dollar

05:32 — Moving to New York for Acting School

06:12 — Coming Home & Arielle's Acting Career

08:05 — Behind the Camera With Meat and Potatoes

12:00 — Working with Kmart

16:13 — The TikTok Era

20:30 — Global Expansion: Anko Philippines

20:57 — How Process the Podcast Came to Be

24:00 — Process Today

30:15 — Cinema Thom Today

33:00 — What's Next?

Enjoyed this Episode?

Join our Community!

• Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram, @arielle.thomas

• Us, on Instagram, @processthepodcast

• Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast

  
  

New here? We're now on YouTube with a companion panel alongside the video, worth a watch if you're a visual person! Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday.

See you at the next one!

This episode references past projects (Meat and Potatoes, Deadline Gallipoli) discussed for personal/educational commentary. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For takedowns or copyright inquiries, please contact [email protected]

"It's an object of obsession about one woman... you genuinely get an intimacy that you cannot find anywhere else." — Grace O'Neill & Paulina Paige

Grace O'Neill and Paulina Paige have built magazines and campaigns for some of the biggest names in fashion media. But this time, they threw out every rule they knew and started from zero with no guardrails, no existing audience, no safety net. The result is Persona: a biannual, single-subject magazine that reads more like a coffee table book than a glossy, with its debut issue built entirely around Bella Freud.

In this exclusive interview, Grace and Paulina walk through exactly how Persona came together, the cold email that convinced Bella Freud to say yes, the unpublished 90s photo archive they talked a photographer into handing over, getting the rights to a Lucian Freud portrait, and the real numbers behind launching a $75 magazine with zero followers. It's a rare, honest look at what it actually takes to build a print product from scratch in 2026 - the creative risk-taking, the budget conversations, and the trust it takes to hand a stylist "a little kernel of an idea" and let them run the thing.

INSIDE THE EPISODE:

00:00 — Intro: Grace & Paulina The Lead-Up to Persona

05:27 — From Massive Infrastructure to Doing It All Themselves

07:41 — What They Knew Going In

14:26 — What If a Magazine Had No Rules?

16:47 — Deciding on Bella Freud

18:52 — The Cold Email That Got Bella Freud on Board

22:08 — The Moment They Knew It Was Really Happening

22:57 — Building the Book Around What They Had

31:35 — Is It Really an Australian Magazine?

34:16 — Talking Budgets: Landing Dior & Reframing Beauty With Mecca

42:14 — What It Actually Takes to Print

44:18 — Production vs. Printing

48:23 — The Launch Gamble

53:32 — How Much Room Does This Take Up in Your Life?

58:24 — Partnership

1:00:29 — Where the Creative Stimulus Comes From

1:04:00 — Second Issue?

1:08:32 — Where to Find Them

1:10:15 — Persona Launch Party

Take a look at Persona:

• Persona Magazine: www.persona-magazine.com 

• Instagram @thepersonamagazine

Connect with our Guests:

• Grace O'Neill on Instagram: @grceoneill

• Paulina Ortega on Instagram: @paulinapaige

Enjoyed this Episode?

Join our Community!

• Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram, @arielle.thomas

• Us, on Instagram, @processthepodcast

• Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast

Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday. See you at the next one!

This episode includes references to third-party archival imagery and licensed material (including works connected to the Lucian Freud estate) discussed for educational commentary. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For takedowns or copyright inquiries, please contact [email protected]

"The beauty of great satire is you blur the line of whether or not something is true or not true."- Claudia Bursill

Before she was Miss Double Bay, Claudia Bursill was just a uni student with a Woolworths review that spiralled into a national news story. Today, that same anonymous meme account is her literal resume; it's how she landed a job at the Betoota Advocate, and now leads talent and business development at its sister agency, Leverage.

In this episode, Claudia breaks down the real mechanics behind building a satire brand: why great comedy always "punches up," never down, how she decided to reveal her identity after years behind the account, the brand deals she's turned into some of her most-shared content, and why she thinks a running joke can build more trust than a perfectly polished post ever could.

INSIDE THE EPISODE:

00:00 — Intro: Claudia Bursill A.K.A Miss Double Bay

01:30 — The 'Miss Double Bay' Persona & Origin Story

02:33 — Origin Story: The Woolworths Avocado Review

06:25 — The Identity Reveal

10:57 — Miss Double Bay (MDB) & Job Opportunities

13:01 — Why Authenticity Beats the Traditional Influencer Brief 14:59 — From Meme Account to Writer to Business Development

16:12 — The Future of the Creator Economy

17:23 — A Day in the Life at Leverage

20:16 — What Is Satire, Really?

20:54 — The Golden Rule: Always Punch Up

24:41 — Turning a Moment Into Content

30:12 — Climbing & Fighting the Cringe Mountain

33:41 — Riding a Trend the Right Way

40:32 — Your Relationship With Your Phone

46:12 — PNLs in Media

48:18 — Trivia Night!

52:17 — Closing & Where to Find Her

TRIVIA NIGHT TICKETS! 

• Get it here

Connect with our Guest:

• Miss Double Bay on Instagram: @missdoublebay

• Claudia Bursill on Instagram: @claudiabursill

• The Betoota Advocate: @betootaadvocate

Enjoyed this Episode?

Join our Community!

• Your host, Arielle Thomas on Instagram, ⁠@arielle.thomas⁠

• Us, on Instagram, ⁠@processthepodcast

• Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast

Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday. See you at the next one!

This episode includes third-party references (news coverage, satire case studies) used for educational commentary. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For takedowns or copyright inquiries, please contact [email protected]

Aila Morin is the founding Chief Marketing Officer of Merit Beauty, one of the fastest-growing brands in the beauty industry. On this episode of Process, host Arielle Thomas sits down with Aila for a rare, in-depth conversation about brand building, marketing strategy, and product development, from Merit's earliest days as an anonymous Instagram account to its most recent Clean Volume mascara launch.

Aila walks through how Merit built a loyal community before the brand even had a name, why the company skipped paid advertising entirely for its first four months, and how a single UX fix increased sales by more than 100%. She also gets candid about product failures, the emotional weight of building something people trust, and why Merit has no interest in using AI in its creative process.

This conversation covers founder transparency, marketing strategy, brand building, product development, and the beauty industry from the inside, a masterclass for anyone building a brand, working in marketing, or curious how one of beauty's most consistent companies actually operates day to day.

INSIDE THE EPISODE:

00:00 — Intro

00:38 — How Merit Came to Be

03:15 — Finding the White Space in Beauty

05:10 — Building a Brand That Doesn't Need the Product

07:17 — Learning to Sell from the Shop Floor

09:46 — The Secret Instagram Account That Became Merit

11:33 — Skipping Paid Ads for Community as a Focus Group

13:12 — Why Great Brands Aren't Built on Virality

16:59 — Reinventing the Foundation Stick

22:13 — Data Over Market Reports: Building Clean Volume

26:11 — The Kaizen Approach to Product Development

29:24 — Story First: How a Launch Actually Gets Built

34:15 — Why Merit Never Starts With the Grid

35:20 — Casting With a Story: Whitney Leavitt & Karen Pittman

38:10 — Self-Doubt Behind the Confidence

40:28 — Owning Polarizing Reviews

42:17 — What Hasn't Worked

44:30 — The Unglamorous Reality of Running Merit

46:22 — Building a Brand That Lasts 100 Years

49:00 — Clean Volume's "See to Believe" Sampling Strategy

50:37 — The Future of Social & Why No AI Creative

52:41 — Arielle's Personal Encounter With Merit

55:36 — Beauty: Shame vs. Belonging

Connect with our Guest:

• Aila Morin on Instagram: @ailamorin

• Merit Beauty on Instagram: @merit

• Website: meritbeauty.com

Enjoyed this Episode?

Join our Community!

• Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram,⁠@arielle.thomas⁠:

• Us, on Instagram,⁠ @processthepodcast

•Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast

Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday. See you at the next one!

This episode includes third-party audio used for educational commentary and reference. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For takedowns or copyright inquiries, please contact [email protected]

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Your showreel might be quietly costing you clients, and no one's telling you that.

In this solo petite episode, host Arielle Thomas walks through the exact framework she's using to recalibrate Cinema Thom: why clients now hire for problem-solving over taste, the real difference between a showreel and a case study, and the asset-mapping system replacing both.

Part life update, part masterclass in founder transparency; including the six months she went quiet online, why that was a mistake, and the Tyler the Creator clip that changed how she thinks about promoting her own work.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• The real difference between a showreel and a case study and why clients now expect both
• How to build a campaign asset map (Arielle's own team framework)
• Why "Rome wasn't built in a day" should be a content strategy, not an excuse
• The system Arielle's team uses to keep posting consistently without her being the bottleneck

INSIDE THE EPISODE:

00:00 — Intro
00:43 — Why Clients Hire Me Now
02:54 — Showreel vs. Case Study, Defined
03:35 — Building the Asset Map
05:15 — Put Out Your Work (Tyler the Creator clip)
06:19 — Systems & Processes
08:15 — Behind-the-Scenes Beats the Hero Shot
09:15 — The Recalibration Roadmap
11:04 — Who Do I Want to Be?
12:12 — Closing & Community

Enjoyed this Petit? 
Join our Community!

• Cinema Thom: @cinema_thom ( https://bit.ly/4fwwZI7 )
  
• Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram,⁠@arielle.thomas⁠ (https://bit.ly/4v21hby)
• Us, on Instagram,⁠@processthepodcast (https://bit.ly/4xJ1EKl)
• Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast (https://bit.ly/44pdcFf)

Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday.
See you at the next one! 

This episode includes third-party audio used for educational commentary and reference. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For takedowns or copyright inquiries, please get in touch with [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"If people want to work with you, they’re going to find you. So you've just got to create the work, be aligned with your own taste, and put it out there." — Ali Mitton

From a darkroom in the Gold Coast to shooting global campaigns in Los Angeles, photographer Ali Mitton has built an undeniable, sun-drenched career capturing freedom, raw movement, and elevated beauty. But what happens when the high stakes of commercial advertising pull you away from your artistic centre?

In this incredibly raw and transparent conversation, Ali opens up about building massive relationships with legacy brands like CoverGirl and Aerie, navigating the toxic comparison loops of Instagram, and how a devastating personal crisis, losing her dream home in the 2025 LA wildfires, sparked an existential creative reckoning.

We dive deep into the differences between the Australian and American industry landscapes, the realities of high-stakes commercial sets, and why true artistry requires the courage to say "no".

INSIDE THE EPISODE: 

00:00 — Intro
04:32 — Owning the Title Before You've Earned It
07:46 — Protecting Your Signature as Jobs Get Bigger
12:06 — The No-Retouching Era
16:16 — Getting Dropped
21:10 — How Dream Clients Actually Find You
24:35 — Shooting Playboy for the Female Gaze
28:29 — Legacy Clients, Celebrities & Managing Egos
34:35 — Being the Client for Once
36:55 — Losing the House in the LA Fires
43:45 — Learning to Say No
48:04 — The Impossible Shot List
57:51 — Beauty's Nostalgic Rewind
1:01:28 — Instagram Rewind: Behind the Shots

• Ali Mitton on Instagram: https://bit.ly/4vLjmuR 
• Website: www.alimitton.com https://bit.ly/3T12QJj

• Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram,⁠@arielle.thomas⁠ https://bit.ly/4v21hby
• Us, on Instagram,⁠@processthepodcast https://bit.ly/4xJ1EKl
• Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast https://bit.ly/44pdcFf

Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday.
See you at the next one! 

* This episode includes third-party images and video clips used for educational commentary and visual references. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For takedowns or  copyright inquiries, please contact [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"If everyone draws from the same pool of images, but they don't know why they're drawing from that, the work becomes the same." - Zoë Yasemin

Welcome back to Process the Podcast. This week, Arielle sits down with Dutch-based creative director, researcher, and the brilliant mind behind the viral, globally ranked Substack: The Art Direction, Zoë Yasemin. 

While previous guests have masterfully explored the mechanics of still-life curation and multimedia stop-motion, Zoë’s strength is the depth of her reference pool. In this expansive dialogue, Zoë and Arielle dissect "aesthetic flattening" - the dangerous cultural cycle where creators pull from the exact same surface-level internet algorithms, leading to an inevitable sameness in modern brand output. From bidding on rare, vintage indie magazines on eBay to studying the historical representation of the female form, Zoe shares an elite masterclass on how to bridge the gap between a beautiful mood board and world-class execution.

• 00:00 — Intro 
• 05:22 — Decades of Visual History
• 11:43 — What is True "Taste"?
• 17:10 — The 57K Substack Secret Blueprint
• 22:53 — Sourcing References Beyond Pinterest
• 28:22 — The Visual Curriculum Framework
• 33:10 — Finding Unexpected Creative Fuel
• 38:10 — Heritage Brand World-Building
• 43:49 — Inside a 3-Day Editorial Marathon
• 49:04 — Embracing Human Craft Over AI

• Zoë Yasemin on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3TixD4k
• The Art Direction School on Instagram: https://bit.ly/4vgZgrZ
• Art Direction on Substack: https://bit.ly/4gsNWp3

• Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram,⁠@arielle.thomas⁠ (https://bit.ly/4v21hby)
• Us, on Instagram,⁠@processthepodcast (https://bit.ly/4xJ1EKl)
• Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast (https://bit.ly/44pdcFf)

Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday.
See you at the next one! 

* This episode includes third-party images and video clips used for educational commentary and visual reference. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For copyright inquiries, please contact [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The reason why I want to instill you guys to care about this... is not because I want you to care about basketball. It's because I want you to care about the shape of the story. It's the unglamorous, the hours and hours and hours that go into unrewarded work." — Arielle Thomas

Welcome back to another episode of Process the Podcast. We are sliding right back into the studio this week, and the way we are looking at our craft is getting a little bit sharper.

In this unfiltered, solo Petit, Arielle steps directly up to the microphone to strip away the soft, algorithmic romanticism of the creative life. This episode drops a massive operational framework: creatives must think and work like high-performance athletes to truly get ahead.

Pulling structural parallels from the historic 53-year championship wait of the New York Knicks, Jalen Brunson’s relentless work ethic, and Kobe Bryant’s obsessive midnight training methods, Arielle breaks down how to navigate the modern wave of AI slop and self-optimisation burnout. This is a raw, grounded look at how to get excited about the unglamorous reps, master the actual volume of your craft, and build an unbreakable work ethic when absolutely nobody is watching.

Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday.
See you at the next one!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"You had an idea every ten seconds for Vogue. You can have an idea every ten seconds for yourself." - Kirstie Clements

Welcome back to Process: Encore. In this archival series, we bring forward the timeless dialogues that laid the groundwork for Process. 

This week, Arielle revisits a deeply layered, expansive conversation with best selling author, journalist, and legendary former Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Australia, Kirstie Clements.

Kirstie’s 27-year trajectory at the absolute pinnacle of fashion publishing is a masterclass in creative longevity. Starting on the reception desk at age 23, she scaled the masthead to lead the iconic title through nearly thirteen years of epochal cultural shifts, international coups like anchoring Karl Lagerfeld's guest editorship and massive corporate evolutions. 

In this honest session, Kirstie unpacks what happens when you step out of a rigid corporate cocoon, how she completely shed the heavyweight skin of public expectation, and what it truly means to safeguard your innate creative power.

Inside this Episode: 

Connect with our Guest:

Read Her Books: 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I don't say to my assistants that you're working for me... you're working for the picture, so everything you do is about making the picture better. The picture is my boss." - Georges Antoni

Welcome back to Process: Encore. In this archive series, we spotlight the foundational conversations that continue to guide our creative landscape, unedited, uncut, and re-centred for our community today.

This week, we are throwing it back to a deeply insightful conversation with one of Australia’s most in-demand commercial fashion photographers, Georges Antoni. 

Georges took a beautifully unconventional route into the industry, transitioning from corporate strategy at Coca-Cola and PricewaterhouseCoopers to shooting portfolio books out of his parents' crystal-cabinet front room. Today, he architects massive productions for leading brands while fiercely maintaining a family-first philosophy. In this episode, Georges and Arielle pull apart the critical intersection of artistic integrity, active diplomacy on set, and why Australian retail is falling behind on a global scale.

Inside the Episode:

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