The Thought Lab Podcast

Chevonne Powell is the founder of Meaningful Minds, a clinical Psychologist with a masters degree from the University of Johannesburg and has a Post Graduate Certificate in Education.

We sat down and discussed depression, anxiety and the use of methods other than standard prescriptions such as meditation and mindfulness. We talked about how and why she founded meaningful minds and her very interesting programs such as her self-development program.

We also discussed the disconnect between society and finding happiness and purpose. And finally we touched on what parents can do to avoid the dreaded helicopter syndrome that seems to be present in society today.

Brandon katz is a third-generation entrepreneur, specialising in Funding for innovation, Venture Capital, Section 12J, Government Incentives, Grants and RD tax Rebates.

Brandon has such an incredibly rich entrepreneurial background with His grandfather founding Metro Cash and Carry and his father co-founding Jumbo, Consolidated and HCS.

We talked about his time at varsity, how he got into trading and starting his business which he sold within 4 years. We also discussed tech companies and start-ups and compared Johannesburg vs Cape Town and South Africa vs the rest of the world.

This podcast is definitely one for all the budding entrepreneurs and business owners alike.

Jessica Judkins is an M.Sc Bio-geochemistry Candidate at the University of the Witwatersrand. She has worked on two notable papers the first being extremophiles and their connection with life on mars, and the second being the use of microorganisms to fight the toxins within asbestos.

While on maternity leave Jessica took some time out to discuss her findings and the implication her results have for the search for life on other planets and solutions for environmental care related to asbestos tailings. The Podcast also allowed me to get my inner nerd on and my fascination with extremophiles thanks to Dr. Paul Stamets and the Star Trek Team.

Daniel Friedman aka Deep Fried Man is a musical comedian, writer and satirist with his own quirky, unique style of performance and presentation. Daniel has performed at many of South Africa’s biggest comedy events (Blacks Only, Bafunny Bafunny, Kings and Queens of Comedy).

Daniel has won multiple awards (Comics Choice Award, Standard Bank Ovation Award), appeared in a host of TV shows and films (Material, ZANews, Comedy Central Presents Divine) and was a permanent cast member on multiple Emmy-nominated satirical news show Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola for seven seasons.

On the podcast Daniel helped me with an intro for the Thought Lab, we discussed politics, Daniel and roman Cabanac’s Verity podcast, we delved into some South African Politic, we also explored the unusual combination of being a comedian and journalist, we discussed saying no, and finally, Daniel sang me a song to close off the podcast.

Gilli Apter is a comic, writer and director. Gilli has worked as a comedy writer since 2005, on a variety of different platforms.

Her work includes: Marc Lottering’s sitcom, Loitering in Jozi; SAFTA-winning satirical news show, ZAnews and SABC3 sitcom, Those Who Can’t and Nik Rabinowitz’s one-man show, Fortyfied.

We spoke about a host of topics ranging from an in-depth look into the comedy industry, how she got into comedy and her first shows, being 30 and older, relationships and her new female only comedy show called Thundercats.

Dricus du Plessis is a Mixed Martial Artist boasting two EFC titles (Middleweight and Welterweight) and the KSW Welterweight Title, he was joined in studio by co-host Richie Quan. We sat down in the Tellytrack studios and discussed how Dricus started Mixed Martial Arts, His career as an amateur, his first fights and training, how he became a professional and joined EFC, his middle and welterweight title fights in the EFC, His recent fight for the KSW welterweight title in Poland. We also discussed how CIT is expanding, his new beer called Stillnox and then we discussed the news about about his up and coming title defense fight in KSW.

John Vlismas is a South African Comedian turned producer/director and business speaker. His new show is out called Brain Dump. We sat down in the Tellytrack studios and spoke about how podcasts are changing the world, religions place in modern society, we discussed the intellectual dark web, we questioned dolphin’s intelligence and the importance for learning critical thinking, we delved into conspiracy theories and then john discussed the motivation for his new comedy show brain dump off the back of a family crises.

Ndumiso Hadebe is trained and applied economics and international trade, a development economist for Gibs SA, Faculty contributor for One Day Leader, an MC under Whacked Management and a founding member of Khomba Africa which is an online localised business directory start-up. Among  a host of topics we discussed management, leadership, entrepreneurship, how Khomba was started, how cheap internet can change the south African landscape, life hacks, discovering our value systems and goal setting.

Alfred Adriaan is a comedian and professional MC flying up the ranks in the SA comedy scene with two consecutive South African comics’ choice nominations under his belt in the best New Comedian best Intermediate comedian categories. We sat down in the Tellytrack studios and discussed his progression growing up in a small town in the Eastern Cape called Hankey to Brand Manager in Johannesburg and his goal of quitting his job and following his dream to become a comedian. He has been all over radio and television in anticipation of his show “Dating Life” which is currently underway at Monte Casino. Alfred was one of the funniest guests I have ever had on the show.

Gary Burchell is the co-founder of Urban Rain Systems and a water “specialist”, Brandon Newman works alongside Gary and is the owner of East Rand Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and board member of SABJJF. Among a host of topics, we delved into how precious and scarce water is, the state of water conservation in South Africa and the world, the state of water in Cape Town vs. Johannesburg. We discussed what South Africa is doing regarding water management and harvesting and what we as users can do to change our habits and contribute to water conservation. And no self-respecting podcast can end before discussing water related world wars and the Zombie the Apocalypse.