If happiness is a choice, let’s talk about who gets to choose it, and who’s just trying to survive a system that tells them it’s their fault they’re miserable.

Erica and Erin are joined by William Davies, political economist, author of The Happiness Industry, and one of the sharpest critics of how governments and corporations turned happiness into a metric, a mandate, and a market. 

Together, they dig into the cultural scaffolding behind our obsession with happiness: where it comes from, who benefits, and what it’s costing us.

Connect with William Davies:

https://williamdavies.blog/

https://bookshop.org/beta-search?keywords=William+Davies

No full episode this week. We’re stepping away from the mic to touch grass, eat carbs, and avoid small talk. Back next week with more delightful dumpster fires.

Erica and Erin trace this phrase from its New Age roots to its Instagram glow-up, digging into how “the universe” became a rebranded higher power for people who’d rather not talk about God. What looks like faith might actually be a filter for avoidance, especially when it’s used to explain away failure or justify a $10K group program that never delivered.

From prosperity gospel to “trust the process” culture, they ask: Is this cliche (belief) helping people heal, or is it a cosmic cop-out?

You know that phrase, “Be your best self”? This episode rips it wide open: from its shiny, self-help packaging to the industrial shame complex underneath.

Erica and Erin are joined by media scholar Laurie Ouellette to break down how makeover reality shows (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, The Biggest Loser, Wife Swap, etc.) didn’t just make for good TV;  they quietly rewired our ideas about help, worthiness, and personal responsibility. What we mistake for glow-ups, might be about control.

Find out more about Laurie Ouellette…

Buy one of her books: https://bookshop.org/contributors/laurie-ouellette

• Viewers Like You?: How Public TV Failed the People (2002)
• Better Living Through Reality TV: Television and Post-Welfare Citizenship (2008)
• Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture (2009)
• The Media Studies Reader (2012)
• A Companion to Reality Television (2014)
• Keywords for Media Studies (2017)
• Lifestyle TV (2016)

Read her work as Editor-in-Chief of the academic journal "Television and New Media:" https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/journal/television-new-media

Or as a Columnist at Film Quarterly: https://filmquarterly.org/tag/laurie-ouellette/

You know those phrases that sound important but mean absolutely nothing? Yeah, we made a list.

In this rapid-fire episode, Erica and Erin pull back the curtain on some of the most overused (and underwhelming) buzzwords in business, leadership, and personal development, or rather “Business BS,” “Leadership Lies,” and “Personal Development Delusions.”

It’s a roast. It’s a reset. It’s your permission slip to stop pretending these phrases are helpful.

In this episode Trash Talk, Erin and Erica take a step back to reflect on their podcast journey…from their first encounter in a Google Doc to deciding to turn their weekly coffee chats into a podcast, they share the behind-the-scenes story. 

They also dive into the juicy bits of their personal histories, like Erin’s dumpster dive moment that launched her career (literally), and Erica’s museum exhibition background that led her to shaping big ideas for brands.

Tune in for a mix of branding, life lessons, and personal anecdotes, with a sneak peek at what’s to come in Season 2.

Links to passion projects that mentioned in this episode:

www.youtube.com/@MultigenMagic

www.youtube.com/@CalmTitsMedia

You’ve heard the quote. You’ve probably even said it. But what if that ever-popular cliché is doing more harm than good? 

In this episode, Erica and Erin throw “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room…” under the microscope, and discover a tangled web of assumptions about intelligence, value, status, and the rooms we choose to enter (or flee from).

If this episode gave you a forehead-smack moment, or just made you feel seen, go ahead and rate & review Trash Talk on your favorite podcast app.

Transformation. It’s a buzzword that’s been overhyped and misused to the point of meaninglessness. In this episode, Erica and Erin dive into the fallout of selling the “transformational” dream in coaching, marketing, and self-development.

They break down how the promise of overnight change leads to unrealistic expectations, burnout, and shame. From Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey to Tony Robbins’ high-ticket events, “transformation” has become the ultimate sales pitch…one that’s setting everyone up for disappointment. 

Authenticity is the hill everyone wants to die on; until it gets awkward. In this episode, Erin and Erica take a scalpel to the overused advice to “just be authentic.” They dig into why this well-meaning mantra is often misleading, unpack the social and professional landmines of being real, and introduce a far more useful approach: being authent-ish. 

Along the way, they break down the paradox of authenticity and the different ways authenticity can go hilariously (or painfully) wrong. Expect also: Some light Gwen Stefani discourse and at least one moment of existential crisis.

Gary Vee told us to document, don’t create—but is that really the move in 2025?

In this episode of Trash Talk, we break down why this advice led to an era of oversharing, redundant content, and a whole lot of noise. Not everything needs to be documented, and not every “authentic” moment serves your brand. So how do you create content that actually means something?

We’re talking about the death of the “just post more” era, the rise of thoughtful branding, and how to turn your documentation into something that connects and converts—without looking like a hot mess.

Shall we?