The American Dream

Insomnia keeps me from dreaming and it's also what's been causing me to delay posting episodes. I'm gonna try to be better at uploading content, but it hasn't been easy. I hope my listeners will understand and maybe even empathize.

Hemu Basu is an award-winning and nationally recognized Cake Artist, who has been featured in several competitions including Food Network's Halloween Wars. As a child, she always had a fascination for artwork but was unable to follow that passion until many years later when she stumbled across making a cake design for her son. That in turn led to her realizing her talent for making and designing cakes. This podcast has featured many badass women but Hemu certainly “takes the cake” (yes, pun intended).

"Follow your dreams and the money will come," is a popular saying but how accurate is it? Pursuing dreams can often lead to restlessness, as ironic as that may sound, because often we're unable to stop ourselves from well, ourselves. This episode is for those dreamers bombarded by questions that keep them up at night like, "will the career I pick make me enough money?"

I first met Dr. Timmins when I was working on a story about kidney transplants. And for someone that knows absolutely nothing about the human body, her patience is unparalleled so when I'd ask a stupid question like, does it really matter if we drink Evian or Fiji water to help prevent kidney disease, she humored me. The answer, by the way, (health-wise) is our kidneys can't tell the difference so if you like Fiji water, you're drinking it purely for taste. So I can keep buying the cheap ass bottled water from the store or drink from my fridge. But aside from that, one of the first things she told me was the kidney was her favorite organ. This show loves people that take pride in their work. No job is easy but when you're in a position where you're life is on the line, you need someone like Dr. Timmins, who actually cares and wants to do everything she can to save lives.

Ryan ESL is a Music Producer, best known for the song ‘Stanky Legg' by GS Boyz, but he has been able to work with some well-known musicians including Kanye West, Future, and Maxo Kreem. This episode is one I've been looking really forward to because he's not only a long-time friend. We met at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) in Nacogdoches, Texas – so he calls me by my first name and not by the stage name, which is a privilege only some get. Aside from that though, he's also produced some of the best beats I've ever heard, so naturally, I've been dying to pick his brain on music. It's definitely one of my favorite interviews and that's why the episode is a bit longer than the others because this one is a long time coming. His songs have also been featured on HBO's Insecure, and ABC's Blackish… And You can find more of his songs on soundcloud.com/ryanesl

Dale Davis is a Texas-based actor who you might know for his recurring role as Gary in the hit Showtime series: Shameless. These days he's producing, but also was an Emmy award-winning sports journalist. Like many kids, Dale wanted to be all kinds of things – a baseball player, a football player but ultimately, he was drawn to storytelling. There's competition in all sorts of career fields, but really trusting yourself to make it happen is what dreams are made of.

Pursuing dreams can often lead to restlessness, as ironic as that may sound, because often we're unable to stop ourselves from well, ourselves. This episode is for those dreamers who are bombarded by questions that keep them up at night like, "am I making the right decision?" "How do I know?" and "What if it's all for nothing?"

Imagine finding a job that you're great at but didn't think it was possible to get. That's what stand-up comedy was like for Ku Egenti A.K.A. "Your Favorite African." Born in Lagos, Nigeria but currently based in Texas, Ku got his start in comedy in 2007 while living in Memphis, TN and after getting fired from his corporate job in 2015, he decided to pursue stand-up full time. He'll be performing at the Secret Group to record his second comedy album on Nov. 26th. Tickets are available now!

This episode's dreamer is someone who had a simple dream: work at the airport. Not as a pilot per se, but just wanted to work to say he works there. He had this dream ever since he was a child and now as an adult, he can proudly say that in a way, he does. To find out how you'll have to tune in!

In this episode, we speak with Kelly Ward, a registered nurse who started her career quite early in life before she got her certifications. In this era, where health care workers are under a ton of stress, it's people like Ward, who are still able to remember why they got into their line of work. Special shout out to the medical professionals and the front line workers who have shown their true prowess during the coronavirus pandemic. We appreciate you and respect you for all that you do.

The American Dream says anything is possible if you really set your mind to it…some say that's a bunch of ******** but I'm on a mission to find those people that looked adversity in the eye and said, "come at me bro!" This podcast looks to hear from people who are happy with the choices they've made in life after achieving their dreams. It's about introducing you to people who said, “you know what? I'm going to take a chance on myself and be happy. And if for some reason it doesn't work out, at least I tried.” Can you, oh listener, then say you tried to make your dream come true? I hope you can and if not, I hope these stories will inspire you or at least give you some glimmer of happiness in those, who are taking pride in the work they do and for "living the dream."