Podcasts about photoshopping

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In this episode, Cassidy Lynne (@cassidylynne) read through your advice submissions, including topics like mixing friends + business, never getting paid for a session, & dealing with requests to photoshop. ---------------- SPONSORS: Get a free 30 day trail and 20% off Aftershoot Edits 2.0 at www.aftershoot.com/edits ---------------- WATCH THESE EPISODES ON YOUTUBE! https://www.youtube.com/CassidyLynne ---------------- Want more free education? Check out my website for photography freebies, presets, & courses! https://cassidylynneeducation.com ---------------- Are you apart of our photography Facebook community group? Go to http://facebook.com/groups/cassidylynne/ and join the discussions of thousands of other photographers. ---------------- Where you can find me: Follow me on Instagram!! Follow me on Tik Tok! ---------------- Music by @mattngesa  

There are many factors to success and I have listed many in these podcasts, but the brutal reality is that it takes hard work.  Lots of it.  There isn't a silver bullet, no matter what every influencer, marketer, salesman, advertorial or Facebook campaign might try to convince you - and AI ain't gonna fix it either.  All I wish is that I could stop seeing the ads that tell me otherwise! Before all that, though, I head up the episode with a quick chat with Colin Jones, CEO of The Societies Of Photographers. This is one more in my series of interviews-from-the-photography-show (I need a snappier title) and it's interesting that once more, training and education are at the forefront of his thoughts. Also, I mention a brilliant app called EVOTO.AI in this episode.  At some point I'll do a deep-dive into it but rest-assured, this is well worth exploring if, like me, you create portraits for a living.  The guys have kindly given me a link you can use that gives you thirty free credits when you register: https://go.evoto.ai/PaulWilkinson One great thing about this app is that you only burn a credit up when export a finished image - you can test it out on as many as you like.  This means those thirty credits could be enough for you to play around with as many images as you want until you're happy and then go ahead and run an entire portrait session through!   Let me know what you think! Cheers P. If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode. PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk.    Transcript EP153 It Takes Work And Life Would Be Boring Without Sarah Introduction to Colin Jones [00:00:00] I'm Colin Jones. I'm the CEO for the Society of Photographers. Excellent. It's lovely to see you as always, Colin. The Photography Show Experience [00:00:06] Tell me why you come to the photography show. Oh, the photography show is a great show. It's great to meet up with all the trade, seeing all the latest products and services in the industry and getting to network with other photographers. [00:00:17] It's a great show to come to. Passion for Photography [00:00:18] So, tell me why you love this industry so much. [00:00:21] Oh, I love the industry. I've always been part of the photography industry. It's been part of my family since my granddad and my dad, and it's an industry full of amazing people, creative people, uh, and, you know, so much passion for, for, for photography and for the craft of it. [00:00:35] And I love seeing people excel in the industry as well. [00:00:37] So that's all of the positives. Industry Improvements [00:00:38] But if, like everything, there was always things we could do better as an industry. If there's one thing, just one thing that you could change in this glorious passion of ours, what would it be? [00:00:48] I think I'd like to see photographers get more training, invest more time in training and more, more money in training. Uh, you know, I see, when we see people take that step and really invest in training to push not only their photography but their business, we see so much success. Uh, so I'd love to see training be more, , forefront of the industry. Importance of Training [00:01:04] When you're talking about training, what aspects do you think, photographers in the industry, certainly the industry we spend most of our time with, which is the UK industry, what do you think is the weak spot? Which direction do you think the development would be most applicable. [00:01:19] I think, uh, quite a lot of photographers, if they're in business, uh, that's where we see a lot of photographers really struggle getting clients through the door, marketing their services, uh, so that's, that's always been a big passion of mine, is getting photographers more training in the business side, but, you know, I, I genuinely think training of any kind, whether it's lighting and posing, or even just networking with your peers, uh, and getting training that way, just by talking to other photographers, uh, is a, is a real bonus. [00:01:43] Excellent. Interview Conclusion [00:01:43] Perfect answers, as always, from one of the nicest guys in the industry. Thank you, Colin. [00:01:47] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Uh, so that is one more of those little interviews I did at the photography show earlier this year. That was Colin Jones, the CEO of the Societies Of, Photographers. It's always interesting talking to people like Colin. I mean, not just because he's a really lovely guy. But he hears from hundreds, possibly thousands of photographers, uh, on a scale that most of us can only imagine. [00:02:11] And yet the themes still seem to be consistent. [00:02:15] It's all about education. Podcast Introduction [00:02:17] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: And learning I'm Paul and this is the masteringportraitphotography.com podcast. [00:02:22] [00:02:36] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Well, it's been three weeks since the last episode and yesterday, yesterday. Wedding Anniversary Anecdote [00:02:45] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: It was mine and Sarah's 21st wedding anniversary. She sent me a card and it simply said, imagine how boring life would be without me. Literally in quotes. Imagine how boring life would be without me. Well, this morning, She bit my toe, I was fast asleep. She bit my toe now I sleep with my feet. Out of the bottom of the duvet. [00:03:09] I've always done it. And I've no idea why, but I do. This morning. She bit my toe. And this isn't really a unique event. I think she probably does it a few times. A year I am asleep, then rudely I'm awakened. With pain. There is nothing in between those two moments except a searing sensation that someone has sunk their teeth. Into my big toe. I don't really know which bit hurts the most, the initial bite or the moments I react and pull away leaving tooth marks. This morning. She bit my toe. [00:03:46] It's true. Sarah is right. Imagine how life would be without her. Imagine how boring. It would be, frankly, I can't imagine it. I can't picture. How things would be without every morning. They're being the risk that she's going to sink her teeth into my toe. But Sarah is the person who makes me laugh the most. [00:04:07] She is the person who allows the extrovert in me out. She's the person who props me up when I'm down. And she's the person who keeps a lid on me. When I'm up. That sounds really weird, but you get the gist of it. Um, you know, I can be quite full on, I think, and it, Sarah, that just keeps things nice and steady. [00:04:28] And so thank you Sarah, for 21 years of marriage, 33 years of hilarity between the two of us. So, yes, life would be really boring without her. [00:04:41] Anyway, in the past three weeks, what has happened in our diary. Recent Portrait Sessions [00:04:46] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Well there have been 22 different portrait sessions, which is lovely, including one, uh, just this morning, beautiful family. Uh, so a mom with her two children and her two grandchildren. Um, just lovely out in the sunshine, a quick drive over to their house. Shot in the garden. [00:05:05] What was funny about it was every single shot. She wanted her front door in the images. Which, uh, I've had sort of, you know, big Manor houses and different things about to be part of a shoot, but I've never had one where the front door has to be prominent, but it was a joyous shoot, beautiful people. [00:05:23] They made me very welcome. [00:05:24] Cannot wait to show them their pictures. And one of the two little girls -she's three years old -was wearing a Liverpool FC football strip. Now on two levels that just filled my heart, with joy. On the one level. It's Liverpool, which happens to be the team that I also have always supported all my life I've supported. [00:05:46] And when I say supported, what I mean is occasionally I've looked at their headlines and seen the score. Or occasionally, you know, a key match comes up and I might watch the first 20 minutes of it, before it gets way too stressful for me, and I leave the room. I'm not really a supporter in the supporter sense of the word. But if I'm ever, if ever I'm asked, and this is since I've been about five years old, it's been Liverpool. And she was wearing a kit this morning and the kit was almost identical to a kit I was bought for Christmas when I think I was about eight. There's something about the styling of the current, the current kit, the red with the white collar. The cut of it, the styling of it, that's almost exactly the same as it was all of those years ago when it was Kevin Keegan and the boys playing. And so that made me happy. [00:06:36] The main reason, it made me really happy. Is isn't it amazing. Oh, is it amazing or isn't it about time? [00:06:43] Maybe it's about time. Maybe we're just getting there. That a girl turned up at the door. She's three years old and she's a football fanatic. And I know now the way it will be for her is so very different, than for instance, if my sister, when she was that age wanted to play football. Now my, my sister, cause I was a drummer, my sister wanted to play drums, but the girl's school, she went to said that wasn't lady like. How heartbreaking is that? I know we're going back quite a long time, but how heartbreaking. Is that, that you can't do something. Because it's not lady like. You can't do something because because of your gender, it doesn't fit in. It's just ridiculous. [00:07:25] And so it is so heartwarming this morning. To see this little girl in bright red, bright red Liverpool football strip, kicking a ball around the garden and loving every single second of it. And unlike my sister, where I think life in that particular time. In the late eighties, early nineties. You know, Society's, it was sort of prevented things like that. I know this little kid that won't be the case. For her, at least. I trust it won't be the case for her. Hearing Dogs Shoots [00:07:57] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: So wonderful shoot this morning, 22 portraits shoots over the past three weeks, we'd done five Hearing Dogs shoots. Uh, two of those have been out on a location and they've been so joyous, so profoundly joyous. Um, the one yesterday was of one of our recipients whose Hearing Dog has essentially. Been a lifesaver. [00:08:18] I mean, I, I hear this quite a lot, but I really do think, uh, the lady I photographed with her dog yesterday, she's in her mid twenties. Um, Is just, was just an inspiration, really the relationship with the dog, the way they were, the joy that dog has brought, um, And it was just a magical shoot. And one of the things about these all, I mean, all portrait shoots, I think, but in particular with shoots like the Hearing Dogs is as much as I'm providing a service, as much as I'm providing images that they can use for fundraising and publicity and PR and marketing and all of these things. Is, they provide me with a sense of, what's the right word, they energize me. They give me energy and positivity. I come away from these shoots so much more full of life than I do when I arrive at them. I just think. It's just incredible. The joy that a photography can bring, not just to the people I'm photographing, but also, uh, to me. [00:09:22] Uh, we've had five cleanse that was a bit abrupt, sorry about that. I don't know. I maybe I just couldn't think of a good point to wind up on, but being a portrait photographer is a thing of joy. [00:09:33] It is a thing of life is a thing of positivity and energy. Um, and I suppose that's what I'm trying to get to. It really is something, but it's not a one way street. I get as much energy and joy out of these shoots as my client's do. Client Reveals and Workshops [00:09:48] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Uh, we've also had five client reveals. Uh, just wonderful. I love it when the clients come to see that images, we never quite certain what we're going to sell. But, uh, it's just a lovely thing to see the reaction to people when they see their pictures sometimes surprise. In fact, nearly, always surprise at how beautiful the pictures can be, I don't know why they're surprised they've come to us. They've come to us because they've seen what I can do for others. Um, and yet still the surprise very often it's clients who've been to us before, and they're still surprised. Maybe I should work harder at explaining what we, what we do, but that element of surprise. It's a lovely thing when it's done in the, in the reveal room and tomorrow we've got a little wedding, it was just a two person wedding uh, who are coming to see their pictures. And again, massively looking forward to that. Uh, we've run one one-on-one masterclass. [00:10:37] I love the one-on-one masterclasses. Because of course, every topic, every topic can be on the table. We don't need to worry about. Uh, suiting or fulfilling the requirements of four or five people. It's just one person and we can play, we can talk, uh, we can jump between different topics. We can try different things out depending on their needs. [00:10:57] Anything from business all the way through to how to prep your files for Photoshop. It doesn't really make any difference to us. And so for that, it's just a wonderful thing to do. [00:11:07] We've also done a, an off-camera flash workshop. Now the off-camera flash workshops are by far the hardest. Even this morning, a little shoot. Um, when I met bumped into the little girl, Uh, in her Liverpool outfit, Liverpool kit. I decided one of the shots we would do would be, uh, like a FIFA or UEFA. Uh, footballer's pose because all footballers are contracted to do these things so that when, uh, the, the, the TV companies roll out or, or show the team list or whatever, or feature a player, there's footage of every player walking into shot and standing a very particular way, they lit a very particular way. Um, and you can do that quite happily out in the garden with some off-camera flash. [00:11:50] So even this morning I was using. Off camera flash, and you have to sort of pause a little bit and think, okay. And you, you have to build the shot setting by setting. Then it's not as straightforward as it is just using TTL. You could just use TTL on your flash guns. Uh, but you get sort of slightly erratic results if you do that. You have to understand how, uh, the shutter speed, the aperture, the ISO, they all interact to give you the output you're looking for. And this morning absolutely nailed it. But when you're trying to teach it, trying to get those principles across in a way that is clear, a way that is concise and a way that is repeatable so that you will delegates can leave. And use that, those techniques themselves. Isn't trivial. [00:12:41] It's the, of all the things we teach here at the studio, I think. It's the hardest. And I know it's the hardest because when I'm suddenly faced with having to get the settings right for myself on a shoot, invariably I'll change the wrong thing at the wrong moment. And it's like, oh, bugger. bugger Having to go back. And figure it out. Uh, so it was, it was lovely to do a brilliant day, lots of laughter and one that Sarah was away for. [00:13:07] So thank you to Katie and James who stepped in. And Katie stepped into the role of, of Sarah, because she had to go and look after my in-laws new puppy for eight days, honestly, she's come back exhausted that, that Sarah, that is not the puppy. Uh, she's come back. Absolutely exhausted. The puppy goes to sleep at midnight. The puppy wakes up at six and there's very little in between. It's on and off. Uh, and it's on from 6:00 AM to midnight and it's off from midnight til six. She was absolutely shattered. So, uh, she was away the week when we running the workshop, unfortunately. And it couldn't be helped, not a lot of sidestepping, but Katie, thank you very much for stepping in. And being sort of a surrogate, Sarah and helping me make sure that everything ran. Uh, smoothly. BIPP Qualifications Judging [00:13:53] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Uh, also this last week we have done a full day of qualifications judging for the BIPP, the British Institute of Professional Photography. Um, It's a wonderful thing. Qualifications are such an amazing thing to be a part of. And I mean, that from both sides of the line. [00:14:12] I kind of draw inspiration from the candidates, the people putting their images in for assessment and I draw inspiration from the judges, but in very different ways. [00:14:24] The candidates, of course. It takes quite a lot of bravery, I think, to submit your images. I mean, we've all been through it, but it still is quite a thing to do. To submit your images in for assessment as qualification, because you don't know, you don't truly know, even the mentors don't truly know, whether a panel is going to be successful or not. [00:14:45] , we did eight panels in a day. I'm chairing it. [00:14:48] So I'm not really a judge in that sense anymore. I chair it and make sure it's run smoothly And the process is meticulous in the way we do it, so that it's fair and equitable for every single candidate. [00:15:03] Firstly, the candidate sets up their panel and the judges, get to assess the images. At the end of that first assessment , we take a vote. Then have a discussion and then we take a second vote. And the reason we do it like that is so that the judges get to make up their minds independently with no influence. They're just assessing the images on their own. And on an individual basis. Then we vote. And then as a discussion and in that discussion, It's about the judging team, the panel of judges arriving at a decision that is, a combination of their own independent view and the views of the other four judges. And it's important that it's done like that because every judge has a different experience, different influences and skills for how they assess the images. [00:15:53] And so when the judges talk, each judge gets the opportunity to address the panel, and talk about why they think their decision is the right one. But they're also listening to the other four judges and taking into account, maybe things they haven't noticed or maybe things that they just don't prioritize quite the same way. [00:16:17] And listening to these six judges or five at a time, but the six judges in discourse, listening, giving their views, knowing when to be brave and when to stand their ground, but also know when to flex, and acknowledge that may be another photographer, another judge has more experience in an area or a spotted, something that they haven't, that that was exhilarating in the extreme, because the panel of judges each time there was a discussion , they came to decision and the whole panel doesn't have to be unanimous, but the whole panel of judges respects and understands the outcome of the process. [00:16:56] Now, of course the delegate might not. That is other candidate rather than might not. That is true. And it wasn't a hundred percent pass, uh, in terms of each of the panels. And it's always heartbreaking. I wish the candidates could see behind the curtain while we come to the decision. That's not part of the process that we've opened up just yet. Um, that may come in the future as we get our arms around a way of doing that, that is. Uh, fair. But genuinely when a panel was unsuccessful, you could almost hear everybody in the room, you can almost hear their hearts. Breaking. [00:17:37] When we say, we're sorry. We mean it. Because we would love every single panel to be a successful panel. We would love that. But in the end. It's a, it's a balancing act between making sure that we reward the endeavor, we reward the work. But the standards have to be high. They have to be. Consistent. They have to be something that when people look at the letters you put on the wall. They mean something and sadly they can only mean something. [00:18:12] If we hold our ground, on, uh, the standards, the process, and the reasons why certain panels will succeed where other panels may not make it this particular time, but what an absolute what an absolute privilege to be in the room with those judges, looking at those panels, the panels were stunning. Even the ones that were unsuccessful this time round, the panels were stunning. [00:18:34] So a huge, thank you. To the six judges who came and provided their skills, their eyes, their experience to, assess each of the candidates work [00:18:47] And what a beautiful thing to be a part of. [00:18:50] Um, what else? What have I written in my notes? Personal Reflections and Future Plans [00:18:52] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: So, yeah, I've drank a little too much this week and exercised a little too little. That's something I'm now feeling very guilty about. And this afternoon, it's Saturday afternoon. And I sat and thought. Shall I go home and get on the exercise, bike or shall I record a podcast. [00:19:06] And I thought, oh, I better record this podcast, but trust me when this is recorded. I'm going to go home and do a little bit more exercise than I have this week. This week I've barely slept. I've been working in London. I've been working in Essex. I've been working here locally. This stuff has got to go out. [00:19:23] I've written an article for professional photo magazine, big shout out to those guys, by the way, the online magazine looks fantastic that's Professional. Uh, Photo Magazine. Uh, but what, uh, what a week it has been, [00:19:36] uh, final note, . Final note this week. Um, it's been a real run of it just at the moment in that. Product Reviews and Recommendations [00:19:43] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Lots of photographic suppliers have been approaching us to feature their product on either the podcast or masteringportraitphotography.com, or just getting it into our hands so that we can talk about it. And I have a really strict policy here, um, that I'll only talk about things and promote things that I use that are part of our business, part of our workflow, because if they are worth talking about, then trust me. I've already had a look I'm already using it. [00:20:11] So this one has, this came in yesterday. Um, and I'll put the link in the show notes. We use a bit of software, or we've been exploring a bit of software called EVOTO - E V O T O, which is it's an AI retouching package. [00:20:27] Now I know I can feel a few of you are hackles going up and bloomin' AI. retouching automated and all of those things. Why do I like it? Well, I like it because you have total control. So in the same way that we use actions in Photoshop, we put up, um, check layers. And do dodging and burning. This takes some of that drudgery out. [00:20:50] I say, drudgery that, sorry, that sounds dreadful. I don't mean it to sound like that because actually I love retouching. Balancing Business and Creativity [00:20:56] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: I love it when I've got an hour. And a beautiful picture that I can just work up, but my business model, doesn't allow me to do that for 22 portrait shoots in three weeks. It just doesn't. [00:21:08] Now I could outsource it, I suppose. But I've never been really that happy with the results when I've done that. I find, I find things, come back, just looking a little bit plastic. Um, of course I could pay really high-end retouches, but I work in social photography, not commercial retouching. Obviously, if it's going to be the cover of Vogue, I can spend thousands on a single image being retouched, but that's not my world. [00:21:31] My world is a very solid, very dynamic, very successful social photography. Uh, outfit and. Although I like the images to have a really high fashion look for an awful lot of my work, trying to find techniques to do that quickly is not straightforward. Discovering EVOTO: A Game-Changer for Retouching [00:21:48] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Um, so when EVOTO suddenly emerged a few months ago, it's still sort of in beta, at least a lot of the functions are. Um, it's E V O T O you can go download it. [00:21:59] Um, this particular piece of software allows you a huge amount of control and there are two. Uh, bits of Photoshopping that I really don't enjoy. I don't mind. I love I say. I don't mind. I love skin retouching. I love working at the colors. I love all of that side of it. I really don't like fixing crosshairs, and I don't like fixing creased clothes. [00:22:21] So there's a two things there, there are others, but those are two things I really just find irritating for whatever reason. EVOTO Features and Benefits [00:22:28] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Well, EVOTO on its own, it would be worth the effort of just fixing those, um, it does crosshairs brilliantly and it will take the majority of creases out of pretty much any type of clothing. [00:22:41] And even if that was all it did, that would be worth the money, but it does so much more. It helps me in so many ways. It's helping us automate and create a higher finish. But it's still looking natural, still looking like they, the images haven't been retouched, I'll do a deep dive into it at some point. Uh, but the guys have been in touch, and I do have a promo code. Uh, if you fancy it again. Uh, put that in the notes, but it's https://go.evoto.ai/PaulWilkinson capital P capital w all one word, Paul Wilkinson. And if you go there and sign up. Uh, you will get 30 free credits, which allow you to have a play. [00:23:28] So you'll get 30 free credits. The other thing about the software, which I really like is that you pay to finish the image so you can load it up with as many images as you like and run your, your settings on it and run. Basically all of that, the whole of the software. But you only get charged when you export the finished images out. [00:23:50] Now it's not perfect yet. Uh, only works on certain types of files. It won't work on PSD files. It works on TIFs or RAW files. Uh, or JPEGs, but trust me, it's an absolute godsend. Uh, particularly if you don't overuse it, if you just keep on the right side of the line. The images look natural, they look polished. They look finished. That you've got no crosshairs and even the clothes can get a little bit of an iron. So I'll put that link in the show notes. And if you follow the link, you will get, uh, 30 free credits. By the way, I get no kickback on this. I'm getting nothing out of it. It's just, I talked to the guys. Because I use the software. And I said I would happily, uh, promote it because I think it's, it's absolutely. Uh, brilliant. [00:24:37] And then anybody, the whole point of this podcast is to make life a little bit easier for anybody, uh, doing portrait. Uh, photography. Navigating the Photography Business Landscape [00:24:44] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: So anyway, on to what is, I suppose, as much as it ever is the topic of a podcast, these are just, you know, It's the diary of a working pro in stuff that occurs to me as we, as I get all my life. Um, but here's the primary topic of this particular. Uh, podcast and in a sense. It's a little bit of a moan. I just, I don't like to moan. [00:25:07] It's not my style, but this is just a little bit of a protest protest. Sounds better than moan. Maybe. A little bit of a protest. Evaluating Business Advice and Authenticity [00:25:15] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Which is the sheer number of adverts I get in all of my social feeds with people telling me they have the answer. They can make my photography business successful. They can find me thousands of clients. [00:25:29] They have a six-figure photographic business. They can tell me how they did it. No one, no one has the answer. It's all lots of small parts. And when I'm looking for help, I look basically for three. Three things more or less. And these. These are three things that it would have to have if I'm going to use someone for some help. [00:25:48] Firstly, do I admire their pictures? Do I admire their pictures? Do I want or understand why they create what they do? Is it something. That's in tune. With me and what I want. [00:26:01] A couple of people have come into our studio and said, well, you could do it like this, you could turn the whole space into two working studios, have two photographers in each run, eight shoots. Uh, in each, uh, part of your space per day, that's 16 shoots. Per day, you need to get a sales team onto the calls, do cold calling to lead generation, and you could run a multi-million pound business. Well, I could. But I don't want to. Because those photos are not the photos that I want to take. Um, and besides I want to take them, I love creating pictures. That's part of why we do this. The idea of not creating pictures anymore is not part of my business plan. What I've got to always figure out is how to make this business as profitable as I can, given the caveat, I left a very well-paid job in the city to do it. I left a career and a life of money and shares and shareholder value, and watching stock markets and being a partner in a firm. [00:26:56] I left all of that behind me because it wasn't, what I wanted. What I wanted to do was create beautiful images and make life just a little bit better for people myself included. Um, so that the idea of doing that, so. I will only ever look for someone who's creating pictures. I truly admire. [00:27:12] Secondly, , does that business, the business they're describing, does it look like my business vision? [00:27:18] So whatever it is, they're trying to sell me. Is that part of my vision. [00:27:23] And thirdly, do I like the person who purports to give me that information. [00:27:29] If those three things are true, there may be, I'll dig into it a little bit further, but if any, one of those isn't true. I'm not going there. And I get so many ads with people, waving their camera around, telling me some number or rather. You know, I don't know. [00:27:43] I've created a six figure business in three weeks. Um, I did it all from the comfort of my own home. I mean, there's even ads. Now I get the, tell me they don't need a photographer. You can set up. A headshot business without ever using a photographer. And if I get one more of those ads from someone who clearly doesn't understand. What. Personal branding really is it's the clue is in the title, personal. It's not AI generated. [00:28:09] I know you can change hairdos and suits. And I use AI everywhere. Trust me. But there's a big difference in the, if you think about the one word you have to have in personal branding, authenticity is at the heart of it. An AI can't give you that. I mean, you can't synthesize authenticity. There's no such thing. Synthetic authenticity is an oxymoron, it is not a thing it's either authentic or ain't. So, uh, I'm sort of very. They're very cynical about those things and they, and these people are always waving a camera around at me, sometimes with the lens cup still on. I assume that it's because the Metta or social media algorithms reward, people waving a camera around. [00:28:53] So it gets it higher up in my feed and it definitely works as long as it's aimed at me. So I've got hundreds of these things. And they're always, there was a very particular type of person. They're always very bouncy and extrovert and energetic. And I like that. I'm bouncy and energetic and extrovert. Um, but I'd like to know, that their business has been running for 10 years or 15 years. [00:29:17] I'd like to know. That they consistently do these pictures with real clients, the kind of clients that we find, the kind of clients that are in tune with our business. Um, Now of course, when I dig into them and actually have a hunt around. 99% of them are paper thin. There's nothing underneath there's no, it's not substantiated by any real world. Business acumen or business experience. Some of them will have been successful, but you can feel that they are now going into training because the success of the business has probably beginning to wane. [00:29:51] I'm looking for a long-term sustained business. If what I want to run is a longterm sustained business. I'm looking for somebody who can do what I want to do. Um, Now it is true. It is true that you can be a great coach without being a sporting star on your own or vocal coach to rockstars. They're not quite the same thing, being good at something and being able to coach in it. Not quite the same thing as being a star in it. [00:30:18] I understand that. But I really do want to know that the war stories I'm going to learn from are real, that someone's been out there, someone's done it. That they've walked the walk and ideally are still walking the walk I'd much rather learn from a business than from a trainer. If you get what I mean. I want to go to a consultant . Who's still running up business. They're still learning. They're still evolving. I mean, goodness knows. In the UK, we're about to go into a general election. The dates of that have just been released, and if there's one thing I know about elections and anything sort of like, um, referenda, anything like that. Is the phones, just go that little bit quieter. So no matter what happens up until July the fourth, which is the election date, I know that the market will be ever so slightly suppressed because people don't wake up during election campaigning and think first as they wake up, I need to get some photos. That's just not what happens. [00:31:16] People wake up and thinks, you know, What's Rishi Sunak said today, or where are we headed with the election or any one of a million other things, but photography just gets down the list a little bit, further. So I know we're about to go into a quiet period and what I want is someone who's been through that knows that's what's coming knows that the little intricacies of running a business over a long period of time are far more than you can do something like this in 42 days, or in just three weeks, you can have this success or with just one camera and one lens and working from home, you can telemarket to a thousand people. [00:31:49] I don't care about any of that. What I want to know is do they run a business that looks a little bit like mine? And I know that they've been there, seen it, done it and are still doing it. Um, now. The Importance of Hard Work and Superpowers [00:32:00] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: A couple of episodes ago, I talked about four things, four things, I think are consistent to successful. Photographers that's energy, optimism, enthusiasm, and confidence. [00:32:12] I stand by that. They're very much there, but they're not all of it. And I did say that in a podcast, they're just the foundation stones. That, not the whole building there. The bit. They're the bedrock or the foundation, everything can be built on, but they are not. The whole building, maybe I'll get over the coming months to talk about each of the different areas that I think you probably need to get to map it out. [00:32:35] Maybe that'd be a good idea. if I draw it all out. Uh, maybe actually create a little bit, maybe I should stand in front of a camera and wave my camera around with my lens cap on and say, I've got the answer for you. I don't, I don't have the answer. I've just spotted some things that are consistent with people who are successful, energy, optimism, enthusiasm, and confidence. But you'll also need some other stuff. [00:32:58] And one of them is just hard work over a period of time. Call it, practice. Call it graft, call it wherever you want. It's doing it over a long period of time so that you have your chops down. You graft at it. You'll get some breaks. You'll miss some breaks. You'll have a bit of good luck, you know, have a little bit of bad luck. That's life. There isn't a silver bullet for this, and you really do need to plow through it. So these little ads that come up and say, I've got the answer for you in the next three weeks, you can do this. Um, then just, I'm just doubtful. [00:33:32] I certainly don't buy into them. And every time I have sort of investigated, they've come up short now we all have superpowers. We do. But we don't all have the same superpowers and there's no one superpower you need, you need a suite of them. But you can't have everything. It's just not possible to be good at everything. Um, my superpowers, I suppose, are I am a grafter I work hard. I can read light. I love, I love technology. I know it's slightly ironic that I'm muttering about some of the AI stuff given I've got a PhD in AI. I adore technology. And I get on with people. Well, mostly I get on with people. But I am not for instance, an avant-garde creative photographer. I'm not edgy. I'm not a visionary. I'm certainly not a master, of marketing or a sales. [00:34:22] I'm non of those things, but I work hard. At it, I love doing it. And so I do a lot of it. And I particularly love being amongst people. And I love being amongst people when I've got a camera. And if I'm, I suppose I, if I think about it, I can create a portrait. In almost any light. If I can see it. Well, probably I can use it. Those are my superpowers, but everyone will have different superpowers. Some of you will be amazing at business. Some of us will be amazing at marketing and sales. Some of us will be amazing photo shoppers. And fine artists things that I'm not. Um, but that's my superpower. Those are my superpowers. Uh, I'm a grafter can read light love tech and I get on well with people. [00:35:07] But even then in and of itself. that's not enough. It's a damn good start, but it's not enough. I've got to learn and I have learned as much as I can about everything else. I'm still learning. I'm still on that journey. We're still running. Uh, business that I've learned how to do it alongside Sarah. Sarah. and myself, we've worked out how to do it. [00:35:27] We've had a corporate background. So we were exposed to the fundamental principles of running businesses, which is really useful. But I've learnt how to run our little business, how to sell. We've learned how to sell stuff. We've learned how to market, we've learnt how to do those things. Using what I would consider to be natural tools. Um, so using the S the superpowers that we have, the ability to get on well with people, the ability to create a picture, actually, after that, you don't need to do too much on the sales side, a couple of little bits and pieces. [00:35:55] There are techniques. But for us, we've just lent into our natural talents. Um, of really liking our clients and really enjoying being there with them and really enjoying, creating images of them. Uh, and so that's how we've learned how to run a business and we're still learning. [00:36:12] But I do wish I could stop receiving ads from people, waving a camera at me telling me that they all 25 years old of them. Are the answer. Well, they may be the answer, but they're not the answer. that I would look for. They can't change my business only I can change my business and I'm very, very picky. About who I take advice from. Final Thoughts and Farewell [00:36:37] Paul - Studio Rode Broadcaster V3: Anyway, thank you for listening. [00:36:39] If you have enjoyed this, please do let us know. Please do leave us a rating on iTunes or wherever it is, you get your podcasts and also please do subscribe. So the minute we publish the next one. Bang. There is. In your in-tray or in your list, on your library, on your latest or on your alerts or wherever it is. That it pings up when you listen to your podcasts, please also head over to mastering portrait photography.com, which is. the spiritual home of this podcast. But also of course includes a ton of stuff all about the love. The passion, the creativity in the business of mastering. Portrait photography. If you're curious about any of the workshops and one-on-one masterclasses that we run, um, where there's a whole suite of them. I go back to the thing I said earlier, though. If you think we're the kind of thing you'd like to do. [00:37:23] If we creating pictures that you'd like to learn how to do, and if you think actually you'd like to learn it from us. And then please do head over to, uh, paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. And there you will find the, um, Coaching section, but just Google paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk workshops and you will find us. [00:37:41] So on that happy note, I'm going to go, I think. And have a beer in the sunshine with my wife. And lament the fact that I've got one very sore, big toe. Whatever else you do. Be kind to yourself. Take care.

This week on Bad Behavior: Writer and Comedian Prance learns about Paris Hilton, talks about his love of impromptu NYC subway shows, and delves into a scary moment with Sterling! Then, he'll play a game of Heaven or Hell in which he'll rank online behaviors and scenarios. Plus, Prance shares a morally ambiguous story about Photoshopping a DM from a “reply guy” and posting it to his Twitter. Will Prance be deemed good or bad? Leave a voice message or text your morally questionable story and YOU could be featured on Bad Behavior: (929) 390-1436 Connect with Bad Behavior: Instagram | TikTok | Sterling and Blair on Instagram | Sterling and Blair on TikTok Original music by HoliznaCC0, Ketsa, and Serge Quadrado. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License.

Scammers have gone from postal mail and faxes to email and phone calls where you never see the person, but now with AI, you can even have a live video call that seems completely real with deep fake technology. It's no longer safe to just see a person, but there are other things you can do to know if you're communicating with the individual they claim to be. Today's guest is Anna Rowe. Anna is the founder of Catch the Catfish and co-founder of LoveSaid. She is a Subject Matter Expert in Romance Fraud and Victim Support. Show Notes: [0:55] - Anna shares her background as a teacher and describes how she was catfished in 2015. [2:52] - How can you make genuine informed consent when someone is deceiving you at that level? [3:45] - A therapist's suggestion of researching narcissists and psychopaths started her healing journey. [5:35] - Anna learned that this type of scam commonly comes from West Africa and the scammers are known as Yahoo Boys. [7:44] - Romance fraud can be in person, like with Anna's experience. But there are romance scams that are online only. [9:32] - It is common for romance scammers to also be perpetrating other types of fraud at the same time. [11:44] - Pig butchering includes another problem, where scammers themselves are also trafficked. [13:59] - A lot of victims don't realize they are interacting with a scammer for a long time because they aren't asking for money. [17:51] - In years past, Photoshopping an image to appear realistic wasn't as easy as it is now with AI. [19:26] - Blending a new face onto an existing photo can even be used in video. [21:15] - Voice cloning is also often used and apps to do this are free. [24:24] - Deep fake scammers use content on social media stories and live streams to record long pieces of video. [26:20] - This technology is improving quickly, but Anna shares some of the ways you can tell if something is a deep fake. [28:51] - There are simple things to check on profiles that you can notice as red flags before getting involved with someone. [33:01] - Scammers also really like using cryptocurrency because it is unregulated. [34:14] - Scammers build a reality typically by using the 5 C's of reasons why their spouse is gone. [37:30] - There are different strategies to look for certain things as you “become your own detective” on various social media platforms. [40:57] - When scammers know that you are “onto them” they know what they can change. [43:36] - Every decision a scammer makes is premeditated. [46:50] - Scammers will keep you hooked and space away from them could get you in a space of trusting your gut. [53:32] - Reverse image searches are extremely helpful. [57:50] - Anna describes some of the ways she was able to determine what her scammer was doing. [61:10] - Anna was put into an open relationship without her consent. [63:05] - Future faking is common in narcissists and psychopaths. [64:26] - These scams are really damaging and it is important to not use victim shaming language when discussing it. Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.  Links and Resources: Podcast Web Page Facebook Page whatismyipaddress.com Easy Prey on Instagram Easy Prey on Twitter Easy Prey on LinkedIn Easy Prey on YouTube Easy Prey on Pinterest LoveSaid.com Catch the Catfish  

In this episode, I get to chat with another online coach, Mark, about the complexities of complimenting weight loss. We discuss the appropriateness of such compliments and discuss weight-neutral training, emphasizing sustainable behavior changes and strength over weight loss. We consider the impact of a trainer's appearance on credibility and the pressures of the fitness industry. Our conversation also covers the importance of focusing on health improvements and the benefits of strength training, regardless of weight loss. We conclude by discussing the representation of diverse body types in fitness and the need for an inclusive approach.   TIME STAMPS Introduction (00:00:01) Introduction to the episode and discussion on complimenting weight loss. Background and Approach (00:00:59) Ashleigh Hubbard's background and approach to fitness coaching, focusing on sustainable habits. Weight Loss Compliments (00:02:58) Discussion on when to compliment weight loss and the potential impact on individuals. Weight-Neutral Training (00:04:10) Explanation of weight-neutral training approach and concerns about weight-focused compliments. Health-Related Compliments (00:09:34) Consideration of health-related achievements as a basis for compliments. Client Interactions (00:10:07) Differences in complimenting clients versus strangers and the focus on behavior-based compliments. Strength Over Weight Loss (00:13:58) The concept of prioritizing strength goals over weight loss and its impact on training motivation. Training Focus and Emotional Journey (00:17:56) Discussion on the importance of a multifaceted training focus beyond weight loss and the emotional journey of clients. Trainer's body as a business card (00:18:52) Discussion on how trainers and influencers are judged based on their looks and the impact of using their body as a measurement of success. Trainer's credibility and experience (00:20:02) Importance of a trainer's experience, qualifications, and results with clients over their physical appearance. Plus size trainers and societal perceptions (00:22:56) The impact of societal perceptions on plus size trainers and the importance of their knowledge and experience in training. Using body as a business card in the fitness industry (00:24:40) The negative impact of using one's body as a measurement of knowledge and the importance of credentials and experience. Genetics and body image in the fitness industry (00:26:48) The influence of genetics on muscle building and the prevalence of body image issues among fitness coaches. Photoshopping and pressure in the fitness industry (00:32:05) The prevalence of photoshopping in the fitness industry and the pressure to use physical appearance as a selling point. Weight-neutral approach and training focus (00:33:06) The importance of focusing on performance and training progress rather than solely on weight loss. Personal journey to weight-neutral coaching (00:36:13) The speaker's personal journey from focusing on physical appearance to embracing a weight-neutral approach in coaching. Focusing on Strength Over Weight Loss (00:38:30) Discussion on the unique feeling of strength training and the shift from weight loss coaching to strength-focused training. Importance of Health Beyond Weight Loss (00:41:08) Emphasizing the improvement of health through healthy behaviors, irrespective of weight loss, and the impact of weight-neutral training. Health Outcomes and Body Weight (00:42:40) Debate on the long-term health status of individuals with excess body weight and the need for comprehensive studies. Realistic Weight Loss Goals (00:44:12) Discussion on the significance of weight loss goals for health and the potential negative impact of obsessing over weight loss. Diverse Body Representation in Fitness (00:47:20) Importance of showcasing diverse body types in the fitness space to create a more inclusive environment for individuals. Social Media Representation and Realism (00:48:35) Concerns about the disparity between online and offline appearances and the impact of edited images on body image perceptions.     MARK IG: https://www.instagram.com/training.strong.women/   JOIN OUR FB COMMUNITY: https://www.facebook.com/groups/821409229816960   FREEBIES & SPECIAL OFFERS No Brainer Fat Loss Checklist: https://ahubnutrition.myflodesk.com/fatlosschecklist Special 1:1 Coaching Offer for podcast listeners only: https://www.ahubnutrition.com/coachingapplication Group Coaching: https://www.ahubnutrition.com/90days Simple Meal Ideas Freebie: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/626c82f91e8046b220253e1b Join the email list: https://ahubnutrition.myflodesk.com/x8208kqszl FIND ME ON IG: https://www.instagram.com/ashleighmariehubbard/  IG: https://www.instagram.com/ahubnutrition/  IG: https://www.instagram.com/thewellnessdiariespodcast/  

On this episode, Lou and Callista discuss the negative effects of photoshopping tattoos and social media clout chasers within the tattoo industry. Check out our tattoo studio: ⁠⁠⁠www.CaliLousTattoos.com⁠⁠⁠ or @CaliLousTattoos And our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@tattoohomewreckers266 Please share your thoughts with us. On Instagram or TikTok @tattoo_homewreckers or leave us a voice mail ⁠⁠⁠https://anchor.fm/tattoo-homewreckers/message⁠⁠⁠ Don't forget to like, follow, subscribe, and leave us a review if you liked it! Thank you, Wrecking Balls, we'll see you again next week! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tattoo-homewreckers/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tattoo-homewreckers/support

Join Jordan, Commish, Pitt Girl and a late arriving Beth, along with our VP of Podcast Production Arthur. We talk about the BRIAN FERENTZ ALERT, Jordan's Photoshopping of Brian Ferentz as Testudo, Rutgers Ferris Wheel, FARM O'GEDDON, other rivalries we wish to take to Ireland, FCS Playoff updated formatting, then get into the sickos NFL Draft highlights with TORY TAYLOR IN THE 4TH ROUND, David Tepper meddlesome Panthers owner, Offensive Linemen as weapons, Arthur nailing the Cardinals pick and stadium, a mannequin falling onto an INDYCAR track, Charles Barkley and Jordan hating on Galveston beaches and much much more!

3 - 29 - 24 FREE PHOTOSHOPPING AND OLIVIA RODRIGO TICKETS by Maine's Coast 93.1

3-27-24 Afternoon Rush - Bachelor Joey REVEALS How Obviously In Love With Kelsey He Was & More Thoughts On Clayton's Accuser Admitting Photoshopping Ultrasound!

Dax Holt and Adam Glyn get you caught up on the biggest stories in Hollywood in the Raw Rundown! The guys talk about the Kate Middleton Photoshopping accusations with Royal Expert Kinsey Schofield from the To Di For Daily Podcast , the full story with Kim Kardashian hanging out with Kanye and his new wife, Olivia Rodrigo offer Plan B at her concerts, & MORE! Take a dive into Hollywood unlike any you've done before. Real, raw, and uncensored. Join us as we talk to celebs living their lives in front of the cameras AND hear from the paparazzi, bodyguards, and private flight attendants that surround them. Find out what your favorite celebrities are REALLY like. Time to get some new gear? Checkout our merch shop: https://shop.hurrdatmedia.com/collections/hollywood-raw Hosted by entertainment news veteran Dax Holt and NYC photojournalist Adam Glyn. Follow Hollywood Raw TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hollywoodraw  Instagram:instagram.com/hollywoodrawpod Facebook:facebook.com/HollywoodRawPodcast Twitter: twitter.com/hollywoodraw  Dax Holt Insta:https://www.instagram.com/daxholt/ Twitter: twitter.com/daxholt TikTok: tiktok.com/@dax_holt Adam Glyn Insta: https://www.instagram.com/adamglyn/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/adamglyn TikTok: tiktok.com/@adamglyn YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AdamsAppleNYC/ This is another Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a podcast network and digital media production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network by going to HurrdatMedia.com or Hurrdat Media YouTube channel! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

William shares his opinion on this week's news from the Royal Family, Jordan's on a mission to name as many people from Bradford as possible and the boys find some missing post in Producer Ben's box. Plus, there's chat about doing the Guinness joke on tour and the divisive topic of balling socks. Join Sexted Extra and laugh along to William Hanson and Jordan North helping you navigate the challenges of modern life ad free at https://plus.acast.com/s/sextedmyboss. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The theories are running wild after Kate Middleton admitted to Photoshopping her Mother's Day photo after her recent hospitalization.    North West took the stage at Kanye's “Vultures 2” listening event to announce her debut album, “Elementary School Dropout.”   Kristin Cavallari recently hard-launched her new relationship with a 24-year-old and is opening up about how this romance began.    More details on these stories and the love going at the Oscars in this week's episode of Playing Telephone!  

Victorian MP Georgie Purcell has hit out after an edited a picture of her was shown on a commercial television bulletin last night.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I am recording this having just spent the day running one of our workshops with some of the nicest people imaginable.  A top day (though I am now shattered!) at the end of a top month (January has been amazing) and who knows?  Maybe it's the start of a top year.  Don't want to tempt fate though... This episode was triggered by a shoot I did last week, when just a few words seemed to change the course of a shoot. Enjoy! Cheers P. If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography, for more articles and videos about this beautiful industry. You can also read a full transcript of this episode. PLEASE also subscribe and leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think! If there are any topics, you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk.  Full Transcript: [00:00:00] Can you believe it? January has nearly gone. We are almost into February, the second month of only 12 in a year, and this has already been one of the best starts we've ever had to any year. I'm Paul, and this is a very optimistic Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast. Well, I'll be honest, I did not see that coming. [00:00:39] I think when we got to the end of last year, exhaustion took over, I crashed into Christmas, came out of it the other side, went into the convention, we're having a ball, but I think I don't know why I wasn't expecting this year to be quite as lively as it has been, but it does seem to be that there is a ton of energy out there. [00:00:59] Maybe, maybe I was expecting the general election to be early in the year, and so things tend to get a little bit quieter around elections or around referenda. But the phone is ringing like crazy, emails are coming in. This week we've had a handful of reveals and they've all been brilliant. The clients have loved the images, everything's gone well. [00:01:23] My bit of the puzzle is to create images, create an experience, send them away with memories and make sure they know what to expect when they come back for the sales, for the reveals. And they've gone really smoothly, which means I've done my bit properly, which makes me very happy because as you all know, a little bit chaotic at the best of times, uh, but it looks like my debriefs are working. [00:01:43] I'm getting the point across to the client. We're creating pictures that people love and I am having a ball. I did think I might feel a little flat after the success of the Society's convention. It was such a good week. I know I spoke about it in the last podcast, but I'm still smiling at just how much fun we had, just how many people I met. [00:02:06] The workshops were full. I spend a lot of time chatting photography, having interesting conversations, meeting interesting and funny people, and I think, I suppose, last week, I thought I might feel a little flat about it all, but that could not be further from the truth. If anything, I'm more energetic now than I have been for a long time, ignoring the fact that I'm also pretty exhausted and my eyes. I don't know why, but my eyes have been tired today. You know, you get those days when I put my glasses on and within three minutes, I've got to take them off, even though everything is just slightly blurry because I don't know why, it just makes my, it's just been making my eyes tired today. [00:02:46] Maybe I just need to go and get them sorted, but this has been the most successful January we've ever had. And sometimes everything goes like that. It's just hectic, it's full of stuff, all unexpected, but being busy is a good thing. I think? Isn't it? Uh, I don't know. Anyway, today we've just finished the first of this year's workshops. [00:03:11] This particular workshop was our From Shutter to Print workshop, uh, which steps through everything from picking up your camera all the way through to prepping your images ready for print. It's a huge, if you think about it, that's a huge field to cover. And of course, we try really hard to To tune it, we ask all of the delegates coming, we ask questions on what they're looking for. [00:03:35] So we try to make sure that everything we're delivering is in line with what would be useful for them. And at this point of the day, it's quarter to eight in the evening. I don't know, a couple of hours ago when they left But they all look just slightly shattered, whether that's just because I've thrown so much information at them, whether it's just because it's a Monday, a dark Monday in January, or a combination of the two, I've no idea. [00:03:59] Of course, I'm always slightly nervous of whether I've done a good job of delivering the information that would be useful for them, but it certainly has been a blast. And it was Loretta today. I don't know if I've ever talked about Loretta. Loretta was one of my clients. I photographed her wedding. Oh, it must be 10 years ago now. [00:04:17] Um, and we've been friends ever since. She is a ball of energy and I absolutely love it when she's in the studio because there is not a dull moment. There's never a flat. Easy, calm couple of minutes. It's just 100 miles an hour from when she arrives to when she goes. So today has been one of those days. [00:04:39] So thank you to everybody who came on the workshop. And obviously, thank you to Loretta for modeling. And once again, best lunch. ever. The guys, there's a delicatessen in our local town of Thame called What's Cooking. I don't know if a shout out to a small company in Thame is any good to them on a podcast that has photographers all over the world, but I'm going to give them a big shout because every time they do the food for us, it is a highlight of the day. [00:05:06] I like to think the pictures I've created might be the highlight of the day. But no, no, I'm absolutely convinced that as everybody's driving away, they'll have been thinking that was a great lunch. We had beautiful food full of flavor, not your sandwich, not your average sandwiches that you get in packets or bowls of crisps. [00:05:26] No, no, no. These are. Big plates of really beautiful vegetables and salads and a quiche and chicken and scotch eggs. It was absolutely incredible. So thank you to What's Cooking in Tame for yet again. They're our regular, they cater to our workshops all the time. I, when I set out with this thing. I wanted to deliver something that's genuinely useful, but also something that people will enjoy coming to. [00:05:52] And lunch, for me at least, is a big part of that. I'm always disappointed when I go somewhere and it's a crappy lunch. You know, the edges of the sandwiches are curled. It's like tea in Tearns. Those annoyingly sweet biscuits that you get. None of that. Mid afternoon, so the first part of the day, the first half of the day is all photography. [00:06:13] And the second half of the day is all Uh, techniques and things in Photoshop and Lightroom. And midway through that, Sarah arrives with Millionaire's Shortbread and tea and coffee and just lovely. And it just picks everybody up long enough for them to survive, survive me rabbiting on about Photoshop and Lightroom and retouching and layers and masks and curves and color profiles and LUTs and all of the things that are part of this thing. [00:06:43] The mid afternoon snack is my highlight. I actually look forward to it. So I had this brilliant lunch. We've had beautiful people around, created amazing pictures, had a lot of fun. And mid afternoon, in comes a millionaire's shortbread. Oh my days. Yes, please. Thank you very much. Uh, anyway, what did I actually learn today? [00:07:00] One of the things that came up in the editing section , someone asked me, Um, why I choose the order that I do for making my edits. And I've never really thought about why in anything other than, well I, you know, the background I'll do, I'll do this, then I'll do that, then I'll get all the way up to the front layers, then I'll do the retouching on skin, etc, etc, and any, you know, liquefying things. [00:07:24] And actually when I thought about it, I stopped dead and I thought about it. I edit in the order of certainty that I won't need to go back to it. Now, I've never really thought about it logically like that till today. Maybe I should have. I've done it instinctively. [00:07:42] So there's a thing called a desire line, or desire lines, and these are those paths that when you look at like a park, uh, like a park, particularly in a town, like a big expanse of green, or maybe in our village here we have, um, walk into the station, you go along the path, and the path dips into each of the cul de sacs. [00:08:04] So the designers, the architects, or the town planners expect you to walk round the corner by about 20 feet, cross the road, Inside the cul de sac, and then come back out on the path, and on the corners of each of those cul de sacs, there's green, there's grass. But if you actually look, the grass is worn down because people have gone sod that and walking in a straight line. [00:08:22] Similarly in a park, you'll see where the planners and the architects and the designers wanted you to go, and then you'll see where people actually go, and it's never the same place. Well, there's a name for it, they're called desire lines. And the same is true in how you develop processes in your business. [00:08:39] I've talked about this before, and the trick really is to do the same thing over and over and over and find your own desire line. So much as you sit and plan things, much as you sit and analyse and decide to do this after that and that before this, in the end, you'll do what comes naturally. You'll go and basically The straightest line you can, the path of least resistance. [00:09:00] It's called a desire line, it has a proper name. So when I was thinking about it today, because one of the delegates asked, why do I do it in this order? And, what I actually do, is I start with the background. So I've got my background layer that's come in from the raw file. I'll duplicate that, because then I've always got an original, uh, layer to go back to. [00:09:19] Then I usually clean up, so if it's a studio shot, I'll clean up the background. I'll sort out anything to do with the background, because that isn't going to change. It, there's no real decisions to make there. I'm just going to do it, because Once it's done, it's done. I'll never need to go back to it. Then, I might work on, uh, all of the elements of the image that, although they might be quite intensive Photoshopping, they definitely need to be done. [00:09:45] So, for instance, if someone's wearing a black outfit, as they were today, And there's lots of little hairs and flecks of dust and things. They're gonna need to be cleaned off. There's no ifs, no buts, no wherefores, no decisions to be made. I'm just going to clean it. I'll never need to go back to it because once it's clean, it's clean. [00:10:03] And I can move on to the next stages. Then I've got a couple of decisions to make. Um, probably what I'm gonna do is do my skin work. So if it's a face, I'm a portrait photographer, there's nearly always a face. I'll do some skin work. I might Photoshop around the edges of the hair, any stray hairs. And I might do things like, um, frequency separation and some retouching with some dodging and burning. [00:10:27] Then once I've got clear of that, probably what I might think about doing is maybe putting in a texture on top of a background layer. But things like that I might change my mind about, so they're right at the top of the stack. Um, then when I've got there If I need to do any liquefying or any puppet warping, this is the moment. [00:10:44] It's really late in the stages of photography. Why? Because I'm not certain at this stage, or I'm not 100 percent ever at this stage, quite what would be the right amount of that kind of work. Of all the things we do, I think it's probably the most contentious. Changing someone's body shape because I've posed them badly. [00:11:07] It's still an area where it's a little bit vague as to how much is the right amount to do, particularly as someone who photographs all sorts of walks of life, all sorts of ages. I don't want to be in that realm of, you know, everybody has to look a certain way. But equally, if I've posed someone not as optimally as I should have, maybe I'll just fix that. [00:11:27] But it's going to happen really late in the edit. If later on, I'm really close to finishing an image at this point, so if I decide, well, I don't know, maybe I shouldn't have done that, I can go back and I don't have to undo any of the rest of it. And then the final tiny little bit, probably to put a vignette on top, uh, if I, if I want to, and then maybe finish off with a black and white conversion, or something like Nik Color FX. [00:11:52] So basically what I'm doing is I'm working all the way up from the bottom with all of the things that really, really, really, uh, are definitely going to be done no matter what, all the way to the things actually if I change my mind tomorrow, I won't have to start again at the bottom of the layer stack. [00:12:07] And I've never really thought about it like that. Um, so many of the processes in our studio are my own desire lines, but I've never thought about that one. So it's kind of cool that at the end of a workshop I've learned something really good as well. So thank you to everyone who came. Really excited about this year's workshops. [00:12:24] All of them. They're going to be brilliant. Particularly if they go like today. But the one, if I'm honest, that I am most looking forward to is the one we're running on the 18th. So, uh, I've got about six, what's that, six, eight weeks, uh, to think about it. Uh, it's called at the moment, Ordinary to Extraordinary Studio Photography, probably because we were hunting around for a title for it. [00:12:46] Sounds alarmingly like some of Gerry Guionis titles. Uh, but it could also have been called, I don't know, the Storeroom Studio or Lighting Up in the Lounge. No, no, not lighting up. That makes it sounds like you're smoking lighting in the lounge or maybe the basement backdrop. I don't know, but whatever it is titled, it's all about creating magic in small, awkward, tricky spaces, which is something I've had to do a lot of when I'm working in office buildings. [00:13:17] When I'm working in other people's homes, you never quite know what you're going to get. And this whole workshop is dedicated to things like basements. Boardrooms, cellars, lounges, hallways, corridors, even store cupboards. I kid you not, I did a shoot the other week in a store cupboard. A big store cupboard, but a store cupboard. [00:13:40] So at the moment I am coming up with ways to mimic what it's like to work in these little spaces that are awkward, but still create gorgeous images. Now I'm really excited about it because one of the things about smaller spaces is you tend to get, assuming you can get your kit. In there, you tend to get lower contrast because the light pings around a little bit and you can get some really beautiful, gentle, effortless setups. [00:14:06] Uh, so that is going to be an absolute blast. Cannot wait, uh, for that. Uh, how am I doing? What did I say I was doing last week? Oh yes, the MPP website. Still rebuilding it. It's a long process. We are getting there, slowly but surely, we are getting there and it is taking shape. The content is nearly over. But I've still got to reorganise it all. [00:14:29] And in the process of doing it, we're reading everything. I'm reading every article, double checking to see if it's still relevant. One or two of the things we've ported over that came from the book, and then went to the Mastering Portrait Photography website. Well, of course, the book was published in 2014. [00:14:43] It's 10 years old this year. And some of the information in there is now, frankly, outdated. Anything to do with cameras and lighting, things have moved on. Probably also the Photoshopping, although luckily, the small bits of Photoshopping I put in were basically about principles, not about specifics. So, you know, generative AI hadn't even been thought of at that stage, nor had things like the removal tool, nor had actually quite a lot of the tooling in Photoshop or Lightroom. [00:15:12] It just, the latest versions are worlds apart from what was going on in 2014, but equally, an awful lot of what's on there is Totally relevant, totally pertinent, uh, to, uh, what's going on. So, um, we are working on it. We will get there, trust me. When it's done, we will sing it from the rooftops. Uh, but I'll keep you up to date with how that is all going, uh, including my excitement, uh, for it. [00:15:39] Um, this week's Thought of the Week. And it's a simple one. Well, they're always simple ones. I mean, I'm not a complicated guy, not really. This week's Thought of the Week is that you genuinely You genuinely have the power to make people feel amazing with words, just as you do with pictures, if not more so. [00:15:59] Why do I say that? Well, two different clients this week, one in particular, he came, he was just a lovely guy. Uh, he made the claim right at the beginning of the session that he hadn't really ever had a picture that he really liked of himself. And I'm looking at him thinking, I'm not quite sure why. I can't see it visually, but maybe it's the way he reacted to being in front of the camera. [00:16:24] We've got shooting and all was going reasonably well, and then suddenly. Something about the way he looked and the way he moved reminded me of Vernon Kay. He's from a different area of the country, one's from the North, Vernon Kay's from Bolton, I think, and my client's from the South. Different heights, I think Vernon Kay's about 6 foot 8 or something, ridiculous, 6 foot 2, I've no idea. [00:16:46] But he's tall and he was a model, my client, anything but. But, there were definitely similarities in the mannerisms, in the haircut, and if I got the light in a certain position and the angle was right, In the way he, it lit his face. And I've said this, and I'm laughing. And he didn't know who Vernon Kaye was, which is a little bit sobering. [00:17:08] Obviously, people who are younger, uh, maybe Vernon Kaye's not on their radar just yet. But. As I talked it through, visibly, the guy grew in confidence. You could see his body language change, you could see him just come out of himself a little bit, and of course as he's doing that, I'm getting better pictures because his confidence has grown. [00:17:30] It's paying dividends just having someone in front of me who feels better about themselves. Now don't get me wrong, you cannot tell someone they look like Robert Redford if they don't. That's not what I'm saying. But in finding really good positives Things about someone, not only that you like, but things that you can verbalize, whether it's something to do with a glint in their eye, whether it's something to do with their clothing. [00:17:54] In this instance, it was someone he looks a little bit like. And with a shoot, particularly with headshots where it could be corporate, it could be an author, it could be a musician or an artist, I don't necessarily know who's coming in or how confident they are. or what we're going to do. Sometimes I do, but not that often. [00:18:16] And so I will nearly always in my head figure out an actor or a public figure who has a media presence. Obviously not, hopefully someone who's nice, not a Donald Trump or a Liz Truss. Uh, to, to, and what I'll do is it's with that personality is I'll figure out what would their agent have asked of them for photos. [00:18:40] What would be in their portfolio, their lookbook? What would be on the inside sleeve of an author's bio? If they were in a BBC or an ITV or a Netflix drama, what would the cover shot look like? Because the thing about actors, in particular, the thing about actors, is they reflect Every day Life.. So you get actors from all sorts of backgrounds and skill sets. [00:19:06] You get every ethnicity, you get every gender, you get every identity, you get attitudes, you get heights, you get everything. Because actors have to represent the world in which we're all familiar. So you get as many different types of actor. As you do people on the planet. And if you can find an actor that is close enough, close enough to the person you have in front of you, and then work out in your head quickly, what might the film they're in be? [00:19:37] What might a book they've published be? What would a cover look like? What would the poster image on Netflix or Amazon or Maybe in an agent book or maybe on a, on a music album cover. I don't know. I'm making this up as I go along, but if you can picture it, if you can find it, if you can drag it out of your imagination and your history, two things. [00:20:01] Firstly, you can say to the client, Oh man, you remind me of X. And that's a very helpful thing to do because the client will grow in confidence, but secondly , so do you. Because you're now shooting with something in mind that you might not have had when the shoot started. You might have, but you might not have. [00:20:21] For me, I love that moment when I open the door and suddenly I've got to figure out what shots are going to look good. How am I going to do this? What's I'm going to look at their clothing, get them to talk me through their clothing and step through all of the things we're going to do with that. I love that energy and that positivity as we drive the shoot forward. [00:20:39] And I'm not kidding, not only did my client feel better, but so did I because I was now producing better pictures because my client was reacting to the camera in a way that could really only result in beautiful images. [00:20:54] Please do, when you're working, think of ways of making your client feel a million bucks. And language is every bit as important as what you do with your lights and your camera with Photoshop. Now that's a proper time to know, a proper point to end. As always, if you're interested in our workshops, just Google Paul Wilkinson Photography Workshops, or head over to Paul Wilkinson Photography and look for the coaching section. [00:21:20] Please do give us a like, a wave, a review. Uh, some five stars maybe that'd be really nice, uh, on iTunes or wherever you get your podcast. If you wanna subscribe to the podcast, please do so on your, on your, uh, podcast Player of Choice so that every time I record one, it'll drop as if by magic, straight into the list of things to listen. [00:21:41] Like I said last week, I'm gonna try and keep this as a weekly podcast, this time round. Shorter episodes, but far more. Of them. As always, if you have, uh, any questions at all, you can reach me onPaul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. We've had some really lovely emails this week from people. Thank you to everyone who's emailed in, uh, to say they're enjoying the podcast. [00:22:03] Uh, so you can reach me atPaul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk. And until next time, however your week is going, however, your January is ending, your February starting, or if you're just listening to the back catalog, whatever it is you're up to, whatever else. Be kind to yourself. Take care.

Sean is feeling exceptionally old today and in full “get off my lawn mode.” What's the cause of his ire? TikToks and spin classes, naturally, but the main culprit is Photoshopped jerseys.A player gets drafted or sent to a new team but hasn't played a game yet? Let's make an image of them wearing the latest jersey. A player is rumored to be traded? Let's see how they look in the uniforms of every team in the league. The latest and greatest players to experience this are Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday (to the Bucks and Celtics, respectively), but you'll find this trend across all players and sports.What if we took this Photoshopping to new heights and put Dame Time in a heavy metal shirt or a Halloween costume? Why limit it to the NBA? Shout out to the Jenkins and Jonez podcast, who have delivered lots of good stuff around the Lillard trade and plenty of other hoops news.This episode is brought to you by Joey's book, Kind, But Kind of Weird: Short Stories on Life's Relationships. Pick it up on Amazon or have a portion of your purchase go to local bookstores at Bookshop.

What's that annoying squeaking sound? Plus JJC give away the hottest tickets in Maine, Courtney can help you meditate, and a fresh new Hang Up Or Hang Out FORK problem

What you'll learn in this episode:   What makes jewelry so difficult to photograph, and Kim's tips for capturing jewelry in photos What techniques Kim uses to make gemstones look shiny, sparkly and colorful Which tools and tips photographers need to get started with jewelry photography Common jewelry photography mistakes and how to avoid them How to choose the right jewelry photographer   About Kim Nunneley:   Kim Nunneley is a Los Angeles-based IATSE Local 600 photographer specializing in unit photography, gallery, lifestyle and portraiture. She has held various roles, from photographer at a fashion merchandising company to photo assistant, and she has worked at one of the world's most prestigious photo studios in NYC. She has developed a niche as a jewelry photographer working for major jewelry companies.    Additional Resources: Website Instagram Facebook   Photos Available on TheJewelryJourney.com   Transcript:   A simple photo can never quite capture the real-life beauty of a diamond, ruby or sapphire. That's why photographer Kim Nunneley relies on a variety of tools, software and experience to make jewelry photographs that shine. She joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about the mistakes she made when she first started photographing jewelry; her tips for burgeoning jewelry photographers; and what questions jewelry brands should ask to choose the right photographer. Read the episode transcript here.  Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is the second part of a two-part episode. If you haven't heard part one, please head to TheJewelryJourney.com.    My guest today is Kim Nunneley of Kim Alexis Photography. She is a photographer who specializes in jewelry. She'll tell us some of the tricks we should know to take a nice photo. Welcome back.    Does the stone matter? Is it easier to photograph some stones than others, like a ruby as opposed to a sapphire?   Kim: What's actually more important is the age and condition the stones are in, more so than the color. It's more so the cut and condition. I have one client who specializes in antique and vintage jewelry. A lot of the pieces are very old, and they're not as easy to photograph as the jewelry from my other client who makes her own stuff. It's all sparkly, brand-new pieces, and they're so much easier to photograph. The diamonds are easier to photograph. The gold is easier to photograph. With these antique pieces, they're much more complicated because we have to make these stones that are 100 years old or more look sparkly and shiny and beautiful. A lot of times you'll see—what is it called, an incision? Is that the word for these stones? Is that what it is, incisions in the stones?   Sharon: I don't know.    Kim: Like a cut on the inside.   Sharon: Yeah.   Kim: Yeah, some of these old stones have that. I think it's more crucial in learning how to photograph those older conditions.    Sharon: Because antique jewelry is so popular today, what advice would you give somebody who has been handed a 100-year-old ring?    Kim: I would say practice on newer pieces to learn how light reflects and how it hits. Once you know that, you'll be able to adjust your lighting for these older pieces. You'll know what to do with those situations if you have already photographed newer pieces. I would say start off with newer pieces to sharpen your skills.   Sharon: What if somebody hands you a diamond and says, “I want to show that this is a diamond of a certain cut, an old one versus a new piece”? Can you do that with photography?   Kim: Yeah, you absolutely can. Like I said, sometimes we just can't get it as sparkly as a new diamond. Even with lighting and Photoshopping, it will never look the same, but there are tools you can use. That's also important; it doesn't necessarily have to look as sparkly or new because it's not. It's not a new one and there's beauty in that. There's a perfect example of a rose cut.  I love a rose cut diamond, but they are so difficult to photograph, especially the older ones.   Sharon: What do you do if you are feeling frustrated by a rose cut diamond? Do you just go with it?   Kim: These photoshoots are always done with my clients present, so we will change. We'll modify the lighting. We'll try different setups. We will incorporate different techniques, like using a fill card or a white bounce card or a little black card, or a piece of silver or gold cardboard to shine light on it. I have all these different tools we will use and attempt. We'll try to do the best we can, and at the end we say, “That's the best we're going to get it.” The clients are happy. We get something that is an accurate representation of the piece.   Sharon: It's interesting that you have clients present. Usually, a client will look after the photograph is done. They'll look at the images on a lightbox, but they're present for the photography.   Kim: I have very hands-on clients. I have a couple of clients who are a little more hands-off. Like you say, I deliver the images. I do my magic and I deliver images afterwards, but I do have some clients that are very hands-on. They want to be present, and it's important for them to be there while I'm shooting. We'll adjust things. We'll make adjustments. This is more so with the higher-end pieces and the antique pieces. They're very particular and want it to look as accurate as possible.    Sharon: Have you ever had a client reject everything you've done, all the images, and say, “Start again”?   Kim: No, that would be a nightmare. Thankfully, no, that's never happened. I would say by the time you have clients, you want to have enough experience where that doesn't happen. But yeah, thankfully no. Maybe once in five years, there's been like two pieces we had to reshoot, but that's all.   Sharon: Does the size of the piece of jewelry matter, if you're given a ring with a big stone?   Kim: I prefer bigger jewelry, actually, funny enough. One of my clients makes very dainty, little pieces, very thin pieces. They're beautiful, but they are so difficult to photograph because they are so tiny. I like photographing bigger pieces. I'm trying to think why it's easier for me personally. I think it's because these bigger pieces are typically less—well, it depends; sometimes they can be really reflective. I think what's more difficult is high-polish pieces, the really glossy, high-polish jewelry because you see everything. They reflect everything, as opposed to the gold in an older piece that's more matte. I don't know if that's the appropriate term, but it's not as shiny. That's a lot easier to photograph because we can get clean gold or silver or whatever it is. We can get it really clean looking. But I love photographing big, chunky pieces; that's my favorite.   Sharon: When you say big and chunky, that's relative. Do you mean a big piece, or do you mean bigger than the norm? What do you mean by that?   Kim: I guess bigger than the norm. Yeah, you're right; it is relative. Bigger than the norm. It wouldn't be your everyday jewelry. It would be for an event or a cocktail ring or a red-carpet piece. I love photographing that kind of stuff; it's really fun for me. I also like a challenge sometimes.    Sharon: That's interesting. So, a stylist might give you several pieces and say, “Gwyneth Paltrow is going to be wearing this.”   Kim: Yeah, exactly. I might get something like that to photograph. I think it's always fun seeing a piece that I photographed published in a magazine. Maybe an actor is wearing it on the red carpet or my photography is published in magazines. It's nice to see that. At times, it will be published. It's always nice to see my work and have it be kind of tangible.   Sharon: Because of the difficulty—and it does sound very difficult—do you charge more for jewelry photography?   Kim: Yes, it is very tedious; it is very difficult. It is a learned skillset. So yes, jewelry photography is not cheap. It's also because you're paying for their years of experience. They're not going to waste your time trying to shoot this ruby or diamond. It's like, “No, I know how to shoot that. We do this,” and it's done in three to five minutes, onto the next piece. There's that aspect of it, and it's so tedious with the focus stacking. You have to have a lot of patience for photographing jewelry. It's very, very tedious. That's another reason why it is a little pricier than other types of photography, as opposed to a family portrait or something.   Sharon: It sounds very difficult, so I should expect to pay more. Are people taken aback by the price?   Kim: No, they're not. The ones that are taken aback are the newer companies that are just starting out, or maybe it's a passion project for them, a more personal project, and they just want photography. Larger companies know what the pricing is like. There's a standard rate, roughly, so it's not too surprising.   Sharon: I'm surprised from leafing through a magazine, they say, “Nails by somebody,” and I'm going, “Who?"   Kim: I know; it's so funny. There is a specialty for everything. It's so funny.   Sharon: Is there a specialty for jewelry photography? Is somebody who calls and says, “Oh, you have to have Kim. She knows everything about jewelry”? How do you get your work if you're not on staff?   Kim: That's a good question. Word of mouth is a huge part of it. I do a little bit of advertising and email reach-out, just pitching myself. It's a combination of all that.    Sharon: If I'm trying to decide between jewelry photographer A and B, what should I ask?   Kim: I would ask if they've had experience with whatever you specialize in. Maybe it's antiques or tiny, intricate, precious little pieces. Whatever that specialty is, I would ask if that photographer has experience photographing that. Obviously, I want to see a portfolio. Also, if they're open to it, I'll do a test shoot with maybe three pieces, like a trial day. You just give them a free trial. I've had clients do that, where we do a trial day to see not only if they're happy with the images, but if you enjoy working with each other. I think that's important as well.   Sharon: I don't know how you are, but I presume I would take tear sheets if there are publications with their jewelry. Is that what you would show to say, “I know how to do antique stuff”?   Kim: Yes, in my portfolio, I do have tear sheets in there as well.  I have a mixture of tear sheets and product shots because I think that's important. Like you mentioned, it provides credibility and shows you've accomplished it.    Sharon: How long do you think it took you to feel confident that you could take nice pictures of jewelry?   Kim: Oh gosh, I don't know. I'm going to say about four years ago. I think that's when I started to feel that I'm really becoming an expert at this and confident in my skillset.    Sharon: So, it took you about five years to feel confident, and that was four years ago? I'm trying to understand this.   Kim: I've been doing jewelry photography for about eight years now. I was doing a good job, but I was acquiring different clients as well during that time. Maybe the first two years I had one client, and it grew from there. As I kept shooting, you keep learning these different techniques. A lot of it is learning on the job. Even today, there are some pieces that surprise me, where I wouldn't have thought to use a certain lighting technique.   Sharon: What did you do during Covid? Did people stop sending you jewelry?   Kim: Funny enough, during Covid—and thank goodness for technology—a few of my clients decided to do Zoom photoshoots. They would either send me the pieces or I'd go pick them up. I'd set up my whole station, and it's called shooting tethered. I basically connected my camera to my computer, and as I'm photographing, I have images pop onto the screen. I share my screen and my clients can see the images coming in live. So, they might say, “Hold on, that looks a little crooked,” and I have to tick it. “The diamond's not shiny.” “Can you get that more blue?” They would do that. We switched to that, which was so helpful. It felt like quite a few photographers and companies started doing that.    Sharon: That's interesting. I have a friend who's a makeup artist, and she basically stopped working during Covid. Nobody called her. She couldn't be blowing into somebody's face.   Kim: Yeah, that's difficult. I do portraits as well, and obviously that did stop, but I was so thankful for my jewelry clients. You don't have to be there. It's products, so you can do it virtually. I felt very grateful for that.    Sharon: Kim, thank you so much. I learned so much about jewelry photography. First of all, I don't want to ever try it. Thank you for being here today. We really appreciate it.   Kim: Thank you so much for having me.     Sharon: We will have photos posted on the website. Please head to TheJewelryJourney.com to check them out. Thank you again for listening. Please leave us a rating and review so we can help others start their own jewelry journey.

Our guests this week are Vibhu Norby and Degen Poet. Vibhu is the founder of DRiP, a platform that allows users to receive free NFT collectibles, commissioned from artists and projects across the landscape of crypto. The project has grown exponentially since its inception, with over 300,000 wallets receiving at least one NFT a week. Degen Poet, a prolific artist on Solana, has been a key collaborator on the project. Vibhu and Degen Poet discuss how DRiP is changing the game for NFTs and why the first experience people have with blockchain should be through art. Plus, they share their unique processes for creating and distributing NFTs, and why they choose to plant their flag in Solana. Show Notes:0:56 - Latest News3:05 - What is Drip?        5:22 - Origin story of Degen Poet, starting working in Solana and Vibh10:13 - Workflow with NFTs12:54 - Working with other artists16:01 - How Drip helps Degen Poet's work17:51 - Only on Solana21:42 - How is drip breaking phantom?22:50 - Future looking like Instagram26:53 - Platforms like Drip vs. traditional mediums30:40 - Things to change /have changed in the industry    33:52 - A builder they admire in the Solana ecosystem? Full Transcript:Brian Friel (00:00):Hey, everyone and welcome to the Zeitgeist, the show where we highlight the founders, developers, and designers who are pushing the Web 3.0 Space forward. I'm Brian Friel, developer relations at Phantom. And I'm super excited to reintroduce our first repeat guest, Vibhu Norby, as well as Solana's very own Degen poet, Vibhu and DP, welcome to the show. Vibhu Norby (00:27):What's up? Thanks for having me back. Degen Poet (00:30):Hey, thanks so much for having us. Brian Friel (00:32):Vibhu, I mentioned this before recording, but you're a friend of the pod. You're the first official repeat guest of the Zeitgeist, and the last time we had you on was October of last year and you were working on Solana Spaces, which was a really big and audacious project I'd say, and a lot has happened since then and you're still working on big and audacious projects on Solana. Can you walk us through what has changed in the last couple months and what are you working on today? Vibhu Norby (00:56):Good times, good memories. Yeah. What happened in between October and now? What changed? Funnily enough, Drip actually started that same month. We actually started sending NFTs to people starting with Vincenzo in late October. I think we did two drop before Breakpoint. Yeah, things were going fine and then our world got flipped upside down once again by those who must not be named. For a couple months there, I think we were trying to figure out how we were going to continue to operate the stores. Obviously Phantom was a major benefactor of spaces along with Solana Foundation, but they who must not be named were also major sponsors and it was kind of the three pillars of our business and one of them got pulled out. And simultaneously with all of that, Drip was blowing up and changing everything for us internally. Coming into January, every single week we were stacking at 15, 20% week-over-week growth on the list organically. (01:51):And between December 1st and the shutdown of Spaces, our Twitter following more than doubled and all of the new growth were people coming to us for stuff related to Drip. And so I was spending my time going between doing customer service for Drip, talking to artists, and then the store was starting to feel like it was losing its voice a bit kind of naturally in that. Yeah. I mean as much as we loved it for a bunch of different reasons, it just made sense for us to take this traumatic pivot from physical retail stores to free NFTs. I think it was a really good decision. I think one of my best decisions so far in life because since we closed down Spaces, Drip has grown five, six x since then. We've really greatly expanded the product and kind of the vision for it and I think we're making a big impact on Solana and crypto in general. Brian Friel (02:45):You mentioned that this was born out of Solana Spaces originally, it was almost just this separate side thing you were doing and became this absolute beast that had to be unleashed. For those who aren't familiar with what Drip is, can you describe what Drip is, how it operates today, and then maybe talk a little bit about the scale that you guys are currently operating at? Vibhu Norby (03:05):Yeah, sure. Really simple value prop. You sign in with Phantom, you get an invite code and you start getting free collectibles. You can kind of engage with the product as much or as little as you want. By default, you get a free collectible from us every Wednesday and those collectibles are NFTs and they're real on chain Solana NFTs and we commission those pieces from artists and projects, not just now within Solana but across the landscape of crypto. And we pay for the airdrop costs and it's totally free. It's one of the few things in all of our industry that starts at free, ends at free. You don't need any tokens in your wallet, you don't have to go through KYC with an exchange. More recently, a couple months ago in March, we started adding these additional lists that you could subscribe to. Degen Poet was number one, but since then we've added another seven creators and we launched two new streams every Friday. (03:57):Those work the same way. You sign up for an individual creator that you love, can be an artist, could be a brand, could be NFT project, a video creator, influencer. They send you free collectibles on some regular basis and you can collect them, you can trade them, you can hold them, you can brag to your friends about what you got. In terms of growth, we've continued to grow 10, 15% a week even at a very big size now. There's two kind of stats that kind of matter. One is we consider non-fraudulent wallets as many people tried to farm Drip in the past. That number in real time right now is 300,000 and we're sending out at least 300,000 NFTs a week on showcase right now. But in total, every single week across all of our creators now, we're sending well over a million collectibles every single week. This is unbelievable groundbreaking stuff. It's not happening anywhere else in our industry, but people fall in love with Drip every single day. It's been awesome. Brian Friel (04:49):Yeah. I've been a day one subscriber of Drip. I love it. It's such a delightful thing to have all this new art coming in your inbox every day. You kind of hinted at this only possible at Solana, which I want to dive into too. But you did mention there, Degen Poet, and I'd be remiss if we didn't introduce Degen Poet now to the show. I think if you're a listener and you've been around the Solana space, especially on Twitter, you've seen Degen Poet, I'd say one of the most prolific artists on Solana for some time now. Degen Poet, for those who don't know, can you introduce who you are, how you got started on Solana, and then how you also started working with Vibhu? Degen Poet (05:22):I guess I'm Degen Poet. I live in Chicago with my wife and a couple dogs. I got started in Solana in the summer of 2021. I was just basically doing trading and stuff in Bitcoin and then trading all the other coins. I did some leverage trading on CuCoin and then found Solana through the whole Sam Coins DeFi on Solana first. I think Radium was my first stop. That's kind of my first experience with it all. I thought NFTs were garbage and a silly idea and all those things. I had probably been out of poetry for, I don't know, seven or eight years at that point. I did all of my college education and got an MFA in poetry and then just decided that it wasn't a great career path as far as the money you could make and what you had to do to support yourself as a poet is pretty difficult in the real world. (06:16):I gave that up and just kind of did business for a living, did computers, Excel, stuff like that. That's how I kind of made a living and then found Solana through all this. I started buying some stuff on Digitalize. I bought a Solana Monkey, a viking I think pretty early on and papered it way too early. But I think it was at that point where I decided maybe I should try poems as NFTs just because nobody else was doing it. I figured it'd at least be a unique way to try. The first thing I got started on was gmu poems, which was basically an NFT, which was a list of words. And at the time they were going really hot because they were based on this Eth derivative of something called Loot, I think. But I was mad at it because I was like, how is it worth so much money and doing so great? And it's literally just a random list of words, but instead of being mad at it, I decided to kind of embrace it and then just filled in the spaces between the words with poems. (07:11):And I did 200 of those in a month and that's how I got my start on Solana. And then just was making NFTs nonstop ever since, mainly through Exchange Art, doing one of one art. And then over the last year or so since Editions opened up, did additions on exchange art, and then that all just kind of led me to Vibhu and Drip. I really like serving a large audience with art. I mean that was always really fun with Editions. And then with Additions, I wanted to deliver them at a low cost, but that just invites bots to basically come in and flip your stuff. Bots were making way more money than I was off my art just because of the setup, you know what I mean? That's, I think, what intrigued me about Drip is I could achieve this thing that I wanted, which was giving art to all these people on Solana for free basically. And then there's no real bots, everyone's trying to sign up as an individual and gets it airdropped. It's not like a mint. Yeah, I think that's kind of where it all started and how it all made sense for the way that I was distributing my art. Brian Friel (08:12):Yeah, you hit on a lot there. I think that journey of trying out Solana for the first time, this new primordial soup of ecosystem projects and then this totally irrational NFT market, everyone gets dive into it. I think a lot of people can resonate that picture. Vibhu Norby (08:26):Right. I got to interject here because Degen Poet just introduced himself for five minutes and not one time did he mention the word typewriter, which is what he's most famous for of all things is that he didn't say the word typewriter. Brian Friel (08:42):Yeah. Vibhu Norby (08:43):But how did you find a typewriter? Just tell us that quickly. Degen Poet (08:47):Let's see here. I was cleaning out my sister's ex-husband's parents' basement and we found a typewriter when I was in college, and I think I just got really into them at that point because I was doing poetry and stuff and just would smoke tobacco pipes and type on a typewriter pretending I was some guy. I think that's where it all started. And then it picked back up again around Solana or whatever. My wife bought me a typewriter as an anniversary present. That was the first one that I really beat the crap out of for Solana. That's, I guess, what started it. From poems to trying to make something visually more appealing is really what it all clicked with. With NFTs specifically, I started out with just Photoshop and text and I needed some way of making it visually more appealing because that's how you get sales. But that basically took me from a poet to someone who makes art with a typewriter was kind of because people really pretty pictures on NFTs and turns out I like making them. There you go. Brian Friel (09:51):I think Vibhu brings up a great point there. I mean, Degen Poet I think is prolific and well known for having this unique process with a typewriter. If you could expand a little bit on that, Degen Poet, how do you go about creating these collections and is there anything that you do with Drip in particular that is different from either your normal flow or other flows that you know of of NFT artists on Solana? Degen Poet (10:13):Yeah. I mean I guess one of my main things that I've sort of been consistent with are the profile pictures. As a legendary, I'll take an existing Solana profile picture and just kind of do a typewriter version of those. For that process, I basically sketch a version of the profile picture with a pen, and then those were sort of my guides for the typewriter. I've done it freehand on the typewriter before, but you're only exposing a small portion of the paper at a time and it's really hard to get the proportions right. It's helpful to kind of map them out with a pen or marker sketch first. And then I do go through with a detailed typewriter version of it. I try to pull in words or traits or something to do with the NFT as part of the words that make up the image just as a piece of interest if you zoomed in. (11:03):And then I'll print out another copy of that. I'll do another sketch or sometimes I'll just paint on the typewriter piece itself and I'll use oil pastels or watercolor. At the end of the day I'm layering two scans. One of them is basically just the typewriter ink and then another one is this sort of painted version and I layered them on top of each other so you get a colored version of a typewriter piece, and that's kind of how all the profile pictures start. I think that's definitely pretty unique, just using all the physical pieces and really trying to make it all from physical scans versus any sort of digital pieces. And then anything digital is really for animation. Sometimes I'll type out every single frame and I'll make individual frames physically for everything that I'm animating. Other times I'll just cut out a piece of the eye or a piece of a lip or something like that on Photoshop and move it around, save a few different images or change colors or something. I do some Photoshopping to get the pieces animated, which I think just kind of adds another level to it. Typewriter is such an old physical looking thing. And so it's interesting, I think, to see it in an animation style. That's something I've really leveled up with Drip. I feel like I've done way more animations with Drip than any of my art sort of previously. Brian Friel (12:22):You hit a lot there throughout the intro and throughout describing your process, but basically this journey, I think a lot of people resonate with coming to Solana, seeing this fragmented NFT landscape ripe with speculation. That doesn't always make sense, but I think Drip's unique in that it's changing all these models, it's flipping them on their head. Vibhu, can you speak a little bit to who you're working with? Who are these artists that are now reaching out to you? I think you've proven this model with the Degen Poet, but when you talk to artists on Solana, what's attractive to Drip for them? Vibhu Norby (12:54):Yeah. I want to touch on something that you reminded me of, which is that the transition from Spaces to Drip, although on the surface is very jarring, the thing that kind of ties them together was that when we were meeting people in real life trying to introduce them to blockchains, what we found time and time again was that it was the art and the PFPs that were resonating with people in the store. It wasn't all the other stuff. And yet the way that most people have gotten into here is through an exchange where it's all about trading. And so I put this on Twitter many times, but things would be different today and they will be different in the future if the first experience that people have of this amazing technology is art, right? It's la piece from Degen Poet. It just changed everything. What am I looking for in artists?n (13:38):I probably talk to between 20 and 30 artists every single week, artists, projects, creators, and we probably filled about 100 requests per week, I would say right now. We have a really high bar. There's only three slots per week now. There's a showcase and there's two channels. And we book these things out for months in advance. The thing that resonates to me the most is artists that see themselves as more than just putting their pen or their paintbrush on paper, whatever their medium is, but as content creators as well. I think what attracted me to Degen Poet for a long time and I think why people love Degen Poet, yeah, the art is really good and I think that has to be there, but there's a lot of really good art. It's Degen Poet's personality. It's how that comes out in his work. (14:22):It's how he tells a story around his pieces. He publishes videos of the typewriter itself and the creation process. To me, we definitely have an eye for these kind of super artists who are brand building for themselves and have a vision for how to take care of their community in addition. To me, I mean, there's a lot of amazing artists in the world and if you just take blockchain out of it, you can walk into any gallery and see these incredible things. But there's this disconnect between the thing that you're buying and the person that made it and you. And in crypto, it gives this opportunity to cut out that piece and just connect directly with the creator. And if the creator takes advantage of that, that's very attractive to us. That tells me that they're thinking differently about what crypto can add to them. We have a pretty high bar, to be honest. (15:08):I mean I think we could fill up Drip with illustration and other techniques. There's a lot of amazing photographers, but I think at least in the early stages here, we have the opportunity to be curatorial a bit and relentlessly, we've been programming out our new channels trying to bring something different to the table each week. I think if you fast forwarded a year, it's going to be full of the same stuff that Instagram is full of and other big networks, it's just kind of natural. But right now we have an opportunity to keep a vision for what a collectible can kind of be. I don't know. I kind of know when I see it, but that's probably my framework. Brian Friel (15:44):Yeah. You hit on a couple things there with, not just just filling with great art, but the way that this can change the relationship between an artist and their fans. Degen Poet, from your experience, how has working with Drip influenced both the way that people discover your content, but also the relationships that you have with your collectors? Yeah, Degen Poet (16:01):Yeah. I mean it definitely makes it a much wider net, which is nice. They have a larger community to gather around. It feels like everyone who's kind of a channel in Drip is part of a little club or group or something. And so a lot of the same collectors will collect from multiple channels across Drip and things like that. There's more going on than just my art, but it still feels like a piece of a larger community. Everyone's kind of bringing a different style of Drip to the table. It takes less pressure off of my shoulders where I have to have my own Discord or be so focused and all these things. I could do that if I wanted, but I don't have to. Drip is big enough and has enough engagement from the tools that they provide that it helps sustain that better than I could than when I was alone. (16:47):And yeah, I guess you get a lot more people, right. You really do get people who would never have bought my art. And it's not because they didn't like it, they probably couldn't afford it or they didn't really know about it, but they happened to get in through Drip. And so get new people who earnestly really enjoy the art because that's how they found it. They found it from something free, they weren't trying to flip it and that's how they found it. Yeah, I don't know. It definitely casts a wider net and I feel you do boil up more people that just truly enjoy what you do versus the other side. Yeah, that's been great for that. Brian Friel (17:23):Yeah. I want to pause here and just dive into a topic that we mentioned briefly at the start, which is Solana. Degen Poet, you described your journey to finding Solana and I mentioned that I think if anyone's been around crypto Twitter, they know who you are. Prolific typewriter artist of Solana. Vibhu, you've been deeply involved with Solana for over a year and now. Why do you guys plant your flag in Solana, and what about Solana is able to make this a reality where no other blockchain can really do what Drip is doing? Vibhu Norby (17:51):I'm trying to refashion myself a little bit in our narrative because I mean you'll see on our Twitter page and on our site, occasionally we'll talk about Solana, but we've been trying to focus on the collectibles. I mean even with NFTs, I've eliminated using that word on our corporate account entirely in very specific cases. I don't think anybody on the consumer side really cares about that. But from the builder's perspective, two aspects. One is that they pioneered the state compression model, which allows us to do NFTs at a very, very big scale relative to the old version for a very low cost, a couple $100 per million, totally affordable for a business like us. And I think the second thing is that Solana has a really active developer community and some really amazing devs inside of it that are hunting for things to build. (18:35):And it's really competitive too. All the infrastructure around anything new on Solana develops fast. Perfect example of that is Tensor. We went live with it March 22nd, three months ago, and it's certainly been a couple weeks, maybe two or three weeks because they went live with trading on there. And it's an amazing experience and people can trade these compressed NFTs, 200 at a time and there's a brand new kind of thing, right. But it's not just them, there's B Man who built this tool called PopKey, it's Keerel who built the Drip tracker. There's just all these amazing 10X engineers, if you will, itching to be involved and be part of the Solana community. And we feel like anything that we can't get to, someone else is just going to build anyway. And hey, when we're ready, maybe we'll pick it up. Or maybe that tool just kind of develops its own path and we don't have to touch it. (19:28):And that thing is unique to crypto too because all of our NFTs are composable. It just really does. We're kept to such a high bar of development 'cause if we don't reach that bar, then three other companies are going to recreate what we're doing, do it better, and then people also going to just take our content and then do it better on top of our content and our data. I don't know about other chains, maybe they have that too, but I've just observed that Solana is, because of the size of our community and the energy there, seems to attack these things with a lot of vigor that I didn't see, at least in Ethereum when I was first getting into this space. Brian Friel (20:02):No, I couldn't agree more. I think Solana has carved out its own kernel of a genuine dev community. It's a double-edged sword like you say, because it's highly composable and you have this great force everyone will want to build with you, but it invites a lot of competition where if you do slack, there will be people who will take what you do and run with it. But I think so far you guys have done a really great job of really leading in this vertical of Solana. DP, do you have anything to add to what Vibhu said with respect to Solana, maybe from an artist's perspective? Degen Poet (20:31):As far as only possible on Solana, I definitely think it comes down to the compressed NFT. You can't cost effectively drop a million NFTs a week on any other blockchain, not even close to a 1,000X, not even close. I think that's the core of it that allows us to be different on Solana. But then all that other stuff, the unspoken kind of stuff is just the energy of the people here on the chain and the fact that Tensor and all the rest, not only do you have to be able to mint one million NFTs a week for low cost, but you also have to have people that can build stuff to do with them. And that is, I think, an underappreciated aspect of Solana. And I feel like Drip, from my perspective, all we have to do is just kind of continue growing the market for compressed NFTs, continue add channels and add people kind of doing stuff with compressed NFTs and then Solana will provide. As you get bigger and there's more market, more people want something, then Solana starts to make those things happen. I think we'll see that and that will be incredible. Vibhu Norby (21:32):I'm going to flip it back to you, Brian, as well. How is Drip breaking Phantom and what does Phantom need to address? Degen Poet (21:37):Yeah. When can I hold 5,000 NFTs please? Vibhu Norby (21:38):There you go. Brian Friel (21:41):Yeah, no, I would say from a dev perspective at Phantom side, we were early to support compressed NFTs, but it's almost a naive assumption that hey, we ship support and we'll be good because it basically is opening Pandora's box where now people just go wild whenever they're given a new medium to express with this kind of stuff. And we saw it firsthand with Tensor launching their NFT marketplace. We're getting requests, why can't I sign 5,000 transactions at once? You guys can't simulate 5,000 different transactions, but it makes us go back to basically first principles and what is the wallet being used for here? How should we be basically specializing the wallet and what do our users really want this for? And I think, Vibhu, you painted a great story at the start of this where eight months ago, the world was ending for all of Solana, they who should not be named. And in six to eight months, you've gone from that state to completely bootstrapping an organic network with hundreds of thousands of users who love and use this product every day. (22:34):How do we stay adaptable enough for that, huge question and a huge challenge and was really the fun of what's working in this space I think is all about. Vibhu, you mentioned a little bit too on the future of, I think you hinted a year out from now looking like Instagram. Can you say more about that? Vibhu Norby (22:49):Yeah. Depending on the day I wake up and I think about YouTube or Instagram or Twitch or Patreon or Roblox or you name it. There isn't a perfect analogy for this stuff because it kind of is a blend of a lot of different things. I mean literally every single day we're trying to address a problem in our product and we search for some mental model from some other place and see if that kind of makes sense. And not all of it does, but Instagram is such a simple product to talk about because it is a simple product. Everybody, not just creators, but normal people post photos to their feed or stories and then you follow their friends and you follow the celebrities or influencer, whatever that you like and that stuff shows up in your feed. And you think nothing of it. Okay, I go about my day, I open the app, I click something and I'm good, I'm happy, I close it. (23:43):But what's sitting underneath of Instagram is this advertising industrial complex that is calculating an enormous amount of data for every single thing that you do on the app. You open the story, how long did you open the story for? How many people are you connected to that also did the same thing? They're building profiles. I used to work on this stuff. I know this is what we do. Yeah, there's a reason for it. I don't think it's bad. I don't think advertising is bad. I want to put that out there. I know Anatolia thinks it's evil and it's part of the reason why he talks about Solana as the anti-spam control network, but it is good for small businesses, but the group that gets abused in that situation are the users and the creators that actually use the app. You go talk to any creator on any network that's not on the top 1% and they're making almost no money from these things. (24:33):We have an artist that's launching tomorrow called Bangers. He has 200,000 on Instagram. He has three and a half billion views of her content on Giffy. 'Cause she makes all these animated gifs and she told me that she made $20 from Giffy and almost nothing from Instagram ever. I mean we just don't think about it. But people build their livelihoods and businesses on these social platforms and increasingly so. I mean young people today, you ask them what they want to be when they grow up, it's not a firefighter. They want to be content creators, they want to be YouTubers, they want to be TikTokers, literally what they want to do. But when we examine these platforms and how they treat all of the kind of participants in that ecosystem, you just see this thing where all the power and all the money is aggregating inside of these couple of companies, ByteDance with TikTok, Facebook, Google, Amazon. (25:28):The trifecta of these trillion-dollar companies. Where I want to take Drip is, hey, let's take that model that we know people because people like to just follow someone and see their content, but let's start to tweak the internal economics of each of these components and do it in a way that over the next couple years, creators can make more money from this stuff. Even users might be able to make money, which is a very new concept, but it's something that is normal in crypto and just not normal in Web 2.0. If we can successfully build a model that's better, there's no reason why creators won't come over, it's just an awareness thing. Can we get the word out and can we make this easy to use and safe? I don't know if that's Instagram or it's YouTube or whatever. Instagram is the easiest thing to talk about. I think Drip is a really big idea. I hope that there's many other entrepreneurs that are looking at what we're doing and thinking, hey, maybe this kind of thing could apply in other categories too, and together we can come after these conglomerates, give the power back to the people and that would be a beautiful thing. Brian Friel (26:31):I couldn't agree more. Degen Poet, when you hear that and you take into consideration everything you told us about your journey starting on these fragmented marketplaces and everything and now everything that you've been doing with Drip, how do you think your relationship with Drip will evolve? Do you foresee the majority of your art being now distributed via platforms like these versus traditional mediums? Degen Poet (26:52):Yeah, for sure. Solana NFTs in the first place gave me a place for my art. I tried to be a poet in the real world and didn't really see the value in it even to publish a book and to get nothing back and to spend all the money to publish it, that kind of thing. Just NFTs and Solana in general as a first step was incredible to me to be able to make any kind of money off of my art period. And then that is what led me to become an artist. I wasn't making pictures or whatever before this, so it allowed me to exist as an artist in the first place. And then I guess I got hungry for the idea that you could live off this as a career or something. For me, I guess, I just want to create a space where people after me, people around me can do this seriously as 50% or more of their income for their lives. (27:45):I guess that's what I want to continue to push on at Drip, things like donations, et cetera, but finding a way to make them work and have them be something on a consistent basis that again, another artist can use that model and create a source of income that's reasonably dependable. A weekly Drip of donations I think is way more sustainable and understandable than when you're going to sell in your next auction. You sort of have a steady growth than all the rest of it. And so I don't know, it's just a better model to actually build a true career off of. Yeah, I don't know. For me, continue to find ways to take advantage of Drip and put all my work there that makes sense. I still have some one-on-ones outside of Drip, but I might even incorporate those into Drip someday. Yeah. I mean for me, as long as they let me Drip, I'm dripping. As long as the door is open for me, that's what I'm going to do for sure. Yeah. Vibhu Norby (28:43):Degen Poet is actually more close to the prototypical Solana artist than you would think. When I'm talking to an artist, I always ask, what's your full-time job? Very few of them are artists full-time. I mean that is really uncommon and it's really hard to make a living that way. Most of the artists that we work with are graphic designers and they make websites for clients and they're being creative maybe in some other way, but it isn't their source of income. And I don't think that if you look at this generation that wants to be content creators, that all of them can be content creators and make a living. Someone has to put food on the table, right. But you can add a little bit of extra for some of these folks and for the top 1% of them, or top 5% or top 10% of them to be able to make a reasonable living from doing this, I think is possible. (29:33):And my gold star metric for, I'm going to use Degen poet as our test baby, is how close can we get to replacing the income from his W2 job over the next year? We're actually not that far away. We're making progress and we continue to tweak that and it will pay back dividends. If he can be full-time on this and he'll be able to have, I don't know how he has a full-time job already. That part's a mystery to me, but in theory, more art, more content, more delight for people, that will help us grow too. DP and I are very aligned on that as a kind of a side quest to just getting art into people's hands. Brian Friel (30:08):Yeah. I think that's a great first goal. When you guys think about how we get to a world where the Degen Poets of the world can do this full time no questions asked, it's like an afterthought to even consider another job. Are there anything that you think that we need to change as an industry, something we should stop doing? And I ask this question because last time we had you on the show, Vibhu, you had a couple hot takes that you dropped, mostly around how a number grow up is very bad for the industry. I want to ask, has that thinking evolved at all for you, Vibhu? And then I also later want to hear some Degen Poet has any ideas on that as well. Vibhu Norby (30:41):I'm still on the same train. Number go up, number go down both equally bad in many different ways. The only thing is I really feel it when if you're sitting on Twitter all day, you really feel the price. You don't even have to look at the tweets. When Bitcoin was over 30K yesterday, I felt it. I didn't even have to look at my app. When Solana's down, you feel it. For better or for worse, the audience there is highly effective. And so I can't help but be empathetic to it, but it's actually an imperative for our industry to survive, especially in the US for us to move past the tokens, we have to. I strongly feel that, this is going to offend some people. I'm just trying to be careful how I say this. I think that the OG crypto community who was here in 2015 to 2017, the ICO era and these people are holding our industry back in a lot of ways. (31:37):I think they're all over our biggest applications and our biggest exchanges and this and that. And I think somewhere in the back of all these folks heads, they can't get over the fact that the bull market's going to come back again and they're going to have a Lambo. And it just doesn't make sense if we're serious about this being in the hands of billions of people, sorry, we can't make a Lambo for all seven, eight billion people on earth. Some of us have to drive a Honda Civic, some of us have to drive a bike. Can we get bike money for everybody? Can we get there first and let go of the kind of grasp of all the token people? That's where I'm at. I could be wrong. Maybe I'm flawed, maybe everyone can have a Lambo. I would love one, but that's not where I see the future. Degen Poet (32:20):Yeah. I mean I guess I feel similarly. I guess you want to create a space in the blockchain where the number go up and down doesn't really affect your day to day of enjoyment. You don't think about the price of a t-shirt or a box of Legos or whatever it is going up and down. You still just consume them because you want it or you like it here and there. I think of the Pokemon card analogy when it comes to this. I think with Drip House where they're just cards in general. I think there's a space for the legendaries or whatever it is, smaller supplies, having numbers go up. I do think that creates a lot of fun and excitement, brings people on, all that, but it really needs to be balanced with the day to day. Your reason for being here can't be that, because if it is, then it's like yeah, it doesn't feel sustainable and you're just building a system where there's a small amount of winners and most people are losers. And so it's like what are you really doing for the world at that point? We need to find a way to create value for digital assets that's just inherent in whatever the object is. It's not because of a price or a speculation, it's just because you value whatever the thing is. Brian Friel (33:31):Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I think you guys are on the right path here and I think a lot of people who use Drip every day are resonating with what you guys are doing. Well, guys, this has been a really awesome conversation. One question we always ask our guests, I'd love to hear this from each of you, maybe starting with Degen Poet, is who is a fellow builder that you admire in the Solana ecosystem? Degen Poet (33:52):I really like the Foxes a lot. I like drags and I like the Foxy Dev. I think that they've done an awesome job of trying to find actually useful stuff that people could use on Solana and bringing it into their system and I've seen them do some stuff overnight for people and all the rest of it. Really like them. Really like the guys at Tenor too. I mean the stuff that they've done for us in compressed NFTs is pretty incredible. Everyone on those teams is great. Brian Friel (34:21):I agree. Vibhu. Vibhu Norby (34:22):I'm going to recall 'cause I'm a second time guest, the answers I gave last time, 'cause it's kind of funny in retrospect. I think I mentioned Ahkshe from Super Team who I would give again and again. He's been such an amazing supporter of me and Drip and places before that. And I think at the time I also gave Frank Deca as my other answer. I still have a soft spot for him. I know he left Solana, but I can't help but admire the fanatical community building that he has. But yeah, I mean today, the couple of people that came to mind for me were, yeah, I mean the Tensor guys are amazing. These guys are just... A hilarious story. I pinged Ilia, the founder, yesterday and I asked them, hey, can I have a vector version of your logo? And I kid you'd not. The second I typed that, I see Ilia is typing and then three seconds later the vector file was there and I was like, did you just have this sitting on your desktop ready to drop into this? Brian Friel (35:15):Copied on the clipboard already? Yeah. Vibhu Norby (35:17):They really don't like that. Just really responsive. I respect that a lot. I want to give a shout-out to a guy named Carol who I won't dox him. He's a really impressive guy in real life and I got to know that after I spoke to him. There's these people in our community that are anonymous. I think he's an OK Bear or whatever, maybe a monkey business, and you find out their real life and they're like some VP of some big company. You just never know who you're talking to. But he's been, both for Drip and for Dialect, who I also listed as my admiration for, he's just been building stuff for free that benefit our communities and hundreds of thousands of people use those tools every single week to track their Drip collection. He's KIRYL_SOL, I believe he is his Twitter handle. Yeah, huge ups to that guy for carrying collectibles into the future. Brian Friel (36:06):I love it. These are all future guests of the podcast we're naming here. We have to get these guys on, have them tell their story as well. But yeah, Vibhu, Degen Poet, I just want to thank you guys from the Phantom team. We love everything that you guys are up to. We really think that Drip House arose at a time when Solana needed it most. We think you guys really carry a light forward for a way that pioneer's a new model for art on Solana, for artists making a living. Really excited for everything that you guys have to come. Thank you so much for your time on Zeitgeist. Degen Poet (36:33):Thanks for having us. Vibhu Norby (36:34):Thanks. Bye.  

The Supreme Court's ruling outlawing race-conscious admissions seems, on its face, to be a blow against diversity in higher education. But how authentically diverse were selective schools in the first place? Amy and Mike invited college advisor and author Andy Lockwood to explore the meaning of real diversity in college admissions. What are five things you will learn in this episode? What is the rationale for promoting diversity on college campuses? How effective have colleges been in bringing together diverse student bodies? How will the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action impact diversity on college campuses?  What would real–as opposed to visual–diversity on campus look like? What steps can schools take to promote real diversity? MEET OUR GUEST Andy Lockwood is a best-selling author of four books, including How to Negotiate Your Crappy Financial Aid and Merit Aid Award and How to Get Into Your Dream College Without Lying, Bribing or Photoshopping, and an outspoken and controversial critic of runaway college costs and the institutions that perpetuate them. He focuses on identifying admissions and financial aid strategies for college-bound teens and their families, including business owners, divorced parents, and student-athletes. He received his BA from Wesleyan University–where he was on (not "played for") the basketball team–and his J.D. from  St. John's Law School. Find Andy at ceo@lockwoodcollegeprep.com, lockwoodcollegeprep.com, or call 516-882-5464 LINKS 20-1199 Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (06/29/2023) What the Supreme Court's ruling on affirmative action means for colleges The Importance of Diversity and Inclusion in Higher Education Race-conscious admissions is out. Here are my predictions for colleges in the post-SCOTUS landscape. RELATED EPISODES LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD WOULD ELIMINATING TESTS MAKE EDUCATION MORE EQUITABLE SHAPING AN ADMISSIONS CLASS ABOUT THIS PODCAST Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our episodes on the show page. ABOUT YOUR HOSTS Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros. If you're interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, feel free to get in touch through our contact page.  

Franchesca Ramsey, also known as Chescaleigh, is an American comedian, activist, television, and YouTube personality, and actress who has appeared on MTV and MSNBC. Join Michael Jamin and Francheca as they explore her path to success, lessons learned, and what it takes to make it in Hollywood.Show NotesFranchesca Ramsey's Personal Site - https://www.franchesca.net/Franchesca Ramsey on Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franchesca_RamseyFranchesca Ramsey on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/chescaleigh/Franchesca Ramsey on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@franchesca_leighFranchesca Ramsey on Twitter - https://twitter.com/chescaleighAutomated TranscriptFranchesca Ramsey (00:00:00):No. You, you never, you never know. And, you know, on the topic of Nose and Failures, I went to the red carpet for the Emmy's in 2008 and I swore that was gonna be my big break. I thought, I was like, I'm never going back to the chamber. Like I, I remember my boss.Michael Jamin (00:00:15):So you went as what?Franchesca Ramsey (00:00:17):As I was a red carpet reporter for.com. Oh yeah. I was on the red carpet. I interviewed like Kathy Griffin and Neil Patrick Harris. And I sang with Josh Groin. Like I had the best time. Right. And then I had to fly back to Florida and go to work. And I was heartbroken. I thought I was gonna get an agent. I thought I was gonna, I just thought like, this is it. I'm, I'm making it. And I did not make it.Michael Jamin (00:00:42):You're listening to Screenwriters. Need to hear this with Michael Jamin.(00:00:50):Hey everyone, it's Michael Jamin. Welcome back to another episode of Screenwriters. Need to hear this. I have a wonderful special guest today and she's extremely inspiring. And if you want to be a screenwriter, you need to hear how this woman broke in because it floored me. I'm here with Franchesca Ramsey and she has all, she's a multi-talented person cause she's an actor or writer performer. But she started as a YouTuber.Franchesca Ramsey (00:01:13):I started on the internet. It's honestly, it still blows my mind when I say it. But the internet opened so many doors for me and I could not be more proud of the career that it's helped me build.Michael Jamin (00:01:26):And you have so much. But I think what's most, like, I wanna talk about all your successes, but to me, what I really interested by are all the failures that led up to yourFranchesca Ramsey (00:01:35):Success,Michael Jamin (00:01:36):. Cause this is not overnight. No. that you made it.Franchesca Ramsey (00:01:39):No, absolutely not. And I really try to be transparent about those things because I know how it is when you're on the other side and you're watching people have all of these wins and you're comparing yourself to them and you're suing that everything is going their way. And the reality is, more oftentimes than not, there are so many nos behind the scene before they got to the yeses that you're getting to watch and experience. Right. So I, I've had a lot of them. ,Michael Jamin (00:02:09):We're gonna go through 'em, but lemme just tell everyone how we met. Cuz we only met on, on Friday. On Friday. I'm not big on Twitter, but I checked it for some reason, fate told me to check it. And someone had tagged me in a tweet saying, there are two screenwriters you need to follow me and you and your your, your Twitter is tr is is ChecheFranchesca Ramsey (00:02:26):Lee. Yeah,Michael Jamin (00:02:27):Chely. Which is, which is Lee's probably your middle name.Franchesca Ramsey (00:02:29):Lee is my middle name. Yeah.Michael Jamin (00:02:31):Okay. And so they tagged me and you and I, I didn't know you, so I was like, oh, look at her. And I clicked on your link and then I, and I realized, oh, what, you got a huge following and you have some interesting, you talk about interesting things. So I follow you. And then later that day, literally that day, I'm picketing cuz run, strike the Disney lot. And then you call out to me cuz you recognized me.Franchesca Ramsey (00:02:49):Yeah. Oh my God. I mean, I, I mean I, so I started following you on TikTok. It's been a while. I'm still pretty new to TikTok. I think I've only been on there like a year. I'd begrudgingly joined. I was one of those mm-hmm. . and so there's not a lot of TV people on there. Right. And the thing that I was saying to you at the Disney lot was, I appreciate that you have demystified the, the process and the business because there are a lot of people who love and enjoy television, talking about the business, and yet they have never worked in the business. And you come from a place of, yeah, I have sold shows. I've worked in hit series. I, you know, you've done so many things. And just being able to see someone who knows what they're talking about, but again, is making it accessible, is really inspiring. And it really is in line with the ethos of my work.Michael Jamin (00:03:39):And and you do all of that. I wanna talk about, jeez. Well, actually, actually, I should probably say how everyone knows you. Okay. Yes. You've done a ton. You first of all, you were a correspondent on the Nightly Show with, with Larry Wilmore, who Yes. It's funny I know so many writers and he, I, I think of him as a sitcom writer because he's written, he's a writer. Yeah. But he's also a performer's. Like you're singing yourself. He's a multi-talented person, but also decoded on m comedy Central. Mm-Hmm. Franchesca Ramsey (00:04:05):Mtv. Mtv. Decoded. Oh,Michael Jamin (00:04:06):Mtv. Yeah. Okay. I, Carly, which you did one season on Yeah.Franchesca Ramsey (00:04:09):The reboot. I, yeah, I did the first season of the reboot.Michael Jamin (00:04:12):Right. And that must have been, oh, I don't wanna talk about that. Yeah,Franchesca Ramsey (00:04:16):Yeah.Michael Jamin (00:04:16):We'll talk about that. We're gonna get into all that. You, you wrote for the Oscars in 2020. Mm-Hmm. you were, you were recurring on superstores an actor, right?Franchesca Ramsey (00:04:24):I was, yeah. I was recurring, recurring for 12 episodes in season six.Michael Jamin (00:04:28):Wow. That's, that's, that's,Franchesca Ramsey (00:04:29):Yeah. And I did that and I did that while I was a writer, producer on iCarly. So I had They didn't let you leave? They did let me leave. And I had many a times that I was on set at five o'clock in the morning to shoot, to go to shoot a superstore. And then I still had to get my outline and on time , and I did it. Oh my God.Michael Jamin (00:04:51):But, but Oh, and but you started mm-hmm. , even before this, you had a, you had a viral video Yeah. That went on YouTube.Franchesca Ramsey (00:04:58):Yeah. So I, I started making YouTube videos when I was in college. Not to date myself Right. But my senior year of college, YouTube was founded and I started making YouTube videos. And I had my very first viral video in 2012, which was Shit, white Girls Say to BlackMichael Jamin (00:05:15):Girls. Oh, you started, but you didn't start in 2012.Franchesca Ramsey (00:05:17):When did you start? No, I started in, I started in 2006.Michael Jamin (00:05:20):And then, right. So you had many, you did years of not making viralFranchesca Ramsey (00:05:25):Videos. Yes, yes, yes, yes. I was working as a graphic designer. I worked I worked in beauty and fashion mostly. So I worked at Maybelline, I worked in the package department. I was Photoshopping eyelashes on packages. The mascara does not make your eyelashes that long. , that was me. And then I also worked at Anne Taylor and I was working at Ann Taylor when I went viral in 2012.Michael Jamin (00:05:50):But did you not, did you, like when you were in high school, in college, did you want, I mean, guess, did you wannaFranchesca Ramsey (00:05:55):Be a writer performer? Yeah, no, actually I wanted to be an actor. I went to a performing arts middle and high school. There are a number of alumni from my high school. The person that most people know is Eric Andre. He's a comedian. Right. He was a year older than me. And there are a lot of us from my high school that are still in the business. And I went to college for acting. I went to the University of Michigan, but I left largely because I was struggling after losing my acting scholarship. I had a scholarship my first year, my second year I didn't. And I got a job. DidMichael Jamin (00:06:26):They, could you a scholarship for only one year? IsFranchesca Ramsey (00:06:28):That how works? Well, it was so it was not a need-based scholarship, meaning that it was not based on your parents' income. It was a talent based scholarship. So I auditioned for the school. I got a scholarship my first year. And then after that, the whole faculty voted on who got the scholarship. And because I was only a sophomore, I didn't know everybody. So most of the people that got the scholarship the next year were like juniors and seniors. So I was working part-time at school. I worked for the School of Public Health. I was working on their website. I was a self-taught designer had a bootleg of Photoshop and I'd gone to H T M L camp in middle school. And so I was like uploading files and shit, and I was getting paid 20 bucks an hour. And I was like, yo, this is it. I was like, maybe I should be a graphic designer. . So I left Michigan, moved back to Florida, which is where I'm from, and went to design school and was Oh, really? Studying graphic design. Yeah. And, you know, just I always kept a blog. I'd had a website since middle school. And when YouTube came out, I was like, yo, this is, this is really neat. ButMichael Jamin (00:07:34):This was just cuz you wanted personal expression.Franchesca Ramsey (00:07:37):Yeah. I just thought it was cool. I'd always, I was on live journal and I had dreadlocks at the time, and so I was always like taking photos of my hairstyles and like doing tutorials and just writing about my daily life. I mean, before, before there were digital cameras, I had like a scanner. And so I would go and get my photos developed and then I would scan them and I would post them on my little website. And it was just, I've always been a journaler. I've always like really loved, like just keeping track of my life. I am an only child, so I, I just like, I, that's just always been my form of expression. And so when YouTube came out, I felt like it was the perfect combination of all the things I was already interested in. Right. So I started making YouTube videos in 2006.Michael Jamin (00:08:21):But, and some of those, cause I went, I I scrolled down. You got a long list.Franchesca Ramsey (00:08:24):Yeah. I have so many .Michael Jamin (00:08:26):And some of them were just like, oh, here's, here's how I do my hair. And here's like, yeah. But then you started venturing off into more scripted, you know,Franchesca Ramsey (00:08:33):Compliment stuff. Yeah. I mean, so honestly what happened was I was watching Eric become a successful standup, and I remember him calling me and him saying, there are no black girls in New York doing standup. And I was like, really? And he was like, yeah. Oh my, this is my bad Eric. He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. You got it. You got you. They're so funny. You should be doing this. And I was like, oh, I don't know. Like, I've never done standup. Right. And so I got a copy of the Comedy Bible, which is a great book that I recommend. Okay. And I used it to write my first standup set and was doing comedy in, in Miami and was making sketches and trying to promote my comedy career via YouTube. AndMichael Jamin (00:09:14):Was that working? I mean,Franchesca Ramsey (00:09:15):Yeah, it was. I mean, I was, it's so interesting because where we are with social media is just like, it just feels so accessible now. But like back in my day, I didn't know anyone that had a website. Right. And I had business cards that had my website, my YouTube on them, and I would go to comedy shows and I would say like, oh, you should watch my YouTube channel and like, get on my email list. And, you know, when I would do competitions at the Hollywood Improv, like I would send out emails and I would say, please come to my shows. And did people I Yeah, they did, they didMichael Jamin (00:09:51):Come. So these are your fans would come basically people who were on your email list? JustFranchesca Ramsey (00:09:55):People that I would, I would, I would, if you met me somewhere, I was asking you to be on my email list. Really. And after I graduated college, I got a job as the communications manager at the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce. So I was doing all of their graphics and PR stuff. And so I was learning how to write press releases. And so like, I was using that to build my online community for my YouTube channel. Right. And I, yeah. And I entered a YouTube contest in 2008, I guess. Yeah. 2008. It was the Red Carpet Reporter contest. Really? And I went to the Emmy's. Yeah. And I I You,Michael Jamin (00:10:33):You entered and you won?Franchesca Ramsey (00:10:34):I entered and I won. And I, I , I really used the things I learned at the Chamber. Like I sent out a press release about myself, , to like, local news. And news was on like my local news. Wow. I threw a party so people would vote for me. Like .Michael Jamin (00:10:52):So this is like, it was a lot. Cause so many people say, well, you know, how do I get an agent? How do I, people expect agents, managers, producers to make their career. And that's not what you are doing. No,Franchesca Ramsey (00:11:03):No.Michael Jamin (00:11:03):You're doing it yourself and you're not asking for permission, you're doing it.Franchesca Ramsey (00:11:07):No, I, working at the Chamber was really eye-opening for me because I learned so much about the power of networking. Right. I always had business cards. Every time I would meet someone like a tip that I learned was I would keep a little sharpie in my bag and I would write a interesting tidbit about them on their, on their business card. And then I would email them and I would talk about something that they had said to me. So like, if you said, oh, I gotta leave for my kid's soccer game, I would email you and I'd say, it was really great meeting you at the, the Coffee with the President event. I hope your kid, you know, killed the soccer game. You know, some, just something like that. And then people would be like, oh my gosh, she was so thoughtful. Like, yeah.Michael Jamin (00:11:44):But these are people who you, you don't, are are these people that you think that can help you? Like, who are these people you're meeting that you want their business card, that you wanna wanna email them? No, they'reFranchesca Ramsey (00:11:52):Not, they're not people that I think can help me. Like, I, I just think of it as, you know, when you meet someone and you connect with them, it's not necessarily that they're gonna help you get further mm-hmm. . But like, if, if we have a connection and we like each other, like maybe there's a world in which we work together, or Yeah. I've got this, I'm doing this contest and I need as many votes as possible. And I met you at an event and we got along, or I'm doing standup now and I'm like, Hey, you know, remember I was kind of funny when we met, like come to the standup,Michael Jamin (00:12:22):But how often would you, if you met, I don't know, let's say, I don't know how many people we've met in a month, let's say it's a dozen. How often are you contacting them to stay in touch to let them know they'reFranchesca Ramsey (00:12:32):Live? So I was, so, so again, I was working at the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce, which is a membership organization for small businesses. Mm-Hmm. . And we would put together events. We had a weekly coffee with our president every Friday. We had dinner galas, we had golf tournaments. We would go to like, opening of businesses. Like we were doing events all the time. And at every event I was just like, hi, hey, nice to meet you. And I was just meeting as many people as possible and I was doing some of this on Company Jam. I was sending emails and being like, Hey, I met you at this event, can I put you on my email list? You know? Right. soMichael Jamin (00:13:06):I How did you get to be so smart about this though? I mean, like, like did someone teach you this or is this like, I'll just gonna, I like thisFranchesca Ramsey (00:13:11):Idea. I, I will say I learned a lot from the Chamber because we had we had like a women's group and we had like a young professionals group. And because I worked at the Chamber, I was there for all of these events. And I will also add, this was my first job outta college. I am still friends with the people I worked with at the Chamber. I'm still friends with the members that, you know, I met when I did my book tour in 2018, I was able to do it at a bookstore that was one of the members of the chamber when I, you know, I was like trying to get something together. And the bookstore was like, yes, we will absolutely buy copies of your book. We remember you. Right. And right. And it's, I think oftentimes people think about networking for like, these selfish, you know, I'm gonna move forward.(00:13:57):Right. But if you come from a genuine place of just getting to know people and, and showing real interest, my dad always says, be interested. Not interesting. Right. Actually, just like getting to know people and connect with them, you will find that people are like, yeah, you know what? I could throw you five books. You know what? I got a place that you can host a comedy show a actually I will buy a book. Like, people wanna help you. And I was really fortunate I got that job not knowing what it was. And I say all the time, it really like laid the foundation for me when it came to the power of networking and that people like who, you know, really does help you get ahead. But it also enriches your life and your career.Michael Jamin (00:14:38):But how else did it help you knowing any of these people later? Like how, how else did it, you know, materially Okay. I get, yes, you had a and you could, you could do a signing at the store, but how else did it help you?Franchesca Ramsey (00:14:50):I think just helped me to see people that like believed in me. You know, when it was time for me to have comedy shows and stuff. And especially there's so many places where you have to ha bring 10 people. Oh, okay. You, you, you gotta do a bringer show if you're gonna get on stage. And so, you know, kind of corralling my email list to get people to come and support me when I did that YouTube contest and I needed people to vote for me. Right. I, there was a member who had a nightclub and so I threw a party at the nightclub and it was genuinely me just being like, can I throw a party here? And they were like, yeah, no problem. Your, are your friends gonna buy drinks? Right? Yes. . So I set up little laptops and I had people voting for me at the party and Wow. And I, and I won the contest.Michael Jamin (00:15:35):So these are just so small, little, little unexpected ways that just pay that just pay off. But you don't know how or whenFranchesca Ramsey (00:15:41):Yeah. Pay off. No, you, you never, you never know. And, you know, on the topic of knows and failures, I went to the red carpet for the Emmy's in 2008 and I swore that was gonna be my big break. I thought, I was like, I'm never going back to the chamber. Like I, I remember my boss. WellMichael Jamin (00:15:57):You went as what? AsFranchesca Ramsey (00:15:59):I was a red carpet reporter for people.com. Oh yeah. I was on the red carpet. I interviewed like Kathy Griffin and Neil Patrick Harris and mm-hmm. , I sang with Josh Groin, like I had the best time. Right. And then I had to fly back to Florida and go to work and I was heartbroken. I thought I was gonna get an agent. I thought I was gonna, I just thought like, this is it. I'm, I'm making it. And I did not make it. I went AndMichael Jamin (00:16:24):How did you get that job to begin with? The, you know, the red carpet shop? I, because you didn't have an agent?Franchesca Ramsey (00:16:29):I, I entered the YouTube contest. So theMichael Jamin (00:16:31):Contest that was just from that.Franchesca Ramsey (00:16:31):Okay. Yeah. So you had to send in a video of you doing an interview. And I interviewed like my boyfriend at the time and my dog. And then I, you know, I was in the finalist and then I went on the streets of Miami Beach and I just interviewed people. Right. And and then it was voting. So then I, you know, I was doing all, I was hustling to get votes.Michael Jamin (00:16:50):It's so funny cause you are not shy. I mean, no, like, that's how I met. I mean, right. And good for you and good for you. I mean, who else is gonna advocate for you, if not for yourself? I think people want agents. Like they want an advocate. Well be your own advocate. HowFranchesca Ramsey (00:17:02):About that? No. Yeah, no, it's totally true. And look, I, I, I did that red carpet reporter contest and I, you know, I was kind of thrown to the wolves in that nobody was helping me. Right. interview people. They gave me a list of potential celebrities and I watched as many shows that were nominated as possible. I wrote jokes. There was a person under the camera poking me in the leg being like, you gotta hurry it up, wrap it up, wrap it up. I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. Like, I just was going for it. And I really thought, and my videos were, they were funny, the clips were viral. I was doing great. And then nothing happened. Like, it was it,Michael Jamin (00:17:39):Did they ask you back the year later? Or No?Franchesca Ramsey (00:17:41):No. Nothing. No. They didn't even do the contest again. It just, it just was over. I thought people, people.com was like, we loved you. And I was like, great. Do you wanna hire me? And they were like, no, ,Michael Jamin (00:17:53):No. What makes you, why, why would you think we wanna hire you ?Franchesca Ramsey (00:17:57):I was so heartbroken. I moved, I moved to New York the next year, Uhhuh, and I did kind of like the little tour. Like I went to the people offices. I got all dressed up and I was like, remember me? I won that contest. And they were like, yes. When like, what, what do you want? I was like, I, I thought I would get a job. .Michael Jamin (00:18:14):Really? Yeah. And so then what happened? So, okay, good, good. , you got, you're here and then you fell back a couple pegs. That's fine. And then what happened?Franchesca Ramsey (00:18:21):Yeah, so I was kind of pounding the pavement in New York. I did all sorts of jobs. I stuffed envelopes for like a a temp agency. And, you know, I'd gone to school for graph graphic design and I was going to lots of events in New York. Like I went to social Media week in New York. Right. And I met a guy at Social media. He probably was trying to date me in, in hindsight, I had a boyfriend. Right. But I met this guy at Social Media Week and he worked for a creative temp agency. And he was like, oh, well I can help you find a job. And I was like, really? And he was like, yeah. So as this, at this temp agency, I was just doing design for a bunch of different places. So I did some design for the botanical gardens. I had to ride a hour plus train up to the freaking Bronx. Mm-Hmm. . And I was, you know, pushing pixels around for the for the botanical garden. I also worked for this place that did like a big book of I guess it was like a, it was like a fashion book that got put out every year. I, I don't really remember what it was, but I was, you know, just doing a lot of photo editing and stuff. And that's, and then I got the Maybelline job through a friend.Michael Jamin (00:19:32):But that wa I, I wanna, but Okay. But then all the while you're still putting out YouTube videos, right?Franchesca Ramsey (00:19:36):Yeah, I was still making YouTube videos. I was usually like waking up early and editing. I was stealing my neighbor's wifi so I would upload before I went to work because Uhhuh, that was when nobody was on the internet. Youtube was very slow back then. So Yeah. You to like, leave your computer uninterrupted to upload videosMichael Jamin (00:19:57):And, but, but pe people were slowly finding you at this point, or no?Franchesca Ramsey (00:20:01):Yeah. I mean, I was building a little bit of an audience cuz I was making those hairstyle videos. And remember I had had a website in middle school and high school. Right. So I had, I was building my audience. Like I was in this live journal community called, oh no they didn't, which was like a gossip community. Uhhuh . So I posted my videos there. I was in a dreadlock community called Get Up, dread Up, and I would post my hair videos there. And, but atMichael Jamin (00:20:28):Some point you, you decided to make a leap Cause you you had that one video that went viral.Franchesca Ramsey (00:20:32):Yeah, so actually before that, I entered another contest in 2011 called the YouTube Next Up Contest, Uhhuh . And and I won that contest. It was a contest to find like YouTube's next big stars. Right. And it was me and 25 other people. And we each won $35,000. Nice. And we spent a week at YouTube learning how to like better produce our videos and we got new cameras andMichael Jamin (00:20:57):Out here YouTube and, and my, inFranchesca Ramsey (00:20:59):New York? InMichael Jamin (00:21:00):New York. Oh, New York. Okay. Yeah. You know, my partner and I ran a show by from Renton Link.Franchesca Ramsey (00:21:04):Oh, well yeah. I love them.Michael Jamin (00:21:05):Yeah. They're, they had a show, YouTube offered them money, like a lot of money to make a sitcom and they hired us to, to be the right to run.Franchesca Ramsey (00:21:11):Oh, cool. Yeah. No, I love, I love them. I was in one of their, I was in the old collab video with them years ago. Oh wow. Yeah. So I got to meet so many YouTubers from that, and actually my current writing partner, I met her through the YouTube. Next up she was a freelance producer at YouTube and they put us in little teams and had us make YouTube videos, Uhhuh. And she and I, she and I really hit it off and we stayed friends. And the, the year after I did next up is when I had my first big viral video. And I really believe that next up taught me a lot about, you know, tentpole content. Like thinking about my content around holidays and special events and trending stories and finding ways to infuse my personal voice. And so I started kind of like changing my content right. Where I was just doing hair stuff. Right. And I was doing random comedy things, just being more focused.Michael Jamin (00:22:03):And what was your focus?Franchesca Ramsey (00:22:04):Well, my focus was more of looking at trends and finding ways to infuse myself in them uhhuh. And looking at what everybody's talking about and how can I put my own unique spin on it. Right. And so what happened was, there was a viral video called Shit Girls Say. Right. And it was a guy in a wig just doing a bunch of different things that girls say. And there were lots of parodies. There was like, shit, black girls say shit, moms say shit, dad say, and I was trying to figure out, I was like, I wanna do one, but I don't know what I wanna do. And I had gone home for the holidays and I was at a party, a Christmas party mm-hmm. and everyone was drinking and I was not, because I was the designated driver. And as my friends were getting drunker, people were starting to say some things to me that just were at the time things that a lot of my white suburban friends would say to me.(00:22:57):And I wouldn't think twice about, but because I had this video in my head, I was like, oh, maybe this is the video. People were like touching my hair and, you know, just saying things that I don't believe were coming from a bad place. Right. But I was like, something is in this. But I was like, I don't know, like, I don't know what to make this. It's like, I was like, shit black girls say, I was like, shit, white girls say, and I hate to even say it. My ex was like, maybe it should be shit white girls say to black girls. And I was like, no, that doesn't make sense. The the meme is shit. Girls say so it has to be that. And my ex was like, why, why does it have to be like that? And I was like, I dunno, I don't, I really wrestled with it. And then I thought, well, maybe that's what it'll be. So I wrote down all of the things that people had said to me. Right. I shot the video, I uploaded it before I went to work. And by lunchtime it had like a million views. And my email was just like blowing up. My phone was just like going nuts. No one at Ann Taylor knew I made YouTube videos, Uhhuh . And I was like freaking out. It was like, what? The frick is happening?Michael Jamin (00:24:02):Freaking out. Because you were worried you were just in trouble, Atara, or what? No,Franchesca Ramsey (00:24:06):No, I was just freaking out in the sense that I was feeling overwhelmed because my inbox was suddenly, you know, NPR wants to interview you and the Huffington Post wants to write something about you. Yeah. And like all of these agents and S n L reached out to me and they were like, we would love for you to audition for S N L. And I was like, what the f I was at work while this was happening. Wow. And I was like crying at my desk and, and my coworkers were like,Michael Jamin (00:24:31):What is all like tears of joy. No tears.Franchesca Ramsey (00:24:33):Yeah. Tears of joy, but also tears of like, I'm very emotional. I was very, I was just overwhelmed. Like, I don't know how to handle this. And, butMichael Jamin (00:24:43):That video is, is wonderful. Yeah. obviously I watched it, but were you, I mean you were making a statement?Franchesca Ramsey (00:24:50):Yeah. I mean, I don't think I knew I was making a statement. I thought I was just genuinely, I thought I was making a video about being from West Palm Beach, going to private school, where oftentimes I was the only black person in my class. And having my friends who were well-meaning say things to me that I knew made me feel uncomfortable, but I wasn't really sure why.Michael Jamin (00:25:14):You weren't sure why?Franchesca Ramsey (00:25:15):I wasn't sure why, but I knew I, but I knew there was something funny about it. Right. And I, and I think my surprise was realizing that I had captured a universal experience that other black people and just marginalized people in general experience where people in their lives are like, you're different from me. And they're acknowledging it in a way that is not necessarily malicious, but it does still feel uncomfortable.Michael Jamin (00:25:39):But, but some of them were kind of cringy. Some were like, Ooh, did someone, some of them really say that to you?Franchesca Ramsey (00:25:45):Like, oh my god, really? Oh my God. Yeah. Yeah. And, but that's also what was incredible to me about it is because the comments were like, this is my life. The comments were saying, I am the only black girl in my school in Idaho, and this has happened to me. And, and I'm, I'm watching these comments coming come in and realizing like, oh, I did something with this that I didn't anticipate. Yeah. I, you know, I got invited to be on Anderson Cooper. They did a whole segment about me in that video. I had never been on national television before. And, and, and I, I was like, I had no agent. I had no help. I did my own makeup, which mm-hmm. I think I did good. But like, I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. And I stillMichael Jamin (00:26:25):Have How did your friend, how did your friends react to it though when they saw it?Franchesca Ramsey (00:26:29):Oh my God, they thought it was amazing. My whole, I I mean this was, butMichael Jamin (00:26:32):But they were the ones who said these things to you.Franchesca Ramsey (00:26:34):Yeah. And they were like, this is really fun. One of the girls that like was the main culprit came with, with me to Anderson Cooper .Michael Jamin (00:26:39):But aren't they supposed to apologize for, I mean, they're not supposed to think it's funny. They're supposed to say, I'm sorry. I said those things.Franchesca Ramsey (00:26:45):, you know, I, I I think it's also just a symptom of where I was in my life because at that time now we talk about privilege and microaggressions in a way that feels, you know very forward thinking and, and progressive. And in 2012, we were not. Right. And so again, while I knew that those comments made me uncomfortable, I did not have the language to explain why. Right. And I, and I did not believe my friends were malicious, and I still don't believe that they were malicious. It's just a symptom of your privilege. And that is something that people do all of the time, right? Mm-Hmm. , like straight people do that to gay people. Right. Gay bodied people do that to disabled people. Like cis people do that to trans people. It happens across every dynamic and, and every identity. And so I don't think my friends, some of them did feel like, oh my God, this makes me like look bad. Right? But I didn't have anyone that felt like, oh, Francesca hates me. Like, everybody knew I was making comedy content. Mm-Hmm. . And a lot of my friends that were sharing it across all backgrounds were like, oh my God, this has happened to me. Or Oh my God, I need to check myself. Because Right. In the context, this doesn't seem great. Right.Michael Jamin (00:27:59):Do Now I imagine putting yourself out there, cause I know what it's like, it exposed you to backlash too. And myFranchesca Ramsey (00:28:07):God. Oh my God, yes.Michael Jamin (00:28:09): What, what and what was that like for you the first time? And what's your advice? For me itFranchesca Ramsey (00:28:13):Was r it was really hard. It was really hard. So that video got about 12 million views in the first week. Right. And, you know, again, today 12 million views maybe. Doesn't seem like a lot.Michael Jamin (00:28:24):No, it's a lot. It's aFranchesca Ramsey (00:28:25):Lot. I mean, I, I, you know, TikTok, people are blowing up all the time, but it was really big for me. Right. But again, because I was talking about race, there were a lot of people that were uncomfortable and there were people that were calling me a racist. They were saying that I hate white people and you know, this is not right. And if it was reversed and, and I, for better or for worse, am very accessible. So I was in the comments, like fighting with people. I was arguing back and forthMichael Jamin (00:28:52):And why? So that's the thing.Franchesca Ramsey (00:28:54):Yeah. And I, and I do youMichael Jamin (00:28:55):Should you do that?Franchesca Ramsey (00:28:57):No, I, I think you really have to pick your battles mm-hmm. . And I think that, I think that there are some people that are always gonna dislike you no matter what. And they always have, they already have their mind made up about you. Yeah. And so you have to decide like, what is the purpose of me engaging with this person? And for me, especially on Twitter, even if I engage with someone who I disagree with, if I think I can make a broader point about the misconception, or I can clarify something, or I can use them as an example of how to better defend yourself on certain topics, I'll do it. Versus there are a lot of people I just don't engage with at all. ButMichael Jamin (00:29:37):You, I I'm gonna guess I'm taking a wild guess though. I'm gonna guess that you've never once changed anybody's mind.Franchesca Ramsey (00:29:45):I dunno that that's, I don't, I I'm gonna push back and say I don't necessarily think that that's true because I got a lot of emails from people that said that I did change their minds. Really. But I think, but I think it's, again, it's also a matter of what your approach is. And it also has to be somebody who actually wants to have their mind changed. There's a difference between somebody that just wants to argue. Right. And someone who genuinely says, I don't understand this thing and I want to, and I think whether it's online or in real life, we have to be better at gauging the difference because it is a waste of your time to argue with the person who already has their mind made up. Mm-Hmm. versus to engage with the person who says, you've made me think about this differently. I'm not sure I agree yet, but I'm like close to figuring out if, if I could be.Michael Jamin (00:30:31):And that makes you feel good knowing that, I mean,Franchesca Ramsey (00:30:34):Yeah. I mean me, it'sMichael Jamin (00:30:35):Exhausting. That's all. Yeah.Franchesca Ramsey (00:30:37):It isMichael Jamin (00:30:37):Exhausting. It really is.Franchesca Ramsey (00:30:39):It is exhausting. But I think what that video taught me about myself, and it really kind of shaped the direction that my content went in Yeah. Is that there's a lot of, that comedy is really powerful, that we can tell stories that we can tell the stories of people that don't necessarily see themselves represented and feel like they're being heard. We can expose people to new ideas. Mm-Hmm. , we can get people to think about the world that they inhabit and how they move through the world differently. And I realized like using comedy to talk about serious stuff is something that I wasn't seeing other people do on YouTube. And so I really started like shifting my content Yes. In that direction.Michael Jamin (00:31:19):That's almo. Would you say that's kind of your brand now? I mean, what? Whatever that means.Franchesca Ramsey (00:31:23):Yeah. It was, and I'm, I don't know. It's hard. I'm trying to get out of it if I'm being honest.Michael Jamin (00:31:28):Why? Okay. Yeah. Why?Franchesca Ramsey (00:31:29):Because it is exhausting. Because, because as a black woman moving through the world, I'm constantly being asked to justify my existence and educate people mm-hmm. and talk about serious topics all the time. Right. So then to do that for my job is, is dually exhausting. And, and I, I struggle with it because I know I'm good at it. Right. And I know it's important, but it takes a lot out of me. Yeah. It ta and, and you know, like, I'm dealing with this right now with the writer strike where I'm making a lot of content about the strike because I think it's important. But I'm also being asked and pulled and every direction where people like, explain this will tell me this, well, it makes sense, da da da da da. And I'm like, this is actually my livelihood. Like this is not just a trending topic on Twitter. Like this is about how I'm gonna continue to make a life for myself, you know?Michael Jamin (00:32:21):But Okay. So you're, are you're still, are you still making original content on YouTube? No. No. Why not? I think you should Franchesca Ramsey (00:32:29):I have, I have a, cause I, I have a complicated relationship with YouTube Uhhuh. I guess the, the best way to say it is, you know, after, after, after I went viral, I got an agent. I left my day job, I started auditioning and, andMichael Jamin (00:32:45):The, and the, I say want, I wanna slow it down. The agent reached out to you?Franchesca Ramsey (00:32:49):Yes. Yes. Okay. Yes. Okay. And I will also add that prior to that, I had made DVDs of all my standup and all my sketches, and I had mailed them out to every agent in New York. And not one person got back to me.Michael Jamin (00:33:03):This is exactly what Okay. So I do a, a monthly webinar, free webinar where I talk about Hollywood and how to break in, this is exactly what I talked about yesterday. Yeah. Is that you have to make them beg Yeah. If you're begging them, it's not gonna happen. Right. It's not gonna happen. Right. They have to look at you like you are, like you have dollar signs on your face Yeah. And you're a big bag of money. And when they see money on your face, they'll come after you. Yeah. Which is what they saw with you. Okay. This isFranchesca Ramsey (00:33:27):Someone, it was like the, it was like the year prior I had sent out those DVDs and I did not get one person to get back toMichael Jamin (00:33:33):You. Same person, same talent. Yeah. You just didn't have the platform yet.Franchesca Ramsey (00:33:37):Yeah. And then suddenly everybody wanted me. So then I, you know, I got this agent and, you know, I got the opportunity. I, I met with a manager and she said like, what's your dream? And I said, I want my own TV show. AndMichael Jamin (00:33:50):She What kind of show, by the way?Franchesca Ramsey (00:33:52):Well, I didn't really know. I just knew I wanted a show. And she looked at my YouTube channel and was like, well, we should pitch like a sketch show. So I was out pitching the sketch show, nobody bought it. Mm-Hmm. . And one of the places I went to though was M T V. And M T V was like, well, we really like you. We have this show about feminism and and pop culture that's doing really well. Would you be interested in developing something similar about race? And I was like, yeah, that sounds cool. So I met with this production company called Corn Neighbor Brown. Mm-Hmm. , we started developing what then became M T v Decoded mm-hmm. . And, you know, I, Dakota has opened so many doors for me. I'm, I'm so proud of that show. But I dealt with so much harassment because of that show so much. And YouTube, for Better for worse, did not really support me. And, and I, and I, and I really struggled with that becauseMichael Jamin (00:34:45):What kind of support were you hoping to get from them?Franchesca Ramsey (00:34:48):Well, people were making death threats. Oh. People were taking my content and they were editing together videos of me to make me say that I hate all white men and I hate all white people. Oh my God. And I think people should die. And, and, and, and YouTube was like, well, you know, it's not a copyright violation. And I was like, how is this not a copyright violation? Like, soMichael Jamin (00:35:07):What do you do when that hap what do you do when that happens?Franchesca Ramsey (00:35:10):I mean, what I did was I ended up walking away. I mean, I did it for six years. And again, I am so thankful for all the doors that it opened, but I had to ask myself like, is this worth it in terms of what I want? And what I want is to be a comedy writer. I don't want to be a professional educator. I don't want,Michael Jamin (00:35:29):But I imagine you were also monetizing this from YouTube. You were making monies, right?Franchesca Ramsey (00:35:32):Well, it was MTV's content. So I was not making, I was making a flat rate on every episode. I was credited as executive producer because I had developed the show. So I was being paid as the host and executive produ producer, and I was paid anytime I wrote an episode mm-hmm. . And I wrote about, I'm gonna say I wrote about like 50% of the episodes, and then I got hired on the nightly show. Right. So I was on TV and I was doing Dakota at the same time. So we brought in writers. Right.(00:36:02):so I was making a flat rate. I wasn't making, I wasn't making a ton of money. I I I, I worked part-time jobs. I worked as a writer for Upward for three years. Mm-Hmm. , I was speaking at colleges, I was doing like little TV things here and there, but I was M T V was not paying all my bills. Right. and so when I really like took a step back and looked at where I wanted to go in my career, I was like, I just don't wanna be an internet personality for the rest of my life. Mm-Hmm. . And I don't wanna be the girl who just talks about race. And I was like, I'm glad that this is given me a platform and opened all these doors for me. But I would meet people and they would, they were surprised that I was funny. And, and I would say, well, I'm a comedian. They're like, no, you're not. I see you onde coded. And I'm like, right. Well, Dakota is like an educational show. I'm, I'm not, I'm not know. But the thingMichael Jamin (00:36:54):Is, people say to me, I'm afraid about, like, they're not even in the business yet. I'm afraid about being put into a box. Right. I'm afraid of about doing this one thing that getting stuck in the box. And my attitude is get in a box first. You know, you need to get work.Franchesca Ramsey (00:37:06):Yeah. Get in the box first. Yeah. And thenMichael Jamin (00:37:07):You worry about getting out of the box.Franchesca Ramsey (00:37:09):Yeah. Right. Yeah. And I, and I would, yes, I, I agree. Like, and if, for me, I didn't know I was getting into a box. I was following what was being successful for me and what I was enjoying and what I was good at. And I did that for six years. You know, I was on the nightly show. And, and even that, like, I started for a minute. I was like, oh, I think I wanna be a late night host. And then I was realizing like, oh, this is really hard. Like mm-hmm. talking about the news and, and, and writing about news, writing about what's happening in the world and trying to put in a funny spin is just a, it's hard. It's so hard. And again, I learned so much, but I think what I really learned was, I was like, if I have a TV show one night a week, I don't wanna do five nights a week, .Michael Jamin (00:37:51):But even on your channel, which I poked around, I was like, oh my God. Like you interviewed Michelle Obama. I was like, what? Like what? How did that come about? ?Franchesca Ramsey (00:37:58):Yeah. I mean that was, that was through YouTube. I, so, because I was so active and I had won that Emmy's contest and I won that next step contest, like I had a relationship with YouTube, like I would speak at events there. Mm-Hmm. one time they had this party where they had an airplane circling LA with like celebrities. And I hosted the plane. Like I was speaking over like the, the speaker in the plane. It was so weird. It was very fun. But like, that was because of YouTube. And so they would regularly reach out to me and say like, oh, we're doing this event which you hosted, or would you speak on this panel? Or whatever. SoMichael Jamin (00:38:36):Leaving, it must've been very hard for you because on the one hand, they were good too. You on the other hand,Franchesca Ramsey (00:38:41):Yeah. I mean, I wasn't getting paid for a lot of those things. Like I Oh really? No, no, it was justMichael Jamin (00:38:45):Exposure.Franchesca Ramsey (00:38:46):Yeah. It was just ex it was exposure. And that was also part of it. Like, that was me making a conscientious decision that I wasn't gonna do unpaid work anymore. Uhhuh. . But I started saying like, okay, cool. Like, you guys are happy to have to fly me out and have me speak on a panel, but I then have to run back to my hotel room and like write these articles because I'm, I don't have money. You know? And like, my visibility, I think a lot of times people think like, oh, I see you everywhere. So that must mean you're making a lot of money. That must mean you're, you're, you're crushing it. And that's just not always the case.Speaker 3 (00:39:23):Hey, it's Michael Jamin. If you like my videos and you want me to email them to you for free, join my watch list. Every Friday I send out my top three videos. These are for writers, actors, creative types. You can unsubscribe whenever you want. I'm not gonna spam you and it's absolutely free. Just go to michaeljamin.com/watchlist.Michael Jamin (00:39:47):But even on your videos of, on your YouTube videos, you were mon like, cause you can't monetize them. Yeah. You just didn't, you weren't getting a lot. That'sFranchesca Ramsey (00:39:53):No, I wasn't, I I was never one, I was never consistent largely because I always had a regular job. Like I, I tried being a full-time YouTuber and I just, the money is so inconsistent. It's a once a month paycheck. Yeah. And you don't know how much it is because some months you have a really good month and your views are really up. Other months your views are really down. The, I don't know what they're like now, but at the time your ads did not automatically come on your video. Sometimes the ads wouldn't show up for like a day or two. Uhhuh . So if you got all your views in those first two days and then they dropped off by the time you got ads, you didn't make any money.Michael Jamin (00:40:30):Oh, interesting.Franchesca Ramsey (00:40:31):And then there's like certain times of year that were really good, I was always trying different things. Right. Like I was making Holiday vi, I made these Christmas card videos. I made these videos that you were supposed to send to people for their birthday. I did Parodies, lady Gaga came out with a song. So I did a video for like, you know, I stayed up all night like editing this video. So Yeah,Michael Jamin (00:40:50):You did Gwen Stefani, you sounded just like her. Yeah. I was like, that was great. I wouldFranchesca Ramsey (00:40:53):Do all these impressions and I was, I was just realizing that the amount of hours I was putting in were not, it wasn't paying off for me is what I was realizing. And that was a big part of my transition into like, I want to be in tv. Right. That's always been the goal. You know, I, I went to acting school. I didn't know I was gonna become a writer and, and I was so glad that I was doing that, but I was like, this is, I don't wanna be on YouTube for the rest of my life. I don't wanna make videos in my apartment. I don't wanna make videos about my life. I want to work in tv. So really focusing on that, and again, doing Decoded was awesome, but I realized what I have to do is I gotta get a sample. Right.(00:41:36):Like I have to, I have to put together a packet. Like I have to start doing the things that are gonna move me into the next phase. Mm-Hmm. . And I think kind of to your point about being in a box, I think you have to be open to, if you're in a box or people are seeing you one way, being open to saying, what else can I do? And like, how can I show people that I'm more than this one thing? Mm-Hmm. and taking that risk and believing in yourself is really scary. But it's essential because I could have done decoded for the rest of my life and I don't want to do that ,Michael Jamin (00:42:11):You know? But then, so iCarly was prob was your first scripted? Yeah.Franchesca Ramsey (00:42:15):And then it wasMichael Jamin (00:42:16):What, so how did you get that? Cuz that's a big leap you have toFranchesca Ramsey (00:42:19):Write. Yeah. So before iCarly, what did I do before iCarly? So I did the nightly show and then I sold a pilot to Comedy Central. Mm-Hmm. . And the pilot was with the same producers that did Decoded and it was kind of like a late night sketch type show, Uhhuh . And we didn't go to series. They actually gave us a mini room and I did not know it was a mini room at the time. I was just happy that I was getting a writer's room. And so we wrote 10 episodes of the show. We didn't go to series. I wrote a book. Right. I did a book tour.Michael Jamin (00:42:54):And how, how did the, how did the book come about? Which the book is called, well that escalated quickly, , which I imagine and the memoir and memo, it's memoir Mistakes of an Accidental Activist, which is Yeah, that's a perfect idol. Cause I think that's exactly what you were, right?Franchesca Ramsey (00:43:08):Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it, it really was a collection of essays about a lot of the mistakes that I had made in communicating with other people on the internet and talking about things that were important to me and all the lessons that I had learned along the way. And after Shit White Girls say Went viral, I had a number of people reaching out to me, asking me to write a book, but I just didn't know what I wanted to write a book about. TheseMichael Jamin (00:43:32):Were agents or publishersFranchesca Ramsey (00:43:34):Literary agents saying like, you should write a book. And I just didn't know what I wanted to write a book about. I kept putting it off funny. And then after I was a nightly show was still on the air and I, I decided, I think I wanna give this a chance. And I finally had initially I wanted it to just be called Accidental Activists and that was gonna be the title. And I started putting together a book proposal and meeting with literary agents. And I met this great literary agent and she gave me like really good notes on my proposal. She really ripped it apart . Mm-Hmm. . And I was so happy because I had felt like she was the first person I talked to that wasn't like blowing smoke up my ass. She was the first person that was like, this is good, but it could be better. Right. and so she and I worked together for like two months on the proposal and then we went and did a number of meetings. I think we met with like six publishers andMichael Jamin (00:44:28):I And you didn't wanna write it first, you wanted to pitch it first as get it sold first?Franchesca Ramsey (00:44:32):Yeah. So in with non-fiction, you don't have to write it first. With fiction, usually you do have to write it first. Right. If you've written a book before the fiction proposal usually don't have to write the whole thing. But for non-fiction you usually write like two or three chapters mm-hmm. and then you do like a summary of what the book is about and a bio and who you are and, and why this book and you know, what are books that are in the same family as yours and Right. What your plan for press would be and all that stuff. And I'm, you know, I went to school for graphic design, so I made like a really beautiful book proposal with like photos and Oh wow. Artwork and I drew all these little charts and graphs and stuff cuz that's kind of like, I love infographics. And so yeah, we went to maybe six or seven publishers and I got four offers. Wow. And they went kind of head to head and my agent was pitting them against each other. Wow. yeah. And I got a six figure book deal, which was a big deal. .Michael Jamin (00:45:30):That is a big deal. Yeah.Franchesca Ramsey (00:45:32):And thenMichael Jamin (00:45:33):Did they help you, what, you know, promote it, put you on tour?Franchesca Ramsey (00:45:36):Yeah, so I mean, that's part of when you work with a publisher is they have a a publicist, like an in-house. I was at Grand Central Publishing, so they had a publicist and we did a photo shoot for the book. And I spent my own money, like I got a publicist. I also had a website built for the, for the book. And then we did an eight city book tour and I got cities added because I really wanted to do something in Florida where I'm from. And that was where I reached out to some of my contacts from the chamber and got my local Miami bookstore.Michael Jamin (00:46:09):Why these, the only eight cities, though. Like, what, when they say they're putting on tour, like, I don't know.Franchesca Ramsey (00:46:14):Well, they looked at, they looked at the analytics from like my Facebook and my Instagram and, and my YouTube to see like where my audience was at. Okay. And they used that to pick what citiesMichael Jamin (00:46:25):And then people came out. Yeah. And, and you read, you read and signed books.Franchesca Ramsey (00:46:28):Yeah. Yeah. So I kind of, I picked, I reached out to friends in different cities and I had different people as kind of like my co-host in each city. And it was awesome. But it was, it was exhausting. It was really exhausting. And I was doing that at the same time that I was doing my comedy Central pilot. And all of this is to say that like, in that moment I thought like, I'm making it. I was like, I'm making it. I'm like, I'm about to be like a star .Michael Jamin (00:46:55):That's what I would think. But you know,Franchesca Ramsey (00:46:56):It wasn then my showed didn't go. No. Cause then I showed it didn't go. ButMichael Jamin (00:46:59):That's normal. Most shows don't goFranchesca Ramsey (00:47:01):Right. But I didn't know that didn know that. I, I, I didn't know that. I, I thought I'm a failure. Especially because, like, really think about it. Yeah. Well, think about it this way. When, when you, when a pilot gets announced, right? I, this is my first time having a, having a pilot ever. Mm-Hmm. , a pilot gets announced and people that don't work in TV think that means you have a TV show. They're like, where is the show? And I'm like, oh, well I'm making the pilot now. And they're like, well, when does it come out? I'm like, I don't know. It hasn't been ordered a series. So like, people were writing articles about me, like 10 Reasons Franchesca's gonna change late night. And like, we need Franchesca's show. And like, she's amazing. And Larry Wilmore had gotten canceled. So it was like Franchesca Ramsey's gonna be the only black woman late night host. And like all of this hype was coming for me, and my book was coming out and, and, and, and my publisher was really like, this is it. We're gonna time it with the show. And then, and youMichael Jamin (00:47:54):Were believing this too.Franchesca Ramsey (00:47:56):And I was believe of course I was, of course I was believing it. I was like, oh my God, I want this so badly. Yeah. You know? And and hindsight is 2020. Like it was not the show for me. I'm glad that I didn't end up making that show because I, I really don't wanna host a late night show about identity. Right. I, I thought I did, but I don't want to anymore. And so like, when it didn't go to series, and then, well, we, we did the mini room and, and that was kind of like a consolation prize, but even then I was like, it was another year of staffing and, and, and putting the room together and trying to figure out what the show was, and then waiting around for Comedy Central. And then they said, we're not going to series. They were like, well, let's sell it somewhere else. So I was like, shooting these sketches. And we,Michael Jamin (00:48:44):That doesn't, that doesn't happen. . Right. But that so rarely happens, but, okay.Franchesca Ramsey (00:48:47):Right. Well, especially because other networks are like, well, you didn't want it. Why do we want it?Michael Jamin (00:48:51):Yeah. We don't, they don't want damaged goods. You don't,Franchesca Ramsey (00:48:53):You don't. You didn't want it. So now you think I'm gonna make the show. Like, yeah. Right. Again, and I'm just kind of like, I, I'm just like, I'm just going along. Right. Like Right. I'm going and taking these meetings and, and you know, you have meetings and they're like, we love you. You're amazing. You're great. We're passing, you know, .Michael Jamin (00:49:09):Yeah. Yes. I know. All those meetings. .Franchesca Ramsey (00:49:11):Right. And so I was just like, I was just like, oh my God, my career is over. And I got a writing job on yearly Departed, which is was a late an end of the year comedy show. Mm-Hmm. . And that was through Twitter. BES Calb, who was our showrunner, followed me on Twitter. We were friendly, and my reps were like, Hey, there's this late, this end of the year comedy special, do you wanna take a meeting? I took the meeting and Bess was just like, I love you. I think you're super funny. She had read my sample and yeah, it was kind of, it was like a series of eulogies for different things throughout the year. Uhhuh .(00:49:54):And we did it over Zoom Oh, wow. During the Pandemic. And I was still auditioning, and that's when I booked Superstore. I booked Superstore while I was doing Yearly Departed. So I went to LA to do Superstore and it just worked out that it was at the same time that yearly was gonna film. So I got to go be on set and, and Seeba happened. And and after being here for Superstore again in the middle of the pandemic, I was like, I don't really wanna go back to New York. Right. What if I just stay ?Michael Jamin (00:50:25):Well, you, but you're married, aren'tFranchesca Ramsey (00:50:26):You? I was, I got divorced. You was? Okay. I got divorced in 2019.Michael Jamin (00:50:30):Okay. So you don't have to worry about your husband coming overFranchesca Ramsey (00:50:32):Here. No, no. We got divorced before, before I got hired on that show. Yeah. I mean, right. Like the year before the pandemic. Right.Michael Jamin (00:50:42):And then how did I, Carly come about then?Franchesca Ramsey (00:50:45):My managers were just like, Hey, you know, I, I told them I wanted to staff. Right. And so, yeah, I took a meeting with Ally Shelton, who was our showrunner, and again, she read my sample. And I think what she really appreciated was that I had this background as an internet person and mm-hmm. You know, Carly is an internet person personality, and I had actual experience and dealing with trolls and dealing with going viral and Yeah, of course. Live streaming and course bands and social media course. And so Allie was a perfectMichael Jamin (00:51:18):Choice. Yeah.Franchesca Ramsey (00:51:19):Yeah. Allie was like, you really understand this world. And I I came, I went into my meeting and I had watched episodes of iCarly and I pitched some ideas as for what I felt like would be the direction that I would be interested in going in. And and prior to that, I had my friend Shameka that I mentioned that I had met through YouTube. She and I had sold a pilot to Fox. And so I learned a lot about the scripted process through that. Right. Just through development. It was with Kay Cannon and and Kay is amazing. I learned so much from her.Michael Jamin (00:51:55):But was it intimidating for you to be, cuz now you're in out of your element again, you haven't done scripted, soFranchesca Ramsey (00:52:01):It, it wasn't intimidating. I, and I, again, I really feel very fortunate because I was able to work with a friend of mine that I had known for, you know, almost 10 years. And she and I had made YouTube videos together and we had come out to LA for pilot season as actors and we got an apartment together. And through the audition process we were like, all of these scripts are bad, we could fucking do this. Right. We were like, we could write a script better than this. . Yeah. Right. And so we wrote like a treatment. We didn't even write a full script. And then we, through our agents, went and took a bunch of meetings and we met with Amy PO's company. Mm-Hmm. . We, we went to Kay Cannon, which is K and l. We went to a whole bunch of places, but Kay and Laverne, her business partner, we just, we just loved them. And they were like, we wanna develop this with you. And so they really taught us how to develop and structure a scripted pitch. ThatMichael Jamin (00:52:57):Was the Fox show.Franchesca Ramsey (00:52:58):Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I had never pitched a scripted project before. Everything was like sketched late night. Yeah. Variety. And so yeah, off of that, again, we didn't go to series, but we wrote the pilot. And so I used that as like a sample, even though I'd written it with someone else. And then I had a sample that I'd written by myself, and then I had like all my decoded videos and I had sketches from my Comedy Central pilot an

Body-positive influencer, Karina Irby, has been accused of photoshopping her body on Instagram. The accusations were made by an American super sleuth account who labelled her a hypocrite. While Karina admitted to slightly editing herself in the past she said she's 'come along way since'.   ​​Chloe Szep has shared a series of emotional journal entries about the pressures of running a multi-million-dollar business, whilst juggling motherhood. The raw entries show the financial strain the tech platform, Well Web, was having on the Gold Coast entrepreneur.   And the Facebook friend request glitch that left millions questioning whether they'd ever Facebook stalk again.  Subscribe to Outspoken Plus Outspoken Plus is our subscription offering that provides subscribers with exclusive access to BONUS weekly episodes. Every week, we'll be dropping content so juicy, we've had to put it behind a paywall. A monthly Outspoken Plus subscription costs $5.99 a month, or save with our annual package, for just $49.99 a year*.  There are two ways you can become a Outspoken Plus subscriber. Apple users can subscribe via Apple Podcasts here: apple.co/outspoken, while Android users can subscribe via Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/outspoken_plus.  * An annual subscription is only available on Apple Podcasts.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sol (@solthompson) and Michael (@_smithstagram) are back with a boys episode - that's right, the pair is covering everything from some really exciting small brands (suggested by you, the fans!), fashion elitism, and the wonders of facetune. Join Sol and Michael as they delve into the world of small, up-and-coming brands and unearth hidden gems in the fashion industry. Subscribe now to elevate your wardrobe and support indie labels! Whether you're a fan of classic British farming-inspired jackets and pants, Korean leather jackets, or Japanese stores with funny names, tune in, discover something you love, and enjoy!All the best, and lots of love.Sol

In this episode, Katrin shares how working on personal branding and marketing as a university project launched her sketchnoting career and increased her visibility on LinkedIn.Sponsored By ConceptsThis episode of the Sketchnote Army Podcast is brought to you by Concepts, a perfect tool for sketchnoting, available on iOS, Windows, and Android.Concepts' infinite canvas lets you to sketchnote in a defined area while still enjoying infinite space around it — to write a quick note, scribble an idea or to keep pre-drawn visual elements handy for when you need them most.The infinite canvas lets you stretch out and work without worrying if you'll run out of space. When combined with powerful vector drawing that offers high-resolution output and complete brush and stroke control — you have a tool that's perfect for sketchnoting.SEARCH “Concepts” in your favorite app store to give it a try.Running OrderIntroWelcomeWho is Katrin?Origin StoryKatrin's current workSponsor: ConceptsTipsToolsWhere to find KatrinOutroLinksAmazon affiliate links support the Sketchnote Army Podcast.Katrin on LinkedInKatrin's websiteKatrin on InstagramEva-Lotta LammThe Sketchnote Handbook: The Illustrated Guide to Visual Note Taking by Mike RohdeEat to Beat Depression and Anxiety: Nourish Your Way to Better Mental Health in Six WeeksDr. Drew Ramsey podcastGoogle career event for women.Richard van der BloomAndrew D. HubermanHell Yeah or no by Derek SiversSketchnoting: Communicate with Visual Notes with Eva-Lotta LammToolsPen.Notebook.Steadtler pigment linersStabilo pensCopic markersTombow brush pensiPadProcreateDrawing glovesPaperlikeTipsPick a project you are really exited about.Don't compare yourself to othersDon't overcomplicate things. Don't overcomplicate sketchnoting.Don't over value talent.CreditsProducer: Alec PulianasTheme music: Jon SchiedermayerShownotes and transcripts: Esther OdoroSubscribe to the Sketchnote Army PodcastYou can subscribe to the podcast through iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube or your favorite podcast listening source.Support the PodcastTo support the creation, production and hosting of the Sketchnote Army Podcast, buy one of Mike Rohde's bestselling books. Use code ROHDE40 at Peachpit.com for 40% off!Episode TranscriptMike Rohde: Hey everyone, it's Mike and I'm here with Katrin Wietek. How are you doing, Katrin? ** Katrin Wietek:** I'm really good and I'm really honored to be on your podcast today, Mike. MR: And it's so great to have you. I'm excited to hear your story and all the things you have to share with us. But first, I understand that you have a nickname, Kat, and I would love to hear what's the origin story of the nickname. KW: Actually, in 2014 and 2015, I went for a work and travel year in New Zealand. I'm originally from Germany. And I decided I wanted to go to the place that's the furthest away from Germany, and that was New Zealand, and it was also beautiful on top of that. I worked at a little cafe restaurant thingy and there was another employee from Germany and her name was Karina, so Karina in English and our boss, he switched up our names all the time. And then one day he said, "You know, from this day on, I'll call you Karina and your Kat." From that day on, with all my English-speaking friends, I stuck with Kat, basically. So yeah, that's how Kat came to be. MR: Oh, that's great. You probably know how to make a really good flat white then, I suspect if you worked in a cafe in New Zealand, eh? KW: My barista skills came a little bit later. They didn't trust me with the coffee machine. I was basically waiting tables and getting orders in and working on the till and everything. But a little bit later I was finally taught how to do coffee MR: Oh, good, good. I'm glad to hear that. That's very important. If you go to New Zealand, you have to have a flat white, I think, or Australia. KW: Or Mocha. MR: Mocha, yeah. KW: Don't forget the Mocha. MR: That's my wife's favorite drink, so she would be happy to hear that. KW: Nice. MR: So, hey, let's get started. I am really curious to hear your story. You've hinted as we've gotten ready to begin that you have an interesting one. Tell us the story of how you ended up—well, actually, let me back up. I think I'm jumping my own schedule. Let's first understand who you are. Tell us who you are and what you do, and then you can jump right into your origin story after that. KW: Okay. As a profession, I would say I am a content marketer by day. I work in B2B content marketing, part-time. And then I'm also self-employed. I do freelancing work. And that's not only sketchnoting and illustrating, but a whole range of copywriting and social media work. I have a really diverse career, I would say. MR: Oh, that's great. Obviously, the place that I've found you and I've seen you do most of your work is LinkedIn, which is fascinating because as social media goes, I've actually been more attracted to LinkedIn in a lot of ways because the quality just seems like it's a little bit better and there's, I guess a little bit fewer ads. I don't know, they all seem overloaded with ads to me, but I know that Instagram has a strong community around sketchnoting, but I'm starting to see, and the thing I don't know, is on LinkedIn, is it because I'm following so many visual thinkers that my feed just seems loaded with visual thinking? Or is it actually a trend in LinkedIn? It's probably more likely the former, in that I've sort of made a little bubble for myself. But I would love to hear, a little bit of your thought on LinkedIn and the work you do there specifically. KW: I think LinkedIn is a platform where visuals work really, really well. I think part of that is that the platform is not like as visual as Instagram or Pinterest, for example. Because on Instagram you had this buildup, every visual had to be better than the other one. And people are just used to beautiful pictures and really good infographics and everything. And a lot of the content on LinkedIn is still text-based. So, I think once you add a really cool picture that's not a selfie, that actually drives value, I think that's why they work really well. And also, because LinkedIn is a bit more similar to Facebook and the way that if somebody comments, this comment pops up in your timeline if you follow the person. It's a lot easier to be discovered by other people on LinkedIn. Especially, when I was posting on LinkedIn, I did a lot of career content, and that's perfect for the platform. You know, it's a whole like strategic networking and the career world, if you do content in that area. I think that's just pre predestined for LinkedIn. And I would say yes, you live in kind of a bubble, but I think the amount of visuals and infographics and sketchnotes is definitely increased over time. I think when I started doing it, I didn't see a lot of work like that, but who was already on the platform at that time was Tanmay Vora. I think you know him. MR: Oh yeah, yeah. KW: I saw his schedules a lot. And now it's gotten a lot more, which is cool. Oh, and you also see a lot of the explained ideas visually on LinkedIn, really small graphics where it's just a simple idea. There are a few people who do that and they are all over LinkedIn. MR: Got it. My screen up has one of your more recent sketchnotes, my takeaways from the LinkedIn algorithm report. So maybe I need to look at that sketch note and sort of understand what's going on and then I adjust accordingly, right? Yeah. KW: Yeah. It will be a lot quicker than reading the whole 50 or 60-page report. MR: Which is the beauty of Sketchnoting, right? KW: It is. MR: That's really great to hear. All right. So, we know what you do. Go into your origin story. It sounded like you had a really interesting history before, to kind of bring you to where you are. I'd love to hear that story. KW: The story's actually a little bit longer, so sit back. MR: Go for it. We have time. We have plenty of time. KW: I started thinking about what you said, like, was there a moment in my childhood or in my school life? And I wouldn't say not really, but I always had really neat school notes. Because when I had a messy note from school, I wouldn't learn from it. I always needed to make sure like my handwriting was nice and it didn't look messy. And I also remember color coding different topics. For example, we did the democratic system in Germany or whatever, and then it had like yellows, oranges, and reds throughout the whole topic. And then for another topic I chose, I don't know, blues, purples and dunno. So that helped me. At that time, I had no understanding of graphic design or how color theory works, but I did that just intuitively. I would say I was never really good at drawing in school. Arts and drawing always can really hard. And it wasn't until I discovered the internet and that I could like retrace work of other people, that helped me understand and get better at my art skills I also remember one funny story. It was actually during my A Levels. In the German language class, we were very required to read all those classic, like all these classic books from good and so on. From the 1700 and 1800s. And I hadn't read a single one of them for my A Levels. During the years, like the grade 11 and 12, it was I think, I never read anything and then I kind of panicked. What I did was I looked up the Wikipedia summaries, and I couldn't memorize any of it, so I drew little comics. So, I had like gorgeous work and like a little scrappy comic. And then all these other people's works, I basically just looked at the comics the whole time when I was on the bus and when I was at home. I never had read these books because I had so much other stuff to learn. I think that's maybe when it started and when I found the power of visuals and with my really neat school notes that I had drawn. I think that's how I came to be. I'm not sure if it was you who I found first, but I think actually it was Eva-Lotta Lamm— MR: Makes sense. Yeah. KW: Who I found first because it was in 2015, I would say when I finished school, she did like a travel diary consisting out of sketch modes from her around the world trip. And I thought that was so cool, so incredibly cool. I was really inspired because I'd also like traveled and I thought, "I wish I had known it before then." And I think that's when I googled the term sketchnotes and then your book popped up. "The Sketchnote Handbook." I think at that time it wasn't available in German or maybe it was, but I ordered the English version on Amazon. Then I read through it and I did some of the exercises and then I forgot all about it. I got busy because I started a degree. After school I started my degree in digital media and I was actually working in software development at the same time and I was doing user research user experience design, I think what you are doing right now as well, Mike. I forgot about the sketchnotes, but what I always had to do at work was like facilitate workshops. I worked a lot on flip charts everything and I always was really invested in making those flip charts look really, really nice and really cool and really clean. During the whole degree I forgot about the whole sketchnote thing. When I finished my degree, I was little bit lost a because I knew what I was doing before. I wasn't sure if I wanted to pursue that as a career and I wanted to know maybe there's other stuff out there as well. I decided I wanna take a break between my bachelor's and my master's and I got a part-time job and I decided in 2019 I was gonna do 12 creative projects. Each month was one creative project. That's when I remembered that I had your book at home and I was like, well, in January, let's start with the sketchnotes because I really wanna get better at them. And I've never got into them and never had finished any work. January was sketchnotes. I basically listened to podcasts about topics I was really interested in at that time. So that was personal finance. I was teaching myself a lot about finance and what to do and taxes and what not to do and also health topics. From a research perspective, how do I live a healthy life? Like what do I need to do? What should I eat? How much should I sleep? How do I reduce stress and everything? Mental health was really big at that time. I listened to all those podcasts and I basically turned them into sketchnotes to just memorize all the information that I heard on all the podcasts. I started posting them on Instagram. Basically, you set up a whole new account, said, "Hey, here's my 12th creative project." If you scroll down, you can still see the announcement. Then basically just posted all of the sketchnotes. It was really funny because one of the—oh, and what I wanted to say, one of my core values in life is lifelong learning. And I think the sketchnotes tie in really well with that because they help you so much with learning because you're visualizing the information and it helps you memorize it, it helps you retrieve it. That's why I picked it as a first project. Actually, I did one sketchnote about mental health and nutrition, what are important nutrients for the brain. It was a podcast with a nutritional psychiatrist called Drew Ramsey. He was from New York. I did a sketchnote. I tagged him, didn't expect anything of it, but he saw a sketchnote and he loved it. He was like, "Oh, this is so cool." At that time, I had maybe done, I would say 10 sketchnotes in total. MR: Oh wow. That's pretty good.KW: Yeah, I know. He was like, "I have this research about— In his research he identified 23 nutrients that are important for the brain. And he was like, "Do you wanna do a sketchnote on each of them?" I was like, "Okay. I'm not a freelancer, you know, I've just only started this, this is a hobby actually I have a February project coming up." I was a bit confused, but I said yes because I like to do things that terrify me. At that time, my process was still really, really basic. I was basically what you describe in your book, I don't know the two-way technique. I basically had a piece of paper, I drew everything on pencil, erased a whole lot and then rearranged it and I had the whole pencil thingy, then I retraced it with a pen, then I erased my pencil lines, then I scanned it, then I put it in Photoshop and made it look really neat. That's what I uploaded. That's also what I did for Drew Ramsey, so it was really tedious. It took a lot of time to do the 23 nutrients. MR: I bet. KW: Yeah. And I can tell you I never got around to doing the another 11 project of that year because Drew was really happy and then he came to me and he said, "You know what? I'm writing a new book. Do you wanna illustrate it?" I was like, "Oh my God." MR: That's great. Scary but great, right? KW: It was really scary. I think there was a lot of serendipity involved in that whole story because I basically had just started, it was just to figure out what I wanted to do with my creative life and with my career. And it was just one project of many projects. I had so much cool stuff coming up. I wanted to do product design and videos and editing, but I got stuck with the sketchnotes. And the book was really cool. The topic was "Eat to Beat Depression and Anxiety." So basically, the nutrients that are important for the brain and if you suffer from certain mental health conditions. Drew was super cool. He was writing the script at the same time and he always sent me the script and he basically said, "You have full creative freedom. You can decide what to make a sketchnote out of. Here's the script. You can decide how many sketchnotes you wanna make." I can remember I got—because he published a book with Harper Collins and they sent me this whole illustrative agreement. I was like, "Oh my God, I have no idea what I'm signing here and what they want from me and file types." I had no idea what they wanted. MR: Production stuff. KW: Yeah. I was so terrified. But I did it. For that project actually I knew that my whole pen and paper and pencil and scanning and Photoshopping wouldn't work, so I got the iPad for that. Basically, took all the money that I made from the 23 nutrient sketchnotes and put it in an iPad so I could do the book project. That was super fulfilling. And they never had any revision wishes or something like that. They basically like, "Oh, you want to do a sketchnote on the benefits of dark chocolate, do it. Just do it. And it was so cool. I would say, that took around half a year. Basically, my break had come to an end and I was really doing a lot of sketchnoting. Well, in retrospective, it wasn't so much sketchnoting work, but I also had a part-time job. For me, it filled a lot of my time and I didn't have time or the creative energy to do anything else at the time by the way. Fun fact, these old sketchnotes that I created with the pen and paper and Photoshopping and scanning and everything, they also landed in the book. Nobody told me. They totally didn't fulfill the technical requirements and stuff, but Drew was just like, "I want this in the book." MR: He's passionate about it. KW: Yeah. He was passionate and he didn't care that they had a totally different style and like the quality was really different to the iPad because of how the way I worked back then. It was so funny that he like just put them in the book as well. That was really funny. After the book project I started my master's degree, I was figuring out I wanted to go into marketing, and my degree was in corporate communications. It was really funny, we had a social media module. Basically, do a social media strategy. My professor, he had these companies that we could collaborate with or we could also bring our own project. For example, like one of my classmates, he brought I think his dad's tax office firm or something like that. Then during my degree, I got really interested in LinkedIn because first time in my life I actually knew or got to know what B2B and B2B marketing was. Then I found out, okay, there's this platform LinkedIn and everybody's on LinkedIn and I should maybe make an account too. At that time, I think personal branding, the whole term and the concept of it was really popular on LinkedIn. Right now, it's everywhere, but at that time it grew in popularity, I would say. Then I thought, maybe I can do my own personal branding strategy. Then I asked my professor and he was like, "Yeah, sure, do whatever you want. And I was like, cool— MR: That's so smart. KW: Cool, let's do it. And then, I think I got a book about digital personal branding. It was a German book. The author, she basically said, "Because you have to figure out your content strategy and what you're gonna write about and what mediums you're gonna use and what the purpose is and who your audience is." And she basically started like, "Lay out your superpower portfolio." So basically, write down all your skills, your knowledge, your unique experiences. Then I did the whole exercise and I put sketchnoting in there for my skills. Then she said, "Well, which ones do resonate the most? Circle them and then make your content strategy out of it." Then I knew, okay, sketchnotes were gonna play a big role in my personal branding thingy, kind of. And at that time, because I was in LinkedIn, I was really interested in how could I advance my career. I had basically just done a pivot from lUX design to marketing. Then there were so many content creators talking about how to negotiate your salary, what to put on your cv, how to strategically network on LinkedIn. I thought it was so cool. I never heard any of that before. Everything I learned from LinkedIn Lives and podcasts and other people's posts, I just put into sketchnotes because I wanted to memorize it. And that was really cool 'cause like I said, the whole career content really resonates with the whole LinkedIn audience because everybody's trying to advance in their careers and in their jobs. So yeah, that was really cool. I think basically, I had a few favorite creators and they had a huge following. So what I did, I watched a talk and then I created a sketchnote then I tagged them. Like I said earlier, LinkedIn works a bit like Facebook. So then they saw it, they commented and then their whole network came to my sketchnotes. That's how I created this, in my eyes, huge following. 10,000 followers is not huge, but for me it's like, oh my God i'ts crazy.MR: That's pretty good. It's pretty huge. KW: Yeah. I think so. That's how I grew on the sketchnotes. They really blew up. I would say like after the social media module we had to do a presentation with our analytics and I think I had half a million views on my content. Which to me was just mind blowing, you know. I had no idea how to explain. It was just like, you know, I did this. I posted this, this was my strategy and it just worked so well. It was incredible. Like I said, visuals work really well on LinkedIn. That definitely contributed to it even though I had a super small reach. But since all the big creators saw it and brought their audience, that didn't matter so much. Funny story, then it was summer and I was a bit exhausted from the module and I thought, woo, that was intense because all these people text you and write you, and like how do you do it and you wanna hop on a call? And I was really overwhelmed with all the attention that I then I went abroad. Funny story. And then I went abroad to study in Scotland for a semester and I had another digital marketing module and our professor was basically, "You just have to create a website and market it and you can create a website about whatever you want." And I'm like, "Well, I'm gonna pick my own website and market it." That's how my website came to be out of that university project. And with the marketing, I basically continue what I was doing anyway on LinkedIn. Then I posted a bit more on Instagram and I tried out on Pinterest as well, but I basically just continued for the module, what I was doing in the old module as well. I'm really grateful that my university professors both in Germany and in Scotland, they just let me do my own thing and work on my personal brand because it paid off crazy. I still can't believe the few sketchnotes that I posted, I got so much attention and my audience grew. I'm really thankful they just let me do my own thing and get university credits for it. That's cool. MR: You really got good value from your education in that sense because it was so directed and practical. KW: Yeah. MR: As I listen to your story, the two things I reflect on is you actually started this all with, you mentioned reading about Goethe and all these masters, and you made these little comic books that you then studied. You realized really early that there was something about the visualization, at least for your brain. At that point you probably didn't think about anybody else, right. You just wanted to pass your A levels, right? So, you were using this technique to visualize this information and you found that it worked for you and that you came back to it. And that turned out to be of the seed for everything that you're doing, which is cool. And then the second part is what you just said that your professors were open to you directing your own path of the things that you wanted to market. I would imagine from a professor's perspective, and when I was in school, I relate to this that there was a crew of a couple of people who were really interested in doing more than the more than the curriculum said. There were a lot of people that just did exactly what the curriculum said and they met it to the T. They did exactly what the teacher wanted, but it was kind of boring, right? Like it was the same as the sample. Like it didn't really extend further. So, I can imagine these professors more have the problem of students, like if they gave them any choice that they would not choose anything. They would just go to the ones that everybody else does. And so, they might have actually been excited to see that you took it in a direction that most students don't, which is, well I know me the best, let's market myself and take that as the case study. So that's cool that the opportunity was there and that you kept on leaning on it. And then I guess the third thing would be your sense with these sketchnotes that you did initially that turned into 23 sketchnotes and then a book that it reveals to me that if you're in the right place at the right time doing this work and you hit the right person, those opportunities can open up. Obviously, they did and then you were aware enough that you stepped into those even though they were probably pretty scary, right? Doing 23 sketchnotes manually and doing all this work. And then jumping right into doing a book illustration project was, I'm sure a real challenge and maybe freaked you out a little bit at the time, but now you're glad that you did it right. Think of how much that's impacted your career and your person as well. That's just a great story. It's really fun to listen to you to share it with us. KW: I would definitely say because what you—and there's a whole lot of serendipity involved. Like you said, I was at the right time in the right place. What I also didn't expect, you know, basically my goal with the whole like personal branding thing on LinkedIn, which people know me for now, they don't know me for the book illustration project or what I did back then, the little bit of work.But it's impacted my career in so many ways that don't directly translate to sketchnotes even. For example, I had recruiters reach out to me. I was a marketer on LinkedIn, but I must have thought that my sketchnoting skills translate to, "Well, she must be a good marketer. She gets all this engagement, she has to know what she's doing on social media." That was really astounding that basically they just saw the sketchnoting skill, but they assumed I was a good marketer because of what I was doing. Then also I remember I attended an online Google career event for women and I basically, they had lots of inspiring speakers and I basically just put my favorite quotes on a really nice-looking sketchnote. Then you could apply for this Google career upskilling program as a university person. I networked with all the people that I put on the sketchnote, like the quotes. I put the quotes in the sketchnote and then I also submitted this with my application and I got into the program. I think it was a really smart way of saying, "Hey, "I'm going the extra mile and I really want this." But that was really cool. And then also, one of my former employers, they had seen me on LinkedIn and I was doing paid media work for them, but they were like, "Do you wanna kickstart our LinkedIn strategy? "Do you wanna come up with that? I was still a student at that time, so that was kind of big, you know, like coming up with the strategy and presenting it to the founders and to CEO of the company. That was really cool. I think also, in the hiring processes as a marketer, it always gave me a big bonus because I'm a content marketer, and I wanna make sure I have a really diverse skillset set. Be it writing or basic video editing skills or basic graphic design skills. And then I also have sketchnoting skills in case they needed it at some point. And then I have, of course, the freelance work as a sketchnoter, but also like freelance work as a copywriter for LinkedIn. Because they see, hey, I know how the platform works and then people approach me if I can help them with the LinkedIn profiles and with their content. Because I'm a polymath, I'm a multi-passionate person. I have many interests in life. I really appreciate it. That not only sketchnoting work came from this, but so many other opportunities. That's so cool. For me, that's the best part about the whole story. MR: That's really great. And I think, you know, not to be missed if you're listening is Katrin was very aware of these opportunities. I remember there was a study years ago, they talked about happy people or something, or lucky people, I don't know if you've heard this story that they had a newspaper and the lucky people would notice that there was an ad in the second page that said, "If you see this ad, stop reading and go collect your money you've won or something.” But people that were unlucky who thought themselves unlucky would miss that and they were looking through this newspaper. So, apparently, that was the whole test. The study more deeply talked about, being lucky is much more of a mindset because these things happen to many people, but many people are not prepared or not aware or not willing to do what you did. You were aware, you were prepared, you know, to do something, but then you also took a risk, right? Doing those 23 things was probably scary. Some people might have turned that down and that whole line of books and everything that happened would go open a puff of smoke, right? KW: Yeah. MR: This idea that you're open to trying new things and you know, the possibility of failure is there, right? That could have gone badly, but you wouldn't know that until you went down that path. I think, if you're listening to this and thinking, "Oh she's so lucky." It's like, well she kind of made her own luck. She saw these opportunities and she took a risk that could have gone the other way and it just worked out that she did the hard work to deliver. I think that this is such a great origin story that's so inspiring. Maybe we don't need tips. Maybe you just need to listen to the origin story again instead of the tips. I don't know. KW: I have one fun mantra that ties in really well with this. I always say to myself, "I can be terrified and brave at the same time." Same with the podcast. I was super scared to come on and talk about this and it's my first podcast. But this doesn't keep me from doing stuff. Same with the book project. I don't understand the illustrative agreement and everything, but I'm gonna figure it out. You know, I'm terrified, but that doesn't mean it keeps me from doing the thing. And yeah, that's one of my life things that's really important to me. MR: I love that. That's a great one. Okay. We've got your origin story. Tell us about what's a project that you're working on now that you're really excited about? Either something that maybe just came out or maybe something that's in the works that will come out when this episode releases in March, sometime. KW: What I was really excited about was part two of the LinkedIn algorithm report thing by Richard van de Blom. It's actually quite funny. I've landed so many dream projects in my life basically by giving away a little bit of my work for free. Then the person seeing it and then them hiring me to do more of that. And that same thing happened with Richard. So basically, did the LinkedIn algorithm report in 2021 just for free. I found it and I thought, I thought, "Oh, this is a great piece of content, maybe a bit too long for LinkedIn, let's put it in a sketchnote. I think this could be really beneficial." And Richard basically said, how it blew up. And he was like, "Wow, that's crazy. Can you do more of that for me?" And I love working with him. Because I always say it's more important who you work with than what you than what you work on 'cause he basically gives me full creative freedom. He's not somebody to do many revisions. He's basically, "Just do whatever you want. I trust you, you're the expert." Apart from that, actually, that answer might surprise you, but I've taken a step back from freelancing in particular 'cause I was doing so much freelance work and not much work just close to my heart, you know, just for myself as a hobby. Freelancing burned me out a little bit, particularly being stuck in revision hell, revisions going back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.I'm taking a step back and really asking myself the question, is this something I wanna make a lot of money with or is it more a hobby? And if a dream project comes along my way, then I'm gonna do it, but otherwise, I'm gonna say no. I don't have an answer to that question yet. I think like some days I lean more towards that and other days I lean more towards the hobby side of it. I always listen to the other guests on your podcast 'cause they have made a career out of it and they are illustrators and everything. But me, as a multi-passionate person, I don't want to be like a full-time illustrator or a full-time sketchnote artist. What I do as a content marketer, I can do so many different disciplines, and sketchnoting is one of them.So yeah, freelancing has taken the joy away from it a little bit. So, I'm taking a break right now to find my passion again and the things I'm really passionate about and then maybe get into freelancing again. If one of my favorite podcasts said, "Hey, can you be like our sketchnoter for every episode? Like Andrew Huberman, I love his podcast, neuroscience. He talks about neuroscience. Then I will be, "Of course, I would draw each of your episodes." But with other projects, I have to be really excited either about the person that I work with or about the work they do. Otherwise, it's a clear no. It needs to be a hell yes for the work that I do.MR: Which is Derek Sivers, of course. "Hell Yeah or No," Is his famous book. It seems like what you're talking about is opportunity cost, right? If I'm doing freelance work, what if this amazing podcast comes in and I'm loaded? I can't do it. The opportunity might be lost there. So you have to be careful. I think in some ways, probably the advantage you have in working part-time is that you have to make a choice. If you're doing something like this full-time, then you would have more margin to do more and maybe you wouldn't feel it. But being part-time helps you get clarity around what you want to do.Then probably the other thing I would say is you probably would identify that as a multi-talented content marketer that sometimes sketchnotes aren't the right medium for something. Sometimes video is a better medium or writing is a better medium, right? It's like an expert mechanic. They don't use the wrench for everything because it's not designed for that. You use the tool that's designed for that task. In the same way, Sketchnoting can be overused, I think, and if you see too much of it, then it becomes like back background noise or something. So, deploying it in the right opportunities probably is important there. So—KW: I actually.MR: Go ahead.KW: I actually wanted to ask you, Mike, how you decide which freelance projects to take on and how you prevent creative burnout. 'Cause I definitely struggled with it, so I wanted to hear your opinion on this.MR: Well, I've struggled with it as well. I do a full-time job as a user experience designer. I love doing it. I work in software. For some people they would look at what I do and think, "That's like the most boring thing ever." But I love it. Like helping work on corporate software and solving—making somebody's life. I don't know who these somebodies are. Somebody's life is going to get better because I've spent the time to think about what's the right way to work through this workflow so that it's smoother, that it's cleaner, that if I do it in one area, it applies to another area. All these things that I think about. That's my full-time work.What that means is that all the sketchnoting stuff that I do, if I travel and I teach at a school, or if I go to the international sketchnote camp or whatever I do, like I've got a limited time to choose from. So, I have to be very choosy and picky. I think I followed a similar pattern to you. It's either really yes or no. I tend to be someone who loves to help people. So, I'll tend to say yes, a little bit too much. I've been getting better at saying no. One of my solutions has been to build a network of people who do work that I admire so that when I get the project that comes in, it's like, "Eh, I could do that, but I'm not in love with it." I could think, "John is really good at that. I'm gonna make a connection to John or Mary." Just as an example.For me, I need this outlet of somebody else who I can trust that will handle it, that is a good fit. Like they would fit together and then I just redirect that inquiry to that person. Then try to focus on the things I'm excited about it or I think it will have an impact. That's hard. I don't think I've solved the problem completely because I certainly, occasionally will get projects that aren't exactly what I want to do. But for the most part, I think your comment about finding the right customers is really important. The people you work with are much more important than the projects in a lot of ways. Because if you're given creative freedom like you've said—I think the other thing, the other thing I would say is finding clients that are collaborative.It sounds like many of the clients you've mentioned were very collaborative and working, working with you. They were open to your expertise and would listen to you. Being able to modify what they were thinking if they come to you with an idea and then you come back with them with an alternate idea. You just twisted a little bit and say, "Did you ever think about maybe doing this or that?" And then they're open to it. That's a really important aspect for a customer that I look for.You can tell pretty quickly when you start working on something with someone, whether that's there or that's not there. And then you would have a tendency—I have a few people that I work with. If they call and say they need something, I'm an immediate yes. I don't even have to think about it because I like that person so much. It sounds like you have similar people. Those are the few things that I do.The last thing I'll say is having kids for me is helpful because I can't work all the time. I need to spend time with my kids. I like cooking with my kids. I like spending time with my wife. I have a whole other life beyond all this stuff that keeps me grounded. And just reminding myself that I can't do it all and it's okay. There's many other people and it's a huge opportunity. Everybody's got plenty of work to do and if I give it away to somebody else, it's not like the work will stop coming. It just keeps coming. I don't know if that's helpful.KW: Absolutely. I'm totally on your side and I share your view here. I was wondering, Mike, was there ever a time when you considered sketchnoting your full-time career? Because you're kind of like the inventor of sketchnote. I'm surprised actually to hear that you have this whole full-time job apart from that.MR: I've considered it in the past. It just felt like with a family and all the responsibilities that the variability would be a challenge. I think maybe sometime in the future that would make sense. But I think honestly, having it as a side gig has been good. I've hinted to in the feedback I've given, which is because it can only be a side gig because I'm such a helper and wanting to help people, it forces me to choose. Like if I had it full-time, I might like really overload myself. Having this finite constraint is actually a good thing for me. I found that with sketchnotes too.I stumbled on the sketch notes 'cause I constrained myself to a little book and a pen. That helped me to move into the space where visualization made sense 'cause I couldn't write everything down, I couldn't draw everything. I had to do it in the moment. That whole history was tied to constraints. I found any time where I put some limitations on myself is when I'm most creative. I think that's maybe true for other creative people too. Having that limitation on what's available forces me to make a decision. Like, am I really gonna spend the next three months working on this thing or is it better spent on something else?Sometimes I choose and it's like, "Oh, I wish I hadn't done this." Or it's taking longer than I wanted. I'm still happy with the output. Again, the opportunity cost means, 'cause I'm working on that, I can't take something else that comes in so I have to be more careful. I think, in some ways it's better to have it as a side thing because I can really be selective.KW: I absolutely love it as a side thing. Like I said, especially as being a multi-passionate person, it helps me so much. And then also realizing my time is really valuable. 'Cause otherwise I would've maybe the whole week and I would have a few hours every week. Then communicating this to clients and also saying, "Hey, don't expect revisions in the next five days 'cause I'm really busy with other things. It helps me prioritize and also keeps my life super interesting 'cause I have this other thing next to my regular job, like my employment. I love it. I wouldn't have it any other way. So, I can totally get what you're saying.MR: Like I said, maybe in the future the opportunity comes where it becomes a full-time thing. The other thing that I didn't mention is when I started all this stuff, there really wasn't a sketchnoting anything. There are people doing it. Eva-Lotta was doing it around the same time. We started to build this community. A Lot of the work has been building a community of people that do it so that I have students to teach now. Now I'm doing more teaching and that's working well because there's actually people that are interested enough that they would spend money to get real deep teaching.Then also companies being aware. I think you're starting to see this. Companies are becoming aware that visuals in the right context can be incredibly powerful. There's actually enough of a supportive market that you could be full-time. Actually, many of the people on the podcast like Ben Felis and a bunch of other people are full-time because of both of those things. There's a community that's willing to hire them to learn and then there's professionals that are willing to pay for them to do the work. I think a little bit of it is timing and waiting for the market to be there. That sounds like something maybe in the future would make sense to move in that direction. But I haven't decided that yet.KW: It's so fun what you said about teaching 'cause I'm not at all into teaching sketchnoting to other people. So many people have asked me like, "Wow do you do it and what you use and how did you get started?" I always just point them to your book. I'm like, "Sketchnote Handbook" by Mike is the only thing you ever need to read and practice to learn sketchnoting." Then I'm always so happy when I see you have another live workshop coming up and I'm like, "Yeah, go to Mike. He'll teach you. 'Cause I learned from him and he does such a great job. Every time I hear somebody who wants to learn sketchnoting, I point them in your direction.MR: Well, now if you're a German speaker and you're listening, there's another opportunity with Eva-Lotta's got a course that she's offering on Udemy, which think it's around 20 euros, something like that. $20. Anything that Eva-Lotta does is excellent. I'm one of her biggest fans. She's really great and she's very skilled. That's in German language. If there's Germans listening could be a really good fit if that's more natural for you to check that out. Look that up. She also does more intensive teaching on sketching. She's a great teacher as well.KW: I can only second that. I love her work.MR: She's really great. We've talked about your whole origin story, what you're working on. Now let's shift into tools. I'm really curious, you sort of hinted at this. You originally were doing this pencil sketches and inking and erasing and Photoshop, and that's the way I did it too 'cause that's all there was. You had to do that. Now we have really great mobile phone cameras. There's even tools on mobile phones to do modifications. We have platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram where we can share these things. Tell us about what are your tools that you use now? Let's start if you still use any analog tools. What are those tools and then digital after that?KW: With the analog tools, I thought about it a long time. Actually, over the years I became a minimalist and decluttered my whole home and everything. I have to say sketchnoting and illustration doesn't go well with that because you have to buy a pen in every new color that's out there. It just never stops with stationary and pens and notebooks and everything. They didn't make the cut after I switched to the iPad, but if I do some work, I always use the Staedtler Pigment Liners. I think they're a favorite in the community.MR: Excellent. Yeah.KW: And then basically, what I had at home, I used the Stabilo pens back then. I had Copic markers, but you need a certain kind of paper for them 'cause they're alcohol based, otherwise, they bleed through everything. Copic Markers. I had a few Tombow brush pens that I used, but it was really basic. I basically had like maybe 20 pens and pencils that I used the whole time. And then I made the switch to completely digital work 'cause I was always like, "Where do I store all of my work? It's not only stationary and pens and pens, where do I keep it?"Then there's the elements, there's heat and light and everything that works against your work. You know you have of preserve it. And I was getting really stressed out about that. Now, I'm more chill that I know it's all in a digital space. Now my digital space is really cluttered, but I'm working on that as well. But yeah, since then I've basically switched to the iPad and Procreate, the standard stuff and it's really cool. What I want to get, I haven't tried it 'cause I don't actually know anybody who's doing like iPad kind of work. But I never got one of the Paperlike skills 'cause I never wanted to put them on my iPad permanently. But now I know there's a company they do a magnetic thingMR: I've seen this, yeah as well on Instagram. I think I've seen this.KW: You can basically just put it on and then—'cause I watch a lot of TV series and stuff on my iPad then I don't want the paper-like thing on it. Then I can just put it off and then when I draw, I can put it back on. And what was really game-changing for me 'cause I hated doing sketch notes in the summer 'cause my hand always stuck to the iPad. Then I discovered the drawing gloves, they just go around your fingers down here. They've been a game changer. They are so cool. It's an analog tool that I use for digital work.MR: Interesting. Interesting. We have a few friends, Rob Dimeo, who was a huge fan. Michael Clayton, another friend used those gloves. I think I have one in my bag somewhere. I haven't used it for years. I think those were, at least for the iPad, more because I think the old iPad software was not great about determining if your finger was touching or if it was a pencil early on so you would end up getting stray marks in some apps. And so, this is a way to stop that. But it's got the second benefit is keeping your hand from sticking to the screen. Have you been using this magnetic screen cover and how does it work for you?KW: No, I don't have it yet. It's on my list. I thought it was really cool 'cause like I said, I never wanted to put a permanent screen protector on it. I'm getting it this month, hopefully.MR: Okay. I would say Paperlike was a past sponsor of the show, but regardless of that, I like them because I think the way they structure it is the little bumps that they're creating to create that paper-like surface, they're scientifically placing them. I've been actually pretty surprised when I use my iPad that it doesn't seem to impact when the screen is playing, like for tv. You might be surprised how clear it actually is. It'd be really interesting for you to try both then magnetic and the Paperlike and compare them and see. My concern about the magnetic one would be if it's kind of floppy and there's air between there, how does that react? Maybe that's not an issue, but that would be what I would wonder about. Maybe you could share that in a sketch note for us or a video or something.KW: Yeah. I'll do that once I've tried it out, but it's also really cool. I've never had the chance to talk about Paperlike to anyone. It's really cool that you didn't have the impression it ruined the other things you do in the iPad. I was always afraid of that and that's why I didn't wanna buy it. But I might give it a go.MR: All right. Maybe I'll reach out to my friends at Paperlike, and say, "Here's a person who needs a sample."KW: Oh yeah, I would appreciate that.MR: They like doing that stuff. They're really great people at Paperlike. It's a German-based company as well, so.KW: Ah, I didn't know thatMR: They're in Hamburg, so, you know, they could just run a little truck down and drop it off at your place.KW: Really cool. Cool. I'll write the review then.MR: Okay. There you go. Well, we'll work on that offline. Okay. Well, simple tools. I like simple tools. I like buying my tool at the corner drug store. Keeps things real. Analog. So, it makes it easy to replace things when you're in another country as well. You can probably find a gel pen someplace. So, let's shift now. This part is where we talk about tips. And we'd like to frame it as someone's listening, as a visual thinker, whatever that means to them. Maybe they feel like they've sort of reached a plateau where they're a little bit burned out or they need a little inspiration from you. What would be three things you would tell that person to kind of inspire them and get them moving forward again?KW: I would say the first thing is pick a project you're really excited about. I always also say for me, I do a lot of visualization of podcasts, live talks, reports, anything like that, and I need to be excited about the source material 'cause I find especially with freelancing where you don't always can influence what the topic is about or whatever, that really helps. I don't do any work anymore where I'm like, "Oh, this is really uninteresting and I don't wanna be drawing this." And then also, if you're not working of source material, maybe like do the travel sketchnotes. Like Eva-Lotta Lamm did. Pick something, pick a personal project.I would say this was a huge learning curve for me, that I only enjoy sketchnoting when the topic is right. And what I draw about really aligns with my interests and with my passions. And then the next one, it sounds so cliche, Mike, but I think it's so important don't compare yourself to others. Full stop. I know there's like a comparison is to thief of joy or something. But I think it's really true. I have a really basic and minimalist style and when I look at your work or at Nadine Rossa's work, I think she was on your podcast. I always get, I'm like, oh my God, I have such a long way to go and it's my work even good enough.But the validation I got from the outside well tells me it is good enough. There are people who appreciate your minimalist style that's not super visually complex and doesn't have all the really sophisticated doodles and everything. I've come to accept that, I think. And also, I try to stay in my line. I don't look at the work of others so much. if I do that, I set a certain timeframe where I look at your work and then I get some inspiration, but then I leave it at that. I know it's harsh, but maybe that even means unfollowing a few people on social media and only looking at the profiles like, I don't know, once a month or something.I think all you learn basically to not compare yourself to others, but I think it takes some time to learn that. And then also, also sounds a bit cliche, but don't overcomplicate things. Don't overcomplicate sketchnoting. I think that's also in your book. A sketch note doesn't have to be visually complex. And for me, for example, that means if I don't wanna drop people, I don't draw people 'cause I don't. Maybe I don't like the style of it or maybe I haven't put enough practice into it. Well, then I don't draw people.I don't have to do everything that the sketchnote community says that I need to do and how a sketchnote is supposed to look like, you know? "Cause I have quite a minimalist style and I like it that way and maybe at some point it gets more sophisticated or maybe it doesn't, I don't know. I would say those are my three things. Oh, and can I do a fourth one?MR: Yes, you can.KW: Don't overvalue talent. People on LinkedIn, they always tell me you're so talented. And it gets me really angry 'cause sketchnoting is basically you put in the work and the practice and then you get better. It's like running or playing an instrument. It has nothing to do with talent. If you look at my early drawings and when I started practicing with your book, it didn't look great. Don't overvalue talent. There's no talent. Everybody can learn sketchnoting. I would print this on a t-shirt. There you go.MR: I love it. Four is great. And we love it when people give us extra ones, so that's pretty cool.KW: Four is my lucky number.MR: There we go. I think in Asia, isn't four a lucky number? I'm not sure.KW: I don't know. I was born on the fourth, so yeah, that's why—MR: I think actually in Japan, four is unlucky if I remember right. I know this because I was an old PalmPilot guy back in the day. Palm did not release a Palm IV because it was popular in Japan and four, I think it's related to death or something like that. So that's why they jumped from the III to the V.KW: Oh, no. No, with us It's a lucky number.MR: It's a lucky number. I think so. We make our own luck, right?KW: Yeah.MR: So Katrin, what is the best way for us to reach out to you? Obviously, LinkedIn would be good.KW: LinkedIn is great. It's basically Katrin Wietek on LinkedIn. I have this website that I created in university, but I don't maintain it so much. But that's Katrin-kristin.com, I think. Also, that's the same Instagram handle, @katrin.kristin, I think. I don't post so often, but maybe that might change in the future. That's basically the three channels where you can find me online.MR: Primarily, it sounds like LinkedIn is the best place. Obviously, you're pretty active there. So that's, if you wanna see your work and connect there, that would be the place to go. So that's really great.KW: Exactly.MR: Well, this has been really wonderful. Time has flown by. It's been such a fun discussion with you and thank you so much for the work you do and your attitude and how you share your work, and really an ambassador for Sketchnoting in the LinkedIn world probably more than anyone that I can think of. I really appreciate that. And it's so good to see someone representing and having such a positive attitude for the community. I think you're just a great ambassador for us.KW: Well, thank you for inventing sketchnotes, Mike, and thank you for writing that book, because otherwise I wouldn't be here and I definitely wouldn't be at that point in my career. I'm pretty sure about that. And it was an honor to be on your podcast. Thank you so much for the invitation. I'm super proud of where I got along the way. And I'm gonna share the podcast with all the people I know and also posted on LinkedIn, so maybe a few people can see it.MR: Well, for your first podcast in English, you did an excellent job. You're a really great conversationalist.KW: Thank you.MR: Be very proud of that. You did a great job. And maybe I'll send this to people as a guide, if they're on the show, to listen to you.KW: This means a lot. Thank you so much.MR: Well, for everyone who's listening or watching, this is another episode of the "Sketchnote Army Podcast." Until next episode, we will talk to you soon.

The Athletic's Adam Hurrey, Charlie Eccleshare and David Walker field February's listener entries for Mesut Haaland Dicks, where the Clichés faithful nominate their niche footballing fascinations and irritations. Among the selections are watching football through a pub window, the five specific scenarios that allow you to chant "SIGN HIM UP!", players being photoshopped into the kit of the team trying to sign them and substitutes who creep onto the pitch while they're warming up. Meanwhile, the Adjudication Panel look ahead to Graeme Le Saux's stand-up comedy debut, enjoy the sons of two Barclays-era names going head to head in the National League and assess an AI-generated vision of the footballing loves and hates of Richard Keys. *** • Get a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase at athleticgreens.com/EPL • Take advantage of MANSCAPED®'s best valued bundle and save 20% Off and Free Shipping with the code EPL23 at Manscaped.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hour 1: The Jets have hired a Nathaniel Hackett as their OC, but does this make it a lock that Aaron Rodgers is coming to the Jets? Craig is tired of people photo-shopping Aaron Rodgers in a Jets jersey.  And the guys debate if Brock Purdy should be ahead of Jalen Hurts in the list of the best QB's remaining in the playoffs.

Expectant mothers want to feel pampered and beautiful, without worrying about societal expectations that are impossible to live up to. That's why today's guest Lela Ruth focuses on bringing out the natural beauty of expectant mothers in their maternity shoots.In today's episode, Lela Richardson of Lela Ruth Photography talks about how she has cultivated a client experience that helps her mamas-to-be to feel comfortable, confident, and beautiful. She also shares how she developed her business model, how she works with fabrics to level up her photo shoots, and a sneak peak of the session she's teaching at the upcoming Milky Way Retreat.What's in this episode:[03:47] How Lela has created a client experience that promotes comfortability and confidence (and leads to stunning portraits), and how she approaches conversations about Photoshopping with her clients[11:14] Why Lela made the decision to be all IPS in her business model, her biggest product sellers, and her advice on finding a quality lab to work with[18:05] How Lela evolved her business into a high-end studio experience, and why success isn't linear[26:30] How Lela gets her inspiration from fabrics and how they can transform a photo[33:37] Lela's current projects, which include a maternity workshop and a new academy she recently launched for fellow photographers[36:51] A sneak peak of Lela's session at the upcoming Milky Way RetreatTune in to this episode with Lela Ruth to learn about high-end studio portrait photography and how to create an experience that leaves your clients feeling comfortable and confident!For full show notes, resources, links and to download the transcript, visit our website: https://themilkyway.ca/motherhood-magical-mamas-the-art-of-maternity-photography-with-lela-ruth/Reserve your spot for the 2023 Online Newborn Retreat: https://themilkyway.ca/2023-newborn-retreat/

Stars—are they really just like us? Joining Remy and Emily today is special guest Peter Grossman, a former employee of Us Weekly and Rolling Stone and an aficionado of the “Stars—They're Just Like Us!” column. Peter unpacks that infamous section of the magazine: he shares the original intention, how it came about, and his role in it as a photo editor. The short answer? No, they're not like you, but for that one moment while they're photographed at the supermarket, they're kind of close. Peter tells Remy and Emily about the background of Us Weekly (unsurprisingly, it was run by lots of smart women), and they get into the Photoshopping and editing that happens in magazines, how the skinnier celeb always won the “Who Wore It Best?” section, and how now that everyone can control their own image, do paparazzi need to exist? Check out our latest promo codes here: https://betches.com/promos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hour 3: Mike and Bulldog give their thoughts on teams photoshopping new players into their new jerseys.  

Kinda Cute is a podcast about The Cut by New York Magazine and niche pop culture/internet culture.  On this week's ep: *The mystery of Michael Thomas White..should we have him on Kinda Cute? *The media for Don't Worry Darling with Olivia Wilde, Harry Styles, and Florence Pugh is really heating up *The Ironic Boat and Tote is really having  a moment *Aubrey O'Day's Photoshopping is sending me and I'm obsessed *Articles we discussed: https://www.thecut.com/2022/08/l-l-bean-bag-boat-and-tote.html   https://www.thecut.com/2022/08/aubrey-odays-amazing-response-to-photoshopping-accusations.html   https://www.vice.com/en/article/7k8bmb/michael-thomas-white-mtw-tiktok-interview   https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a40772062/florence-pugh-dont-worry-darling-interview/   https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/harry-styles-harrys-house-dont-worry-darling-my-policeman-cover-1397290/   Legit: Ouai Treatment Hair Mask for Fine and Medium Hair: https://bit.ly/3wnRvF5   I have an affiliate code Use code BAILEYFORE at checkout for 10% for a Neon Cowboys Code  YewYew Code: Cute pipes at yewyewshop.com/baileyevin Use code BAILEYEVIN for %15 off for a Yew Yew code Logo by @dame.studio Music by Jordan Cooper: http://www.jordancoopermusic.com/  Please rate, review and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts! or at https://ratethispodcast.com/kindacute Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@baileyevin YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3AdncAo8wXIAR-WZq6Vbnw?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/baileyevin/ https://www.instagram.com/kindacutepodcast https://www.instagram.com/gurgipom xx, bailey evin The information discussed on this podcast does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice.

Elvis Recap Inside Bennifer's 'old Hollywood-themed' wedding at $8.9m estate (Daily Mail), Sarah Hyland Marries Wells Adams During Intimate Wedding Ceremony (E! News) Scott Disick's Lamborghini SUV flips over in terrifying single-car crash (Page Six) 'Love Is Blind' star Danielle Ruhl files for divorce from Nick Thompson (Page Six) Olivia Jade Giannulli and Jacob Elordi break up: report (Page Six) Aubrey O'Day accused of Photoshopping herself into influencers' Bali pics (Page Six) Unburden Yourselves (unburdenyourselves@gmail.com) The Morning Toast with Jackie (@JackieOshry) and Claudia Oshry (@girlwithnojob) NLOG Tickets Merch The Morning Toast Patreon Girl With No Job by Claudia Oshry (Book)

Zoey Deutch has been busy carving her own path in this industry for years now, and it's something special. Not only has she racked up credits that highlight her greatest strengths while also showing off her range in front of the lens, but she's also put a considerable about of time into building her behind-the-scenes resume as well. In fact, her third film serving as a producer is now available to stream on Hulu. It's Not Okay.Deutch also stars in the film as Danni Sanders. When the movie begins, Danni's having a rough go of it in a number of respects. She's an aspiring writer who isn't really excelling at the craft, she's got no social life, and she's struggling to build a social media presence. Desperate to make some improvements online, Danni decides to pretend she's been sent on a trip to Paris, Photoshopping photos from her Brooklyn apartment to gain Instagram followers. Perhaps it can be considered a somewhat harmless lie until Paris suffers an attack and Danni is labeled a hero when she “returns." Rather than fess up and admit the truth, Danni gets caught up in finally having an audience, and continues to present herself as an influencer, advocate, and survivor.It's a bold film that demands everyone involved, but especially Deutch, go full force in depicting this despicable spiral of lies. How exactly does one build the skillset, courage, and know-how to jump into such a project as a producer and a headliner? That's exactly what we covered with Deutch on a brand new episode of Collider Ladies Night.Check out this conversation to hear all about Deutch's experience overcoming Vampire Academy's disappointing reception, the very different but equally memorable experiences she had working with Mark Rylance on The Outfit and Jesse Eisenberg on Zombieland: Double Tap, what her primary goals are as a producer, and so much more! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Here is what's trending - Chris Evan's explains why he looks photoshopped in the Disney pictures, Squid Game is coming back to Netflix for season 2, and a local celeb making EGOT status over the weekend!

Hey!! I hope u are THRIVING!!! Today you spend a lot of my day with me! :) THE LINK TO DONATE: https://gofund.me/60b9e965 Topics we cover: Surfboards Skin tones Embracing natural beauty OBX is on set at the beach we are at Photoshopping my body Grocery shopping with me

Deepa tries Damnit Maurie's famous mac and cheese. Would you put a urinal in your home? 14% of guys say they want a urinal in their house and 91% of women DO NOT one. Mocha says he's done with ‘Wordle'. Amanda Bynes is back with another banger! Kim Kardashian accused of photoshopping out her belly button. Helen Mirren on cover of ‘People's' beautiful issue. Andrew Garfield is taking a break from acting. 

Thx to our sponsor, Better Help! Check it out today and get 10% off therapy! https://betterhelp.com/aitapod (6:36) Guess The Verdict (19:13) AITA for removing my Maid of Honor's tattoos via photoshop in my wedding pictures? (34:52) AITA for telling my husband his name suggestion for our unborn baby is idiotic AT BEST? (48:00) AITA for not wanting to go to my husband's family's place for Easter? >>> Join the newsletter: https://aitapod.substack.com >>> SUBMIT & Free Stickers: https://aitapod.com >>> Twitch: https://twitch.tv/aitapod (this ep was broadcast live; get notifications if you want to catch, usually around 2:30, or 4PM PST Thursdays) >>> Please join us on Patreon! TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@aitapod Twitter - https://twitter.com/aitapod SaraBot - https://twitter.com/SaraBot420 (SaraBot scans AITA for juicy posts and tells us what she likes) --------------------------- Sara and Danny Socials: Sara (Twitter) - https://twitter.com/saralememe Sara (insta) - https://www.instagram.com/saralememe/ Danny (Twitter) - https://twitter.com/holyduck Danny (insta) - https://www.instagram.com/dannyvegagram/ My fave picture of a horse: http://bit.ly/dannysfavehorse --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/aitapod/message

Is Kim Kardashian Photoshopping Pete Davidson? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/the-bert-show.

Bill Maher (and Jimmy Kimmel) suggested Gilbert Gottfried was always "on" - well I met Gilbert several times and that was not at all my experience. I would describe him as meek.Amy Schumer says she got death threats over an Oscars joke. Secret Service and everything. Wait, Secret Service?The Kids In The Hall are filming an 8 episode season for AmazonThe trailer for David Spade's new special is outCongrats to Marc Maron for making the Library of Congress!Is Kim Kardashian photoshopping Pete Davidson?Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/dcnpod - join us to to discuss comedy and your favorite comedians.Instagram is @dailycomedynewsReddit https://www.reddit.com/r/dailycomedynews/Twitter is @dcnpod because the person with what I want tweeted onceSupport the show by Buying Me A Coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/dailycomedynewsGoodpods: https://goodpods.app.link/2OUMliguTkb and I am @johnnymacEmail: john at thesharkdeck dot comDaily Comedy News is a production of The Shark Deck, the leading company in short form daily podcasts.www.linktr.ee/dailycomedynewsListen Ad-Free and get the episodes early with a premium subscription for $4.99/month on Apple Podcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/daily-comedy-news-podcast-a-podcast-about-comedians/id1474309028

The Kardashians star Kim Kardashian appears to have altered BF Pete Davidson's nose and jaw, Oscars 2022 cohost Amy Schumer on Will Smith's slap aftermath and Kaley Cuoco weighs in on Kravis' make out sessions. Plus, Bridgerton star Golda Rosheuvel details her transformation and talks Queen spinoff coming, Meghan Fox dodges Machine Gun Kelly PDA while on the red carpet and learn how to make Coachella-themed cocktails!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Spencer Bauer talks with Rob Griffith and Brett Downs. Click for Straight Heat Stickers! Topics discussed: Problems with kayaks; Trash on the river; Too deep in the kayak scene; Photoshopping your buddies; Seeing the big one on the hoof; 5 pt or a 5X5; A big 6 is cool; Comrodary of hunting; Live Scope vs black powder; Deer names; Buying racks; Proud of my crappy bass mount; Being a master angler; My band story; Cancelled checks from the government; One week of bass fishing; What makes one fish cooler than another; Stumbling onto an epic bite; Getting buzzed by a slug; Cleaning a smallmouth; Prosecution vs questioning; Tubers should have to register their "vessel"; And much more! Connect with Spencer, Ryan, and River Certified River Certified on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook River Certified Merch Email us spencer@rivercertified.com taslerryan@hotmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On a new TAGSPODCAST, Host Steve V. is joined by Co-hosts Kodi Maurice Doggette and Jeremy Ross Lopez with all new hot topics. The hosts share their weekend stories, toxic masculinity, hooking up with a store clerk? Reading the room on - he's not into you or he's straight. Unusually long schlong or photoshopped? What's the best way to seduce you? What's the best position to bottom for the first time? Do you live in a gayborhood or want too? Pros and Cons! Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/talk-about-gay-sex-tagspodcast/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

How American news media outlets have become propaganda machines for the evil and destructive pathology of Secular Fundamentalism. Photoshopping and airbrushing images of a man swimmer competing in women's swim events to make him look like an attractive girl. Surely, in this modern day and enlightened age no man cares about his lady's “history”. Yet, magazines advise women to lie about their ‘history'. Why? Women working for male boss causing marital stress? In this modern day and enlightened age? Surely not. Join our community of Happy Warriors. https://www.wehappywarriors.com/ We all strengthen each other in our determination to conquer resistance as we advance our 5Fs. Visit our website www.RabbiDanielLapin.com because we Happy Warriors always want the truth even when painful because life is not about being massaged with warm butter all the time.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How American news media outlets have become propaganda machines for the evil and destructive pathology of Secular Fundamentalism. Photoshopping and airbrushing images of a man swimmer competing in women's swim events to make him look like an attractive girl.  Surely, in this modern day and enlightened age no man cares about his lady's “history”.  Yet, magazines advise women to lie about their ‘history'.  Why?  Women working for male boss causing marital stress?  In this modern day and enlightened age?  Surely not.  Join our community of Happy Warriors. https://www.wehappywarriors.com/  We all strengthen each other in our determination to conquer resistance as we advance our 5Fs.  Visit our website www.RabbiDanielLapin.com because we Happy Warriors always want the truth even when painful because life is not about being massaged with warm butter all the time.

Successful products in the tech space are quite often created by large teams from big players in the market. Every once in a while we see some of those outliers who prove it's totally possible to compete with tech giants with small teams and little to no resources. In today's episode of Establishing Your Empire we're joined by Ivan Kutskir who is the creator of Photopea which is a browser-based image manipulation app that brings features available on programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator to every device for free. Throughout the episode, we dive deep into Ivan's app, his journey of building it, and some lessons he learned.Ivan was born in Ukraine and graduated from Charles University in Prague. Ivan had a background in programming from a very early age, and his idea for Photopea has a long history as well. We start the discussion with what inspired him to start developing this application and the problems Ivan wanted to solve with it. Once Photopea gained enough traction, Ivan decided that he wouldn't be looking for corporate jobs and would continue developing Photopea. We dive into the considerations that went into that decision and the growth that came after.Every app needs a fair bit of marketing to attract users. We dive deep into how Ivan utilized different social media platforms to spread the word about his app. Since Reddit was one of the platforms he utilized the most, Ivan shares some advice for app makers to take advantage of Reddit to market their apps. As Photopea grew over the years, it has gained a fair bit of interest among investors as well. Ivan shares his thoughts on the investment offers he has received and why he prefers to keep the business under his control. Wrapping up the episode, we talk about what Ivan has in mind for the future of Photopea.[00:34] Introducing Photopea – We start the conversation with a brief look at Ivan's app, Photopea, the idea behind it, and the story of developing and growing it.[08:14] Building a Career – How the gradual and steady growth of Photopea led Ivan to create a full-time career out of it.[12:50] Technology – We dive deep into how Ivan has maximized the performance while reducing operating costs by taking advantage of the client-side web technologies.[15:00] Marketing Strategy – How Ivan utilized social media to make his app popular and some of the learnings from the process.[18:35] Tech Support – We dive into some of the strategies Ivan uses to provide Photopea users with tech support and documentation with minimal resources and effort from the developer.[25:00] Investors – Ivan shares his thoughts on the interest among investors and venture capital firms about his app.[29:14] Advice for Youngsters – Ivan shares his advice for you people who want to get into the technology space and start projects that grow big.[33:00] Growth & Future Plans – Ivan talks about the gradual growth of Photopea and the future plans Ivan has for the app.[37:05] Protecting the App – Ivan shares with us some of the measures he takes to ensure his proprietary code is safe from counterfeiting. [40:02] Continuous Updates – Why Ivan keeps adding new features and how user feedback is integrated into the process of introducing new features.Resources:Connect with Ivan: twitter.com/ivankutskirPhotopea: www.photopea.com

(1:02) Introductions (2:55) Jules toxic relationship story (4:55) Pierre's toxic relationship story (11:53) Photoshopping photos (15:35) Passed out Pierre (16:30) Holiday parties with our family (25:49) Shoutouts (31:00) Pierre's final thoughts (33:00) Elf on a shelf fact The podcast is for entertainment purposes, it's all in fun. Follow the Podcast: Instagram: WhatCanGoWrongPodcast TikTok: WhatCanGoWrongPodcast Snapchat: wcgwcast Twitter: @wcgwcast Follow the Co-Host: Instagram: Lodo_Watcher TikTok: Lodo_Watcher

This week, Father Cooper addresses a recent Tik Tok that went viral after exposing her for photoshopping. Opening up a larger conversation Alex discusses the role insecurities and bullying from her childhood play in her current relationship to social media. Why is there such a pressure to edit photos? Does it really matter if everyone does it? Is she only saying this because she was caught? Will she continue to edit photos? Following this discussion, Father Cooper speaks with Dr. Jean Twenge who holds a PHD in psychology and is a personality and social psychologist. Dr. Twenge has authored multiple books, has over 140 scientific publications and her research focuses on generational differences and more recently the influence of social media. The pair continue the conversation surrounding the negative impacts of social media on one's mental health. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices