Podcasts about wayfare

Today we're delighted to share a conversation with Robin Ritch about her new book, Using Friction to Grow: Stories of Strength and Resilience.Many of us spend our lives trying to avoid friction. We want our faith to feel clear, our communities to feel supportive, and our spiritual lives to move forward without too much tension or uncertainty. But today Robin's asking, "What if our deepest growth comes not in spite of friction, but because of it?"And that's at the heart of her book. Through interviews with a remarkable generation of Latter-day Saint women—many of them grandmothers now—Robin uncovers stories of faith, resilience, and spiritual maturity that feel so relevant today. These women faced difficult questions, competing loyalties, and real tension between their deepest convictions and the world around them. Yet rather than allowing that friction to diminish their faith, they used it to deepen their relationship with God and expand their capacity to serve.Robin herself has spent a career building and leading transformative organizations, including at Microsoft, Intel, and most recently as President and Publisher of Deseret News. But this book grew out of a lifelong fascination with women's spiritual lives and the wisdom that can be found in their stories.Whether you're currently navigating friction in your own faith journey or simply looking for examples of courage and grace, we think you'll find this conversation both reassuring and inspiring.You can buy your copy of Using Friction to Grow on Bookshop.org, Amazon, or wherever books are sold.Join us on July 11 for the Wayfare festival! RSVP here.

Today we're sharing a special conversation courtesy of our friends at Lift+Love. This is a conversation recorded at their first ever Gather Conference in 2023, the world's largest Christ-centered gathering of LGBTQ Latter-day Saints and those who love them.In this session, two men sat down together: Tom Christofferson and Darius Gray. Both are devoted Latter-day Saints who know what it is to love the Church while also having experienced real marginalization within it.Darius Gray is a Black Latter-day Saint who was baptized on December 26th, 1964 — fourteen years before the revelation that lifted the priesthood and temple ban. He entered the waters of baptism knowing he could not hold the priesthood, and he built his faith anyway. He helped found the Genesis Group, he waited, he worked. And on a day in June 1978, everything changed.This June, we're sitting with what that means.There is something powerful in Darius's story—his rootedness, his patience, his refusal to let institutional limitation become the ceiling of his faith.Tom Christofferson, as a gay Latter-day Saint, knows something about that too.What you're about to hear is a conversation between two men who have walked and who are walking long roads, who are holding hard questions, and who are bearing witness to a God whose work continues to unfold in their lives.It is warm and honest and full of hope. We think you'll find, as we did, that it stays with you.Join us on July 11 for the Wayfare festival! RSVP here.

Today we're honored to share a special session from Restore 2025 featuring Steven Kapp Perry, Alisha Anderson, and Ben Schilaty—three gay Latter-day Saints who have each taken different paths, and who share a deep commitment to following God with honesty, courage, and faith.In this on-stage conversation, Steve, Alisha, and Ben share personal and vulnerable reflections on what it means to seek God when the road ahead feels uncertain, and the courage it takes to keep moving forward in faith. They explore belonging, revelation, and the complexity of spiritual life as they describe discerning and following paths that looked very different from one another's and the ones they once expected—often amid the pain of being misunderstood.This session was a powerful reminder that God is at work in every life, and that each person's journey is sacred. As Ben shares near the end of the conversation, "The stories that truly matter are the stories of the LGBTQ people that you know in your lives." That's our invitation this month. We hope this conversation opens the door to deeper connection with people in your own life whose paths may look different than your own.We're grateful to Steve, Alisha, and Ben for their vulnerability and wisdom.You'll hear Steve mention a short film at the beginning of this session that tells more of Alisha's story. It's beautiful and moving, and you can watch it here. You can also watch a video recording of this session, including a musical performance from Steve and his wife, on our YouTube channel or Substack. You can order Ben's book A Walk in My Shoes here.Join us on July 11 for the Wayfare festival! RSVP here.

This week, wards across the United States will be having a really unique 5th Sunday discussion centered on the Constitution, moral agency, and peace-building. So today, we wanted to reshare a conversation that originally aired in 2021.In this episode, Faith Matters co-founder Bill Turnbull joins Judge Thomas Griffith, an expert in constitutional law, to explore the Constitution and the rapid erosion of goodwill and trust in American politics, including among Latter-day Saints. Judge Griffith sees the possibility of a serious crisis and believes that Latter-day Saints can and must play a critical role in healing today's divides.We've also compiled lots of additional resources that we hope will help as you prepare for this special Sunday lesson—you can find those on our website (faithmatters.org), and you can always find links to dig deeper into each episode in our free weekly newsletter. Thanks so much as always for listening, and we hope you enjoy the episode.Join us on July 11 for the Wayfare festival! RSVP here.

They call him the Mr. Rogers of farming, and I think you'll understand why. Karl Ebeling spent 33 years as a chemical engineer before feeling an undeniable pull back to the land and to a childhood love of farming that had never really left him. He combined his love of the earth with desire to help and heal and founded Eden Streets in 2020, a community farming initiative that helps individuals relaunch their lives and cultivate community through farming. Karl has watched first hand as the earth does her healing work in the souls of men and women experiencing homelessness, addiction, or disconnection. Today, he joins us to talk about the gifts of creation, and what it might look like to, in Elder Causse's words, “grow, enhance, and improve upon” them, and what that kind of stewardship does for our own souls.I was deeply moved by Karl's grounded wisdom, his reverence for the Earth and by the lessons he's learning from the natural world about rhythms, relationship, belonging, and peace. With planting season upon us, we hope this conversation inspires you to step outside, put your hands in the dirt, and experience the way the natural world is reaching out to heal you.You can find more from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on caring for the Earth here.Join us on July 11 for the Wayfare festival! RSVP here.

Today, we're honored to share a conversation with Tish Harrison Warren on her beautiful brand new book, What Grows in Weary Lands.From the very first pages of this book, Tish gives us language for something so familiar. She writes about aridity—those seasons of spiritual drought, exhaustion, or distance from God, when prayer feels flat, faith feels heavy, and the life we once found nourishing suddenly feels barren. Then she also introduces us to the ancient idea of acedia—what the Desert Fathers and Mothers sometimes called “the noonday demon.” It's that restless belief that life with God would be easier somewhere else, sometime else, with different work, different people, a different church, or a new set of circumstances. It's a restlessness that wants to escape the ordinary demands of love in search of some imagined future where spiritual highs are constant and faith feels effortless. But Tish says these experiences of aridity and acedia aren't signs that something has gone wrong, in fact, they are experiences that Christians throughout time have understood to be a normal—even necessary—part of spiritual maturity.In this conversation, she helps us see that the invitation in these weary seasons is not to force our way back into those spiritual highs, but to stay with prayer, to stay with the ordinary practices that have formed disciples for centuries, often staying with imperfect communities and relationships even after the shine has worn off and the brokenness becomes visible.She makes the case that that maturity often looks less like finding the perfect place, and more like learning how God meets us in imperfect places through patience, repair, and the slow work of love.Tish is an Anglican priest and author known for her award winning books Liturgy of the Ordinary and Prayer in the Night. Her new book, What Grows in Weary Lands, was released this week and is available on Bookshop.org, Amazon, or wherever books are sold. We are so grateful to Tish for coming on the podcast and we hope that you enjoy this conversation.Join us on July 11 for the Wayfare festival! RSVP here.

Today, as we celebrate our mothers and motherhood, we're exploring the symbols of our Divine Mother hidden throughout ancient Christianity, and what it might mean for each of us—men and women—to cultivate and integrate divine femininity into our own souls.Our guests are Kathryn and Bob Sonntag, who joined us at Restore last year for a powerful session on ritual, wisdom, and our Divine Mother. Today, we're bringing that conversation to everyone.Together, we explore where the symbol of the Mother appears in ancient Christian traditions and grapple honestly with what divine femininity and divine masculinity look like when we strip away the stereotypes that can become rigid and prescriptive. As Kathryn says, the feminine is, by its nature, subtle and hidden—something that has to be cultivated with intention. And when souls or systems overdevelop the masculine and lose touch with feminine wisdom (or vice versa), something essential goes missing. Neither the masculine nor the feminine can truly flourish without the other.We spend time on practical integration. Bob says that ritual is the way we translate meaning into action—the way spiritual truths become lived realities. And he says that ritual isn't reserved for temples or holy days, but is available in the texture of ordinary life—in hospitality, shared meals, and the quiet rhythms of each day. When we bring intention to those moments, the mundane becomes sacred, and the deeper work of integration and transformation can take root.This one is for Mother's Day, and for anyone ready to engage in this deep inner work. We hope you enjoy this conversation with Kathryn and Bob Sonntag.You can read more from Kathryn in her book, The Mother Tree, which is available on Amazon and at wayfaremagazine.org. You can read more from Bob at WayfareMagazine.org.A subscription to Wayfare makes an incredible Mother's Day gift! Get a look inside Wayfare Issue 7 here, and subscribe for 20% off here to receive Issue 7 now and Issue 8 in the fall. 

Today, we're really excited to share a special episode with Jeff Strong on his new book, Torn: Why People We Love Are Leaving the Church and What We Can Learn From Them.Research suggests that roughly 40% of formerly active, faithful members have stepped away from the Church in the last twenty-five years—and the pace is accelerating. Jeff Strong is asking why. Drawing on hundreds of interviews, he's found that, again and again, disaffiliation is rooted in unmet spiritual needs, strained trust, and experiences of exclusion or spiritual starvation. Jeff's book is unflinchingly honest—and genuinely hopeful, because if culture is part of the problem, there's also something all of us can do to help.In this conversation, Jeff really challenges the assumption that people leave casually. His data shows that, on average, most people wrestle for nearly a decade before stepping away. These are sincere, often private, and deeply painful journeys that deserve to be understood with care.Jeff says that what we need are not more gatekeepers, but more gardeners. He suggests our role isn't to monitor who's in or out—or how “in” or “out” anyone is—but to tend the kind of soil where faith can grow: in our homes, our wards, and our relationships.He helps us recognize when that soil has become compacted or depleted of spiritual nutrients, and offers practical, grounded ways for everyday members and leaders to cultivate something more nourishing—a more Christ-centered culture where more people can grow and flourish.We are so excited for you to read this book and hear the conversation. You can buy the book on Bookshop.org, Amazon, or wherever you buy books. You can read the introduction and first two chapters, check out the appendix, and learn more about the research on Jeff's website, tornbyjeffstrong.com.A subscription to Wayfare makes an incredible Mother's Day gift! Get a look inside Wayfare Issue 7 here, and subscribe for 20% off here to receive Issue 7 now and Issue 8 in the fall. 

Hey everyone, this is Aubrey from Faith Matters. Today's episode is a personal one for me—and probably for many of you—especially if you've ever found yourself deferring to someone else's inspiration, or noticing a tendency to believe that someone else's knowing is more trustworthy than your own.Our guest, Deidre Nicole Green, is a professor at Graduate Theological Union and a theologian and scholar whose work explores gender, faith, and the Christian life. The starting place for this discussion was Deidre's just-released Wayfare Magazine article called "Envying Hannah".At the center of the conversation is a concept called epistemic confidence—a trust in our capacity to receive and recognize truth for ourselves. And while this shows up differently for each of us, research suggests it doesn't fall evenly. Women, in particular, are often more likely to feel that their knowing needs to be confirmed or mediated by someone with more authority before it really counts.Deidre helps us see how quickly this gets complicated, especially at church—where the line between agency and people-pleasing can blur without us even realizing it. She invites us to ask harder questions: when does deference begin to erode our connection to the divine? When are we silencing something sacred within ourselves?And maybe most importantly, what becomes possible when we show up differently—when we act with courage, claim our spiritual authority and sacred agency, and allow ourselves to be fully seen and known… even if it means risking being wrong?You can read Deidre's piece, "Envying Hannah: Risking Respectability for Spiritual Fidelity" in Issue 7 of Wayfare or online at WayfareMagazine.org now, and you can get a sneak peek inside the issue (including two more essays!) here. You can also read "Finding Truth Together: Epistemic Humility in the Book of Jacob," an excerpt from Deidre's book "Jacob: A Brief Theological Introduction" on WayfareMagazine.org. You can find all these links and more in our weekly newsletter at faithmatters.org. A subscription to Wayfare makes an incredible Mother's Day gift! Get a look inside Wayfare Issue 7 here, and subscribe for 20% off here to receive Issue 7 now and Issue 8 in the fall. 

We live in a world that prizes activity: being productive, staying in control, always doing something. So when life brings seasons of waiting—through illness, loss, or circumstances we didn't choose—it can feel unsettling, even threatening to our sense of self. But what if those seasons are actually inviting us into a deeper understanding of God?Today, we're joined by Terryl Givens to explore an extraordinary book called The Stature of Waiting by W.H. Vanstone. Vanstone noticed something hiding in plain sight in the gospel accounts of the last week of Jesus's life. Up until a certain moment, Jesus is the one acting—teaching, healing, feeding, leading. And then, almost imperceptibly, the grammar of the story shifts. He is no longer the one doing, but the one to whom things are done. He is handed over. He waits. He receives. And Vanstone suggests this isn't a tragic turn in the story—it's its deepest revelation.Terryl and Fiona introduced many of us to the God who weeps in Moses 7. In Vanstone, we meet that same vulnerable God again—this time, waiting. And we ask what it means to follow that God in how we love, how we age, how we suffer, and how we let ourselves be carried.We hope that as you move through Holy Week this year, this conversation helps see the face of God in the most vulnerable moments of the Easter story — and in your own.Become a Friend of Faith Matters or a paid Wayfare subscriber by March 31 to get Issue 7 in the mail! 

One of the real challenges of studying the Hebrew Bible is figuring out how to make sense of stories of divine violence—where a God of love seems hard to find. These passages raise real questions about the nature of God and what it means for us as we try to live faithfully.Our guest today is Riley Risto, director of Latter-day Peace Studies, who joined the Church after a powerful mystical experience while praying about the Book of Mormon, an experience that centered his faith on Jesus and shaped his lifelong effort to take Christ's teachings seriously in a world—and a Bible—full of violence and conflict.In this episode, Riley invites us to engage scripture through what's often called a cruciform lens—the idea that, if Jesus gives us the clearest picture of who God is, then his life and teachings should shape how we understand every Bible story. Instead of letting the most troubling passages define our image of God, we begin with Christ and the cross and allow his life—and his radical call to love our enemies—to guide the way we wrestle with the rest.Along the way we explore what René Girard's work on scapegoating might reveal about violence in scripture, what it might really mean to “take the Lord's name in vain,” and what a Christ-centered reading could mean about justice.Underneath it all is the conviction that we're not meant to be casual observers of scripture, but participants—trusting that honest wrestling can refine our faith and discipleship. For us, this cruciform lens has sparked new curiosity and breathed new life into our scripture study this year, and we're excited to share it with you.If conversations like this are resonating with you, we'd love to invite you to explore more of the work we're doing at Faith Matters. One podcast you might especially enjoy is Proclaim Peace, a joint project from Faith Matters and Mormon Women for Ethical Government.Hosted by Jennifer Thomas and Patrick Mason, Proclaim Peace explores what it might look like to read scripture through a lens of peace—and how those teachings can shape the way we live, engage conflict, and show up in the world.If this episode sparked something for you, we invite you to subscribe to Proclaim Peace on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. We think you'll really appreciate the thoughtful conversations happening there.Become a Friend of Faith Matters or a paid Wayfare subscriber by March 31 to get Issue 7 in the mail! 

In today's conversation, we explore creativity as a spiritual practice—not something reserved for artists, but a way of living.Our guests are Lisa Valentine Clark, a comedian, actor, and host of The Lisa Show, and James Rees—artist, educator, researcher, and passionate advocate for the arts.Both Lisa and James have spent their lives creating—in front of audiences on stages, in studios, in classrooms—and they've come to see that creativity does sacred work inside us. It gives form to what we're wrestling with. It helps us clarify what we think and feel. It helps us metabolize the unexpected. It draws us into deeper presence.For Lisa, these insights became intensely practical. She shares the foundational rule of improv, “yes, and”: accept what's given and build from it. This principle became a discipline that helped carry her through the hardest season of her life.Throughout the episode, we return again and again to the role of vulnerability—the courage to begin before you feel ready, to quiet the inner critic, and to let something take shape before you judge it. It's this openness that makes growth possible.We hope this conversation expands the way you think about creativity and moves you to notice the ways you're already being invited to practice it.Become a Friend of Faith Matters or a paid Wayfare subscriber by March 31 to get Issue 7 in the mail! 

We're so excited to share a conversation that our friend and Executive Director, Zach Davis, had with Teresa Morgan, Professor at Yale Divinity School and a leading scholar of early Christian history.Teresa invites us to reconsider one of the most central words in Christianity: faith. She explains that for the first generations of Christians, “faith” didn't mean signing on to a list of beliefs. It meant something more like trust—faithfulness, trustworthiness, the act of entrusting your life to God. Faith was less about what you thought and more about the kind of relationship you were living: a daily, embodied trust in a faithful God.But over time, as outside pressures mounted, Christian leaders drew clearer boundaries around belief. Creeds became markers of belonging, and faith—once rooted primarily in trust and lived allegiance—was increasingly defined by agreement with specific doctrines. That shift has shaped the Christian imagination ever since.In this conversation, Zach and Teresa explore how that evolution happened, what may have been lost, and what it might look like to recover a richer, more relational vision of faith today. We also want to mention that this interview is featured in the upcoming Issue 7 of Wayfare, and that this is a special edition centering women's voices on the theme of trust—trust in God, in ourselves, and in our communities. It's a beautiful and thoughtful collection that we are really proud of. You can read this interview, and see the beautiful artwork that accompanies it, at WayfareMagazine.org.If you'd like to receive your own copy of Wayfare in the mail, you can become a Friend of Faith Matters or a paid Wayfare subscriber by March 31. Your support is what makes conversations like this possible, and we're so grateful.Join us March 6 in SLC for Interfaith REPAIR: a peacemaking workshop from Waymakers!

As we move into Christmas week, we wanted to offer something a little different. Today's episode is a reading of “In the Bleak Midwinter,” written and read by Peter Conti‑Brown, and originally published in the Faith Matters magazine, Wayfare.It tells the true story of a Christmas that unfolded in unexpected ways—marked by absence, uncertainty, and pain. And yet, it's also a story about how grace finds its way to us—through presence, through each other, and through the quiet mystery of ordinary, imperfect people becoming God's healing hands in the moments when we need it most.We hope this opens up space for you to feel whatever this season is bringing, and to notice the quiet ways love might be showing up.From all of us at Faith Matters and Wayfare, we're wishing you a Christmas filled with the peace of this season, and moments of deep connection and joy.We'd also love to invite you to subscribe to Wayfare Magazine. Wayfare shares thoughtful, beautifully written essays each week through its email newsletter, and publishes stunning print editions twice a year—featuring original artwork and design that make each issue a work of art in itself. A Wayfare subscription also makes a meaningful gift for the thoughtful, curious reader in your life.To learn more or to subscribe, just head to wayfaremagazine.org/subscribe.

Any journey through faith's promises must begin with coming under the sovereignty of God. Do you know the blessings of knowing and living out that promise? Join us as Pastor Paul guides our first destination on Wayfare's itinerary.

Today, we're so excited to share a conversation with our good friend and teammate at Faith Matters, Cece Proffit. If you've followed Faith Matters for a while, you've felt Cece's influence—her energy, creativity, and care shape so much of what we do behind the scenes. And so today, we're thrilled she's stepping in front of the mic to talk about one of her very favorite subjects—Advent.In this conversation, Cece offers a beautiful and grounding introduction to Advent. If this tradition is new to you, you'll come away with simple, meaningful ways to begin. But beyond that, she invites us to experience Advent as a season of sacred longing—a time to hold both the beauty and the ache of our lives, and to trust that God will meet us in all of it.Cece helps us see that Advent prepares us for the joy of Christ's coming, not by turning away from the hard and the real, but by teaching us to stay with it. In that presence, something holy unfolds. And maybe most beautifully, she reminds us that we are part of this unfolding—that Christ comes not only to us in this season, but through us. Through our love, our creativity, we join in the work of “hasten[ing] the time” of peace on earth, goodwill toward men.For even more resources on Advent, including music, past essays, and more, be sure to check out our newsletter for this episode at faithmatters.org, and be sure to become a free subscriber to Wayfare at wayfaremagazine.org to receive beautiful, thoughtful essays to accompany your Advent observance this season.

Join our church family as we set off on a new adventure into the promises of God. Pastor Paul introduces our new series taking a look at two men who make two choices and have two very different results. Are you...

We're really excited to share this week's episode with you—a conversation with scholar and historian, Matt Bowman. Matt is the Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies and an associate professor of religion and history at Claremont Graduate University. In this conversation, he draws on ancient scripture to explore two archetypes that show up again and again: the prophet and the priest.The prophet, Matt says, is often a voice from the outside—someone who has had a powerful, personal encounter with the divine and is sent to deliver a message that calls the community to repent. They challenge, critique, and call us back to our spiritual roots.The priest, by contrast, usually nurtures from within—building and sustaining community, preserving memory, and ministering through sacred ritual. The priest creates belonging, continuity, and connection.And while these approaches may seem to contrast, they work in harmony to support and strengthen the spiritual life of a community.Matt notes that beginning around the 1950s, we began consistently referring to the president of the church as the prophet. And he wonders if, in doing so, we may have come to sometimes undervalue the essential priestly work the President of the Church also does.This conversation helped us see something familiar—and deeply cherished in our tradition—in a fresh and powerful way and we came away feeling more grateful for a structure that makes room for both priestly care and prophetic vision.We're so thankful to Matt for this conversation, and we hope you love it as much as we did.Matt's piece that inspired this conversation, The Prophet and the Priest, will be published in Issue 6 of Wayfare alongside poetry, stories, essays and more exploring the roles of prophets and of prophecy in our tradition. We're putting this issue in the mail to all Wayfare paid subscribers and Friends of Faith Matters on December 1, so subscribe now if you haven't already to be sure you get your copy! ​What does Joseph Smith's legacy mean today? Join Terryl Givens and Jenny Reeder at The Compass in downtown Provo on November 20 for a lively discussion on the Prophet's enduring influence—his vision, his challenges, and the spiritual movement he helped create. You can RSVP here. Friends of Faith Matters will receive the livestream link for free as a thank you for your continued support.

We're excited today to talk about the temple. It's a topic we love—one that sits at the heart of our faith—but because of its sacred nature, it can sometimes be difficult to explore openly.Our guest today is historian Jonathan Stapley, who has spent the past two decades studying the temple and its role in Latter-day Saint life. His new book, Holiness to the Lord, is coming out this fall, and it incorporates a remarkable collection of never-before-seen archival records.The book explores the temple's earliest origins and the ways Joseph Smith drew on the book of Revelation and biblical archetypes to transform ordinary people into priests and priestesses through covenant, community, and ritual. Jonathan also documents the generational shifts in temple practice over time and the sacred work the temple has been doing in the lives of Latter-day Saints from the beginning to today.We're especially grateful that Jonathan was willing to engage some of the harder questions—things that don't always fit neatly in a Sunday School setting, but that many of us carry quietly. He speaks candidly about temple recommends, garments, and evolving expectations around worthiness. We got to ask him about the temple's connection to Masonic rituals (how similar are they, really?) and about how we sit with the very real pain that can come with conditional temple participation—especially when its means leaving family members behind for temple sealings.Jonathan brings both deep scholarship and lived faith to this conversation. He helps us see the temple as a living, evolving expression of our faith—one that reflects a divine invitation to connection, transformation, and covenant belonging, and that draws us into Joseph's bold, sacred project: to bring heaven to earth.Preorder the book from Bookshop.orgPreorder the book from AmazonJoin us for an event discussing the relationship between ancient and modern temples at The Compass Gallery on Sept 21.Read what we've published about temples in our magazine, Wayfare. 

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveAmerican Primeval on Netflix. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives on Hulu. Ballerina Farm on Instagram. American culture is living through a Mormon moment. It is a sign that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is growing in confidence and strength. But what are the drawbacks to becoming mainstream? What are the trade-offs involved in American liberalism? What can those of us who are not part of the LDS Church learn from the Mormon moment?Here to discuss this and more is Zachary Davis, the Executive Director of Faith Matters and Editor of the LDS magazine Wayfare. Zach is also a veteran podcaster, having hosted the podcasts Ministry of Ideas and Writ Large.The discussion begins with Santiago Ramos asking Zach for an account of LDS history, contrasting it with its depiction in American Primeval, the Netflix show. Christine Emba then asks about the various pop culture phenomena that have emerged within LDS culture. The conversation covers recent LDS history, as well as reflections on the costs of assimilation and how American liberalism can benefit from the growth of the LDS Church.In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Christina and Zach discuss Ballerina Farm; Zach explains LDS attitudes toward Trump; Santiago asks Zach whether he has hope for the future of America; Zach explains that Mormons believe the American Constitution is a sacred document; why Mormons love Muslims; rethinking first (theological) principles; and more!Required Reading:* Wayfare magazine.* McCay Coppins, Romney: A Reckoning (Amazon).* Jonathan Rausch, Cross Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy (Amazon).* Jon Krakauer, Under the Banner of Heaven (Amazon). * Public polling re: LDS (Pew Research).* American Primeval (Netflix).* Ballerina Farm (official website).* Secret Lives of Mormon Wives (Hulu).* The Soloists (Substack).* Romney's 47 percent comment (MSNBC).* Utah rankings (U.S. News and World Report).Free preview video:Full video for paid subscribers below:

Today, as Christmas Eve settles around us, we invite you into a quiet meditation written by Tyler Johnson and published as the culmination of the advent series in the FM magazine, Wayfare, with music from the King's College Choir singing O Magnum Mysterium. This reflection draws us into the sacred reality of the Nativity—the laboring Mary, exhausted and tearful, the beauty born through pain. It reminds us that the Christ child did not come to erase suffering but to teach us how to live and love within it. So, in this moment of stillness before tomorrow's joy, we invite you to pause, breathe, and reflect on this Christmas truth: love enters our world through labor and struggle, bringing with it a deeper peace and lasting meaning.I also want to mention that you can go to the FM YouTube channel to see this meditation with beautiful nativity art by Brandon GonzalesFrom all of us at Faith Matters and Wayfare Magazine, we wish you a peaceful Christmas Eve. 

In the spirit of this Christmas season, we're so excited to share a beautiful reflection with you, written and read by Lori Forsyth, Managing Editor of the Faith Matters magazine, Wayfare. This piece is part of Wayfare's Advent series. If you've missed any parts of this series, you can still find them at  wayfaremagazine.org. You can also subscribe to the digital or print versions of Wayfare for access to the incredible essays, interviews, poetry, art and more.Advent is a time of reflection and anticipation, and Lori's words offer a powerful reminder that joy isn't about avoiding the hard things—it's about embracing the light that shines through them.We hope this brings you a moment of peace and stillness during this busy season, and we'd love to invite you back here on Christmas Eve for the culmination of the Advent series—a short and powerful meditation with music to close this sacred time.And now, here's Lori Forsyth reading Shining in Darkness.

In this episode, Chef Tyler Florence, a culinary legend with a portfolio of acclaimed restaurants and 27 years as a star on the Food Network, shares his approach to crafting immersive experiences that keep guests coming back.Listeners will learn:The three key elements of an amazing hospitality experience (01:03)How to create a restaurant that transports guests to another time and place (01:25)The importance of building restaurants that feel timeless and timely (03:48)How Tyler sourced materials, like a 100-year-old tobacco barn floor, to create an authentic atmosphere at Wayfare Tavern (06:17)Mentions:Wayfare Tavern, Tyler's restaurant in San Francisco (02:08)Rubicon, the restaurant that previously occupied the Wayfare Tavern space (03:28)The book "Wayfare," which inspired the name of Tyler's restaurant (05:46)Miller & Lux, Tyler Florence's restaurant at San Francisco's Chase Center (07:21)A few more resources: If you're new to Hospitality Daily, start here. You can send me a message here with questions, comments, or guest suggestions If you want to get my summary and actionable insights from each episode delivered to your inbox each day, subscribe here for free. Follow Hospitality Daily and join the conversation on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram. If you want to advertise on Hospitality Daily, here are the ways we can work together. If you found this episode interesting or helpful, send it to someone on your team so you can turn the ideas into action and benefit your business and the people you serve! Music for this show is produced by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands

'You Are' is the first release of 2024 by future folk singer-songwriter Patrick Stefan following on from his debut album, Wayfare, pre-empting his follow up album set for release in 2025. Patrick Stefan joined Alan Morrissey, on Tuesday's Morning Focus. Photo (c) Niamh Barry

This week, we're sitting down with our good friend Patrick Mason for a conversation that is as deeply challenging. Patrick recently returned from a transformative trip to Rwanda, where he was confronted with the enduring impact of the 1994 genocide. In our discussion, Patrick shares his reflections on witnessing both the unimaginable horrors of the past and the remarkable steps toward reconciliation and peace that are happening today.We also dive into the hard questions: Where is God in the midst of such suffering? How can communities possibly recover from such deep wounds? And how do we respond to scripture that seems to contradict our understanding of a loving God? Patrick draws on his experience as a peacebuilder, scholar, and a person of faith to address these issues, and we explore how the lessons from Rwanda resonate with us here and now in conflicts within our own communities.This conversation is a compelling reminder that each of us has the power to create real change in our own communities, and it urges us to confront the urgent need for peacebuilding in a world increasingly divided. Lastly, we're thrilled to share that Patrick will be speaking at the upcoming Restore conference along with his co-host for the Proclaim Peace Podcast, Jennifer Walker Thomas. You can get your tickets at faithmatters.org/restore to join us on September 5-7th. And with that, we'll jump right in. I also wanted to mention that Patrick wrote about his experience in Rwanda for the Faith Matters magazine, Wayfare. You can go to wayfaremagazine.org to subscribe. And with that we'll jump right in.

In 2017, a Utah family began discussing some of the challenging questions facing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From those modest beginnings, a multidimensional platform emerged called Faith Matters, which defines itself as a “space in which an expansive, radiant approach to the restored gospel can be considered.” The effort now includes a popular podcast, book publishing, online courses, and, coming next week, its third in-person “Restore” conference. The giant gathering at the Mountain West Expo Center in Sandy has attracted more than 3,000 paid registrants and will feature speakers, poets, musicians and artists — including Astrid Tuminez, Jennifer Finlayson-Fife, Jennifer Walker Thomas, Terryl and Fiona Givens, Mauli Bonner, Neylan McBaine, Allison Dayton and Eboo Patel. It is, organizers say, meant to “inspire, enlighten and nourish faith.” On this week's show, Zachary Davis, executive director of Faith Matters, editor of its Wayfare magazine and co-director of the conference, discusses this organization, the upcoming conference and how they appeal to, help and inspire a range of Latter-day Saints.

Since shortening its Sunday services and refocusing its curriculum more than five years ago, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has trumpeted a home-centered, church-supported approach with an emphasis on covenant-making and covenant-keeping. This shift has some members worried about a loss of community. Gone are roadshows, pageants, sports leagues, cultural celebrations and more. While there has been an explosion of temple building, there has been a slowdown in chapel building. The church meetinghouse of today has become just that — a house for staid and stiff meetings, mainly on Sunday — and not the buzzing and bustling community centers of yesteryear. Would a return to some of that past help not only the church's present but also its future? Candice Wendt, a staff member of McGill University's Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and a contributing editor at Wayfare magazine, wrote about the church's evolution from community to covenants in a recent blog post for Exponent II. She joined us for this week's episode of “Mormon Land” to talk about what she feels is lost in the church's efforts to emphasize individual covenants over community building. As she put it “I find when community connection and belonging get weak, motivation to be engaged in the faith tradition falters and religious life actually becomes a lot less relevant to people.”

I had a completely different episode planned for today, but then I saw my words in print in a magazine. So for this episode you get off-the-cuff insights and thoughts about what you feel when you see your name in print and what happens inside you when you share your story.You can find my essay, "An Expanse of Light and Memory" in issue 3 of Wayfare magazine.You can jump into my North Star course here. If you are listening to this after April 2024, use the code PODCAST24 for 30 percent off.You can find me on Instagram @bookish.editor, Facebook, and LinkedIn.Join my email list to stay up to date on the podcast and everything else going on in Bookish Edits.

When Lenore Skenazy's son was nine, he asked her repeatedly if she would let him have a solo adventure in their hometown of New York City. Her son had a specific plan for this adventure: he wanted her to take him somewhere new in the city and then let him find his own way home. Lenore took the leap of faith, and when her son burst into their apartment later, he was practically “levitating with pride and joy” at what he had accomplished.Lenore then wrote an article in the New York Sun called “Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone” — and a media firestorm ensued. We'll let Lenore share more about that particular time, but she realized then how radical and important an idea it was for modern parents to “let go.” In 2017, Jonathan Haidt, co-author of The Coddling of the American Mind reached out to Lenore with two others, all of whom shared concerns about the increasing fragility they're seeing in young people in America, and the poor outcomes that follow. They went on to launch Let Grow, a non-profit organization that promotes childhood independence.Lenore's message is that parents can sometimes become compulsive about protecting children from every possible danger, but blind to the trade-offs: decreased independence, resilience, social skills, and creativity, and increased anxiety and depression.But this message also has broader implications for our lives and our faith: while we often tend to try to micromanage everything with the mistaken belief that we can prevent anything bad from happening, deep faith can help us see that there's Something Bigger going on — and we don't always need to be in control.We found Lenore to be delightful—she's sharp, funny, and has profoundly important things to say for anyone interested in helping our next generations to be resilient and happy. We really hope you enjoy this conversation with Lenore Skenazy.———Subscribe to Wayfare here: wayfaremagazine.org

Zachary Davis is the Executive Director of the Faith Matters Foundation, the host of the Ministry of Ideas, Writ Large, and Making Meaning podcasts, and the editor of Wayfare Magazine. We discuss the article he published in the inaugural issue of Wayfare, a beautiful piece on the history of pilgrimage that doubles as a story about his personal faith journey.

Published 26th of March 2023 Special Shout Out to our Executive Producer! KatettheKonz! #yeah 1. It's been a rough week for the rural Trainers - Wayspotters is here to help 2. Advice on what to do if there are no Wayspots in your area 3. How do I get started with Wayfarer? 4. What, there's a test? 5. I've submitted my nomination, now what? 6. Wayfarer Specific Specific Information from Tintino and the Wayfare team 7. Wayspot of the Week 8. Coal of the week Sit back and enjoy the show and don't forget to reach out @wayspotters on Twitter! Visit out Instagram also @wayspotterspodcast Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/wayspotters/ Niantic Wayfarer Twitter: https://twitter.com/NianticWayfarer TikTok Tiktok.com/iamkewayspots Our Website: http://wayspotters.com/ Support Us: https://www.patreon.com/PokemonProfessor Wayfarer Discord: https://discord.gg/niawayfarer Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/pokemonprofessornetwork Coal of the Week Arrangement: Chris Bell Intro Music - Game Over - Danijel Zambo - Music Vine Break Music -  Hard Trap Samples, Heavy Trap Drum Loops ... - Loopmasters Outro Music - Itty Bitty 8 Bit - song by Kevin MacLeod - Spotify – Web Player Vocal recording  Copyright of Pokémon Professor 2022. Pokémon And All Respective Names are Trademark and © of Nintendo 1996-2022 Pokémon GO is Trademark and © of Niantic, Inc. Wayspotters is not affiliated with Niantic Inc. or The Pokémon Company 4. Wayspot of the Week 5. Coal of the week Sit back and enjoy the show and don't forget to reach out @wayspotters on Twitter! Visit out Instagram also @wayspotterspodcast Our Twitter: https://twitter.com/wayspotters/ Niantic Wayfarer Twitter: https://twitter.com/NianticWayfarer Our Website: http://wayspotters.com/ Support Us: https://www.patreon.com/PokemonProfessor Wayfarer Discord: https://discord.gg/niawayfarer Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/pokemonprofessornetwork Coal of the Week Arrangement: Chris Bell Intro Music - Game Over - Danijel Zambo - Music Vine Break Music -  Hard Trap Samples, Heavy Trap Drum Loops ... - Loopmasters Outro Music - Itty Bitty 8 Bit - song by Kevin MacLeod - Spotify – Web Player Vocal recording  Copyright of Pokémon Professor 2022. Pokémon And All Respective Names are Trademark and © of Nintendo 1996-2022 Pokémon GO is Trademark and © of Niantic, Inc. Wayspotters is not affiliated with Niantic Inc. or The Pokémon Company --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wayspotters/message

My friend Zach Davis (married father of three, graduate of BYU and Harvard Divinity School) joins us to talk about Wayfare—a new magazine launched by Faith Matters in late 2022. Zach talks about the purpose of and vision for the magazine and how it is a community effort and how individuals can get involved in producing content for Wayfare. Zach also talks about Faith Matters—its purpose and vision and plans for second Restore in October of 2023 (Zach shares the actual dates and location in the podcast). Zach also shares some of his personal story to find his career path and principles and perspectives to help others make their way forward. I was deeply moved hearing more of Zach's story. Thank you, Zach, for being on the podcast. Your personal story and work at Faith Matters is blessing many. And thank you to everyone involved at Faith Matters for your much needed work in our community. Links mentioned: Wayfare Magazine: https://www.wayfaremagazine.org/ Faith Matters: https://faithmatters.org/

5.33: Sorcha Richardson gives us a track-by-track breakdown of her brilliant second album Smiling Like an Idiot https://sorcharichardson.bandcamp.com/album/smiling-like-an-idiot 1.06.22: R Kitt talks about the Give Us The Night campaign, what they expected and were hoping for in the budget, and what to look forward to at Haunted Dance Hall at the National Concert Hall this weekend. shorturl.at/dgMOU 1.46.52: Dublin-based singer-songwriter Patrick Stefan on debut album Wayfare, travelling and finding music from around the world, swimming in Dublin, and more https://patrickstefan.bandcamp.com/ 2.35.09: Weekly new music section - new tunes from new artists in full, with introductions by the acts themselves. This week: Banríon - Fooling https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/banron/fooling-2 Ebben Phlo - All Nighter https://ebbenphlo.bandcamp.com/track/all-nighter Barefoot Gypsies - Be Free https://linktr.ee/barefoot.gypsies?utm_source=qr_code

1.01: Some thoughts on Another Love Story festival, which returned to Killyon Manor at the weekend. 6.32: Marketa Irglova on Lila, her first album in eight years and the third in a trilogy. She talks about her journey from Once to entering Iceland's Eurovision song contest, and some of the stories behind the tracks on Lila, and influences such as Bridgerton and other TV shows. https://open.spotify.com/artist/4SklVMGMsWTq7cJd9MixUx?si=ZDMqGoDKRUiJQAwAEmgTpw 41.06: Christy from Le Boom on supporting Denise Chaila at St John's Castle, Limerick, on Saturday, August 20. 44.14: Simon Roche, one-third of the Lumo Club night, talks about their boat party in Dublin Bay on Saturday, August 20. How it came about, what songs went down best, and was there any seasickness. We also chat about Oasis and their best songs, as Be Here Now turns 25. https://www.instagram.com/lumoclub/?hl=en NEW MUSIC!!! 1.01.24: Alice Kiernan introduces her single 'Golden', which is out this Friday, August 26. https://twitter.com/Alice_Kiernan https://smarturl.it/cxe9bt 1.06.38: Patrick Stefan introduces 'Just Another Love Song', taken from debut album Wayfare, which is released on September 23. twitter.com/patrick_stefan_ https://t.co/3xtlhlIuOA 1.12.19: Cabin aka Adam McCabe chats about 'The Parasocialite (Alternative Version)' off the just-released You're On My Mind EP twitter.com/cabin_music https://linktr.ee/cabin44

This episode features Kelly Coffin, the Founder and CEO of WayFare Foods, a company that takes the finest whole, plant-based ingredients in the world, and turns them into products that are truly Simple, Delicious, and Amazing. You'll find WayFare's food foundations are always based on whole ingredients, and nothing else. WayFare's mission is to bless our world by creating incredible products – all from plants. WayFare is sold in retail locations across the country and direct to consumer via their website. WayFare products are also used as ingredients by restaurants and bakeries in the U.S. and Canada. Show Page: https://eftp.co/wayfarefoods Newsletter signup: https://eftp.co/newsletter Follow us on Instagram Follow Nil Zacharias on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Hero's Journey: Interview with Robert Althuis We typically believe "intelligence" only resides in our mind; however, as the HearthMath Institute has scientifically proven our heart is actually also a center of intelligence including a vast network of neurons. In fact, there's more data going from our heart to our mind than the other way around. The intelligence of our heart is of a different quality though. Whereas our mind's intelligence resides in logic and linear thinking which all comes from our neocortex, our heart is the portal to our higher knowing or the intelligence of life itself. We access this intelligence through mastery of the language of the heart which is feeling, sensing, knowing (vs thinking), and intuiting. When our heart becomes the master and our mind an instrument in service to the master we come to a new level of understanding, insight, and solutions which makes us more awakened leaders. Robert Althuis is the Founder of the Sacred Wealth Institute, a mindfulness organization that provides coaching, strategies, tools, and techniques to help private clients and businesses embody their full potential. In addition, Mr. Althuis is the founder of Wayfare Holdings, a boutique impact investment firm for his personal real estate and entrepreneurial interests. Mr. Althuis is also a Venture Partner at Keen Growth Capital, an impact investment private equity firm based in Orlando, and serves as an Advisory Board Member for Bulltick's alternative investments real estate fund. In 2021, Mr. Althuis published his first book titled Never Enoughitis. Mr. Althuis launched Wayfare in early 2009 with the acquisition of a 50% ownership position in Lynxs, a leading international transportation infrastructure development firm based in Austin, Texas. Prior to acquiring an ownership position in Lynxs, Mr. Althuis was a Senior Vice President in the Airport Infrastructure group of GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS). At GECAS, Mr. Althuis served as the lead originator for the Americas Region of the Airport Infrastructure group and was instrumental in structuring Global Infrastructure Partners, a then $6 billion infrastructure investment fund sponsored by GE and Credit Suisse as well as the acquisition of numerous operating companies and real assets on behalf of GECAS where he also served as a board member on behalf of GE. Mr. Althuis started his career at GE Capital in an executive management program in 2002 and joined GECAS on a full-time basis in 2003 and was promoted to GE's executive band in 2006. In his initial role in GECAS, as a member of the structured finance team, Mr. Althuis closed in excess of $1.5 billion of aviation-related debt and equity financings. Mr. Althuis, who has dual nationality from The Netherlands and the United States, holds a B.B.A., summa cum laude, with a major in Real Estate from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia, and an M.B.A., with distinction, with a major in Finance & Management from Columbia Business School in New York City. In addition, Mr. Althuis is a certified member of the CCIM Institute and a licensed real estate broker in three states. Mr. Althuis began his career in commercial real estate acquisition and development in 1995; his last position before joining GE was Vice President and Division Manager of the commercial real estate activities of a diversified real estate firm in Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Althuis resides in Coral Gables, Florida, and is a father, artist, avid yogi (RYT-200), kite surfer, crossfit athlete, and an active dive volunteer with the Coral Restoration Foundation in the Florida Keys where he previously served as a Board Member. For more information about Robert Althuis and his work, go to https://www.robertalthuis.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BIO Robert Althuis is the Founder of the Sacred Wealth Institute, a mindfulness organization that provides coaching, strategies, tools, and techniques to helpprivate clients and businesses embody their full potential. In addition, Mr. Althuis is the founder of Wayfare Holdings, a boutique impact investment firm for his personal real estate and entrepreneurial interests. Mr. Althuis is also a Venture Partner at Keen Growth Capital, an impact investment private equity firm based in Orlando, and serves as an Advisory Board Member for Bulltick's alternative investments real estate fund. In 2021, Mr. Althuis published his first book titled Never Enough-itis. Mr. Althuis launched Wayfare in early 2009 with the acquisition of a 50% ownership position in Lynxs, a leading international transportation infrastructure development firm based in Austin, Texas. Prior to acquiring an ownership position in Lynxs, Mr. Althuis was a Senior Vice President in the Airport Infrastructure group of GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS). At GECAS, Mr. Althuis served as the lead originator for the Americas Region of the Airport Infrastructure group and was instrumental in structuring Global Infrastructure Partners, a then $6 billion infrastructure investment fund sponsored by GE and Credit Suisse as well as the acquisition of numerous operating companies and real assets on behalf of GECAS where he also served as board member on behalf of GE. Mr. Althuis started his career at GE Capital in an executive management program in 2002 and joined GECAS on a full-time basis in 2003 and was promoted to GE's executive band in 2006. In his initial role in GECAS, as a member of the structured finance team, Mr. Althuis closed in excess of $1.5 billion of aviation related debt and equity Financings. Mr. Althuis, who has dual nationality of The Netherlands and United States, holds a B.B.A., summa cum laude, with a major in Real Estate from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia, and a M.B.A., with distinction, with a major in Finance & Management from Columbia Business School in New York City. In addition, Mr. Althuis is a certified member of the CCIM Institute and a licensed real estate broker in three states. Mr. Althuis began his career in commercial real estate acquisition and development in 1995; his last position before joining GE was Vice President and Division Manager of the commercial real estate activities of a diversified real estate firm in Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Althuis resides in Coral Gables, Florida and is a father, artist, avid yogi (RYT-200), kite surfer, crossfit athlete, and an activedive volunteer with the Coral Restoration Foundation in the Florida Keys where he previously served as a Board Member. Sign up for 10% off of Shrink Rap Radio CE credits at the Zur Institute  

We didn't ask, but we bet if we had, traveler Denise Meeker would say that coming home to yourself isn't a one-time act. It's personal, on-going, and sometimes shows up in ways you don't expect. It also can include hard, internal work. But we're really thankful to get to hear her story of coming home through spending time on the road and in the outdoors to underline the importance of you telling yours.Resources From This Episode:Follow Denise Meeker on Instagram: @wayfaretowellnessDenise's blog: Wayfare to WellnessMelanin and Mental HealthJoin the On the Road, Our Way Facebook Group!Sponsor Websites & Codes:Manta Sleep - get 10% off with promo code ROADBetterhelp - get 10% off with promo code ROADDannerEnjoy this episode? Rate us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. It'll help other people find us. You can also share this podcast with a friend. Thank you for your support!Episodes air weekly on Fridays-- subscribe wherever you listen so you never miss an episode. This episode of On the Road, Our Way is produced and hosted by Laura Borichevsky.Music is by Jason Shaw and Josh Woodward.A production of Ravel Media

Welcome to episode 55 of The Blogger Genius Podcast. Today my guest is Nicole Ketchum, the designer behind the acrylic chandelier craze.  In this episode we talk about how to design and manufacture a product in China. We discuss what it takes to get the word out about your new product, especially one in a brand new category, what common mistakes entrepreneurs make when designing a physical product, what it's like to have to take out a loan to fund your inventory and so much more. If you've ever dreamt of building and designing your own product, this is the episode for you!   Resources: MiloTree Chandelier by NK Oh Joy Amy Atlas Warby Parker Away Luggage Everlane Planoly Glowforge AltSummit Transcript: How to Design and Manufacture a Product with Nicole Ketchum Host 0:03 Welcome to The Blogger Genius Podcast, brought to you by MiloTree. Here's your host, Jillian Leslie. Build your Shopify sales with MiloTree Jillian Leslie 0:11 Hi, welcome back to The Blogger Genius Podcast. The response to our new Shopify popup has been terrific. If you have a Shopify store, definitely go try it. Try our popup on your blog to get people to shop on your store. If you have a friend and know somebody who has a Shopify store who could benefit from it, please tell them about it. It's all part of your subscription and it takes, gosh, less than a minute to set up. All you do is just put your Shopify URL into the box and the popup will have your most recent products show up on it. And as you know, MiloTree is the easiest way to grow your social media followers, your email list. Head to MiloTree.com, sign up and get your first 30 days free. Today, I am interviewing Nicole Ketchum. And she is one of the first people I've interviewed who has built a physical good, a real product that she sells. She sells these beautiful chandeliers, you'll hear all about it. She is incredibly honest with her journey. If you are thinking of creating a physical good, you definitely want to listen to this. And even if you're not, I think her story is incredibly interesting and insightful. So without further ado, here is Nicole Ketchum. Nicole, welcome to the show. Nicole Ketchum 1:47 Thank you for letting me be here. Jillian Leslie 1:48 Oh, wow. So we met because you reached out to me about coaching probably a year ago. Nicole Ketchum 1:57 Yes, yes. And it was a great call. You helped me in so many ways. Jillian Leslie 2:02 Oh, I'm so glad. I'm so glad. And I think it's really cool because you are one of the first people that I am talking to on the podcast about creating a physical product. And so can you tell like what your product is and and how you got started? And, you know, I'm sure my audience will go and check it out. Creating and selling a physical product Nicole Ketchum 2:24 Yes. So I design acrylic chandeliers. That's the medium I currently work in. And I had the idea in late 2011 and spent two years researching the idea that I had before pulling the trigger. I made a prototype in late 2013 and threw together a website and crossed my fingers and launched, and four years later, here I am. Jillian Leslie 2:58 Okay, first of all, what is an acrylic chandelier? Nicole Ketchum 3:02 So basically, we created a design where two pieces get cut by a laser cutter and then there are slots on each of the pieces of the chandelier. And you take the two pieces and you slap them together. They have holes at the top where you put two S hooks and you can hang it anywhere. And you can hang it with chandelier chains that you can get at like Home Depot or Lowes. Or even fishing wire. They're very lightweight, which I've said a lot but actually people still ask me quite frequently, and they're only three pounds. Jillian Leslie 3:42 Okay. And they don't light. They're decorative. Nicole Ketchum 3:46 They're decorative and it's a new concept. I apparently designed a product that didn't exist. Jillian Leslie 3:52 Okay. Nicole Ketchum 3:54 So that's very exciting but it's also been a learning curve. And they're perfect because acrylic is basically plastic, and it can go inside or outside. It can go below 20 degrees. It can be in hot weather. You can put it up anywhere that you can hang. They're perfect for weddings and parties. Jillian Leslie 4:15 Exactly. That was my next question, which is, what is the use case? Where do people use them? Nicole Ketchum 4:20 People use them for parties, events, weddings. I use them in my child's play room. They can go over a bathtub, they can go over a bed or a nursery. Jillian Leslie 4:36 I was gonna say I'd like to put one in my daughter's room. Nicole Ketchum 4:39 Yes, I have one hanging over my daughter's bed. Jillian Leslie 4:43 Okay. And your background though, is in product design. Right? Nicole Ketchum 4:48 No, actually I went to school a long time ago for English and then I worked in marketing and graphic design. Jillian Leslie 4:54 Graphic design, okay. Nicole Ketchum 4:55 Yeah, for a very long time. But it was more like corporate design. So my fantasies were I wanted to design wallpaper and home goods. And in reality, I was designing annual reports. But I eventually started to make that leap on my own and I eventually transitioned into surface design and I was designing patterns for stores. And it still didn't feel like it was enough for me. And I interviewed for Michaels Corporate a long time ago in 2011, when my husband and I had lost our jobs from the fallout from 2008. And they had challenged me. It was between myself and another designer come up with something for Halloween that's modern and that people can use. And for myself, I've always wanted to have a really fun chandelier for Halloween that I could just throw over a table. I always lived in apartments when I was younger, you know, there's no outlets and places. So that was the idea I had and I was going to do a foam core. And my husband who is a designer as well, he said, "Why don't you do acrylic?" So I designed a raven and moon chandelier for Michaels Corporate along with competing the patterns that they could use for journals. And I presented it to them and I believe they must have been on the cusp of transitioning from where they were to where they are now, and they said I was too modern. I thought that was really interesting because I know I would fit now. Jillian Leslie 6:35 Yes! Nicole Ketchum 6:36 Yeah. But back then, I thought it was still a great idea and I couldn't get it out of my head. Designing a product in AutoCAD So I spent every weekend just researching, talking to people, going to stores and eventually harassed my husband into going to his office on weekends and working in AutoCAD to come up with the two lines that I have currently, which is the octopus and the fancy. Jillian Leslie 7:04 Okay. And what is AutoCAD just for the people who don't know. Nicole Ketchum 7:07 it is a computer-based software that allows you to design in 3D. And that is not my foray. I was able to sketch the idea but he took it and made it real. And then I think we must have done that for six months straight and eventually pulled the trigger and ordered a prototype through a company that I found on the internet. Then we got to see in real-time how that worked. Jillian Leslie 7:38 Okay. And was this a company in China? Was it here in the United States? Nicole Ketchum 7:42 It's in Las Vegas. They're such a great company. I worked with them when we made our Disney chandeliers. So then we realized that we had a product that actually worked and so I ordered two prototypes -- one for the octopus and one for the fancy. Then I basically, when I totally believed this and I push it all the time, it's fake it till you make it. Jillian Leslie 8:06 I love that. Nicole Ketchum 8:07 I changed the colors in Photoshop and pretended that I had a full catalog. Jillian Leslie 8:11 I love it. Love it. Love it. Nicole Ketchum 8:14 I didn't tell anybody. But I was like, whatever, what's going to happen? And nobody ever found out and people started ordering. I mean, of course, I changed the colors to reflect whatever the Las Vegas company had and then I would get an order and then I would place the order with them. And it was both time consuming and very expensive, but it was perfect for me to just start to see who my customer base was, who was ordering my product and what they were using it for. And that was really fascinating. Jillian Leslie 8:48 So what was your assumption going in? And then what did you start to learn based on what your customers were ordering? Nicole Ketchum 8:57 My assumption was that they were going to be like me, where they were just going to use it for maybe a holiday and it took on a life of its own. Getting your first order of a product you design My very first order was from Nordstrom for a party and they used it on the table. They didn't even hang it. And I was shocked and delighted, and I even asked them. They said that they were just perfect centerpieces. I was like "Oh, okay." It's not what I designed it for, but that's awesome. And then I noticed that party stylists, event planners, they got it immediately. I didn't have to explain to them at all. And I did have to explain to like the average person at home that was just looking at home decor. So I noticed there was just that interesting correlation and also a disconnect happening between where I thought they were going and where they were actually going. Jillian Leslie 9:55 Right. So it seems like more sophisticated designer-y people got it. Nicole Ketchum 10:00 Yes. Jillian Leslie 10:00 And moms might have needed more education. Is that true? Nicole Ketchum 10:04 Yes. Because they don't have lights. There is that learning curve. "What do you mean they don't have lights?" "Well, what do you do with it?" Whereas the party stylists and event planners were like, "Oh, yeah, I'm just gonna put this over a dessert table. Jillian Leslie 10:19 Okay. That's very interesting. So what is the price point right now, if I were to buy one? Nicole Ketchum 10:25 The price point for the octopus is $59.99. And the fancy is $69.99. And I have a limited edition gold that is new and one of a kind, and that is $89.99. Jillian Leslie 10:41 Got it. Now tell me, I remember this from our conversation. Somebody... it was Disney. Somebody like got it and was like, "We want to order this." Nicole Ketchum 10:50 Yes. I basically had my coaching call with you and the very next day, I got an email from Disney. I kid you not. It was insane and so exciting. And they found me on Pinterest. Yes. And I was like, "Score! I'm doing it right." And they asked me to make 21 custom chandeliers for a new store that was opening up for visual merchandising. And three different sizes. So it was imperative that I still had that Las Vegas connection. We made a 12 by 16, a 24 by 20, and a 40 by 60, which is huge. And 12 different colors. Jillian Leslie 11:37 Oh my god, okay. Nicole Ketchum 11:38 Yes. So that was awesome. And they had a very, very, very tight deadline. I totally met that deadline. Overextended myself, over delivered, and under charged them. And they were incredibly happy when I flew down in March to see them. So they ordered at the end of December, almost mid-December, and February 1 is when they needed it. Jillian Leslie 12:07 Oh, wow. Wow! But wait, wasn't there somebody else who had discovered them too? Maybe it was Nordstrom. I don't remember. Where you were like, "Ooh," like early traction? Nicole Ketchum 12:20 Yes. I've actually had a lot of different celebrities use them. Jillian Leslie 12:23 Okay, maybe that's what it is. Okay. Nicole Ketchum 12:25 Yeah, early traction would have been Nordstrom and then right after that Michael Buble's sister used them for a book party that she had written some children's books and bought a whole bunch. And then I got picked up by the Associated Press and then I went nationwide. And then I started getting orders from there and more traction. Outsourcing production to China -- how to do it? Jillian Leslie 12:47 Okay. So you were looking at then factories or outsourcing in China, that kind of thing? Nicole Ketchum 12:55 Yes. When I had spoken to you, I was still stuck on kind of a hump of how do I do my next inventory run. My first inventory run had been successful but the company then came back to me, which actually happens a lot, you can't order this amount. You have to order thousands And that's how they get you. And so I had to take a step back. And after Disney, I decided to go on Alibaba. com and just tell them exactly what I need as an RFP, and then have people just kind of send me their company information. Jillian Leslie 13:39 What's an RFP? Nicole Ketchum 13:41 A request for proposal. Jillian Leslie 13:43 Got it. So that means you're soliciting companies to say hey, "This is what I want to make. Can you do this? You know, a factory in China, come and tell me how much this would cost." Nicole Ketchum 13:55 Yes. Now, I want to preface that with when you have a product or you have proprietary information, and I have all my designs registered with the US government, I can't patent anything because the slot technology is not new. So I had to have them sign NDAs so that I could send them my CAD files that my husband had designed because that is your proprietary information and you should never give that out willingly. So they had approved that they knew what I was speaking about, what kind of product I needed beforehand. So there was a lot of back and forth of here's some pictures of my product and what have you done. And I eventually, surprisingly, to my delight, found the largest acrylic supplier in all of China who is my manufacturer. Jillian Leslie 14:48 Wow. And then did you have to place one of these gigantic orders? Nicole Ketchum 14:54 I did not. My first run back in 2014 was for 350 chandeliers. And this new company let me just place an order for 450, which maybe doesn't sound a lot to the average user. "Okay, you only jumped 100." But as far as money goes, it was a difference of $3600 to $8500. Plus shipping. Jillian Leslie 15:21 Wow. Were you able to order them in different colors like for your inventory? Nicole Ketchum 15:25 Well, that's where they get you too. If I could, I would have done a ton of colors. Because people ask me all the time, "How come you don't have other colors and another product?" but that's what I was given. So I had to order my bestseller, which is white, and a new one which I just had a gut instinct would do well based on I used to have a mirror chandelier that sold out super quick. So I ordered a gold. And that was $12,000. How to protect yourself from knock-offs in China? Jillian Leslie 15:56 Wow, wow, wow. And is there... because I've heard this, you come up with something and then somebody in China sees it and knocks it off. Do you have that concern or kind of how have you protected yourself? Nicole Ketchum 16:13 You know, initially I did, but... not to say that our files are complicated, but they are somewhat. And it's interesting to note as a side note, when we first designed the product, it was great but we did have some breakage. And my husband and I could not figure it out. And his brother is an engineer. And one night, he was looking at our chandelier and he was like, "All these points are pointed and they need to be curved." And we were like, "What?" And so that whole sort of cyclical thing with our design, I'm not afraid of China knocking me off because it's kind of intricate. And I say, if you want to, great, you know, I have the paper trail. You know, I'm not going to worry about it anymore. I did initially and I'm just really not going to be worried about it anymore. How to market your product Jillian Leslie 17:06 I love that. I love that. Okay, so let's talk about how you have gotten your product out there. So you build this product, by the way, you did something interesting, which is you built this on a hunch. Now, again, you seem to manage your downside risk, meaning you didn't order 5,000 of these to start and you started to see how people were using them so that it could inform you, or what colors people were interested in. So I love that strategy that you were kind of going piece by piece and I love that you change the colors on your website to see what people wanted without going out and, you know, buying all this inventory. Nicole Ketchum 17:46 Right. That's a mistake a lot of people make. Jillian Leslie 17:49 Two things that I have to give you props for. One is that you seem humble enough to know that you don't know all the answers. Like that you're working with your customers to figure out what they want rather than, "Oh, I know what they want." And two, that you are scrappy. Nicole Ketchum 18:15 Yes, I am. Jillian Leslie 18:16 Because when we talked and you were in that conundrum of, "What do I do? My company that I'm working with wants me to place this huge order, and that's a lot of money. And I don't want to take on that risk." And you solved it. Nicole Ketchum 18:33 Yeah, exactly. I was almost mad and so I took that anger. And I was like, you're not going to stop me. But they did stop me for a while, I did cry for a little while. And then I just got mad. And my husband and I are like, how are we going to pay for this, and we took out a home equity loan to pay for this run. But this run versus 25,000+ is more manageable over 30 years. I can do this, I can pay it off. And that's okay. That's debt that's manageable. And so yeah, I wasn't going to let them stop me. Jillian Leslie 19:11 I love that. Scrappy. Okay. So how did you start to get the message out that you made this product? You know, whether it'd be Instagram, email, what was your strategy? And what is your strategy? Nicole Ketchum 19:26 Well, initially, my strategy was I basically sent it to every blog I could possibly find back in 2014. And I got free press from Amy Atlas and Oh Joy pinned my octopus chandelier and it went crazy viral. Jillian Leslie 19:45 So wait, so you sent them a chandelier? Nicole Ketchum 19:48 I didn't send them a physical product, this is what's so awesome. I just sent them my website and I was like, This is new, you've never seen anything like this. If it interests you, could you write about it? Jillian Leslie 20:01 Good for you. Nicole Ketchum 20:02 I know. I don't think I could get away with that now. Jillian Leslie 20:05 Why? Nicole Ketchum 20:06 I think things have changed in four years. People are demanding product plus payment. And four years ago, they were like, "Sure." Jillian Leslie 20:14 Right. Content. It was like cool. Nicole Ketchum 20:18 Just to kind of like, yeah. And it was cool and I knew that, if anything, it's different and no one's seen it before so that had it going for it. So that's how it happened. It was just a lot of free press. And then I hit a wall after a couple years. People wanted a lot of product and a lot of money. But initially, that's how it got me started and that's how my customers heard of me. Jillian Leslie 20:46 Okay. And now then, how did you... again, this is very true to social media to what happens, which is trends come and go. You know, people see it, they love it. But then all of a sudden, that strategy doesn't work anymore. So then what did you do? Nicole Ketchum 21:03 I had a business mentor who I was stressing because I'm sure just like a lot of people, they look at Shark Tank and think that, "Oh, I'm not making a million dollars. I'm not successful." And I was stressing out bad and he was like, "Nicole, it's better to build as slow as you can and as thorough as you can versus run hot and disappear." Yeah, so I took it to heart and I decided to slow down. I had paid off my whole debt for my first run. It was going slow, but I was like, nobody knows that I'm here because press had died down like you had said, so I started building my Instagram out and it's been very slow. Building my Pinterest out. I was on Facebook for a while. I've now gotten off Facebook and just focusing on Pinterest and Instagram. And now I'm trying to build my email list. And really what I did about two years ago is I reached out to party stylists and bloggers and I said, "Here, I'm going to send you some free product. Could you just test it out and use it and maybe take a picture or two?" and it's been working great. Jillian Leslie 22:19 Really? Okay. Okay. Nicole Ketchum 22:22 And now, some of them are my friends and they really tell me what they think about them. And pretty much everyone, and I'm not tooting my own horn, I'm just saying that they love it. And they've been telling me what colors they wanted and how they were using it. And then they're giving me the photography, which as you know, photography is a lot of money. So I've been saving tons of money off of that and that's how I've been doing it. It's been super slow. But I finally sold out of the best seller and the mirrored one sold out super quick. And I started getting orders from like Sugarfina and other companies like that, and I couldn't fulfill the orders. And that's when I hit the wall and then talk to you and then decided to take out my loan and find another company. If I was on Shark Tank, they would be like, "See you later because you're growing too slow at four years," but I feel like I'm finally gaining some important traction and Disney has been able to kind of give me that tailwind that I need to keep going basically. They validated me. And, you know, I'll go to my grave just being so happy about that. Thinking about the mom market to get your product out there Jillian Leslie 23:41 That's so great. Have you thought about the mom market, reaching out to mom influencers? Nicole Ketchum 23:51 Yes. I have done that in the past and I've even run contests. And I've been in, I don't know, 5 or 10 national magazines and done contests as well. And that's worked okay. But just so people know, just because you get press in a magazine doesn't equal sales. In fact, it's a misnomer and it usually doesn't equal sales. Unless you're in Oprah. And that's not happening as much anymore. Jillian Leslie 24:24 Right. And also then what you want is to be in a magazine and have them link to you in their digital form so that you can get some SEO juice. Nicole Ketchum 24:34 Yes, I recently linked with Life & Style magazine and J-14 magazine and did a contest for one of my octopuses. And it was the largest contest they ever had. There was 24,000 entries for this and they wouldn't share any of the information with me. So, yeah. So that was a good learning experience. A, it showed me people are probably interested in free product but also that there was interest in my product. And B, I have to figure out at some point down the road, more of a marketing budget for that sort of thing. And also taking out the HELOC loan last year for the inventory, we decided to jump off the cliff. And my husband and I were like, we're just going for it, guns blazing. We're going to try everything. And we hired a company that is like a Shark Tank company, so they are going to be working with me to kind of shrink my chandeliers, repackage them, approach buyers, and also kind of help me get into that mom market that seems to be pretty hard for me to get into. Jillian Leslie 25:50 Got it. Now what about though trying to get into Michaels or trying to get into boutiques? Nicole Ketchum 25:59 Yes. In its current form, they're 24 by 20, and the box is huge and it's not made for retail. I was recently on a website called Fair and basically,it's trying to be a middleman and knock out trade shows. So buyers would go in, look, buy your product and then test it out in their stores. And I was getting a lot of buyers. But they were saying, "Well, how do we put this in the stores?" And I was like, "Exactly." Jillian Leslie 26:35 What do you mean? You mean to put it on the shelf it's too big? Nicole Ketchum 26:39 Yeah, right. Jillian Leslie 26:40 The actual box is too big? Nicole Ketchum 26:43 Yes. If they wanted to use it for visual merchandising, that's cool and that's fine. They should buy it at a full price and not wholesale. So that told me that my direction, I stopped selling on there and I pivoted with this company. And they're going to shrink it to down to like, I think we're going to shrink it down to like 12 by 16 or maybe even smaller. So that it won't have the giant glorious impact it has now, but those are mainly used by party stylists and wedding planners. So the littler ones will be good for the little girls, teenagers, college students, moms. And I want to be able to have them packaged so they can slide right into the stores. And yes, we have a whole target market that we're looking at. Michaels. Target. Hasbro. Hasbro is actually in Rhode Island and my goal is to get a face-to-face meeting with them and talk about designing some princess chandeliers for them. Jillian Leslie 27:53 Oh, my god. Yes. Yes. And I feel like also somehow with Disney and all of their, you know, all that they do in terms of merchandising. Nicole Ketchum 28:02 I know. I recently reached out to my contact there and we left on perfect terms. They were very happy with me. But he also had let me know when they were there that they work at a crazy cycle. They used to work at 90 to 120 days and now they're working 30 days for a project and he can't even see straight. So he never got back to me and I don't want to bother him right now because I don't want to ruin that relationship. So I'm thinking when I rebrand and repackage because I'll be changing the name of my company too. Jillian Leslie 28:38 From what to what? Do you know? Nicole Ketchum 28:40 Yes. I just talked to the company today. So Chandelier by NK doesn't work for me because it has my initials and I want to move past just designing chandeliers. And it was hard for some people even in my Instagram like to look at it and get what it was. Not my pictures but just my handle. So we decided on Hey Girl Decor. Jillian Leslie 29:08 I like that. Nicole Ketchum 29:11 And I haven't come up with a tagline yet. Something like "modern and colorful" or something. That series or something like that. I have a trademark attorney looking now. There are several companies with the 'Hey Girl' name, but they are like tea, jewelry, a nonprofit. So nothing in the sphere I'm in. Jillian Leslie 29:30 Got it. And is that your vision? Is your vision to build out new products? Are you working on new products? In your mind are you designing them? Like, what are you thinking? Nicole Ketchum 29:42 Yes, I designed a heart chandelier. Well, it's basically just a hanging heart that slots in two. I wouldn't really call it a chandelier. And I've been dying to get that out and I've had some people buy it just on the side. And they love it. And that's the other thing that I want to impart to anyone that takes a company and is making a product. Sometimes I'll see people and they're cranking out a product, A, I don't know how they're doing that because that costs a lot of money. They must have like a slush fund or something. But in reality, I've had to take a huge step back based on, you know, monetary budget. And so I'm hoping that I can get the heart out in the next year. And yeah, I have a ton of ideas that I've had to basically shelf because I just can't do them, I can't afford to do them right now. Jillian Leslie 30:39 So what is your advice to somebody who says, "I have this great idea for a product" and they see companies like Warby Parker or, you know, these direct to consumer brands that have, you know, some sort of interesting story behind them like Away luggage. Or just even these like, I just bought a bra from a company, I forgot even the name but it's like, you know, designed by women and, you know, selling them. Everlane, those kinds of things. Like you've got this vision. And what is your advice to those people? Nicole Ketchum 31:16 I would say, go for it. And make sure that you love your product, know your product, know where your product fits, and who your potential market is. And then just go for it. Jillian Leslie 31:32 Really? Nicole Ketchum 31:34 And don't worry, just like I've had to go slower than I wanted and I'm an impatient type A person, I'd say slower is better. The tortoise does win the, you know. Jillian Leslie 31:47 Win at the end, yes. Win the race. Nicole Ketchum 31:48 Win at the end. Give yourself that grace to realize that it's not a straight arrow shot that just when you think you've climbed the hill, you are back down that hill. But don't give up. And if you hear any of those stories of the two guys that built Warby Parker or the Away luggage, they also struggled and had to raise funds and didn't know if they were going to be able to pay everybody. And then they hit their hump and they got over it. And so I would say just get that in your mind that not that it's going to be hard or easy. Just that you have to be focused. Jillian Leslie 32:32 Right. And you have to, just what you said, love your product because it's not... It can't be about the goal. Or it can't be about like, you know, making this huge. successful company. Nicole Ketchum 32:46 Correct. Jillian Leslie 32:46 It's the long slog. Nicole Ketchum 32:49 Yes. That's perfect, Jillian. That's so perfect. Yeah, it is a long slog. And you have to love it because there's been times that I wanted to give up but it wouldn't let me basically. Jillian Leslie 33:02 That's so interesting. Now, do you sell on Instagram? Nicole Ketchum 33:09 I am working with, well, let's see. I lay out my Instagram on Planoly. It looks like Planoly has a way that I can link my shop. But because I'm not on Facebook, I'm actually kind of punished for that and I can't put my prices on there. Jillian Leslie 33:24 On to your Instagram? Nicole Ketchum 33:26 Yeah. Squarespace is my website provide and they'll work with, you know, and Facebook owns Instagram. So there's all that. But yeah, that's what I would like to do. Some people, I do get customers from Instagram. But mainly my customers are either finding me online or buying through. I just got on Wayfair so they're buying through Wayfair or Houzz or AHAlife. And that's how I'm selling too. Selling your product on Amazon Jillian Leslie 33:57 And do you sell on Amazon? Nicole Ketchum 33:59 That is what my company that I just hired is going to be doing next for me. I tried to do it on my own and what ended up happening is some of my vendors threw my stuff up there without asking me. And then when I went to approach Amazon about selling, they're like, "Well, you're already on there and who are you?" And they're just giving me the worst time. So I'm having my company represent me to go forward getting me on there. Jillian Leslie 34:27 Got it. And have you ever explored Etsy? Exploring Etsy as a selling platform Nicole Ketchum 34:33 That's so funny. Yeah, my brother-in-law even worked for Etsy when I was having trouble. They were absolutely horrible to me. Jillian Leslie 34:41 Why? Nicole Ketchum 34:43 I went on there and they were like, "Well, you're not handmade." And I said I understand that. Then they had the wholesale, the Etsy wholesale, and I approached them for that. And they said, "Sure, send me all of your proprietary information, plus all of your manufacturing." And I was like, "Well, I can send you everything from my manufacturer." Like documents, logs, pictures, you know, everything that's proving that they are there, they are watching the workers. There's nothing illegal, or, you know, like a sweatshop about it. And that wasn't good enough for them. They wanted my CAD files. And I said absolutely not, and they wouldn't let me on. Jillian Leslie 35:25 That's so interesting. But now though, I feel like Etsy will let people with goods from China, for example, sell that it's no longer as handmade as it used to be. Nicole Ketchum 35:37 Oh, I agree. I thought that that was quite ironic and troubling to me that there were tons of China knockoffs and other things on there and they were giving me the hardest time and my brother in law worked for Etsy corporate. Wow. Okay. And they told me to never asked them again. Seriously, because I was gonna say, go back to them. Yeah, I mean, I don't know, maybe, maybe I can. But I got an email like a year ago. And they're like, you better not even think about asking us to get on and I was like, are you harassing me? Yeah, I don't know what happened. But Etsy wholesale failed. So maybe those people are gone. I don't know. Jillian Leslie 36:17 Okay. So now what is your kind of like, it sounds like building a product is I mean, building a physical product, not a virtual product is a lot of pushing the rock up the hill. How not to get taken advantage of building your own product Nicole Ketchum 36:31 It is and you need to arm yourself with as much information as you possibly can. Because anyone and everyone can take advantage of you. And I don't mean that in a bad way. And I'm not knocking China because everyone I've worked for in China has been wonderful and kind and hardworking. But the more you know about your own product, and that includes materials, how it's made your your files, the better, you are able to push that rock up the hill. Sign up for MiloTree and get added to my "Actionable Business Tips" email newsletter Jillian Leslie 37:04 If you want to get weekly business tips. Small digestible business tips, head to military. com, sign up for an account, you get your first 30 days free. And you also get added to my email list. Each week, I send a little nugget that will help you move your business forward. These are tips and tricks we've used to grow our two successful businesses. And now back to the show. Mistakes made building a product So what mistakes did you make the you would say, Oh, don't do this. Nicole Ketchum 37:38 Um, yeah, tons. Let me say, not knowing enough about acrylic. Jillian Leslie 37:49 Okay. The actual material. Unknown 37:50 Right? I'm not really the first time not the second time asking them point blank. What reorder number do you need? Nicole Ketchum 38:02 And what is acceptable to you? I'm finding out what would you have done differently? Unknown 38:11 I probably wouldn't have used them. Okay. Yeah, basically, they were a middleman. The owner is an American citizen who lives in Berkeley and owned a manufacturing company in China. And that China company also was like a middleman for because they have to source the acrylic, they have to source the crystal that I put in the middle of the fancy chandelier. The they have to source the S hooks and everything has to be sourced. Okay, um, and then they send those things to you. And then you look at it and they you say yes or no, this isn't fitting what I envision and I didn't know enough back then. So when I approached this second manufacturer, this time around, I had already my source all the materials from China and gotten it. Okay, so I knew exactly what it was. Yep. And I mailed them a sample, which I didn't do the first time. Okay, I mailed the sample of what my box look like, what the phone that holds a chandelier looks like what the shadow looks like, the accessories for the chandelier so that they would not mess up at all open. It was perfect. Jillian Leslie 39:26 Got it. Now, do you know other people like you who are creating products? Nicole Ketchum 39:33 Um, no. Jillian Leslie 39:35 Okay, to say it's like, I feel like other people are probably going through a lot of the same stuff. Nicole Ketchum 39:44 You know, it's been really frustrating for me, because I've joined a couple mastermind groups and everyone's either doing stationery and I'm not knocking any of that. I'm just saying they're doing like paper goods or, you know, other things that I'm not doing. And I at the level of I'm at, I need to find women or men that are already above me making more money and are where I want to be. And I haven't been able to, to find that and I need that so desperately that that camaraderie and that like ability to say, Hey, you know, I need to source this, or did you did you find I had I just had someone approached me who makes acrylic jewelry. And she's like, Are you okay, giving me that information? I was like, absolutely. Because it does nobody good for you to hold all of your sources close to your chest. You're just being selfish. And I don't believe in that kind of world. So I gave her my manufacturing contacts. Okay. I wouldn't do that. If, like some, if I'm teaching a class. I'm not going to give that to everyone, unless they pay for it. But because she was already making product, right? And was having trouble sourcing and acrylic. I gave that to her. Right. But I need that kind of, I don't know, I need to find people like that. And I'm having the hardest time that's so interesting. It's lonely, right? Jillian Leslie 41:17 Oh, I was just, I just recorded another podcast. And we were talking about that exact same thing, really general about being an entrepreneur that, you know, it's like, it's like the other moms at your kids school don't know what you do. And they don't quite understand it. And it can be it's a lot of you at a computer, right? And it can be lonely. And that's honestly one of the reasons why I wanted to do this podcast because I wanted entrepreneurs to share the truth about their lives, and to talk about struggles as well as the successes. But it's so easy on Instagram to see everybody's perfect life. Exactly. And it's not like that. But the reality is, it's the long slog. right? 42:06 It is and I've challenged myself, one of the things that I did get away from the mastermind group I was in is that I challengde myself to take behind the scenes video. So this morning, I went down to my basement. It's so glamorous, right? Show my inventory, right? Here it is, when you place an order, I go down to my large basement, and I get a box and I bring it to FedEx ups, or the post office, right, and I drop ship, but you don't see all the stuff I had to do to get to that point, or the money I had to spend, right. But here it is. And I'm trying to do that. Because people are like, "Well, can you get it in a pastel pink?" And or can you just do this? And I'm like, that's great. But I can't because I don't own a giant laser printer. Right. And cutter that I can put so right. Going to China to build your product Jillian Leslie 42:54 Right. Now, what about though either like, have you thought about going to China? Does that make any sense? Unknown 43:02 Yes, I would. That is one of my dreams is to to keep my manufacturer that I currently have and build a great relationship with them and go over there. Definitely. Jillian Leslie 43:15 And what would going over there give you? What's the benefit? Nicole Ketchum  43:20 Just seeing your product made in front of your eyes versus just having to do everything over the computer. And we used to do late night Skype sessions, right. As the time difference. Yep. Hmm. And they even walk me around the factory with their phone. So I could see that it was indeed a good place to do business with that would give me I don't know more. I'm not confidence. I don't know what the word is. Um, I would just feel more ingrained with my product. There's a little bit of me being removed. Jillian Leslie 43:53 I get it. Now. What about you investing in of laser cutter? Nicole Ketchum 43:58 I looked at a GlowGorage and that's something that I could probably use to make small products like, Yeah, but there I think their capability is like, till, like, 212 or something. Okay. Um, we looked, my husband and I, before we, we took the loan at, we looked at taking a loan out for a laser cutter, and even just making them smaller, we would still need a giant size and you and I live in the northeast, you can't put it in the basement, it would seize up and freeze. So and there's no room. Yep, yep. Yeah, so we definitely, he's, since he's a designer, he was able to, like, approach it. He builds dorms for colleges, so he was able to approach it with a very pragmatic, right, and he was like, you're just gonna have to go through China again. And I was like, you're right. So Wow. Nicole Ketchum 44:48 Yeah. Well, I guess Yes. Nicole Ketchum 44:50 Oh, I was gonna say the company that I had I hired and, and I don't mind saying what, what company is, it's called idea buyer. And they're out of Columbus, Ohio, okay. They have their own manufacturing firm in China. And if things are successful with them, which I hope they will be, I could probably do a trip with them to go and see. Teaching other entrepreneurs about product design Nicole Ketchum 45:13 Yes, I eventually, along with having passion for home decor, and, and the stuff that I'm designing. I eventually want to teach other entrepreneurs. This, I discovered that I'm equally as passionate about that. And because I'm lonely, assuming other people are lonely. So I want to take the charge and lead because I am not seeing anybody really doing that. Jillian Leslie 45:36 Okay. So if you're interested in products, reach out, reach out to Nicole. Nicole Ketchum 45:41 Yes. Or go to the all conference. Jillian Leslie 45:43 Oh, yeah. So yeah, so let's talk about that. Okay. Well, first of all, what are you most excited about right now in your business. Nicole Ketchum 45:52 The possibilities with the company that I hired and with the connections that I hope to make it all conference and just the knowledge that I have, I have new inventory, new ways to sell it. Getting on Wayfare took four months. That was a big slog, and that's super exciting. I hope to be successful with them. So that's, that's what I'm excited about. Jillian Leslie 46:18 Okay, so we are both going to be at AltSummit in March. I am going to be talking about how to start a podcast in a weekend. This is my first time at AltSummer. And I had Gabby Blair on the podcast, you know, who is Design Mom and is one of the founders of AltSummit. And, you know, she said, definitely apply and I applied and so there, there I am, and you're going to be a resident to explain expert. Nicole Ketchum 46:51 Yes, I'll be a resident expert. At some point, I actually reached out to to Gabby, just saying, hey, do you guys need some of my chandeliers like over a table. It doesn't even have to be my table just for glitz and glam. And what did she say? I haven't heard back from her. But I'm pretty sure she's pretty busy. Yeah, okay. And one of my good friends. Olivia has been there several times and, and has worked in various ways with them. So I can always just ask her to how do I do that? Jillian Leslie 47:27 Right. And if if anybody in the audience is looking for a very cool design element in their house, or for a party or for their kids room, I love one for my daughter's bedroom. Definitely check out Nicole's product because they are super cool, beautiful, you know, they're very glitz and glam. That's what I would say. Yeah. And modern. Nicole Ketchum 47:49 Yes. Thank you. Appreciate that. Jillian Leslie 47:50 Definitely. Okay. So how can people reach out to you and you know, find out what you're doing connection with you and like pick your brain. Nicole Ketchum 48:01 They can always go to my website. It's for now. It's ChandelierbyNK.com. Or you can go to Instagram and look up chandelierbynk is the handle. You can just email me at Nicole@chandelierbynk.com or DM me on Instagram and I'll get right back to you. Jillian Leslie 48:22 I love it. Well, Nicole, I am again really impressed with your journey. And thank you so much for being on the show. Nicole Ketchum 48:01 Thank you Julian. I appreciate it. I look forward to seeing you in March. Jillian Leslie 48:22 If you're enjoying The Blogger Genius Podcast, please subscribe, leave a comment on iTune, rate us, share it with your friends, email me at jillian@milotree.com and I will see you again here next week.  

If you ve ever looked at something in a store and weren t sure whether to buy it or not, apparently the question you are subconsciously trying to answer is, "Is this me " According to artist Rebecca Rebouche, that s the central question in all of our lives in the way we relate to art. How that art gets created is a whole other question. In Rebecca s method, the path from the real world to an image living inside a frame can come from a sliver of nature or the crushing heartache caused by finding out that a total stranger guy you ve been looking at across the room in bar has a girlfriend. Jerry Resse II totally agrees with Rebecca. In Jerry s opinion the heartache of unrequited imaginary love is just as crushing as the real thing. Jerry has his sights set on sports broadcasting or politics but in the meantime he s more than happy to be setting up Dat Dog franchises around the country. If you re interested in making a boatload of money from selling Dat Dogs, look Jerry up. Tell em Happy Hour sent you. Jack Miele might be the most successful New Orleanian entertainer you don t know. What you may have thought was a fun gig playing the part of Randi Wilde, the Devo lookalike singer and guitar player in the band The Molly Ringwalds, is actually serious touring band big business complete with lawyers, managers and tour buses. Despite The Molly s being a full time gig, the kicker is that it s just the tip of the iceberg of Jack s professional career which includes writing and recording Grammy and Emmy winning music. This is one of those typically surprising New Orleans conversations where you discover that the 3 perfectly normal and unassuming people you happen to sitting at the bar with wrote the music on the TV show you love, designed the pattern that s on the sheets you re sleeping on that you bought at Anthropologie, and run the business at the place you ate at last night. Photos at Wayfare by Alison Moon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Cornell roboticist and biolocomotion expert Andy Ruina decided to come to New Orleans for a physics conference he didn t plan on walking into a bar to prepare for his lecture on the physics of the self propelled bicycle and end up being suckered into a podcast conversation with a bunch of yahoos. But thanks to the evil of cocktails we now all get to learn about the physical principles behind pushing a riderless bike across a parking lot. Johnette Downing also gives us an education. You too can learn to build a poboy the way the kids in Kuwait do it. Johnette is the internatonal musical children s ambassador, or children s international ambassador of music or something similar that s harder to remember after a few drinks but whatever her title, Johnette has a charismatic and captivating way of getting your attention, and songwriting skills that create simple melodies that are deceptively catchy. After you ve heard the poboy song try getting it out of your head. Chris Klein is trying to get his music out of his head. In his series of videos with his band Chris Klein and the Boulevards, he creates what are essentially movies that are smart and sizzling. You could be the 60th person in the world to see them if you act quickly. Chris also talks tattoos he s a professional tattoo artist and even though you probably think you can imagine the crazy stuff people let a tattoo artist put on their body, you still won t believe what Chris has got to say about that. Thomas Mattera is not only the tallest guy who has ever been on Happy Hour he s also the only guest who rode his bike across the USA, twice, and lived in Nepal. If you had to be trapped on a desert island with only one other person and you could choose anybody in the world, Thomas would be a wise choice. Especially if you need to rustle up Mexican food in the middle of nowhere or build a house. Andrew Duhon cements in place the first track off his new album, "It s Alright Johnette, Leave It There" maybe not the final title . Photos at Wayfare by Alison Moon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The first thing you notice about A F The Naysayer is that he is totally mucus free. Okay, you might notice that he s tall and striking, with a head of dreadlocks but you ll find out in this conversation why he looks so healthy and how he lost somewhere between 8 and 80 pounds. Closer to 80. It all goes back to 1912 and a mucus free diet. Keith Spera is the music writer for The Advocate. As you might imagine, it s a gig that gives you a lot of nights out. Of all the memories Keith could have dredged up over cocktails, how about the night he spent with Master P in P s Beverly Hills hacienda And then there s the menories of Mo B. Dick. Though after P moved to Baton Rouge with his entire crew that may have become Meaux B Dick. The sure way to be the most popular person in just about any room is to give away free booze. Stacy Johnson is the tasting room manager at Celebration Distillation, where they make Old New Orleans Rum. Stacy spends all day giving away free drinks and concocting new cocktails, and on this show she plies everybody with extraordinary high octane and delicious rum as well as a bottle of jet fuel known as Gingeroo. This rum infused conversation darts around all over the map, from the perils of dating drummers to the lure of Missoula Montana, and a hundred stops in between. Photos at Wayfare by Alison Moon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you ever wondered what happened to Carina Nathan she s now Kevin Simons. And Karen Regis. And Crystal Sedona. And Chi Chi the lead singer of the Girl Dogs, who is actually a dog. Katrina Brees sheds some light on this fantastic array of personalities, and their wardrobes. Tank from Tank and the Bangas has her own specialty wardrobe and range of personas too. Her wardrobe doesn t extend to panties which she has given up wearing but she does occasionally wear boy shorts to boost her booty. Her personas start out with Terianne Michelle Ball in New Orleans East and extend to the woman sorting through damaged goods on aisle 4 at Walmart. Norman Spence and Merell Burket from Tank s band, Tank and the Bangas, join the party but strictly under their own names. Ricky Leman s alter ego is Frederick, his real name. Ricky could have gone with alter ego 2, Fred, but he s keeping it real, pleading "the fifth" on a range of issues. All photos on this page were taken by sunny Alison Moon at Wayfare. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kate Wright is a romance novelist. If you read romance novels you ve never heard of her. But there s a good chance you ve heard of Vivian Wood, Kate s pen name created by the way by a "mellow yat guy" . Vivian is the creator of a range of titles like "Noah s Revelation," "Gavin s Salvation," and "Taken By The Pack." These novels and novellas mostly feature covers of men who are "ripped" but not necessarily "driven" or "got their sh t together" which is the kind of guy Kate not Vivian is looking for. If you ve ever wondered it might be like spending all day every day in a sex fantasy, Kate like Noah has some revelations. And if you re wondering what men say to an erotic novelist and what kind of insight Kate has gotten about what men and women really want listen up. Alex McConduit is going straight home from this conversation to take a nap with Kate or alone at the time of writing was TBD then get up and launch his career as an erotic novelist under the name Chuck Wood. In his more sedate real life Alex is a children s novelist, author of the popular The Little Who Dat, Who Didn t. Alex s latest title, Snowballs For All is published by prestigious Pelican and is taking Alex around the world with his trumpet. Alex is planning on changing careers to become a jazz musician in about 22 years. In preparation he has quit listening to music with words and has for the first time heard of David Bowie. True story. Josh Ray from the band Hazy Ray shows up at Happy Hour with his guitar, his wife, and his 18 day old daughter, Evangelina Grace. Yes, 18 day old. As the new dad of a daughter Josh is suddenly looking at the implications of female fantasies from a whole new angle. To celebrate the occasion Josh sings a song he has been working on very intermittently for the better part of 16 years, called Just Good Sex. This is one of the most educational and informative conversations you will ever overhear in a bar anywhere, though your definitions of "educational" and "informative" have to run fairly wide of the traditional meanings of information and education. Perhaps "revealing" would be a better word choice, but we ll leave that up to the novelists. Photos at Wayfare by Alison Moon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hugo Montero is the impressario behind the art space, hip Mexican restaurant and sophisto tequila bar Casa Borrerga on OCH in Central City New Orleans. The reason the place is a joyful and riotous success on many levels is a direct reflection of Hugo s larger than life personality and intellect. Hugo started out as an intellectual and academic, spent time as a street artist, and has been a part of the New Orleans cultural scene since the early 90 s. Even pre dating the arrival of Titty Bingo, as he relates in this series of tales that include interesting observations of our steretypes about Mexicans and Mexican restaurants that you may not realize you harbor till you hear it laid out. Hugo s reference to the Titty Bingo days of yore spring from the experiences of Darcy Malone and The Tangle. No strangers to music individually Darcy has sung since childhood with her dad Dave Malone of Radiators fame this is the first go round for the band as a collective. With their new record, Still Life, out any minute the band has some decisions to make. Spotify Yes or no Their Solomonic answer might presage a new wave of music marketing. Andrew Duhon enlists Senor Montero to accompany him on a brand new song about a girl from Plaquemines Parish. From Plaquemines, takes a trip to Aziza Bayou. Don t look for that on a map, you won t find it. Aziza Bayou is not a place, it s a person. Aziza is an anthropologist who manages in a few well chosen sentences to explain the absolute insignificance of the cultural evolution of Facebook, Twitter, and the kids today. Photos at Wayfare by Alison Moon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An award winning Happy Hour ... Guy Tem is an award winning opera singer and vocal professor who came to New Orleans from Turkey in 2007 to sing in an opera and never left. Guy teaches the table how to tell a man s singing voice by looking at his neck...then "swings low" with a stirring a cappella rendition of the spiritual that nearly blows out the mics. David Lee Simmons is an award winning journalist and communications professional. As communications specialist for the Foundation for Louisiana, David Lee wants us to know about the Foundation s LEAD program, a seven week leadership workshop accepting registration for its next cycle through Friday, Feb. 10. David Lee also came to New Orleans as a visitor and never left...except for the Atlanta years, which he says gives him a unique empathy for the Falcons. Outlaw Nation is a soon to be award winning New Orleans band whose founder Christian Simeon claims most of the best music ever came out of New Orleans. Christian and co guitarist Sebastian Weston serve up three tunes so infectious you ll need a shot. Andrew Duhon says he s stuck for an album title and asks Christian to name Outlaw Nation s top 10 for inspiration. The winner "Greatest Misses." Stay tuned. Rich Collins of The Imagination Movers hosts for Grant ... and tells our favorite story about the home delivered underpants. Photos at Wayfare by Catherine King. Adam s Apple cover art Adam s Apple censored by Mark Satchwill See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What do you call a jam cruise that doesn t have a jam band, but does have a funny poignant singer songwriter, a 5 string bass player bandleader, a solo act, and an artist In other words, the three musicians and an artist who walked in to Wayfare for this week s Happy Hour. While the panel never quite comes to an answer, they do make the case that no matter what form their work takes, New Orleans artists have a lot in common. Anastasia Pelias is a visual artist whose most recent exhibition, Sisters, paid tribute to great female singers. Her favorite critique came from the cable guy, who talked for 20 minutes about her work. And don t mess with her daughters Anastasia is of Greek heritage and warns the New Orleans Greek community is "a powerful association." Musician Davis Rogan knows a fair bit about New Orleans Greeks he s married to one. Davis says he got his start in entertainment reading PSAs about VD on WTUL at the age of 10, and decided to become a musician when he "wrote some funny words and then picked up a little piano." These days he handles all talent booking for the newly renovated Carver Theater. One of the acts Davis is looking to book is Naughty Professor, one of Noah Young s many musical projects. Noah is a 5 string bass player who came to New Orleans by way of Vermont to study jazz at Loyola University, where Naughty Professor got its name from a hot teacher. Noah has just released a CD with his own group, the less imaginatively named Noah Young Band. Andrew Duhon who is performing under the name Andrew Duhon until he thinks of something more clever is back in the co pilot s chair. Andrew discusses jam cruises and suggests Naughty Professor should get a cruise gig, leading to speculation about what a cruise featuring this week s Happy Hour would be called. Pinch hitting for Grant is Peter Ricchiuti, the host of another It s New Orleans podcast, Out to Lunch. Peter also teaches at Tulane s business school, and after 30 years in academia says what he really wants to be is a naughty professor. He leads the group in an insightful conversation about what it s like to be an artist in New Orleans. Photos at Wayfare by Catherine King. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Colby Fox had the benefit of growing up in paradise Destin, Florida. But when he flunked out of community college and joined the Navy, his ex military Army dad wasn t terribly supportive. He told Colby, he d rather have a daughter in a cathouse than a son in the Navy. Colby nonetheless persevered and won the old man over with his skills as a helicopter mechanic in the Arabian Gulf. When the war was over Destin wasn t much fun. So Colby decided he had to move, to some place he could get on one tank of gas. Tallahassee or New Orleans. Colby " I didn t know much about day to day life in either of those places but I was learning lots of surprising things from all the podcasts I was finding on the Stitcher app on my phone. I couldn t find many local flavor podcasts about Tallahassee but the It s New Orleans series was available then and I immersed myself in all the episodes. Happy Hour became my favorite because I really liked the premise. On nights when I couldn t sleep which were many back then I would charge up my phone and walk down the beach, an episode in one direction then turn around and listen to another episode on my way home. I liked listening to Grant and Andrew talk to people who seemed as though they were ordinary New Orleanians but from what I was hearing, sounded like extraordinary people. I decided that I wanted to come live in a city that seemed to be so full of character. So I did. The next pay day I drove to my friend s house in Algiers Point and things got a lot better for me." Katie Brasted is doing what she can to save New Orleans. Katie is Executive Director of Woodlands Conservancy, the last remaining 25 of New Orleans wetlands that acts as a barrier between hurricanes and destruction. Before that Katie worked with schizophrenics in a mental institution in West Virginia. That s where she met her husband. Khris Royal drops by, taking a break from working with his band Dark Matter on new tunes for an album due out later this year. We take a sneak preview of a track called Step Children, partially inspired by jazz orphans and weed. Andrew Duhon plays a track from his forthcoming album by request from Colby. Photos at Wayfare by Catherine King. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apparently women find men who allegedly shoot people, up to three times more attractive than peace loving guys. As a defense attorney Nandi Campbell finds herself representing these guys. Sometimes they don t have the resources to pay a first class defense attorney like Nandi and so the wife, the girlfriend and the other girlfriend come into Nandi s office to sort it out. Nandi is no stranger to the multiple partner world, having grown up with two sisters mere months apart, thanks to her dad and his two girlfriends. All three women and three sisters grew up together and still get along just fine. Brian Levy, who by the way is a black belt professional Aikido practitioner and trainer, had a related but dissimilar experience. In the process of dating two very different women Brian got to learn two languages. That s because one of the girlfriends was Swedish and the other Romanian. If you can t even believe such a thing is possible, take a listen to Brian speaking fluent Romanian and Swedish and explaining the Swedish marital common law that can see a guy get just screwed as the the world of US monogamy. Jeff Schmidtke knows something about post nuptial agreements, which can apparently get you out of being destroyed in a divorce if you and your spouse have agreed ahead of time, but still after you got married, that it s totally cool to date other people. There are apparently a number of ways you can structure a relationship these days, and they re pretty much all represented around the table here at Happy Hour. Meanwhile, in the normally more "truculent" and "bellicose" 10 bonus points if you have a single clue what that means world of rock n roll, folk and psyche pop, Jeff premieres dazzling brand new music off the new album from his band, Shadow Brother, and Andrew Duhon premieres a song he wrote just hours earlier about nostalgia for the warmth of monogamy in jail. This is an absolute classic New Orleans conversation, a must listen Happy Hour. Photos at Wayfare by Catherine King. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Getting strep throat when someone you know gives a third person oral sex sounds like a magic trick. Unfortunately, for Eric Hollerbach, it wasn t. Part of Eric s stand up comedy livelihood is his popular and revealing podcast Highway Diary. You can check out episode 160 where he and his ex ex girlfriend reminisce over the many issues that drove them apart. Until you have a moment to do that, you can catch up on the decidedly non magic pathology of passing diseases around the world of New Orleans entertainment. Rev Goat Carson is a whole other kind of entertainer. Claiming to have Alzheimer s, he manages to pull off a dazzling rap that he performed with Dr. John when he was writing songs with him which earned him a Grammy. Goat also recounts his adventures with a panoply of luminaries from Bob Dylan to Kinky Friedman, and recounts his run for President with Joe Walsh from The Eagles as his running mate. In a range of amazing tales, nothing is quite as stupendous as the movie Goat wrote and directed in the 80 s starring the great grandfather of rap, Melle Mel, Step Off. The sci fi thriller foretells the destruction of the Twin Towers in Manhattan, and is only now seeing the light of day with performances in New Orleans. Sharks Teeth is a band that you might not immediately peg as New Orleanian. Their many recordings are electronic and synth laden but as their performance on Happy Hour proves they are equally at home with acoustic guitars and a snare drum with a rag over it. Tyler Scurlock, Zach Meredith and Spencer Darr turn in an impressive two song set before making a case for dropping out of school and bringing back the audio cassette. Andrew Duhon returns from Canada with a new song about The soul of the Mississippi. Photos at Wayfare by Dionne Grayson. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.