The Kyle Thiermann Show

Manu Koenig serves as First District Supervisor for Santa Cruz County. Prior to his election to the Board, Manu worked for several technology startups including Paystand in Scotts Valley and Civinomics, where he was co-founder and CEO. The local startup created an app for citizens to propose and vote on new policy online. It also conducted polling and survey research for local governments througho...

James Arthur ( @JamesArthurFoto ) began his journey with regenerative aquaculture as a teenager volunteering at the Nature Interpretive Center in Southern California where he got first hand experience with a steelhead trout breeding and hatchery program.  For the past ten years he lived aboard and sailed around the Pacific from San Francisco to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. Throughout that ti...

At eight, Coco Nogales sold gum on the street in Mexico City. He was a runaway, sleeping in bushes and bus stops, and if the police caught him, they would throw him in a juvenile detention center, so he hid at night and worked on the streets to survive. Eventually, he had enough money to buy a bus ticket to Puerto Escondido, a small town with one of the most dangerous big waves on the planet. The...

I met Ben Moon years back at Burning Man. He was carrying a five-gallon bottle of urine, and I was not entirely sober. Since then, I’ve admired his work from respectful a distance, (his IG is worth a stalk). I was very grateful to cross paths with him again for this podcast. This time, he held a kombucha and I was reasonably sober. Ben is an adventure, lifestyle, and portrait photographer whose vi...

As one of the leading players in the revival of paddle-in surfing in giant conditions, Kohl Christensen spends much of his time tracking swells and testing new board designs at some of the most dangerous waves on the planet. An erudite and well-read man with a keenly unique perspective, he explores the world as Hunter Thompson may have, had he surfed. Kohl has lived all over the world, including a...

Lee Povey is the Founder of Maximize Your Potential Coaching. As an executive coach, he works with ambitious brands to help them upgrade their emotional software. To see problems differently. Because in business, growing pains are not limited to financial or structural. They are also emotional and spiritual. That’s where Lee comes in. Back when I worked as Senior Copywriter at MUD\WTR, Lee worked...

You know him. As a professional big-wave surfer, spearfisherman, bow hunter, filmmaker, and part-time Hollywood stuntman, Mark Healey ( @healeywaterops ) is the last true action hero of surfing. Healey has been on the mic before ( Ep. 28 , Ep. 152 , Ep 158 ), and this one was my favorite to date. He recounted stories of 100ft waves in Morocco, bull riding in a Mexican rodeo, breathing techniques w...

Dane Anderson is a professional surfer from Carmel, CA. A few weeks ago, Dane texted me and said he’d like to come on the podcast. He told me that when he was 17 years old he was involved in a traumatic car accident in Big Sur. The car flipped, and two close friends died. Ever since this tragedy, Dane has struggled with substance abuse issues as a way to cope with the pain. This is a very raw and...

Kevin Grunewald is a Montana-based conservationist, hunter, and angler. His winding career path in conservation biology has seen him teaching students how to trap bats in the outback of Australia, guiding clients to experience bear country in Alaska, dissecting Zebrafish embryos in a university laboratory in Wisconsin, and, most recently, conducting and sharing the benefits of sound, ecological la...

Nick Hutchison is the founder of BookThinkers, a marketing agency bridging authors and readers. Nick's platform and services have helped authors reach millions of readers. Nick recently authored "Rise of the Reader," delving into mastering reading habits and applying newfound knowledge. Nick reached out to be on my podcast, and it was one of the most seamless pitches I had ever received. In this c...

Keiko Kurita (FNP-BC) is a board-certified family nurse practitioner working in Maine as a Primary Care Provider. She received a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Southern Maine. Previously, she taught yoga and claims to be inspired by rainbows. I have known Keiko since high school. She has always been one of the most original thinkers I know, with a deep appreciation for science...

By popular demand, this is the second podcast I’ve recorded with Mr Hart. At age 24, Charlie Hart ( @callingmrhart ) became the 10th employee at RXBAR, the protein bar company known for its clean branding and "No BS" campaigns. A natural marketer, Hart quickly rose to lead the brand’s marketing and growth, helping guide the company to a $600m exit before his 30th birthday. Shortly after, Hart has...

This podcast is with one of one of my great surfing heroes. Peter Mel ( @Peter_Mel ) is the 2011 Big Wave World Champion and the 2013 Mavericks Invitational Surfing Champion and a broadcaster for the World Surf League. Two winters ago, Pete paddled into arguably the best barrel in surfing history. If you dig this podcast, would you be please leave a short review on Apple Podcasts ? It’s takes less...

Amy Baldwin has been on this podcast many times because she’s just the best. She is a Sex and Relationship Coach trained in both the Somatica® and Hakomi Method, Certified Sex Educator, as well as co-owner of a mother-daughter owned online pleasure boutique called Pure Pleasure Shop. Amy has a passion for promoting shame-free, pleasure-focused sexuality education while emphasizing the deep emotion...

Clayton Vila is an X Games medalist skier, award-winning director, and innovator in the realm of street-skiing. It’s wild shit. While working the pro-skier circuit, he began directing his own ski movies, then quickly transitioned to documentaries and branded content for the ski audience and beyond. His unparalleled understanding of professional athletes and their unique struggles has allowed him t...

If you dig this conversation with Chris Ryan, Ph. D and want more, he’s also featured in episodes 48 , 79 , 109 , and 206 . Christopher’s work has been featured just about everywhere, including: MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, NPR,  The New York Times, The Times of London, Playboy, The Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, The Atlantic, Outside,   El Pais ,  La Vanguardia , Salon, Seed, and Big Think.  A feature...

This damn fine podcast is with a man who has worked as a producer, writer, van builder, winemaker, experiential designer, and restaurant owner. His name is Jordan Chiu and he is one of the most erudite souls I know. In 2018, Jordan built out a van, put his stuff in storage, and drove from California to Argentina. He came back with a lifetime’s worth of lessons, memories, and an incredible partner,...

Tyler Fox is a Maverick’s big wave surfer, entrepreneur, and tiny home dweller. His magazine, Santa Cruz Waves , has been a fixture of the surf community for over a decade. Ever the inventor, Tyler recently pivoted his efforts to 3D printed surfboards and Capture Packs, two ventures we explore in this episode. On a more personal level, Tyler is the dude responsible for getting me into big wave sur...

Katie Hendricks, Ph. D. is an evolutionary catalyst, contextual disruptor and freelance mentor who has been a pioneer in the field of body intelligence and conscious loving for fifty years. Katie is the co-author of twelve books, including the best-selling  Conscious Loving, At The Speed of Life  , and  Conscious Loving Ever After: How to Create Thriving Relationship at Midlife and Beyond . Her un...

At age 24, Charlie Hart became the 10th employee at RXBAR, the protein bar company known for its clean branding and "No BS" campaigns. A natural marketer, Hart quickly rose to lead the brand’s marketing and growth, helping guide the company to a $600m exit before his 30th birthday. Shortly after, Hart has a crisis of sorts, suffering a panic attack at a business meeting in a luxurious restaurant,...

Whew, this was an intense one. But good. And helpful, I hope. In this episode, Sara Russell ( @Betheradicalway ) and I explore the underworld of depression, a mental state that is all too often felt but rarely explored openly. Sara was just the one I wanted to have on to cover this material. She held the weight of it all with skill and grace. Sara is a longtime friend, a Skills For Change Coach, a...

Steve Coletta has been shaping surfboards since 1967. The Santa Cruz legend has shaped more than 30,000 surfboards under the name Natural Curves Surfboards. My longtime buddy, Kyle Buthman, and I caught up with Coletta in his new residence in Mainland Mexico to talk surfboard and how to stay stoked for a lifetime. As Coletta says, "Our perspective on life is best based on observations without judg...

Anupa Asokan [uh-new-puh uh-soak-in] is an avid waterwoman and ocean advocate dedicated to protecting our marine environment. She previously worked for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the World Surf League, and led the Ocean Initiative and Government Affairs at XPRIZE Foundation. She currently works at the Natural Resources Defense Council advocating for meaningful ocean...

Mark Divine ( @realmarkdivine ) is a tough one to pin down. And I like that. As a Navy SEAL Commander and Zen meditation practitioner, Divine weaves between worlds of Eastern spirituality and Western militance. This was the second time I had Divine on the show, the first was in Ep. #271 , and I find the guy endlessly fascinating. A little background: After a successful 20-year career as a Navy SEA...

The first thing that struck me about William Padilla-Brown was the power and velocity of his speech. It was as if he had more ideas inside him than his vocal cords could handle, like trying to power a city with a single extension cord. A citizen-mycologist and founder of MycoSymbiotics, his perspective on mycology is both captivating and approachable. In this podcast, we got into everything from t...