Passion Pod

Chef Derrick Fox is known around the world as the punk rock chef as well as the 2nd place contestant on MasterChef Season 6. He is back on tv for MasterChef season 12. Derrick grew up playing the drums in a successful rock band. His band was touring around the country as the number one unsigned band on MySpace before he decided to switch his focus to food. When he was selected to be a contestant o...

Dominique Dafney is NFL player that plays the Tight End position for the Green Bay Packers. I took the short drive from Eau Claire to Green Bay to record this podcast with him during his spare time while he was attending OTA's. Although he was born in North Carolina he spent most of his childhood growing up in Des Moines, Iowa. Growing up he was involved in all kinds of things from every sport out...

Jake LaCoste is a Wisconsin based Rap/Hip Hop artist with his own brand Throttle Clan. He grew up in my hometown of Eau Claire, WI. He started rapping at a young age, but unfortunately also started abusing drugs at a young age too. His journey has been full of ups and downs. He's always made music, but stayed a struggling artist for a very long time due to his struggles with addiction. After going...

Fuller Moe is a Chippewa Falls native that attended college at UWEC in my hometown of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He is a designer and educator that has worked with countless household names in the music industry including Childish Gambino, Snoop Dogg, Paul McCartney, Miley Cyrus, and more. He grew up heavily into the music scene playing in bands and designing tees. While still in college he had alread...

Grace Reiter is a TikTok star from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Grace has always been quirky and funny, but just before the pandemic hit one of her videos went viral. That video now has more than 13 million views and her following has grown to 1.7 million on the platform. With those kind of numbers she must be funny right? Yup, I can vouch for her there. At the time of this interview she had just re...

Brett Freund is a ceramics artist originally from Pittsburg that is now based in Minneapolis Minnesota. He's earned a graduate degree in ceramics and built a name for himself in the industry. His work is instantly recognizable with his unique signature style that you would have to see for yourself to truly appreciate. Brett was kind enough to welcome me into his home and let us record this episode...

Josh Remter is a Wisconsin based motocross racer and influencer. Josh has been racing for nearly his entire life as early as he can remember. Spending every weekend at the race track with his family has given him some really unique experiences. The motocross community really isn't all that big yet so he was able to meet a ton of big name racers over the years. He's even spent time hanging around w...

Claire Olivia aka @claireisaur and I found each other on Instagram years ago. Like me, she didn't really dive deep into her art until a little later in life. She didn't take all the art classes in high school. She was never in art shows and didn't go to college for art. Still, the interest was still there. She finally got the spark while working at Racy's, a beloved local coffee shop in Eau Claire...

Heady Hut is a glass and arts lounge owned and operated by Jake Connel and Sam Pastorello located in downtown Eau Claire. Jake and Sam started the business by just bottling and selling 99% isopropyl alcohol for cleaning pipes and other glass. It didn't take long for them to have the idea to open a full blown shop. Heady hut sells pipes and other glassware, but it's much more than that. For as much...

Ian Allison has been a staple in the music scene for a long time. After traveling the country on music tours for years he settled down in the twin cities to raise his family and be a significant contributor to the midwest music scene. Ian has performed all over the world with a ton of bands so his knowledge and experience are incredibly valuable and helpful to everyone that he works with. His ener...

Samantha Moon is a R&B/Soul singer originally from the island of Dominica. She's a natural born singer who now is based in Minneapolis Minnesota. She's been nonstop performing for years and established herself within the music industry. She has an incredible story to share. She even sings the first song she wrote when she was only 11. You're going to want to hear this...

Tom Gilles is a retired professional snowboarder from Wisconsin that now travels around the country as a motivational speaker. He attended college in Eau Claire years ago before dropping out to move out west and pursue a career in snowboarding. His career was full of emotional highs and lows before he eventually walked away while he still could. In this episode we discuss growing up in Wisconsin,...

Chris Kroeze's is a country music artist based in Barron, Wisconsin. Chris gained worldwide attention when he placed 2nd on the hit tv show The Voice. Chris and I are almost the same age so we naturally already had a bunch of mutual friends and acquaintances so it was really only a matter of time before this interview was going to happen. Despite being recognized everywhere he goes he is still hum...

Chastity Ashley is one of the few people I've met that lives in LA that is actually from LA. She was introduced to the drums at young age, but found her home with the less than common instrument the Djembe drum. That story alone makes this episode worth a listen. Carving out your own path and sound is how you really set yourself apart in the music industry. From drum circles on the beach, to perfo...

Jimmy got soul, it's true. Jimmy Love has been on quite a journey tryin' to make this thing work. You know the story of creatives moving to Los Angeles and living out of their cars? Yup, the struggle is real. His hometown of Fayetteville, NC is a pretty different world than Los Angeles is. Still, if you don't give up and keep creating, things do eventually work out in your favor. He came to dance,...

Santino the Misfit Campanelli is pretty true to his name. He never really fit in from the beginning. He grew up an overweight punk kid in New Jersey with red hair, and somehow morphed into the misfit he is today. He started out performing in a punk band when we was still in school. His band Scarlet Carson grew to be a staple in the music scene earning them the opportunities to open for every big n...

Jack Lyons started designing clothing in college. It all began with an idea he had to add a zipper to the back of his shoes. In today's world we all want to dress and look unique. With fast fashion everything just kind of looks the same. I create a lot of apparel of my own, but I run into the same problems that he was when he started. It's really difficult to find people to print and manufacture c...

I randomly found Leah on Instagram and followed her a while back. Any time I discover another local to my area living their dreams I try to add them to the short list in my phone for future potential guests. A few dm's back and forth and we had an interview on the calendar. Leah has been riding snowmobiles and racing cars since she was little. Her dad has been racing for a very long time so it mak...

Originally from Florida, Hannah Kline (@hklineart) has been creating art all her life starting at the age of 5 while attending Montessori school. As a parent myself, the idea of Montessori schools always peaked my interest. Not all children learn the same and alternative education systems provide really cool ways for kids to grow and learn. By the time she hit middle school she had already found a...

Okay friends, I'm not gunna lie this is one of my favorite conversations I've ever recorded. For real. I really had no perspective on cryptocurrency or NFT's at all before this. The world is evolving and so much of our lives and interactions are going towards an online experience. We are living in a digital world. This conversation was really eye opening for me. Enrico Moses actually went to UW St...

Solange Zindzi grew up in Amsterdam before eventually making her way to the states to pursue a dancing career. Her journey was a long one. She's lived and worked in New York, travelled the world performing on cruise ships, and eventually got her visa and moved to Los Angeles. When the pandemic hit she was on a world tour back up dancing for the mega famous latin artist Chayanne. With the tour sudd...

I met Rohan back in May when I was out in Hollywood recording an earlier season. Alumni @Jrapp introduced us. That night we went out for a few drinks and became fast friends. I knew that I had to get him on the show at some point so I was stoked when our schedules were able to line up on my most recent recording trip. Rohan is originally from a smaller city in Texas and was an entrepreneur from an...

Caitlin and I were connected by our mutual friend Max Menacher almost a year ago but had trouble getting our schedules to line up until now. Thankfully on my last recording trip to Hollywood we were able to get together for this interview. Caitlin's parents both worked in the entertainment industry, but that doesn't mean that anything was handed to her. She actually grew up in Pennsylvania before...

Our mutual friend Ashwin Jacob introduced me to Greg a while back so I was stoked to finally make this interview happen last time that I was recording in Los Angeles. Greg and I kicked it for a good while that night. He offered me food and even let me crash on the couch. I have a huge appreciation for people that are genuine and want to help others simply out of kindness. Needless to say this turn...

I reached out to alumni @markusshields before my last trip out to Los Angeles to see if he had any cool friends that might be down to hop on the show as a guest. He really came through for me and made two introductions for me including introducing me to the lovely Mikaila Murphy aka @mikailadancer . Mikaila grew up in the midwest, but eventually found her way out to Los Angeles to pursue her dance...