The VonDubCast

One of the most unique and beautiful souls that I am lucky enough to call my friend joins the podcast in my old friend Kathryn. Even though we hadn't spoken in quite a few years, we were able to immediately reconnect and dive into the deepest aspects of what we have been goin through in our respective personal journeys.  Kathryn always struck me as someone who was deeply in touch with her own...

For the first time in person since VDC #1 we welcome Alex Mckendry to the podcast! I met Alex through work where what should have been a 5 minute pitch turned into an hour long chat, which then became our standard operating procedure every time we met. I could talk to Alex for hours and hours about a myriad of topics but mainly we focused on a shared passion of both of ours, hockey. Alex has downp...

Today's guest was one of the first people who took me under their wing when I arrived at university. We became co-workers in my second year as we both got positions as executives of the Lister Dodgeball League. There we became a lot closer and although it usually involved a bit of frustration and yelling at each other, we were able to accomplish and learn alot together. Since then Justin has...

When myself and today's guest, Jelena Macura were both first years living in lister hall at the UofA it did not take long for us to realize how much fun the other was to argue with. This was the basis of a fast friendship and showed quite quickly what a force Jelena was.  Anytime I needed to check the merit of a particular idea or often just needed a good ego-checking, Jelena was more than up...

Today's guest is an extremely interesting educator teaching currently in Los Angeles California. What separates Will from your traditional teacher is his unwillingness to follow the traditional path and his courage to bring educational discussions to every and any topic, especially ones others shy away from. You would hope that this would be the goal of all educators but over the past few dec...

The Slave Lake fire of 2011 was an awful tragedy that saw countless families thrown into a traumatic situation through no fault of their own. It was also an amazing time of community and a province pulling together to help one of their own. Today's podcast welcomes Jaime Coutts, Slave Lake's Fire Chief from 2011 that had the responsibility of fighting an unwinnable battle. We both remini...

Today's guest is the absolute force behind Mama E's cookie snacks, Seun Olalekan! After some tough bounces applying for Med schools fresh out of his undergrad at the University of Alberta, Seun decided to go all in and chase his dream of bringing his mothers absolutely delicious cookie recipes to the world. As we discuss, any entrepreneurial enterprise come with some bumps along the way,...

Where do I even start with today's guest? He sent 6,000 pairs of shoes to africa while still in high school, studied at postsecondary institutions in florida, south africa, and even Harvard and the University of Chicago. He interned with Google before taking his talents to wall street, all in an effort to learn and better himself so he could pursue his lifelong dream of starting his own enter...

The VonDubCast is bringing on the most badass name to date in Erica Woolf, and it's not just a name, she is just as fierce and intelligent as her namesake would suggest. We had a great time discussing her role in disaster management and how her training has influenced other areas of her life. We also dive into the current political climate in Canada and the U.S. and I finally attempted to exp...

Joining the Podcast today is one of my closest friends Kyle Ricento. We lived one door down from each other in my second year of university (his first) and we were inseparable the entire year. University wasn't quite the right fit for Kyle and he did not return for a second year, deciding instead to remain in Calgary and pursue a career in the bar industry and we were unceremoniously separate...

Today's guest is Chad Paulson, one of the co-creators of Dog Island Brewing. What started out as a simple hobby operated out of their electrical shop at grizzly electric has grown into a staple of the community as their passion for brewing grew and the price of oil fell they decided to take a huge leap of faith and dive full time into creating their dream.  We discuss how it felt to take such...

As soon as the interview ended with our guest today, Aimen Lau, I have been absolutely itching to put this podcast out! Like many of my other guests, I met Aimen in university where her ability to put others before herself and to fight for those who need it most blew me away. After collecting a vast amount of additional education including a masters degree since we last caught up, Aimen is now ded...

Today's guest is my friend Simon Vanasse. Simon grew up just south of Montreal and didn't get his first taste of rural alberta life until he came to work here at 19yrs/old. We discuss this culture shift, how he worked his way into the community and his unique perspective as an outsider that has now established deep roots in his new home of Slave Lake Alberta. We also get vulnerable about...

Today's episode is with one of my best friends in the entire world Fraser Oliver.  F.O. is one of the most genuine and down to earth guys I have ever met and he makes me laugh 24/7 so I knew he would be on here sooner or later.  This episode is a little more loosy goosy than the others and I'm hoping I can find a nice balance between more serious episodes with a specific goal or topic in...

Today's episode is with my friend Bill Pickering, I met Bill in my first year of university when he pushed towards a role running the dodgeball league in our university residence, a role that would go on to form a large part of my university experience. We discuss how we met and try our best to give the typical outsider a small insight into the ridiculous fever that was the lister dodgeball l...

Today's episode is with Kyle Cugnet-Huber or Cugs for short, I met Kyle in my third year of university when he was just a first year. He has now parlayed the engineering degree he completed into a position working in the Saudi Arabian oilfield. We break down the entire process of his hiring and how he ended up there and it is quite the tale. Also, we discuss how it feels to be this far away f...

The very first step into chasing my dreams of starting my own podcast! My first guest is my sister Courtney and we discuss a multitude of topics including physiotherapy, womens health, politics, education and much much more. Jump along for the ride and I promise you won't be disappointed. The audio quality is not all that great for this first podcast but it is a learning lesson and the follow...

My second podcast is with Liam Thompson my future brother in-law, who is currently working on a covid ward at a hospital in Edmonton Alberta.  We discuss his new role, aussie slang, video games, moving across the world and many more exciting topics!

This special episode has Nick taking the hot seat so everyone can see a little more in-depth the reasoning behind starting this podcast as well as many other personal insights.  Courtney vW returns to ask the tough questions that will hopefully provide a solid base of understanding of how Nick came to be who he is today.