of Kelowna - your local podcast

Send us Fan Mail This week on of Kelowna , Baillie from Anarchy Coffee is back on the podcast to talk all things Okanagan Coffee Fest 2026. I do not normally have guests back on, but Baillie gets an exception. We get into how the festival has grown, what is happening this year, the local coffee community, and what goes into bringing an event like this together. And, as always, the conversation wan...

Send us Fan Mail Gary’s road to Barn Owl Brewing is anything but straightforward. Radio, law school ambitions, an education degree, years travelling with a band, youth and community work, several business ideas that never quite happened, and eventually a heritage barn that became Barn Owl Brewing. We talk about the unexpected turns that led him there, opening just months before COVID, and the comm...

Send us Fan Mail Craig’s story goes far beyond opening a nonalcoholic bottle shop. We talk about his relationship with alcohol, the crisis that led him into treatment at 23, his years working in counselling and substance use treatment, and how those experiences eventually shaped SOBR Market. It is a very personal conversation about recovery, mental health, parenthood, community, and how some of th...

Send us Fan Mail Jeff’s path to Kelowna Pool Tables was anything but direct. From growing up in Ontario to building a career in sales, Jeff spent more than 20 years in the barbecue industry, including years representing Broil King and travelling throughout Western Canada and the U.S. Along the way, he also helped bring Heelys to Canada, tried retirement a couple of times, and eventually found hims...

Send us Fan Mail From growing up around Vancouver’s commercial fishing industry to spending nearly 15 years working his way through the fish business, Cory’s life has always had a connection to the water. Along the way, mentors, family and years of hard work shaped how he thought about leadership, business and what it meant to truly commit to something. Eventually, a career selling seafood connect...

Send us Fan Mail From competitive figure skating to the Okanagan wine industry to building Urban Liquor, Riki’s path has been anything but linear. After arriving in Kelowna in the early 2000s, Riki built a career in wine and watched the Okanagan industry grow around her. Eventually, she saw an opportunity to create the kind of wine shop she felt Kelowna was missing, and Urban Liquor was born. Riki...

Send us Fan Mail Born and raised in Kelowna, Kerri has spent most of her life at Calowna Costumes. What started as helping out at her husband’s grandmother’s costume shop as a teenager became a 35 year career filled with creativity, family, unforgettable characters and thousands of local stories. As Calowna Costumes prepares to close its doors, Kerri looks back on the life that grew alongside it,...

Send us Fan Mail Karin’s path to Designs by Karin began long before she ever considered furniture refinishing a career. Growing up in Oshawa, she was always creating, whether she was crafting, baking with her grandmother or refinishing her first cedar chest by hand. Her professional life took her into pharmacy, hospital work and eventually a seventeen year career teaching pharmacy technicians. Aft...

Send us Fan Mail Robin @bluepineapplestrongman and @bluepineapplebarber  grew up in Salmon Arm, but a love of travel and new experiences soon took him far beyond his hometown. After working at a plywood mill, he spent a year travelling through Australia and Southeast Asia before returning to Canada and eventually making his way to Kelowna. His career path has been just as varied. Robin worked in c...

Send us Fan Mail Chris is the owner and head brewer of Grey Fox Brewing, but his path to opening his dedicated gluten free brewery was anything but predictable. Raised on a small farm in Manitoba, Chris grew up taking apart motorcycles, playing drums and experimenting with early video technology. His career eventually brought him to Kelowna, where he spent nearly 25 years working in church ministr...

Send us Fan Mail Crystal Cain’s story starts on Vancouver Island, where she grew up in Victoria, spent her childhood outdoors, became vegetarian at nine, and eventually found her way into food almost by accident. After years of serving, travelling, studying psychology, environmental studies, nutrition, and culinary arts, Crystal’s path led her from Victoria to Vancouver, Fort McMurray, India, Sout...

Send us Fan Mail Jessie Rivest is a vocalist, sound artist, and leadership coach whose work explores the connection between voice, creativity, archetypes, and self-expression. Born in Vancouver, raised in Ontario, and now living in Kelowna, Jessie’s story moves through childhood theatre and music, university voice studies, barbershop singing, tarot, Jungian psychology, and leadership work rooted i...

Send us Fan Mail Jonathan moved to Kelowna as a child and considers it his hometown. He shares memories of sports, fishing at Bear Lake, Gyro Beach, and growing up in a different era of Kelowna. His career started at Revy and Rona, where he learned about service, leadership, trades, and the building supply world. After years in corporate management, he eventually stepped away and found his way int...

Send us Fan Mail Born and raised in Kelowna, Brittani Buettner of Scenic Route Jewellery @scenicrouteco has always been drawn to creating. In this episode, we talk about growing up in West Kelowna, travel, jewelry school in Nelson, motherhood, building a handmade business, and how the mountains continue to shape her work. A thoughtful conversation about creativity, purpose, and finding your way. #...

Send us Fan Mail Kayla Mendel is the owner of Lavender and Grace Jewelry , a Kelowna based jewelry company known for delicate, dainty pieces and approachable price points. Kayla shares her unique childhood story, from being born in the Caribbean, growing up in Edmonton, and spending two years living on a sailboat with her family. She talks about the adventure, the challenges, and the way that time...

Send us Fan Mail We sit down with Val and Rachel, the couple behind The Racket House . Val shares his story of leaving the former Soviet Union as a child, living in Israel, and eventually landing in Canada. Rachel shares what it was like growing up homeschooled while training as a competitive figure skater, spending long days on the ice and chasing a very high level of sport. Together, they talk a...

Send us Fan Mail Kristen is a Kelowna based brand photographer who works with established women entrepreneurs. We talk about creativity, identity, motherhood, entrepreneurship, and how photography can help people feel truly seen. This is a beautiful conversation about resilience, reinvention, and following the creative thread that keeps showing up throughout your life. #ofKelownapodcast

Send us Fan Mail This week on of Kelowna, we sit down with Trevor from @ponderosavalleylandscape. Trevor’s path has taken him from growing up around Vancouver and Powell River, to working as a mechanic in Alberta and eventually finding his way back to something that had always been there in the background: plants, nature, and the outdoors. We talk about childhood, camping, music, basketball shoes,...

Send us Fan Mail Hayden from Brutal Condiments is a local fermenter turning Okanagan produce into pepper sauces, mustards, miso, soy sauce, horseradish, and all kinds of wild, aged condiments. We talk about his path from kitchens and pastry work to kombucha brewing, butchery, fermentation, farmers markets, and building a brand where the name really fits: because apparently, everything about making...

Send us Fan Mail Kim joins of Kelowna to share a life story that has taken her from a farm outside Prince George, to Burnaby, to the Cayman Islands, and eventually to Kelowna. Growing up around animals, 4H, hard work, and northern BC winters shaped a lot of Kim’s early life. From there, she moved to the city, studied criminology and counselling, met her husband on a flight to Mexico, and later spe...

Send us Fan Mail Cindy, owner of Baked Custom Cakes and Sweets in downtown Kelowna, joins the podcast to share her journey from being born in Guangzhou, China, to growing up in Vancouver, finding her way into baking and pastry, and eventually building a custom cake business here in Kelowna. We talk about childhood, food, creativity, culinary school, working in kitchens, motherhood, burnout, moving...

Send us Fan Mail We sit down with Chris for a conversation about cars, craft, family and the road that led him to opening his own shop. Chris’s love for European cars started in the back seat of a mid 80s BMW and eventually took him from Ontario, to automotive school in Arizona, to high end BMW dealerships, and finally to Kelowna. What I loved about this conversation is how much meaning Chris find...

Send us Fan Mail One year later. What started as me just wanting to sit down, chat, and get to know people has grown into something really special. This anniversary episode looks back at the very first recording I made into the mics.  A big thank you to everyone who helped get this off the ground and to everyone who continues to listen, share, and send guest recommendations my way. Cheers

Send us Fan Mail Luxury Muck creates art that is dark, strange, imaginative, and unmistakably original. Jordan joins me to talk about childhood creativity, the influences that shaped his style, and the way his work intertwines the edgy with a softness.

Send us Fan Mail A heartfelt episode about an unstable childhood, the people who stepped in with love and stability, and the resilience that can grow from difficult beginnings. It’s an honest and moving conversation with Ash from @twoblueprints.styling about family, belonging, and how even the hardest chapters can leave behind meaningful gifts. #ofkelownapodcast #twoblueprintsstyling