La Misc Pod

Connor Heather he is a British Composer, Multi-Instrumentalist, Singer/Songwriter and Producer. He also happens to edit this podcast. Connor worked as a performing musician for 12 Years in several different countries and he is currently based in Sweden. He has written over 150 songs, arranged & produced 3 solo albums, and now spends his time focused on his work as a freelance music composer.

In this episode he shares stories of his journeys as a musician and the wild tales of all his travels.

Show Notes:

Tracy Scheer is an entrepreneur and influencer based in Los Angeles.  She turned her instagram handle @shejustknows into a successful online fashion and accessories business -  shejustknows.com .  We chatted with Tracy about her career journey in fashion working her way up through various positions - first with with Kitson, and then on to Forever21. We discussed the challenges of running a business and going through transitions. We covered motherhood, the pandemic, her relationship and so much more.

Show Notes:  

Tracy's Info:

Leslie-Ann Thomson is a Montreal-Based Makeup Artist. She is one of the most sought out makeup artists in Canada. Her work has appeared in commercial campaigns for Elizabeth Arden, Aldo, Vichy, Holt Renfrew, Lancôme, and Revlon to name a few. Thomson’s work spans artists, celebrities, musicians and designers alike. She has worked with Arcade Fire, Grimes, Priyanka Chopra, Haim, Ashley Graham, amongst many others. Her work has appeared in the pages of in Elle, Fashion, Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Guardian, Bullet, New York Times Style Magazine, Madame Figaro, Nylon Magazine.

Always seeking inspiration, she is a pop-culture fiend, finding inspiration in contemporary art, music and design. We sat down with Leslie-Ann to hear about her career journey and her early experience working in fashion as a designer. She also shares some of her favourite beauty products, and TV shows, podcasts and books. We also needed to get the lowdown on some of her favourite neighbourhoods, restaurants and art galleries in Montreal.

@leslie_ann_thomson

Brittney Christie is a Los Angeles-based Fashion Photographer. Her work has appeared in American Vogue, British Vogue and Elle Magazine and some of her clients include BB Dakota, Nike, and Nasty Gal.

She sat down with us to chat about her love of photography and her career journey and hustle into fashion photography. We also discussed the importance of self-care and her being so open about her mental health challenges.

She chatted with us about her love of thrifting and home decorating and adjusting to the new way of work and life during the pandemic.

Show Notes:

Mila Yudina is the epitome of a multi-hyphenate. This award-winning designer has worked in the field of fashion design and styling. She has had an extremely successful career as a luxury Interior Designer with international clientele. She decided to dabble in fine jewelry design, and in true Mila fashion, this led to another successful business venture, Atelier by Milana Yudina Jewelry. It is safe to say that anything she touches, turns to gold. She has a refined and distinct aesthetic, and an incredible amount of dedication.

Her work ethic is so impressive and I we chatted about her eclectic career journey, and her humble beginnings. She was so honest about her personal journey of marrying young and taking a break from her career to start a family.

We chatted about her design process, and her constantly evolving career and so much more.

Show Notes:

http://www.milayudinadesign.com/

Nila Do Simon is a writer and editor based in Del-Ray Beach, Florida. As a writer she has written for The New York Times, Marie Claire Magazine, and Conde Nast Traveler. She is also the Editor-In-Chief of Venice Magazine, a luxury lifestyle magazine based out of Fort Lauderdale. Nila talks in detail about the road to getting to this point in her career, and what her role as an Editor-In-Chief truly entails. We also discuss the challenges of creating the Summer issue through the beginning stages of the pandemic, and the future of the content for the publication.

We discussed her strategies regarding inclusivity for the journalistic and creative side of the publication, with a focus on including more people of colour on the creative production side as well as the writing portion. Nila is a mother of two small children and we discussed the challenges and triumphs of motherhood especially working through the pandemic. As well as how she stays sane and focused through her daily rituals.

Show Notes:

Dee Daly has been in the beauty business for fourteen years.  After dominating the Canadian market, including winning P&G’s prestigious Makeup Artist of the Year in 2014, Dee relocated to Los Angeles to expand her already impressive list of achievements.  Her work can be seen in the pages of ELLE, Flare, People Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar, and C Magazine amongst many others.  She has also worked on award winning TV Shows such as Dancing with the Stars, Jimmy Kimmel and The Talk.  Dee also has a solid celebrity client base both in Los Angeles and Toronto including Lady Antebellum, Drake, Justin Bieber, Tears For Fears and Kathryn Winnick just to name a few.  Dee’s approach to beauty makes everyone in her chair feel like the best version of themselves.

We sat down with Dee to Talk about her career journey from the bottom to the top. Learning to make a life outside of her work. The importance of her spirituality. The reality of moving from Toronto to LA, and the shock of living through the political climate in LA and working through the BLM movement.

Dee Daly

Danielle Directo-Meston is a writer based in Los Angeles. She has written for Rolling Stone Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, C Magazine, My Domaine, and many more. She also launched her own website focused on the local LA market with UncoverLA.com - where she writes about fashion, beauty, wellness, fitness and lifestyle. We chatted about her career journey, and her experience with launching her own website. She is also a mother of two, so we discussed the work-life balance and maintaining her own self-care practice from virtual reality workouts, to her skincare regimen.

Show Notes:

Yannick Crespo has lived an interesting life growing up in the South Bay Area, Miami, Buenos Aires and then to his home country of The Philippines. He spent his early career working in the Tech Startup space but felt a calling to his true passion in the culinary world. Yannick decided to launch, Pot D’huile a CBD infused Olive Oil in 2017.

Since then, he has launched multiple collaborations; one of which we mentioned in a previous episode, Hot Sloth with Kat Odell and Mike Begale. It’s a unique company garnering more attention during these times for obvious reasons. We sat down with Yannick to hear about his cultured upbringing and how that carried over to his passion of the culinary space. We talked about the challenges of the startup world and the nuances of working in the CBD space.

Show Notes:

Instagram: @potdhuile

Sorel Carradine is a Pilates instructor based in Los Angeles. She did her teaching course right after college as a means of supporting herself as an actor. Throughout the years she really honed-in on her talent of teaching Pilates and is now finally making it her main focus.

We chatted with Sorel about imposter syndrome and the importance of staying true to herself, as well as what differentiates her style of teaching from others.

The conversation took on a lighter note when discussing her keen fashion sense. She has such great style and we needed to know all her favourite shopping spots, and all the designers that she is loving. Skincare is another passion of hers so we dove-deep into new brands that she’s trying and loving, as well as the staples. We talked about dating,  and dogs and so much more.

Show Notes:

@sorelcarradine

Classes: https://linktr.ee/sorelcarradine

Fashion:

Madly Vintage https://www.madly-vintage.com/

Recollection @shoprecollectionla

American Rag https://americanrag.com/

Tavin https://www.tavinboutique.com/

Etsy: straw totes Etienne aigar

Ciao Lucia https://ciaolucia.com/

Khaite    https://khaite.com/collections/new?gclid=Cj0KCQjwzbv7BRDIARIsAM-A6-3Ndk3hqNuJPWCFxJzPmeV3Jr6eA2VgbAI-sJPpxKXH6vz8hD4ZxdgaApDoEALw_wcB

Doen https://shopdoen.com/

Feel Jeans https://thefeelstudioinc.com/collections/all

Live the process https://livetheprocess.com/

Outdoor voices. https://www.outdoorvoices.com/

Alo  https://www.aloyoga.com

Lululemon https://shop.lululemon.com/

Girlfriend collective  https://www.girlfriend.com/

Michelle Ross is designer based In Toronto. She is known for her contemporary jewellery line under her name which has had a cult-like following since 2003. Michelle uses semi-precious stones and metals juxtaposed with glass, ceramics and vintage findings to produce each unique piece. Michelle studied textiles at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, where she honed her innate eye for detail and keen sense of style. In 2007, Michelle moved to London, England where her studies at the prestigious London College of Fashion, brought her to intern for luxury fashion label, Erdem. Michelle returned to Toronto in 2010 to continue to expand her jewellery line.

We sat down with Michelle to hear about her amazing creative and entrepreneurial journey. We talked about her design process and her love of all things vintage.

Show Notes:

Ashley Loewen is an Emmy-nominated wardrobe stylist, costumer, producer, and on-air camera fashion talent. She got her start styling the critically acclaimed show on Lifetime, “How To Look Good Naked” and then went on to style many other shows such as, “How Do I Look”, Sweden’s Next Top Model, and Norway’s Next Top Model. Her behind the scenes talent landed her an on-air position on “Carson- Nation” as Carson Kressley’s fashion sidekick which aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Ashley also works on commercial, advertising, print media, and celebrity styling. Some of her clients include Visa, Williams Sonoma, Maybelline New York, Mercedes and so many more.

We spent most of our conversation catching up and hearing a bit about her career journey as a stylist, how she has been keeping busy during lockdown, and her love of all thing Italy. 

Show Notes:

Lucas Passmore is a Los Angeles based Fashion Photographer. He attended Chicago’s Columbia College for Film. He then focused on creating his own films before working as an assistant to an agent at CAA in Los Angeles. He made the bold decision to leave that position to pursue his passion of photography. His talent and ease with the camera has led him to work for such notable fashion clients such as Reebok to Rails, as well as publications such as Numero Russia and Marie Claire Malaysia.

He talks to us about his career journey and  work process, as well as his sources of inspiration. We also talked about being a homebody and his love of Pasadena, as well as dating and how he met his wife.

@lucaspassmore

Emily Van Raay is a Canadian Model and Actor based in Brooklyn. She is fiercely passionate about using her platform to support positive body image for other women, and she chats with us about her desire to make a positive impact.

This gorgeous talent sits with us to discuss her determination to shed light on the issue of food insecurity in the US, and more specifically in her local Brooklyn community. She explains how she became involved with various organizations in order to bring important change, as this socio- economic crisis disproportionately affects people of colour.

It wasn't all serious! We talked about the importance of self-care and winding down, dating during  these crazy times, and her love of trash TV with the Kardashians. 

Emily Van Raay

Inta: @emilyrosev

Show Notes: 

Sophie Lyddon is an intuitive healing guide who is based in Los Angeles. As an intuitive and empath, Sophie connects deeply with her clients providing them with a sacred space to find guidance and heal. She uses the healing of the tarot to help others gain insight and connect with their most authentic selves, and to consciously co-create with the universe. She has collaborated with such brands as Tata Harper, Lululemon, and Goop as well as many other.

Sophie began her career in NYC working in fashion as a designer. She speaks to us about the challenges of working in the fashion industry and when she knew it was time to pivot to a more grounding and fulfilling career path. She discusses the process of launching Wild Wisdoms as a business, as well as the ins and outs of her process working with clients. Her energy is so calming and clear and this conversation was so incredibly interesting.

Lauren Hastings is a model and actress based in Los Angeles. She has worked in the industry since the age of 12 and has appeared in countless commercials, films, and fashion campaigns. She's appeared in campaigns for brands such as Beach Riot, Rag-Doll LA, For Love Lemons, and Amo Denim. Lauren sits down with us to chat about growing up in the industry, and learning to embrace aging in an ever-changing market. We loved getting into our girl talk about the reality of dating in LA, and her love of all things, skincare. We also touched on what it’s been like to raise her daughter as a single mom. She’s a genuine girls’ girl and we loved our chat with this bad-ass babe. 

SHOW NOTES: 

@itslaurenhastings

Skincare:

Odacite:

Ben Duggan is a Los Angeles- based photographer who has worked with a very impressive roster of clients such as NIKE, Ralph Lauren, and Sony records. His work has appeared in the pages of French Vogue, German Vogue, and Glamour Magazine. Ben has worked with a number of celebrity clients including Lady Gaga, Gigi Hadid and Dylan McDermott.

Ben sits down with us to chat about his career as a fashion photographer through his early experience while managing the printing studio at A&I, and while assisting accomplished photographers such as; Miles Aldridge, Francesco Carrozzini, and Matthias Vriens.

We chat about what It is like being a single father to two teenage daughters and the importance of sobriety to his success. We also talk about his love of film photography and living in New York City. It’s a very raw, honest and important conversation.

Ben’s Info:

A native of Geneva, Seoul and Los Angeles, Nathalie Grolimund was exposed to the international community from a young age.  She decided to pursue an international career, working in hubs like Berlin, Paris, New York and Singapore.

Nathalie’s entrepreneurial spirit has led her to work with leading publishers of coffee table books, editing and authoring for names like teNeues, Tectum and Farameh.  Her background in marketing  and PR, have led to many consulting opportunities with fa number of fashion brands, and luxury hotels around the globe. 

In 2014, Nathalie founded NG.MEDIA, where she has since consulted for accounts within the luxury hotel space,  as well as for private aviation companies with prestigious clients such as Luxaviation, Airbus Corporate Jets, Embraer, ExecuJet and Sparfell Aviation Group.  

While Living in Berlin her perspective began to shift in terms of sustainability and the luxury aviation market. This serial entrepreneur decided to put her efforts into a new project targeting sustainability practices and the travel industry.  

Mindful, and incredibly self aware, She sits down with us to chat about sustainability and travel,  as well a her views on the importance of self development.

Websites: 

Mackenzie Duncan is our guest for this week’s episode of La Misc Pod -

Mackenzie is an established photographer and his images have been featured in campaigns for a number of brands such as Equinox, Puma, and Starbucks, amongst many others. He has also contributed to publications such as GQ, Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire.  After living far and wide, he decided to set up shop in his hometown of Victoria, British Columbia where he has created a life filled with purpose and creativity. This busy entrepreneur sits down to tell us about his love of surfing and travel, being of service to others, as well as the importance of self care.

Mackenzie Duncan

This weeks episode features Kat Odell- food writer Extraordinaire! She is a contributing editor for Eater, Vogue, Conde Nast Traveller, The New York Times to name a few and she is Taste Hunter for the Worlds 50 Best. She is an accomplished author of two successful books titled, "Unicorn Food" , and "Day Drinking". She made her TV debut on Bravo’s reality show, “Eat Drink Love” and the list goes on and on. 

 Show Notes:

Insta Handle: @kat_odell

Books:

Day Drinking By Kat Odell

The first episode of La Misc Pod, features my conversation with Diana Bianchini, Founder and president of Di Moda PR, based in Los Angeles. 

Diana describes her experience raising her son as a single parent, while launching her own PR firm in Los Angeles. She comments on the current state of affairs with Covid- 19 and her business, as well as her philanthropic work with Project Angel Food. She's magnetic, honest, and hilarious and a joy to chat with. 

Show Notes for Diana:

Handles: @dimodaprnews @dianabianchini