RADICAL STRATEGIES

Welcome, Brandon Smith to the Radical Strategies podcast! For some, Brandon is a guitarist and electronic musician, operating under the banner, The Anix. For others, he is the collab manager for supercar manufacturer, McLaren Automotive, with a history of partnerships including our Race Service team's recent 01R Capsule Collection launch. In this chat, Brandon outlines how he balances his artistic outputs with his different careers - its great source material for artists trying to build up their financial stability while keeping their artistry pure. Much good advice there is!

Tee Vaden is a Los Angeles-based director, writer, and film creative specializing in music videos, commercials, and documentaries. They are also rather gifted storytellers, as shown in this fascinating conversation with our host @rev_sect Have a listen, to hear about Tee’s journey and how they built their filmmaking practice. Love this chat!

Ornamental Conifer is the moniker of British artist Nicolai Sclater, artist-in-residence at Race Service. Working with enamel paint, and using traditional sign painting brushes, Nico's work is known for being bright, bold and subversive. He is also known for his series of hand-painted art cars and his ongoing collaborations with F1 driver, Daniel Ricciardo. In this episode of Radical Strategies, Nico and our host, Rod Chong, deep dive into all aspects of how he developed his creative practice.

Tosin is the founder and lead guitarist of instrumental progressive metal band, Animals as Leaders. Tosin is considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time; primarily known for his avant garde work with extended-range and non-traditional guitars and blending an eclectic set of techniques and motifs. This podcast episode uncovers Tosin’s pathway as a recording artist with a look into the mindset that allowed him to successfully live from his artistic talents. Fascinating stuff.

Kristen Lee is the Deputy Editor of the automotive media outlet, The Drive. She oversees the site’s car reviews and features initiatives in addition to writing her own automotive articles. She’s been covering the automotive industry professionally since 2013, having previously worked at Road & Track and Jalopnik. In this episode of Radical Strategies, Kristen dissects her career path with our host, Rod Chong - the conversation is an excellent primer for anyone interested in an automotive journalism career. A must-listen!

Our last Radical Strategies Season 6 podcast recording is a fab conversation with Bisi Ezerioha. It’s a fascinating story, starting from Bisi’s beginnings in Nigeria, his move to the US, and a deep dive into how he learned automotive engineering in the underground Los Angeles street racing scene. He has plenty of advice about getting started in content creation too. An inspiring chat all in all :>

From the Canary Islands to the International Stage. Extreme E off-road, and rally racer, Christine GZ steps us through how she built her motorsports career. It's a fascinating story, with many twists and turns, showcasing the power of Christine's fearlessness, positive mindset, and tenacity. She also has many insights on how to land sponsor deals, race drives, and a social following to boot. This is a fun one!

Love race cars? Video Games? Dream of having a creative career in motorsports? Want to know how to make this happen? Well look no further than this conversation with famed race car livery designer, Andy Blackmore. This is a fun chat, where Andy discusses his time working on the McLaren F1 GTR program, F1 racing in the 1990s, and his stints on EA’s F1 and Need for Speed games. He’s also got plenty of great advice for any burgeoning freelance designers. Have a listen!

How to have five careers in one? How to start creating in one area and end in another? How to bridge working for a renowned Japanese architect, Shin Takamatsu to Anime, Star Wars, and Need for Speed racing games? How to start your own video game company? Want to know more? Listen to what concept designer, art director, and entrepreneur, Wilson Tang has to say! In this episode of Radical Strategies, Wilson and our host, Rod Chong, deep dive into all aspects of his career and critical lessons learned along the way.

Sometimes you just have to unlock the right combo of elements - the right angle to apply your skills and talents. Our next Radical Strategies guest, Nour Alkhadra appears to have done just that. Since a recent career change, she’s been on a quick ascent in the acting world; having just starred in a Middle Eastern TV series and is a few months away from the launch of her first feature film starring role. Check the conversation for the details. It’s a fun one. (Yes she's also a hardcore gamer!)

Welcome to the world of music photography - care of LA-based shooter, Kate Gorbacheva. Known for her work with progressive metal bands like Periphery and Animals As Leaders and gothic + doom + folk artist Chelsea Wolfe, Kate talks us through the ins and outs of photographing live shows for a living. It’s a fab interview for any aspiring photographers!

Want to feel inspired? Like anything is possible? That you’ll find your way in life? Well, listen to what our friend Misha Mansoor has to say. In this week’s episode of Radical Strategies, Misha chats with our host, Rod Chong about the start of his progressive metal band, Periphery, and how he built up multiple income streams and business ventures. It’s a fantastic story, full of great advice for any aspiring musicians and creatives.

Welcome to Radical Strategies Season Six - eight conversations showing eight dream jobs and the people behind them. Let’s learn how they scored their dream gigs and how they got started!

First up we have automotive designer, Dalal Elsheikh, someone who definitely has the beginnings of a dream career happening. Tune in to hear our host, Rod Chong, interview Dalal on how she got started, and what’s involved in her day-to-day life as a car designer.

This is a most fascinating conversion - a chat between Web3 strategist + adviser and music-forward NFT artist, Mike St-Jean and our host, Rod Chong. This interview is a must-listen for any recording artists who are interested in the NFT space - it’s a chat focused entirely on the convergence of music and NFT tech. 

Please welcome Tokyo-based, digital artist, Ruben Fro to Radical Strategies. Ruben has a unique artistic practice, as he codes the custom shaders needed to visualize his point cloud-based immersive animations. It’s a unique POV that sees programming as a core element of his creative output. Listen in on his interview with Rod Chong, outlining how he first started his creative practice as well as his first forays into minting NFT releases. There’s plenty of advice and information to unpack here!

The next interview, in our investigation into Digital Art and NFTs, sees series host, Rod Chong chat with Berlin-based artist Sam Madhu. Originally from India, Sam outlines how she developed her signature ‘Indo-futurist’ style and got started publishing NFT based digital art. She offers plenty of inspiring advice for any aspiring artist, especially those who are considering entering the NFT space.

Please welcome digital artist, Dog Mad Jones to Radical Strategies! We. Are. Excited. Watch the episode to hear Rod Chong’s full interview with Mad Dog Jones aka Michah Dowbak. It’s an amazing story, detailing his initial beginnings and inspirations, before reviewing the development of his unique aesthetic vision and innovative approach to NFTs. There’s much to unpack!

Let’s get back into Radical Strategies season five, and our investigation into NFTs-for-creatives. We have an interview series with a fab group of digital artists coming up soon, but before we talk to them, there is one more foundational, technology-based NFT discussion to have. Please welcome back Radical Strategy’s resident futurist + strategist, Ed Palumbo, the perfect person to demystify the mystery of NFTs! In this episode, our host Rod Chong and Ed look through all aspects of NFT trends, terms, tactics, and technologies, an attempt to catalog the dynamic and ever-changing world of NFTs.

Let’s kick off Radical Strategies Season Five - with the first of six episodes, dissecting the world of NFTs, digital art, and related terms + technologies.

First up, Rod Chong talks to Silicon Valley based creative technologist, entrepreneur, and investor, Joshua Schachter. The aim of this conversation was to look at all aspects of NFTs and give some basic overviews for creatives who have yet to join the space. Joshua has a deep understanding of these technologies, and offers plenty of insights and critiques; it’s a most fascinating conversation, straight from the mind of a tech industry insider.

Our final guest for Radical Strategies Season Four is the acclaimed Hollywood Concept Designer, Phil Saunders. Best known for designing the Iron Man superhero suit, his long credit list ranges from Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker, Avengers:  Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, to WandaVision, Shang-Chi, Tron Legacy, and the Ironman films amongst many others. In this episode, Rod Chong interviews Phil about his career story and gets his in-depth advice about concept design career development.

Please welcome the graphic designer and typographer, Raf Rennie to Radical Strategies. In this podcast session, we learn the story of how he built up his design practice - from his initial struggles as a college graduate to his establishment in New York, one of the world’s top design locales. This episode is a must-listen, for anyone looking to have a go as a graphic designer.

Meet the enigmatic TRU, the Toronto based digital artist and NFT creator. This conversation sheds light on how to forge a traditional gallery-focused artist practice while offering glimpses into the world of NFT minting. It’s an insightful, energized conversation, which we are excited to share!

The title of this week’s Radical Strategies episode is a bit of a universal goal for what seems to be half the planet - A Life in Front of the Lens. So many want this career, but so few actually make a living doing it! Meet Steffie Baik, who is forging her way as a professional model, content creator, and upcoming actor. In this interview, she breaks down for us exactly how she got her career started and some key lessons learned along the way. It's a fun chat!

Discover the career story of Corin Roddick, the electronic musician behind “future pop” band Purity Ring. Corin outlines his early days, as a recording engineer and drummer, back in his native city of Edmonton, Canada, and details the first steps that lead to the start of Purity Ring. The conversation is full of interesting stories and advice and will be especially useful to young musicians and audio producers.

Please welcome our latest guest - live streamer, and internet personality, Sonja Firefoxx. For this Radical Strategies episode, we take a detailed look at Live Streaming as a profession and deep dive into all facets of Sonja’s career story. Let’s understand how she went about developing a massive global following for her game content channels, and hear what advice she has for aspiring content creators.

Here we go with Radical Strategies Season Four - a deep dive study into the art of developing a creative career.

Our first guest is the esteemed automotive photographer and content creator, Larry Chen. In this episode, we discuss just what it takes to become one of the world’s top car shooters. Don’t expect easy answers! Larry also arms us with practical photo career advice - it's very helpful for anyone hoping to start a professional photography career.

For our final investigation of all things Sim Racing, we decided to speak to Belma Nadarevic, Head of Marketing at Fanatec, one of the world's top manufacturers of gaming steering wheels, pedals and accessories, and a key sponsor across the racing eSports sector. Belma gives us a great overview across the various segments of Sim racing.

Follow: 

Belma Nadarevic: https://www.instagram.com/its_belma_xoxo/

Rod Chong: https://www.instagram.com/rev_sect/

Race Service: https://www.instagram.com/race.service/

Produced & Edited By - Andrew Cramb: https://www.instagram.com/andrew_ftw/

Ahh the mysterious Paulus. A shadow from outside of the data mined world of the interwebs. Is he a spy? An agent? I am not sure. That I know is that he's someone who moves between continents and cultures with seemingly great ease. A man of unknown origin and purpose. But listen to his insights. He has a viewpoint that needs to be taken in.