Susan: You're gonna be like i never should have had this idiot on my show! When your Susan: bean has knit enough socks this you can sell the socks in air quotes sell to Susan: buy furniture and accessories for your beans apartment Danny: Hi, and welcome to 5 Random Questions, the show with unexpected questions and unfiltered answers. Danny: I'm your host, Danny Brown, and each week I'll be asking my guests 5 questions Danny: created by a random question generator.
Danny: The guest has no idea what the questions are, and neither do I, Danny: which means this could go either way. Danny: So sit back, relax, and let's dive into this week's episode. Danny: Today's guest is Susan Barry. Susan is known for connecting ideas across hotel Danny: investment, operations, and marketing.
Danny: As host of the award-winning Top Floor podcast, named a Top 10 Hospitality podcast Danny: by the International Hospitality Institute in 2025, Susan sparks curiosity and Danny: conversation by interviewing leaders who are shaping the future of the industry. Danny: Susan founded Hive Marketing, a firm specialising in B2B demand generation for Danny: the hospitality industry, and she's also known for her sharp insights, Danny: humour and ability to push conversations beyond the expected.
Danny: She lives in Atlanta with her artist husband, Sean. So Susan, Danny: welcome to 5 Random Questions. Susan: Danny, thank you so much for having me. What a nice introduction. Susan: I just want to put that on repeat and listen to it. Danny: You're very welcome. And obviously, this is an audio-only podcast, Danny: but we're in a room that shares video. Danny: And I mentioned before starting recording, behind you is a lovely print that Danny: turns out that your husband is the artist of.
Susan: Yes, it's a huge painting. It's an abstract with lots of different colors, Susan: which is a little bit out of character for him, Susan: but still something that I feel really lucky to be able to have my hands on Susan: because it's too big for him to transport to fine art festivals. Susan: So I get to have it as my backdrop, and it always sparks a lot of conversation.
Danny: Understandably so it looks amazing and this is one of the reasons I wish I did Danny: a video version of this podcast yeah it looks very very good so kudos to your husband, Danny: And as I mentioned in your intro there, your podcast, you know, Danny: it's a top podcast, an award-winning podcast, and it's been running for more than 200 episodes. Danny: And one thing that caught my eye in the description on your website is come Danny: for the expert tips, stay for the load and dock stories.
Danny: I'm guessing the load and dock is the delivery because you used to work as part Danny: of that. Is the delivery load and dock area of hotels? Is that correct? Susan: Yes. Okay. And in hotels and restaurants and maybe every other kind of company, Susan: the loading dock is where people go to dish the dirt and tell their secrets, Susan: share their crazy stories. Susan: Hospitality is very, very, very famous for having the truly craziest stories of all time.
Susan: And so when I initially started planning out the show, I really just wanted Susan: to invite people to come on and tell me their hard-to-believe stories. Susan: But the folks that I was developing the show with were like, Susan: it's probably going to be a pretty short show if all you do is take one story. Susan: So that's how we end every episode after the interview, by hopefully getting
Susan: people's crazy, funny, weird, wild, wacky stories. My mom is an avid listener Susan: and in her words, the more salacious, the better. Susan: So you can truly hear just about anything on the loading dock. Danny: It sounds, and as you mentioned, also there's like some crazy stories that you Danny: would imagine would come through. Danny: And speaking of your hospitality career, you started that by sleeping in your Danny: car, events and parties.
Danny: I've got to assume that that must have been pretty a different kind of experience Danny: from what you do now. No more sleeping in your car now. Susan: No, it was horrible. So I ran an off-premise catering company in Tallahassee, Susan: Florida, which is the state capital of Florida. Susan: And during the legislative session, we would be so crazy busy that there wasn't Susan: time to go home and sleep or change or do anything like that.
Susan: So I would have to like catch a nap in my car in between events. Susan: Also, and this is so gross, but I often drove my car for like smaller caterings, Susan: you know, if we were dropping something off or whatever. Susan: And I at one point had like an half inch thick layer of baked beans in the trunk Susan: of my car from it splashing out over the side of the hotel pans, Susan: like very disgusting, very nitty gritty hard work.
Susan: Everyone thinks that the hotel business is a lot of hours and a lot of work, Susan: but compared to off-premise catering, it was a cakewalk. Danny: And I can imagine, so we spoke, you were from Atlanta, baked beans, Danny: I would think, can be a bit pungent if left on a trunk or a car in hot weather. Susan: It was so bad. Danny: But now you've moved on from that. No more baked beans in your life, Danny: or at least not in that way anyway.
Susan: Exactly. Although I do have a slight aversion to baked beans and now I'm starting Susan: to put it together. Maybe that's why. Danny: It's coming from your past, coming from your past. Yeah, I can imagine that Danny: would be something. It put me off some point as well. Danny: Well, hopefully we don't have an inversion. Nice move, little segue there. Danny: Hopefully we don't have an inversion to any of the questions that we're going Danny: to put you in the random question hot seat for.
Danny: So if you're ready, Susan, are you ready to jump into the random question hot seat? Susan: I am so ready, nervous, and excited at the same time. Danny: Awesome. Let me just bring up the random question generator and we will jump in. Danny: Okay, interesting one to kick things off with actually. So Susan, Danny: question number one, if you could relive any day of your life, what would you choose? Danny: And what would you do differently? So a little two-paro there.
Susan: Oh my goodness. Okay, I can absolutely think of a day that was so amazingly fantastic. Susan: I would love to relive it like once a quarter. Susan: And that was on a trip to Europe with my husband to visit his brother, Susan: who was stationed in Germany in the Air Force. Susan: And we were going to a bunch of different places, but we went to Florence, Susan: met up with some of my brother-in-law's friends, and took a day trip to Tuscany.
Susan: So there were six of us, five, six of us, crammed in this tiny little European Susan: car with a private tour guide who took us from farm to farm, Susan: olive oil grove to vineyard all throughout Tuscany. Susan: And the last place we ended up, we were going to have lunch.
Susan: It just so happened to be my husband's birthday. And so the proprietors of this Susan: vineyard where we were having lunch offered to let him learn to saber a bottle Susan: of sparkling wine as sort of like the celebration of his birthday. Susan: Now, this is probably as a result of the lunch, which included quite the significant Susan: wine tasting alongside of it. But it was just the most magical experience. Susan: I can still picture him saboring the top of that bottle of Prosecco.
Susan: And then on the way home, our private tour guide decided that we needed to have Susan: a teeny tiny car karaoke. Susan: And so was playing all these songs that he thought a bunch of weird Americans would like. Susan: And they were all songs that we had never heard before. Susan: So it was quite the experience. And we just sang along and pretended like we knew what we were doing. Susan: It was absolutely top three life experience of all time. I wish I could do it once a week.
Danny: And like you mentioned there, Tuscany, that's a beautiful part of Europe. Danny: It's like gorgeous. And obviously the vineyards there, you sampled, gratefully. Danny: So I'm curious, what songs did the driver feel that you would enjoy? Susan: I don't know. I think that we were giving an 80s vibe, like sort of the skating Susan: rink, Madonna, NXSC kind of music. Susan: But it wasn't that. I do not know what he was playing, but it was nothing that Susan: I knew the words to. So I just...
Susan: Sang along and tried to fake it until we finished each tune. Danny: Well, that's the best way, though. It's like I always, it reminds me of my uncle Danny: when I used to live back in Scotland as a young teen. Danny: He'd love to get up and sing, you know, at bars, well, not so much restaurants, Danny: but bars and places like that. Susan: Sing for his supper.
Danny: Yeah, exactly. But he did not know a lot of songs. So he'd start off with the Danny: words that were correct, but then me and I went to... Danny: I don't know if that's a Scottish thing, but yeah, it sounds like, Danny: you know, that kind of translates across the globe. Susan: A hundred percent. Danny: That is awesome. There's a guy here in Toronto. Well, I'm not in Toronto, but close enough. Danny: He's like a cab driver, Uber driver kind of thing.
Danny: He's got his own channel on like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, et cetera. Danny: And what he does, I think he's called Trip Guy, and I'll leave the link to his Danny: channel in the show notes. Danny: But what he does, when the guests, if you like, get into his cab, Danny: like the passengers, he'll hand them, so he'll put on lights, Danny: like big sort of, you know, LED lights to turn the car green, Danny: blue, red, all that kind of cool stuff.
Danny: Give them a mic and they choose the song they want to sing from his collection. Danny: So they know the song. It sounds like that'd be something that you'd probably Danny: be more up for because at least you know the song, right? Susan: Yes. Well, plus those karaoke machines will give you the words. Susan: So even if you don't know, you can sort of figure it out. Susan: Whereas just these random songs on the radio, I was a little bit lost.
Danny: I hear you. But no, that's a great memory. And because you're in the industry, Danny: you know, the hospitality industry, Danny: Do you ever get to, like, sorry, not quite replicate it, because obviously Tuscany Danny: is Tuscany, but is there anything that's going to come close in your travels to that? Susan: Oh, I would say because of the beautiful landscape and the vineyard of it all, Susan: that being in the Napa Valley is so much like being in Tuscany and vice versa.
Susan: I did a consulting project in Napa many years ago for several months. Susan: And so I was doing working at a hotel, the West Inverasa, Napa. Susan: And I remember waking up the first morning because there was a huge time difference. Susan: So I woke up at like five o'clock in the morning, just like wide awake and Susan: And looking out the window and seeing hot air balloons, like floating across Susan: the horizon and just thinking like, how is this work?
Susan: Like they're paying me to be here. This is insane. So definitely Napa is quite Susan: the similar feel. And look, it looks similar too. Danny: I've heard that. And anytime I see pictures of the Napa Valley in that region, Danny: it's like you say, you've got all the vineyards and you've got like a sunset Danny: that's glorious in the background. Danny: And, you know, a lot of little birds or balloons floating across. Danny: So that's part of my bucket list because I do like a nice wine.
Danny: So part of my bucket list is to do a proper, you know, tour somewhere where Danny: it's got a really nice place like that. Susan: Okay. Well, I have to tell you a secret. The general manager of that hotel, Susan: of that Westin, his name is Don Schindel. Susan: He's Canadian. In fact, he has a Canadian football league. Is that right? Susan: CFL championship ring that he let me try on that weighs like about 15 pounds. Susan: So maybe you have an in with him, the Canada connection.
Danny: But my buddy in Toronto, he runs his own marketing agency. He has a lot of connections, Danny: you know, kind of like that. But I don't think it'd be that one. But that'd be awesome. Danny: I'd have to just organise that. So that's on my bucket list anyway. Danny: So I like that. That was a nice question to ease into the randomness. Danny: So let's have a look then to see what we do at question number two.
Danny: This has been up before, but it's been a while back. And I kind of like questions like this. Danny: So if it's okay, Susan, question number two. Would You Want to Know When Yule Day? Susan: No, no way. I don't want to know. In fact, this is like a little bit crazy sounding. Susan: So be cool. But ever since I was a little kid, I've always sort of fantasized.
Susan: I can't even believe I'm about to say this out loud. But I've always sort of Susan: fantasized about dying in a rogue like drive by shooting or something like that, Susan: because it would be so sudden. Susan: You would have nothing leading up to it, no dread, no misery, Susan: no discomfort, just like one day you're shopping and the next day you're gone. Susan: Now, I really don't actually hope that I get shot, but I hope that I die completely Susan: unexpectedly in my sleep at peace.
Danny: I think... Danny: I was going to say, I think most people, not most people were your first example, Danny: but I think most people, yeah, would like, would want it to be peaceful. Danny: You know, you're asleep and you're not really aware of it. Danny: I'm wondering, because I know the guest that had this question, Danny: it was one of the early seasons.
Danny: So I can't recall the answer offhand. But the guest that had the question chose Danny: to know in advance, only because from that point of view, you can maybe let Danny: people know and ease them into, Danny: you know, the people that would be left behind and prepare them. Danny: But I don't know if that'd be the same. Danny: I think that was more about if you had like that terminal wellness, for example.
Susan: I wonder if your answer is different if you have children versus not. I don't have children. Susan: So, you know, I feel like there's probably a little bit less of the, Susan: I mean, everybody I know is my same age, right? Susan: We're all going to go at some point. So they don't need to worry about it. Danny: Yeah, no, that's a good point. I mean, I'm a little bit older than my wife. Danny: So hopefully she'd live another 10 years, at least before, you know, after I clogged.
Danny: But yeah, it's interesting you mentioned kids, because anytime I see people Danny: that have kids and parents die, it can be really hard for the kids afterwards. Danny: I watch the Jack Osborne show on his video podcast and when his dad died and Danny: passed, you can see it still tears him up today. Danny: And I always wonder, can you try prep your kids for that? Danny: So I guess you can't really prep people. Everybody's different, how they react to death.
Susan: I don't think so because I have experienced the death of loved ones recently. Susan: Who we knew would be dying soon. Susan: You know, we were just sort of waiting for it to happen. Susan: And it still felt different when the moment happened. So like, Susan: you're sad leading up to it. Susan: You sort of get accustomed to the idea.
Susan: And then when it happens, you're sad all over again. There's no amount of preparation, Susan: at least for me, there was no amount of preparation that would have changed my reaction. Danny: Yeah, I always wonder how our daughter would react. She's a weird one. Danny: She's a teen, just became a teen last year. She'll be 14 next month, actually. Danny: And she cares. She's a very caring soul.
Danny: But around death, like when our dogs passed, she was like, was there blood? Are they dead now? Danny: It's very matter of fact in your face about death and no emotion. Danny: And she was sad, but it was the same when her great-grandma passed and she asked Danny: her grandma, so her grandma's mom died, And she asked her grandma, Danny: so what happened? Was there blood? Is she dead now?
Danny: And this was about a week after the lady had passed. And obviously, Danny: my wife's mom was distraught. Danny: So she's very in your face. And I don't know if that's a good thing or not. What do you think? Susan: I think everyone copes with sort of unknowns and grieving in different ways. Susan: I mean, I probably have a tendency. First of all, I'm a crier, Susan: so I will cry like if I get too happy, I'm crying, much less too sad.
Susan: But also I think I have a tendency to make maybe some slightly inappropriate Susan: jokes, which probably doesn't please everyone in my life. Susan: So I think there's a huge spectrum. It's also maybe trying to understand death Susan: and trying to understand the sort of physical properties of it, Susan: thinking that that will unlock understanding of the emotional properties. Susan: Not that that's necessarily possible, but that may be what she's thinking.
Danny: That's a good, yeah, that's a good point. I mean, I don't want anybody to die, Danny: so I can test that theory. Danny: That's a good point. Susan: Get a goldfish. That's a good practice. Danny: Yeah, we used to have beta fishes. We couldn't keep these poor little souls alive. Danny: So we'll probably bypass that one. But yeah, I like that, actually. Danny: And it's like you say, everybody's different from a joy point of view.
Danny: How people react to positivity can be different as well as negativity, right? Danny: So I shall ask. I won't ask her. I'll just monitor her. Danny: Next time a major event like that happens, I will monitor her and I will let you know how that goes. Susan: Well, and here's a way maybe to test the theory is to give a detailed explanation Susan: physically of what happened and see what, Susan: then what is the reaction. Do you know what I mean?
Susan: Like, well, the heart stopped and then that caused the, you know, Susan: I don't feel like getting into too much detail, but you know what I mean? Danny: Yeah, I'd prefer to put an explicit rating on this one. But yeah, Danny: I hear you. It's just like, yeah, we'll try that for sure. Danny: And like I say, I will update you. So you'll either get a happy update or a, what did you do? Danny: What are you telling me to do? Update. Susan: Okay, okay.
Danny: We will see. Well, that's a different one. It's a different one. Danny: So let's have a look then at question number three. Danny: And I feel this might be a lot, but I'm going to find out. Question number three, Danny: Susan. How often do you use your phone? Susan: Oh, my Lord. I use my phone all day, every day. Susan: Here's the problem. I am a very avid reader, but I only read e-books like I read on a Kindle. Susan: And my favorite way to read on a Kindle is on my phone.
Susan: So that is a very stupid habit to get into because if you're already holding Susan: the phone and you're reading a novel, it's quite quick and very tempting to Susan: slide right on over to TikTok, Susan: watch a few videos, and then go back to your book. Susan: I'm gonna tell you this though, I got an app maybe a week ago, maybe a little bit more, Susan: I am going to sneak a peek at my phone because I cannot remember the name of the app.
Susan: But if you're searching for it, you can Google Hank Green Productivity App. Susan: Okay, it's called Focus Friend. Susan: This app I learned about on TikTok, of course. Susan: It's a little bean and the bean knits socks. Susan: So when you want to focus, you set a timer and the bean will knit socks for Susan: the entire time that you don't touch your phone. Every time you touch your phone, you lose a sock.
Susan: When you've, when you're, you're going to be like, I never should have had this idiot on my show. Susan: When your bean has knit enough socks, this, you can sell the socks in air quotes, Susan: sell to buy furniture and accessories for your beans apartment. Susan: It seems like utter nonsense, but for whatever reason, if you start the timer Susan: and then you pick up your phone and it says, don't interrupt me. Susan: And you're watching the Bean knitting socks, you're like, oh my God,
Susan: oh my God. And you like throw the phone away. Susan: So listen, my point is this, I'm working on it. Danny: But that's why I sort of gave that little preamble beforehand because I feel Danny: that with your job and the industry you're in, it's very much always on kind Danny: of, you know. Yes, yes. It's a 24-7 industry. Danny: So I completely get that. I do love the sound of that app.
Danny: It's almost like it knows you've got bad habits, for example, Danny: but it's showing you whether you can have a bad habit, but in a good way. Susan: Yes. Danny: It'd be really cool. And maybe it does this as well. I'm definitely going to Danny: check it out because I can be really bad at, you know, going down that vortex Danny: of YouTube, TikTok, everything. And I think, where did the last four hours go?
Danny: You mentioned, so obviously Knit sucks and then you can buy stuff for his apartment. Danny: I mean, it'd be really cool if some of the stuff that you could sell maybe for Danny: other users, you know, that could buy or even, Danny: you know, if you're really good, an X amount of percentage of app profit or Danny: whatever, whatever that looks like. I'm just waffling now. Danny: Goes to, you know, like charities for kids with ADHD, anything like that.
Danny: You know, that'd be kind of a cool. Susan: That's a good idea. There's a pro version of FocusFriend that I don't pay for. Susan: So there may be all kinds of other options that I just don't know about. Susan: I'm still very new to the sock knitting business. But once I learn more, I will share more. Danny: Sock knitting business. I like it. And obviously, as you mentioned, Danny: we can understand why you're on your phone a lot. Danny: Is there an app that you wish you could use?
Danny: Take off, even though you'd miss it a lot, because you know that takes up a Danny: lot of your time that doesn't need to? Susan: That's a hard question to answer because some days and after some things happen, Susan: in the United States. I wish that I had no apps. And I wish that I could stop Susan: seeing how crazy things are getting in this country. Susan: But so I guess my knee jerk answer was going to be Instagram.
Susan: But then Instagram brings me so much comedy and happiness and joy too, Susan: that I would never want to give it up. Susan: I think probably the answer with Instagram is to continuously reset your feed Susan: so that you're focusing on the things that make you happy and not interacting Susan: with things that bring you down so that you don't get more of it. Danny: Yeah, I hear that. I stopped using Twitter.
Danny: I can't call it X. I know it's called X, but I stopped using Twitter when it Danny: was still Twitter because I just felt it was becoming really toxic. Danny: And I can't be doing with that. Danny: So I moved over to Blue Sky and was very specific about feeds I followed and
Danny: not getting recommendations. And I have like auto play switched off for videos Danny: because I don't want to see something accidentally, especially, Danny: you know, as you mentioned, news cycles, etc. Danny: A lot of times show really horrible stuff to get clicks and views. Danny: Right. So you don't want that in your life. Susan: Absolutely. Danny: I hear you. There's like a really cool. I mean, this is just like a really poor suggestion.
Danny: But there's a phone called like the Simple phone or something. Danny: And it basically it all allows you to make calls, receive texts. Danny: And I think that's it. And set alarms and there's nothing else. Danny: You can't download apps or anything. And I've always tempted to kind of try Danny: that, but I feel like yourself, Susan. I miss Instagram and the fun stuff you can see in there too.
Susan: Absolutely. Well, and you know, the other thing that I feel like it's important Susan: to say because most people won't ever say this is I actually don't think that Susan: being on your phone and screen time is like the devil that we believe it to be. Susan: If I weren't doing that, I would be watching TV. Susan: So I'm just watching TV on a different size screen.
Danny: No, one of my previous guests, Tim, Tim Truax, he's a Canadian, Danny: and he was talking about, no, it wasn't Tim, sorry, it was Colin Gray from the podcast host. Danny: And he was talking about the same thing where a lot of the time we look at our Danny: kids being on their phones a lot and thinking it's bad. Danny: But what he found was his daughter was playing Fortnite and basically the phone was on.
Danny: So her friends could FaceTime as a private group, you know, they're not letting Danny: anybody in. And they could speak and talk and, you know, make plans in that Danny: whilst working as a team on Fortnite. Danny: So it's not, it was keeping up the art of conversation as opposed to just playing Danny: this video game all the time. Right. Danny: So I think there's more nuance than just having a six or eight inch screen in Danny: front of you taking away your life, so to speak.
Susan: Agree. Danny: All right. Well, I like that. And I do, I do like the fact that you, Danny: you know, you have some bad habits and you've got that app that will help you. Danny: And you know that, yeah, you could get rid of Instagram, but why should you? Susan: Because Instagram's got great stuff too. I would laugh so much less if I got Susan: rid of Instagram. I have a hilarious feed. Susan: So that is where I get all my good jokes to steal.
Danny: Exactly. Well, I like that. I like that. It's a good mid-round question, if you like. Danny: So on that note, let's have a look at question number four. Danny: What is, and again, I'm curious because obviously you're in, Danny: you know, around the food industry. What is your favorite pizza topping? Susan: Oh, Lord, Danny, this is impossible. I love pizza. I love it so much. Susan: I have so many different pizzas that I like for different reasons.
Susan: All right. The first, if I could only have one pizza topping for the rest of Susan: my life, it would be pepperoni. Obviously. Susan: Pepperoni is delicious. The little baby pepperonis that curl up on the sides Susan: and collect like a little bit of the delicious pepperoni grease on the inside, A++, amen. Susan: However, if I were getting a pizza buffet for the rest of my life, Susan: I would have pepperoni pizza, absolutely.
Susan: But then I would have a Hawaiian pizza, yes, with pineapple, bacon, ham, etc., A+. Susan: I would have an anchovy pizza with anchovies galore, salty, weird, Susan: delicious. Nobody else would want it but me. A+. Susan: And then there's a pizza place in my neighborhood called Grant Central, Susan: and they make something called, I think it's called the Deluxe Vegetarian or Susan: the Supreme Vegetarian or Veggie Supreme, something like that.
Susan: But, you know, it has all the vegetables, but then it has little pieces of fried Susan: eggplant, like what you use for eggplant Parmesan. Susan: And then because we're contrary, we add Italian sausage to the veggie pizza. OMG delicious. Susan: How much more time do we have? Because I could keep going on and on and on about Susan: pizza, but hopefully that's enough.
Danny: No, and every single one of them, and I've said this before with other guests, Danny: I have to stop asking food questions because every time you'll finish an episode Danny: where food comes up, I'm salivating. Susan: No, I'm so hungry. Danny: That was mentioned in that episode. And pizza, I mean, pizzas are, Danny: it's one of these staples, right? Susan: Pizza is a perfect food. Danny: Exactly. And I feel I'm glad you said Hawaiian. I'm really glad because that gets so much hate.
Susan: I know. It's so good. People are dumb. Danny: It's good. Susan: Oh, I forgot one. It's related to Hawaiian. There's a pizza place in Atlanta called Freedy. Susan: And this is going to sound gross, but it is so good. Susan: It's just like plain, maybe white sauce pizza. I can't remember. Susan: Or garlic and olive oil, whatever. Like not red sauce is my point. Right. Susan: And then they put pineapple and gorgonzola cheese. Susan: Sounds disgusting. Tastes amazing. Highly recommend.
Danny: I may have to try and I'll find that website. Danny: Hopefully they've got a website and look to see what they put on. Danny: I'm going to have to try to do that myself and I'll leave links to these places in the show notes. Danny: So, you know, if anybody wants to check out them, I'm curious though. Danny: On the pizza front, are you a deep dish or are you a thin crust? Susan: I like thinner crust, but I don't like crust so thin that it's like a cracker.
Susan: I like New York style where it's thin, big slice of pizza that you can fold in half. Susan: And I really like just very delicious crust. Susan: Deep dish, not for me. What about you?
Danny: No, I think it's weird. I think it depends on the pizza and where you're getting Danny: it from because I've had some great deep dishes but I do tend to like the ones Danny: where as you mentioned New York and you're holding this massive slice and you've Danny: got to hold it with two hands and stop it flopping at the triangle part because Danny: it needs to flop as a pizza. Danny: So I feel that's my preference too. Maybe the crust, maybe a thicker crust.
Danny: And I know some places do stuffed crust now so you might have like garlic and, Danny: you know, herpes cheese or something. Danny: But yeah, I'm very much like you. I like to be not too thick that I have to Danny: take an age to eat it. I want to scrunch it down. Susan: Yeah, no knife and fork. No knife and fork with pizza. I want to be able to, Susan: most of the time, pick it up and eat it. Danny: Exactly. So it sounds like you'd be a New York versus a Chicago type pizza.
Susan: Thousand percent. Listen, if all I could have is Chicago style pizza, Susan: I'm still going to have the pizza. Susan: But if I got to have a choice, yes, New York for sure. Danny: Okay, well, I shall make sure to point listeners over to your site so they can Danny: debate the joys and the perils of New York versus Chicago and keep you busy Danny: there. I'll get them to tag you on Instagram, actually. Susan: Oh, fantastic.
Danny: Awesome. So that was like, and again, I'm salivating. So let's move on from Danny: the food question because I will start to want to actually make that food. Danny: Okay. Yeah, I like this one, actually. This is a nice one to sort of finish off with. Danny: I'm curious about this, because you mentioned, you know, you've got your husband Danny: who's done his art and you've got your career, etc. Danny: Susan, for question number five, what is the ideal age to get married?
Susan: Ooh, what a question. This is controversial, I think. Susan: I was 31 when I got married, but my husband and I started dating when I was 23. Susan: I have seen many, many, many people that I know get married at age 25, Susan: and he and I were together when we were 25. Susan: So I think 25 is the youngest you can be without being too young to get married. Susan: But I still, my gut tells me that you want to be late 20s, early 30s, Susan: just so that you don't regret your decision.
Susan: What about you? How old were you when you got married? Danny: Yeah, so I was 37 when I got married. Danny: So yeah, a good few years back, aging myself there. Danny: But yeah, I feel that was good because I was able to get any weird stuff out Danny: of the way, you know, and then just concentrate my time on my partner, stroke wife. Danny: But I do also see the other side where you see high school sweethearts and they've
Danny: been together 30, 40, 50 years. I think my wife's grandparents were that actually. Susan: Oh, wow. Danny: Not high school, but they were, I think they got married and I could be wrong Danny: but I think they got married around about the Second World War period, Danny: so they met as part of like a blackout you know and you got chatting and you Danny: know when you went underground to the cellars or whatever it was to stop bombs Danny: etc I think that's what was happening.
Susan: That's romantic well plus when you're going through something like that you're Susan: like the world's probably going to end let's just go ahead and get hitched Danny: Yeah that's true and they were so happy they were so happy if I had to give Danny: a template for how to find true love and happiness in a marriage, Danny: I would point to these guys.
Danny: They're both passing unfortunately, but yeah, it's just, Danny: I do feel, now do you feel like you can have a younger marriage, Danny: so like 20, 21, even 25, as you mentioned, but kids should maybe wait until Danny: you're in your thirties. Danny: So, or is that something? Because I know you mentioned that you don't have kids. Susan: Yeah, I don't have kids. My sister got married when she was 25, Susan: I think, and then had her daughter when she was 27 or 28.
Susan: I'm making that up. It's something like that. And she's incredibly happy, Susan: has a wonderful now grown adult daughter. Susan: So I think it really probably depends on the person and the couple versus a hard and fast rule. Susan: And if there is a hard and fast rule, I am not the person to make it. Danny: Well, it's interesting because we've got friends that have got kids and not got kids.
Danny: And the friends that do have kids had them at different times of their life Danny: compared to other friends. Danny: And the ones that don't have kids are 100% purely happy. Danny: They're not even bothered about kids. So I think it's like you say, Danny: I feel like society, hopefully, isn't as well. Danny: To be a happy family, you need to be the man, the woman, the two nuclear kids. Susan: Right, right.
Danny: I think the stereotype that used to be, right? It's like hopefully better now, Danny: though I can still see there's still mindsets that need to change on that front too. Susan: Absolutely. Danny: Well, I like that. I feel like I know my listeners. Danny: If I look at my data, my listeners are between 25 and 44. That's the prime age Danny: group. And it's a pretty even split, actually, between male and female. Danny: So there's food for thought. You're in that age bracket.
Danny: Susan's just told you what her thoughts are. I've just shared what happened to me. Danny: If you ever feel that we did talk sense in this episode, now you know what age to get married at. Susan: Yes. Danny: But I feel that was a nice way to end your time in the random questions hot seat, Susan. Danny: As is only fair, I've had you in there for about 30 minutes on the hot seat Danny: there, 30, just under 35 minutes. Danny: It's only fair to hand over the question asking baton to you.
Susan: All right, Danny, my random question for you is, what is the worst piece of Susan: advice you've ever been given? Danny: The worst piece of advice?
Danny: Uh i'm trying Danny: to think of like i got advice from parents that didn't work out Danny: or teachers or anything like that or even bosses um Danny: actually yeah so it's it's not Danny: quite advice um but it was advice on Danny: someone's point of view and thinking if that's allowed because Danny: i can't think of advice offhand but this put this like sticks Danny: with me um so when i was younger as i mentioned i lived in Danny: scotland and at that time certain attitudes
Danny: certainly my family's side or certain generations of Danny: my family had a very bigoted ignorant Danny: attitude and i was told it was a so Danny: that where we lived in scotland it was like scottish tenements very working Danny: class you know um area and there was a it's all white people and then there Danny: was an indian family moved in around about when i was maybe eight nine year
Danny: old or something and my family just told me horrible things about indians and people and such as. Danny: And they told me not to play with their little girl who's the same age as me Danny: because they're Indian, they're clearly going to be horrible, Danny: smelly people. Horrible things to say. Danny: And it took me a while, you know, when I was like a late teen, Danny: early, like a man in my early 20s, to really get away from all that.
Danny: And when I moved away, I moved away from Scotland to work in England and that's Danny: when I really started to get a broader view of the world, thankfully. Danny: And I was sat beside her, I got placed to sit beside her at school at my primary Danny: school by a teacher and she wasn't smelly. Danny: She wasn't a horrible person. She was a lovely little girl that just wanted Danny: to be liked by other kids in the classroom.
Danny: So I feel the advice not to, you know, Danny: to steer clear of these people because Danny: they're not us they're not like us they're gonna be horrible i think Danny: that was really bad for want of a Danny: simplistic term that was bad advice but it was ignorant advice obviously Danny: and i'm i'm i'm always like sorry that i listened to that um because i didn't Danny: know any better as a kid and it took me a few years to get over that and understand
Danny: they were completely wrong and because of that i then started to have a very Danny: difficult relationship it with my family and their points of view. Danny: So I would say probably that actually. Susan: It's interesting that it took a trip to another place that was different from Susan: where you were from to sort of help shake that loose.
Susan: I think that that is such a great illustration of why travel is so important Susan: because the more places you go, the more you realize A, Susan: our similarities regardless of our differences, but B, Susan: that the things that make us different are also the things that make us exciting Susan: and interesting and special and unique and fun. Susan: So I think your story is certainly a tribute to the power of travel. Danny: Oh, 100%. And like I said, I mean, it's,
Danny: I feel that a lot of that was maybe generational. They're very typical. Danny: And I say this as a Scotsman myself. So that generation, my grandad anyway, Danny: my dad or stepdad, was very much typical of Scotsmen at that time. Danny: This was like we're talking mid-80s, like late 70s, mid-80s.
Danny: So, yeah, and travel was so key. It's like my first guest on this new season, Danny: Keisha TK Dutas, who I believe, you know, she mentioned that about travel and, Danny: you know, stereotypical, you know, people thinking that certain cultures don't Danny: travel when they do. So, yeah, I rambled there. I apologize. Danny: Great question. I appreciate you asking that, Susan.
Susan: Well, it was my pleasure to put you on the spot since I've been on the spot Susan: for this whole conversation. Danny: It's only fair. It's only fair. So, as I mentioned, I mean, I've really enjoyed Danny: chatting to you and getting to know you and hearing your answers today. Danny: So I appreciate that. Thank you for bringing them and sharing that with us.
Danny: For our listeners that want to, you know, learn about you, what you do in the Danny: industry, you know, listen to your podcast, check out all the cool things you Danny: do, or maybe even sneak us a few nifty dollars to buy some of your husband's art. Danny: Where's the best place to connect and listen and etc? Susan: Well, my podcast is called Top Floor and the website is topfloorpodcast.com.
Susan: The Instagram handle for Top Floor is topfloorpod. And then I spend a lot of Susan: time running my mouth and sharing my unsolicited opinion on LinkedIn. Susan: And so you can find me. I'm Susan Barry on LinkedIn and Top Floor is also on Susan: LinkedIn with pretty frequently updated content. Susan: So we'd love to see and hear listeners anywhere I can. Danny: Awesome. And I will be sure, as always, to leave links to those in the show
Danny: notes. So whatever app you're listening to this episode on or you're listening Danny: on the website, just check the show notes out and all the links will be there Danny: for the good stuff to take you over to Susan. Danny: So again, Susan, thanks so much for appearing on today's 5 Random Questions. Susan: Oh, this is so much fun. Thanks for having me.
Danny: Thanks for listening to 5 Random Questions. And if this was your first time Danny: here, feel free to hit follow and check out past episodes. Danny: If you enjoyed this week's episode, I'd love for you to leave a review on the Danny: app you're currently listening on. Danny: And if you know someone else that would enjoy the show, be sure to send them Danny: this way. It's very much appreciated. Danny: Until the next time, keep asking those questions.