Welcome to the show. This is Daily Tips That May or May Not Help You. My name's Arielle and my co-host over there. That's Ned Donovan. Ned say hi. Hi. And this is the episode of the month where we introduce you to our guest tipper of the month. If you have tuned in already this month, you'll be familiar with Ronald Young Jr. But today we're gonna get to know him a little bit better.
We're gonna talk about his tips, and then we are gonna just like ask him about life and his relationship with tips and life hacks and all that kind of stuff, and a few more bonus things here and there. So. Let's do it. Let's bring in Ronald Young Jr. RYJ. Welcome to the show. Hello, Arielle. Hello, Ned. I am so happy to be here. We're pumped to have you.
So Ronald, as we like to do, would you please introduce yourself and tell us all the cool things that you're up to, all of the projects that you're working on, and what brings you here today? I am Ronald Young, Jr. I'm an audio producer, a storyteller, and a host.
I currently host, Weight for it, W-E-I-G-H-T, which is a. Narrative show about the ways in which plus-size folks and all folks navigate the world when it does, doesn't feel like it fits them, navigate the world when it doesn't feel like it fits them. And I also host a podcast called Leaving the Theater, where I review movies as I'm walking out of the theater. You've probably heard me on shows like NPRs Pop Culture Happy Hour, and Slate's Working Podcast, and Lemonada's Pop Culture Debate Club.
Uh, so I've been around hosting and producing many podcasts in the industry. Uh, I'm kind of a jack of all the podcast trades. Uh, and why, why am I here, Arielle? That's a great question. You're here because we were, we identified you as somebody who is good at life, and so we asked you to share some tips as we do on this show. Every Wednesday of this month, you are sharing with us a tip, and that tip may or may not help the Tippendales, so that among other things, brings you to us today.
Yeah, and I wanna be clear, I actually don't think I'm that good at life. I was sharing with you off mic that I'm going through some, some bit of internal crisis. What? I'm like asking, and I'm wondering, I'm like, is this the midlife crisis that people talk about? But I don't know if it actually is. 'cause it's more like a, it's more like a immediate based resources like direction, "what do I do now? Crisis type thing.
Uh, so I wouldn't say I'm that good at life, but I am good at pretending that I'm good at life. And I'm glad that y'all picked up on that, which is why I'm here with the month's worth of free tips. I would, I would also argue that when you shared off mic that you're going through something, you shared a list of questions that you're asking yourself and you, you told me that over this coming weekend you're gonna sit down and answer those questions.
And I would argue that that's being good at life is taking action and, and really thinking about those things. Yeah. can we ask you what those questions are? Uh, sure. Uh, they are, are you, what are you specifically waiting for right now? Who do you wanna still be talking to in 10 years? What do you want from your professional life in the next year? What do you want romantically in the next year? What do you want physically in the next year? Damn. a good list. That's a great check in.
Yeah, well, we'll see, man. I'm 41 and all I have is feels like is time, and I don't know how much or little time that I have, but I do know that I don't want to spend my spend time looping around or feeling the same or feeling like I'm just waiting for the next thing to happen to me as opposed to living the life I'm supposed to live like. Hmm That's kind of the whole concept of Weight For It. 'cause it Hmm. a, it is like a whatever the, when you use one word, two ways, whatever that is.
Double entendre homonym. Yes, a double entendre and a homonym. Like, like the wait is also when you say it out loud It is. I am talking about Wait For It like from the Hamilton song when Aaron Burr sings, wait for It. That song deeply resonates with me. Specifically when Leslie Odom Jr. sings it.
that song deeply resonates with me because it's this idea of like, you're just waiting for the next thing to happen, and you'll take advantage of that opportunity as opposed to like taking an assessment of your life, seeing what tools you have and using those to move forward while you're waiting. I, I love this so much. I also, uh, have chosen that you've, you've made this a dig of Wayne Brady doing Aaron Burr.
It can only be Leslie Odom Jr. Listen, man, I, I didn't even know he did Aaron Burr all I know is it's gotta be Leslie Odom Jr. Or I'm just not interested. Yeah. can be Hamilton. I just, it gotta be Leslie Odom Jr. singing, Wait For It. Behind, uh, Ronald is a piano with some sheet music. What is on your piano right now? Uh, I what the sheet music is. Uh, it is, That Would Be Enough from the Hamilton soundtrack, uh, which I'm learning in the key of D Major, so man. There's a lot of things.
It's funny, I play a song now. I'm gonna tell y'all a couple things. Let's go. a lot of Matt Hague, uh, which if you know anything about Matt Hague, I'm, I've been on my second book by him. The first one I read was How to Stop Time. And it was this idea of these people who uh, basically call themselves albatrosses, who like live for much longer than everyone else. But when people start to notice, they kind of have to leave. 'cause it's like, Hey, you've been a teenager for like 20 years now.
What's going on with you? Uh, and people start to notice. So they have to continue moving. So that's this, that's one book. Now I'm reading the book called The Midnight Library. And The Midnight Library is about this place between life and death, where you can live all of the lives that you thought that you wanted to live because you, your current life is filled with regret. So like what if I had changed my major in college?
What if I had married that person instead of, you know, going this other direction? You can live all those lives. So Matt Hague, I feel like in these two books, I'm starting to realize he is like really dealing with-- he's working something out in terms of like time and regret and the lives that we have to live and all that.
So I'm reading that and I'm also like playing this song, uh uh, that I'm making up called Tomorrow, Someday, because I feel like I'm kind of in this loop of life and trying to like make the best decision I can right now so that the next 40 years I don't live deeply in regret, wondering what it is I should have done or could have done. So I feel like. I'm very much in a, like a crossroads of life right now, trying to figure that all out.
And I feel like all of the media I'm consuming is all kind of dealing with that in this very specific way right now. it feels like, uh, I constantly am trying to like cross the streams, you know what I mean? Like just bring everything, I'm trying to intersect everything. Yes, yes. I'm trying to like, intersect as many things in my life as possible. Um, I mean, the braided rope, if you will, is supposed to be stronger.
So it's like all of these different experiences I've had, I'm trying to like, make them all make sense. Uh, and I grew up in the church, so there's a scripture that we say that say that we know that all things work together for the good of them who, uh, who are called of the Lord. Uh. Basically all things work together.
Forget, I won't try to get too much into quoting the scripture before I get yelled at by the Christian listeners, but the bottom line is, uh, there's this idea that there are no coincidences, which I don't fully believe, but I do believe that there is a significant amount of our lives that are meant to happen the exact way that they're happening right now. And I'm just trying to figure out what that means for me. There's an episode of this American Life about coincidences.
Do you know it, Ronald? I haven't, I don't remember it. I, no, hold on. I don't remember You know, the idea of it. Yes. It's amazing. I recommend it all the time. And it's about basically this, like how a certain percentage of our life is just mathematically coincidental. Like, oh, what are the chances that you'd run into this person in this place? Actually pretty high because we, even though we live on opposite side of the country, haven't seen each other for 20 years.
This is the place where people like us tend to vacation or whatever. It's just, it, it, it's just a really cool way to, contextualize all of these things that are coincidences, whether they are or they're not, I highly recommend it. yeah, yeah. I'll check it out. when I, when I was a kid, I was, I, I'll never forget this guy I grew up with named Tim Cooper and someone said in a conversation like my birthday is, you know, June 15th or whatever, and someone responded, no way, me too.
What are the odds? And without missing a beat Tim Cooper went one in 365. It's Oh, I love I don't think that's what it is. That's not it. Unless you were in the same grade. Wait, but any given person that you talk to, it is a one in 365 in 365. Yeah. in any given person that you talk to. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Only the day. Sure. One in 365. It's, it's still fun. It's still fun when you bump into a birthday buddy. Yes. It really is. It, it, it feels like something, you know?
Yeah. Um, Ronald you know, kind of on the vein of everything we just set up, let's talk about like the path it took us to get here. So I, I've just met you, but I would love to know, like, like how you found yourself in podcasting, but also like what is the life you live and what drove you on the path to where you think you are today? I mean, that's a I I. Man, there's a lot there. I, so I'm an audio producer now. I'm full-time freelancing and I've been doing that for the last five years.
Five years ago I was working for a company called Fannie Mae. You may have heard of it. I was a business analyst. Ms. Fanny. I was a a business analyst over there. And when I was doing that, that was kind of the career that I thought I was gonna have my whole life. Because before that, I worked at a company called Accenture as a, as a IT consultant. Uh, and I did that. I was there for probably about another five years. So if you go back those two sets of five years, it puts us somewhere in 2012.
Uh, and so I, for the longest time I thought that that's what I was going to be doing, working IT, and kind of doing that the rest of my life. Um, but when I first got outta college, I was very interested in becoming a host like Ryan Seacrest. Like, I was like, how do you host events? How do you get to do stuff like that? And I knew he had done radio, so I had started doing commercial radio and I did that for a little while. Um, became a board operator, uh, and then eventually lost that job.
And I was doing that part-time anyway because I was still also working other jobs on the side full-time. You know, you get outta college and you're just like, I just need a job. Where can I work? Can I work somewhere? I have a college degree. How do I work somewhere? So I had a job and then right around the time I lost the job with, uh, with the commercial radio station. I was working full-time in IT and I thought that was the direction I was going in.
But at the same time I started working at Accenture, I also started listening to podcasts. And while listening to podcasts, all of my, uh, expertise in radio started to light on fire. And I was like, I think I can make a very good show. And it took a while. Um, but 2017 I started a show. Uh. 2023, I started Weight For It and Weight For It has been the show that's gotten me the most critical acclaim, uh, in the last few years and the most recognition within the industry.
So it's opened some doors. Um, but now I'm in a place where I'm, I'm trying to open bigger doors. Like I, I really wanna buy a house. That's what I, I tell most people. And so now I, I'm, I'm trying to work to say like, what does it look like to, to open those doors wide, have the money to buy a house, and continue moving forward. I would love to talk about, something I find really interesting is the intersection of non-primary vocation with what it is you do now, right?
in your time in IT and in your time with Accenture. Like what were the pieces you found in those specific focuses that you think have applied most to podcasting in an X factor only you could have? So let me just start by saying, there was a period of time when I started thinking that audio production was gonna be very serious for me, that I started saying, and I remember telling my mom and a couple other people this at work.
I'm like, I've decided that from now on, when people ask me what I do, I'm gonna tell them audio producer, but my day job is working in IT. Uh, because that's the only way I think I'm going to be able to consciously make this flip within myself to go from what it is I do all day versus who I am. And who I am is an audio producer, storyteller, host. That's who I am. Uh, but there was a difference between what I did.
The, the great thing about what I did was I learned so much about, you know, Accenture works with clients. They have to make pitch decks in order to actually go out and secure clients for millions and millions of dollars. They're working with federal government clients and they're telling them, we're gonna offer you IT solutions.
We're gonna like build out platforms and do all this stuff for you, and here's the project fee, here's how we're gonna do it, how to send emails, how to deal with angry clients, how to do all of that. Everything about the software development lifecycle I learned in, uh, IT, and those are all tools that I immediately, uh, was able to use as soon as I switched over to being a full-time freelance podcast producer.
Because I, I called it the podcast development lifecycle, uh, and I was able to kind of use the same strategies that I was using when I was doing project management type work, uh, with. Building out podcasts, whether I was hosting or doing any task along the, as I was calling it, the podcast Development Lifecycle, PDLC. Uh, like I was able to do all of the tasks and I understand like what it is to make a podcast from soup to nuts.
Once I figured that out, I was just like, oh, there's a lot of this stuff that's very similar to launching releases of software that I feel like could be like, well managed, uh, in my own process. So I do that, uh. And so it was easy to make that connection for me, uh, at switching over.
And also I was able to discover the differences between me writing an email and someone who's been in audio production their entire career writing an email because I'm like, I was, I was dealing with emails where it was like the, the stakes felt different when you're working in like these IT people with these very surly clients who have like millions of dollars of budget. All of that.
Versus like what we're doing in audio production, which is a lot of creative folks and it's just a little bit more loose in a lot of ways, which isn't like a, it's never a negative thing whatsoever, but I feel like being able to like strike a professional tone kind of makes you stand out a little bit more when you're talking to folks that are making decisions, uh, even within the podcast arena.
I was recently talking to, uh, somebody who just graduated from college and she really wants to work in the podcast space. I talked to a lot of recent college grads or people who are trying to pivot into the podcast space. This person in particular, um. She's moving to New York City, got a job in New York City, the job has nothing to do with podcasting. And she's wondering like, is that a waste of time? Is that, you know, is that something that she's gonna regret?
Like should she focus all of her attention and energy on getting a job in podcasting? And, and my advice to her was, it is amazing that you have this job, A. Because it lets you live in New York. It is gonna give you a social life and also it ends at 5:00 PM. And at 5:00 PM you'll be able to work on the things that you want to work on. And over time you can build up contacts in the podcast space and eventually land that job.
And I think a lot of people who have a passion will not pursue their passion because they are busy with their job, and it really does mean that you need to carve out time when you're done with your, your commitments, your nine to five, to spend some time on doing the thing that you, that it is that you wanna do. But I really think it's a blessing to be able to get paid by something that you're not as emotionally connected to.
And then funnel all of your excitement, all of your emotions into this thing that, that, that you love and that you're excited by. I think it's such a blessing to be excited by something professionally. I'm from Maine originally, and there's a guy that I used to do theater with back home who, to this day, sorry, to the many people I've worked with is the most talented musical theater performer I've ever worked with. And he's a community theater actor in the Portland, Maine area.
And I asked him once, like, why don't you do this? Like I, I now do this and I work with a lot of people who aren't as good as you. Like, why don't you do it? And he said, oh, I've never wanted to tie my paycheck to my passion. And he's a manager at a bank and I wish my brain did that. But when I was working as a quote unquote normal person in tech, like going home and editing my podcast, that's the podcast I sold to tv. You know what I mean?
Like, there is something so specific about, you know, when when I'm chasing this as a, as a career that pays my bills, sometimes it doesn't feel as passionate as that time where it was like, well, this is the thing that I care about. And it's like, how do you find the way to make that happen? That's so interesting. Yeah, I feel like, uh, when I started, uh, in audio production, it was mostly like I was working full time. I had like a really good job.
The first conference I went to was Third Coast in Chicago. I paid for that entire conference because like I had a hotel room. I flew out there. I didn't have to worry about things like, uh, uh, Ubers or any of that stuff. And I remember there were people that are like, Hey, if you need a roommate, like all that. I was like, I don't have to do none of that. I'm just gonna pay for, matter of fact, I, my friend who was going, I was like, yeah, you could just stay with me.
And he was like, oh, I'll split the room. I was like, I can afford it. You're good. So like, it, it worked out great in that regard. Uh, but I do feel like for me, depending on, and I I feel like I had to connect my passion to a paycheck at some point because in terms of the stakes and in terms of like where, where I was trying to go, I wasn't just trying to pay rent or just trying to, you know, buy groceries or all that.
Like I really, like have an expansive mind of saying like, I really wanna be able to like, create things that are talked about in culture and in some ways changing culture for the better in the future. And the only way that I can like really like think on a scale like that is if I'm like all the way, uh, deep down in it, which is, which is tough.
Uh. But it's also when you talk to like people that are starting, I think the, the key thing to tell them that, that if you're not in a situation where you can afford to do that, then yes, get a real job. Everyone else who has done that has gotten a real job or they had a very high tolerance for living in poverty, meaning sleeping on people's couches, like sometime not being the most comfortable or like, like private situation.
That was how they like accomplished whatever the dream was they were going towards. But you're going to have to do one or two of those things. There's no really in-between place, uh, uh, for you. I think that this conversation up to this point is just a really good encapsulation of all of us and where we are and why we're here, and why we make these things and why we're always at podcast conferences, spending sometimes our own money, sometimes the money that people give us to go to those places.
I would go to podcast conferences. Even if nobody paid me to go, because I just love being part of the, the community, the creator community. Um, and I think I see that passion also in Ronald and also in Ned. And, um, I'm wondering if we can pivot now to talk about some of the tips that you are bringing us on this show throughout the month of June. Ronald? Uh, first when we approached you about being on this show, uh, I'm always curious about what people think at first.
Like what do you think about tips in general? What do you think about life hacks? They're not quite life hacks, but, but what do you think about the premise of, of this show and, and your relationship to tips and life hacks and things like that? I mean, I said yes because you asked Arielle. Like it wasn't, it had nothing to do with the, uh, the show. I was like, yeah, show. If Arielle says, she says it's good, I'm gonna do it.
So like, if anything, you should pat yourself on the back in terms of, of your reputation in the industry. Uh, that being said, in terms of like life hacks and tips, I just. I feel like I learn a lot from, from older folks and from the wisdom that's kind of like surrounds me. I've been in church my whole life, so there's a lot of like old folks that are more than willing to give me like wisdom to say, Hey, you should think about this moving forward. I always want an edge.
I always want some sort of edge when it comes to moving forward and living the rest of my life. Like I I, and when I say an edge, I just, I want to be able to not have to always deal with the suffering that it takes to get to whatever the next level? I know that sometimes we always have to deal with that suffering, but it would be nice to have like a, even the knowledge of the suffering is better than not having the knowledge of the suffering.
Even if I still have to go through it, like, oh, I know this thing's gonna be hard. Everyone says your junior year in high school is your hardest year. Knowing that made it easier to be like, alright, I know this is gonna be hard, so I know what I'm gonna be dealing with and I know I need to buckle down and do it. Like, that's important for me to know.
So I, I feel like for me, having that knowledge and as much of it as possible about what is going on around me, what I could possibly be going through, what the next step should be is very helpful. When I lost my mom last year, I knew nothing of grief. I knew nothing of grief except for what people told me.
There was no warnings or anything that people gave me about what it was going to be like and what I found, it's because there's a very remarkable way in which we navigate grief in this country, maybe, uh, in the United States. Specifically, because we don't necessarily give everybody the real like knowledge that at some point your parents are going to die. People you love are going to die, they're going to leave you.
And we don't ever like let them sit with that reality and let that be a part of the relationships they're in with one another. So when I think about having tips, I think about having knowledge that may, in some cases, mitigate pain, uh, in the future. And, and that's why that's kind of my relationship with tips and, uh, and life hacks. Wow. That's a beautiful, beautiful answer to that question, and it also gives us a preview into what your tips are throughout this month.
We're not gonna go into them specifically here. We wanna let people tune in each Wednesday in order to check them out. Um, I just, can we ask you about, uh, this is a little bit of an aside, but you, um, were born in Germany, right? And then you just recently went out of the country for the first time. To, to go to the UK to go to London for the podcast show, which is a really great podcast festival. Um, can, can you give us a bonus tip on, on travel?
Uh, yeah, I mean, okay, so first of all, I think my bonus tip on travel would be do it. To travel because in the last couple years I've done a lot of domestic travel it's been so rewarding and it, it makes me-- I don't know. When I get home, I feel like my mind is expanding.
Uh, there's something somebody said to me, they're like, they're trying to, uh, break-- people always talk about trying to break generational curses, but I think what travel does is it expands generational vision, which was a, a term a friend of mine used where I'm just like, yeah, no, that's exactly what it does. Because now that I've been to England, I've been to London. If I have children I could tell them, like, I can grow them up with the expectation that they will go to London someday.
You know what I mean? Like there's, there's this way in which that we have a vision of what the world is, uh, and we, it's limited to what our experiences are, but if we can expand those experiences, it also expands our vision and it allows us to give more possibilities. To our children and the people that follow us, our descendants, whether they're our children or not, even our children, just the people around us, we're able to help expand their vision by expanding our our own.
So I mean, the travel tip would be just to actually do it. 'Cause being out of the country was incredible. Just like being concerned about which way to look before I cross the street? It expands your brain. I'm like, oh my god I didn't even think about the possibility that the cars could be coming from the other direction. You know what I It's a little dangerous.
Yeah. It absolutely is I remember, um, when my grandma was still alive, every time I would travel somewhere, it was usually like during college, I went to China for three months to teach geography to 11th and 12th graders. And it was this really cool experience. I remember my grandma writing me emails, just being like, I'm so proud of you for traveling. I never got to do that. I'm living, I'm living through you. You know? And, and that's a really beautiful generational.
What did you, what did you call it? Expanding Generational Vision It. That's literally what it is. I, I, I was able to do this thing, not for her, but she saw it as like seeing the world through my eyes and I thought that that was, now that you say that, it really makes sense to me.
Yeah. Yeah. I, I'm curious if, um during your time in London, you had any moment where you saw like a specific cultural difference between England and the United States, and if you had just like a tip on how to expand the way you think about that thing. Like on Sundays, all the pubs have Sunday Roast Man. We all should be having Sunday roasts on Sunday. Like that's something I grew up at church, like, it was like, there's always a Sunday meal.
Like, it's like, yeah, we about to, it's gonna be a hot meal on Sunday somehow, right? Like that's something where I'm just like, why did we get away from that? Like, we shouldn't be eating Chipotle on Sundays. Like we should be, like, somebody should be roasting something. We should be going to our friend's house and eating something covered in gravy or like sharing meals and hanging out with our, with our people on Sundays at least once a week. Bring back roast culture. Yes, please.
And like maybe we could actually roast each other while we're doing it. That's a good idea. we just sit at the table and just be like, you all, oh, non podcast looking. You know what I mean? Like we can really, but No, but I feel like the idea of like that communal space, it just felt, it felt good.
So I don't know if there's a tip surrounding that, but I will say it just made me think about the ways in which, like Londoners are not very kind to each other on, well, actually not very nice to each other on the street. There's like a kindness that is built into their culture that feels kind of like much more warm and inviting, uh, and you don't see it at first glance, but it's kind of woven into the way that they can conduct business.
Ronald, uh, let's say roast culture comes back this Sunday. We're all meeting up. What are you roasting? What's your, what's your bring to the, to the Sunday roast? Oh chicken. I'm very good at roasting a spatchcock chicken. As a matter of fact, I'm about to start practicing again 'cause Thanksgiving is coming and I gotta start getting my Cornish hen game back together.
So, uh, a couple weeks ago I started working on that with my friend where we took a Cornish hen and we made it like four different ways. Uh, so yeah, uh, I'm making, making a full chicken, man. Chicken, maybe some potatoes. Can you give me a tip for, for roasting the chicken? Spatchcock it. what's a thing that you think is necessary there? You gotta spatchcock it. Like you gotta learn how to cut out that backbone, lay it down flat and uh, and it'll may keep it a nice even temperature.
It'll cook a little quicker. It keeps the, the meat nice and juicy and, uh, you'll be good to go. And if you are a vegetarian or, uh, or vegan, um. Vegetables, man. You can roast those too. You, there's a lot of veggies that you can throw into the throw into-- season real well. Put some oil on, throw 'em into the oven, roast them up real nice. Uh, there's nothing that Thank you for being inclusive. I try to be. I to be.
Yeah, if you're pescatarian my god, get yourself a my god, whole fish, put it on some vegetables, work with the vegetarians. Everybody could be having something in the roast is all I'm saying, like there's, nobody has to be left out in the roast.
Well, Ronald, I think a lot of the tips and the, the sort of way that you frame your work ethic and, and the way you go about life are gonna be really helpful for a lot of people who are thinking about freelancing or who are thinking about, uh, becoming creators. And I think, I think you're pretty good at life. You mentioned at the beginning that you don't think you're that good at life, but I think that you ask the right questions and you share the right things with people and you're open.
And we really appreciate you being on the show today, sharing these tips with us, and we're excited to show off your tips throughout the rest of the month every Wednesday. I have been so happy to be here and uh, this has been great. Y'all are both great hosts and this is a great conversation. remind us real fast where the Tippens can find more of you You can find me on Instagram, Threads, TikTok, and Bluesky, and Letterboxed @ohitsbigron. That's at O-H-I-T-S-B-I-G-R-O-N.
Also, listen to Weight For It spelled W-E-I-G-H-T and listen to Leaving the Theater, two of my passion projects. Thank you so much for joining us, Arielle I'll see you on Monday and Ron will see you on Wednesday for your next guest tip on Daily Tips That May or May Not Help You. Can't wait.